Trial of the Sekhemas

The Trial of the Sekhemas is one of three Ascension Trials, first accessible in Act 2. It is a randomized gauntlet of rooms filled with monsters and traps that must be traversed before the player runs out of Honour. It is based on the Forbidden Sanctum from Path of Exile 1.

Overview

To gain access, the player must first defeat Balbala, the Traitor and obtain Balbala's BaryaBalbala's BaryaArea Level: 22
Number of Trials: 1"Why are you standing there gawking at me?
We must go to the Trial of the Sekhemas!"Take this item to the Trial of the Sekhemas. Right-click to listen to Balbala.. This coin can be placed within the Relic Altar to begin the trial. Doing so will grant access to the entire first floor of the Trial. Higher level Djinn BaryasDjinn BaryaArea Level: #
Number of Trials: #"Take me to the Trial of the Sekhemas.
I will serve."Take this item to the Relic Altar at the Trial of the Sekhemas. obtained later in the game provide access to additional floors and improved rewards, and are also tradeable. Each floor contains 8 rooms, with the 8th room being a boss. There are 4 floors in total.

The player can preview the layout and room connections of the current floor, as well as a limited number of columns of rooms ahead, including their layout, objectives, rewards, and afflictions.

Damage taken during the Trial of the Sekhemas will also damage your Honour, which cannot be recovered by normal means. Running out of Honour will fail the trial.

The exile may be supported or impeded by Boons and Afflictions, special buffs and debuffs that persist throughout the trial. Sacred Water may be traded with Balbala for boons and relics.

All of your progress, including Honour, Sacred Water, Boons, Afflictions, etc. are carried over between floors. A full Trial contains 4 floors, each containing 8 rooms. The 8th room of each floor always contains a Boss. Crashing during a Trial room will reset the room's progress, as long as the player did not fail the room due to honour loss. However, any changes to your honour during the room's progress will be retained. Sacred Water and rewards are locked in upon successful completion of a room. It is possible to return back into a completed room from the reward room to kill any remaining enemies or open chests.

Each Trial run is independent between characters on the same account.

Relic Altar

The Relic Altar is an interactable object in the Trials of the Sekhemas. It is used to activate the effects of your relics, and is found at the beginning of each floor.

The Relic Altar is unlocked automatically when Balbala's Barya is brought into the starting area.
Each character has its own Relic Altar and uses separate Relics. However, the Relic Locker is shared between all of your characters in the same league.
Relics placed in the Relic Altar are locked in for the entire Trial run as soon as they are confirmed and cannot be added or removed in the middle of a run. The current run must be completed, failed, or forfeited to add or remove Relics.
The Relic Altar contains 18 inventory spaces, but 12 are initially locked and can be obtained by defeating specific floor bosses or opening specific types of key caches.
Unlocking the Ritual Altar for the first time will reward the player with a magic rarity Urn RelicUrn RelicPlace this item on the Relic Altar at the start of the Trial of the Sekhemas.

Relics

Relics are a type of item that is exclusive to the Trial of the Sekhemas. They can be placed in the Relic Altar to provide buffs various beneficial stats that can make the run easier or more rewarding.

Relics can be found within the Trial of the Sekhemas from monsters or purchased for Sacred Water.
They can be stored in a special separate stash called the Relic Locker, which can also be placed as a hideout decoration.
To equip a relic, they must be placed in the Relic Altar on a 5x4 grid with two of the corner slots blocked off. Additional grid slots can be unlocked as you progress, up to a total of 18 slots.
Relics are craftable. Magic relics can have up to two modifiers. They cannot become rare.
The pool of modifiers relics can roll depends on the total number of inventory slots it takes up, ranging from 2/3/4 or small/medium/large respectively.

Unlocking

Initially you can only place relics in the centre 6 squares of the Relic Altar. Locked inventory spaces can be unlocked by completing various floors in the Trial. These unlocks are shared by your characters in a league.

