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Ekbab, the Ancient Steed and Iktab, the Deathlord are a duo boss fight in Act 2 of Path 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.
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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 in The Bone Pits in Act 2, during the A Theft of Ivory quest. This quest takes you first to the Mastodon Badlands, which eventually lead to The Bone Pits. Explore around this large area until you come across the Blackrib 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 be dangerous to focus down the bosses one at a time. We recommend trying to damage them both equally so that their health depletes at the same rate, then kill them both quickly one after the other.
Ekbab, The Ancient Seed’s Attacks And Mechanics
Here are each of Ekbab, Ancient Steed’s attacks.
|
Attack |
Description |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Ground Slam |
Ekbab will slam the area to its front, creating a cascading wave of damage. |
Ekbab will raise its front hooves before slamming them down. When you see it stand up, get out of the way to avoid this attack. |
|
Tusk Swipe |
Ekbab will swipe its head to its left, dealing damage. |
Staying to the right of the boss will make it easier to avoid this attack. However, Ekbab may also follow up with an additional swing to the right, so make sure you’re ready to dodge again. |
|
Charge |
Ekbab will rush forward, dealing damage in a line. |
Ekbab will rear 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 by dodging 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 a smaller version of Iktab’s Ghost Nova that fires out projectiles. At the same time, one to two smaller ghost orbs will 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.
Iktab, The Dreadlord’s Attacks And Mechanics
Here are each of Iktab, the Dreadlord’s attacks.
|
Attack |
Description |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
|
Lightning Wand |
Iktab will fire out small lightning projectiles that 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 or time out your dodges to avoid them. |
|
Sigil Meteor |
Creates three orange sigils on 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 that periodically shoots out projectiles while slowly rotating. |
Move to the edge of the arena to give yourself some space, then move along with the rotating nova to avoid each of the projectiles. |
|
Bone Tendrils |
Summons five circle AoEs near your feet that explode after a moment. |
Iktab will only use this attack when 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 create waves of sigils, covering a majority of the arena. Lightning Strikes will cover a smaller part of the arena but are more densely packed. Ghost Nova projectiles will come out much faster, and the nova will spin faster. Additionally, Iktab will gain access to a new attack, detailed above.
Be careful when dodging the projectiles of Ghost Nova, as moving too far can put you in the path of another projectile. It’s better to avoid these by walking with the projectiles as the nova spins rather than dodging through each of them.
Overall, we recommend either killing both bosses at the same time or taking out Iktab first, who is by far the more 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.
Equipping gear with lightning resistance will help with survivability for this fight, as the primary sources of damage are Iktab’s lightning strikes and lightning wand attacks.
Once both bosses are down, you can claim the Mastodon Tusks and continue on to the other pieces of the Horn of Vastiri.
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