Necromancers have a certain… professional affinity for corpses, and unsavory as it may be, a mastodon graveyard has to be akin to a toy store for practitioners of the dark arts - especially ones seeking a new, bulky minion to unleash against their enemies. This page will provide strategies for defeating the tandem of Iktab the Deathlord and Ekbab, Ancient Steed in Path of Exile 2.

Page Breakdown¶

Iktab the Deathlord and Ekbab, Ancient Steed Location¶

Defeat Jamanra the Risen King at The Halani Gates and he’ll summon a sandstorm to block your pursuit, forcing you to recreate the Horn of the Vastiri. In order to find some of the components you’ll need, you’ll have to brave the Mastodon Badlands and press on through them into The Bone Pits. Search this area until you find a ritual where one of the dead mammoths is being reanimated, whereupon you’ll find yourself being attacked by Iktab the Deathlord and Ekbab, Ancient Steed!

Iktab and Ekbab Boss Strategy¶

This is an odd boss fight, because you’re facing two bosses at the same time. The arena is sizable, but Iktab loves tossing out scattershot AoEs that restrict your mobility and Ekbab is… well, a big ol’ chonky skeleton who takes up a lot of space, so you won’t have as much room to maneuver as it appears. At least, not without taking damage or putting yourself next to a giant, angry, skeletal mastodon. Since there are two enemies in this fight, each with their own life bars, they individually don’t have that many attacks - although Iktab is definitely the more varied of the two as far as offense goes. Both also have their own life bars, and can be defeated individually, causing the survivor to fight differently. This functionally means this fight will have a second phase and this second phase will vary depending on which foe you target and take down during the first phase. Before we get into that, however, lets focus on the attacks you’ll deal with at the start of the fight:

Ekbab Tusk Sweep¶

Ekbab will swing its tusked head back and forth, dealing moderate damage if it connects. While not very rangey, this attack can cover a fair bit of lateral ground, and Ekbab will often perform two of these in succession. The bony brute also uses this attack to quickly turn and face enemies as its flank or rear.

Ekbab Stomp¶

Ekbab will rear back and stomp with its front legs, shooting out a cone-shaped shockwave that deals moderate damage. Its range nor its vertical area aren’t very impressive.

Ekbab Charge¶

If you put any significant amount of range between you and Ekbab, expect the skeletal mastodon to charge at you. It’s not that fast and should be easy enough to avoid.

Meteor Strikes¶

Iktab will call three meteors to strike the battlefield, with their impact areas marked by three target reticles. The formation of these meteor strikes is always more or less the same, forming a well-spaced out triangle. They deal heavy damage, strike in succession, and should be trivially easy to dodge.

Lightning Strikes¶

Less damaging, but trickier to avoid than the Meteor Strikes, Iktab will liberally cover the battlefield in small green target reticles, which marks the location of an impending lightning strike. Try to find unmarked ground between the reticles to avoid damage - the lightning strikes don’t occur all at once, but they’re numerous enough that you should expect several strikes to occur in tandem. The lightning strikes leave behind charged patches of ground that can inflict Shock if you tread on them, making it a far more annoying area denial attack than the Meteor Strikes.

Spectral Orb¶

Iktab will begin using this after you’ve dealt some damage to either of the bosses, summoning a spectral greenish white orb in the middle of the arena. Not only does this orb deal damage if you touch it for some reason, but it’ll shoot out equally-spaced eight bolts in regular pulses. These extend the length of the arena and their exact positions change between pulses, so you may be safe standing between bolts during one pulse, only to find yourself threatened by bolts during the next phase! If you stick to the perimeter of the arena you’ll have more time to dodge and there will be more space between the bolts, making this the best way of avoiding damage. The bolts deal relatively minor damage, but successive hits can add up

Ekbab will spend the first phase of the fight chasing you around the arena, stomping, swinging its tusks and charging (don’t ask for media of the charge - it doesn’t read well, it just looks like the bony elephant is walking at you). Its damage output isn’t high and it’s not hard to avoid these attacks by rolling or running away, but that’s not Ekbab’s purpose - it’s there to harass you while Iktab goes through a simple progression of AoE spells (along with the odd direct lightning bolt attack, which doesn’t do enough damage to be worth giving its own dedicated writeup and subheader). All in all, phase one is mostly just a matter of dodging angry target reticles on the ground while not getting pulped by the angry skeleton mastodon. Defeat either of these foes and you’ll progress to the second phase of this fight.

