In Lost Ark, raids are the meat-and-potatoes of PVE end-game content, with several players banding together to defeat tough bosses and their challenges. These raids revolve around Legion commanders and have several stages called Gates. Kakul-Saydon, the demonic clown duo of the Legion is one such challenge. There are many mechanics to pay attention to, so if you’re looking for a guide on defeating each raid mechanic of Gate 1 of Kakyl-Saydon Legion Raid in Lost Ark, read on to learn all about it.
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Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 raid overview
In Gate 1 of the Kakul-Saydon Legion raid, you will face off against Saydon for the most part. You need to have a minimum item level of 1,475 to access the raid. This raid uses a mechanic called the Madness Meter that will appear beneath your character model. Saydon uses several moves and attacks that hamper your party or disrupt positioning, so we recommend that you take the following Combat Items with you:
- Whirlwind Grenade: to deal extra damage and disrupt adds
- Swiftness Robe: extra move speed to move around and dodge mechanics
- Sacred Bomb: to bail out party members by removing CC debuffs
- Health Potions of your choice
Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 Passive Raid mechanics
The Madness Meter
The Madness Meter is a bar that can be seen under each character in the party. The meter fills up when you get hit by Saydon’s attacks. The bar operates on percentages, and certain effects happen when you reach specific thresholds:
- 0-49% — Nothing happens.
- 50-99% — A cross-shaped laser shoots out from you, which can then hit your teammates and fill their meter too. Any hit on you while your meter is over 50% will make the laser shoot from you.
- 100% — You turn into Saydon’s clown puppet. That makes him gain an armor buff, which reduces the damage he takes by 3% per stack. Your skill bar changes, and you get new skills on Q, W, and E. Press Q to remove a stack of the armor buff. Press W to reduce the Madness Meter for players in your aura. Those outside the aura get their meter increased though. Press E to throw a present on the ground. Players who take the present can reduce their Madness Meter.
Sidereal — Nineveh
Nineveh is activated with Ctrl+Z by default. You can use Nineveh’s Sidereal to deal extra damage to Saydon during the fight. The best times to use Nineveh are when Saydon summons adds, at the end of a Stagger Break mechanic, during the Raining Balls attack, when he lands after the Red and Yellow Ball attack, or after he’s Countered.
Sidereal — Innana
Innana is activated with Ctrl+C by default. You can use Innana’s Sidereal to spawn a protective bubble inside which the party’s Madness Meter will decrease, and then after the bubble disappears, the party gets a small heal too. This effect is fairly mild to use in Gate 1, so it’s preferable to use Nineveh unless your party really struggles with Madness.
Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 Main HP threshold mechanics
x130 and x65 HP bars — Stagger Break
A Stagger bar appears over Saydon, followed by a purple shield covering his back attack area. This shield reflects all damage done, and more than one can appear. To counter it, use Stagger skills on a facing with no purple shields.
x110 and x25 HP bars — Heart or Guns
This effect has two variations and the whole party has to pay attention to solve it properly:
Illusionary clowns will appear in four corners of the arena. Each player should cover one of the corners in preparation for this effect.
- Two balls revolve around each clown, so you have to stand close to it to avoid them.
- Each clown performs an emote — either a heart or finger-guns with confetti.
- If there are 3 finger-guns and 1 heart, the whole party has to turn to face the corner with the heart.
- If there are 3 hearts and 1 finger-guns, the whole party has to turn to face the corner with the finger-guns.
After successfully completing the mechanic, Saydon will teleport back to his original position.
The best way to handle this mechanic is with pings on the map. Players who see a heart should ping their corner, so if you only see one ping, you turn to that position, and if you see three pings, you turn to the position without the ping.
x85 HP bars — Saydon Says
When this effect happens, each player will be assigned a card suit, and your skill bar will be replaced with four emotes sorted in random order. Four areas will appear in the arena and you have to stand in your matching suit.
Then, if Saydon performs an emote while facing you, you must match him by using the same emote from your skill bar.
If Saydon performs an emote while facing away from you, you must use any emote other than the one he performed.
x45 HP bars — Roulette
In this effect, once again each player gets a card suit assigned to them, this time with either a white or striped background. A roulette begins to rotate around Saydon, and there are eight fields with suits that match the cards. It spins three times, with your assigned suit changing for each spin.
Your goal is to always match your suit and background with the correct roulette field. After the third spin, make sure to run out of the roulette, because it’s going to explode before it disappears.
