Anyone looking to achieve their third character Ascension inPath of Exile 2must first beat a powerful boss - Ashar The Sand Mother. This massive scorpion is a challenging opponent you face during theTrial of Sekhemaschallenges, which test your character’s might to see if they are worthy of Ascension. You’ll need to overcome Ashar to unlock unique specializations for your character’s class from a new Ascendancy.
The Trial of Sekhemas can only be found when you defeat the boss Balbala the Traitor during the game’s main story quests. Once you beat this enemy, they will drop the Balbala’s Barya item, which you can take to the Trial of Sekhemas node on your map.Placing the Balbala’s Barya item into the altar at the Trial of Sekhemas location unlocks the area’s challenges, including its Ascendancy bosses.
How To Start The Ashar The Sand Mother Boss Fight
Defeat Other Bosses And Face Higher Level Challenges
Youhave to defeat two other Ascendancy bosses in the Trial of Sekhemasbefore you have a chance to face Ashar. TheTrial of Sekhemas inPath of Exile 2demands that you accumulate a unique resource called Honour from defeated enemies in a specific Trial tier. You also need a Djinn Barya of at least Level 60 to access the arena in which Ashar spawns.
Honour acts as both a currency and a health resource in the Trial of Sekhemas floors. If you lose all your Honour, you will fail that Trial and be unable to face an Ascendancy boss.
Getting enough Honour on the third floor of the Trial chambers will allow you to open a path to Ashar’s boss room. Before you take on Ashar the Sand Mother, youshould make sure to accumulate more Honour than you needto unlock the stairs to the boss. Since Honour is tied to your overall health, the more you have before facing Ashar, the longer you will survive through the boss fight.
Path of Exile 2: How To Beat Zarokh The Temporal (Boss Guide)
The final boss of Path of Exile 2’s Trial of the Sekhemas is Zaroch The Temporal, the strongest enemy you could ever challenge during your journey.
When you’re ready,interact with the altar in the Trial of Sekhemas on its third flooronce you have enough Honour. This will open up the door ahead of it, leading to stairs that ascend into Ashar’s boss room. This large arena will rumble as Ashar bursts from the ground, ready to deny your character a chance at Ascendancy.
How To Defeat Ashar The Sand Mother
Avoid Pressure Plates And Melee Attacks
Ashar the Sand Mother is a deceptively quick boss, using melee attacks with its claws and stinger to strike at your character. A good strategy to approach this fight is tododge forward close to Ashar to get behind it, giving you space to avoid the melee attacks it uses to strike in front of itself. Staying behind where the tail’s barb can hit you will prevent you from taking damage from Ashar’s highly damaging moves.
Depending on yourAtlas tree inPath of Exile 2, you may have the ability to get around Ashar consistently. However,be careful not to move over the multiple pressure plates in the arenawhere you face this boss. Stepping on any plate can release huge AoE hazards you won’t be able to avoid, such as insect swarms, poisonous gas, or collections of darts that deal fire and poison damage.
One of the best ways to handle Trial of Sekhemas bosses is tohave gear with Honour Resistanceto reduce damage dealt against your character. Picking good Boons without severe Afflictions can help your character have few weaknesses going into a Trial boss fight.
As you attempt to counter different attacks that Ashar the Sand Mother has, check out this table below outlining the boss' most threatening attacks and how to avoid them:
How To Counter
Poison Blast
Ashar the Sand Mother shoots a poisonous projectile from its tail aimed at your character. The boss will oftentimes fire more than one projectile before this attack finishes.
Dodge roll to the side as any projectile is about to hit you to avoid taking any damage.
Claw Strike
Raising one claw back, Ashar strikes forward with a fast jab to deal damage to anything it hits.
Move or dodge to the side as the claw pulls back, as this move is telegraphed for a longer time.
Stinger Swipe
Ashar charges energy into its tail before sweeping it around itself in a circle, hitting anything in a large radius.
Dodge forward as the tail is about to hit you in its sweep. You can avoid damage and start attacking Ashar as they recover from this move.
Toxic Slam
With little warning, Ashar strikes forward with its stinger tail, trying to stab a target in front of it.
This movecannot be dodge-rolled, so move behind Ashar to avoid taking damage.
Desert Flip
Ashar plants both claws in the ground before flipping forward, using its tail to stand off the sands of the arena. While raising itself in the air, Ashar uses Poison Blast projectiles against its enemies.
When you see Ashar plant their claws, move or dodge to the side to avoid its flip. Then, dodge projectiles like you did during the normal Poison Blasts.
Whenever Ashar finishes the Desert Flip attack,the boss will dive and burrow underground, bursting out from the sands before tunneling again. While Ashar dives in and out of the ground, it will leave little AoE areas of Quicksand in the spots where it emerged.Your character receives a debuff for walking over Quicksandand can build multiple stacks of a harmful status effect in the process.
Using a lower-level Djinn Barya to access Ashar’s boss fight will make the Sand Mother easier to fight. While you do need at least a Level 60 version of the Barya to access Ashar, the lower the key’s level, the less damage and health the boss will have.
The Quicksand debuffreduces your character’s mobility, making it much harder to dodge Ashar’s other attacks. You’ll neverAscend inPath of Exile 2if you are made too weak to fight Ashar, so you need to avoid every Quicksand AoE as much as you can. Getting three or four Quicksand debuff stacks can be fatal, as it makes it nearly impossible to avoid Ashar’s devastating melee moves.
Keep your speed normal, avoid stepping on pressure plates, and stick to Ashar like glue to make it easier to dodge the boss' melee attacks.Strike while it recovers from doing its attacksto drop its health to nothing over time. Those who beat Ashar the Sand Mother inPath of Exile 2will gain their third set of Ascendancy Points, allowing them to make their character even stronger.
