Path Of Exile 2: Dark Mists Quest Guide

Once you reach Kingsmarch in Act 4 of Path of Exile II, you might feel a little overwhelmed. The map is full of places to explore, and yet very little direction.

Which isn’t a problem, of course, it certainly gives new players a nice dose of freedom from the mainly linear missions of the past acts. However, if you want a bit of a hint, I would recommend heading over to Tujen, who can be found near the town boardwalk.

This will start the Dark Mists quest, a nice, contained adventure that will see you in two beautifully designed new areas, with new bosses and even an introduction to endgame mechanics that you’ll be seeing a lot more of later in your mapping journey.

The Journey to Kedge Bay

First things first, find and speak to Tujen, a brand-new character in Kingsmarch. He will tell you about the fog that’s been covering Kedge Bay, and ask you to help get rid of it. Easier said than done, of course.

Head over to Makoru on your ship and set sail to Kedge Bay. Luckily, this is a pretty easy map, being extremely linear compared to many of the maps in the previous acts. Don’t worry, you won’t stray off the course much here.

One thing to look out for is the Torn Map Piece that can be found inside the Dead Man’s Chest. It has a green title above it, representing a quest item, so it’s pretty hard to miss.

Picking up this map piece will trigger the start of the Forgotten Bounty Quest, which will teach you a lot of valuable information about another Endgame mechanic.

Journey’s End

Proceed through to the next area, and you’ll find an interesting-looking obelisk. Summon Tujen and listen to the conversation with Freya. Looks like her boy has gone missing, and they’ve lost some Verisium, too! So stop standing around, and get searching!

This area is a bit more open than the previous one, but still rather linear (well, it was for me).

The Trapped Wreck

While you look at the gorgeous sights of stranded ships and lovely water, you may come across a shipwreck with some rare treasure chests ripe for the picking. But don’t open the chest yet!

First of all, make sure you have a fairly empty inventory so you can store all the loot, because as soon as you open that chest. A countdown is going to start ticking.

If you haven’t collected your loot and left the wreck, you’ll be caught in the explosion and instantly killed. This certainly gave me a fright the first time it happened to me. This is especially serious if you’re playing Hardcore, so be careful.

Captain Hartlin

Eventually, once you reach the end of the map, you’ll come across Captain Hartlin, Freya’s Boy. Unfortunately, now he’s an evil Undead Pirate…. So you’d better take care of that, eh?

Attack Name	Description	How To Avoid
Cannon Shot	Hartlin raises his cannon and fires a single shot towards you.	Simply move or roll to the side
Anchor Sweep	With his other hand, he will sweep his anchor forward and back.	Try and roll backwards for this one, out of his reach. The attack is quite short-range.
Anchor Smash	Hartlin will smash his anchor into the ground, sending a blue shockwave in your direction.	Again, roll left or right. This is pretty obviously telegraphed, so you won’t have a problem here.
Wave Splash	A small wave of water will surge across the arena, dealing damage and pushing you back.	This can either come individually or within a series of waves. They are very slow-moving and easy to avoid if you’re fighting from range. If in melee distance, simply circle him to avoid the majority of his attacks.
Spirit Strikes	Hartlin will shout “Endless Misery” and then shoot out a bunch of blue tracking missiles from his neck wheel.	Keep moving and don’t worry about attacking, or this will do a lot of quick damage.
Phantasm Cannons	A ring of spectral cannons will appear around you, and quickfire one after another.	These don’t track very well, so just run out of the ring and keep rolling.
Afterlife Anchor	This attack is pretty similar to the Executioner’s deadly attack from Act 1. Hartlin will shout “Discipline” or “Be Still”, and then spawn a blue target ring on the ground. After a short time, a ghostly anchor will shoot down from the sky.	As soon as you see the ring or hear Hartlin’s voiceline, immediately roll and sprint away from the target zone, or you’ll take serious damage.

At some points during the fight, he can also spawn a bunch of trash mobs if you need to spawn some minions or get some health back. Keep moving and attacking, and you’ll have this spooky sailer down quicker than you can say “Where’s the rum gone?”

The Delirious Fog

Grab the Verisium and then head back to Kingsmarch. Go and find Dannig. He’s near the Salvage Bench, north of the main town square. He will forge the Verisium into a bunch of metal spikes just like in Act 1.

Return to Tujen and interact with the totems.

Turns out, it was all lies! You’ve been played. A Delirium Mirror will spawn, along with several waves of enemies. Clear out the mobs, and eventually Omniphobia, the boss, will spawn. Oddly enough, this boss is far easier than Hartlin.

Omniphobia

Attack Name	Description	How To Avoid
Double Swipe	The boss will swipe his axe twice in front of him.	Roll back to avoid its short range.
Double Slam	The boss will slam once, and then again in the same spot.	Roll to the sides and punish him for this slow attack.
Shockwave	Omniphobia will charge his axe and then send a large shockwave across the arena.	This attack moves pretty fast, so you need to look for him charging up first. Then you can safely roll out of the way.
Leap Slam	If you’re far away, the boss will leap forward and slam his axe into the ground, causing a bunch of bloody spikes to emerge.	You can either roll towards him to dodge, or roll to the side. If you roll back, it might catch you.
Stomach Belch	Omniphobia will grab hold of the mouth on his stomach and then send a bunch of bloody orbs your way.	This attack will track, but it’s easy to dodge if you’re sprinting. Don’t attack until this attack is over.

Once you’ve depleted his health bar, the boss will explode, and you can pick up a selection of useful distilled emotions. These can be used for anointing an amulet a little way down the road, but don’t worry about that right now.

Return to Tujen in Kingsmarch, and he will give you a level 13 Skill Gem and a bit of cash for your troubles.