How do you beat Doryani in Path of Exile 2? As there’s currently only three acts in the game, Doryani functions more or less as the final boss, as beating him will send you off to repeat the acts on the ultra-difficult Cruel difficulty – at least until Grinding Gear Games adds more. As such, he’s more difficult than the bosses before him, though you now have quite a lot more experience and a better build to take him on.
If you’re looking for information on other bosses in Path of Exile 2, we have all Path of Exile 2 boss locations and rewards to make sure you don’t miss out on any prime loot on your way to Doryani. These include ultra important permanent upgrades you’re going to want to have.
Where to find Path of Exile 2 Doryani
The PoE 2 Act 3 boss, Doryani, Royal Thaumaturge and his second form Doryani’s Triumph is found in The Testing Pit area of The Black Chambers. The Viper Napuatzi in Utzaal is the last boss before him, so once you’ve cleared that difficult fight, you’ll explore Aggorat to find the entrance to The Black Chambers.
In The Black Chambers, you’re looking for bridges that come up out of the water which will lead you to Doryani. Other routes will take you to more enemies if you want to level up some more. There isn’t much else to do in the area; however, in the previous two areas (Utzaal and Aggorat) you can get two passive skill points by finding the Sacrificial Heart in the former and bringing it to the Sacrificial Altar in the latter. Don’t miss them.
How to beat Path of Exile 2 Doryani
You best believe Doryani has two phases. In his first phase, he’s called Doryani, Royal Thaumaturge and in his second he hops up into a mech called Doryani’s Triumph. He switches to the second form at around 50% health and his mech can very easily one shot the tankiest of builds.
Before you take him on, you’ll want to make sure you’re in the level 45 range or above. If you’re still struggling, make sure you’re not using level 8 equipment from the first act. It wouldn’t hurt to try to find better resistances along with higher Armor, Energy Shield, or Evasion.
Doryani deals many types of damage but leans more into Fire and Chaos, so if you have specific Charms that block Ignite or rings that greatly increase your resistance of either, you should definitely equip them before taking him on.
Last, having extra Movement Speed from either your boots or passives is a great boon in this fight, as he has a couple attacks that are best avoided by running from them.
Otherwise, Doryani resists Fire and Lightning damage in his first form and has strong Armor in his second. Bring a skill like Flammability to get through the first or just power through, accepting the fact that the fight will take a little bit longer than a class using Physical, Chaos, or Cold skills.
All Doryani, Royal Thaumaturge phase one moves
In this form, Doryani simply attacks with a lot of spells and ancient equipment. He’s slow, but comes packed with a dizzying array of attacks that do various types of damage. As a general rule, you’ll want to keep as close as possible to keep as close to his back as possible and away from his front – unless one of his AoE skills is about to overwhelm you. Then it’s a good idea to back off until they disappear.
- Lightning Spray: Doryani will shoot out lightning from his hand that tracks you; these don’t do a lot of damage and you can tank it to get extra hits in with most builds.
- Fire Shot: Doryani shoots out fire before him, which also doesn’t do a ton of damage, allowing you to quickly get a handful of hits in if you have decent Fire Resistance.
- Charged Blast: Doryani will charge up and emit a powerful blast of Chaos energy. Dodge either to the left or right to avoid it. The end of this attack sprays out a large cone.
- Laser Altar: At around 75% HP, the rotating altar in the middle of the arena will emit laser beams. These do massive Chaos damage. There’s usually a larger gap you can stand in. Dodging through them is doable, but try not to roll into another laser.
- Fire Orbs: These orbs do damage over time if you stand near them but much more damage if you’re anywhere close when they explode. If they’re near Doryani, backup and use longer ranged attacks until he moves away from them.
- Overhead Bolts: Doryani will charge up before spinning bolts rain down from above him. These are extremely strong so you must back away and deal damage from a distance.
All Doryani’s Triumph phase two moves
At around 50% health, Doryani will summon to him a mech-like construct like a Doctor Eggman impersonator. He will regain all his health and deploy a suite of new moves, making things more difficult for melee and ranged builds alike.
- Ground Slam: Doryani’s mech will slam the ground with one arm or one after another. Stick behind him to avoid these completely.
- Fire Shot: Doryani will shoot a beam of fire out directly in front of him that will one shot most builds. Simply stay behind him to avoid it.
- Fire Blast: Doryani will slam one of his arms into the ground and summon a massive nova blast in a large circle. Again, stick behind him to avoid this.
- Cold Slam: Doryani slams a mech arm into the ground to create a wide cone of Cold damage in front of him. If you’re close to his body, you’ll avoid this completely.
- Orb Slam: Doryani will take the red orb out of the front of the mech and slam it in front of him. You know what to do to avoid this.
- Back Lasers: The back of the mech will open and spinning lasers will emit from it. This time, you’re going to want to circle around in the direction Doryani is spinning to keep ahead of them.
- Overhead Cannon: Doryani will summon a laser cannon which will rain down shots from above. Just keep it in your sight to make sure you’re not rolling into its path.
- Mech Explosion: Near 50% health, Doryani will detach from the mech in a little aerial ship. Then, the mech will explode. Roll backward to the edge of the arena to avoid this.
- Mech Slam: From this point on, the mech will sometimes spin in the air before slamming into the ground. This does massive damage, killing most characters, and the best way to avoid it is to stay near either the left or right edge of the AoE marker, not at the very back, and rolling just before the mech slams down.
- Fire Beam: A beam of fire will rain down from above, limiting where you can move. Simply do your best to avoid it.
- Lightning Strikes: Lightning will periodically rain down from above at a fixed point. Like the Fire Beam before it, simply do your best to avoid it.
- Lightning Chase: Lightning will follow you around the arena from above. The best way to avoid it is to simply keep moving around the mech in a circle. Don’t try to attack.
- Lighting Rain: From the top of the mech, Doryani will rain down lightning that covers most of the arena except for right around him. Stay close to avoid it and watch out for subsequent slams from his fists.
Doryani melee strategy
This is the one boss fight where melee weapon users fare just as well as their ranged counterparts, as you’ll want to stay as close as possible anyway. For most of his attacks, you won’t want to be directly in front of him.
In his first phase you’ll particularly want to watch out for the Fire Orbs and Overhead Bolts that he summons. Both of these attacks will require you to get as far away from him as possible. On the other hand, if you have enough Chaos and Fire resistance you can tank a lot of his hits and simply keep swinging with your Mace or Quarterstaff of choice, whittling him down as much as possible while keeping in mind there’s a central altar that’s shooting out Chaos energy.
His second phase is more of the same but with a few more moves to keep track of. A skill like Leap Slam or Vaulting Impact to get out of danger as quickly helps here, as when the mech begins to lift into the air and slam down you won’t be able to escape taking lethal damage unless you have quite a lot of Movement Speed with your build or are very quick to move to the left or right edge of the impact area.
Otherwise, the only move here you’ll really want to keep track of is the Back Lasers attack. This will require you to move quickly to either his left or right to avoid getting zapped. Likewise, when lightning chases you around the arena, cease attacking and simply walk around the big mech to avoid taking too much damage.
There’s no shame in simply using a basic attack here to whittle him down instead of big, flashy moves that require charging up or long animations. In fact, we highly recommend avoiding those types of attacks.
Doryani ranged strategy
Much like melee weapon users, ranged characters – whether magic or otherwise – will want to stick as close to Doryani as possible through both his phases. The only difference here is if you’re relying on Energy Shield for your defense; if you lose your shield, you might want to back up and avoid his attacks in his first phase in order to regain it. But beware: in his second phase, you’ll definitely want to stay as close as possible. Stop attacking and dodge when necessary.
The first phase is identical to melee characters: avoid the Fire Orbs and Overhead Bolts while you build as much damage as possible on him. When these attacks are online, you can move back and spread AoE damage like Flame Wall or hit him at a distance; however, he’ll still be able to hit you with his plentiful ranged attacks during this time. Therefore, you should definitely move back in close once the aforementioned moves dissipate.
His second phase requires a different strategy, especially for characters that rely on minions as you’ll find them getting melted before you can make proper use of them more often than not. As a result, the best strategy here is to use your spells that take longer to cast after his slam-based attacks that have a bit longer windup and animations. Longer cast times like Snipe will not work well against Doryani, however.
His Mech Slam will definitely kill most ranged builds; as a result, you really do need some kind of Movement Speed buff or teleportation mechanic to escape him. The Infernalist Witch, for instance, can shift into Demon form for a longer dodfge. If your build doesn’t have such a skill, consider taking Leap Slam from the Warrior skill tree or Vaulting Impact from the Monk if you meet the requirements. You can equip a Mace or Quarterstaff respectively to your second weapon slot and automatically switch to it when you use said skill.
With these tips in mind, you should be able to take Doryani down in less than a dozen tries, give or take. Once you’re done with this pinnacle boss, you may want to play something else before taking on the Cruel difficulty on your way to Path of Exile 2’s robust endgame. If that’s the case, you might be interested in the best RPGs on PC. There’s some chill experiences recommended there and some just as difficult. Otherwise, you can check out our other boss guides, like our Path of Exile 2 Jamanra the Abomination guide, so when you come up against her again on the Cruel difficulty you’ll have a better idea of how to take her down.