PoE Syndicate Mastermind Fight Guide Walkthrough 3.24

1. The Syndicate Mastermind & Fight Guide

League mechanics: Betrayal. Catarina, Master of Undeath is the leader of the Immortal Syndicate. Location: She resides in the Mastermind's Lair.

Jun, Veiled Master will open up a portal to the Mastermind's Lair where you will meet Catarina, Master of Undeath. The zone level will match the highest level Safehouse you have completed.

The Syndicate Mastermind in Path of Exile is the leader of the Immortal Syndicate, a criminal organization you encounter throughout the game. Her name is Catarina, Master of Undeath.

Mastermind Role:

• Leader: Catarina sits at the top of the Syndicate hierarchy, manipulating and controlling its members.
• Encounter: You can confront Catarina in the Mastermind's Lair, a special endgame zone.
• Fight: Defeating Catarina is a challenging boss fight that requires understanding mechanics and having a well-equipped character.

Accessing the Mastermind:

• Betrayal League Mechanic: The Syndicate and Mastermind were initially introduced in the Betrayal League. However, the core mechanics have been integrated into the base game.
• Interrogations: By interacting with Jun Ortoi, the mastermind behind the Syndicate's downfall, you gather intelligence and eventually unlock access to the Mastermind's Lair.
• Rank Progression: As you interrogate Syndicate members and manipulate their relationships, the overall threat of the Syndicate increases. This progression unlocks the Mastermind fight at higher difficulty levels.

Mastermind Fight Mechanics:

• Phased Encounter: The Catarina fight is divided into phases, each with increasing difficulty and unique mechanics.
• Environmental Hazards: The arena features environmental dangers like collapsing sections and deadly fire zones that you need to navigate while fighting Catarina.
• Damage Phases: Catarina alternates between vulnerable and invulnerable phases. During vulnerable phases, you focus on dealing damage. During invulnerable phases, you need to dodge her attacks and survive environmental hazards.

Rewards:

• High-Tier Loot: Defeating Catarina offers a chance for high-tier rewards like currency, unique items, and Veiled mods (powerful item modifiers).
• Syndicate Reshuffle: Previously, defeating Catarina completely reset the Syndicate board. This is no longer the case. Now, defeating her reshuffles the organization and reduces the rank of each member.

Additional Tips:

• Build Strength: Ensure your character has enough damage output, survivability, and mobility to handle the challenging Mastermind fight.
• Research Mechanics: Understanding the specific mechanics of each phase in the Catarina fight will significantly increase your chances of success. You can find many resources online that detail these mechanics.
• Consider Alliances: If playing solo, consider forming temporary alliances with other players to tackle the Mastermind fight together.

By strategically manipulating the Syndicate and preparing for the challenging Catarina fight, you can reap the benefits of defeating the mastermind and progress further in Path of Exile.

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3. The Syndicate Mastermind Skills

Catarina, Master of Undeath
Level(s)	68-83
Location(s)	Mastermind’s Lair
Health	1 211 796
Damage	1426
ApS	1.35
Resistance(s)	30% Fire 30% Cold 30% Lightning 15% Chaos
Modifier(s)	80% Less Curse Effectiveness Cannot Be Fully Slowed Immune To Knockback Unwavering

Carpet Mortar

• Deals 931 to Physical Damage
• 25% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage
• Skills fire an additional Projectile

X Circle

• Deals 931 to 1396 Physical Damage

Soul Mortar

• Deals 620.7 to 931 Physical Damage
• 50% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage
• Skills fire an additional Projectile

Donut of Destiny

• Deals 67.41 to 101.1 Physical Damage

Volatile Object Explode

• Deals 387.9 to 581.9 Physical Damage
• 50% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage

Rollout

• Deals 400% of Damage
• 25% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage

Sideways Carpet Bomb

• Deals 633.9 to 950.8 Physical Damage
• 50% of Physical Damage Converted to Fire Damage

 

4. Boss drops

Catarina, Master of Undeath will always drop scarabs and one of the following unique items:

Item
Cinderswallow Urn	48
The Devouring Diadem	54
Bitterbind Point	68
The Queen's Hunger	68
Cane of Kulemak	68

5. Signature mod

Unveil only:

+2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems, +(5-8)% to Quality of Socketed Support Gems

Craftable version

Cost	Affix type	Stats	Item Classes Categories	Unveils
1x Divine Orb	Prefix	+1 to Level of Socketed Support Gems	One Hand Melee • One Hand Ranged • Two Hand Melee • Two Hand Ranged • Shield	1
2x Exalted Orb	Prefix	+2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems	One Hand Melee • One Hand Ranged • Two Hand Melee • Two Hand Ranged • Shield	1

Legacy mods

Name	Generation Type		Stats
Catarina's	Prefix	1	+1 to Level of Socketed Support Gems
Catarina's	Prefix	80	+2 to Level of Socketed Support Gems

One of the legacy mods, +1 to Level of Socketed Support Gems, can be identified by its required level = 1.

