Shrines, Altars & Trial Mechanics Guide

Shrines

Shrines (also known as Precursor Artifacts) are a type of encounter. Shrines empower monsters within its presence with Shrine buffs or Shrine effects. Defeating the monsters surrounding the Shrine and interacting with it will temporarily grant the Shrine buff to the player.

Shrine buffs usually last 45 seconds by default. You can remove a shrine buff early by right clicking on its buff icon in the top left corner.

Shrines start appearing in the endgame, though certain Act areas such as Shrike Island will contain shrines.

List of Shrines

Related atlas passive skills

The following atlas passive skills are related to shrines:

Trial of the Ancestors

Trial of the Ancestors is an area in Act 4. This area has a waypoint and is connected to Halls of the Dead.

Area

The entire area consists only of one small waypoint room and a large hall, which is the arena in which the Trial of the Ancestors (PoE Ancestor League) was held.

Points of interest

NPCs

• Navali
• Hinekora (Not interactable)

Quests

• Trial of the Ancestors

Monsters

This area contains no naturally spawning enemies.

Item drops

The following drop-restricted items can drop in this area.

Trial 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 dangerous challenges that must be completed without dying while dealing with deadly trial modifiers that accumulate throughout the run. It is based on Ultimatum from Path of Exile 1.

Access

To gain access, the player must reach the Temple of Chaos in Act 3 of the campaign and insert an Inscribed Ultimatum into the Temple Offering.

During the campaign, the player can acquire the Chimeral Inscribed UltimatumChimeral Inscribed UltimatumArea Level: 40Number of Trials: 4Mortals spend their lives wondering whichfate shall be theirs. Chaos takes amusementin knowing the answer: all of them.Take this item to The Temple of Chaos to participate in a Trial of Chaos. quest item by defeating Xyclucian, the Chimera in the Chimeral Wetlands of Act 3. 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.

Every Trial of Chaos run has a number of trials or rounds, up to a maximum of 10, each taking place in a different section of the temple. The item level of the Inscribed Ultimatum will dictate the number of trials in the run and whether or not completing it will award the player additional ascendancy points. Higher level keys provide improved rewards and are tradeable.

*Only if the character has already received 2 points from Trial of the Sekhemas

Mousing over the key will reveal both the area level and number of trials the run will yield. It will also indicate whether or not the run may grant additional ascendancy skill points upon completion. Consult the Ascension Trials page for more information.

Navigation

Before entering a trial area, the Trialmaster will appear and offer the player an item reward and three modifiers to choose from that will affect all trials in the run. Completing a trial successfully will prompt this interaction again, giving the player the ability to either continue the run with more dangerous modifiers or end the run and take the accumulated rewards. Dying while the trial is ongoing will end the run automatically and all accumulated rewards will be lost.

Trial objective types

Each trial area contains one of the following objectives which must be completed to move forward:

Additionally, all trial areas are affected by the Found Items have 10% chance to drop Corrupted in Area modifier.

Trial reward types

The Trial of Chaos offers cumulative rewards. Upon successfully 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 OrbVaal OrbStack Size: 20Modifies an item unpredictably and Corrupts itRight click this item then left click an item to corrupt it. Corrupted items cannot be modified again.s, and Soul Cores. At higher area levels, corrupted rare items are phased out of the rewards and stacks of currency may appear.

Additionally, magic Inscribed UltimatumsInscribed UltimatumArea Level: #Number of Trials: #Mortals spend their lives wondering whichfate shall be theirs. Chaos takes amusementin knowing the answer: all of them.Take this item to The Temple of Chaos to participate in a Trial of Chaos. can have affixes which allow the player to wager a certain quantity and type of currency item to double them upon successfully completing the trial.

Bosses

Bossess are powerful guardians located in trial areas 4, 7, and 10 and each must be defeated to successfully progress the run. There are three different bosses and the order in which they are encountered is random.

When defeated in the final trial of a 10-trial run (Inscribed Ultimatum Level 75+), each boss drops their associated Fate piece that is required to challenge the Trialmaster at the end of the trial and complete the fourth ascension.

