The Trial of Chaos

This page is about the Ascenscion Trial. For the Act 3 quest, see The Trials of Chaos.

The Trials of Chaos is one of three Ascension Trials, first accessible in Act 3, off the Chimeral Wetlands. It is a gauntlet of rooms filled with monsters and traps of increasing difficulty that must be completed without dying. It is based on Ultimatum from Path of Exile 1.

Overview

To gain access, the player must reach the Temple of Chaos in Act 3 of the campaign.

To start the Trial of Chaos, insert an Inscribed Ultimatum into the Temple Offering.

During the campaign, the player can acquire a Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum quest item. This item works similarly to a regular Inscribed Ultimatum, but it is returned to the player if the challenge is failed. Unlike the regular version of the Trial of Chaos, the quest version cannot be ended before the fourth room.

Mechanics

Each Trial of Chaos run has a number of trials or rounds, each separated into its own room. The number of trials is based on the item level of the Inscribed Ultimatum used to open it:

Item Level	Number of trials
<60	4
60-74	7
75+	10

After starting the trial or completing a room, the player can progress to the entrance to the next room containing an altar. The altar displays a reward and three modifiers to choose from.

The player is then offered two choices: end the trial and receive the accumulated rewards, or aim for more rewards and start the next round by selecting a new modifier to add.

There are four possible objectives:

• Defeat all the Monsters: Kill all enemies to progress.
• Survive until the timer expires: Survive for 90 seconds until the Corruption Dais is filled.
• Escort the Statue: Stand near the statue to move it forward to the goal. It will spawn monsters as it moves.
• Retrieve the Soul Cores: Retrieve the Vaal Soul Cores and bring it to a Stone Altar. You take escalating physical damage over time while holding a Vaal Soul Core.

The final trial of each run is always one of three random bosses, listed below. A Well is available prior to the boss arena.

If the player's character dies or fails any of the trial objectives, the trial run is failed and all rewards are forfeited.

The entire area has a modifier Found Items have 10% chance to drop Corrupted in Area. This affects items dropped by monsters.

Monsters

• Chaos Zealot
• Bloodrite Guard
• Bloodrite Priest
• Cerebral Bat
• Scute Lizard
• Petulant Stonemaw
• Stoneclad Gorilla
• Saurian Servant
• Crested Behemoth

Bosses

• Bahlak, the Sky Seer
• Uxmal, the Beastlord
• Chetza, the Feathered Plague

The Trialmaster

Main page: The Trialmaster

The Trialmaster also has his own set of exclusive drops and can be challenged by bringing three fates to unlock the door to the Trialmaster's Tower after successfully completing a Trial of Chaos.

He drops the following exclusive unique items:

Item	Base item		Stats
The Adorned	Diamond	1	(0–100)% increased Effect of Jewel Socket Passive Skills containing Corrupted Magic JewelsCorrupted
Mahuxotl's Machination	Omen Crest Shield	48	Grants Skill: Raise Shield(333-666)% increased Armour and Energy Shield (333-666)% increased effect of Socketed Soul Cores Has 2 Rune Sockets (Hidden)
Glimpse of Chaos	Tribal Mask	52	Can be modified while Corrupted +(50-150) to maximum Life +(50-150) to maximum Mana +(-30-30)% to Fire Resistance +(-30-30)% to Cold Resistance +(-30-30)% to Lightning Resistance Chaos Resistance is Zero
Zerphi's Genesis	Heavy Belt	56	(20-30)% increased Stun Threshold Charm Slots: 1+(10–30) to Strength Corrupted Blood cannot be inflicted on you 50% of charges used by Charms granted to your Life Flasks (10–30)% increased Charm Charges used
Hateforge	Moulded Mitts	60	(50-80)% increased Armour Gain (1-3) random Charge on reaching Maximum Rage Lose all Rage on reaching Maximum Rage (-10-10) to Maximum Rage

Rewards

The Trial of Chaos offers cumulative rewards. Upon completing or manually ending a trial, each round's rewards can be obtained at the trial altar. Failing an Ultimatum encounter forfeits all accumulated rewards and ends the trial.

Rewards include corrupted rare items, corrupted unique items, currency, Vaal Orbs. and soul cores.

Additionally, Inscribed Ultimatums can have affixes which allow the player to sacrifice items to double them upon completing the trial.

Each of the three bosses in a 10-round Trial of Chaos will always randomly drop one of the three fates required to challenge the Trialmaster.

