Lost Ark: Akkan and Ivory Tower, the ilvl 1600+ Legion Raid Guide (July 2026)

While Kazeros Act 1 Extreme has been dominating the scene since the Summer of Extremes update on July 15, 2026, a huge portion of Lost Ark's French-speaking community remains focused on the ilvl 1600 to 1650 bracket. This is the true backbone of the late midgame: the stage where players learn to properly execute raid mechanics, line up their first relics, and prepare their alt characters for the race toward endgame. Two encounters dominate this tier: the Legion raid Akkan and the abyssal dungeon Ivory Tower. This guide covers in detail their prerequisites, their gate-by-gate mechanics, their rewards, the classes that shine best there, and the ideal team composition, with the adjustments in effect as of July 2026.

Where Akkan and Ivory Tower stand in the 2026 progression

Since the arrival of Kazeros and its successive acts, ilvl progression has exploded: the effective cap now exceeds 1770 on Extreme difficulties. As a result, Akkan and Ivory Tower are no longer the peak of the mountain, but they remain the royal road of preparation. Both encounters serve to generate weekly gold, to earn Blood Stones, to level up advanced Elixirs, and to build a comfortable Crystal Aura before tackling Thaemine, Echidna, and then Kazeros. Smilegate has left the entry ilvls unchanged, but has eased the mechanics' tuning and introduced Serca matchmaking, which makes discovery easier for alts.

Akkan: the return of the Legion of Nightmares

Akkan is the sixth Legion raid released in the West by Amazon Games, pitting eight players against the commander of the Legion of Nightmares. The raid is played across three separate gates, with two difficulty options. Normal opens at ilvl 1580, Hard at ilvl 1600. Since 2026, the raid runs on a Serca rotation with unlimited revives for those who want to learn it without pressure: gold and weekly rewards are reduced there, but progression blockers are completely removed.

The standard composition remains 2 Support (Bard, Paladin, or Artist) for 6 DPS, avoiding squads without counters. Akkan multiplies counter windows: each group of 4 must have at least two counter skills available at all times. Remember to activate your Yoz's Jar before entering, as it gives bonus gems and materials useful for smoothing out slower weeks.

Akkan Gate 1 — The aquatic prelude

Gate 1 serves as an audition. Here you validate mastery of the tumor orbs at x140: each player receives a green or black debuff, and must destroy the orb matching their color while strictly ignoring the others. At x128, a stagger phase begins as soon as the green debuff turns yellow. At x112, players must once again grab the correct orb color or face a collective penalty. Next comes a one-minute time attack to bring the boss to x90, followed by the famous evacuation sequence in the flooded arena, where you follow the marked paths or drown. Finally, the x20 phase requires breaking a shield via the bells. On Hard, a persistent contamination reduces your healing; make sure your Bards are in sync.

Akkan Gate 2 — Disease gauge and clones

Gate 2 introduces the disease gauge, the raid's signature mechanic. Every hit taken raises your indicator; once it reaches five stacks, you explode and kill your allies on contact. You must therefore alternate your positionals and deliberately give up tiles to purge. The boss chains several key sequences: tentacles at x175, ghost at x160 and x55 (players take turns moving clockwise in a circle to prevent the ghost from touching the central skull), red hole at x140, x85 and x30, and hide at x110, during which the whole team hides in the boss's moving shadow. On Hard, Akkan spawns clones that must be intercepted with a counter attack; without a synchronized counter, the final destruction mechanic results in a wipe.

Akkan Gate 3 — The lord of chaos

The final gate concentrates the raid's entire visual language. One player is designated "underground" with a lantern to burn away the disease stains that appear on the ground; if they fail, the contamination spreads and freezes the team. At x200 comes stagger X: everyone intercepts an orange laser to cut Akkan's connection to the towers before hammering the stagger gauge. At x165, the Line Delivery mechanic requires guiding a purple laser to the boss while blocking the green and orange lasers. At x140, players rotate statues to form a star or a hexagon depending on the clue given by the lasers. Below x139, the gimmicks alternate between colored curses (blue, red, green, black) and classic attacks. The final sequence requires a destruction check before the arena collapses. On Hard, a giant Akkan appears, with smash attacks and an additional water park that breaks the game's record for mechanics per minute.

Ivory Tower: Adento's abyssal dungeon

The Ivory Tower is classified as an abyssal dungeon in the French client, not to be confused with a Legion raid: it's played with four players, not eight. It requires prior completion of the quest "Adento's Legacy", has four gates, and opens at ilvl 1600 on Normal, 1620 on Hard. Each gate takes roughly 15 to 20 minutes for a clean clear, making it a particularly time-efficient weekly run.

