The Trial of Chaos is an intense gauntlet offering both high stakes and great rewards, perfect for players eager to push their builds to the limit while collecting valuable loot such as Soul Cores and exclusive items from the Trialmaster. It is also one of the three Ascension Trials in Path of Exile 2. Available from Act 3 onward, the Trial of Chaos provides a thrilling way to improve your character through distinct challenges and unique modifiers.
To enter the Trial of Chaos: Find an Inscribed Ultimatum: These special items begin dropping from monsters in Act 3 and serve as keys to access the Trial of Chaos. Activate the Inscribed Ultimatum: This grants entry to a Trial with a specific number of rounds, depending on the Ultimatum’s level:
Level 39–59 areas: 4 rounds, grants you the first set of 2 ascendancy points
Level 60–74 areas: 7 rounds, grants you the second set of 2 ascendancy points
Level 75+ areas: 10 rounds, grants you the third set of 2 ascendancy points
To achieve your last set of 2 ascendancy points you will need to complete the trial's endgame boss challenge
We'll return to this later, let's dive into the trial basics first!
Each Trial consists of multiple rounds, culminating in boss battles at Rounds 4, 7, and 10. The sequence of rounds follows a set pattern:
Round 1 - Defeat all the Monsters.
Round 2 - Survive until the Timer Expires.
Round 3 - Escort the Statue or Collect all the Soul Cores.
Round 4 - Defeat the Boss.
Round 5 - Defeat all the Monsters or Survive until the Timer Expires.
Round 6 - Sacrifice Monsters to the Altar by slaying them in the Blood Circles or Collect all the Soul Cores.
Round 7 - Defeat the Boss.
Round 8 - Defeat all the Monsters or Survive until the Timer Expires.
Round 9 - Sacrifice Monsters to the Altar by slaying them in the Blood Circles or Escort the Statue.
Round 10 - Defeat the Boss.
Boss fights in Rounds 4, 7, and 10 guarantee Soul Cores as rewards. The boss at Round 10 always drops one of the Fates needed to challenge the pinnacle encounter – The Trialmaster. Because of this, farming the 10-round version is the best way to maximize profits.
Before each round in the Trial of Chaos, you must choose one of three negative modifiers that will affect the remainder of the run. If all available modifiers are too dangerous and you’ve obtained valuable loot in earlier rounds, consider stopping to secure your rewards. Below is a list of all possible modifiers:
Rank 1: Runes will appear that will call deadly Lightning storms if you remain in them.
Rank 2: Large runes will appear that will call deadly Lightning storms if you remain in them.
Rank 3: Many large runes will appear that will call deadly Lightning storms if you remain in them.
With 75% Lightning Resistance even rank 3 damage is very manageable.
Rank 1: An ancient Vaal machination will deploy attacks against nearby intruders.
Rank 2: An ancient Vaal machination will deploy an array of attacks against nearby intruders.
Rank 3: An ancient Vaal machination will deploy a powerful array of attacks against nearby intruders.
Always appears in the middle of the arena making encounters with bosses especially dangerous.
Rank 1: An invulnerable shade stalks you, inflicting Ruin with its Melee hits. Fail the Trials on reaching 7 Ruin.
Rank 2: An invulnerable shade stalks you, gaining speed and inflicting Ruin with Melee and Projectile hits. Fail the Trials on reaching 7 Ruin.
Rank 3: An invulnerable shade stalks you, gaining further speed and inflicting Ruin with powerful Melee and Projectile hits. Fail the Trials on reaching 7 Ruin.
Rank 1 is very easy to manage but rank 2 and 3 can end your run very fast because of the ranged projectiles. Remember that the Ruin stacks persist
throughout the entire run!
Rank 1: Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire Fire Projectiles ahead.
Rank 2: Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire barrages of Fire Projectiles ahead.
With 75% Fire Resistance damage from the turrets is very manageable.
Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire Lightning Projectiles ahead.
Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire a wave of Lightning Projectiles ahead.
With 75% Lightning Resistance damage from the turrets is very manageable.
Rank 1: Pyramid objects appear, projecting four rotating lasers that inflict Corrupted Blood on Hit.
Rank 2: Pyramid objects appear, projecting four fast rotating lasers that inflict Corrupted Blood on Hit.
Dodge Roll through the lasers to avoid them.
Rank 1: Rings of Doom appear on the ground which grow over time, exploding for Physical damage once they reach a maximum area.
Rank 2: Rings and circles of Doom appear on the ground which grow over time, exploding for Physical damage once they reach a maximum area.
Deals massive amounts of physical damage, avoid at all costs if you have low physical damage mitigation.
