The Coward's Trial Cursed Crypt Map - Path of Exile

The Coward's Trial Cursed Crypt Map

IconDescription
The Coward's Trial

The Coward's Trial is a unique Cursed Crypt Map. Maps. Map Tier: 12, 15, 16, 16, 16. Guild Tag Editor: }.

  • Contains waves of Monsters
  • Contains additional waves of Undead Monsters
  • Area contains additional waves of Ghosts
  • Area contains additional waves of Oriathan Zombies
  • Area contains additional waves of Phantasms
  • Area contains additional waves of Raging Spirits
  • Area contains additional waves of Bone Rhoas
  • Area contains additional waves of Ravager Maws
  • Area contains additional waves of Zombies

Flavour Text: For his sins he was hunted in his sleep, judgement wrought of twisted nightmare. The Coward bound his dreams to stone, awaiting another to walk the path of true atonement.

In Path of Exile, The Coward's Trial is a unique Cursed Crypt Map known for its grueling wave survival challenges. It throws you into an arena-like experience where defense and efficient clearing are paramount. Here's a breakdown of its key features:

Layout and Mechanics:

  • Unlike a typical Cursed Crypt with open spaces and corridors, The Coward's Trial features a series of connected chambers.
  • Each chamber serves as a battleground where you'll face relentless waves of increasingly difficult monsters.

Wave Survival:

  • The map revolves around surviving these waves. Monsters will continuously spawn in waves until you eliminate all of them.
  • Between waves, you'll have a short window to recover health, flasks, and reposition yourself.

Area Level and Progression:

  • The area level of the map increases by 1 with each new chamber you enter, up to a maximum of +3 in the final room.
  • This grants access to potentially higher tier loot but also makes the enemies progressively tougher.

No Map Mods or Quantity Bonus:

  • The Coward's Trial functions differently from most maps. It doesn't benefit from additional difficulty modifiers you might have on your Map Device.
  • It also doesn't receive a bonus to item quantity, meaning the base drop rate remains unchanged.

Rewards:

  • While The Coward's Trial lacks a traditional boss fight, the true reward lies in the high area level it can reach.
  • This makes it valuable for farming specific items with higher base item levels, such as high-roll Elder and Shaper items.

Tips:

  • Defense and Recovery: Prioritize building a character with high defenses like life regeneration, armor, and elemental resistances. This will help you weather the onslaught of enemies.
  • Area-of-Effect Skills: Skills that can clear large groups of enemies quickly are essential for efficient wave management.
  • Movement Skills: Having a movement skill like Leap Slam or Flame Dash can help you dodge enemy attacks and reposition for better AoE coverage.
  • Flasks: Utilize defensive flasks like Granite, Jade, and Basalt to bolster your defenses during waves. Consider using a life flask with instant recovery for emergencies.
  • Play Methodically: Don't be greedy and try to pull too many monsters at once. Clear each wave efficiently and use the downtime strategically to recover.

Additional Notes:

  • The Coward's Trial is suitable for players at various experience levels, but it can be challenging for newer players. Having a well-built character with good gear is crucial for success.
  • While it doesn't offer a high quantity of loot drops, the potential for high-level items makes it a valuable map for specific farming goals.

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Mechanics

Except the mods Contains waves of Monsters and Contains additional waves of Undead Monsters, the rest of the mods are "optional" which can be reroll by Divine Orb to switch it "on" or "off" (1 or 0), or dropped naturally as "on" or "off". Thus, the map can have zero additional waves except the base waves of Monsters and waves of Undead Monsters, or have all 7 optional waves (Ghosts, Oriathan Zombies, Phantasms, Raging Spirits, Bone Rhoas, Ravager Maws and Zombies respectively). There are 2^7 = 128 combinations of map mods. The chance to have zero optional waves or all 7 optional waves, were 1/128 respectively, assuming equal chance to roll the mod value as 0 and roll as 1.

Layout

This map contains 4 floors with a number of waves of monster spawning per floor. The number of waves is depends on the mod of the map item. Each floor has a monster level one level higher than the previous one. The initial wave consists of 35 monsters and increases by 2 monsters per wave up to a possible maximum of 83 monsters on wave 25.[confirmation needed because of 3.7.0 change] The map is guaranteed to drop at least one unique item, regardless of map area level. It always drop as item level 100 from the map boss.

The Monster types of each wave are randomly picked from a pre-defined list of wave-types; The final wave is the exception to this, where Infector of Dreams is accompanied by monster types that can only appear during the final wave. While the monster level stays the same, magic and rare monsters increase with every wave. Additionally, at the end of every wave a rare Necromancer spawns.[confirmation needed because of 3.7.0 change]

Several flavour/hint messages appear in the chat window during the map:

  • When a new wave begins: "The darkness looms forebodingly..."
  • When the current room has been fully cleared: "The room grows still and quiet..."
  • When the last room has been fully cleared: "The oppressive atmosphere slowly dissipates..."

Boss

  • Infector of Dreams (unique Necromancer)
    • Raises Undead
    • Allies deal increased Elemental Damage

Items found from this monster

Item Level
The Craving 1

In the last sub-area, the map contains several Abyss themed monsters:

  • Thresher (cannot raised as spectre)
  • Primeval Watcher (cannot raised as spectre)

Other monster of the map:

  • Brittle Born-again (can raised as spectre)
  • Rotting Damned (can raised as spectre)
  • Frost Priest (can raised as spectre)
  • Thunder Priest (can raised as spectre)

Note that only the last sub-area contain monster that leave corpse:

Items found in this area

The following drop-restricted items can drop in this area.

Item Drop
Level
Grave Knowledge 23
Monochrome 80
The Celestial Justicar 47
The Forsaken 23
The Wretched 68
The Rabbit's Foot 50

On top of the boss drop and drops that are specific to this unique map, since Coward's Trial may have a high area level (up to T16 when Voidstone(s) is/are socketed, or when affected by an atlas passive which increases unique map area levels), and even higher when progressed to the next room of the map, this map readily drops item base types that have a high item level.

Item acquisition

The Coward's Trial can drop anywhere. It can be chanced.

Recipes

The Coward's Trial can be created from the following recipes:

Amount Part Description
8 The Encroaching Darkness Random corrupted map
1 Otherworldly Incubator Random map
4 Jack in the Box Random item
1 Singular Incubator Random item
1 The Void Random divination card set exchange