Timed – Dice
This mechanic happens on somewhat randomly timed intervals but is always trumped by an HP mechanic if they overlap. You’ll know it’s occurring when Saydon produces a big die in his hand and throws it in the air, then proclaims a card suit.
The die falls down, showing a certain card suit and color. If the suit matches the color of the ones assigned to one party member, then the other three players will be imprisoned and unable to move. If the color is the opposite of the one in the player’s assigned suit, then that player is imprisoned, while the others are free to move.
In both cases, a set of four cards will shoot from the boss:
- If three players are imprisoned, the cards will slowly aim toward the player that’s able to move. That player has to guide each card to the imprisoned player with the corresponding suit and color while intercepting the one with his.
- If one player is imprisoned, then the four cards will slowly aim at that player. The other players have to intercept the cards with their matching suit and color while allowing the one with the imprisoned players’ to pass.
The best way to tackle this mechanic is to position your party properly when you see that it’s coming. You should all position in a line and well away from the boss so that it’s easier to navigate the cards once they start slinging toward the imprisoned player(s).
Related: How to use the Honing Calculator for Lost Ark
Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 Minor mechanics
Fire-breathing Tower
Fire-breathing clown towers appear near the edge of the arena. They can deal a lot of sustained damage, so make sure to kill them immediately.
Ether Dice
A die drops and either shows a suit or explodes, dealing damage. If a player with a matching suit picks up the die, their Madness Meter gets reduced. However, if a player with the wrong suit picks it up, their meter will rise instead.
Card Soldier adds
Card Soldiers are adds that show up during the fight. Use AoE skills to burst them all quickly before they can buff Saydon.
Mini-Roulette
When Saydon swings his cane in the air, a four-field roulette will appear under him. Each player is assigned a card suit and has to stand in the correct matching field.
Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 Counter patterns
Saydon has two Counter patterns during the Gate 1 raid.
In the first pattern, Saydon slowly takes a step back and turns blue. Use a Counter skill on him, or else he will be able to dash forward and deal damage.
In the second pattern, a big ball appears from the air and Saydon turns blue and jumps to balance on it. Use a Counter skill on him, or else he will follow a randomly targeted player and try to hit him with it before jumping off.
Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 Boss Attack Patterns
Raining Balls Attack
For this attack, Saydon starts to juggle balls, then throws them all up in the air. The balls then fall, marking impact areas in concentric yellow circles. Avoid these areas, but beware that they can often overlap, putting you in difficult positions.
Red and Yellow Ball Attack
In this attack, Saydon eats a ball and steps back then creates a fissure before him. The attack pattern depends on the color of the ball. If it’s Red, the fissure will explode into an X-pattern, and if the ball is Yellow, the fissure will explode in a cross-pattern. Saydon will then jump into the air and land in a different location, where two rings will explode out from him.
Magic Cards Attack
Saydon begins to spin and play with cards, which then begin to shoot out from him. The best way to avoid this attack is to run away from him toward the edge of the arena and dodge the cards when there’s enough space between them.
Bird Attack
Saydon pulls a pigeon out from his hat and teleports away. He shoots several cones of birds from his new position. The birds curve around and home in on Saydon. The safe position to stand in to avoid them is in the melee range with the boss.
Clown Pools Attack
When using this attack, Saydon performs a backflip and disappears. Then, red pools begin to form over the arena, with clowns popping out from them and dealing damage. At the end of the attack, a large yellow pool appears under one random player. Avoid this attack by running away, and if needed, use utility to run out of the large yellow pool.
Kakul-Saydon Gate 1 Cheat Sheet
To make it easier to keep track of different mechanics in Gate 1 of the Kakul-Saydon raid, we have prepared a cheat sheet that you can use after you’re familiar with the mechanics explained above. This way, you will know at a glance what to do as the mechanics come up in the fight.
- x130 Stagger Check 1 — Don’t attack the side with Saydon’s purple shields.
- x110 Find Saydon 1 — Split to four corners. Ping if your corner has the Heart emote.
- x85 Dance Party — Copy Saydon’s emote if he faces you or use a different one if he turns his back.
- x60 Stagger Check 2 — Don’t attack the side with Saydon’s purple shields.
- x50 Roulette — Stand in the roulette field matching your card suit. Repeats 3 times.
- x30 Find Saydon 2 — Split to four corners. Ping if your corner has the Heart emote.
