Games

Path of Exile 2 Takes Ascendancy Trials To The Next Level

Published

1 week ago

December 14, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Summary

Table of Contents

Path of Exile 2 is a slower game compared to its predecessor, focusing on player skills, combos, and dodging.
Path of Exile 2 introduces the Trial of the Sehkemas, a roguelike experience with resources like Honour.
The Trial of the Sehkemas offers more agency and fairer gameplay, despite being more challenging.

As a game that launched at one of the busiest times of the year, especially for an early-access title, Path of Exile 2 has enjoyed a lot of success so far. Path of Exile 2 is a standalone sequel to Path of Exile, and while both games are action RPGs, they take this approach quite differently despite sharing a lot of DNA. Whereas PoE is a fast-paced game that has been around for a decade, creating items and skills that have power-crept the meta, Path of Exile 2 is a slower game that rewards the players’ abilities to use their resources, combos, and dodge rolls to survive. This perfectly translates into its new Ascendancy system.

In Path of Exile, players have access to three difficulties for the campaign, and then Maps in the endgame. In each difficulty setting, they can obtain their Ascendancy class and more Ascendancy passive points to spend on it, which is done by tackling the Lord’s Labyrinth – a trap-ridden maze where the objective is to get to the end and defeat Izaro. Path of Exile 2 uses a similar concept with its Trial of the Sehkemas, which spins the original Labyrinth on its head by making it a roguelike experience.

Path of Exile 2 Players Aren’t Happy About ‘On Death’ Effects

Despite Path of Exile 2’s strong start, many players are unhappy about enemies’ “on death” effects and ask Grinding Gear Games to address it.

Path of Exile 2’s Trial of the Sehkemas Explained

Much like in its predecessor, dying during Path of Exile 2‘s Trial of the Sehkemas means that players have to start from scratch and not unlock PoE 2‘s Ascendancy classes or extra nodes. However, the Trial of the Sehkemas has more resources to micro-manage in order to complete the challenge, with the most important of them being Honour. Unlike Sacred Water or the various keys (Bronze Keys, Silver Keys, and Gold Keys), Honour can determine whether players can finish their run or not, even if they never die. This is because running out of Honour means the run is over, so one has to be extra careful.

Much like Life or Energy Shield, players lose Honour upon being hit by enemies, traps, or other effects, including damage over time. When Honour reaches 0, players have to start the Trial of the Sehkemas over.

While it may seem like a mechanic intended to punish players, there are various ways to micro-manage Honour outside of making sure not to be hit by attacks and traps. This is because the Trial of the Sehkemas has multiple paths and rooms for players to choose from, all of which can shape a given run in multiple ways. Some rooms award Sacred Water or keys, and others allow players to restore their Honour, playing into Path of Exile 2‘s difficulty and ways to manage it.

However, each run is different because of the various modifiers, with Afflictions usually being the most problematic. These are permanent modifiers that either make players weaker or monsters stronger, effectively making each run potentially more difficult when present. Still, the idea of the Trial of the Sehkemas offering a roguelike approach to what is regularly an ARPG is great, and it proves that Path of Exile 2‘s gameplay is evolving past its predecessor’s.

Why Path of Exile 2’s Trial of the Sehkemas is a Win-Win Addition

The reason why the Trial of the Sehkemas feels like an improved version of the Lord’s Labyrinth despite technically being more difficult is that players have a lot more agency regarding the various encounters and bonuses (or Afflictions). If a run is not going well due to Honour being reduced, players can look for rooms that restore it; vice versa, if a run is going particularly well, challenging rooms with keys or Sacred Water as rewards will improve the loot Path of Exile 2 players get at the end. Though arguably more difficult, the Trial of the Sehkemas can feel fairer compared to the Labyrinth, which is nothing to scoff at when losing a run means starting over is necessary.

Your changes have been saved

Path of Exile II

Path of Exile 2 is a next generation free-to-play Action RPG created by Grinding Gear Games. Journey across the deadly continent of Wraeclast, meeting multiple immersive cultures while facing off against evil in many forms. Path of Exile 2 features twelve character classes, 240 Skill Gems, hundreds of equipment base types, a six-act campaign, more than a hundred unique boss fights, a deep endgame system and so much more. Play with your friends without losing any progress with couch co-op, cross-play and cross-progression.

Franchise: Path of Exile
Multiplayer: Online Multiplayer , Online Co-Op
Engine: Proprietary Engine
ESRB: M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Nudity, Violence
Early Access Release: December 6, 2024