How To Ascend in Path of Exile 2 (Trial of the Sekhemas and Trial of Chaos)

[@mortekrieger2291]

I've already done this stuff and learned some lessons the hard way but this was well put together and really well explained especially for players new to PoE overall, you got my sub. Great work.

[@BluPhoenix]

Thank you, that means a lot, I appreciate it! 😊 I'm relatively new myself, had only played PoE 1 a little on and off over the years, had about 100 hours in total, and now already have about the same in PoE2, so I'm still learning a lot as I go, but having a ton of fun and plan to put many many more in

[@AzariahEnvorum]

Cleared a few things up for me, and should make getting my next points easier. Thanks, boss!

[@BluPhoenix]

No problem, glad I could help!

[@MrAcuta73]

Well done, I am literally about to start my first Trial...this will help a lot! And heck, great timing on one of our parts....you posting or me watching. lol

[@BluPhoenix]

Haha awesome, glad I could help, and good luck!

[@ramps8446]

Awesome clear guide ty here have my sub,

[@BluPhoenix]

Thank you! Glad it helped 🙂

[@CarrollLiddell]

Thanks man, especially for the tip about progrsssing too far and getting locked out.

[@BluPhoenix]

No problem, glad I could help! 👍

[@Emanemoston]

Thanks for the video.

[@BluPhoenix]

Of course, hope it helped!

[@randommonkey195]

If you're using a controller, unbind any skills from the interaction slot (x on the xbox controller) otherwise, when you are doing the escape challenge, you won't be able to interact with the crystals if you have a group of monsters around you. Although I wanted to just get the trial done with for the ascendancy points, in retrospect it is a great farming opportunity because you have unlimited attempts and a high density of rare monsters plus you will find other relics scattered around to help you in further trials so if you're having a hard time with that first trial, don't think of it as failing, but getting more stuff.

[@BluPhoenix]

Great tip!

[@Stubrok]

Solid vid, liked and subbed 👍🏼

[@BluPhoenix]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@TheBoogerJames]

I'm really liking this game. People who are struggling with difficulty need to look at their builds. Changing a handful of passive points or swapping some support gems around can make a radical difference. The game literally gives you feedback on how well your build is doing. If you are running out of mana, you haven't investing enough in mana regen or max mana. If you are too squishy you haven't invested enough in your defensive stats (armor, evasion, shield, shield regen). If you continually make bad gearing decisions, you can brick yourself, but that's because the stats on your gear actually matter. There is a hierarchy of important stats on gear and if you give up the important ones chasing slightly higher dps or something you will regret it later. My sorc still has a staff from like 20 levels lower because it has +3 to all spell levels on it. That more than makes up for some new staff that has slightly higher elemental damage. I still have my +10% move speed boots from like level 10 because I haven't seen that stat drop on any new boots. I was able to beat Rattlecage on a level 22 FIRE sorc and didn't even realize he was fire resistant until I saw this video (took me 3 tries). So the solution really is to Get Gud, but in this game that involves much more than just playing, it also involves gear, passive, and support gem selection.

[@BluPhoenix]

Well said! My sorc is in a similar position and at level 50 is still using a level 18 staff, because it has + 3 levels to cold spells (and +33% to freeze buildup) and nothing I've found since then has even come close to it. And having a few key passive points in the right spots can make a world of difference for sure. That said, I think the honour mechanic is a bit unfair for melee characters... it can still be overcome with some key adjustments, but is certainly much more punishing for a Warrior for example than it would be for my Sorc or Ranger.

[@TheBoogerJames]

@@BluPhoenix I do agree that this game seems to be way harder for melee. I did see that Honor scales with Max Life and decreases with damage done which seems to be intended to make it more fair, but I have not tried a melee character yet. However, I have see plenty of build videos for end-game warriors so someone is doing OK with them. I'm also a filthy casual who only plays an hour or two a day.

[@BluPhoenix]

@@TheBoogerJames oh for sure, not to say it's impossible by any means, and I haven't tried myself yet either, I'm just assuming that it wouldn't be the most fun. I did notice that honor scales with health and hadn't thought about it doing the same for damage taken, so maybe it's not as bad as I'm expecting. I think Monk is next on my list to level, so I'll probably get a little better idea with that. The slower pace and lack of range on a Warrior just isnt enticing to me, so may be a bit before I get first hand experience with that one haha

[@TheBoogerJames]

@@BluPhoenix I'm waiting for Druid and Templar to do melee. I need my flashy magic spells. I tried monk about half way through act 1 and couldn't get into it. Maybe it gets better once you unlock more spells. Monk has a mechanic where you have to hit enemies that are close to death and I can't get my controller to figure out which enemy in a group I actually want to hit. Hell, even playing with M+KB my sorc spells go off at some weird angle half the time.

[@BluPhoenix]

@@TheBoogerJames oh, yeah that sounds frustrating. I'm playing on Mouse and Keyboard primarily because I started with Sorc and was going to do controller but had a rough time aiming flame wall so that it was effective. I've been playing more Ranger recently which I think would work well on controller, but now I'm so used use to mouse and keyboard that I'm not sure I want to give up that level of precision lol

[@defmc1]

Thank you for this. I also found myself in act 3 before doing the trial. I tried to find the act 2 ascendancy start point and couldn't. Going back for it now.

[@BluPhoenix]

You're welcome, and good luck!

[@demonfandango]

Nice video dude. Subscribed.

