Path of Exile 2 Rudja the Dread Engineer boss guide
Rudja the Dread Engineer is potentially the second main boss you face during Act 2 in Path of Exile 2. To find her, you must take the caravan to Mawdun Quarry via the Desert Map, and then explore the area till you find the lift descending into Mawdun Mines. As such, Rudja is not as big of a difficulty ramp as Rathbreaker, but she has a lot of area-covering attacks that particularly threaten static casters.
In this guide, we'll go over what Rudja's moveset is in Path of Exile 2, and the strategies against each of them, so you can almost guarantee beating her on your next attempt.
How to defeat Rudja the Dread Engineer in Path of Exile 2
Rudja is one of the simpler bosses in Path of Exile 2 in terms of moveset variety. Her main and most common attack is to use her flamethrower, and sometimes chucking grenades as a means of area denial.
Rudja is weak to Cold damage, so mages (Witch/Sorceress) can take a spare Frost Bomb to specifically use during the fight. Martial classes, meanwhile, have to try and armor-break her, since she comes with high physical resistance.
Thankfully, there are no ad spawns during this boss, and all you'll have to do is figure out how to weave your offense in between her moves.
Gas and explosive grenades
Rudja is thus far the only engineer archetype boss in Path of Exile 2 and thus makes exclusive usage of grenades, similar to the Mercenary Skills of the same type. There are three variations of this:
- She'll chuck an Explosive Grenade in your general direction, which has a 3-second timer before it explodes.
- She will throw multiple grenades out at once. If not Stunned, Frozen, or otherwise deterred, she will generally follow this up by doing a 360 spin with her flamethrower, spreading fire and causing a big series of almost instant explosions throughout the arena.
- She will throw out three Gas Grenades that create a Gas Cloud. If you stand within, you take Chaos damage for the duration.
Out of these, the toughest one to avoid is the multiple Explosive Grenade into Flamethrower combo. Usually, if you back off to the edge of the arena, you can avoid the AoE. The neat thing is, the grenades bounce away once they're cast, meaning you can avoid them by getting nearer to Rudja. In other words, when you see multiple red (Explosive) Grenades, instantly dodge-roll towards Rudja, and then back off once she has completed her flamethrower spin.
Note that the Flamethrower-Grenade combo attack leaves lingering patches of burning ground that Ignite you when you walk on it.
Flamethrower attacks
As stated earlier, Rudja's go-to is a spin attack with her Flamethrower. This can be dodged if you roll against the direction of the spin, i.e. rolling through the trajectory of the fire. The flame is thin enough that you have just enough i-frames to reliably pull this off every single time.
The Flamethrower attacks are your best window of opportunity to mount your offense, as they have relatively little damage even if the fire hits you.
The Suicidal Charge
Like the unhinged zealot she is, Rudja will sometimes stick a live grenade on to her sword arm, and charge at you, swinging it about. This is Rudja's only melee attack, but it's the most lethal run-ender of all. If you get hit, the grenade explodes in a massive amount of burst damage. Rudja herself takes some damage too, but if you're a glass cannon build, this attack has one-shot potential on you.
Other than Path of Exile 2's usual boss stinger noise, there's an additional audio cue before this attack: Risu (the woman in the cage) calls out, "She's coming!".
Due to the extremely dangerous nature of the attack, you have to time your dodge properly and roll into her flank when she makes a swing. She continues turning around and chasing you, making a few more melee attempts — but after kiting for long enough, the grenade will explode, stunning her for a brief moment.
This move only happens once or twice in the fight depending on your DPS potential, but it's the main thing you'll have to learn to avoid.
In general, the Rudja boss will go much easier if you don't commit one of Path of Exile 2's rookie mistakes: ignoring defenses when leveling. Having a total Life of over 300 with at least 40% Fire Resistance is crucial here to mitigate the one-shot potential of the suicide charge.
If you are struggling too much, it's probably time to get some gear with higher Fire Resistance and Energy Shield to help tank the unavoidable damage.
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