PoE 2 Trial of the Sekhemas Guide - Tips and Tricks You Should Know

Ben Author

Created - 10.03.2025 Updated - 13.03.2025

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Are you struggling to complete a Trial of the Sekhemas run in Path of Exile 2? Don't worry because I am here to help you! In this guide, I will go over every bit of information that you need to know regarding this content—from the basics to the tips that you need to finish it with ease.

Before we begin, visit our PoE 2 Store to deck your character out with rare items prior to a Trial of the Sekhemas run. A good set of rares will certainly help things become so much easier for you!

What is Trial of the Sekhemas in PoE 2?

If you are new to the game, you might wonder what exactly is the Trial of the Sekhemas in Path of Exile 2. Well, it is one of the three Trials of Ascendancy, where completing the content allows you to choose the ascendancy class appropriate for your character and gain more skill points in subsequent runs. You can read about PoE 2 ascendancy classes in our guide.

The Trial of the Sekhemas requires you to be in Act 2. At some point during the campaign, you will be tasked to go to the Traitor's Passage. Here, you'll find Balbala, the Traitor, which is a relatively annoying boss if you don't have any chaos resistance.

Once you defeat her, she will drop a quest item called Balbala's Barya, which is a key that enables you to enter the Trial of the Sekhemas.

It is important to note that if you do not loot Balbala's Barya for some reason, the road to the Trial of the Sekhemas will not be shown on the map. Don't worry, if you did not take the said quest item before; you can simply reload the game and fight Balbala once more to receive it.

Head back to The Ardura Caravan, interact with the Desert Map, and then proceed to the Trial of the Sekhemas. When you arrive at the place, you will see Balbala, the Released. No, she is no longer hostile towards you. In fact, she helps you as you navigate through the said Trial of Ascendancy in Path of Exile 2.

At the center of the area, you will see a Relic Altar. Interact with it and insert Balbala's Barya that you acquired earlier. Additionally, you can slot in relics (if you have any) that provide you with certain benefits that make your run easier.

At first, only six relic slots are available to you, allowing you to fit a few Urn Relics or a couple of Seal Relics (plus an Urn Relic). You can unlock additional slots by defeating the floor bosses inside the trial.

Speaking of which, there are four floors in total inside the Trial of the Sekhemas, with eight rooms per floor. Each floor contains a boss at the end and defeating it not only gives you a huge possibility of getting new relics but unlocking more relic slots at the altar as well.

Aside from that, killing the bosses brings a lot of importance to your character because doing so gives you two points that you can use to allocate different ascendancy nodes. Refer to our PoE 2 ascendancy nodes guide for more information. The bosses that you need to defeat are:

• 1st Floor (Test of Strength): Rattlecage, the Earthbreaker
• 2nd Floor (Test of Will): Hadi of the Flaming River, Rafiq of the Frozen Spring
• 3rd Floor (Test of Cunning): Ashar, the Sand Mother
• 4th Floor (Test of Time): Zarokh, the Temporal

Eliminating Rattlecage, the Earthbreaker rewards you with the ability to choose the ascendancy class for your character and two points that you can use to allocate your preferred nodes. This is after you interact with the Altar of Ascendancy, which is situated near the Waypoint.

For the remaining bosses, you need to insert the appropriate Djinn Barya to enter the Trial of the Sekhemas. Always look at the item itself to see if it gives you ascendancy skill points for completing it or not.

Pay close attention to the number of trials. If it says that it has four trials, then that means that you are always guaranteed to get the eight skill points after vanquishing all of the bosses. The one pictured above states that it no longer grants ascendancy skill points, though that is because my character has already completed everything and is no longer eligible to receive more points.

In addition, every time you complete a floor, you have the option of opening reward caches when you have acquired keys along the way. Keys are obtained either as a random drop or as a reward from certain rooms.

Basics

Before you embark on your journey to completing the Trial of the Sekhemas in PoE 2, there are some important things that you need to be aware of, such as:

Honour

If there is one crucial bit of information that you have to know about this Trial of Ascendancy, it is the Honour mechanic. Honour is essentially your life inside the Trial of the Sekhemas. If you get hit, you will lose a portion of your maximum Honour based on the damage you have received. If it reaches zero, you will fail, thus ending your current run.

