Tattoos & Warriors, the Best Value in Trial of the Ancestors

Here are the most valuable Karui Tribes to eliminate, the Tattoos they reward, Warriors they provide, and unique item offerings.

Legend

There's a lot of nuance to Trial of the Ancestors, and the Path of Exile economy. Prices shift over time, and your performance in Trial of the Ancestors depends on your build and rating, this resource is intended to be a guideline. Always do your own research using the official Path of Exile Trade site, or looking at aggregate data on PoENinja.

• Bad
  • Look to actively replace these warriors, their value is limited.
  • Bad Tattoos are not listed.
• Decent
  • These units are OK, but don't go out of your way to buy them.
  • Decent Tattoos are typically worth 5-10 Chaos Orbs.
• Good
  • These units are great, go out of you way to buy them.
  • Good Tattoos are usually worth over 10 Chaos Orbs, and under 40 Chaos Orbs.
• Amazing
  • These are some of the best units in the game, always chase them!
  • Amazing Tattoos are worth over 40 Chaos Orbs, with many reaching values of 1+ Divine Orbs.

Ngamahu Tribe

The Ngamahu Tribe has a great Rare Tattoo reward in Tattoo of the Ngamahu Makanga and offers players 2 powerful units. Unfortunately, the common and Unique rewards for Ngamahu are mediocre at best. As a result, it's worth keeping Kaom around until later rounds but he isn't your top priority.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Ngamahu Warmonger
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "Enemies you Kill have a 2% chance to Explode, dealing a tenth of their maximum Life as Fire Damage"
  • Good
• Tattoo of the Ngamahu Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "+1% to maximum Fire Resistance"
  • Amazing!

Unique Item

This Unique Heavy Belt adds a few defensive bonuses in the form of converting Physical Damage to Fire Damage for enemies within 60 units. The belt also offers limited protection from Ignites and Burning Ground via Take no Burning Damage if you've stopped taking Burning Damage Recently. But you're better off with the upgraded Abberath Pantheon, and Ignite Immunity.

The belt has a bit of Strength and Armour, but otherwise lacks useful stats like Life or Resistances.

• Bad

Warriors

• Firebreather
  • 600
  • Replace
• Caldera Ravager
  • 1000
  • Attacker / Defender
• Blackbark Demolisher
  • 1400
  • Defender / Attacker

The Firebreather explodes for a large burst of damage, killing the unit. Because of this, he's quite unreliable. On the other hand, Ngamahu's other 2 units - Caldera Ravager and Blackbark Demolisher - are both excellent.

Hinekora Tribe

The Hinekora Tribe has a great Rare Tattoo reward in Tattoo of the Hinekora Makanga and offers players well rounded units. The common and Unique rewards for Hinekora are poor. Tawhanuku is dangerous, so eliminating this tribe early is a good idea.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Hinekora Storyteller
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "3% increased Skill Effect Duration"
  • Decent
• Tattoo of the Hinekora Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "8% increased Effect of your Curses"
  • Amazing!

Unique Item

This Unique Moonstone Ring adds an interesting way to gain Energy Shield by spending Mana on Spells. In theory this could be used with Archmage Support to generate large amounts of Energy Shield. However, the effect triggers once per 5 casts making it impractical.

The ring has poor overall stats, with the most notable being Spell Damage and Maximum Mana.

• Bad

Warriors

• Hinekora's Horn
  • 550
  • Escort / Defender
• Mystic Prophet
  • 1000
  • Defender
• Death's Guide
  • 1650
  • Defender

The Hinekora Tribe offers powerful and well-rounded units which excel in defense. You're able accelerate Warrior respawns, and better protect your totems.

Arohongui Tribe

The Arohongui Tribe lacks Tattoo rewards, and Ikiaho is a significant threat to players. Seek to eliminate this tribe early on, but consider gaining Favour to purchase their valuable units.

Best Tattoo

• Tattoo of the Arohongui Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "+1% to maximum Cold Resistance"
  • Amazing!

Unique Item

This Unique Coral Amulet gives bonuses to Life and Mana Recovery from Flasks. Furthermore, when you use a Life or Mana Flask while the other resource is below 50%, the recovery is applied instantly. There are some cool ways to use this to get large amounts of instant recovery, but it comes at a hefty opportunity cost. You lose your Amulet, and need to spam Flasks.

