Quick answer: Zarokh, the Temporal is the pinnacle boss of the Trial of the Sekhemas in Path of Exile 2. You reach him by clearing the 4-floor version, which requires a Level 75+ Djinn Barya with "Number of Trials: 4." Beating him grants your final 2 ascendancy points (points 7 & 8) — your fourth ascension. The fight is not a DPS check: it's an Honour-survival gauntlet. Cap your Honour Resistance at 75%, stack 30–35% movement-speed boots, and treat every attack as physical and projectile-based (so armour and body-blocking trivialize most of it). Below: the full access ladder, every phase of the fight, the relic/Honour setup that actually matters, and when buying a Trial of the Sekhemas carry is the smarter play.
The Sekhemas is where most builds hit a wall. You can two-tap every map boss in the Atlas and still wash out on floor 3 because a single trap drains your Honour bar to zero. This guide breaks down exactly how Zarokh works, why the run leading up to him is the real boss, and how to get those last ascendancy points without 20 failed attempts.
What is Zarokh, the Temporal?
Zarokh, the Temporal is the final boss of the Trial of the Sekhemas, one of PoE2's two Trials of Ascendancy (the other being the Trial of Chaos, see our Trial of Chaos guide). The Sekhemas is the Honour/relic gauntlet — a multi-floor run where you pick rooms, collect boons and relics, and try to reach the boss before your Honour bar empties. Zarokh sits at the top of the 4-floor (highest) version as the pinnacle encounter.
Thematically he's a time-warping construct: nearly every attack he uses bends time — rewinding the arena, rotating tendrils, and freezing you in place. Mechanically, though, the important thing is that all of his damage is physical and almost all of it is projectiles, which is exactly why the right defensive setup makes him far more manageable than his reputation suggests.
How do you unlock the Zarokh fight?
You don't fight Zarokh directly — you earn the encounter by completing all four floors of the highest Sekhemas tier. Entry to each tier is gated by a Djinn Barya (the Sekhemas key item) of a specific item level, which sets how many floors ("Number of Trials") the run contains. Here's how the ascendancy points map across both trials in 0.5:
| Ascendancy points | Trial of the Sekhemas | Trial of Chaos |
|---|---|---|
| Points 1 & 2 | Act 2 quest version (1 floor) | — |
| Points 3 & 4 | — | Act 3 quest version (10 rooms) |
| Points 5 & 6 | Level 60+ Djinn Barya, "Number of Trials: 3" (3 floors) | Level 65+ Inscribed Ultimatum, 10 rounds |
| Points 7 & 8 | Level 75+ Djinn Barya, "Number of Trials: 4" + Zarokh | 10 rounds + 3 Fate Fragments + The Trialmaster |
A character has 8 ascendancy points total (maxroll.gg). The two trials are parallel paths — you can get your mid-tier points from either side — but the final 2 points (7 & 8) come from defeating the pinnacle boss of whichever trial you push to its top tier. For the Sekhemas, that's Zarokh on the Level 75+, 4-Trial Djinn Barya.
The Level 75+ Djinn Barya is a random drop from endgame Waystone (Tier 1+) maps, so the practical bottleneck is often finding the key, not just beating the boss.
Why is the Trial of the Sekhemas so hard?
Because the boss isn't the hard part — Honour is. Honour is a separate survival bar layered on top of your health. Per maxroll's Trials breakdown: "Honour is based on your combined total Life and Energy Shield but it is separate from them," and crucially, "Honour cannot be recovered through normal means such as life flasks. Only special Artifacts and Boons or room reward Shrines" restore it (maxroll.gg). When Honour hits zero, the run ends — full stop, no death, no portal back in.
That design punishes exactly the things that make builds strong elsewhere. Glass-cannon clear speed doesn't help; you need to not get hit, and when you do, you need to take as little Honour damage as possible. The single biggest lever is Honour Resistance, which caps at 75%. As maxroll puts it: at "75% total" Honour Resistance, "a 100 damage hit" costs you only "25" Honour. Going into the 4-floor version without capped Honour Resistance is the #1 reason players fail before they ever see Zarokh.
This is why the community consensus is blunt: the Sekhemas is widely considered harder than the Trial of Chaos, especially for melee and low-mobility builds that can't avoid the dense projectile patterns. If your build hates the Sekhemas, the Trial of Chaos is a fully valid alternative for the same points — but if you want Zarokh's relics (below), you have to clear the Sekhemas.
