After a few Arbiter of Ash runs, you start to notice the same thing every time: the fight isn't just hard, it's slow in all the wrong places. Path of Exile 2 can be brutal, and most players are fine with that, especially when the reward is worth chasing. But when a boss eats up your time before you've even pulled your weapon out, the mood changes fast. If you're farming POE 2 Currency, every wasted minute matters, and this encounter seems built to waste plenty of them.
The run-up feels worse than the fight
The first problem is the setup. You don't just open the encounter and get on with it. You enter the map, move through the area, deal with the fragment process, then wait for the elevator sequence before the real fight starts. Once or twice, that's not a huge deal. After ten, twenty, or thirty attempts, it becomes a chore. Boss farming should have a rhythm. You go in, test your build, grab the loot, reset. Arbiter breaks that rhythm before the boss has even appeared.
Too much waiting, not enough playing
Then the encounter itself keeps stopping. The intro drags on. Phase changes take control away from the player. There are moments where the boss simply can't be damaged, and you're left standing there, watching instead of playing. That sort of thing can work in a campaign fight, where spectacle matters. In repeat endgame farming, it gets old quickly. Players don't mind learning mechanics. They do mind being forced to sit through the same little show every single run.
The arena and mechanics don't always click
The arena looks impressive, but it doesn't feel great for every build. It's wide, which means some characters spend too much time chasing the boss or trying to line up damage. Builds that rely on tight damage windows can feel especially awkward. The mechanics also have a strange learning curve. Early cues teach you one habit, then later phases punish that same habit. That doesn't feel like mastery. It feels like the game moved the goalposts. When you die, you're often not thinking, "I should've played better." You're thinking, "What was I meant to read there?"
The loot makes the frustration harder to forgive
If the rewards were steady, players would put up with more. That's just how ARPG players are. But Arbiter's loot table leans too hard on one big ticket item. Most of the common drops aren't exciting, and many won't cover the cost of entry. The Prism of Belief can be huge, sure, but when profit depends on hitting that rare drop, the boss feels less like a farm and more like a slot machine. Some players enjoy that gamble. Many don't, especially when other strategies give cleaner returns with less stress.
Where the boss really stands
Arbiter of Ash isn't impossible, and some players will still run it because they enjoy the challenge or want the jackpot. That's fair. But for most people, there are better ways to spend their time, from mapping to Rituals to other planned farming routes. If you're already short on resources, buying cheap POE 2 Divine Orbs may even feel less painful than burning fragments on a boss that pays out only when luck decides to show up.