The only other stat on the amulet is a small amount of Mana Regeneration.

• Bad

Warriors

• Tidecaller
  • 900
  • Defender
• Lunar Turtle
  • 1200
  • Replace
• Moon Dancer
  • 1800
  • Attacker / Defender

Warriors of the Arohongui Tribe have solid stats but are often held back by higher cost. Look for Tidecallers wherever possible, and place them on defense.

Rongokurai Tribe

The Rongokurai Tribe has one of the most dangerous Champions and lackluster rewards. For most players this tribe should be your number one priority in terms of elimination.

Decent Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Rongokurai Turtle
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "You take 10% reduced Extra Damage from Critical Strikes"
  • Decent
• Tattoo of the Rongokurai Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "8% chance to Defend with 200% of Armour"
  • Decent

Unique Item

These Unique Ancient Greaves give reduced movement speed in exchange for you being unaffected by the Damaging Ailments of Ignite, Bleed, and Poison. Losing Movement Speed on your boots is extremely detrimental when it comes to traversing maps or dodging boss abilities. Some builds like Flicker Strike can make up for this with movement skills but overall this is a very niche item with poor stats.

The other stats on the item include Armour, and Stun and Block Recovery.

• VERY Bad

Warriors

• Fieldmaster
  • 600
  • Flanker / Any Role
• Goliath of Night
  • 950
  • Attacker
• Titanic Shell
  • 2300
  • Attacker

The Fieldmaster is an excellent unit, he places walls which prevent enemies from interacting with you or your units. It's advised you place your first Fieldmaster in the Flanker role, but you can run him as an Attacker, Escort, or Defender as well. The Goliath if Night is a solid dps but he has limited utility. Similarly, the Titanic Shell is very expensive. If you have one, use it! But otherwise, don't go out of your way to buy one.

Kitava Tribe

The Kitava Tribe offers a strong Unique item, but poor Tattoos. This tribe isn't particularly dangerous or problematic, so you'll want to eliminate them at some point but it shouldn't be a priority.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Kitava Shaman
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "4% increased Life Reservation Efficiency of Skills"
  • Good
• Tattoo of the Kitava Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "80% increased Maximum total Life Recovery per second from Leech"
  • Good

Unique Item

The Unique Majestic Plate offers up to +1000 to Maximum Life when there are no Life Modifiers on other equipped items. This opens up the rest of your Prefixes for damage or defenses which is especially valuable for builds which value Mana and Energy Shield on gear.

Warning: +To Maximum Life, % Increased Maximum Life, # Life Regenerated Per Second, Flask Life Recovery Rate and Increased Life Regeneration Rate are all examples of Life modifiers.

You also get solid Armour rating, and Life Recovery on kill making this an extremely well-rounded item.

• Good

Warriors

• Consuming Kunekune
  • 650
  • Attacker / Defender
• Frenzymonger
  • 1200
  • Replace
• Bloodbound Warrior
  • 2000
  • Defender / Attacker

The Consuming Kunekune is a squishy unit that eats enemy corpses to extend their respawn times, making it either a decent free unit or a temporary pickup to spend Favour. The Bloodbound Warrior on the other hand teleports back to defend his totem and has good base stats, though for 2000 Favour he isn't very cost efficient.

Tawhoa Tribe

This is one of the best tribes to keep alive until the very end as it offers valuable Tattoos, and a powerful Unique item. While Tawhoa Warriors aren't the strongest, they aren't the worst either and tend to be cost efficient, making this a very well rounded tribe to gain Favour with.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Tawhoa Herbalist
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "6% increased Flask Effect Duration"
  • Amazing!
• Tattoo of the Tawhoa Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "Flasks applied to you have 8% increased Effect"
  • Good

Unique Item

A Unique Karui Sceptre which is a rare and powerful endgame item for Minions. It applies the Critical Strike Chance from your Main Hand Weapon to Minions. In the case of Maata's Teaching, this ranges from 7.5-9%, making all increases to Minion Critical Strike Chance far more efficient.

The Sceptre also offers +2 to Level of All Minion Skill Gems, which is roughly equivalent to some of the best crafted Convoking Wand can achieve. If you dual wield them, you get another +2 to your Minion gems, but the base Critical Strike Chance is not applied twice.

• Amazing!