The required levels of the current generation of crafted mods (introduced in version 3.6.0, are lv 48 for the +1 mod (60*0.8) and lv 64 for the +2 mod (80*0.8) respectively, which means the +2 version is visually the same, only at the back end the mod id are different.

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The Syndicate Mastermind in a level 83 area without taking any damage from their sculpture.

Jun, Veiled Master will open up a portal to the Mastermind's Lair where you will meet Catarina, Master of Undeath. The zone level will match the highest level Safehouse you have completed.

The Forbidden Vault

The fight starts off with basic attacks. Once she has taken some damage, she summons unique zombies to aid her. Once she has lost enough life, she will open a portal and flee to her safe house.

Zombies

• Xian Song
• etc.

The Unearthed Hideout

Hunt the Mastermind through the hordes of monsters with Jun to The Sculpture Garden.

The Sculpture Garden

The arena is a square with four large totems in the corners and a sculpture in the center. Catarina will continue to use her attacks from the Forbidden Vault; after she reaches a certain amount of life she will turn to the center statue and heal herself, simultaneously releasing one of the syndicate leaders to attack and distract you.

Once the leader has been killed she will move to the Blackflame phase where the statue in the middle also casts spells in a circular pattern. She will also start to charge up one of the totems in the corner which will make her immune to damage when the totem is ready. Attack her meanwhile until a marker beneath you appears, go to the totem and it will absorb your soul until it breaks. The totem releases a cloud that damages over time upon destruction. When the totem is destroyed the cycle repeats itself. All totems have to be destroyed to defeat Catarina.

At low life, she will start to summon a pack of volatile skeletons. Walk over them before they spawn to destroy them. If left alive, they will constantly chase the player slowly to explode on you.

There's not a lot of monsters in this fight so there might be difficulties getting flasks recharged.

Safehouse

The safehouse contains a reward room for each Syndicate member, each elevated by one tier. Defeating Catarina while members are rank 3 is the only way to access their tier 4 rewards.

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Suspicious Syndicates

Complete Deadly Encounters in Style(3)

Defeat any three of the following endgame boss encounters in the specified ways.

• Atziri in The Alluring Abyss without being hit by Flameblast
• Aul, the Crystal King in an area of level 81 or higher without being hit by Crystalline Fissures
• The Syndicate Mastermind in a level 83 area without allowing any Volatile Skeletons to raise from the ground
• The Vaal Omnitect in a level 83 area without taking any damage from Flamethrowers after it has finished using Flamethrowers at least once
• Chayula, Who Dreamt in an area of level 81 or higher without being hit by Chaos Cyclone projectiles and after they have used Chaos Cyclone at least 3 times

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Version history

Version	Changes
3.15.3b	Fixed a bug where Catarina, Master of Undeath could become stuck and fail to perform any actions.
3.14.0	We have improved the Betrayal reward system so that slaying the Mastermind is more worthwhile. Now, if the Mastermind is slain, her Immortal Syndicate Members drop their rewards at one tier higher than their current tier. This change introduces a fourth tier of reward from each member, and gives more reason to use a larger variety of Syndicate targets and safehouse leaders. Some of the best existing rewards have been moved to the fourth tier. We've also improved some of the less-interesting or less-valuable rewards. Modifiers that are unveiled through Jun are now more powerful than before. Previously, when an item was unveiled, the veiled modifier added to the item would be equal to the highest tier modifier available on the Crafting Bench. Now, the modifier being unveiled no longer counts as a crafted modifier and will be stronger than any craftable veiled modifier. Added Cane of Kulemak to item drop pool.
3.10.0	The Mastermind can now drop Metamorph Scarabs.
3.9.0	The Mastermind will now drop Scarabs when slain.
3.8.0	Upon completing the Mastermind encounter, you'll now have access to a reward room for every single Immortal Syndicate member currently with a job on your board (including prisoners). That's essentially up to 14 rooms worth of rewards, plus the Mastermind themselves. Added a Stash to the Mastermind's Safehouse reward area because, well, you're going to need it. Mastermind Intelligence no longer decays. Upon defeating the Mastermind, the Betrayal board state is reset to a similar number of members and relationships as the starting state. However, Safehouse Intelligence is no longer reset upon defeating the Mastermind. Mastermind's Safehouse now has 200% increased Experience from monsters.
3.6.0	The Mastermind encounter has been simplified, clarified, and made easier: The Mastermind's Pillar Surges now activate at a slower rate. The Mastermind's Volatile Skeletons will no longer spawn in graveyard areas with an active green fire effect. Increased the radius at which the Mastermind's Volatile Skeletons explode (making it easier to safely trigger them). Improved the Mastermind's behaviour in and around the active green fire graveyard area thing places. She shouldn't get stuck in corners anymore!
3.5.0	Introduced to the game.