Floor completion required to unlock squares:

3	1	1	2	X
2				3
3				4
X	4	1	2	4

Empty Relic Altar before putting in a coin
The Relic Altar in its initial state
Fully unlocked Relic Altar

Mechanics

Honour

Honour is an additional stat player characters have while participating in the Trial.
The default maximum Honour is based on the sum of the player's default maximum life and energy shield upon starting the trial. If a character possesses the Mind over Matter keystone, maximum mana will be added to this total as well. Honour is maintained between rooms, and the player is ejected from the Trial if it hits 0, resetting all floors and rooms. Being ejected does not count as a death, nor does it remove experience.
- If a player levels up within the Trial, causing the player to gain additional life, an equivalent amount of Honour and maximum Honour will also be increased.^[1]
Honour is lost from hits from monsters or traps in the Trial. Closer proximity to monsters reduces the Honour lost on hit, up to 35% less in close range.
Minions and non-party allies do not cause Honour to be lost if hit.
A varying percentage of Honour can be restored in Fountain rooms.
Gaining additional Maximum Honour will also cause the character to gain current Honour of the same amount. Losing Maximum Honour will not further affect the current Honour.
Honour Resistance reduces the amount of Honour lost by the listed percentage.

Sacred Water

Sacred Water is a type of non-tradeable currency can be found in the Trial from chests or killed enemies. It appears as light blue droplets of water emitting a blue energy. Sacred Water is collected automatically when the player is near it.
Sacred Water can be traded to the merchant for a small amount of Honour recovery, various Boons, or relics.
Sacred Water is maintained between rooms and floors, and is reset when the Trial run ends.

Leftover Sacred Water can be converted into Keys at the Keth Forge in the cache reward room after a floor boss.

Keys

Completing a room may reward the player with a Bronze KeyBronze KeyUsed to open Bronze Caches within the Trials, Silver KeySilver KeyUsed to open Silver Caches within the Trials, or Gold KeyGold KeyUsed to open Golden Caches within the Trials. Bronze and Silver Keys can be infrequently obtained from defeating monsters or opening chests and other loot containers in Trial areas.

Keys can also be obtained by converting Sacred Water in the Keth Forge in the cache reward room after a floor boss.

These can be used to open their respective caches at the end of the trial for various items and rewards.

Boon

Major boons are grouped in a symbol with a very thick and bright yellow-bordered boon symbol, while all minor boons are grouped in a plain yellow-bordered boon symbol. Boons are shown when hovering the according symbol.
Boons grant various benefits to your Trial run and can help recover or mitigate damage to your Honour, increase your Sacred Water and rewards, debuff monsters, or provide other helpful buffs.

