Test of Will Barya: Strategies to Overcome This Difficult

[Uriah]

The Test of Will Barya in Path of Exile 2 is a demanding trial within the Trial of the Sekhemas, designed to push your survival, combat, and strategic decision-making skills to the limit. Successfully overcoming this challenge requires careful resource management, smart room selection, and mastery of the trial’s unique mechanics.

Understanding the Challenge

The Test of Will is one of several Sekhemas Coins you can use to modify the Trial of the Sekhemas experience. When you place the Test of Will Barya coin on the Relic altar at the start of the trial, it increases the difficulty by boosting enemy damage and speed but also enhances the quality of rewards. This makes it a high-risk, high-reward challenge best suited for players with tanky or high-damage builds.

Your primary resource in this trial is Honour, a special bar that functions like a secondary health pool. Taking damage reduces Honour, and unlike life, it cannot be restored by flasks. Instead, Honour is replenished through completing rooms, activating shrines, or acquiring specific boons. If Honour drops to zero, you fail the trial, so managing it carefully is critical.

Key Strategies for Success

1. Honour Management
Avoid unnecessary damage to conserve Honour. Prioritize rooms and boons that restore or protect Honour. Some major boons grant temporary invulnerability or revive you upon Honour depletion, which can be lifesaving during tough encounters.

2. Room Selection
The trial map offers branching paths with different room types—combat arenas, trap gauntlets, puzzles, and timed challenges. Choose rooms that complement your build. For example, ranged or area-damage characters may prefer combat rooms with fewer melee enemies and avoid trap-heavy paths. Selecting beneficial boons and avoiding harmful afflictions is also essential.

3. Use Boons Wisely
Boons provide powerful buffs such as damage immunity after being hit, trap disabling, increased movement speed, or Honour restoration. Investing in these boons can significantly improve your survivability and combat effectiveness throughout the trial.

4. Combat Tactics
Focus on crowd control and quick enemy kills to reduce incoming damage. Use movement skills to dodge attacks and traps. Keep an eye on your Honour and retreat to shrines or safe zones when necessary. Balancing aggression with caution is key, especially in timed rooms where killing rare monsters can reduce timers but increase risk.

5. Prepare for the Boss Fight
The trial culminates in a boss battle that tests your endurance and mechanics. Learn the boss’s attack patterns, use your boons strategically, and manage your Honour carefully to survive this final encounter.

Additional Tips

If you fail the trial, you can speak to Balbala to receive another Balbala’s Barya coin and retry.

Use vendor merchants to remove afflictions that severely hinder your progress.

Keep track of your boons and afflictions to plan your route and purchases efficiently.

Conquering the Test of Will Barya requires a balance of careful Honour management, strategic room and boon selection, and solid combat skills. By understanding the trial’s mechanics and tailoring your approach to your build, you can overcome this challenging Path of Exile 2 event and reap its valuable rewards.