How do you beat Zarokh? Every attack and phase
The fight is a moveset-recognition test. Learn what each tell looks like, body-block what you can, and keep moving. All damage is physical, so high armour is at peak effectiveness, and almost everything is a projectile, so minions, totems, and ice walls block it. Here's the full kit:
| Attack | What it does | How to handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Boomerangs (default) | Throws whirling boomerangs that arc out and return | Sidestep the arc; don't stand in the return path |
| Orb Volley | "Fires a volley of slow-moving orbs" | Body-block with minions/totems/ice walls, or strafe |
| Temporal Portals | Spawns 8 portals around the arena that fire slow orbs | Reposition to a gap; keep the portals at your back |
| Temporal Tendrils | At ~75% HP he teleports to center, drops time traps, and rotates counter-clockwise firing tendrils | Rotate with him (counter-clockwise), stay just behind the sweep |
| Temporal Orb | A slow orb that detonates on reaching you | Body-block or walk it into a minion |
| Temporal Mines | Spawn during Tendrils; below ~40% HP they spawn periodically and overlap other attacks | Watch your feet in the execute phase; don't tunnel DPS |
| Sands of Time | Boss vanishes; you race to hourglasses while your movement slows progressively | Pre-plan the path, save your Blink/dash for here |
| Temporal Rift | "Creates a clock that winds backwards before teleporting the player to the oldest mirage and exploding the rift" | Position your mirages safely; expect the teleport-back |
| Shifting Pylons | Pylons rotate erratically dealing physical damage | Treat them as moving walls; never get pinched between two |
The two phases people lose to are Temporal Tendrils (~75%) and the Sands of Time / Temporal Rift combo. Tendrils is pure pattern discipline — orbit the boss. Sands of Time is where movement speed wins or loses the fight: the longer you spend in it, the slower you move, so a clean, pre-planned route to the hourglasses is everything.
Best setup: relics, movement speed, and Honour Resistance
You can't bring your normal gear's defenses to bear the way you'd like, so the Sekhemas rewards preparation inside the trial system:
- Cap Honour Resistance at 75% before you attempt the 4-floor run. This is non-negotiable — it quarters all Honour damage. Build it up by running lower tiers first to craft and upgrade your relics (trial-exclusive gear placed at the Relic Altar before each attempt).
- Stack 30–35% movement-speed boots, plus movement-speed relics and the Hare Foot Boon. Movement speed is the master stat for the Sands of Time phase and for dodging projectile density. Avoid The Affliction sandals here — they raise difficulty significantly.
- Lean on body-blocking. Minions, totems, and ice walls eat Zarokh's projectiles. Even a single Skeletal/SRS-style minion or a totem dramatically reduces incoming Honour damage.
- Take vendor/merchant relic choices when offered — early Sacred Water relics let you upgrade other relics mid-run, and merchants can hand out big move-speed and damage buffs.
- Run the 3-floor (Level 60+) version first to farm relic slots and resistances. Walking into the 4-Trial version cold is how most attempts die on floor 2.
Note the avoid: this is a mechanics and survival guide, not a build guide. Any class can clear the Sekhemas with capped Honour Resistance, movement speed, and patience — your specific ascendancy and skills matter far less than your relic setup here.
What does beating Zarokh reward?
Two things. First, the payoff you came for: your final 2 ascendancy points — the fourth ascension that completes your character. Second, Zarokh drops one of six unique relics that unlock special challenge runs, plus a shot at Grand Spectrum items from Gold Grand Spectrum Caches. The relics are the long-tail reason to keep running him after you've claimed your points.
Should you buy a Trial of the Sekhemas carry?
Honest take: the Sekhemas is the single most build-punishing piece of ascendancy progression in PoE2, and being stuck without your last ascendancy points throttles your entire character — every other piece of content gets harder. If you've failed the 4-floor run several times, or your build simply can't handle the Honour gauntlet (looking at you, melee and slow casters), a carry is often the highest-leverage purchase you can make: you unlock your full power and get back to mapping and farming the same day.
Skip the Honour wall and unlock your full build:
- PoE2 Trial of the Sekhemas & Boss Carries — Zarokh kills, ascendancy points, pinnacle clears · pro players · fast & secure
- PoE2 Leveling & Endgame Boosts — get to maps and Atlas progression without the grind
- PoE2 Currency (all orbs) — divine · exalted · chaos · more, to gear up for the trial
Whether you grind it or skip it, the goal is the same: get those last 2 points and stop leaving a quarter of your passive tree on the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Zarokh, the Temporal in PoE2? Zarokh is the pinnacle boss at the end of the 4-floor version of the Trial of the Sekhemas. You don't travel to him directly — you reach him by surviving all four floors of a run entered with a Level 75+ Djinn Barya that has "Number of Trials: 4."
How many ascendancy points does Zarokh give? Defeating Zarokh on the 4-Trial version grants your final 2 ascendancy points (points 7 & 8), completing your fourth ascension. A character has 8 ascendancy points total across both Trials of Ascendancy.
Why is the Trial of the Sekhemas harder than the Trial of Chaos? The Sekhemas uses the Honour mechanic — a separate bar based on your Life and Energy Shield that you fail the trial at if it hits zero, and that can't be refilled with flasks (only Artifacts, Boons, and Shrines restore it). Clear-speed and raw tankiness don't save you; avoiding hits and capping Honour Resistance at 75% does. That makes it brutal for melee and low-mobility builds.
What's the best way to not lose Honour against Zarokh? Cap Honour Resistance at 75% (quarters all Honour damage), stack high armour since all his damage is physical, and body-block his projectiles with minions, totems, or ice walls. Then add 30–35% movement speed so you can dodge density and clear the Sands of Time phase quickly.
Can I get ascendancy points without doing the Sekhemas? Yes. The Trial of Chaos is a fully separate path to the same 8 points — clear its 10-round endgame version and beat The Trialmaster for points 7 & 8. But only the Sekhemas drops Zarokh's unique relics. See our Trial of Chaos guide.
Is buying a Zarokh carry worth it? If your build keeps failing the Honour gauntlet, yes — being stuck without your final ascendancy points weakens your whole character, so a Sekhemas carry unlocks your full power immediately and saves a stack of failed attempts.
