Lost Ark June Update: New Raid, Cadarum Isles Expansion, Balance Patch

Another month, another update for Smilegate’s MMORPG, Lost Ark. This is one of the best parts of the live service game, as Lost Ark has received an update virtually every month.

Even if it’s small or only a balance patch, there will always be something new and exciting for players to dig their fingers in. With the June update, we are getting a huge expansion into the world and setting up the future massively.

New Raid Content

The biggest addition to the June update comes in the form of a new raid. Considering players just got the Serca raid not too long ago, it’s somewhat surprising we’re getting these raids so frequently.

With that said, based on the community’s outlook, this looks to be one of the easier raids to hit the MMORPG, focusing on character-bound gold as reward instead of universal gold to be used on the marketplace.

Similar to the Serca raid, this will be a 4-player Abyssal Dungeon called Horizon Cathedral. It will consist of two different gates with three difficulties:

• Normal (Stage 1): 1700+
• Hard (Stage 2): 1720+
• Nightmare (Stage 3): 1750+

Unlike past raids, players will have an unlimited live pool. Although there will be a ten-second cooldown when dying. Players will then be able to revive with a Phoenix Plume or 10 Blue Crystals. Unfortunately, if all players die within that 10-second window, it will cause a raid wipe.

While this raid gives out character-bound gold, its major feature comes in the form of an Ancient Grid Core Crafting system. This allows players to use the materials they’ve received from the raid along with the materials from registering Cores (what players call the pity system for Ark Grid), and combine them to create random Ancient Relic Cores a Selector (one-per character).

This is a fantastic way of dealing with the RNG of the Core system, even though the price of crafting is quite significant. This raid will kick off starting June 17.

Cadarum Isles

Along with the new raid comes a brand-new story that players will be able to indulge themselves in. Starting at ilevel 1700+, characters will have a new main story called Destiny’s New Chapter after completing Inherited Will. This will appear in players’ journals and in Elnead.

From here, players will travel to a new section of the map where they will find new achievements, but will go without Adventurer’s Tome, Chaos Gates, Field Boss, and Trade Skill nodes.

On top of that, there are added collectibles such as the World Tree Leaves #119 and #120, a new Sea Bounty “Adventure: Sacrian Censer,” and, of course, Mokoko Seeds to collect in the wild.

It should be a nice bit of world building as Lost Ark slowly goes towards a new storyline after Kazeros.

Events Galore

With the June update, we also see many events added. For starters, there’s the new Kazeros Challenge Express that acts as the standard Mokoko Express, giving characters between 1640 and 1701 a chance to earn big rewards with reduced honing requirements. Players will also be treated to a free Power Pass ticket, sending a new character to 1640 right from the get-go.

The Twilight Road follows up the Kazeros Challenge Express as anyone who has a character between 1700 and 1730 will be given numerous rewards, such as gold, Ark Grid support and honing materials for hitting various milestones (mainly every ten levels).

On top of that, the Twilight Exchange replaces the existing standard event that has players earning tokens to exchange for weekly rewards such as materials and Card EXP, among other things.

Finally, there’s the Mokoko Bootcamp that makes its grand return, going upwards of the new raid, Horizon Cathedral. This means that anyone with Behemoth, Aegir, Brelshaza, Mordum, Act IV, Denouement, Serca and Horizon Cathedral (basically raids up to 1710) who is below 1720 ilevel and hasn’t cleared the raids ten times will be considered a Mokoko and be given various rewards for participating. On top of that, players who accept these Mokokos into their raids will be rewarded, as well.

Skins and Miscellaneous

One of the nice things about this update is the amount of variety it gives when it comes to skins. Every year, Amazon and Smilegate create western exclusive skins, and this time it’s very dragon oriented.

There will be an Earthbound Drake Mount, Bloody Dragonslayer skins, a Dragonmaiden Pet and a Crimson Earth Wallpaper for purchase starting June 17.

There is also a new Ark Pass, giving players, both the premium and free tracks, a good number of materials to use, especially if they’re within the new Serca tier. This pass will go until August 26, with the premium track only available until July 29.

Finally, what everyone has been hoping for, Lost Ark is finally getting the balance patch Korea received a couple of months ago. This completely reworks a handful of classes, or at least their specs from Ark Grid, giving a lot more flavor and variety.