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Ekbab, the Ancient Steed and Iktab, the Deathlord are a duo boss fight in Act 2 ofPath of Exile 2. To reassemble the Horn of the Vastiri, you’ll need three different items, sending you on a quest across the desert to dangerous locations.
One of the items you need is the Mastodon Tusks, which will bring you to the Mastodon Badlands, The Bone Pits, and eventually the bosses Ekbab and Iktab. Below, we’ll take a look at how to beat both of these bosses, including each of their attacks and mechanics.
Where To Find Ekbab And Iktab
Ekbab and Iktab are found inThe Bone Pitsin Act 2, during theA Theft of Ivoryquest. This quest takes you first to theMastodon Badlands, which eventually lead to The Bone Pits. Explore around this large area until you come across theBlackrib Pit, where these two bosses are waiting.
How To Defeat Ekbab And Iktab
Both of these bosses will come at you at the same time, so you’ll need to decide how to tackle them.When either boss is defeated, the other will become empowered, increasing the effectiveness of each of their attacks.
Because of this, it can bedangerous to focus down the bosses one at a time. We recommend trying todamage them both equallyso that their health depletes at the same rate, then kill them both quickly one after the other.
Notes
Ground Slam
Ekbab willslam the area to its front, creating a cascading wave of damage.
Ekbab willraise its front hoovesbefore slamming them down. When you see it stand up, get out of the way to avoid this attack.
Tusk Swipe
Ekbab willswipe its head to its left, dealing damage.
Staying to the right of the bosswill make it easier to avoid this attack. However, Ekbab may alsofollow up with an additional swing to the right, so make sure you’re ready to dodge again.
Charge
Ekbab willrush forward, dealing damage in a line.
Ekbab willrear back before charging forward. If you can, staying at range will make it easier to avoid this attack.
Most of Ekbab’s attacks can be avoided bydodging to either side of it. Whenever you see it preparing an attack, judge the distance between you and the boss and dodge to either side if needed. Between the two,Ekbab is much easier, but avoiding its attacks while staying clear of Iktab’s is the real challenge.
When Ekbab is empowered by Iktab’s death, it will create asmaller version of Iktab’s Ghost Novathat fires out projectiles. At the same time, one to twosmaller ghost orbswill follow you and explode when they get near. You can bait the explosion by getting near them and dodging at the last second, or keep running until the projectiles expire.
Lightning Wand
Iktab will fire out smalllightning projectilesthat explode on impact.
This attack can be hard to avoid and is difficult to see coming. When you see the first set of lightning projectiles, either put distance between you and the boss ortime out your dodgesto avoid them.
Sigil Meteor
Createsthree orange sigilson the ground that will then have a meteor dropped on top of them.
Avoid the orange sigils to avoid taking damage from the meteors.
Lightning Strikes
Randomly strikes small areas of the arena with lightning.
The lightning strikes are indicated by small,light blue markers. Avoid these as you dodge other attacks.
Ghost Nova
A nova will be created in the center of the arena thatperiodically shoots out projectileswhile slowly rotating.
Move to the edge of the arena to give yourself some space, thenmove along with the rotating novato avoid each of the projectiles.
Bone Tendrils
Summons five circle AoEsnear your feetthat explode after a moment.
Iktab will only use this attackwhen empowered by Ekbab’s death. Keep moving to avoid each AoE.
When Iktab is empowered by Ekbab’s death,all of its attacks will become stronger. Sigil meteor will createwaves of sigils, covering a majority of the arena. Lightning Strikes will cover asmaller part of the arenabut aremore densely packed. Ghost Nova projectiles willcome out much faster, andthe nova will spin faster. Additionally, Iktab will gain access to a new attack, detailed above.
Be careful when dodging the projectiles of Ghost Nova, asmoving too far can put you in the path of another projectile. It’s better toavoid these by walking with the projectilesas the nova spins rather than dodging through each of them.
Overall, we recommend eitherkilling both bosses at the same time or taking out Iktab first, who is by far themore dangerous of the two. Ekbab’s empowered attacks are easy enough to avoid, and its attacks don’t get any stronger, whereas Iktab’s become much harder to deal with.
Equippinggear with lightning resistancewill help with survivability for this fight, as the primary sources of damage are Iktab’slightning strikesandlightning wandattacks.
Once both bosses are down, you can claim the Mastodon Tusks and continue on to the other pieces of the Horn of Vastiri.
