Honestly, the first time you step into the Trial of Sekhemas, it feels like a personal insult. You’ve built this tanky Warrior or a high-damage Sorceress, and suddenly none of that matters because of a little white bar at the bottom of your screen.
That bar is Honour. It’s the mechanic that makes the Trial of Sekhemas the most polarizing part of Path of Exile 2 right now. If it hits zero, you're out. Doesn't matter if your life pool is full.
It's basically Sanctum from the first game, but with a Maraketh desert skin and a much higher stakes atmosphere. Since this is how you unlock your Ascendancy classes in Act 2, you can’t just ignore it. You need those points. But if you're approaching this like a standard ARPG map where you just "blast," you're going to have a bad time.
The Honour System Is Not Your Health Bar
Most people make the mistake of thinking Honour is just "second health." It isn't.
Your Honour pool is technically calculated based on your maximum Life and Energy Shield (and Mana if you're running Mind over Matter), but it doesn't recover like they do. You can’t just quaff a flask and get your Honour back. You have to find a shrine or buy a boon from the merchant, and even then, it's usually just a partial fix.
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Mitigation is everything here. If you have high Armour or Evasion, you actually lose less Honour when you get clipped. This is a huge shift from how the original Sanctum worked, where a hit was just a hit. In PoE 2, your character's actual defenses matter. If you’re a squishy glass cannon, one stray arrow from a Maraketh archer will chunk half your bar. If you’re a beefy Warrior with 75% Physical Damage Reduction, that same arrow might only tickle your Honour.
The real secret weapon, though? Honour Resistance. You find this on Relics. It caps at 75%, just like elemental resists. If you aren't stacking this on your Relic Altar before a run, you're basically playing on "Extra Hard" mode for no reason.
Surviving the Rooms: Don't Pick Gauntlet
When you open the Trial map, you'll see a web of rooms. You usually have a choice between two or three paths.
- Chalice Trial: You kill rare mobs to fill a cup. It’s the most "standard PoE" room and generally the safest because you control the pace.
- Ritual Trial: You have to close portals by killing casters. It can get overwhelming if you don't focus the casters down immediately.
- Hourglass Trial: A survival timer. You just have to not die (or lose Honour) for about 60 seconds. Killing rares makes the timer go faster.
- Escape Trial: You have to touch Death Crystals before a timer expires. It’s a frantic dash.
- Gauntlet Trial: Avoid this. Seriously.
The Gauntlet is packed with traps—spinning blades, fire beams, floor spikes. In PoE 2, the dodge roll has i-frames (invulnerability frames), but the timing in Gauntlets is tight. One mistimed roll into a blade and you lose a massive chunk of Honour. Unless the reward is a Golden Key or a Tier 1 Relic, just path around it.
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The Bosses: From Rattlecage to Zarokh
There are four floors in a full endgame Trial of Sekhemas run, and each one ends with a boss.
In Act 2, you'll first face Rattlecage, the Earthbreaker. He’s a big, slow lug, but he has huge AOE slams. The trick is to stay behind him. His turn speed is garbage. If you see him wind up a big overhead smash, just roll through him and keep hitting his back.
As you get into higher-tier Trials (using higher-level Djinn Baryas), you’ll meet Zarokh, the Temporal.
Zarokh is a nightmare because he messes with time. He’ll create mirages of your previous positions and then explode them. If you’re standing where you were three seconds ago, you’re toast. He also has a "clock" phase where you have to collect hourglasses while being slowed. If you miss them, it’s an instant fail.
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Why Relics Change the Game
You get a Relic Altar early on. Use it.
Relics are permanent items that stay with you across runs. They provide massive buffs like "+20 Max Honour" or "5% chance to gain a Boon on room completion."
Pro Tip: Look for Relics that increase your Sacred Water drop rate. Sacred Water is the currency you use at the merchant inside the trial. If you have enough water, you can buy Boons that basically make you immortal for the rest of the run. I’m talking "50% more damage" or "Monsters have 30% less life."
How to Actually Win Your First Run
If you're struggling to get your first two Ascendancy points, stop trying to "skill" your way through with zero preparation.
- Farm some Relics. Even if you fail a run, you often keep the Relics you found. Equip the ones with Honour Resistance and Max Honour.
- Over-level. The Act 2 trial is roughly level 20-25. If you’re struggling, go finish the Act, get to level 30, and come back. Your increased damage will make the rooms end much faster.
- Use Totems or Minions. Even if you aren't a "summoner," things like Decoy Totems are broken in here. They draw aggro, and when they get hit, you don't lose Honour. It’s a free pass for most Ritual and Hourglass rooms.
- Watch the Afflictions. Some rooms give you "Afflictions"—permanent debuffs for the rest of the run. Avoid "You cannot see Room Rewards" and "You have no Evasion/Armour" like the plague. Those are run-killers.
The Trial of Sekhemas is a test of patience, not just DPS. Slow down. Don't roll into the middle of a pack of mobs. Pick off the archers first.
Actionable Next Steps:
Check your inventory for any Djinn Barya coins you've picked up. Head to the Maraketh camp in Act 2, speak to the NPC Balbala, and look at your Relic Altar. If you have empty slots, fill them with any Honour Resistance you have before your next attempt. Prioritize Chalice and Hourglass rooms to build up Sacred Water, then look for a Merchant room to buy a "Major Boon" before hitting the floor boss.