Boon Type	Boon Name	Description	Merchant cost
Major Boon	Ahkeli's Guard	You cannot be Damaged for 1 second after taking Damage from an Enemy Hit
Major Boon	All-Seeing Eye	The Trial Map is fully revealed Note: This overrides the Black, Golden, and Red Smoke afflictions.	300-600
Major Boon	Crystal Shard	The next Affliction you gain is converted into a random Minor Boon
Major Boon	Dekhara's Necklace	You cannot receive any more Minor Afflictions
Major Boon	Earned Honour	Restore # of your Honour on room completion	600
Major Boon	Garukhan's Favour	Ignore the first Damage taken from an Enemy Hit in each Room (note: this stacks between rooms)
Major Boon	Holy Water	Gain a random Minor Boon when you venerate a Maraketh Shrine
Major Boon	Imperial Seal	Traps are Disabled	600
Major Boon	Orbala's Leathers	Upon reaching 0 Honour, revive once with 50% less Honour
Major Boon	Raincaller	Sacred Water found is doubled
Major Boon	Reparations	Gain 2 Sacred Water when you take Damage from an Enemy Hit
Major Boon	Sekhema's Cloak	Upon reaching 0 Life, revive once with Full Honour
Minor Boon	Adrenaline Vial	Restore 30% of your Honour on entering a Boss Room	220-320
Minor Boon	Assassin's Blade	The next 10 non-Boss Monsters you Hit are killed instantly	220-420
Minor Boon	Balbala's Gift	Your next purchase from the Merchant has no cost	280-320
Minor Boon	Black Pearl	Traps deal 50% less damage	280 - 320
Minor Boon	Diverted River	Sacred Water found on this floor is doubled	220-360
Minor Boon	Enchanted Urn	30% increased Effect of your Non-Unique Relics	220
Minor Boon	Flooding Rivers	50% more Sacred Water found	220-420
Minor Boon	Fountain of Youth	Restore #(2.5%?) of your Honour when you venerate a Maraketh Shrine	280-420
Minor Boon	Fright Mask	Monsters deal 20% less damage	220-320
Minor Boon	Glowing Orb	The next time you go below 20% of Maximum Life, restore all Life, Energy Shield and 50% of Honour	160-420
Minor Boon	Hare Foot	40% increased Movement Speed	320
Minor Boon	Honoured Challenger	50% increased Honour restored	220-420
Minor Boon	Lustrous Lacquer	You have 50% more Defences	220-360
Minor Boon	Lustrous Pearl	Traps are slower	280-360
Minor Boon	Mirror of Fortune	The next Key you pick up is duplicated	360
Minor Boon	Moment's Peace	You cannot be Damaged until you complete the next room	220-320
Minor Boon	Orbala Statuette	You have 25% more Maximum Life	280-360
Minor Boon	Ornate Dagger	You and your minions deal 50% more Damage	220-360
Minor Boon	Sanguine Vial	Monsters have 30% less Maximum Life	220-420
Minor Boon	Silver Chalice	The next Minor Boon you gain is converted into a random Major Boon
Minor Boon	Silver Tongue	50% reduced Merchant prices	280-320
Minor Boon	Scrying Crystal	You can see an additional room ahead on the Trial Map	280-420
Minor Boon	Upward Path	Your Sacred Water found is increased by 10% on room completion (removed when you purchase something from the Merchant)	280
Minor Boon	Viscous Ichor	Monsters have 15% reduced Action Speed	220-360

Affliction

Major afflictions are grouped in a symbol with a very thick and bright purple-bordered boon symbol, while all minor afflictions are grouped in a plain purple-bordered affliction symbol. Afflictions are shown when hovering according symbol.
Afflictions grant various downsides to your Trial run and can reduce or prevent Honour recovery, spawn additional traps, buff monsters, affect your Sacred Water generation, or hide rooms or rewards on the Trial Map.