The Trialmaster

Upon successfully completing a 10-trial run (Inscribed Ultimatum level 75+) you may find a door leading to the Trialmaster's Tower near the Ascension Shrine in the rewards chamber. The door will lead to Trialmaster arena, triggering the fight. Accessing this area requires all three fates acquired from defeating the trial's bosses as listed above. Defeating the Trialmaster has a set of exclusive rewards:

The Trialmaster can also drop a corrupted Inscribed Ultimatum that allows players to wager currency and receive double back on successfully completing a trial with dangerous modifiers.

Mechanics

List of trial modifiers

Monsters

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

Corrupted Inscribed Ultimatums

Corrupted Inscribed Ultimatums are special keys dropped by The Trialmaster that allow players to sacrifice the a given quantity of a specific currency for the chance of earning double back upon successfully completing the Trial. If the trial is failed, the waged currency is lost.

List of wagers

• Armourer's ScrapArmourer's ScrapStack Size: 20Improves the quality of an armourRight click this item then left click an armour to apply it. x20
• Blacksmith's WhetstoneBlacksmith's WhetstoneStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a martial weaponRight click this item then left click a martial weapon to apply it. x20
• Arcanist's EtcherArcanist's EtcherStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a wand, staff or sceptreRight click this item then left click a wand, staff or sceptre to apply it. x20
• Glassblower's BaubleGlassblower's BaubleStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a flaskRight click this item then left click a flask to apply it. x20
• Regal OrbRegal OrbStack Size: 20Upgrades a Magic item to a Rare item, adding 1 modifierRight click this item then left click a magic item to apply it. Current modifiers are retained and a new one is added. x20
• Artificer's OrbArtificer's OrbStack Size: 20Adds an Augment Socket to a Martial Weapon, wand, staff or ArmourRight click this item then left click a Martial Weapon, wand, staff or Armour to apply it. x20
• Exalted OrbExalted OrbStack Size: 20Augments a Rare item with a new random modifierRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it. Rare items can have up to six random modifiers. x20
• Orb of AlchemyOrb of AlchemyStack Size: 20Upgrades a Normal or Magic item to a Rare item with 4 random modifiersRight click this item then left click a normal or magic item to apply it. Current modifiers are not retained. x10
• Chaos OrbChaos OrbStack Size: 20Removes a random modifier and augments a Rare item with a new random modifierRight click this item then left click a rare item to apply it. x10
• Vaal OrbVaal OrbStack Size: 20Modifies an item unpredictably and Corrupts itRight click this item then left click an item to corrupt it. Corrupted items cannot be modified again. x10
• Gemcutter's PrismGemcutter's PrismStack Size: 20Improves the quality of a Skill GemRight click this item then left click a skill gem to apply it. x10
• Orb of AnnulmentOrb of AnnulmentStack Size: 20Removes a random modifier from an itemRight click this item then left click on a magic or rare item to apply it. x3
• Orb of ChanceOrb of ChanceStack Size: 10Unpredictably either upgrades a Normal item to Unique rarity or destroys itRight click this item then left click a normal item to apply it. x3
• Divine OrbDivine OrbStack Size: 10Randomises the numeric values of modifiers on an itemRight click this item then left click an item to apply it. x3

Party play interactions

Party play within the trials are governed by the following set of rules:

• Each player is offered their own individual set of rewards by the Trialmaster. When a player fails the trial, they lose their rewards but the trial will continue with the remaining players.
• Each player can vote on which trial modifier to add to the run. The modifier with the most vote gets added. In case of ties, a mod is randomly chosen between the top choices.
• The Trialmaster eventually teleports every party member inside the arena.
• If a player who is not the instance owner started the trials and disconnects they can rejoin the trial later. If this happens while a trial is ongoing they will get teleported inside that trial. They can join even after the instance owner has reached the end. Opening a portal near the altar allows these members to get six ascendancy points immediately even if they never participated in any trials.