Warriors

• Enraged Kunekune
  • 500
  • Attacker / Flanker
• Camouflaged Tuatara
  • 1100
  • Flanker
• Tawhoa Shaman
  • 1350
  • Defender

None of Tawhoa's warriors are the best choice for any role, but all of them do a decent job. In particular it can be worthwhile to grab a Camouflaged Tuatara which is able to sneak past enemy defenses to take out their back line of totems.

Ramako Tribe

The Ramako Tribe is by far the most rewarding, your goal should be to defeat Ahuana in the final round to maximize your chances of being offered a Tattoo of the Ramako Makanga. In addition, Ramako offers a lot of very good units at low prices.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Ramako Sniper
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "8% increased Projectile Speed"
  • Good
• Tattoo of the Ramako Fleetfoot
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "2% increased Movement Speed"
  • Good
• Tattoo of the Ramako Shaman
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "+2% chance to Suppress Spell Damage"
  • Good
• Tattoo of the Ramako Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "Skills fire an additional Projectile"
  • AMAZING! (Worth around 8 Divine Orbs)

Unique Item

With this Unique Arrow Quiver, you increase an enemy's Cold Damage taken in proportion to the Chill inflicted by your hit. This effect is similar to Bonechill Support.

In addition, the quiver adds a solid amount of Cold Damage to Attacks, making it a decently well rounded item. Due to the popularity of tri-elemental bow builds, this doesn't see much use currently, and has a low price as a result. To really min-max this item, you Corrupt it and replace the implicit.

• Decent

Warriors

• Spear Dancer
  • 650
  • Flanker / Attacker / Defender
• Sunset Sage
  • 800
  • Defender / Attacker
• Autumnal Archer
  • 1500
  • Defender / Attacker

The Spear Dancer is a great disruptor, and an overall well rounded unit that you should invest in frequently. Similarly, the Sunset sage is tanky enough to be a great ranged defender. She also has great base stats and excels at pushing into the enemy base. Lastly, the Autumnal Archer is powerful, adding a Mirage Archer to one of your totems, but this unit is expensive.

Tsalio Tribe

The Tsalio tribe has some powerful units which excel at Flanking, but you should keep them alive until later rounds for a shot at their rarer tattoos or the Rakiata's Dance unique.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Tasalio Scout
  • Replaces a Small Dexterity Passive Skill
  • Grants "15% chance to Avoid being Poisoned"
  • Amazing!
• Tattoo of the Tasalio Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "8% increased Cooldown Recovery Rate"
  • Amazing!

Unique Item

The Unique Engraved Greatsword treats Enemy Monster Elemental Resistance values as inverted. A Boss which normally has +50% to Elemental Resistances for example, would have -50%. This also means that the map modifier Monsters have +to Elemental Resistances increases your damage.

Because your hits treat enemy Monster Elemental Resistances as inverted, effects that lower monster resistances are detrimental! Avoid using curses like Elemental Weakness, or inflicting Exposure on your enemies when using this item.

This Sword isn't particularly high DPS in comparison to other Uniques, but it's not terrible either, topping out around 1040 total DPS.

• Amazing!

Warriors

• Spearfisher
  • 600
  • Defense
• Riptide
  • 1100
  • Defender
• Trawler
  • 1500
  • Defender / Escort

Tsalio's Spearfisher is the best disruptor and best choices for defense, buy a couple whenever you have the option to. The other units - Riptide and Trawler - function similarly but have an increased cost making them a bit less efficient.

Tukohama Tribe

The Tukohama Tribe is moderately rewarding, they offer a few decent tattoos but it's fine to eliminate this tribe towards the early or middle rounds. On the other hand, you should use your Favour to purchase Tukohama units as Jade Hulk and Jade Shaman are both great choices.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Tukohama Warmonger
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "+1 to Melee Strike Range"
  • Decent
• Tattoo of the Tukohama Warcaller
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "10% increased Warcry Cooldown Recovery Rate"
  • Good
• Tattoo of the Tukohama Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Strength Passive Skill
  • Grants "16% increased Life Regeneration rate"
  • Good

Unique Item

The Unique Regicide Mask buffs Warcries and the Attacks they Exert. If all of your attacks are Exerted, this is a way to get instant Life Leech for incredible recovery. But because Non-Exerted Attacks Deal No Damage, the applications of this item are limited.

