Path of Exile 2 Rathbreaker boss guide

Rathbreaker is the first boss you face after you reach the Act 2 map in Path of Exile 2. There's no sidestepping this minotaur, as you must beat him to clear the Earning Passage quest and get beyond the Vastiri Outskirts. Mechanically, he's far less complex than Count Geonor, but he boasts an entire army of invulnerable archers and hordes of ad-spawns.

To top it off, he's far beefier than anything you've faced during the Act 1 campaign. In this guide, we'll go over what his moves are, and what you need to do to vanquish him.

How to defeat Rathbreaker in Path of Exile 2

Once you get to Rathbreaker's cove, the first thing you'll face is a row of hyenas. This is an important foreshadowing, as there will be a lot of these spawning during the fight. Once you beat the hyenas, don't go up the cliff just yet. Instead, pick off the two cronies standing next to Rathbreaker, who are not "aggroed" when you hit them from under the cliff.

In general, Rathbreaker has a lot of similarities with the Bloated Miller, the tutorial boss you faced all those hours ago. The big problem here is the incremental ad spawns and the archer attacks you'll have to maneuver on top.

The Archers up above

The edges of this valley are lined with archers who you cannot kill, and shoot volleys of highly damaging arrows that trace a rather wide wave of destruction through the sand. The only area on the main arena (up the cliff) where you'll never be pelted with arrows is the tip of the cliff where Rathbreaker stands at the beginning of the fight. If you're playing a melee class, this is where you'll want to keep him contained.

If you stray towards the upper edge of the cove near the archer, they shoot a few stray arrows at you that can be avoided by blocking. However, the wide concentrated arrow volley cannot be blocked.

Charge

If you're playing as a caster, Rathbreaker will sometimes glow and charge at you. He seems to have less stun build-up during the charge. He does not have any tracking after he initiates it, so you can easily dodge it. However, if coordinated with the volley of arrows from up above, this can often put you in a dangerous spot.

The Three-hit Slam

Rathbreaker has a three-hit combo move where he will first trail his sword backward, then shoot two projectiles that leave slim trails across the sand. These have a good deal of tracking even if you are trying to sidestep them, but they don't inflict damage. The finale of this move is a slam that sends out a huge shockwave. The stinger noise common with Path of Exile 2 boss fights play right before it, so time your dodge-roll laterally when it does.

Hyena mobs

When he's at two-thirds of his health, Rathbreaker will call in the aid of hyenas, who swarm into the arena from both sides. During this point, you either need to mow them down with ample crowd damage, or start kiting by finding your way off the cliff.

You want to get off the cliff to de-aggro Rathbreaker so you can deal with the hyenas. However, you don't want to retreat too far back, since that will just reset the boss altogether.

Ultimately, Rathbreaker acts as a sort of DPS check to prepare you for the stronger mobs you'll face in Path of Exile 2. It's worth noting that this boss fight and his AI is the most susceptible to breaking, in our experience. If you're playing a summoning class like Witch, it's possible to drag him to the center of the V-shaped cliff and body-block him with minions, at which point he will start doing nothing but melee attacks until he dies.

Check out our other guides on the game:

Path of Exile 2 Beginner tips
Path of Exile 2 Crafting guide
Path of Exile 2 Buff Gems guide
Path of Exile 2 class tier list for beginners
Path of Exile 2 Keystone passives