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Discover everything you need to know about All Ascension Trials Listed in Path of Exile 2 including the mechanics and tips and tricks.
Path of Exile 2 has received an initial release on December 6, 2024. There is a total of 12 distinct Classes, each granting its own uniqueness in the game. Ascending in Path of Exile 2 is a major milestone that unlocks powerful new abilities. To achieve this, you must first complete one of the game’s two Trials. The first challenge, the Trial of Sekhemas in Act 2, will reward the player with two Ascendancy Skill Points. You can use these points after you choose your Ascendancy Class. Ascension Trails act as gateways to unlocking and upgrading Ascendancy Classes.
Ascension Trials Overview in POE 2
The Ascension Trials are special challenges that players must complete to unlock their character’s Ascendancy Class. The Ascension Trials are important in character building, as completing these challenges is the only way to upgrade your Ascendancy Skill Tree. You can also unlock your Ascendency class after completing a challenge for the first time. Each time you succeed in a trial, a new layer of difficulty will be added.
To unlock your Ascendancy, you need to complete the base difficulty version of either one of the Trial activities. The first of the Trials that you can unlock is the Trial of the Sekhemas. You need to collect a bariam which is a specific coin to gain access to this activity. This token is obtained from an optional boss though you do get a quest that does let you know of their existence. You can obtain tokens for the Trial of Sekhemas by defeating Balbala, the Traitor. Once you’ve acquired the tokens, head to the trial door and place them to begin the challenges.
These tokens are consumed upon starting the trial. However, you will lose the tokens if you fail the challenge. It’s best to defeat the bosses again to get another token to try again. To avoid unnecessary setbacks, ensure you fully prepare before attempting the Ascension Trials.
It’s important to mention that further on into the game than this, you will gain access to a second type of Ascendancy Trial, The Trial of Chaos. To unlock the Trial of Chaos you need to defeat Xyclucian, the Chimera to get the token. This boss drops the Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum that unlocks the Trial of Chaos.
All Ascension Trials Listed in Path of Exile 2
- Trial of the Sekhemas- Unlocked by defeating the Balbala the Traitor
- Trial of the Chaos- Unlocked by defeating the Xyclucian, the Chimera
Trial of the Sekhemas
Defeat the Balbala the Traitor to get the token to start the Trail of the Sekhemas. This monster is level 19 and you can find it in the Traitor’s Passage, a main story zone within Act 2. If you haven’t been here yet, just keep that name in the back of your head. If you aren’t like completely overcharged for everything that you’re fighting, this can be a difficult fight. After you defeat the boss, you get a coin and you’re told to go to the Trial of the Sekhema’s location on the map in Act 2. Do so and put the coin to begin your first trial run.
Once you use the coin, you will get a menu to put in relics. These add modifiers to run, things like reduced enemy damage or increased maximum Honour. You can get more of these inside the trial as well. However, they don’t take your normal inventory or stash space.
Completing the first room
The first room is completely random but there are several different activity types within the trial of Shekhemas. Some activities require you to survive for a timer which reduces when you kill rare enemies. You will also be placed in a cave full of traps and tasks you to find the exit without taking much damage in some activities. The entire activity has one core unique function to it that you want to be aware of from the start. Success and failure are not defined purely by your health bar and the ability to survive because there’s an Honour stat within this mode a bar called Honour. The meter will go down whenever you’re hit by an attack. The only way to make it go back up afterward is with the room rewards or axes of various kinds.
Once you complete the first room, you’ll be shown the trial map and here you can decide your path forward. You’ll be told the activity type for the rooms that you are choosing between and rewards for each of the options too. Sometimes, there can be negative affixes that are dangerous because they are what you’re going to get. We recommend you pick up the minimum number of negative affixes, maximize your Honour at all times, and play it just super safe because this is what lets you unlock your ascendancy to begin with.
Rewards
When you reach the end of the path, you’ll be given a boss room. Defeat this boss and you’ll complete the Trail. There’s also a currency within this activity called Sacred Water that you can use even during this and different chambers. You’ll also get keys from the chambers themselves. These can be spent to open the different rarities of chests in the reward room. As you progress further into the game, you will start to get coins for this activity that drop at higher levels too. Higher-level coins unlock a higher-difficulty version of the activity and each difficulty adds another floor. So, the entire thing you did the first time, you would do that a second time in the next difficulty up.
Trial of Chaos
Xyclucian, the Chimera is an optional boss which is in Act 3, specifically within the Chimeral Wetland. Zone. Make sure you explore this fully until you find it and defeat it. This will drop you an Ultimatum which gives you a quest to find and begin your first Tria of Chaos. This is a whole other trial, basically a different game mode with some overlapping concepts. This one doesn’t run off an Honour bar but it runs off of your own survivability.
Each chamber that you enter will be relatively random and you gain a negative affix every time you enter a new chamber as well. However, you do get some choice over which one you are hit with from a pool of three. After each chamber, you are also going to be offered a reward in exchange for walking away and leaving something you can take with you. After three chambers, you will reach a boss chamber after that and then after defeating a boss, you complete the base difficulty version of the activity.
Rewards
If you’ve already completed the Trial of Sekhemas and unlocked your Ascendancy, the first Trial of Chaos will reward you with two or more Ascendancy points towards your cap of eight. This activity also has multiple different difficulty levels that you can unlock as you progress throughout the game. Each one is able to offer you more Ascendancy points towards the cap on the first completion.
