Path of Exile 2 Trial of the Sekhemas Guide

The doors of the Maraketh’s cruel test are open for the daring. This Path of Exile 2 Trial of the Sekhemas guide will prepare you for everything to come – from the base Trial mechanics to the riches that await you in this unforgiving gauntlet! With essential rewards including Ascendancy Points, Trial of the Sekhema is a core part of your PoE 2 character progression.

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What is the Trial of the Sekhemas?

Trial of the Sekhemas is one of PoE 2’s most notorious content parts, providing players with Ascendancy Points on completion, which are used to unlock powerful subclass-specific Ascendancy Skills. This piece of the game’s content functions in a roguelike fashion, presenting players with a complex and challenging experience that includes the possibility to fail the run entirely, losing the progress and causing a lot of Exiles’ frustration that they voice online since the game’s early access release.

You will progress through a classic rogue-like dungeon, acquiring helpful Boons that empower your character for the run and harmful Afflictions that will cause your character a lot of problems, with some even turning your run into an absolute nightmare. You will gain a mode-exclusive health bar called Honour and acquire and spend a per-run currency called Sacred Water.

The Trial consists of a series of floors. The total number depends on the difficulty, starting with 1 floor for the Barya obtained in the main quest and scaling up to 4 floors for higher iLvl versions. Each floor requires you to pass through 8 connected trial rooms, where the last room is always a boss fight. 

How to Complete Trial of the Sekhemas in PoE 2

Firstly, to start the trial, you will require the Djinn Barya item – you will acquire your first one during Act 2 as a guaranteed drop from the “Balbala, the Traitor” main quest boss. Subsequently, higher-level Baryas will be available to you throughout the game as a random loot drop. Once you get your hands on the Balbala’s Barya, return to the town and you’ll be able to portal to the Trial from any waypoint.

Accessing Trials and using the Relic Altar

Once in the trial area, you can use the Relic Altar, which functions as a stash in which you can put your Djinn Barya and Relics. Your first quest Djinn Barya is not broken upon usage until you complete your first PoE 2 Trial of the Sekhemas walkthrough. Every other Barya is a one-use item, which is wasted upon entering the trial, regardless of its outcome.

Another notable object in the room is Relic Locker, which is a chest where you can store your Relics to preserve space in your main stash.

Trials Map, Room and Reward Types

Out of Trial of the Sekhemas mechanics PoE 2, the Map is the most straightforward one. Upon opening the Map, you will be presented with a view of interconnected rooms, which you will be progressing through in order from left to right. You can choose which room to go to in a rogue-like style, as well as preview each Room’s reward and type.

Room Types

• Ritual – In this encounter, you will be tasked with slaying Ritual Casters and closing the portals

• Escape – Get to the exit while clicking pathway crystals

• Hourglass – Outlive the timer, killing Rare monsters reduces the time left

• Chalice – Cull every Rare monster in the trial to fill the chalice with their blood! 

• Gauntlet – Escape from a short labyrinth filled with traps

Reward Types

• Shrine – heals your Honour and provides you with Boons or Affliction, sometimes removes one of your Afflictions

• Sacred Water Fountains – gives you Sacred Water, later spent on various rewards

• Pledge – choose 1 out of 3 pledges, which buffs you with positive and negative effects

• Merchant – sells various rewards for your Sacred Water

• Keys – ranging from bronze to gold, keys allow you to open Caches. Try to collect and upgrade your keys whenever possible

• Caches – primary source of your loot in trials

Honour

Honour is essentially your second health bar in the Trials, tracking all of the damage you take throughout the entire run – any trap, monster, or boss damage taken is subtracted from your Honour. Once it’s depleted, you die, losing the run and having to start all over again using another Djin Barya.

• Max Honour is your max energy shield and max life combined

• Honour damage received is based on the regular damage you take, so increasing your defensive stats is key, just as in any other PoE activity

• You can raise max Honour significantly with Relics and Boons buffs. Gaining max Honour during the run restores Honour based on the amount gained

Afflictions, Boons and Pledges

Afflictions are reigning over the most punishing Trial of the Sekhemas mechanics PoE 2, they grant debuffs, ranging from relatively harmless to completely run-bricking, so always read which exact affliction is being offered to you upon choosing a room on the map. Always avoid taking afflictions that make you see fewer rooms ahead, as they can easily end your run.

Boons are run-long buffs which grant you a plethora of positive effects, some of the most notable ones could increase your rewards and even negate your affliction’s effects.

Pledges are a type of deal that a player can take on at a Shrine, offering significant positive effects at the cost of a negative effect. Taking pledges is quite RNG-heavy, so they could either make your Trial run much better or completely undoable, but generally odds are better towards more positive outcomes. Carefully consider your choices when selecting your pledge, and remember that you can skip taking them completely.

Bosses and Rewards

Depending on the item level of used Barya, Trial will have a certain number of floors, where each floor has a guaranteed fight with a floor-exclusive boss. Each first boss kill rewards you with 2 Ascendancy Points as well as more space in your Altar:

While the first two bosses are quite easy and straightforward, the last two are a serious threat, so be prepared for Ashar’s immense dot damage and Zarokh’s relentless barrage of projectiles. Information is the key to defeating these adversaries. For example, during one of Zarokh’s phases, you have to collect several orbs scattered throughout the arena, failing to do so will result in instant death.