Your maximum Honour is calculated based on the sum of your HP plus energy shield (if you have any). PoE 2 builds that have the Mind Over Matter keystone allocated will have a relatively higher amount of Honour because mana will also be factored into the equation.

To reduce the amount of Honour you lose when hit, you have to use relics that provide Honour Resistance. Just like your elemental and chaos resistance, Honour Resistance is capped at 75%.

Melee builds, such as the Attribute-Stacking Gemling Legionnaire, have up to 35% Honour reduction mitigation, especially if they are within close proximity to the monster or trap.

So, what should you do if you lose a considerable amount of Honour? Fortunately, there are certain rooms inside the Trial of the Sekhemas where you can restore Honour by paying Sacred Water.

Relics

During your run, you will obtain a type of item that is exclusive to the Trial of the Sekhemas in Path of Exile 2 called the Relic. The Relic can be obtained in three ways:

• Purchasing it from the Merchant if it is available
• As a random drop from defeating monsters
• As a reward for opening certain key caches available at the end of each floor

Relics can be improved by using the Orb of Augmentation (because they typically drop as items of "Magic" rarity). This means that they can have two beneficial effects per relic. Relics will always be of Magic rarity and nothing more, which means that you cannot use the PoE 2 Regal Orb to change them into rares.

Take note that not all relics are created equal as they come in different shapes and sizes. You can check out their size differences by looking at the table below:

For the most part, you want to use small and medium relics as much as you can so that you can fit more in the Relic Altar. The only time that you use the large relics is if there are certain effects that can only roll on such things.

Sacred Water

When you are inside the Path of Exile 2 Trial of the Sekhemas, there is a non-tradable currency called Sacred Water. This can be earned by defeating enemies or interacting with the Sacred Water Fountains found in specific rooms on each floor.

You want to earn a lot of Sacred Water during a run because this currency is used to buy boons from the Merchant. The good news is that you have a chance of increasing the amount of Sacred Water you gain by using the right relics.

You can purchase the Seal Relic pictured above in our PoE 2 Store if you want so you will have a lot of points for every Trial of the Sekhemas run!

Merchant

All of the Sacred Water you have accumulated can be spent by talking to the Merchant, who also happens to be Balbala. Do not be confused as to what the game calls her because she’s referred to as “the Released” when you’re outside the trial and “the Advisor” when you are inside.

You can find her in the Trial of the Sekhemas either in a certain room or at the end of each floor (before you proceed to the next floor). She will sell you an increasing number of boons, particularly when you have the relic that gives additional merchant choices.

Boons

Now, the Merchant is vital to the success of your Trial of the Sekehmas run in PoE 2 because she offers boons that improve your quality of life for a fee, of course. There is a bunch of boons that you can purchase from her, though these are the ones that I highly recommend (listed in order of importance):

• Silver Tongue
• 50% Reduced Merchant Prices
• Enchanted Urn
• 30% Increased Effect of Your Non-Unique Relics
• Hare Foot
• 40% Increased Movement Speed
• Upward Path
• Your Sacred Water Found is Increased by 10% on Room Completion
• Silver Chalice
• The Next Minor Boon You Gain is Converted into a Random Major Boon
• Scrying Crystal
• You Can See an Additional Room Head on the Trial Map
• All-Seeing Eye
• The Trial Map is Fully Revealed
• Dekhara’s Necklace
• You Cannot Receive Any More Minor Afflictions
• Sekhema’s Cloak
• Upon Reaching 0 Life, Revive Once with Full Honour
• Balbala’s Gift
• Your Next Purchase from the Merchant Has No Cost
• Ornate Dagger
• You and Your Minions Deal 50% More Damage
• Orbala Statuette
• You Have 25% More Maximum Life

Silver Tongue and Enchanted Urn are two of the boons that you should get if they appear as part of the choices. The former allows you to buy more every time you see the Merchant, while the latter can enhance the effects of the relics you’ve placed at the Relic Altar prior to entering this PoE 2 Trial of Ascendancy.