Affliction Type	Affliction Name	Description
Major Affliction	Corrosive Concoction	You have no defences
Major Affliction	Deadly Snare	Traps deal Triple Damage
Major Affliction	Death Toll	Take # Physical Damage after completing 8 rooms
Major Affliction	Ghastly Scythe	Losing Honour ends the Trial (removed after 3 rooms)
Major Affliction	Glass Shard	The next Boon you gain is converted into a random Minor Affliction
Major Affliction	Orb of Negation	Non-Unique Relics have no Effect
Major Affliction	Unassuming Brick	You cannot gain any more Boons
Major Affliction	Unquenched Thirst	You cannot gain Sacred Water
Major Affliction	Veiled Sight	Rooms are unknown on the Trial Map
Minor Affliction	Black Smoke	You can see one fewer room ahead on the Trial Map
Minor Affliction	Blunt Sword	You and your Minions deal 40% less Damage
Minor Affliction	Branded Balbalakh	Cannot restore Honour
Minor Affliction	Chains of Binding	Monsters inflict Binding Chains on hit
Minor Affliction	Chiselled Stone	Monsters Petrify on Hit
Minor Affliction	Costly Aid	Gain a random Minor Affliction when you venerate a Maraketh Shrine
Minor Affliction	Dark Pit	Traps deal 100% increased Damage
Minor Affliction	Deceptive Mirror	You are not always taken to the room you select
Minor Affliction	Dishonoured Tattoo	100% increased Damage Taken while on Low Life
Minor Affliction	Fiendish Wings	Monsters' Action Speed cannot be slowed below base Monsters have 25% increased Attack, Cast, and Movement speed
Minor Affliction	Forgotten Traditions	50% reduced Effect of your Non-Unique Relics
Minor Affliction	Golden Smoke	Rewards are unknown on the Trial Map
Minor Affliction	Haemorrhage	You cannot restore Honour (removed after killing the next Boss)
Minor Affliction	Honed Claws	Monsters deal 30% more Damage
Minor Affliction	Hungry Fangs	Monsters remove 3% of your Life, Mana, and Energy Shield on Hit
Minor Affliction	Iron Manacles	You have no Evasion
Minor Affliction	Leaking Waterskin	Lose 20 Sacred Water when you take Damage from an Enemy Hit
Minor Affliction	Low Rivers	50% less Sacred Water found
Minor Affliction	Purple Smoke	Afflictions are unknown on the Trial Map
Minor Affliction	Rapid Quicksand	Traps are faster
Minor Affliction	Red Smoke	Room types are unknown on the Trial Map
Minor Affliction	Sharpened Arrowhead	You have no Armour
Minor Affliction	Shattered Shield	You have no Energy Shield
Minor Affliction	Spiked Exit	Take 25 Physical Damage upon Room Completion
Minor Affliction	Spiked Shell	Monsters have 50% increased Maximum Life
Minor Affliction	Suspected Sympathiser	50% reduced Honour restored
Minor Affliction	Tattered Blindfold	90% reduced Light Radius Minimap is hidden
Minor Affliction	Trade Tariff	50% increased Merchant prices
Minor Affliction	Tradition's Demand	The Merchant only offers one choice
Minor Affliction	Untouchable	You are Cursed with Enfeeble
Minor Affliction	Weakened Flesh	25% less Maximum Honour
Minor Affliction	Winter Drought	Lose all Sacred Water on floor completion
Minor Affliction	Worn Sandals	25% reduced Movement Speed

Pledges

Players may sometimes be able to take on a Pledge to Kochai the Inscrutable at a Shrine, allowing the player to pick one of three Pledges which provide significant upsides and downsides.

Pledge outcomes
Icon	Upside	Downside
	Gain a specific Minor Boon	Lose 25% Maximum Honour
	Gain a random Major Boon	Lose 50% Maximum Honour
	Gain 2 random Minor Boons	Lose 50% Maximum Honour
	Gain a specific Minor Boon	Gain a specific Minor Affliction
	Lose a specific Minor Boon	Lose a specific Minor Affliction
	Gain a specific Minor Boon	Gain a random Minor Affliction
	Lose a specific Minor Affliction	Gain a random Minor Affliction
	Gain a random Minor Boon	Gain a random Minor Affliction
	Lose a random Minor Affliction	Lose a random Minor Boon
	Gain 3 random Minor Boons	Gain a specific Major Affliction
	Lose 3 random Minor Afflictions	Gain a random Major Affliction
	Gain a random Major Boon	Lose 3 random Minor Boons