In theory you could defeat either foe to determine what you’ll be dealing with in phase two, but in practice it’s much easier to defeat Ekbab first. Ekbab is the larger target and he doesn’t have an energy shield to protect him - even if you want to focus on Iktab, Ekbab will constantly get in the way, and as mentioned a moment ago, if you neglect Iktab for a moment he’ll start recovering his energy shield, which will protect him from chip damage, a boon Ekbab doesn’t share. If you’re strong or skilled enough you can finesse your way to an early Iktab takedown, but we’re inclined to assume most people will dispatch Ekbab first, so that’s what we’ll lead with.

Phase 2 - Iktab¶

With his bone shield broken, Iktab decides the best defense is a good offense, and steps up his magical attacks appropriately. He replaces his old Meteor Strike and Lightning Strike attacks with upgraded versions (more coverage, mostly), retains his Spectral Orb attack from the first phase and adds the Bone Spikes attack to his arsenal. Even his standard lightning bolt attack now creates patches charged ground near where it hits! Iktab definitely has more firepower when alone to compensate somewhat for Ekbab’s defeat, but it’s easy to dodge most of his spells - as long as you learn where to stand and don’t get impatient, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with him. Iktab’s second phase attacks are as follows:

Meteor Shower¶

Very similar to the Meteor Strike attack from the first phase, save now Iktab summons meteors in three rows. More meteors, more coverage, same high damage output, this time the meteors land row by row, and while great timing and iframes might allow you to roll through a row as it impacts, there are safe spots in the corners near Iktab or at the far end of the arena opposite Iktab - the latter being the safe way to avoid damage, with the former being a bit riskier, but it can put you close enough to still deal damage while Iktab wastes his energy punishing the dirt. Just be warned that you can’t reliably avoid damage by standing between the rows of meteors - the meteor impacts affect an area larger than the marked reticles.

Lightning Storm¶

Almost identical to the Lightning Strikes from the first phase, but this attack creates lightning strike reticles in a cone fanning out from Iktab, and when triggered the lightning bolts strike the reticles near Iktab first, spreading out quickly away from him. The coverage is usually greater and while the damage isn’t high, this attack still creates patches of charged ground across much of the battlefield, often with little space between.

Bone Spikes¶

Iktab’s sole novel attack in this phase, you’ll see swirling patches of brown underneath your character, indicating that it’s time to move, as bone spikes will erupt from the marked spots. These appear in succession, so you’ll need to keep dodging for a while after you see this attack start, as waves of spikes are incoming.

Phase 2 - Ekbab¶

Definitely the more difficult of the two second phases to trigger, if you kill Iktab first you might think that Ekbab won’t be able to exist anymore without the necromancer that created it… and you might be right, but Iktab doesn’t seem to fully perish along with his corporeal form. Instead, orbs of eldritch energy will continue to spawn for the remainder of the fight - they can’t be hurt, but they sure can hurt you! Ekbab, for its part, doesn’t seem to know or care that its master is gone, and will continue to attack as normal. Functionally this makes this phase of the fight more similar to phase one save Iktab’s attacks will now be replaced by the threat imposed by the two eldritch orbs!

Orb of Eldritch Bolts¶

Iktab may be gone, but his presence can still be felt - This orb is similar to the “Spectral Orb” attack from before, save this smaller orb can move around a bit while discharging the familiar eight bolts in pulses.

Seeker Orb¶

This orb doesn’t shoot bolts, but it is somewhat more mobile than the “Orb of Eldritch Bolts” and it will chase you around the arena. It’s not terribly fast or long-lasting, but if it reaches you it’ll explode, dealing AoE damage.

Defeat Iktab and Ekbab in whatever order you wish and once both have been relegated back to fodder for the bone pits, pick up the Mastodon Tusks Kebab leaves behind. Seems that necromancers aren’t the only ones keen on using the bones of the dead for their own personal gain.