Act 2 Boss Guide

Bosses in Act 2 come with a noticeable jump in difficulty over Act 1; with a large amount of fire, lightning and physical damage present in each fight. The first boss of the act, Rathbreaker, tests the player's physical defensive capabilities. While Rudja and Jamanra puts the player's fire resistance to the test. If you missed our guide for Act 1, check it out. We also have a guide for Act 3, plus, a full campaign walkthrough if you need more help.

Rathbreaker

Zone: Vastiri Outskirts

Damage Types: Physical

Before the fight:

• Consider equipping various armour pieces for physical damage mitigation and life recovery to stay near full HP.
• Equip a single target ability for Rathbreaker, an AoE ability for swarming enemies, and a crowd control ability for safety.

Default Attacks:

• Swings his sword at the player, occasionally with a follow-up overhead swing.
• Swipes at the player with his claw.

Note: Once the boss dies the spearmen from the cliffs jump down and attack the player.

Rathbreaker is the first boss for Act 2, this guide explains each of his abilities in detail to help you survive this encounter with this dangerous warlord.

Ability Breakdown

Call the Pack

Once below roughly 60% Rathbreaker begins to call swarms of hyenas that rush the player.

Kill these hyenas quickly before you get overwhelmed.

Drive By

Rathbreaker charges forward, with a rain of spears falling in a line beside him.

Forcewave

Slams the ground in front of him causing a large burst of wind to rush forward.

Wind Slice

If the player is too far for Rathbreaker to melee he winds up his sword and swings, sending gusts of air at the player, before charging a sunder that damages in a straight line.

Rudja, the Dread Engineer

Zone: Mawdun Mine

Damage Types: Physical, Fire

Default Attacks:

Gas Grenade:

• Creates a poison cloud upon detonation.

Oil Grenade:

• Slows movement speed and applies -10% Fire Exposure.

When ignited by an explosive grenade or Rudja's flamethrower, it creates burning ground and also inflicts -10% Fire Exposure.

Flashbang:

• Propels nearby grenades further away.

Explosive Grenades:

• Fired in volleys of three which detonate after a short delay. The number of grenades per volley increases as Rudja’s health decreases.

Special Abilities:

1. Flamethrower:
   • Rudja uses her flamethrower to release a sustained stream of fire, igniting any oiled ground in its path.
2. Explosive engineering
   • Rudja pulls out a timed explosive grenade and embeds it into her weapon.
   • She chases the player and swings repeatedly until:
     • The grenade detonates.
     • She is staggered by being dragged through an undetonated explosive grenade.
3. Scorched Earth
   • Throws multiple oil grenades into the air.
   • Spins twice around the room with her flamethrower, igniting all oiled areas creating burning ground.

Balbala, the Traitor

Zone: Traitor's Passage

Damage Types: Physical, Fire, Chaos

Before the fight:

• Over leveling as much as possible is recommended, this is a tough fight that deals a lot of chaos damage.

Default Attack:

• Performs two consecutive dagger slashes.

Special Abilities:

1. Flicker Strike
   • Teleports behind the player and attacks.
2. Whirling Blades:
   • Spins forward a short distance, dealing damage.
3. Golden Barya
   • Throws a golden coin on the ground, creating a rune beneath.
   • If left untouched, a Shadow of Balbala spawns, using her default attack.
   • If the player enters the rune, it dissipates, and Balbala slams the area, creating burning ground. Roll out quickly to avoid damage and prevent the shadow from spawning.
4. Blazing Dagger Barrage
   • Teleports randomly around the arena, spawning flaming daggers that track the player before firing simultaneously.
5. Hide and Seek
   • Disappears from sight as poison gas seeps into the arena from the center of the room, expanding outward.
   • Players must locate her to dissipate the gas. When found, she slams the ground beneath her. Once you reach her, dodge roll away to prevent taking damage.
6. Poison Dagger Flurry
   • Fires a barrage of poison dagger projectiles, tracking the player.
7. Volleys of Explosive Daggers
   • Throws multiple daggers that embed in the ground before erupting upward.
8. Spinning Glaive Volley
   • Launches several spinning glaives that travel outward before returning to their original position.

Jamanra, the Risen King

Zone: The Halani Gates

Damage Types: Physical, Lightning, Fire

Default Attack:

• Jamanra’s primary attack consists of rapid slashes that propel him toward the player.

Special Attacks:

1. Obsidian Storm
   • Occasionally, Jamanra summons a small tornado that explodes into spinning shards of obsidian. Stay alert and move out of its radius to avoid damage.
2. Flameblast
   • When you hear the distinct avoid sound cue, Jamanra hurls his sword into the ground. Players must quickly run to the sword and stay in the small circle to avoid taking significant damage.
3. Lightning Beam
   • Jamanra telegraphs this attack by pulling his left arm back before firing a beam of lightning. Dodge to evade the beam.
4. Final Phase (25% Health)
   • Upon reaching 25% health, Jamanra summons a sandstorm and calls forth multiple Volatile Scarabs. Survive the scarab swarm to conclude the fight.

Iktab & Ekbab

Zone: The Bone Pits

Damage Types: Physical, Lightning, Fire

Iktab’s Abilities

• Default Attack
  • Fires a small cluster of lightning explosions at the player.

1. Lightning Runes
   • Channels lightning to cover the arena with small runes, each being struck by lightning shortly after.
2. Meteor Runes
   • Summons 3 fire runes that call down meteors in sequence.
3. Lightning Sphere
   • Conjures a massive lightning sphere at the center of the arena, which unleashes a nova of projectiles.

Ekbab’s Abilities

• Default Attacks
  • Tusk Swipe: A broad horizontal attack with its tusks.
  • Frontal Slam: A powerful, focused slam in front of Ekbab.

1. Charge Attack
   • If the player is too far away, Ekbab charges towards their direction until he slams into the wall.

Phase Transition Effects

Upon killing either Iktab or Ekbab, the remaining boss becomes empowered. 

After Iktab’s Death:

1. Spawned Lightning Spheres: Two smaller lightning spheres appear:
   • Tracking Sphere: Pursues the player and explodes upon contact.
   • Roaming Sphere: Moves around the arena, firing smaller projectiles.
2. Ekbab’s Empowerment:
   • Tusk Swipe: Transforms into a rapid combo of swipes.
   • Frontal Slam: Covers a significantly larger area.

After Ekbab’s Death:

• Iktab’s New Abilities:
  1. Bone Spikes: Throws spikes at the player that erupt into bone formations upon impact. Similar to his unempowered default attack, but slower and larger.
  2. Empowered Meteor Runes: Covers a large section arena with fire runes that cascade meteors from above.
  3. Enhanced Lightning Runes: The empowered version of this ability creates more runes in snaking lines around the arena. 

Note: It's recommended for players to kill Iktab first, as the Ekbab empowered abilities are not too difficult to deal with.

Kabala, Constrictor Queen

Zone: Keth

Damage Types: Physical

Default Attacks:

• Throws a small explosive cyan projectile from her left hand.
• Slashes with a dagger.

Special Abilities:

1. Tail Whip
   • Sweeps at players in melee range, with the attack increasing in size as her health drops.
2. Snake Swarm
   • Channels her blood into nearby canopic jars to summon a swarm of bone snakes.
3. Death Nova
   • Releasing a large amount of her explosive projectiles in a nova, that detonate shortly after.
4. Bone Cage
   • Submerges into the sand, creating Bone Walls at all but one of the arena entrances before quickly channeling a massive arena-wide physical detonation and applying a 20-second Vulnerability debuff. Either look for the one opening or, burst down a bone wall.

Zalmarath, the Colossus

Zone: The Titan Grotto

Damage Types: Physical, Fire

Note: The targeting for Zalmarath can be a little wonky, if you have trouble targeting his body you can also aim for his hand.

Special Abilities:

1. Sweep Slam
   • Sweeps his arm across the arena, then stabs his dagger down before dragging it back towards him.
2. Dagger Drag
   • Stabs his dagger down and then drags it towards him.
3. Chisel Slam
   • Slams his arm or dagger into the ground, upheaving the ground to deal damage.
4. Roof Shatter
   • Fires a ceiling laser, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling.
5. Reposition
   • Repositions around the arena, launching red lightning projectiles as he moves.
6. Walking Flame
   • Slams his hand at the arena's edge, sending snaking fire that erupts shortly after.
7. Laser:
   • Fires a straight beam that diverges into multiple beams in a cone.

Phase 2 (50% Health):

1. Decimation Beam
   • Stabs his dagger in the arena's center, unleashing a beam that covers the arena.
   • Stand behind the dagger to avoid damage.
2. Enrage
   • Repeatedly stabs his dagger on the arena.
3. Lightshow
   • Immediately diverges his layer into a large cone around the arena. 

At ~35% health, flying constructs enter from the arena edges; destroy them before they detonate on the player. 

Azarian, the Forsaken Son

Zone: Buried Shrines

Damage Types: Physical, Fire

Default Attack:

• Swings all four weapons at the player, ending with a slam.

Special Abilities:

1. Infernal Cyclone
   • Azarian ignites his weapons and spins towards the player dealing fire damage.
2. Burning Pitch
   • Occasionally throws a fire bomb at a corner of the room, causing burning ground to spread.
3. Infernal Cleave
   • Slices his weapons together, unleashing a fireball towards the player.
4. Infernal Ground Slam
   • Slams the ground, causing molten rock to upheave in a cone in front of the boss.
5. Rubble Toss
   • Hooks his scythe into the ground before slicing towards the player, throwing multiple projectiles.
6. Infernal Rubble Toss
   • Similar to Rubble toss however, the projectiles leave a flame wall behind their trajectory.

Azarian can be a very difficult boss if the player is lacking on fire resistance, as the arena very quickly reduces in size giving you very little wiggle room to dodge the bosses abilities. Focus on timing your dodges when he begins to channel cyclone.

Tor Gul, the Defiler

Zone: The Spires of Deshar

Damage Type: Physical, Fire, Chaos

Default Attacks:

• Smashes his head into the ground targeting the player.
• Sweeps both arms across the arena.
• Slams his hand targeting players at close proximity.

Special Abilities:

1. Toxic spew
   1. Vomits poison on the ground in front of him, which summons skeletons.
2. Flame Breath
   1. Raises his head to breathe fire over a third of the arena, creating burning ground. The direction (clockwise or counterclockwise) is dependent on player positioning.
3. Flame Runes
   1. Reaches out around the player and begins to channel fire runes on the ground, which erupt shortly after. 
4. Enrage
   1. Throws a tantrum, slamming the ground before breathing fire in front of him.
5. Ribcage Barrage
   1. Opens his ribcage to unleash a volley of fireballs.

Empowered Phase (Below 50% Health):

• Flame Rune eruptions spawn flaming tornadoes.
• Ribcage Barrage summons raging spirit skulls that chase players.

Jamanra, the Abomination

Zone: The Dreadnaught Vanguard

Damage Types: Physical, Lightning, Fire

Phase 1:

Default Attacks:

• Throws a lightning bolt at range.
• Sprays lightning in melee range.

Phase 2 

Default Attacks

• Gains a new default attack, forms a whips of air, knocking the player back a short distance.

Note: High DPS may result in overlapping mechanics, significantly reducing safe zones in the arena.

Jamanra is the final boss for Act 2, this guide explains each of his abilities in detail to help you stop the beast!

Ability Breakdown

Beacon Lightning Bolt

Summons staggered beacons, unleashing chain lightning in a frontal sweep.

When you see the beacons being thrown out, run past the boss to avoid being damaged.

Beacon Toss

Throw two beacons in front of him, detonating them in a lightning explosion.

When you see the beacons being thrown out, run past the boss to avoid being damaged.

Beacon Waltz

Spawns two beacons that create a shifting lightning wall to chase the player.

Empowered Obsidian Storm

Creates 4 tornadoes that form into shards of obsidian that progress in a path along the arena.

Obsidian Axe Sweep

Swiftly forms an axe, and cleaves in front of him for lightning damage.

Obsidian Beacons

Creates two lightning walls by throwing rock shards into the ground, slowing players standing in them.

Jamanra will create up to 2 sets of beacons at a time. These can overlap with Obsidian Shards or Obsidian Turbines.

Obsidian Shards

Once below 50% Jamanra replaces his Obsidian Beacons with a volley of obsidian shards that, once embedded into the ground, call lightning strikes down. These can overlap with Obsidian Beacons and Obsidian Turbines.

Obsidian Sword Slam

Raises a sword before sundering the ground in a fiery eruption.

Sandstorm

Occasionally conjures a sandstorm; hide behind Sekhema Asala's shield to survive. During the Sandstorm, zombies rush the player, kill them quickly to avoid being overwhelmed.

Obsidian Turbine

Once below 25% Jamanra replaces his Obsidian shards with a torus shaped storm that fires a constant barrage of obsidian shards across the arena. These can overlap with Obsidian Beacons and Obsidian Shards.

Tornado

At the start of the phase Jamandra spawns multiple tornados that wander the room and continues to re-summon them throughout the fight.

Summary

The Act 2 Boss Guide includes move sets and strategies to defeat the challenging encounters found in the middle of Path of Exile 2's Early Access campaign. Learn tips and tricks for defeating Rathbreaker and Jamanra with our detailed ability breakdown.

Check out these related guides:

• Act 1 Boss Guide
• Act 3 Boss Guide
• Campaign Walkthrough
• Permanent Stats
• Act 2 Secrets

Credits:

Written By: havoc616

Reviewed By: Jerrin, Tenkiei