Path of Exile 2 Trial of Chaos Guide

The Vaal knew one truth above all others: power demands sacrifice. Unlike the structured challenges of other trials in Path of Exile 2, what is the Trial of Chaos comes down to one simple principle - risk everything or walk away empty-handed. Every run is different. Every choice matters.

The Trialmaster doesn't care about your build or your gear. This is a test of your skill and experience. And we are here to help you!

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What is the Trial of Chaos?

Deep in the Vaal Jungle sits a temple older than corruption itself. Before the Vaal embraced their twisted science, they worshiped something more primal: Chaos. Not a god in the traditional sense, but an entity representing freedom, randomness, and raw potential.

High Priests of the Vaal proved their worth here. To rise in rank meant facing unpredictable challenges, stacking modifier after modifier, and betting everything on their strength. That tradition lives on in the Path of Exile 2 Trial of Chaos, where you'll negotiate with the Trialmaster and accept his bargains.

How is it different from Trial of Sekhemas?

Trial of Sekhemas rewards patience and mechanical execution. You learn trap patterns, practice jumps, and master timing. Instead of fixed obstacles, you face escalating modifiers that compound with each room. One wrong tribute choice, and suddenly your screen's covered in detonating chaos rings while unstoppable monsters charge through your defenses.

How to Unlock & Start the Trial of Chaos

You need an entry token and the right location. Here's the breakdown:

Step 1: Obtain the Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum

During your campaign progression, you'll encounter Xyclucian, an NPC tied to the Vaal storyline. After specific quest completions (exact triggers vary based on your path through Acts), Xyclucian offers you a Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum. This item functions as your temple entry pass.

In endgame, higher-level Inscribed Ultimatums drop from various sources:

• Map bosses in Vaal-themed areas
• Ritual encounters
• Trade with other players
• Special events and league mechanics

Higher-tier Ultimatums unlock more chambers and tougher tribulations.

Step 2: Locate the Offering Altar

Head to the Vaal Jungle zone. Navigate to the Temple of Chaos entrance - it appears as a massive stone structure covered in corruption veins and ancient glyphs. Inside, you'll find the Offering Altar.

Interact with the altar while holding your Inscribed Ultimatum. This activates the trial sequence and summons the Trialmaster.

Step 3: Understand Ultimatum Level Impact

Your Inscribed Ultimatum's item level directly affects:

• Number of available chambers (low-level = 3-4 rooms, endgame = up to 10)
• Monster difficulty and life pools
• Quality and quantity of loot drops
• Ascendancy point availability (campaign vs endgame)

According to data from PoE 2 Wiki and community testing, item level 60+ Ultimatums consistently offer 6-8 chambers with guaranteed currency drops and Soul Core opportunities.

Trial Structure

Once you're inside, the Trialmaster lays down the rules. Each chamber presents an objective you must complete while dealing with accumulated tribulations from previous rooms.

Room Objectives

• Standard Clear - Eliminate all monsters in the area. Simple on paper, brutal in practice when you're on chamber seven with six stacked tribulations.
• Survival Timer - Outlast waves of enemies for a set duration (usually 60-90 seconds). Position matters here. Find a corner, keep moving, and don't get surrounded.
• Idol Escort - Protect and guide a Vaal Idol through the chamber while elevators bring fresh monster waves. The Idol moves on its own, but slowly. You can't rush this one.
• Rune Activation - Light-specific runes scattered across the room while fighting off defenders. Requires split attention between combat and movement.

Run Progression

• Rooms 1-3: Warm-up phase. Monsters hit reasonably hard, but tribulations haven't stacked into nightmare territory yet.
• After Room 3: First boss encounter. Could be any of the major bosses - order is random.
• Rooms 4-6: Difficulty spikes. Your choice of tribulations starts mattering. Bad combinations can end runs.
• After Room 6: Second boss fight with six tribulations active.
• Rooms 7-10 (endgame only): Maximum chaos. Everything hurts. Tribulations overlap into lethal combos. Only well-prepared builds survive.
• Final Chamber: Trialmaster himself or access to the pinnacle boss door.

Between rooms, you choose: take your rewards and leave, or push deeper for bigger loot but harder challenges.

Tribulations & Room Modifiers

Here is how to complete Trial of Chaos in PoE 2  becomes a difficult journey. After clearing each room, the Trialmaster presents three tribulation options. You must pick one. That modifier stays active for every remaining chamber, including boss fights.

Early choices feel manageable. But by chamber five, you're juggling multiple stacking effects that can turn into build-specific nightmares.

How It Works

• Each tribulation affects either monsters, the environment, or your character
• Modifiers persist and stack - picking "monsters have 20% more life" twice means 44% more life total
• Some tribulations directly counter specific builds (minions, tanks, glass cannons)
• You can't remove tribulations once chosen

Common tribulations and strategy:

Some tribulations seem innocent but become devastating when stacked. Two "increased monster damage" choices plus "reduced player armor" create a one-shot festival.

Bosses in Trial of Chaos

Trial of Chaos mechanics in PoE 2 shine during boss encounters. These are mandatory gates that inherit every tribulation you've chosen.

Uxmal (Scourge of the Skies)

A massive avian horror with brutal multi-hit combos. Usually appears as the first boss after room three, but the spawn order is random.

