Path of Exile 2 Act 1 Progression Guide and Walkthrough

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One of the biggest changes in Path of Exile 2 is the campaign. At the time of Early Access, there are three Acts that you will play through twice before reaching the endgame. And while most of the Acts in the original PoE were rather short, in PoE2 they are longer with a lot more side content with optional rewards. This progression guide for Act 1 will fully complete everything you can in Act 1 of Path of Exile 2.

The Riverbank (Level 1)

You’ll start on the shores of the Riverbank, which is a sure callback to how the original PoE begins. Follow along the tutorial pop-ups as you trek across the Riverbank; this first area is very straightforward. When you come to the red walls, you have to do what the tooltip is instructing you to do to progress, such as using your skill. Eventually, you’ll come across the first PoE2 boss, The Bloated Miller.

The Bloated Miller (Boss)

As the first boss of Path of Exile 2, The Bloated Miller isn’t too difficult of a boss fight. However, he does have a few abilities worth looking out for, as they can deal some massive damage.

Sword Slam – The Bloated Miller will glow red for a couple of seconds before slamming his sword into the ground and sending a shockwave in a straight line. Simply hit Spacebar to dodge out of the way.
Charge – Periodically the Bloated Miller will charge forward until he hits something, and will then slam the ground dealing AOE damage around him. Simply dodge out of the way than move as far from him as you can.
Call for Aid – Throughout the fight, the Bloated Miller will spawn in adds to help assist in the fight. Quickly burst them down before switching your focus back to the boss.

After defeating the Bloated Miller you can enter Path of Exile 2’s first town, the Clearfell Encampment.

Clearfell Encampment (Town)

Grab the Waypoint by running over it (do this anytime you see one, as it allows you to fast travel to that location), and then click the Well to replenish your health and mana as well as refill your Flasks. Speak with any NPC’s with the yellow quest indicators over their head so you can pick up any side quests available as well as progress the main quest.

In Clearfell Encampment, you can interact with your Stash and Guild Stash to store items in storage. With the limited inventory space in Path of Exile 2, it can be extremely useful. You’ll also notice the Salvage Bench, which allows you to place Sockets on your gear and break down existing gear with sockets to receive Artificer Shards which are used to add new sockets.

There are also a handful of NPCs you can speak to in order to view their shop inventory:

Finn
Renly
Una

Later on you will recruit another NPC back to Clearfell Encampment named The Hooded One. He will identify your unidentified items for free and can also be used to refund points on your passive skill tree at the cost of gold.

Once you have all the quests, head out to the next zone, Clearfell.

Clearfell (Level 2)

The first real adventure zone of PoE2, Clearfell is a sprawling forest waiting for you to explore it. Located around the centerish of the map is the boss Beira of the Rotten Pack, who you should definitely make an effort to take out as you’ll receive a permanent reward. Afterwards, look for the Mysterious Campsite bonus objective on the map for some extra rewards, before looking for the entrance to a side area called Mud Burrow.

Beira of the Rotten Pack (Boss)

Beira of the Rotten Pack is an ice-based boss that will throw some new abilities at you. Thankfully, you can actually exit the arena area and run around without restarting the boss, which you should do at several parts throughout the fight. Here are the Beira abilities to look out for:

Ice Shards – Beira will spawn several AoE circles that shoot out ice shards in a 360 degree direction around them after a few seconds.
Summon Wolves – Periodically Beira will spawn a horde of wolves that will attack you. The area can get quite overwhelming, which is when you should exit the arena and run around to take out the wolves before heading back in and focusing on Beira.

Defeating Beira the Rotten Pack boss will reward you with a consumable item called Head of the Winter Wolf. Using this item will grant your character a permanent +10% Cold Resistance. Make sure you do this boss again when on Act 1 (Cruel Difficulty) as you can receive the reward again, granting +20% Cold Resistance in total.

Mysterious Campsite (Bonus)

The Mysterious Campsite is a small area with various chests you can loot for random rewards. There are no actual objectives here, just a small campsite for you to explore. There are several of these areas throughout the campaign, but some have actual objectives as well which we will indicate if so.

Mud Burrow (Level 3)

Entering the side area of the Mud Burrow will enable a side quest called Treacherous Ground if you have not yet received it, tasking you with killing The Devourer. Clear the enemies in the Mud Burrow until you find a bigger arena which is home to The Devourer and enter it to trigger the fight at an area called the Vile Nest on your minimap.