Traps

Spike Trap: Several large spikes will shoot out of the ground periodically, indicated by rumbling and dust.
Flamethrower Trap: A four-way flamethrower spins around in a circle. Some ruined walls may provide paths to avoid them. Inflicts a fire damage over time effect on health and honour.
Poison gas pressure plate: A pressure plate that releases poison gas when the player steps on it. Deals high chaos damage if stood on.
Poison gas pressure plate that activates a colored lock: Similar to the above, except these will be connected to a colored lock and release gas after a short delay.
Poison dart pressure plate: A pressure plate that causes poison darts to be fired.
Fixed fireball turret: Slow-moving fireballs are shot out of the wall in a sequential pattern, with a short reload.
Rotating fireball turret: Slow-moving fireballs are shot out sequentially while the turret rotates, with a short reload.
Fire mine: Indicated by an orange circle on the ground. When stepped on it activates after a very quick delay, dealing high fire damage.
Quicksand: Standing on it builds the quicksand debuff, slowing the player's action and movement speed. Deals no damage.
Time mine: Standing on it inflicts the temporal rift debuff, teleporting the player back to the mine's location, then exploding after a short delay. Sometimes next to other traps.
Fixed portal turret: Fires slow moving projectiles through portal in a straight line. Inflicts shock.

Tips for dealing with traps

Most traps can be dodge-rolled through, with immunity for the entire animation.

Trial objectives

Each room contains one of the following trial objectives:

Chalice Trial - Defeat the Rare Monsters: The player must defeat all of the rare monsters in the room to fill the blood chalice. Clearing 50% of the rare monsters will cause an indicator to appear, pointing towards remaining rare monsters.
Escape Trial - Disable the Crystals: The player must disable all of the Death Crystals in the room. Any Crystals still active when the timer expires will deal damage. Clicking a Crystal adds time to the timer and indicates the direction of the next Crystal.
Ritual Trial - Defeat the Ritual Casters: Defeat the Ritual Casters to close the portals spawning endless monsters.
Gauntlet Trial - Find the Exit: Find the exit, avoiding traps and monsters. Players will need to pull coloured levers to unlock paths.
Hourglass Trial - Survive: Survive until the timer expires. Killing rare monsters reduces the timer.

Room Reward Types

Note: All room types other than boss rooms can become Afflicted. Afflicted rooms are indicated by a purple border and cause the character to gain an Affliction on entry.

Sacred Water Fountain

Contains a fountain containing Sacred Water; comes in 2 types: Regular or Large.

Shrine

Honour Tabina: Spend 5 Sacred Water to Restore 10% of your Honour.
Honour Balbala: Spend 5 Sacred Water to Restore 10% of your Honour and gain a random Boon.
Honour Ahkeli: Spend 5 Sacred Water to Restore 25% of your Honour and gain a random Minor Affliction.
Honour Galai: Bestows the fickle Blessings of the Wind - Spend 5 Sacred Water to Restore 50% of your Honour before increases, gain a random Boon, and cleanse a random Affliction.

Note: The Honour Restored is based on your default Honour before any increases or decreases.

Pledge

Pledge to Kochai: Players can spend 5 Sacred Water to select one of three random Pledges.

Merchant

Merchant rooms contain the NPC Balbala, the Released who sells you Boons or relics or restores your Honour in exchange for Sacred Water. Boons cost have individual prices, while relics cost 300, 400, or 500 Sacred Water based on their size.

Balbala is also guaranteed to appear at the end of each floor in the reward cache room after defeating a floor boss.

Floor Bosses

Trial Bosses
Boss Name	Boss Room	Floor name	Description
Rattlecage, the Earthbreaker	Collapsing Cavern	Test of Strength	Four-legged golem that uses fiery slam attacks.
Hadi of the Flaming River Rafiq of the Frozen Spring	Ceremonial Chamber	Test of Will	Two large melee sentinels that use fire and ice melee attacks.
Ashar, the Sand Mother	Sand Pit	Test of Cunning	A large scorpion that burrows and inflicts poison attacks.
Zarokh, the Temporal	Outside of Time	Test of Time	A floating chronomancer with several gimmicks related to action speed and time. Cannot pause the game against this boss.

Rewards

Ascendancy

Completing a floor in the Trial at certain level thresholds will allow players to unlock their Ascendancy class and ascendancy passive skill points. The room also contains a Keth Forge to convert leftover Sacred Water into keys, and Balbala appears as a merchant to sell Relics.