[@BluPhoenix]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@kevinstory872]

in poe1 the acendancies were reversable if you removed any pts taken in an acendancy and rechoose the acendancy you wanted at the end of a trial, can anyone confirm this is not the case in poe 2?

[@yipp_yippee]

I defeated Trial of the Sekhemas ... then found in loot another map/token to activate this trial again (not a quest item), which says "you will not get additional ascendancy points". Is there any reason whatsoever to do it again?

[@BluPhoenix]

The primary benefit of doing it again, outside of if you enjoy doing them for fun, experience, and normal loot drops, is that there are some items you can only find in that Trial, like Relics and Time-Lost Jewels. Later when you get access to the higher difficulty of the Trials and need to do them for more ascendancy points, having some good Relics to put into the Relic Alter can make the Trial much easier, and those only drop within the Trial itself. When you get to the end room, the "Royal" cache's can have "Time-Lost Jewels", and I believe there are also chests specifically called something like "Time-Lost Cache" that is guaranteed to have them. Time-Lost Jewels are like normal jewels that you can slot into jewel sockets in your passive tree but they can give a bonus to nodes within a radius of that jewel.

[@Remco-Kraan]

lol you can break the pillars... ow well 😅nice video

[@BluPhoenix]

What do you guys think of these Trials? Preference for one vs the other?

[@yorsch9577]

Jep. Me and my poe-partner where running around after the fight of the chimera and searched for the next map....

[@BluPhoenix]

Lol... they really should do a better job at showing you the door opened, because at least in my case I had the entire map uncovered but the door just didn't show until I revisited it

[@yorsch9577]

@BluPhoenix if we were just one step more left in the fight we had saw it. Or maybe just Think that a boss you need to Kill maybe have a path behind him

[@RageQuitVM]

"you only receive that look if you complete the trial" you can take the loot after you complete the round, but you will forfeit the rest of the trial

[@BluPhoenix]

Ohhh okay, I missed that, thanks for letting me know!

[@alexrogers9051]

You definitely lose the key if you try again. I lost a key because of it but it’s ok you can find them as you kill minions through random maps. Edit: I think they don’t drop until the final map in normal difficulty or in cruel mode.

[@BluPhoenix]

I assume you mean AFTER the first clear of each, right? Unless it recently changed, on both Trials I kept my first key until I completed them

[@adearest007]

Both trials are annoying as a warrior, in my opinion. The first one was easy, but having an honor system replacing my heath really throws out a lot of builds, alienating a lot of players. Then, the second trial, the cons outweigh the pros, like your telling me I need to dodge lighting every second so I can get a max dex/int boots, Im a warrior I need strength/armor/life, the incentive isnt there for me to wanting to do this but for the ascendancy points and that too is a maybe. Hopefully, they will fix this, so there's more reasons to chase these trials.

[@BluPhoenix]

Completely agree, I found the rewards for Trial of Chaos underwhelming and as it stands will only do it if absolutely necessary for ascendancy points. Trial of the Sekhemas I don't mind too much but I think that's largely because I've only played them as Sorceress and Ranger, for melee the honor mechanic would not be fun. At least for that one you have an opportunity for useful exclusive rewards, in the Time-Lost Jewels. Hopefully they improve these and/or the 3rd Trial they add is better.

[@human1066]

Honestly... Don't bother

[@BluPhoenix]

Don't bother ascending at all? Let me guess, did you go Blood Mage? 😅 I heard that one has been rough because of the required ascendancy point that makes you have to spend both mana AND life for spells, but otherwise I'd say ascending is definitely worth it

[@human1066]

@BluPhoenix I meant the whole game isn't worth it. It's boring as hell.

[@odinsonthered9226]

Game just isn’t for you homie

[@BluPhoenix]

​@@human1066 Oh haha, I strongly disagree, I'm about 100 hours in and it's the most fun I've had with a game in a long time, but to each their own! Sorry you haven't been enjoying it though, it's not for everyone, but fortunately there's no shortage of games to play these days, so just play something else 🤷 Maybe on full release you'd enjoy it more, could always give it another shot later down the road since it will be free.

[@DarthAscension]

@@BluPhoenixya… I am at end game and the game design vs game philosophy are miles apart. They did not want to shoe horn classes into roles but the ascension system along with where you start on the passive tree literally makes it so if you want to be a bow user you better roll ranger to even be viable for the end game T 15 maps. Health is a major issue for many classes as you just don’t get health from passives and only gear. Gear especially crafting leaves a lot to be desired. Gems not being able to be leveled outside of getting to a higher level zone sucks compared to PoE 1, you can get hardstuck. End game xp loss and 1 death only on maps sucks… why not give us 5 maps for people that are use to it and allow for a modified for one death only for those that want that… so many lost maps, I have max rez and decent life but on T 15 I can be 1 shot and it comes down to dodge roll or die. I could go on.

[@Hseraphimaj]

Not the least but interested in dealing with their honor garbage. Not even there and an already completely uninterested and won't be touching it other than what had to be.... Which should be none. Why ruin a good thing with a garbage mechanic.... It's like devs just can't help themselves.

[@BluPhoenix]

Yeah I'm not really a fan of it either. As a ranged class it's not that bad and can be managed, but I can't imagine it being fun as a melee class, especially Warrior... Was glad to see it gone with Trial of Chaos, but I don't love that one either, and can imagine it being ROUGH later on the harder difficulties at higher rounds with all of the stacking tribulations