Rank 1: Bloody hearts appear that apply tethers, Slowing you. Breaking the tether will Stun you.
Rank 2: Bloody hearts appear that apply tethers, Slowing you. Breaking the tether will Stun you and cause you to become vulnerable to damage for a duration.
Getting Stunned can be annoying but in most circumstances, this is not very dangerous. However, becoming vulnerable from Heart Tethers Rank 2 can often get you
killed so it's recommended you avoid upgrading it.
Rank 1: 40% reduced Life, Mana, and Energy Shield Recovery Rate.
Rank 2: 75% reduced Life, Mana, and Energy Shield Recovery Rate.
Good recovery is a key part of every build's defense. For this reason, it is recommended to always avoid this modifier.
Rank 1: Challenge area contains several statues that Petrify you if you stand within their gaze for a duration.
Rank 2: Challenge area contains several statues that Petrify you for a long duration if you stand within their gaze for a short duration.
Do not face the statues to avoid getting petrified. This can be hard because usually there is multiple statues facing you from different directions. Getting
petrified while surrounded by the monsters usually leads to a certain death, so for this reason it is recommended to avoid this modifier.
Rank 1: 40% less Defences.
Rank 2: 75% less Defences.
This modifier reduced your Energy Shield, Armour and Evasion. For characters that build up Energy Shield this modifier is devastating, especially at Rank 2.
For characters that build up Armour and Evasions it's not as punishing if a character also has a high amount of Life.
Rank 1: -15% to Elemental Resistances and -10% to Maximum Elemental Resistances.
Rank 2: -30% to Elemental Resistances and -20% to Maximum Elemental Resistances.
This modifier greatly increases your elemental damage taken. If your character has 75% all elemental resistances then reducing that number by 30%
more than doubles your damage taken! With high amounts of Life, Energy Shield or other elemental damage mitigation Rank 1 is manageable but it is almost always
recommended to avoid Rank 2.
Rank 1: Globules of blood manifest nearby, tracking you. When above you they will fall, dealing Physical damage.
Rank 2: Globules of blood manifest nearby, tracking you. When above you they will fall, dealing Physical damage and creating damaging blood ground.
These Blood Globules are easy to avoid by using your dodge roll right before it falls down. Even if you get hit, these do not deal a deadly amount of damage
which makes this modifier one of the easier ones.
Rank 1: Monsters have 300% increased Critical Hit Chance.
Rank 2: Monsters always deal Critical Hits.
Make sure you have a character that can survive big hits or have some form of critical damage mitigation before taking this modifier.
Rank 1: Monsters gain 20% of damage added as extra Chaos damage.
Rank 2: Monsters gain 50% of damage added as extra Chaos damage.
Characters with allocated Chaos Inoculation completely ignore this modifier. Otherwise make sure you have a high amount of chaos resistance, preferably 75%
before taking this modifier.
Rank 1: Monster Hits always inflict Bleeding and Poison.
Characters with Chaos Inoculation are immune to Bleeding and Poison. If you are not immune make sure you have a high amount of Life recovery.
Try using Antidote Charm and Staunching Charm for occasional immunity to Poison and Bleeding.
Rank 1: Buffs expire three times faster and Debuffs expire three times slower.
If your build doesn't rely on buffs, this modifier is not very dangerous by itself but in combination with some other ones can be very deadly. For example, it
increases the duration of Bleeding and Poison from Toxic Monsters, Stun and Vulnerability from Heart Tethers and Petrification from Petrification Statues.
Rank 1: Monsters have +40% to all Resistances.
If your primary damage type is elemental or chaos this modifier greatly reduces your damage output. Any sources of damage penetration or enemy resistance reductions
greatly negate this modifier. Characters with primary physical damage completely ignore this modifier.
Rank 1: Monsters cannot be Slowed or Stunned.
Does not affect most of the builds. If your build greatly relies on Stunning or Slowing your enemies avoid this modifier.
Rank 1: Monsters inflict Grasping Vines on Hit.
Grasping Vines greatly reduce your character's movement speed. If you are good at avoiding taking damage this modifier does not increase the difficulty by that
much. It is especially dangerous for melee builds that are more likely to take hits from enemies.
Rank 1: Bosses deal more damage and take less damage.
Boss encounters are the most dangerous challenges in Trial of Chaos. This modifier makes them even more dangerous. For this reason, it is recommended to always
avoid this modifier unless your character kills bosses within seconds.
Rank 1: Rare Monsters have 2 additional Modifiers. 30% increased Rare Monsters.
This makes Rare Monsters especially dangerous. If you can handle the additional difficulty this modifier is actually a positive one because more Rare Monsters means
more loot!
