The Maven is an end-game boss added into Path of Exile in 3.13, you can fight her by obtaining “The Maven’s Writ” and opening it in the map device. The Maven’s Writ is made up of crescent splinters which are obtained from fighting bosses in the Mavens Crucible.
Preparing to Fight The Maven
The Maven is a well-choreographed fight with seven different phases, we recommend you have the following before attempting the Maven:
Have over 6000 effective health
Have capped elemental resistances
Have some form of layered defence i.e high dodge chance or mana before life
High DPS (4m+)
A good movement skill like flame dash or dash
Video Guide
Below is a video guide showing how to defeat the Maven:
The Maven Phases
The fight continuously alternates between fighting the Maven herself and fighting the Maven’s nucleus, once you deplete the Maven’s HP to 0 she will swap out with her nucleus which is recognizable from the voice lines “Pain will be returned tenfold” & “Stop Resisting”. Between the fights, you must stand on the panels on the side of the crucible as the nucleus will unleash a powerful explosion that will one-shot any build hit by it. The Maven’s HP will replenish to 100% every time, however, the nucleus HP will remain the same until it is completely killed.
The Maven’s Attacks
Default Projectile Attack
The maven fires out a single projectile in a straight line.
Mine!
The nucleus will shoot out small projectiles that hover around the arena, once enough of them are present in the arena the Maven will shout “Mine!” and they will all turn pink and home in on the player, once they touch the player they will momentarily standstill and then explode, much like volatile flame blood.
Gravity Wells
The Maven’s nucleus will spit out 3 orbs that will follow you around, when they touch you they will detonate and leave a pool on the floor which slows action speed & deals moderate damage-over-time, the best area to place them is in the centre of the arena as you will not typically stand there due to the memory game & nucleus phases.
Place gravity wells in the centre of the arena
Circle Slam
The maven highlights a circular area in front of her, after a short delay she unleashes a powerful slam.
The Maven’s Circle SlamDeals 8741 to 13111 Physical Damage, 100% of Physical Damage converted to Cold, Fire & Lightning Damage.You have a 100% reduced chance to block this hit & a 1000% reduced chance to dodge this hit.
Tri-Beam Claws
The Maven says “Stand Still” and then spawns two tri-beam claws that scrape along the ground on each side of her, these claws deal consistent damage but are extremely easy to dodge. The maven will be standing still and vulnerable at this time, it’s a great opportunity to get some free damage in.
The Maven is vulnerable during the Tribeam Claws
Cascade of Pain Projectiles
The Maven will say “A Cascade of Pain” and then shoot multiple projectiles consistently, this is one of her deadliest moves and you should avoid being hit at all costs by staying further away from the Maven & using mobility skills or flasks to dodge incoming projectiles.
Cascade of pain, one of the Maven’s strongest attacksProjectiles deal 3722 to 5583 cold damage.
Maven Nucleus Cannon
The Maven’s Nucleus will charge up a high damage cannon that is easily noticeable by the glowing purple effect across the arena, don’t walk into this area and you won’t have to worry about it.
The cannon is slow and easily visible
Maven Super Fire Projectile
In the final phase, the Maven will say “Take This” and then fire a huge fire projectile in your direction, the projectile moves in a straight line and is easily dodgeable.
The projectile has a cast delayDeals 6203 – 9305 Fire Damage & 100% More Damage with Ignite
Rotating Beams
During the Nucleus phases, it will spawn two beams connecting to the panels on the outer crucible that rotate slowly around the arena, these beams apply a debuff that completely negates life regeneration and leech for 10 seconds, so you must avoid these beams at all costs, once the nucleus has died there will be five beams spawned with small gaps for you to walk through, the gaps move up and down and all five beams rotate around the arena, these beams also completely negate life regeneration and leech.
The Memory Game
At certain points throughout the Maven fight, she may say “Death will not be an escape” which means she has initiated the Memory Game. The Memory Game consists of splitting the arena into 3 different sections, the Maven will briefly light each section up and you must repeat her pattern by walking to the zones in the order they were lit up, whilst you do this the Maven will channel a deadly pink explosion from her feet in the centre that expands across the arena, if you fail to complete the game by the time it reaches the arena edges, it will explode – dealing between 42571 – 63857 damage. If you pass through the pink area that expands from her feet you will take periodic damage and may die.
The aura emitting from the Maven’s feet can kill you
The Final Phase
During the final phase of the Maven fight, the nucleus will be dead in the centre of the arena and emit 5 permanent rotating beams that prevent life regeneration and leech, you must fight the Maven with all of her normal abilities, typically you want to stay close to the Maven and burst her as quickly as possible, with the nucleus being inactive in this phase it is quite easy to do as long as the area isn’t bombarded with gravity wells.
5 Degeneration beams will spawn in the final phase
The Maven’s Rewards
The Maven has her own exclusive rewards which include:
