How to ascend in Path of Exile 2

Here’s how to ascend in Path of Exile 2 and everything you need to know about committing to each character’s various Ascendancy Classes.

Path of Exile 2 lets characters specialize in a certain discipline to guide their build and skills down a particular path. For example, the Ranger can focus her skills to become the accuracy-obsessed Deadeye, or she can instead become the Pathfinder, a Ranger who uses a range of poisonous arrows to slay her enemies.

The Monk can walk the righteous, light-filled path of the Invoker, or they can embrace their dark side and become the more sinister Acolyte of Chayula.

Once an Ascendancy Class has been chosen in Path of Exile 2, it cannot be unchosen. However, a character can still respec their skills within that Ascendancy.

How to ascend

Before you ascend in Path of Exile 2, be sure to know what build you want to create, as your chosen Ascendancy will be a big part of this. So, knowing what you want to play as for the rest of the game is essential before you make your choice.

To ascend in Path of Exile 2, you’ll first need to complete the Trial of the Sehkemas. This can be unlocked in Act 2 after you’ve defeated Balbala. You’ll need to retrieve Balbala’s Barya coin and use this to gain access to the trial.

The Trial of the Sehkemas features eight challenge rooms that you’ll need to overcome. Each involves slaying a horde of enemies with different conditions that increase in difficulty. You’ll need to contend with your stats being lowered and other debuffs before you face the boss in room eight.

You’ll also have an honor meter that essentially replaces your health during the trial. Once this is depleted, the trial is over and you’ll need to start again. You’ll need to keep an eye on this throughout the trial as it’ll need to last you for the entirety.

If you find the Trial of the Sehkemas too difficult, just go and grind some levels then return. You’ll soon overcome it. Once the boss falls, approach the Altar of Ascendancies to choose your Ascendancy Class and your first two points.

Ascendancy Points

You’ll receive your first two Ascendancy Points once you complete the Trial of the Sehkemes but you can earn a total of eight to spend on your new skills.

You can unlock two more Ascendancy Points by completing the second floor of the Trial of the Sekhemes. To enter you’ll need to find the Djinn Barya coin, then return once it’s in your possession. From here you can earn more points by beating the next two floors.

Once you arrive at the Temple of Chaos in Act 3, you can earn two more Ascendancy Points by completing the Trials of Chaos. First, you’ll need to defeat Xyclucian, the Chimera in the Chimeral Wetlands, then collect the Chimeral Inscribed Ultimatum from them. This acts as your next coin/key to the next Trial.

You can unlock more points by completing floors 3 and 4 of Trial of the Sekhemes or by completing 10 Trials of Chaos. You’ll need to hunt down the corresponding Inscribed Ultimatum and Djinn Barya coins to gain access though. These are random drops by enemies so keep questing and exploring to find them.

Finally, there’s a secret challenge room hidden behind the Trials of Chaos with a secret boss. You’ll likely have enough Ascendancy Points already by now, but if not, you can get more by slaying them if you still need to.

Remember, you can’t change Ascendancies once you’ve committed to one, but you can still try another build from within that school. During early access, each character has only two Ascendancy Classes, but this will increase to three when the game releases in full.

Until then, check out our builds for the sharpshooting Ranger, the martial artist Monk, the spell-slinging Sorceress, the witch-hunting Mercenary, the melee-focused Warrior, and the minion-summoning Witch classes.