Rank 1: Monsters release deadly Volatiles on death. Rare monsters leave larger ones.
Volatiles created by the monsters deal a massive amount of damage so make sure you avoid all of them utilizing the dodge roll. This is especially difficult when a
lot of them spawn at the same time so you might want to consider staggering killing your enemies.
Rank 1: In each encounter room, damage taken will slowly increase by 1% per second, up to 50%.
Most of the encounters in Trial of Chaos take a long time to complete which makes this modifier very dangerous especially, in combination with some of the other
ones like Monster Speed or Lethal Rare Monsters.
Rank 1: 50% less Area of Effect and Projectile Speed.
This modifier is not very dangerous even for most of the builds that use Area of Effect or Projectile abilities, however can make encounters take much longer.
Rank 1: Monsters grant no Flask and Charm Charges on death.
If your character relies on Flasks for Mana and Life recovery then it is one of the most difficult ones. Remember that right before every boss encounter there is a
well that recovers all of your flasks charges to full even with this modifier being active.
Rank 1: Monsters gain 20% increased Skill Speed.
Makes monsters much faster making them more dangerous, especially Bosses. Take only if your character has strong defenses.
What They Are: Exclusive rewards socketed into items instead of Runes for powerful modifiers.
How to Obtain Them: Dropped by bosses in Rounds 4, 7, and 10.
Most expensive are Soul Core of Zalatl (2% increased maximum mana/Recover 2% of Mana on Kill), Soul Core of Citaqualotl (30% increased Elemental Damage with
Attacks/+5% to all Elemental Resistances) and Soul Core of Azcapa(+15 to spirit/10% increased Rarity of Items found)
As many poe2 items you can reforge 3 similar soul cores in reforging bench to a random one.
Purpose: Used to challenge the Trialmaster.
How to Obtain Them: Dropped by bosses during the 10th round:
Cowardly Fate: Drops from Uxmal, the Beastlord.
Deadly Fate: Drops from Bahlak, the Sky Seer.
Victorious Fate: Drops from Chetza, the Feathered Plague.
Risk Assessment:
Steer clear of hazardous combinations, such as Monster Speed + Escalating Damage Taken + Enraged Bosses.
Don’t hesitate to stop early if necessary to secure the rewards you've gathered.
Stormcaller Runes: Ensure 75% lightning resistance to reduce damage.
Petrification Statues: Avoid their gaze to prevent being petrified.
Reduced Recovery: This modifier weakens your defenses, so try to avoid it.
Deadly Monsters: Confirm you can survive critical hits before choosing this modifier.
Boss Rounds (4, 7, 10):
Prioritize mobility and avoiding damage zones.
Be mindful of modifiers like Escalating Damage Taken and Stalking Shade, as they can make the fight more challenging.
Soul Core Rounds:
Collect all Soul Cores quickly while avoiding enemies and voidzones.
Utilize movement skills to navigate efficiently.
Always aim for the 10-round version to maximize profits.
Stop the run if critical modifiers make progression too risky.
Ensure your character has 75% elemental resistances, strong chaos resistance, and adequate physical damage mitigation.
Incorporate recovery mechanisms to sustain you during prolonged fights.
Equip gear that enhances your defense, such as reducing critical damage or boosting evasion.
Make sure to use flasks that grant immunity to bleeding, poison, and corrupted blood.
Master dodge rolls to avoid hazardous mechanics, such as Pyramid Beams and Volatile Fiends.
Stay alert for enemy ability modifiers that may overlap with your actions.
If you're aiming for a complete run with a Trialmaster kill, make sure to purchase all three fates required to open its door.
The Trialmaster represents the ultimate challenge at the end of a 10-round Trial of Chaos. Defeating him for the first time rewards
you with your final ascendancy points.
Use the three Fates gathered from Round 10 bosses to unlock the Trialmaster's Tower.
Time-stopping slams will create expanding damage zones.
The small arena features multiple damaging areas, requiring careful positioning and precise dodge rolls.
Additionally, the Trialmaster has a chance to drop special corrupted Inscribed Ultimatums, offering further rewards.
The Trial of Chaos offers an exciting and demanding experience in Path of Exile 2.
Complete all 10 Rounds to earn valuable rewards, but be strategic when selecting modifiers.
Defeat the Bosses in Rounds 4, 7, and 10 to collect Soul Cores and Fates.
Challenge the Trialmaster to unlock exclusive items and ascendancy points.
With proper preparation and a solid strategy, you can conquer the chaos and claim your rewards. Let me know if you'd like any more adjustments or details!
