How to Beat The Great White One in Path of Exile 2
The Great White One is one of the more memorable and intimidating bosses you'll face in Path of Exile 2. This shark-like monstrosity appears during Act 4, ambushing players as they explore the dangerous shores of Whakapanu Island. While it may look overwhelming at first, understanding its mechanics, weaknesses, and attack patterns makes the fight far more manageable, and profitable.
This guide will walk you through where to find The Great White One, how to counter its abilities, and how to defeat it efficiently while preserving resources and maximizing your gains, including valuable POE 2 Currency.
Where to Find The Great White One
You'll encounter The Great White One on Whakapanu Island, specifically in an area known as the Shark Pit. Once you locate this zone on your map, head toward the shoreline. As you approach the water's edge, the boss will dramatically emerge from the sand and sea, triggering the fight.
Because the encounter begins immediately after entering the area, make sure you're fully prepared before stepping onto the shoreline. Having flasks ready and skills off cooldown can make the opening moments much safer.
Boss Overview and Key Mechanics
The Great White One is a massive, land-adapted shark that blends mobility, bleed damage, and area denial. It alternates between swimming through sand, lunging at players, and filling the battlefield with hazardous zones.
Key traits to know:
Heavy physical and bleed damage
High mobility through sand
Strong melee pressure
Vulnerability to lightning damage
Exploiting its lightning weakness is one of the easiest ways to shorten the fight. If your build can swap in lightning-based skills or support gems, doing so will significantly improve your damage output.
Major Attacks to Watch For
While The Great White One has several basic melee attacks, two abilities define the encounter and require constant awareness.
Sand Maelstrom
When the boss burrows underground and begins spinning, it creates a Sand Maelstrom. This ability generates quicksand in a wide circular area, drastically slowing movement speed.
Why this is dangerous:
Reduced mobility makes dodging difficult
The boss often follows up with a leap attack
Staying inside the maelstrom can lead to massive burst damage
As soon as you see the boss dive underground and spin, disengage immediately. Move to the edge of the arena and wait for it to resurface before re-engaging.
Piranha Puddles
As the fight progresses, The Great White One will begin summoning Piranha Puddles, pools of water filled with vicious fish that deal physical damage over time.
Standing in these puddles will:
Drain your health rapidly
Stack pressure alongside bleed damage
Limit safe movement space
Positioning becomes increasingly important as these puddles accumulate. Always be aware of where you're standing, and avoid cornering yourself between puddles and the boss.
Bleed, Prey, and Survival Tips
Most of the boss's damage comes from bleed effects, which can escalate into a debuff called Prey. When afflicted with Prey, the boss can track you more easily, making escapes harder.
To manage this:
Bring bleed-removal or mitigation tools if available
Avoid tanking unnecessary hits
Prioritize movement and spacing over greedily attacking
If your build has access to stuns, you can gain a massive advantage. Stunning The Great White One interrupts its aggression and opens a large damage window. This is often the safest time to unload high-damage skills or cooldowns.
Recommended Strategy
To win consistently:
Open with lightning damage to exploit its weakness
Keep moving, never stay in one spot too long
Disengage during Sand Maelstroms
Avoid Piranha Puddles at all costs
Cleanse or mitigate bleed effects quickly
This is a fight where patience pays off. Rushing or overcommitting usually leads to deaths and wasted resources, including lost POE 2 Currency spent on repairs or consumables.
Rewards and Loot
Defeating The Great White One rewards you with:
A selection of random loot
A Shark Fin, required for the side quest Tribal Medicine
While the drops themselves are random, boss encounters like this are a reliable way to accumulate gear and POE 2 Currency early in Act Four. Even if the loot isn't immediately useful, it can often be sold, traded, or recycled into crafting materials.
Final Thoughts
The Great White One is a well-designed boss that tests positioning, awareness, and damage management rather than raw DPS. By learning its patterns and respecting its area-denial tools, you can turn a chaotic ambush into a controlled and rewarding fight.
Prepare properly, lean into lightning damage, manage bleed effects, and stay mobile. Do that, and this terrifying shark abomination will soon be nothing more than another defeated foe, and another step forward in your Path of Exile 2 journey, with more loot and POE 2 Currency to show for it.
MMOexp POE 2 Team