Trial of Ascendancy

"The ancient Azmerians constructed complex Trials, to test aspiring leaders; body, mind and soul. To select candidates for his Labyrinth, Emperor Izaro revived this tradition with his own sinister designs."

- Description on the official Path of Exile website

The Trials of Ascendancy (also referred to as labyrinth trials or simply lab trials) are static puzzles distributed throughout the game's acts and maps, that test the player's mechanical ability to control their character movement. They were introduced to the game in the Ascendancy league and need to be completed to unlock or progress an ascendancy class - in this respect they are a league mechanic. Completing the trials of ascendancy unlocks the various tiers of the The Lord's Labyrinth. They do not have to be completed in any particular order, however each labyrinth must be completed in increasing order of difficulty before being allowed to progress to the next.

Each trial exhibits only one class of trap acting as a form of tutorial for the Labyrinth. Only when all trials are completed will the player be able to enter the Labyrinth of the associated difficulty. The trials also contain many doors and switches (levers), and later trials also contain timed levers which will automatically toggle off unless a later un-timed lever is operated. In some cases, levers are placed to deliberately mislead the player. The eternal labyrinth trials are much longer than the earlier trials and feature stages of increasing complexity.

Progression through trials is shared between all of a player's characters on a per-league basis and are always found in the specified zones, but are randomly placed within.

Each of the trials associated with normal, cruel, and merciless difficulties (deprecated); begin at a door labelled "Trial of Ascendancy" and end at a plaque labelled "Trial of Ascendancy Plaque" that when clicked, spawn a return portal to the door at the entrance. A bronze monograph is present at the entrance to each of these early trials and show on the minimap as whereas the later maps are shown on the minimap as a.

Trial plaques in eternal labyrinth trials drop an when clicked, regardless of whether the specific trial has been completed previously.

Consuming an in the Map Device opens portals to a random Trial of Ascendancy for the Eternal Labyrinth. Trials opened in this way will not award an upon completion. This is a good way to find the remaining trials you have not found in maps yet.

Tips
prophecy increases the odds a map will select the ascendancy league mechanic when its tile-set is generated. The quest tracker will indicate that the league mechanic was chosen by displaying the prophecy when the player is inside the map.

The "global 820" channel users often share portals into their maps when they contain trials, either completed or uncompleted (i.e., with or without an reward).

Version history

 * Consuming an in the Map Device opens portals to a random Trial of Ascendancy for the Eternal Labyrinth


 * Access to The Lord's Labyrinth has been reworked. Once unlocked, each Labyrinth can be accessed from the Aspirants' Plaza. Each of the four Labyrinths are named after the old difficulties: The Normal Labyrinth, the Cruel Labyrinth, the Merciless Labyrinth and the Endgame Labyrinth. The Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths now each require the completion of three trials, as well as the earlier Labyrinths. Access to the Endgame Labyrinth now requires completion of the three earlier Labyrinths.
 * To access the Cruel Labyrinth, you must complete the Normal Labyrinth and 3 prerequisite trials, and be at least level 40.
 * To access the Merciless Labyrinth, you must complete the Cruel Labyrinth and another 3 prerequisite trials, and be at least level 50.
 * Access to the Endgame Labyrinth requires that you complete the Merciless Labyrinth and the 6 Map trials, and be at least level 60.
 * All Labyrinths are now accessed via the Aspirants' Plaza. A new user interface allows you to select which Labyrinth you wish to enter. This UI shows which trials you have and have not completed.
 * (undocumented) Return portal locations were moved away from the plaque area to help avoid clicking them when trying to pick up offerings.


 * There are six new Trials of Ascendancy that can be found in non-unique maps. These trials are more complex and random than the ones in the regular game. Completing a Trial rewards you with an item.
 * Once you have completed all six Trials, you are able to use your Offering to the Goddess items in a Map Device to access the Endgame Labyrinth. These items are not technically maps, so you cannot use Sacrifice Fragments or Chisels on them.
 * The Endgame Trials and Labyrinth include a new trap type - Sentinel Traps: These traps apply one of many effects to an area and can be temporarily deactivated by dealing damage to them.
 * Progress through the Trials of Ascendancy is now shared between all your characters in the league.


 * Fixing various placement issues related to Strongboxes, Perandus chests and Rogue Exiles, where they could spawn inside Trial of Ascendancy traps.


 * Introduced to the game.
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