Relics

Relics are a Trial’s exclusive item type that you can slot into the Relic Altar for effects that will make your runs easier. You can loot them everywhere in the Trial – in chests, caches, on the ground, in the merchant’s shop assortment. They can also be bought and sold on the player market.

They vary in size and possible mods rolled, as well as iLvl. Keep in mind that you can craft on them to potentially make a quick profit or improve your relic setup for easier runs. The better your Relics, the easier your runs, but what are the PoE 2 best relics? Here’s the shortlist of the useful mods:

Survivability Relics

1. #% to Honour Resistance – easily the most beneficial stat you should be focusing on early on

2. #% increased Defences

3. #% to Maximum Honour Resistance

4. #% increased Movement Speed

5. # metres to Dodge Roll distance

Utility Relics

1. #% increased Honour restored

2. #% increased quantity of Relics dropped by Monsters

3. #% reduced Merchant Prices

Combat Relics

1. Bosses take #% increased Damage

2. Bosses deal #% reduced Damage

Unique Relics are also one of the PoE 2 best relics, while they do not provide any positive effects and make your runs significantly harder, they reward you with Trials-exclusive uniques, the most iconic one being The Temporalis Silk Robe, a Unique Body Armour. If you're up for a challenge, Unique Relics runs are another great way to experience trials.

Trial of the Sekhemas Rewards

While Path of Exile 2 Trial of the Sekhemas is a grueling and at times frustrating experience, it is a fruitful activity that you can undertake even with low investments.

The primary reward for a lot of players is, of course, Ascendancy Points, but the Trials still got a lot to offer:

1. Raw currency drops, such as Divine and Chaos Orbs

2. Caches that could contain more determined rewards, such as class-specific items and large quantities of Jewels

3. Relics that can roll valuable mods and be sold on the player market

4. Unique Relics that drop from the last boss – Zarokh, The Temporal

5. Unique items locked behind extremely challenging unique relics run, such as a highly sought-after Temporalis Silk Robe Body Armour, unequivocally one of the best PoE 2 Trial of the Sekhemas rewards

Many players are farming Trials because of their ability to generate a stable flow of currencies with occasional big drops and relatively easy difficulty. While this piece of content is oftentimes overlooked as a farming spot, the sheer amount of Jewels and Relics dropped, as well as a quite respectable amount of Rare monsters spawned, make it a good choice of content for the beginning of your endgame farm – bring your magic find gear and enjoy the steady influx of Divine Orbs!

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Trial of the Sekhemas Tips

This gauntlet is a tough challenge even for the veterans of the genre. Bosses are tough, and even the hordes of white trash mobs can cause you a headache should you get complacent. Trap rooms, especially the ones on the fourth level, could drain your entire honour bar in a couple of seconds. Our collective experience from dozens of runs shows that preparation is the key to trial success. 

• Max out your defensive stats

• Increase your health as much as possible

• Get the best Relics you can

• Acquire the best Charms available to you, and change them based on the challenge at hand

• Buy the best flasks available to you from the town’s vendors or from the player marketplace

• Get extra movement skills if you still have skill slots available. Movement should be the foundation of your survivability in PoE2

• Go in overleveled – while Trias are an attractive rewards source and you might want to try clearing them as soon as possible, sometimes it’s better to appropriately level your character in other forms of content before trying your hand in Marrakesh’s deadly dungeons

• Get yourself familiar with Bosses, their attacks and phases, and go in informed. Losing the run on the last stretch is the worst, right?

• Be diligent in actually reading the Afflictions and Boons you get. Never take afflictions that could reduce your map vision since they make you susceptible to bad RNG. Moreover, try to expand your vision with buffs to avoid unnecessary risks.

• Choose your path through the floor beforehand to avoid being afflicted with more offsetting debuffs. Prioritize getting boons that extend your map vision and avoid smoke and mirrors affliction at all costs.

• Use overlay price appraisal tools to get the most out of your runs and reinvest your gains in newer gear. Most notable targets for price checking are jewels and high-roll relics

• Roll out the way! PoE2 transitioned to a much more dynamic combat system, so there is no way around mastering dodge roll mechanics

Keep in mind that even the failed runs count - you keep your loot! Progress your Relics setup, upgrade your gear and try again. To make the runs as riskless as possible, start running trials right after you level up to not lose your experience on death. 

Even though you might fail the run, you are getting more knowledgeable – you familiarize yourself with the Trial of the Sekhemas mechanics PoE 2. Try memorizing trap placements and their moving patterns - level layouts are being reused many times in this piece of content. Even seemingly impossible to traverse without taking damage, rooms can become an easy walk with enough practice. You can also consider watching video guides for traversing the trial and killing bosses.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s an alternative way of Ascending - Trials of Chaos. Some builds, especially the melee ones, might struggle way less with the trials present there, even though Sekhemas damage was dialed down recently.

Trials are hard and punishing – but you are not supposed to win every run in rogue-likes, right? Now you know everything about what is Trial of the Sekhemas, so you should be able to clear them and get all the rewards you desire! But if the task at hand seems too hard, or you simply dislike Trials, just like thousands of other players, you can always get them done with the help of our Pro players.