How to fix the Ascent to Power bug in Cruel difficult in Path of Exile 2

Some notable glitches have been reported during Path of Exile 2‘s early access, and the Ascent to Power bug is a nightmare to deal with.

If you’re just getting started on your journey, you won’t have to think about this possible problem. It’s due to the simple fact that this particular bug occurs in the Cruel difficulty, which is only unlocked after you complete all three acts in the default difficulty. There might be a trick to prevent this situation as you wait for GGG to roll out a fix.

Path of Exile 2 Ascent to Power bug fix explained

The bug has been reportedly triggered when you kill the boss present in the Traitor’s Passage. The same incident happened with my colleague, who had done it twice. On the first occasion, defeating the boss got him an Ascendancy coin. Doing it once again doesn’t drop the coin, however, and this is the crux of the problem.

A possible reason for this might be the extra key that you may have found during the first time. As a result, it’s possible that the game thinks you already have access to the zone and locks the quest progression. If there wasn’t any bug, you would get the second key, and the quest would progress as expected but with elevated difficulty. As you don’t end up with the second key, a trial can’t be undertaken.

Image via Destructoid/GGG

One possible fix might be not having the key, but that doesn’t make sense. There are also incidents where players have eliminated Balbala ten times, and they never received the Ascendancy key that should unlock the trial for Cruel difficulty.

Being in early access, such bugs are almost an expectation, but sadly, there hasn’t been a fix so far from GGG. Checking the forums, it’s clear that the bug was experienced by players about four to five days back. By now, there should have been a permanent fix, which will allow you to continue your progression.

There’s a possible solution that has reportedly worked for a few players. You have to port to the Traitor’s Passage in Act 2 in the normal mode after you have eliminated the boss in Cruel difficulty. This should update the quest as expected, but this method doesn’t appear to work consistently. Most of the quests update, but they don’t get any rewards apart from the loot.

Hopefully, GGG will pay some attention to this, and a permanent fix will become available soon.

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