The dungeon is known for its platforming puzzles — plates to activate in order, gems to assemble, ice to break — more than for its DPS checks. Hard mode adds tight timing constraints and double burst mechanics that punish compositions without a Bard or Artist. This is where you get the first Elixir of Wisdom materials and Energy of Wisdom, essential to the Elixir system.

Ivory Tower gate by gate

Gate 1 opens with the fight against a guardian of the tower: the key mechanic is breaking the side crystals to disable the shield before starting the stagger bar. Gate 2 introduces a light platform puzzle: each player is assigned a color and must jump onto the matching tiles, all while dealing with a flying boss that projects crossing lines. Gate 3 reuses the most iconic mechanic: the four energy crystals that must be protected in the center of the room against waves of summons, followed by a tight DPS check on the main boss. Finally, Gate 4 pits the team against Kaltaya, with strict positional phases, a permanent knock-up to counter, and a final phase of timed jumps across crumbling platforms that leaves little room for error.

Rewards: gold, honing materials, and Elixirs

Both pieces of content provide a steady stream of what's needed to progress past 1620+, on a weekly cycle per character.

Don't forget the weekly Yoz's Jar purchasable in the shop: it noticeably boosts material and gem gains from both pieces of content. Combined with an active Crystal Aura, it cuts in half the time needed to obtain the appropriate relic accessories.

Recommended classes and team composition

In Akkan, the ideal team mixes burst DPS for stagger checks and sustained DPS for the long phases.

• Supports: the Bard remains king thanks to her shield and her debuffs, but the Paladin keeps the edge on Gate 3 for his Godsent Law during the rounds. The Artist excels on Gate 2 thanks to her mobility.
• Back attack: Deathblade, Souleater, Reaper, Machinist Evolutionary, Slayer Punisher.
• Front attack: Berserker Berserker Technique, Destroyer Rage Hammer, Gunlancer Combat Readiness.
• Free attack (useful for covering counters): Sorceress, Aeromancer, Artillerist, Summoner.

On Ivory Tower, the 4-person composition is less forgiving of synergy mistakes: a Bard or a Paladin for three DPS with staggered bursts works better than three simultaneous burst DPS. The classes that particularly shine are Igniter Sorceress, Souleater, Scrapper Shock Training, and Aeromancer for managing mechanic uptime.

Our roadmap for breaking through the 1620 wall

The real trap of the 1600-1620 bracket is neither Akkan nor Ivory Tower, it's managing the weekly calendar and building the relic set.

1. Do Akkan Normal on your main as early as Tuesday (EUC / EUW server reset), then switch to Ivory Tower right after: materials stack up and you stay above the ordinary materials cap.
2. Reserve Hard mode for one or two characters only: the reward jump is real, but the mental load doubles if your alts lack 1+3 relics.
3. Use the Serca matchmaking to form learning parties without risking a vote-kick, then switch to regular Party Finder once your clears hold steady at 15 minutes per gate.
4. Invest your Akkan gems into priority skills: prefer two level 8 gems (damage + cooldown) per key skill rather than spreading across five skills.
5. Block off Friday evening for Ivory Tower Hard: the puzzles require a focused team, this isn't content to rush.

After three weeks of clean rotation, a main already at 1600 should be able to break the 1620 ilvl mark and open the door to Voldis, Thaemine, and then the Kazeros gates. That's where Lost Ark regains its full density: a set of content that, despite its age, remains among the best-choreographed in the Western ARPG-MMO space.

Key takeaways

Akkan and Ivory Tower are no longer the absolute endgame of Lost Ark as of July 2026, but they remain the mandatory launch ramp toward Kazeros. Remember three things: lock down your counters and your positionals first, structure your week around one main and two alts maximum, and don't neglect Elixirs — their bonus now exceeds the effect of a successful tap. Once these two pieces of content are mastered, difficulty and enjoyment become one and the same.

One last detail to note before gearing up: the summer update has also tightened the schedule of events tied to the Adventure Islands, which shifts the focus of weekly gold generation back onto raids. Veterans now recommend dedicating a full weekend session to the Ivory Tower to avoid getting stuck on the Gate 3 puzzles after an evening that's already well underway. On the gear side, advanced Elixir generation matters more than simply reaching 1620: prepare your relic accessories with consistent engravings before starting the race, as this will spare you regrets once the materials have been converted.