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How to unlock the Trial of the Sekhemas
Defeat Balbala the Traitor in Act 2 while completing the Ascent to Power quest. That encounter unlocks access to the trial. Each attempt requires a Djinn Barya, commonly shortened to “Barya.”
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The current Zarokh encounter guide describes a four-floor run. You choose connected rooms on each floor, complete their objectives, and continue until the floor-four boss room. A failed attempt ends your run; you must start another one with a Barya.
How a run works
Read the map before committing
The trial presents branching room choices rather than a fixed corridor. Depending on the game version, the map can reveal information about upcoming rooms, rewards, merchants, recovery opportunities, relic opportunities, hazards, or afflictions. Compare the available paths before entering one.
A valuable reward is not automatically a good choice. A room that exposes you to severe traps or an affliction can cost more Honour than the reward is worth, particularly on floors one through three.
Complete the room and choose the next branch
Room objectives vary. Some require combat, while others emphasize traps, movement, or a special trial mechanic. Once the objective is complete, use the next map choice to balance immediate reward against the condition in which you will reach the boss.
Reach the floor-four boss
Floors one to three are the main consistency test. Treat them as preparation for Zarokh rather than as a reason to take every optional fight. Arrive on floor four with enough Honour to survive several mechanics, not merely with the highest possible loot total.
Honour: the resource that ends the attempt
Honour is a trial-specific life bar. Hits, traps, and other mistakes reduce it. If it reaches zero, the attempt ends even if your character still has ordinary life, energy shield, or other defenses.
The current guide states that Honour does not regenerate between floors. Damage taken early therefore remains a threat later, when the route and Zarokh still have their most dangerous checks.
- Prioritize avoidance over speed: move around hazards instead of face-tanking them.
- Skip optional combat when the route permits: marginal rewards are rarely worth preventable Honour loss during learning attempts.
- Use movement skills in trap rooms: cross dangerous sections quickly and do not stand in damage zones.
- Build for Honour first: Honour resistance and maximum Honour are more reliable for early clears than a purely damage-focused setup.
Relics: what to equip before entering
Relics apply trial-specific modifiers before a run begins. The right setup changes as your consistency improves.
| Situation | Priority | Why it works | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning the trial | Honour resistance and maximum Honour | Creates a larger margin for traps, mistakes, and unfamiliar room mechanics. | Lower damage can make rooms and the boss take longer. |
| Reaching Zarokh consistently | Damage-oriented relics, while retaining enough Honour protection to survive the route | Shortens dangerous boss phases and reduces the number of mechanics you must execute. | Less defensive margin makes poor route choices or trap hits more costly. |
Do not switch to a damage setup merely because one attempt reaches floor four. Make that change when the earlier floors are repeatable and your remaining Honour is predictable.
Choosing rooms and routes
Evaluate every connected room on the same six axes:
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| Honour preservation | How likely is this objective to cost Honour if executed correctly? |
| Movement and trap risk | Does the room require precise movement, expose you to unavoidable hazards, or punish stopping? |
| Reward quality | Is the reward substantial enough to justify the risk rather than merely attractive on the map? |
| Boss preparation | Will the reward improve survival or damage for Zarokh? |
| Route flexibility | Does this branch preserve access to safer rooms, recovery, merchants, or relic opportunities? |
| Build dependence | Does the objective favor a particular movement tool, range, damage type, or defensive profile that your character lacks? |
A practical priority order
- Reject rooms whose hazard is likely to remove a large, unrecoverable portion of Honour.
- Prefer a recovery, merchant, or relic opportunity when it improves the rest of the route.
- Take a high-value reward only when your build can execute its objective reliably.
- Use optional combat for meaningful upgrades, not for completionism.
Preparing for Zarokh, the Temporal
The current 0.5.4 encounter guide, updated July 31, 2026, places Zarokh at the end of floor four and describes three practical stages. Keep a movement skill available, stay mobile, and avoid spending every defensive cooldown during the opening exchange.
Stage 1: standard combat
Fight normally while watching the arena and preserving defensive tools for mechanics that restrict movement. Do not trade Honour for damage by standing in hazards or accepting hits that a reposition would avoid.
Stage 2: the Clock and six hourglasses
When the Clock phase begins, collect the six hourglasses one at a time while continuing to move. Plan a route between them instead of stopping beside one to attack or waiting for a hazard to pass.
Since patch 0.3.0, missing an hourglass causes Honour damage and triggers a slowed sub-phase rather than instantly failing the trial. That change gives a damaged run a chance to continue, but a missed objective still consumes Honour and makes the following movement more dangerous.
Stage 3: the temporal-field time stop
During the temporal field, some ground is frozen while corridors remain available. Follow the unfrozen corridor continuously. The principal failure pattern described by the current guide is stopping to dodge or running into frozen ground; both leave you exposed to the phase’s punishment.
- Keep moving along the open route instead of circling in place.
- Do not step onto frozen ground because it appears to be the shortest path.
- Save movement and defensive cooldowns for the phase transition rather than exhausting them during routine attacks.
Rewards and the chest rebalance
Grinding Gear Games announced a Trial of the Sekhemas chest rebalance on May 1, 2025. The changes address the previously underwhelming chest payouts:
| Chest or reward change | What was announced |
|---|---|
| Bronze chests | Raised to the Normal-campaign Rare-chest baseline and guaranteed to contain a Rare item. |
| Silver and Gold chests | Received substantially higher Item Rarity and Item Quantity. |
| Arcanist’s Currency and Royal Jewels chests | Became more common. |
| Silver and Gold keys | Became more likely to appear as room rewards. |
The official announcement says, “These changes generally result in around 20-30% more Rare Currency (Exalt, Alch, Regal, etc).” That figure describes the broader item-drop changes in the announcement; it is not a guaranteed payout for an individual Trial of the Sekhemas run or chest.
First-attempt checklist
- Complete Balbala’s Act 2 quest and have a Djinn Barya ready.
- Equip Honour resistance and maximum-Honour relics.
- Inspect branches before entering and favor safe, repeatable objectives.
- Skip optional fights when their reward does not justify the Honour risk.
- Use movement skills through traps rather than absorbing damage.
- Reach floor four with defensive cooldowns and a meaningful Honour reserve.
- For the Clock, collect all six hourglasses while moving.
- For the temporal field, stay in unfrozen corridors and never stop on frozen ground.
Troubleshooting common failures
| Symptom | Likely cause | Adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Runs end before floor four | Too much early Honour loss from optional fights or traps. | Choose safer branches, skip marginal combat, and increase Honour-focused relics. |
| You reach Zarokh with little Honour | The route was optimized for rewards rather than preservation. | Value recovery, merchant, and lower-risk rooms over maximum chest value. |
| The Clock phase repeatedly drains Honour | You stop to attack or miss hourglass routes. | Map a continuous path and collect the six hourglasses one by one while moving. |
| The temporal field ends the fight | You stop to dodge or enter frozen ground. | Follow the unfrozen corridor continuously; movement is the mechanic. |
| Zarokh survives too long | The defensive setup is adequate but damage is insufficient. | After the route is consistent, replace some defensive relic priority with damage. |
Patch-sensitive details
Barya access rules, the floor count, Honour behavior, room rewards, relic modifiers, and Zarokh’s phases can change with later patches. This guide reflects the four-floor structure and the 0.5.4 Zarokh information available on July 31, 2026; check current official patch notes if your game client shows different mechanics.
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