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List of Trial modifiers

Modifier	Image	Tier	Effect
Blood Globules		I	Globules of blood manifest nearby, tracking you. When above you they will fall, dealing Physical damage
		II	Globules of blood manifest nearby, tracking you. When above you they will fall, dealing Physical damage and creating damaging blood ground
Blood Mist			Challenge area is enshrouded by a blood mist which makes monsters within it immune to damage
Burning Turrets		I	Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire Fire Projectiles ahead
		II	Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire barrages of Fire Projectiles ahead
Chaotic Monsters		I	Monsters gain 20% of damage added as extra Chaos damage
		II	Monsters gain 50% of damage added as extra Chaos damage
Deadly Monsters		I	Monsters have 300% increased Critical Hit Chance
		II	Monsters always deal Critical Hits
Damaged Defences		I	40% less Defences
		II	75% less Defences
Drought			Monsters grant no Flask and Charm Charges on death
Enraged Bosses			Bosses deal more damage and take less damage
Entangling Monsters			Monsters inflict Grasping Vines on Hit
Escalating Damage Taken			In each encounter room, damage taken will slowly increase by 1% per second, up to 50%
Heart Tethers		I	Bloody hearts appear that apply tethers, Slowing you. Breaking the tether will Stun you
		II	Bloody hearts appear that apply tethers, Slowing you. Breaking the tether will Stun you and cause you to become vulnerable to damage for a duration
Impending Doom		I	Rings of Doom appear on the ground which grow over time, exploding for Physical damage once they reach a maximum area
		II	Rings and circles of Doom appear on the ground which grow over time, exploding for Physical damage once they reach a maximum area
Lessened Reach			50% less Area of Effect and Projectile Speed
Lethal Rare Monsters			Rare Monsters have 2 additional Modifiers 30% increased Rare Monsters
Monster Speed			Monsters gain 20% increased Skill Speed
Occasional Impotence			You and your Minions deal no damage for 2 seconds every 8 seconds
Petrification Statues		I	Challenge area contains several statues that Petrify you if you stand within their gaze for a duration
		II	Challenge area contains several statues that Petrify you for a long duration if you stand within their gaze for a short duration
Random Projectiles			Your Projectiles fly in random directions Monsters fire additional Projectiles
Reduced Recovery		I	40% reduced Life, Mana, and Energy Shield Recovery Rate
		II	75% reduced Life, Mana, and Energy Shield Recovery Rate
Reduced Resistances		I	-15% to Elemental Resistances and -10% to Maximum Elemental Resistances
		II	-30% to Elemental Resistances and -20% to Maximum Elemental Resistances
Resistant Monsters			Monsters have +40% to all Resistances
Shielding Monsters			Monsters are protected by Energy Shield
Shocking Turrets		I	Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire Lightning Projectiles ahead
		II	Challenge area contains turrets that will periodically fire a wave of Lightning Projectiles ahead
Stalking Shade		I	An invulnerable shade stalks you, inflicting Ruin with its Melee hits Fail the Trials on reaching 7 Ruin
		II	An invulnerable shade stalks you, gaining speed and inflicting Ruin with Melee and Projectile hits Fail the Trials on reaching 7 Ruin
		III	An invulnerable shade stalks you, gaining further speed and inflicting Ruin with powerful Melee and Projectile hits Fail the Trials on reaching 7 Ruin
Stormcaller Runes		I	Runes will appear that will call deadly Lightning storms if you remain in them
		II	Large runes will appear that will call deadly Lightning storms if you remain in them
		III	Many large runes will appear that will call deadly Lightning storms if you remain in them
Temple Traps		I	Challenge area contains spikes that deal Physical damage to those who step on them
		II	Challenge area contains many spikes that deal Physical damage to those who step on them
Time Paradox			Buffs expire three times faster and Debuffs expire three times slower
Toxic Monsters			Monster Hits always inflict Bleeding and Poison
Unstoppable Monsters			Monsters cannot be Slowed or Stunned
Vaal Omnitect		I	An ancient Vaal machination will deploy attacks against nearby intruders
		II	An ancient Vaal machination will deploy an array of attacks against nearby intruders
		III	An ancient Vaal machination will deploy a powerful array of attacks against nearby intruders
Volatile Fiends			Monsters release deadly Volatiles on death. Rare monsters leave larger ones

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List of wagers

Inscribed Ultimatums can roll modifiers that allow players to sacrifice the following quantities of currency to receive double back upon successfully completing the Trial.

• Armourer's Scrap x20
• Blacksmith's Whetstone x20
• Arcanist's Etcher x20
• Glassblower's Bauble x20
• Regal Orb x20
• Artificer's Orb x20
• Exalted Orb x20
• Orb of Alchemy x10
• Chaos Orb x10
• Vaal Orb x10
• Gemcutter's Prism x10
• Orb of Annulment x3
• Orb of Chance x3
• Divine Orb x3

Partying

When facing a Trial of Chaos with other players, each player will be offered their own individual set of rewards. When an individual player fails the trial, they will lose their rewards but the trial will continue with the remaining players.

In between waves, the players will vote on which modifier to add to the next wave. The one with the most votes gets added. In case of ties, a mod is randomly chosen between them.

Version history

Expand

Version	Changes
0.1.1	The Impending Doom modifier in the Trial of Chaos now has more time before it explodes and has had its visuals improved. The Shielding Monsters modifier has been reenabled in the Trial of Chaos. Added an exit portal to the Trialmaster arena. Some interactables in the Trial of the Sekhemas and the Trial of Chaos are now prioritised over using skills on enemies if you have Interact bound to the same button as a skill.
0.1.0f	(Hotfix 1) Fixed a client crash that could occur in Ultimatums.
0.1.0e	The volatiles spawned by the Volatile Fiends Trial of Chaos Modifier now accelerate over time. The Stormcaller Runes Trial of Chaos Modifier are now smaller, take longer to charge up when standing inside and give more time to escape once triggered. The Runes now also get larger as the Modifier is upgraded.
0.1.0d	Added a button to travel to the Trial of Chaos on the world map. Generally improved balance across the board with Ultimatum monsters, bosses and modifiers. Mostly targeting outliers that were too difficult and bringing them in line. The monster density of Ultimatum encounters has been made more consistent. Stormcaller Runes, Blood Globules, Heart Tethers and Impending Doom rings no longer spawn while a player is on a lift or near the altars in the Vaal Soul Core room. Fixed a bug where Player Minions could get stuck at the top of the lift in the Trial of Chaos.
0.1.0	Introduced to the game. (Hotfix 6) Reduced the damage of the Lightning Cascade in the Bahlak, the Sky Seer Ultimatum boss fight. (Hotfix 6) Reduced the damage of Ball Lightning Explosions in the Uxmal, the Beastlord Ultimatum boss fight. (Hotfix 6) Reduced the number of Lightning Runes created from the Stormcaller Runes Ultimatum Modifier, and fixed a bug where they could trigger without players standing on them.) (Hotfix 7) Temporarily disabled the "Shielding Monsters" modifier in Temple of the Chaos Gods.