How to beat the Path of Exile 2 Bloated Miller boss fight

Path of Exile 2 druid player attacking bloated miller boss as a giant bear — (Image credit: Grinding Gear Games)

The Path of Exile 2 Bloated Miller is the first boss you'll face on your hellish journey through the game's tutorial. The large, lumbering undead figure's attacks are slow but hard-hitting, emphasizing the importance of dodging and re-positioning during boss fights - some classes will be better at this than others, but it's an important combat technique for all regardless. Otherwise, the Bloated Miller is a pretty simple boss who should be easy to beat, but I've laid out some useful tips below for beating this big brute in Path of Exile 2.

Path of Exile 2 Bloated Miller tips and strategies

The Bloated Miller in Path of Exile 2 is a boss that's much stronger at melee, so you'd do well to stay at a distance and whittle him down, though that's not always an option for certain Path of Exile 2 classes. With that in mind, we've got a range of helpful advice and tips to help any character exploit its weaknesses and beat it.

Make sure you're equipped properly. All the weapons and skill gems you found in the tutorial should be equipped in your inventory for the best chance, the skills assigned before you go in. Feel free to practice on the undead outside the arena to make sure you fully understand how they work.
Keep your distance where possible. The Miller is more dangerous at close range, though he does have quick charges and a shockwave move to hit players at distance.
If you are in melee, get behind him. The Bloated Miller's main attacks are front-facing, so stay behind him where possible.
Roll to the sides, not back or forwards. The Miller's attacks tend to extend forward at length but have little width - if you need to dodge, circle around him rather than back and away.
When he starts summoning, you don't need to focus on the summons. Exactly how you tackle these minions depends on your class - Witches can use them to create their own undead, for example - but as a rule it's best just to maintain firepower on the Miller while keeping out of the way of the slower summons. If you're playing a Sorcerer or a class with AOE attacks, try to take them down in the same attacks that hit the Bloated Miller too.
If you have elemental attacks, keep them up. Most elemental effects trigger on successive strikes, so if you have frost or poison, hit the Miller with that same attack in quick succession for the best chance.

The Miller shouldn't give you too much trouble if you can maintain all this pressure and follow the above pointers, and you can always grind in the areas before for an even better chance. You're more likely to struggle with the Path of Exile 2 Devourer boss that comes up in the next quest, but our guide can help you with that. There's also the Rust King boss who pops up after finding all Path of Exile 2 Rust Runes.

Alternatively, if you're realizing you made mistakes in your chosen skills, I can also tell you how to respec in Path of Exile 2 - though spoiler alert, you won't be able to unlock it for a little while.