You can hover your mouse over the top-left icon to see all of the boons you have active. Keep in mind that these effects persist until you defeat the final boss of the Trial of the Sekhemas.

Afflictions

If boons are beneficial effects that improve your Trial of the Sekhemas journey, afflictions are the opposite of that. Although you always have afflictions in every run, there are certainly some that you definitely need to avoid like the plague, such as:

• Tradition's Demand
• The Merchant Only Offers One Choice
• Trade Tariff
• 50% Increased Merchant Prices
• Hungry Fangs
• Monsters Remove 3% of Your Life, Mana, and Energy Shield on Hit
• Forgotten Traditions
• Reduced Effect of Your Non-Unique Relics
• Deceptive Mirror
• You Are Not Always Taken to the Room You Select
• Worn Sandals
• 25% Reduced Movement Speed
• Orb of Negation
• Non-Unique Relics Have No Effect
• Veiled Sight
• Rooms Are Unknown on the Trial Map
• Costly Aid
• Gain a Random Minor Affliction When You Venerate a Maraketh Shrine
• Deadly Snare
• Traps Deal Triple Damage
• Corrosive Concoction
• You Have No Defenses
• Unassuming Brick
• You Cannot Gain Any More Boons
• Blunt Sword
• You and Your Minions Deal 40% Less Damage
• Red Smoke
• Room Types Are Unknown on the Trial Map

Take note that the afflictions that you acquire will also persist until the end (similar to the boons). That is why you have to carefully consider which afflictions you will take because they can make your life harder while you are inside.

You can see your active afflictions by looking for the purple icon, which is also situated at the top-left of the screen.

Trial Map

Upon entering the Trial of the Sekhemas, you will encounter the Trial Map. This is basically the dungeon's directory, where you can select which room to take as you try to complete the floor.

Always check each room that you are going to take because they might come with an affliction. So long as those afflictions don't negatively impact your Path of Exile 2 build, then they are generally safe.

Be mindful of the arrows when selecting a room. As you can see in the image above, if you pick the third room (the one at the bottom; first column from the left), you cannot choose the two rooms at the top of the second column. Taking the right rooms is vital to your success because if you choose the wrong one, you might end up getting one of the afflictions mentioned earlier.

Types of Trials

Each room in the Trial of the Sekhemas presents you with an objective that you must accomplish before you can proceed to the next one. There are several types of trials, including:

• Gauntlet Trial
• Escape Trial
• Chalice Trial
• Ritual Trial
• Hourglass Trial

The Gauntlet Trial is the most annoying because the objective here is to find the exit. You have to interact with several levers to open the final door. However, this room is riddled with various traps that make your journey toward each lever more challenging than it needs to be.

The most annoying traps are the Flamethrower Trap, Spike Trap, Poison Dart Pressure Plate, and Quicksand. Fortunately, you can avoid getting hit by these traps just by using the Dodge Roll at the right moment. The Dodge Roll will make you impervious to pain during the course of its animation, which is a godsend in the Gauntlet Trials.

How about the Escape Trial? Although it has similarities to the Gauntlet Trial in the sense that you also see some traps here and there, it is a much simpler one given that you only have to interact with the Death Crystals to disable them.

The remaining trials on the list are quite easy because all you have to do is defeat the monsters within the room.

Pledges

Occasionally, you will come across a shrine that allows you to take on a Pledge to Kochai the Inscrutable. Each Pledge has a positive and negative effect, so only select those that are not too annoying to deal with. If you're unsure what the effects do, you can simply hover over them to get a brief description.

Now, if you are presented with bad options, you can simply not take a Pledge and be on your way!

Keys and Caches

In certain rooms in the Trial of the Sekhemas, you will be rewarded with a specific key upon completion. This key can be utilized to open the reward caches at the end of each floor.

Having said that, there are different types of reward caches available in the dungeon. These are the ones that I recommend you open first (arranged in order of importance):

• Gold Spectrum Cache
• Rewards random Grand Spectrum Jewels
• Time-Lost Cache
• Contains random Time-Lost Jewels
• Royal Cache
• Gives random jewels (Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire)
• Arcanist's Cache
• Has a high probability of giving PoE 2 Divine Orbs and Exalts
• Small/Medium Relic Cache
• Contains Relics
• Mysterious Cache
• Holds random items, which may include relics
• Jewellery Cache
• May sometimes give good rings and amulets

If you are trying to complete a full Trial of the Sekhemas run (meaning, you are aiming to defeat Zarokh, the Temporal successfully), it is best that you don’t use any of the keys you have collected in the first three floors. This is so you’ll have more than enough to open the more important reward caches highlighted in the list above.