The Devourer (Boss)

The Devourer can be quite tricky if you’re not sure how to fight it. It’s a giant muddy worm-like creature that makes use of poison attacks and spawning a ton of grubby larva to attack you as well. Here are all of the attacks to watch out for from The Devourer boss:

Acid Spit – The Devourer will spit poisonous ball projectiles at you, which you need to dodge. If you are hit, you will take poison chaos damage for a few seconds.
Burrow – Periodically The Devourer will burrow underground before popping back up out of the ground at a random spot. This will leave a hole in the previous spot he was, before he repeats this process four times. You can only damage his head throughout this phase.
Larva Spawn – Several times throughout the fight the boss will spawn a bunch of Larva mobs which you should focus down before switching back on the boss.
Acid Puddle – The Devourer will spit massive poison bombs at various areas throughout the fight that will create an AoE circle of poison that inflicts a damage-ticking dot on you if you walk through it.

Defeating the Devourer will complete the Treacherous Ground side quest. Return to Renly at the Clearfell Encampment to turn in the quest and receive an Uncut Support Gem (Level 1) as a reward. Next, head to The Grelwood.

The Grelwood (Level 4)

The Grelwood is a bigger zone, and your focus should be finding a massive mysterious tree near the center of it called The Tree of Souls. You’ll see a man hanging from the tree called The Hooded One as well as three runes on the tree and the ability to summon the NPC Una, which you should do. To proceed you’ll need to visit The Red Vale, but you should first explore the map to find the two optional bosses in The Grelwood.

The Brambleghast (Boss)

The first Grelwood optional boss is The Brambleghast. This boss is mostly static but can still be a pain if you don’t know its mechanics. Here are all the abilities of the Brambleghast you should look out for in order to defeat the boss:

Frontal Slam – The Brambleghast will occasionally swipe a frontal cleave, dealing damage to you if you are in front of him.
Root Slam – The boss slams the ground sending a tree root through the ground in a straight line in your direction. Simply dodge out of the way.
Spiny Thorns – Periodically The Brambleghast will shoot out a swirling object that spits thorns in a 360 direction around it.
Spawn Tendrils – These tendrils can pop up around the arena and will try to slam down on you if you come to close while also shooting purple chaos projectiles at you.

Defeating The Brambleghast will reward you with an Uncut Skill Gem (Level 2).

Areagne, Forgotten Witch (Boss)

The second boss of the Grelwood is Areagne, the Forgotten Witch, who can be found inside a small Witch’s hut near the river running through Grelwood. Enter the hut and speak to the elderly woman in the back, and she will disappear. Then head outside and you will find Areagne, ready to be encountered. This is an extremely easy encounter and doesn’t even have a full Boss HP Bar like most encounters, so simply be smart and you will take out Areagne.

Witch Hut (Bonus)

Enter the Witch Hut and explore it for a chance at receiving some new Flasks.

The Red Vale (Level 5)

Upon entering the Red Vale, you will find three Obelisk of Rust’s located around the map. Interact with each of these, as upon activating the third one you will start The Rust King boss encounter which is required to progress.

The Rust King (Boss)

As a metal armored-boss, The Rust King is resistant to Fire but weak to Lightning. If you have any Lightning attacks or spells, you’ll want to use them to fight this boss. Here are The Rust Kings attacks you want to keep an eye on:

Circle of Swords – Summons swords in a circular area around him before shooting them out in all directions. Stand back from The Rust King to easily dodge the swords.
Flight of Swords – The Rust King will occasionally hurl swords at you as well in a direct line, simply dodge out of the way of them.
Call Lightning – When you see him hold his weapon up into the sky, he will begin channelling lightning bolts that spark the area around him in an AoE.
Rusty Spikes – A line of Rusty Spikes will shoot out from The Rust King towards you, knocking you up and back if you are hit by them.
Call Ancient Ezomyte – Several fodder ANcient Ezomyte enemies will spawn in the arena. Defeat them before switching back to the boss.

For defeating The Rust King you will receive the Rune Skull Cap quest item and an Uncut Skill Gem (Level 3). Head back to the Tree of Souls to complete that quest and then head into The Grim Tangle.

The Grim Tangle (Level 6)

Ergvig, the Rotten Druid (Boss)

Cemetery of the Eternals (Level 7)

Lachlann of Endless Lament (Boss)

Ancient Ruin (Bonus)

Tomb of the Consort (Level 9)

Asinia, the Praetor’s Consort (Boss)

Embattled Trove (Bonus)

Mausoleum of the Praetor (Level 9)

Draven, the Eternal Praetor (Boss)

Forgotten Riches (Bonus)

Hunting Grounds (Level 10)

Dyadic Ritual (Event)

The Crowbell (Boss)

Ritual Altar (Bonus)

Freythorn (Level 11)

The King in the Mists (Boss)

Ogham Farmlands (Level 12)

Crop Circle (Event)

Una’s Hut (Bonus)

Ogham Village (Level 13)

Renly’s Workshop (Bonus)

The Executioner (Boss)

The Manor Ramparts (Level 14)

The Gallows (Bonus)

Ogham Manor (Level 15)

Candlemass, the Living Rite (Boss)

Count Geonor (Act 1 Final Boss)

This walkthrough is a WIP.

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