Found deep within the Chimeral Wetlands, you will come across Xyclucian, the Chimera, a huge unpredictable beast that guards the entrance to Jiquani’s Machinarium and some of the later game areas of act 3 in Path of Exile 2. This page will cover how to find and defeat it.

Xyclucian, the Chimera location¶

Found within the Vaal Jungle, this Chimera Wetlands area is past the Jungle Ruins, or accessed via the Infested Barrens. You naturally come across the Wetlands during the main quest, Legacy of the Vaal in act 3. Xyclucian’s spawn location is completely random within this area, however, so you will have to find it each time you enter a new instance.

You are looking for an area called the “Deadly Nest” and it can be found around some old ruin structures.

Xyclucian boss strategy¶

Xyclucian is tough because it is so big and in comparison the arena you fight in is rather small. This gives you a limited amount of room to work with and few safe places when it uses one of its many area-of-effect attacks. These combine all of the elements in the game, including Chaos damage from Poison, so it becomes a game of trying to survive against the various damage types, while continuously dealing damage.

Generally, you want to fight Xyclucian slowly, dealing damage through area of effect attacks from a medium range while building up Shock, Freeze, or Burn to deal extra damage. If you are forced up close, rolling around its large body is your best option to try and ensure survival. Early on in the fight Xyclucian may jump onto the pillars around the arena, these can be destroyed by attacking them while it is on it. This gives you an extended period to deal damage while Xyclucian is stunned.

Physical attacks¶

The main attack you will have to deal with are the variety of physical, melee style attacks Xyclucian has. The first attack is a short jump in the air, followed by a slam on the ground just in front of it. This can easily be dodged by rolling away from Xyclucian.

If it stands on its hind legs and roars it is about to do a large slam in front of it. It is vital that you run away and/or dodge as far away from Xyclucian when it does this, as the area-of-effect is extremely large. Once it impacts, you can head back in.

It can also do a short hop towards you, followed by a slam. Whenever it does any kind of flying or it is off the ground, you want to be rolling away from it to avoid the impact zone when it touches the ground again.

These moves, alongside other attacks can be mixed in with a dash across the arena to close the gap. This is differentiated by the fact it moves across the arena much faster than any of its other flying attacks. While this doesn’t deal any significant damage, it is best to roll out of the way to keep at that medium range.

Ice Attacks¶

In amongst the physical attacks, Xyclucian can also breathe a sheet of Ice on the ground, which slows you down, and can freeze you if you are caught in it for too long. This extends out around it from its feet. To dodge this you want to move to the opposite side of the arena, and try to stay there until the icy ground dissipates. It is telegraphed quite well with the icy breath emerging from its mount as it stands on its back legs.

Shock Attacks¶

Additionally, Xyclucian can spew a electricity field that moves in front of it. This is telegraphed by Xyclucian’s leftmost head roaring with electricity. This can be dodged from afar by simply walking around it or by moving to the side of Xyclucian.

Fire Attacks¶

Finally, during the initial phase, Xyclucian has some fire attacks. Almost all of which can be easily dodged. The first is usually trigged if you are standing at a distance in front of it. This is a single fireball that can be dodged by moving to the side. If you are standing in front of it at a close range, and even sometimes at a medium range and its middle mouth opens, it will breath fire in a cone ahead of it and sway its head side to side. This attack can be easily dodged by rolling to Xyclucian’s rear side or back and dealing some damage. You can also roll away from it, but this is harder to dodge.

After all the stone pillars have been destroyed, it can use another fire attack. This is a short hover in the air followed by a wall of fire it will breathe. The best way to dodge this is to keep away as it hovers initially, and then to move in a wide arc around the arena, with a slight curve. This will keep Xyclucian away from you or keep you changing direction to avoid the flames.

Chaos/Poison attacks¶

Once Xyclucian reaches about 50% health, it will add Poison attacks on top of everything else it uses. These are interspersed with the physical, shock, frost, and fire attacks. The first fires small Poison balls that hit the ground and leave damaging areas on the ground. These fire in front of Xyclucian, rotating around twice between the 180 degrees in front of it. It can be dodged by rolling away several times, which is the safest option to avoid getting hit. Although, the attack’s aim is unpredictable so you may still take some damage.

Beyond those attacks, the fight doesn’t change, the attacks just become faster with less downtime between them, making it a pure endurance test. Upon death, Xyclucian will drop a bunch of gear, including Uncut Spirit and Skill Gems, and the Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum which is used to ascend in the Trial of Chaos within the Vaal Jungle.