Path of Exile 2: Zicoatl Warden of the Core boss guide
Zicoatl Warden of the Core is one of Path of Exile 2’s primary bosses in Act 3. Fought during the Legacy of the Vaal quest, it’s going to protect a powerful Soul Core from being claimed by the player. After you have activated the two generators and return to meet Alva again, this boss will come to life. A relatively slow-moving automaton, it has some dangerous lightning attacks you’ll want to avoid.
Unlike bosses like Mighty Silverfist or Blackjaw the Remnant, you cannot progress unless you overcome Zicoatl Warden of the Core in Path of Exile 2. It’s an important battle, and if you’re stuck on it, we’re here to help you get through it.
How to beat Zicoatl Warden of the Core in Path of Exile 2
Within Jiquani’s Sanctum in Path of Exile 2, you’ll fight Zicoatl Warden of the Core. Specifically, you’ll head back to the Grand Soul Core Nexus you started at. Once you’ve activated both generators, return here and try to get to Soul Core, you’ll be halted by this giant, tentacled automaton.
It has several lightning attacks, though some are easier to evade than others. One of these is a line of lightning that just travels in one direction — it doesn’t even cover the whole screen. It’s incredibly easy to get out of the way of. However, then it will activate all of the snake tentacles, and each one fires a laser line in a different direction/angle.
It has a relatively short reach and you can dodge roll your way to safety. It can also do a melee strike with the snake tentacles, each smashing at the ground quickly. A simple dodge roll can get you out of this attack.
However, there is one attack that is incredibly tricky and can easily kill players if they aren’t paying attention. You’ll see Zicoatl charge up a red triangle in this Path of Exile 2 boss fight. After a few seconds, a huge red glow will cover most of the ground. There is a safe spot, but you have to pay attention.
The safe spot is found at the Triangle’s Vertices. That is to say, where the two points meet. In the cone in front of those vertices, that’s where you can stand safely. That position may change though, so watch each time Zicoatl does it. This means you should keep the boss in the center of the screen to give you more places to maneuver.
The other most dangerous attack of Zicoatl Warden of the Core is that it will breathe out a few lightning beams. This will show several lines that scatter across the screen.
After a delay, they will ignite, dealing damage. This will likely happen a few times. Other than that, you just have to keep an eye out for the aforementioned attacks, and you’ll be safe and sound. However, despite being a lightning/physical boss — it does also have a weakness to lightning.
Melee characters will have to do a lot of moving and rotating the boss to keep out of reach of its attacks, but Minion builds have a lot more freedom to move around the map and keep the fight as safe as they want it to be.
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