Path of Exile 2: King in the Mists boss guide

Path of Exile 2 features a wealth of interesting boss encounters, including The King in the Mists. This is a large plant boss that shows up at the end of the Ominous Altars side quest. If you don’t take that quest on, you may never see this boss, or claim his incredibly useful reward. He drops an item that gives you a bonus to your Spirit stat, which allows you to summon more allies, and/or keep permanent buffs going.

The Ominous Altars side quest shows up early in Path of Exile 2’s Act 1, so you will likely be around Level 11 or 12 when you fight The King in the Mists. You could be a higher level, and there’s nothing wrong with that, either. If you’re stumbling against this plant monstrosity, we’re here to help.

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How to beat Path of Exile 2’s The King in the Mists boss

The King in the Mists wields a large staff in Path of Exile 2, and will swing at you slowly, pretty consistently. At the end of his combo, he’ll also do a shockwave of spiky roots, which deal damage if they hit you. I found that melee is a bit harder in this fight, thanks to all the puddles of damage on the ground. If you can hit him with ranged elemental abilities, poison, or dots, you can stay on the move and ping away at him safely.

Whether ranged or melee, stay out of the gunk he leaves on the ground (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

He can also do a small shockwave around himself that also deals damage if you happen to be in contact. If you’re a ranged player, there’s no reason this should ever hit you - it won’t reach very far. However, he does have one particularly annoying attack. He’ll throw his staff down onto the ground, and it will summon a red rune that follows you around.

If you are moving when it finishes casting, you'll get rooted. Get away from him as fast as possible and stop before the spell finishes. If he tries to hit you with a purple debuff, stay moving and don't stop. If it gets you while you're stopped, you become frozen.

Another facet of this fight is that you’ll see red, bubbling pools spawn around him, though not always close by. You just need to avoid standing in those. This leads to him firing small purple thorns at you, but they’re easy to avoid.

You’ll probably notice that The King in the Mists doesn’t have a lot of HP in Path of Exile 2, either. This is because when he gets down to about 35% HP, he restores to full and shows off his real power.

Beware the annoying purple orbs! (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

He has quite a few new attacks now, too. He shoots a purple orb that explodes for damage, and also spawns a few flowers that, in turn, explode. He tends to follow that up with a wave of purple bolts, so it’s harder to escape the damage.

There’s so much AOE going on in the King of the Mists boss fight in Path of Exile 2. From the red droplets that fall from the sky to create the blood pools, the mushroom/flowers that explode if you’re near them, and his waves of purple energy attacks, staying mobile is a requirement. He also occasionally summons pools of purple energy that you ought to avoid as well.

Was this user error or a bug? Either way, it didn't appear we could loot the item (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

Defeating The King in the Mists in Path of Exile grants you the Gembloom Skull, which increases your Spirit. However, if you’re like me, the item drop could be bugged and unlootable. Even though he died a bit aways from the altar, the Gem still dropped there and would not let me pick it up. That will hopefully be fixed during Path of Exile 2's Early Access.

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

• Jonathan Rogers on why Path of Exile 2 is harder than the first game
• Path of Exile 2: All returning League mechanics confirmed so far
• Path of Exile 2 Ascension Trials, explained