Ascension Trial Mechanics
The Ascension Trails works on the Honour System and Rewards System. The trial of Sekhemas highly depends on the Honour and Trial of the Chaos is pretty simple as it doesn’t rely on Honour. However, both of these early access Trials offer unique Reward Systems in the game.
Honour System
A new health bar called Honour is a unique addition to your character in the Trials of Sekhemas. Honour relies on your combined Energy Shield and total Life. You also take damage to your Honour whenever you take damage to your Life and Energy Shield. You will automatically fail the Trial if you lose all of your Honour. Also, you will be removed from the Trial if you fail by dying normally or by losing all of your Honour. You cannot recover or heal the Honour through normal ways like regeneration or life leech. You need special Artifacts and Boons or room reward Shrines to restore the Honour. Avoid taking risks if your Honour is low.
Reward System
You will get a massive loot that can easily fill up your inventory with quality items that are useful later in the game. Once you defeat the final boss, you have the option to choose your Ascendancy Class and receive chests of different rarities. You get access to the rarer chests that contain better items, depending on how difficult the modifiers are and how many rooms you have cleared during the Trial. Get well-prepared with your best gear before jumping into these Trails.
All Path of Exile 2 ascendancies
There are six classes available in the early access and each class offers two unique Ascendancies to choose according to their build preference.
Witch Ascendancies
The Witch specializes in summoning and decay magic.
- Infernalist- Infernalist is an Ascendancy class for the Witch in Path of Exile 2 that applies hellfire, summons angry minions, and unleashes devastating flames. The key features of the Ascendancy are Loyal Hellhound, Demonic Possession, and Pyromantic Pact. It offers several passive skills that increase its unique mechanics.
- Blood Mage- The Blood Mage in Path of Exile 2 taps into Life energy to make sacrifices for incredible power. Blood Mages offer vast amounts of vitality and use spells with their own Life. They can deal massive damage and can withstand punishment as well. They focus on controlling Life energy to amplify spells and boost combat capabilities.
Sorceress Ascendancies
The Sorceress specializes in elemental magic and destruction.
- Stormweaver- The Stormweaver focuses on the Sorceress’ capabilities and elemental mastery. It enhances the frequency along with the potency of elemental effects and attacks. This is done through skills like Shaper of Storms, Tempest Caller, and Strike Twice.
- Chronomancer- The Chronomancer is an ascendancy class for the Sorceress who specializes in time manipulation to control the battle. This unique ascendancy offers a devastating playstyle, enabling reset cooldowns, freezing enemies, and rewinding their own state in the game.
Warrior Ascendancies
The Warrior specializes in strength and brute force with slam attacks.
- Warbringer- The Warbringer in Path of Exile is a melee-focused Ascendancy that influences totems and powerful warcries to deal massive damage. It offers a unique and powerful playstyle, combining ability management and strategic positioning.
- Titan- The Titan Ascendancy delivers devastating melee attacks while maintaining strong physical defenses. It emphasizes powerful melee attacks, increased physical defenses, and effective crowd control through stuns.
Ranger Ascendancies
The Ranger wields a bow and arrow, dealing ranged damage.
- Deadeye- The Deadeye Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2 focuses on enhancing movement speed, damage, attack speed, and projectile manipulation.
- Pathfinder- The Pathfinder Ascendancy is a class focused on poison damage and flask manipulation. This Ascendancy allows you to twice the maximum number of poison stacks on the enemies.
Monk Ascendancies
A quick and agile melee fighter with elemental magic skills.
- Invoker- Invoker specializes in Ice or Lightning damage and enhancing the skill damage. Invoker Looks like a strong choice for cast on critical builds but lacks some defensive capabilities and the quality of life nodes.
- Acolyte of Chayula- The Acolyte of Chayula Ascendancy is a powerful class that focuses on darkness and shadow manipulation. It gains access to powerful defensive and offensive abilities by sacrificing Spirit for Darkness.
Mercenary Ascendancies
The Mercenary packs a punch with a crossbow that acts like a sniper rifle, assault rifle, or gun.
- Witchhunter- Witchhunter Ascendancy is an assassin-like class blending sorcery and ruthless crossbow combat. This one is best for boss fights and crowd control.
- Gemling Legionnaire- Gemling Legionnaire in Path of Exile 2 is an ascendancy that focuses on increasing their abilities by embedding gems into their flesh.
Tips and Tricks for Ascension Trials
Here are the tips and tricks for Ascension Trials in Path of Exile 2 that you should follow to complete the Trials on the first attempt.
- Have a mix of offense, defense, and support.
- Understanding enemy behavior helps with timing and positioning.
- Use potions, buffs, or special items when necessary.
- Manage energy and stamina wisely neglect running out at critical moments.
- Make sure that your weapons, armor, or artifacts are the best for the Trail.
- Focus on enemies that you think are the greatest threat or have disruptive abilities.
- Use abilities for maximum impact in crucial moments.
- Don’t rush quickly, so try to evaluate the battlefield and plan your move accordingly.
- You can delay and become more powerful with a few levels if you’re struggling.
- Ensure your build is optimized with defenses, mobility, and sustain.
FAQs About All Ascension Trials Listed in Path of Exile 2(POE 2)
What are Ascension Trials?
Ascension Trials are special challenges that players must complete to unlock their character’s Ascendancy Class. The Ascension Trials are important in character building, as completing these challenges is the only way to upgrade your Ascendancy Skill Tree.
How many Ascension Trials are there in Path of Exile 2?
There are only two Ascension Trails in Path of Exile 2 in early access, Trial of the Sekhemas and Trial of the Chaos. However, we will get to see more Ascension Trials after the full release of the game.
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