It also has a bit of Warcry Speed, and a +100 Str Requirement which further limits its potential use.

• Bad

Warriors

• Warcaller
  • 650
  • Escort
• Jade Hulk
  • 900
  • Attacker / Defender
• Jade Shaman
  • 1000
  • Attacker / Defender
• Jadecrafter
  • 1500
  • Defender

The Jade Hulk and Jade Shaman are excellent well-rounded units, they can tank, disrupt or push into the enemy base. Warcaller and Jadecrafter are a bit weaker, mostly due to their high cost and Warcaller's habit of using its buff at inopportune times.

Valako Tribe

Watch out for flankers when fighting against the Valako Tribe, and seek to eliminate them before the later rounds as their tattoos aren't especially valuable. The Valako Tribe offers you the Thunderbird, an amazing flanker and the incredibly versatile Storm Guard, so getting Valako Favour is always a great option.

Best Tattoos

• Tattoo of the Valako Shaman
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "1% Chance to Block Spell Damage"
  • Decent
• Tattoo of the Valako Stormrider
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "+8% to Lightning Resistance"
  • Decent
• Tattoo of the Valako Makanga
  • Replaces a Small Intelligence Passive Skill
  • Grants "+1% to maximum Lightning Resistance"
  • Decent

Unique Item

With this Unique Ironwood Buckler, you have a chance for Elemental Resistances to Count as Being 90% against Enemy Hits. Having 90% Elemental Resistance is powerful, but with only a 30-40% chance on the shield, this makes for an inconsistent defense.

The shield also offers Evasion Rating, Chance to Avoid Ailments and blocks. The inconsistency, and lack of damage makes this item a hard sell currently. But if it sticks around past the end of Trial of the Ancestors, this item has a lot of potential.

• Bad

Warriors

• Thunderbird
  • 800
  • Flanker
• Camouflaged Tuatara
  • 1100
  • Defender / Attacker / Flanker / Escort
• Storm Conduit
  • 1600
  • Defender / Attacker

Valako's Warriors are incredible! The Thunderbird is the best flanker in the game, with extremely high mobility via teleporting, buy them whenever you have the option. If your Flankers are already filled out, grab some Storm Guards and use their Proximity Shield to destroy your opponents.

Honoured Tattoos & Omens

Winning the tournament rewards you with one of two rewards from Hinekora herself. This normally takes the form of an Honoured Tattoo, or an Omen.

Best Tattoos

• Honoured Tattoo of the Wise
  • Replaces a +30 to Intelligence Notable Passive Skill
  • +1 to Level of All Intelligence Skill Gems
  • Amazing
• Journey Tattoo of the Makanui
  • Replaces a Keystone Passive Skill
  • Grants a Random Keystone
  • Amazing
• Honoured Tattoo of the Berserker
  • Replaces a +30 to Dexterity Notable Passive Skill
  • Grants "You gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Hit"
  • Amazing
• Honoured Tattoo of the Hatungo
  • Replaces a Small Attribute Passive Skill
  • Grants "1% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills"
  • Amazing
• Honoured Tattoo of the Flock
  • Replaces a Small Attribute Passive Skill
  • Grants "1% increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills"
  • Amazing
• Honoured Tattoo of the Storm
  • Replaces a +30 to Intelligence Notable Passive Skill
  • Grants "+1% to maximum Lightning Resistance"
  • Grants "+1 to Maximum Power Charges"
  • Amazing

Best Omens

• :The following Omens are Amazing:
  • Omen of Fortune
  • Omen of Connections
  • Omen of Brilliance
  • Omen of Amelioration
  • Omen of Blanching

Notable Rewards

The exceptionally rare Hinekora's Lock is the most valuable reward you can obtain from Trial of the Ancestors.

Hinekora also offers a few exclusive Uniques, and we'd like to highlight two of them today. Both the Warrior's Tale, Crimson Jewel and Defiance of Destiny, Paua Amulet are quite powerful.

Cheat Sheet

Hungry for More?

If you're wondering how to integrate some of these Tattoos into a build, check out our Tattoo guide, or the Meta Report for some ideas!

Meta Report Week 4

Tattoo Guide

Top 10 Softcore

Trial of the Ancestors is Here!

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Written by: Tenkiei

Reviewed by: Xtra37