One of the many things that have been revealed during ExileCon is a new league for Path of Exile called Trial of the Ancestors. The expansion will introduce tournaments, new Atlas Keystones, reworks of the Guardian and Chieftain Ascendancy classes, and many more. So, let’s walk you through everything the new league will bring us.
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Path of Exile: Trial of the Ancestors Release Date
There’s not much time left before we can enjoy the new and exciting new league, as it’s set to be released on August 18. If you want to take a quick look at what will await you, check out the official trailer below.
Now let’s talk about new additions and upcoming changes in detail.
Karui Afterlife and Trial of the Ancestors
The expansion is called Trial of the Ancestors, but what is it exactly? This is a tournament where participants are the fallen chieftains of each Karui tribe. Your goal is to go to their Afterlife using tradeable silver coins and face these tribes with your own team of Karui warriors. Defeating the tribe’s chieftains will lead to earning valuable rewards.
The tournaments are an auto-chess style activity, where you compete against one of ten tribes in a double elimination format based on the reward you’ll get. At the start of each match, you will see the configuration of the enemy team and can strategically place your warriors on the battlefield to successfully face opponents. To win matches, you need to destroy the totems of the opposing team.
You’ll start out with three Karui warriors as your basic team, and then, after winning tournaments, you will gain favour with each of the tribes, which can be spent on recruiting new warriors and getting field items and equipment for the next matches. Speaking of field items, they are placed on the battlefield and can be activated during the match to grant their effect. If they’re not activated throughout the match, they will persist into the next match. However, all warriors, field items, and equipment are wiped out between the tournaments to give a fresh start at the beginning of each.
To increase your chances of winning, you need to learn all strengths and weaknesses of your warriors so that you can place them wisely on the battlefield. Here are a few examples of warriors:
- Turtle (Tank): The turtle is slow but tough, great for defense and blocking enemies. You should place it where it can easily reach enemies or where enemies can reach it due to its low speed.
- Tuatara (Balanced): The Tuatara is fast and tricky, good for any position. It can easily sneak past enemies and attack their totems before they can react.
- Goliath of Night (Disruptor): The Goliath can stop enemies chasing you if placed in the middle. It messes with enemy plans to attack your totems and buys you time to respond.
Moreover, each tribe has its own specialties, and you’re free to mix warriors from different tribes for better results on the battlefield.
Trial of the Ancestors Rewards
And now, let’s talk about the exciting part – rewards.
Passive Tree Tattoos
Besides the regular ones, you can also get exclusive new rewards for winning the matches. One such reward is Passive Tree Tattoos. Despite their name, they are not applied to your skin but engraved on your soul instead. The effects of your passive tree’s attribute skills will shift when you apply these. Here are some examples:
Omens
Furthermore, for winning the entire tournament, you will get a new type of item from Hinekora, the Goddess of Death: an Omen. They can be placed in the inventory until a certain condition is met, after which they are consumed, and their impact takes effect. Here are the Omens that have been revealed so far:
On top of that, Hinekora can offer you a lock of her hair, which allows you to foresee the result of an item crafting outcome.
Unique Items
All ten Karui tribes can reward a unique item that embodies the essence of their tribe. To get your hands on these, you need to defeat the tribe in Trial of the Ancestors. In addition, Hinekora can offer four unique items to the winner. Therefore, there are a total of 14 items you can earn as rewards, and here are some of the examples.
- Bound Fate: A Cloth Belt which has Life, Dexterity, and Intelligence plus a unique effect.
- Arohongui’s Tending: A Coral Amulet that allows your Life and Mana flasks to apply instantly when you are on Low Life or Mana.
- Kitava’s Hunger: A Majestic Plate that provides a large bonus to Maximum Life if there are no Life modifiers on other equipped items.
New Atlas Passive Keystones
The expansion will introduce 16 new keystones that allow you to customize your endgame experience by altering the League Mechanics and increasing rewards. Thus, you can have a drastically different Path of Exile endgame experience. The devs haven’t revealed all 16 keystones yet, but here are those we know of now:
- Extreme Archaeology
- Lucid Dreams
- Destructive Play
New Support Gems
As a part of the metagame rebalance, the creators will introduce 14 new gems that are “designed to take existing categories of skills and provide entirely new ways to play them.” Here are the gems that have been revealed so far during the ExileCon:
Classes Revamped
The Guardian Ascendancy Class
This class has been updated to match the strength of other classes. It still promotes teamwork but with more fun choices.
“Harmony of Purpose” now boosts teams using Link skills. “Time of Need” fully heals and cleanses you every four seconds. “Radiant” and “Unwavering Crusade” now follow the “Holy Summoner” theme by offering new unique minions only for this class. Here’s the breakdown of what’s new.
Chieftain Ascendancy Class
This class was completely redesigned. It gives you new passive skills, mainly focusing on fire and other types of elemental damage, along with Totems, Strikes, and Slams.
These new skills allow you to make enemies explode, lower their fire resistance when you’re still, change passive skills to affect fire damage, and use your fire resistance for cold and lightning resistance, along with other abilities, which you may find below.
Return to the Forbidden Sanctum
Yes, Sanctum is back in this expansion, offering us a new experience. After meeting Divinia in Act Ten, you will find tradable Sanctum items called Forbidden Tomes. Each of these items represents one floor in a Sanctum. When you finish a floor, the next one generates and becomes a tradable item that carries your progress, Resolve, Boons, and Afflictions. Depending on the potential rewards or risks, you can play your Sanctum or trade it.
Sanctum is now rebalanced, including harder later floors and more floor and monster diversity. There are new Boons and Afflictions, and many current ones are changed. Your main defenses also now prevent Resolve loss. Relics are balanced again and can be traded.
- Armor grants a % Resolve Mitigation from enemy hits and scales with your armor.
- Evasion now grants a chance to avoid Resolve loss entirely.
- Energy Shield grants Energy Aegis which acts just like Energy Shield does for Life.
Elevate Your Game in Trial of the Ancestors
The new expansion looks and sounds exciting, doesn’t it? We bet you can’t wait to enter these tournaments and earn those sweet and exclusive rewards. However, it’s important to remember that each update brings not only new content but also new challenges, which can be overwhelming.
But you don’t have to worry because you have LFCarry and our PROs, who can help you avoid the grind and take your gameplay to the next level. If you want to level up faster, assemble the perfect build, obtain the coveted rewards, or just improve your experience, we have you covered. Go to LFCarry.com and let us know what you need in the live chat today. We’ll do our best to help you achieve your even wildest in-game goals!
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Polly Gruse is a seasoned gamer with extensive experience in the Call of Duty series, as well as deep expertise in Destiny 2 and World of Warcraft, allowing her to craft detailed guides and insightful analyses that help players refine their skills, master game mechanics, and stay ahead of the competition.