- Wormhole Slam: “Feel the pull of the void!” – Summons several black orbs that follow the player, accelerating over time. If they touch the player, the player will be teleported in front of the boss. He then deals a heavy slam in an cone in front. (Can be avoided by dashing away just before he slams)”Yes, that’s it! Death sweeps in.”
The Cortex boss fight in Path of Exile features the Synthete Masterpiece, and avoiding its devastating Wormhole Slam is key to success. Here's how to dodge it effectively:
Understanding Wormhole Slam:
- Cast Time: The Wormhole Slam has a noticeable windup animation. The Synthete Masterpiece raises its arm and a dark portal opens above it.
- Mechanics: After the windup, the Synthete Masterpiece slams its fist down, creating a shockwave that deals high physical damage and can inflict elemental ailments.
Strategies to Avoid Wormhole Slam:
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Movement Skills: Having a reliable movement skill like Flicker Strike, Leap Slam, or Shield Charge is crucial. The moment you see the windup animation (raised arm and portal), activate your movement skill to dodge out of the slam's area.
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Positioning: While the slam has a large area of effect, it's not centered on the Synthete Masterpiece itself. Try to position yourself near the edge of the arena or behind the Synthete Masterpiece during the windup animation. This increases the chance of successfully dodging the shockwave.
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Terrain Awareness: The Cortex arena has several raised platforms in the center. If positioned strategically on these platforms during the windup, you might be able to avoid the slam's shockwave entirely.
Additional Tips:
- Damage Output: Focus on maximizing your damage output to defeat the Synthete Masterpiece quickly, reducing the number of times it uses Wormhole Slam.
- Physical Damage Reduction: Ensuring you have high physical damage reduction helps mitigate the impact if you do get caught by the slam.
- Pantheon Power: Consider using Pantheon powers that enhance survivability or movement speed. "Soul of Gruthkul" offers a chance to gain a fortify buff when hit, reducing physical damage taken, while "Soul of Ryslatha" grants increased movement speed for a short duration when using a movement skill.
Community Resources:
- Consult Path of Exile forums or online resources for the current league to see if there are any special mechanics related to the Cortex boss fight or the Wormhole Slam attack.
- You can also check the Path of Exile Wiki for the Cortex page to learn more about the encounter: https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Cortex
By using a combination of these strategies, adapting your approach based on your character build, and staying mobile during the windup animation, you can effectively dodge the Wormhole Slam and conquer the Cortex boss fight. Remember, practice and reacting quickly to the boss's tells are key to success. Good luck!
Boss Fight
The Cortex Arena will appear on the Memory Map Randomly(possibly only after you have killed the other 4 bosses). Once it appears, the player will need to use their Memory Fragments to create a path to the boss area.
Once the player has reach this Boss Node, they will enter a small area containing the Decaying Map Device. This map device needs to be interacted with before it will open 6 portals into the Fractured Laboratory. Next, the player will fight their through a map like area, before finding the portal leading into the Boss Arena. Once, inside this arena, the player will see Venarius’ spirit hovering around the central map device. Once he is approached, he will start a short dialog and then the map device will disappear and the first boss will be spawned. This fight has a total of 5 phases with 4 different boss encounters.
Phase 1
The Fractal Gargantuan is first spawned. It is very similar to the Augmented Synthete but much quicker. Once he is slain the next boss will spawn.
Phase 2
The Synthete Masterpiece is summoned next. He is similar to the Altered/Twisted Synthete Bosses. Once slain, the next phase will begin.
Phase 3
The Decaying Map Device will appear in the center of the arena and open 4 portals. These portals spawn minions and last for about 30 seconds until transitioning to the next phase.
Phase 4
The Fractal Titan is summon during this phase. He is very similar to the first phase boss, The Fractal Gargantuan. Once slain, the next boss will spawn.
Phase 5
The last boss to spawn is The Synthete Nightmare. He is Similar to The Synthete Masterpiece. Once slain, the Decaying Map Device will appear again and explode, dropping loot.
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Tips and Tricks
This is a compiled list of some precautions one should consider before facing this challenge.
Recommended Pantheon Point Allocation:
- Soul of Solaris –
- 6% Physical Damage Reduction if there is one nearby enemy, 20% chance to take
- 50% less area damage from hits and 6% reduced Physical Damage taken if there is only 1 nearby enemy
- 8% reduced Elemental Damage taken if you have not been hit recently
- Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes if you have taken a Critical Strike Recently
- 50% chance to avoid Ailments form Critical Strikes
- Soul of Arakaali –
- 5% reduced Damage taken from Damage Over Time
- 10% chance to Avoid Lightning Damage when Hit
- 50% increased recover of Life and Energy Shield if you have stopped taking Damage recently
- 30% Reduced Effect of Shock and Shock Duration on you
- 25% Chaos Resistance against Damage Over Time
- Soul of Lunaris –
- 1% Additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%
- 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%
- 10% chance to Avoid Projectile Damage
- 5% chance to Dodge Attacks and Spells if you’ve been hit recently
- Avoid Projectiles that have Chained
- Soul of Gruthkul –
- 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each hit you have taken up to a maximum of 5%
- Enemies that have hit you with an attack Recently have 8% reduced Attack Speed
- Soul of Ryslatha
- Life Flasks gain 3 charges every 3 seconds if you have not used a Life Flask Recently
- 60% increased Life Recovery from Flasks used when on Low Life
Lightning Damage Mitigation:
- Purity of Lightning – Grants an additional 4% Maximum Lightning Resistance.
- Topaz Flask – Increases Maximum Lightning Resistance by 6% during flask effect.
- “of Grounding” – Flask mod that removes Shocks and grants Shock immunity during flask effect.
- Fortify – Grants 20% reduced damage taken from ALL damage types.
Miscellaneous:
- Quicksilver Flask – Increases movement speed during flask effects. Aids in dodging attacks.
- Movement Skill – Allows player to quickly dodge attacks.
- Stibnite Flask – Creates a smoke cloud, inflicting blind during flask effect. This makes it easier
to avoid damage since monsters can not target the player directly if blinded.
- Decoy Totem – Taunts enemies causing them to target the totem instead of the player.
- Vaal Grace – Grants 24% to 34% Chance to Dodge Attacks and Spells
- Quartz Flask – Grants 10% chance to Dodge Attacks and Spells and Phasing during Flask Effect.
- Frost Wall -Creates a wall of ice that is very useful in protecting yourself from damage.
Modifiers
Here are all of the modifiers that affect all of the bosses.
- Cannot be fully Slowed, Stunned, or Knocked Back
- 66% reduced curse effectiveness
- 10% Fire, Cold, Lightning, and 5% Chaos Resistance(Part 1)
- 20% Fire, Cold, Lightning, and 10% Chaos Resistance(Part 2)
- 40% Fire, Cold, Lightning, and 25% Chaos Resistance(Maps)
Rewards
Here are all the possible items that can drop from this boss fight.
Chance to drop:
- Bottled Faith Sulphur Flask
- Garb of the Ephmeral Savant’s Robe
- Nebulis Void Sceptre
- Offering to the Serpent Legion Gloves
Punishing Pinnacle Pressure x5
Defeat any five of the following Pinnacle Boss Encounters in the specified ways.