The first ascendancy and the first set of points (2) can be obtained with the quest item Balbala's BaryaBalbala's BaryaArea Level: 22
Number of Trials: 1"Why are you standing there gawking at me?
We must go to the Trial of the Sekhemas!"Take this item to the Trial of the Sekhemas. Right-click to listen to Balbala.. To obtain subsequent ascendency points with this ascendancy method you must complete more floors on the Trial of the Sekhemas with a random drop key. The number of floor available is determined by the area level of the Djinn BaryasDjinn BaryaArea Level: #
Number of Trials: #"Take me to the Trial of the Sekhemas.
I will serve."Take this item to the Relic Altar at the Trial of the Sekhemas. used.

Area level	Available trial
< 45	1
45 - 59	2
60 - 74	3
> 74	4

Key caches

After defeating each floor boss, players can enter a vault with several reward caches. These vary from Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and can be opened by spending one of the respective keys. These are the following types of caches:

Warrior's Cache: Contains melee weapons
Mage's Cache: Contains caster weapons and foci
Ranger's Cache: Contains bows and crossbows
Helmet Cache: Contains helmets
Body Armour Cache: Contains body armours
Gloves Cache: Contains gloves
Boots Cache: Contains boots
Shield Cache: Contains shields
Jewellery Cache: Contains rings and amulets
Amulet Cache: Contains amulets
Ring Cache: Contains rings
Belt Cache: Contains belts
Royal Cache: Contains regular jewels
Time-lost Cache: Contains time-lost jewels
Arcanist's Cache: Contains basic currency
Hoarder's Cache: Contains random stacks of gold
Relic Cache: Contains relics
Small Relic Cache: Contains small relics
Medium Relic Cache: Contains medium relics
Mysterious Cache: Contains a random selection of gold and items including relics
Cartographer's Cache: Contains waystones
Gold Spectrum Cache: Contains a random Grand Spectrum unique jewel

Bronze Caches typically drop a few items, Silver Caches drop multiple items, and Gold Caches drop even more items.

Superior and Prime affixes may also be found on caches found after the Floor 2 and Floor 3/4 bosses respectively which appear to have increased item rarity.

Time-Lost Jewels

Time-Lost Jewels are jewel base types that can be found in randomly throughout the trial from monsters or chests. These jewels roll modifiers that affect passive nodes within its radius.

Party mechanics

The Trial of the Sekhema's choices are made by the area's instance owner.
All party members share Honour.
If a party member joins midway through the trial, their relics apply to calculate their maximum honour, and then the flat amount of honour damage lost by the instance owner is applied to them. This can lead to instant death for the joining party member if, for example, the instance owner has 6000/7000 honour, and the newly joining party member has 1000 max honour.

Videos

OST: Trial of the Sekhemas (Early Access)

Version history

Version	Changes
0.1.1	Added keyword for Honour Resistance.
0.1.0e	(Hotfix 5) You can no longer use the instance manager to create multiple instances of the Trial of the Sekhemas. Honour Damage now scales down based on distance to enemies, you now take up to 35% less Honour Damage when in close range, tapering as you are further away from Monsters. Fixed a bug where Damage over Time was dealing three-times as much damage to Honour as intended in the Trial of the Sekhemas, and fixed a bug where Honour Resistance was only applying to two-thirds of that damage taken. (This got confusing for us too). Skitter Golems no longer use basic attacks and instead now just explode as their attacks were largely unavoidable when in Melee Range. Serpent Clan burrow and ambush attacks now have improved visual telegraphing and cannot be used from as far away. Volcanoes created by Rattlecage's Fissure Slam now last half the duration. Added keyword hover for the Honour mechanic in the Trial of the Sekhamas.
0.1.0	Introduced to the game.

References

↑ https://youtu.be/I68bBRA8aa8?si=Aupuun4wCnB8HhFa&t=598

[1] ttps://youtu.be/I68bBRA8aa8?si=Aupuun4wCnB8HhFa&t=598

[1]