Djinn Barya

Balbala’s Barya is pretty much an introductory key that allows you to ascend your base class in Path of Exile 2 for the first time. To gain more ascendancy skill points, you have to use a different key known as the Djinn Barya at the Relic Altar.

The Djinn Barya is dropped randomly by monsters in maps. I strongly advise that you get the “Local Knowledge” notable atlas passive node because it increases the drop chance of Djinn Baryas when you are in desert biome maps by 40%.

On the Barya itself, pay close attention to the area level, as well as the number of trials. If the Barya has an area level between 45 and 59, you can get your third and fourth ascendancy skill points when you complete the two floors.

A Djinn Barya that has an area level of 60 to 74 contains three floors. Accomplish this to gain your fifth and sixth points. The last couple of ascendancy skill points are acquired by finishing the Djinn Barya which has an area level above 74.

Why Run the Trial of the Sekhemas?

When Path of Exile 2 launched in Early Access, many were not too pleased by the fact that you can only ascend when completing either the Trial of the Sekhemas or the Trial of Chaos. However, with how things went, the Trial of the Sekhemas is actually more than just a means of ascending your character; it is actually one of the best ways to get bundles of PoE 2 Divine Orbs. This does not necessarily mean that you get raw Divine Orbs to drop, but you have a chance of acquiring certain items that you can sell for a huge amount.

For example, The Last Flame—a unique relic that lets you acquire the Temporalis when successfully defeating Zarokh with only one Maximum Honour to work with—sells for a whopping 480 Divines at the time of writing!

PoE 2 Trial of the Sekhemas Tips

Now that you know the fundamentals of this challenging content, it is time for you to learn the PoE 2 Trial of Sekhemas strategies that even the pros use. Here are some awesome tips:

Always Put the Right Relics

Using the right relics helps make your journey incredibly easy. As previously mentioned in this PoE 2 Trial of the Sekhemas guide, relics can only have a couple of effects per piece, which is why you have to slot in the best ones.

That said, here are the relic mods that you need to look for:

• The Merchant Has 2-3 Additional Choices
• Reduced Merchant Prices
• Honour Resistance
• Increased Maximum Honour
• Increased Quantity of Relics Dropped by Monsters
• Increased Movement Speed
• Fountains Have a Chance to Grant Double Sacred Water
• Increased Honour Restored
• Restore Honour on Venerating a Maraketh Shrine
• An Additional Room is Revealed on the Trial Map

If you want to farm Zarokh to your heart's content, you must have a couple of relics that have additional merchant choices and reduced merchant prices. This is because the boons that you can purchase from the merchant will be active until you defeat the said boss. Having more options to choose from whenever you interact with the merchant is quite helpful. These effects can only roll on medium relics, so do keep that in mind.

Once you have a couple of relics with the modifiers you see in the image above, you can then start maxing out your Honour Resistance. This is capped by 75% just like your other resistance modifiers, such as fire, cold, lightning, and chaos. After that, increasing Maximum Honour is another thing that you can do, especially if you want to have a relatively high amount to ensure survival.

The mod "Increased Quantity of Relics Dropped by Monsters" is amazing early on. Although you might fail to complete a floor, the subsequent runs are easier thanks to the better-quality relics that you have obtained in your previous attempt.

Buy Relics from Others

Relics in Path of Exile 2 are actually tradable, which means that you can purchase them on the trade website if you have enough PoE 2 Currency. Refer to the list of the best modifiers in the previous section and use them as stat filters when searching for the appropriate relics.

Use Unique Relics for a More Rewarding Run

If your goal of completing the Trial of Sekhemas is to farm Divine Orbs in Path of Exile 2, then I suggest that you use specific unique relics. There are about six unique relics currently available in PoE 2 Early Access, but you only need to concern yourself with just one: The Desperate Alliance.

