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As soon as you begin Act 2 inPath of Exile 2, you’ll be forced to walk the red sands of the Vastiri Desert. The desert is home to plenty of challenging enemies, including some massive mobs, but few are more difficult to beat than Rathbreaker.
Rathbreaker is the first major boss you’ll come across in Act 2. Defeating the boss is the only way to progress in the “Earning Passage” quest, which is required to complete if you want to proceed in Path of Exile 2’s main story.
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New players and veterans alike have been struggling with Rathbreaker and their difficult boss fight. If you still haven’t been able to get past the boss, you’ve come to the right place.
The guide below will break down Rathbreaker bit by bit so there will be nothing left between you and victory in Path of Exile 2.
Rathbreaker Overview in Path of Exile 2
To start off, Rathbreaker isn’t a boss that utilizes any sort of elemental damage. Unlike other major bosses, such asCount Geonor, Rathbreaker focuses on more melee-focused attacks rather than using ranged moves or a specific type of damage.
While this is great for specific builds, it can spell disaster for melee characters or those that have sold out to defend against the elements with their gear. Melee classes likeWarrior and Monkwill especially have a hard time, as Rathbreaker can sap your health in an instant if you get too close.
The other issue with the Rathbreaker fight is you’re actually not even fighting the boss most of the time. Instead, you have to fend off against a horde of smaller enemies (called “adds”) that charge at you and also shoot at you from a distance.
The main add you need to worry about is the Hyena Demons. No matter how many hyenas you kill, they will continually spawn out of caves from both sides of the arena.
Other enemies called Sun Clan Scavengers will also charge you as soon you enter the arena, but they don’t respawn as often as the hyenas.
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The Sun Clan Scavengers hit harder than the Hyena Demons, but there are more of the latter. Scavengers can also damage you from a distance and up close, so they can be quite annoying to deal with on top of the dozen-plus hyenas that are constantly on the map.
There are also scavengers on the outskirts of the arena that hit you with ranged attacks. Through all of this, you need to find some way to whittle away at Rathbreaker’s HP and defeat the boss.
Strategies for Rathbreaker in Path of Exile 2
The Rathbreaker is truly different depending on whether you’re a melee or a ranged character. As such, we’ll have different strategies for both kinds of classes below.
Melee Class Strategies
For those of you who picked Warrior or have decided on a melee-focused Monk build, Rathbreaker will likely give you a hard time.
Since you always need to be close to deal damage, you’re more susceptible to Rathbreaker’s hard-hitting melee attacks. You also have to deal with the adds that are constantly at your feet pecking away your HP.
The best strategy you can use as a melee character is to deal with all the Sun Clan Scavengers first. Get them out of the way and also try to kill a few Hyena Demons every 10–20 seconds.
When the playing field is less littered with adds, focus on Rathbreaker. You’ll still have to worry about the ranged scavengers, but little can be done about them.
Rathbreaker has a few different melee attacks, all of which are deadly if you take a direct hit from them. Fortunately, Rathbreaker has a massive axe that needs to be heaved back before an attack begins.
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This allows you to telegraph when one of the boss' attacks is coming and dodge out of the way.
Of course, some of the axe swings happen quicker than others, so a wise strategy is to get one or two attacks in and then dodge once or twice, regardless of whether an attack actually comes.
Rathbreakerwill also throw in a charge attack if you drift too far away from the boss. You can easily avoid the charge by dodging out of the way, but if you happen to go in for some damage just before the charge comes, it’s difficult to get out of the way.
Just be sure to watch out for the signs of the charge, which begins with Rathbreaker roaring.
If you can get into a rhythm of attacking, dodging, attacking, etc. You also have to mix in attacks to the Hyena Demons to lower their numbers as well.Area of effect (AoE) damageworks wonders for this, so you should attempt to use those as much as possible.
When you start to take damage from Rathbreaker, dodge away and regroup either above or below the central cliff in the arena. This gives you time to regroup, kill some adds, and make Rathbreaker chase you, which can give you the upper hand.
Ranged Class Strategies
Generally, you have a better chance of defeating Rathbreaker as aranged character. You’re able to stay away from the majority of Rathbreaker’s melee attacks if you continuously move around the arena while also dealing consistent damage.
The main issue you’ll run into as a ranged character is fending off the adds as well as Rathbreaker. What tends to happen is Rathbreaker will get mixed in with the adds as the entire group of enemies chases you.
This can throw off your aim and instead of hitting Rathbreaker, you keep damaging the adds. Of course, if you have a build that utilizes area of effect damage, all the enemies will take damage at the same time. This is the recommended way to attack Rathbreaker and the adds.
Still, you want to find ways to single out Rathbreaker, so they take the brunt of the damage you’re dishing out.
Once again, the best way to do that is to kill all the Sun Clan Scavengers and a few Hyena Demons every 20 or so seconds. In the time Rathbreaker is only surrounded by a few adds, they will be much more susceptible to larger damage.
To avoid damage from Rathbreaker, make consistent loops around the central cliff in the arena. Go from the top, to down one of the sides, across the bottom, and up the other side.
Repeat this process to ensure Rathbreaker never gets too close to you and allows you to easily kill Hyena Demons that spawn on the side.
You will take damage from the ranged scavengers on the side of the arena, but as long as you move quickly enough, they can’t do too much damage.
One problem you could run into is Rathbreaker’s charge attack. The boss will charge you if you get too far away or at a random time. If you’re caught in the crosshairs of the charge, you take severe damage and you’re knocked back.
Since you’ll be playing from a distance, you should be able to see this attack coming and dodge out of the way. However, if you’re focusing on the adds and don’t see the charge, it can be disastrous. As such, you want to ensure you always have at least one eye on Rathbreaker.
