The Trial of the Sekhemas stands as one of the three Ascension Trials in Path of Exile 2 . Accessible starting in Act 2, this Trial challenges players with a randomized gauntlet of rooms filled with monsters, traps, and other perilous obstacles. Success demands precise navigation and strategic combat to preserve Honour, a unique stat vital for progress. This Trial draws its inspiration from the Forbidden Sanctum in Path of Exile 1.
To initiate the Trial, players must complete the Ascent to Power quest, defeat Balbala, the Traitor, and obtain Balbala's Barya. Placing this special coin within the Relic Altar grants access to the first floor. Later in the game, higher-level Djinn Baryas become available, allowing access to additional floors with improved rewards. These baryas are tradeable, adding a valuable dimension to the in-game economy. You can even buy and sell Baryas with completed floors. These bayas will keep all the progress of the run, including boons and afflictions, giving you option to skip the trial’s starting floors and get to the floor 4.
Each floor in the Trial comprises 8 rooms, culminating in a boss battle. With 4 floors in total, players will face increasingly difficult challenges and richer rewards. Completing a floor rewards players with ascendancy points, offering a total of 8 points upon completing all 4 floors. Alternatively, ConquestCapped.com provides an option to defeat the 4th floor boss, Zarokh, the Temporal, instantly unlocking all ascendancy points.
Ascendancy Passive Skill Points can be allocated in your Ascendancy Skill Tree once you have chosen your Ascendancy. Your Ascendancy class is unlocked by completing any Ascension Trial.You can obtain 4 sets of 2 Ascendancy Points for a total of 8 in the following ways:
Set 1 - Completing floor 1 of the Trial of the Sekhemas or completing the Trials of Chaos with at least 7 Trials.
Set 2 - Completing floor 2 of the Trial of the Sekhemas or completing the Trials of Chaos.
Set 3 - Completing floor 3 of the Trial of the Sekhemas or completing the Trials of Chaos with at least 10 Trials.
Set 4 - Completing floor 4 of the Trial of the Sekhemas or completing the secret challenge behind the locked door in the Trials of Chaos.
Honour operates as an exclusive stat for the Trial of the Sekhemas. Unlike health or energy shield, Honour diminishes when the player takes damage and cannot be restored through conventional methods like flasks, regeneration, or leech. Instead, it can only be replenished via special shrines or through Sacred Water, a unique non-tradeable currency found exclusively within the Trial. Players must carefully manage their Honour, as its depletion results in ejection from the Trial and the loss of all progress.
Honour is determined by the player’s total life and energy shield when entering the Trial. Characters utilizing the Mind over Matter keystone will also include maximum mana in this calculation. Throughout the Trial, players can obtain additional Maximum Honour, which increases both their current Honour and the maximum limit.
A critical resource in the Trial, Sacred Water appears as light blue droplets of energy. It is automatically collected when players approach it and serves several important purposes:
- Recovering Honour through purchases in merchant rooms.
- Acquiring Boons to gain buffs and other advantages.
- Purchasing Relics that provide significant benefits during the Trial.
At the end of each Trial run, Sacred Water resets. However, leftover Sacred Water can be converted into Keys at the Keth Forge located in the reward cache room after defeating a floor boss.
When players begin their run, a map of the current trial is displayed, revealing rooms filled with different challenges. These rooms may offer rewards in the form of Boons or impose penalties via Afflictions.
Boons: These provide positive effects such as recovering Honour, reducing Honour loss, increasing Sacred Water rewards, debuffing enemies, or granting helpful buffs.
Afflictions: These impose penalties that can spawn additional traps, buff monsters, reduce Honour recovery, or otherwise complicate the Trial.
Within Merchant Rooms, players encounter Balbala, the Released, an NPC who offers Boons, relics, or Honour recovery in exchange for Sacred Water. The cost of relics depends on their size.
Small relics: 300 Sacred Water
Medium relics: 400 Sacred Water
Large relics: 500 Sacred Water
Balbala is guaranteed to appear at the end of each floor in the reward cache room, making Merchant Rooms an essential stop for maintaining resources and increasing survivability.
The Trial consists of various room types, each demanding unique strategies:
Objective: Disable all Death Crystals before the timer expires.
Mechanics:
- Disabling a crystal extends the timer.
- Crystals guide the player to subsequent targets.
- Active crystals at the timer’s expiration inflict damage.
Strategy: Prioritize movement speed and dodge enemies. Movement skills are critical for efficient navigation.
Objective: Defeat Ritual Casters near portals to disable them.
Mechanics: Casters continuously summon enemies until eliminated.
Strategy: Focus fire on casters to clear the area quickly and advance.
Objective: Survive unrelenting enemy waves until the timer ends.
Mechanics:
Killing rare monsters reduces the timer.
Regular enemies spawn endlessly.
Strategy: Play defensively and avoid unnecessary risks. Only engage rare monsters when confident in your abilities.
Objective: Eliminate rare monsters marked by the chalice and return.
Strategy: Clear smaller mobs first, then focus on rare monsters for smoother progression.
Objective: Activate levers to unlock doors and find the exit.
Strategy: Memorize trap patterns and avoid rushing. Utilize dodge rolls to mitigate trap damage.
Each floor concludes with a unique boss battle:
Damage Types: Physical, Fire
Weakness: Cold
Strategy: Avoid falling stalactites and magma geysers, particularly when the boss’s health falls below 10%.
Damage Types: Physical, Cold, Fire
Weaknesses: Cold (Hadi), Fire (Rafiq)
Strategy: Defeat Hadi first to prevent chilling projectiles and ground effects.
Damage Types: Physical, Chaos
Weakness: Cold
Strategy: Avoid pressure plate traps, which summon beetles or poison darts.
Damage Types: Physical
Weakness: None
Strategy: At 30 and 60% health, Zarokh initiates a time-stop phase. Collect all hourglasses to avoid failure. If the pattern is unlucky or you made a mistake and time is running out, reset the fight by selecting Escape - Character Selection without forfeiting the entire run.
Defeating bosses for the first time unlocks additional relic slots, enhancing future runs.
The important part is if you’ll get barya with 3 floors already done(you can get it from trading or from your friends), successfully attempt floor 4 and kill Zarokh, the Temporal you will get all 8 ascendancy points and unlock all relic slots, even if you haven’t killed any previous bosses in Sekhemas.
Relics represent a progression mechanic exclusive to the Trial. These items drop from bosses, rare monsters, or chests and can be bought or sold. Before each run, players select relics without the option to change them mid-Trial.
Initially, prioritize relics that grant Honour resistance, Maximum Honour, or movement speed. Aim to reach the Honour resistance cap of 75%. Advanced players may explore additional relics, such as vendor-related bonuses or room reveals.
This comprehensive guide equips players with all necessary strategies and insights to triumph in the Trial of Sekhemas. Remember, for those seeking a faster route, ConquestCapped.com offers assistance to instantly unlock all ascendancy points without the extended challenge.
