Path of Exile 2: Rattlecage the Earthbreaker boss guide

Modified Dec 12, 2024 16:15 IST

Path of Exile 2 Rattlecage — Rattlecage the Earthbreaker can be slightly easier, if your Trial of Sekhemas run has been going well in Path of Exile 2 (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

At the end of floor 1 of Path of Exile 2’s Trial of Sekhemas, you must battle Rattlecage the Earthbreaker. Although optional, the battle is incredibly challenging and very much a DPS race. If your build isn’t strong enough, don’t feel bad about coming back to this after a few levels. Simply having powerful potions or energy shields isn’t going to help you here since damage dealt to you lowers your Honor Meter.

No matter how tanky you are, if you hit 0 honor, you immediately fail this battle, so it’s imperative to take as little damage as possible while going through the Trial of Sekehemas in the first place. If you’re struggling with Rattlecage the Earthbreaker in Path of Exile 2, here’s what we recommend.

How to beat Rattlecage the Earthbreaker in Path of Exile 2

Your success against Rattlecage the Earthbreaker in Path of Exile 2 partly hinges on how well you do in the Trial of Sekehemas in the first place. You want to have as much Honor as possible, in case you need to tank hits.

Act 2 bosses really seem to feature a lot of Fire-based attacks (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

While Rattlecage’s actual attacks aren’t too hard to evade, things get really difficult towards the end of the fight. The stage hazards will drop far more often. Since taking damage means you lose Honor, upgrading your Flasks, while important, doesn’t serve you much purpose here.

However, there are some little things you can do to prepare for Rattlecage the Earthbreaker in Path of Exile 2. As you progress through the Trial, pick up plenty of Honor Resistance Relics to help mitigate the damage and Relics that increase your Maximum Honor. This gives you a bigger pool to take hits with and reduces incoming damage.

Rattlecage the Earthbreaker will almost certainly open the fight with a huge slam attack that hits in three waves. Each one is larger than the last, so when you trigger the fight, get as far away from him as possible to avoid potential hits.

Listen to what Balaba says and you may stand a chance of surviving (Image via Grinding Gear Games)

It’s not hard to dodge the melee strikes of this boss. What makes this boss hard are the various mini-volcanoes that permanently spawn. This leaves less room to maneuver with and more AOE damage to avoid. It can also create rock walls to bar your path.

Finally, there are also stalactites that fall from the ceiling, which are telegraphed similarly to other falling objects. The mini-volcanoes and stalactites become more dangerous and show up faster in the last 10% of the fight, so you really have to be on your toes for this fight. If you can make it to the end, defeating the boss without running out of Honor, you pass the test.

Check out our other Path of Exile 2 guides and features

Edited by Ripunjay Gaba