Key Attacks:

• Beak Strike: Plants beak into ground with telegraphed animation. Dodge sideways, not backward.
• Beak Spikes: Creates a spiral pattern of black spikes erupting from the ground. Stay at medium range and circle around the outside.
• Meat Artillery: Rains bloody projectiles in a cone ahead of the boss. Don't stand in front, ever.
• Wing + Beak AoE Combo: Chain of attacks where each hit triggers an explosion. Count the sequence and dodge after the third hit.

Strategy: Uxmal doesn't move much but covers massive areas with attacks. Stay mobile, watch for telegraph animations, and avoid grouping attacks together. If you have tribulations that reduce your movement speed or spawn ground effects, this fight gets significantly harder.

Safe Spot: The projectile cone has limited backward coverage. During Meat Artillery, position yourself directly behind Uxmal's wings.

Chetza

Details on Chetza remain limited in the current patch data. Community reports suggest this boss focuses on DoT mechanics and summoning adds. Expect poison/bleed effects and waves of smaller enemies that need quick clearing.

Recommended approach: Bring DoT removal flasks and prioritize add-clear abilities. Don't tunnel-vision on the boss while adds overwhelm you.

Bahlak (Sky Seer)

Another mysterious encounter with minimal confirmed mechanics. Given the "Sky Seer" title, expect aerial attacks and vision-obscuring effects (fog, darkness, projectile spam).

Speculation from players who've encountered Bahlak suggests interrupt-heavy mechanics. Bring skills that can stop channeled abilities.

The Trialmaster (Final Boss)

Only accessible after completing all chambers or finding the mysterious door keys in chamber 10.

This fight tests everything: mechanical skill, build strength, and mental endurance. Trialmaster uses Vaal-themed abilities - corruption strikes, chaos waves, and forced ultimatums mid-combat where you must make split-second choices about buffs/debuffs.

Strategy:

• Save defensive cooldowns for his "Choose Now" phases where he forces instant decisions
• Position near pillar structures that can block some projectiles
• When he summons chaos constructs, kill them immediately - they buff his damage
• After 50% health, he starts using abilities from previous bosses you've fought

Trial of Chaos Rewards & Loot

The whole point of risk is reward. PoE 2 Trial of Chaos rewards scale with how deep you push and which tribulations you've stacked.

Soul Cores

These powerful socketable items offer unique modifiers unavailable anywhere else in the game:

Soul Core of Topotante

• Weapons: 15% elemental resistance penetration on attacks
• Armor: 15% increased Elemental Ailment Threshold

Soul Core of Azcapa

• Weapons: +15 Spirit
• Armor: 10% increased Item Rarity

Soul Core of Ticaba

• Weapons: +12% Critical Damage Bonus
• Armor: Hits against you have 10% reduced Critical Damage Bonus

Soul Core of Quipolatl

• Weapons: 5% increased Attack Speed
• Armor: 10% reduced Slowing Potency of Debuffs

Once you socket a Soul Core, it's permanent. Choose wisely. These are build-defining items worth multiple Divines in the trade economy.

Look for gear with open sockets and synergy with your build. Don't waste attack-focused Soul Cores on armor pieces - socket them in your weapon. Armor-based cores go on chest/helm/gloves where they provide maximum value.

Corrupted Rares & Uniques

Every boss kill drops corrupted items. These have modified stats that can't be changed afterward. You'll see:

• Rares with +1 to gem levels
• Uniques with rerolled implicit mods
• Items with white sockets (extremely valuable)

Most corrupted rares are vendor trash, but occasionally you'll hit jackpot combinations. White socket corruptions on meta uniques sell for premium prices.

Currency Drops

Unlike other trials, Trial of Chaos guarantees stacked currency drops at specific thresholds:

• Chamber 3 completion: 5-10 Chaos Orbs
• Chamber 6 completion: 1-2 Divine Orbs or equivalent value in Exalted
• Chamber 10 completion: 3-5 Divine Orbs + Vaal Orbs

Raw currency alone makes deep runs profitable even if item drops disappoint.

Ascendancy Points

Campaign-level trials grant 2 ascendancy points per completion. You can run multiple trials if you want different ascendancy paths, but points from the same trial don't stack.

Endgame Ultimatums (item level 70+) don't grant ascendancy points - those are campaign-exclusive. However, they offer vastly superior loot compensation.

Farming Economics

Keep:

• All Soul Cores (trade or use)
• Corrupted uniques with +gem levels or white sockets
• Six-link corrupted rares (easy Divine Orb from vendor recipe)
• Currency stacks obviously

Vendor:

• Corrupted rares without useful mods
• Single socket corrupted items
• Duplicate Soul Cores you can't use

Wrapping Up the Chaos

PoE 2 Chaos trial walkthrough boils down to calculated risk management. Every tribulation choice, every "go deeper or cash out" decision, every boss fight with stacked modifiers.

Unlike other endgame systems that reward repetitive grinding, Trial of Chaos demands active decision-making. Each run feels different based on your tribulation draft and boss order. You're gambling with time and effort, but the potential payoff in Soul Cores, currency, and corrupted items makes every attempt worthwhile.

Start with campaign-level trials to learn mechanics and boss patterns. Graduate to endgame Ultimatums once you've optimized your build's defensive layers and damage output. Don't be afraid to quit early if tribulation combinations turn lethal. Better to bank rewards than lose everything on chamber eight.