The Desperate Alliance forces Zarokh to drop Against the Darkness, which is a unique Time-Lost Jewel that has a couple of powerful modifiers. If you are going to put this in your Relic Altar, you must run a Path of Exile 2 build that deals huge amounts of damage to address the downsides imposed by The Desperate Alliance.

If you somehow managed to obtain The Last Flame, which is another unique relic, you are better off selling it to other people because of the many Divine Orbs that you can get guaranteed. Completing a Trial of the Sekhemas run with The Last Flame slotted in is nearly impossible unless you are absolutely confident with your abilities that you won't get hit even once!

Go for Ranged Builds

You can actually use any PoE 2 build when trying to accomplish the Trial of the Sekhemas. However, you will have a much easier time if you go for a build that utilizes a ranged attack or spell. This is because attacking enemies from range alleviates the need to get closer to traps and other dangerous elements that can reduce your Honour considerably.

Some great examples of such builds include the Lightning Arrow Deadeye, Spark Stormweaver, and Blink Autobomber Bloodmage, among others.

Use Frost Wall and Blink

There is a nifty trick that not a lot of Path of Exile 2 players know. It involves the use of two skills, namely Frost Wall and Blink, to get to the other side of a closed door. The former skill enables you to conjure enormous walls of ice, while the latter lets you teleport a short distance.

Having said that, whenever you encounter a door that has to be unlocked by interacting with a lever, cast Frost Wall on the door a few times until it is completely blocked off. After that, position yourself in the middle of the door and simply use Blink. When done correctly, you will magically find yourself on the other side!

It is unclear whether this will be patched in a future update or not. However, since it is still possible at the time of writing this Path of Exile 2 Trial of the Sekhemas guide, you can do it safely without risk.

Put Your Farmed Items in the Stash

The Trial of the Sekhemas is a good place to farm items for profit. You want to complete as many trials as you can before you tap out, which is why it's a good idea to stash the items you have acquired in the previous run before starting another one. This is simply for the sake of efficiency. Dedicate about two to three full stash tabs for these items and then sell them in bulk once you are done farming.

Now, if you are asking what items you should sell, the most common ones are relics (with the right modifiers) and jewels. When it comes to the unique relics, you have a choice of selling them for Divine Orbs or running them yourself. I suggest that you use The Desperate Alliance as it ensures that you get the Against the Darkness unique jewel from Zarokh when you defeat him. The Last Flame must be sold without question (unless, of course, you have the means of completing a "no-hit" Trial of the Sekhemas run).

Best Room Types to Choose

Look at the revealed rooms on the Trial Map and look for the Hourglass, Ritual, and Chalice Trials. These are the best ones to complete because they are so easy to do. All that needs to be done is kill a bunch of monsters and you're on your way to the next room! The Escape Trial is okay because you just have to interact with the Death Crystals for the room at the end to open.

Stay away from the Gauntlet Trial as much as possible because it requires too much effort for the same payoff. The only time the Gauntlet Trial is acceptable to take is if the other rooms have nasty afflictions that you want to avoid.

Understand the Mechanics of Every Boss Fight

Despite the use of the right relics, you still have to be cautious when fighting the boss of each floor. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the mechanics of each boss fight, particularly with Zarokh.

Zarokh has multiple phases that make the encounter harder. But, with enough time and practice, Zarokh is actually not that intimidating. In fact, if you are able to output significant amounts of damage, you can defeat him in seconds!

Final Thoughts

The Trial of the Sekhemas is not only a place where you can unlock all of the ascendancy skill points for your character, but it's also an avenue for you to get multiple items that you can sell for profit.

Having enough Honour Resistance, getting your defenses in check, and utilizing relics with the right modifiers will greatly help you in your run. Selecting the best boons and avoiding specific afflictions can also give you an easier time.

Of course, you need to have the means to get the best possible gear because fighting Zarokh and even getting to his lair is no small feat. That’s why if you don’t have the currency yet, be sure to go to our PoE 2 Currency Store to get your supplies!

I hope that you've found this Trial of the Sekhemas Guide in Path of Exile 2 helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments!