Path of Exile 2 A Crown of Stone quest guide

Path of Exile 2’s Act 2 gives you a trio of quests to do in any order, and one of them is A Crown of Stone. It will task you with heading into the Titan Grotto to claim a valuable item known as the Flame Ruby. It doesn’t matter which order you did these in, but I chose to do A Crown of Stone last, mostly for the difficulty of the boss that awaits at the end. My build at the level I was at during my first attempt was not good enough.

However, I did go back with a party and defeated Zalmarath the Colossus in no time. There’s nothing wrong with making a party to take on challenging foes if you’re having a hard time. If you’re struggling with A Crown of Stone in Path of Exile 2, here’s what you need to know.

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How to complete A Crown of Stone quest in Path of Exile 2

A Crown of Stone is a bit of a tricky Path of Exile 2 quest — you must head down to the Valley of Titans, which you may have already explored. If you’ve completed the Ancient Vows side quest, you have already been here and have a clear idea of where to go most likely. Or at least, you’ve already completed part of this quest and may not have realized it.

This area is a jump up in difficulty, so be careful (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

• Head to the Valley of Titans
• Find and activate the Ancient Seals
• Explore the Titan Grotto
• Bring the Flame Ruby to Zarka

When you’re ready, use the Desert Map to head to the Valley of Titans. Once here, you’ll need to do a lot of exploring - it’s not a small map. You’re looking for three seals, which you’ll need to step on to activate: Sundari, Rajendra, and Shakti. In my experience, these were relatively easy to find because I wandered the edges of the map first.

I found all three of these on various edges of the map — but your experience may vary. Once you’ve found and activated all three Ancient Seals, you can head to the Titan Grotto itself — but that’s the real tricky part. You have to find the Titan Grotto.

Path of Exile 2's A Crown of Stone continues down in the Titan Grotto (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

It’s not as hard as the game makes it sound, though. The game states “Enter the Titan Grotto at the Clasped Entry”. To make this easy enough, you’re looking for a mountain in the center of the map. When you’re close to it, you’ll see an animation that reveals the opening.

On the full map, the location has what looks like a Red Claw on it. You’ll also see several sets of glowing eyes on the surrounding statue heads. If you’ve been diligently exploring, it won’t be hard to find. You must then explore the Titan Grotto.

The Titan Grotto is a lengthy series of dimly lit, thin passageways in a typical Path of Exile 2 cave structure. At the end of one of the checkpoints, you’ll find a circular island made of blue stone with a little circular pattern in the center. This is the Dais of Reckoning. Zalmarath the Colossus will spawn, and you must defeat him for the Flame Ruby.

Zalmarath has annoying laser beam attacks and damage cones, but he's not too bad if you're the right level (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

AOE builds are going to do you no good — he very rarely spawns adds and is just a giant boss. Focus on single-target damage. In my experience, Mercenaries mow this boss down, especially with cold damage. Defeat him, alone or in a group, and claim the item. Speak to Zarkab to wrap this quest up.

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Check out our other Path of Exile 2 guides and features:

• Path of Exile 2 A Theft of Ivory quest guide
• How to invite your friends in Path of Exile 2
• How to unlock Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2