Ancient Vows Path Of Exile 2: How The Quest Starts

How You Accidentally Begin Ancient Vows

The Ancient Vows quest triggers automatically when you pick up either of the two required Relics. Most players encounter the first Relic while completing the main story quests in Act 2, specifically:

• The Sun Clan Relic: Drops from enemies in the Bone Pits, encountered during the main quest “A Theft of Ivory”
• The Kabala Clan Relic: Drops from enemies in Keth, encountered during the main quest “The City of Seven Waters”

Once either Relic lands in your inventory, the quest log updates with the objective: “Find a use for the Relic.” This instruction is frustratingly vague. The game does not tell you where to go, what to look for, or what the Relics are for.

What The Relics Look Like

Both Relics drop as unique-style items with distinctive coloring in the loot label on the ground. They appear as quest items in your inventory and do not take up a standard inventory slot.

The Sun Clan Relic description reads: “Notches in the side await a connection,” which implies it needs to connect with a matching counterpart.

Ancient Vows Path Of Exile 2: Where To Find Both Relics

Location 1: Sun Clan Relic (The Bone Pits)

How to find it:

1. Progress through the main Act 2 story until you reach the Mastodon Badlands
2. From the Mastodon Badlands, locate the Bone Pits zone entrance
3. Enter the Bone Pits and defeat the enemies inside, primarily hyena-type monsters
4. The Sun Clan Relic has a random drop chance from enemies in this zone
5. Continue farming in the Bone Pits until the Relic drops

Important: The Relic has a low drop rate. Some players take 15-30 minutes of farming in the zone before it drops. Do not leave the area immediately after a few kills. Persist until the Relic appears.

Location 2: Kabala Clan Relic (Keth)

How to find it:

1. Progress through Act 2 until you reach Keth, accessed from the Mastodon Badlands
2. Inside Keth, fight the serpentine enemies including Serpent Shamans
3. The Kabala Clan Relic drops from these snake-type enemies
4. Continue clearing Keth enemies until the Relic drops in green text on the ground

Important: Like the Sun Clan Relic, this item has a low drop chance. Farming patience is required. The Kabala Clan Relic appears with green item text on the ground when it drops.

Does It Matter Which Relic You Find First?

No. You can find either Relic in any order. Once you have both Relics in your inventory, you can complete the quest. The order of acquisition does not affect the final quest outcome or rewards.

Ancient Vows Path Of Exile 2: How To Complete The Quest

Step-By-Step Walkthrough

Once you have both the Sun Clan Relic and the Kabala Clan Relic in your inventory:

1. Travel to the Valley of the Titans in Act 2
2. Locate the Waypoint in the Valley of the Titans
3. Near the Waypoint, find a small shrine or medallion-shaped altar in front of a large statue. Follow the passage beside the Waypoint to reach it.
4. Interact with the altar
5. On PC: Hold the Alt key to highlight the item slots on the altar, then drag and drop both Relics into their designated slots
6. Once both Relics are placed, two permanent buff options appear

The Valley of the Titans is a procedurally generated zone, so the exact position of the altar changes each time you play. However, it is always located near the zone’s Waypoint. Check the area surrounding the Waypoint in all directions if you do not see it immediately.

Ancient Vows Path Of Exile 2: Rewards

The Two Permanent Buff Options

Completing Ancient Vows provides two permanent passive buffs. Only one buff can be active at any time. You choose which is active, and you can swap between them whenever you return to the altar.

Buff Option 1: 30% Increased Charm Charges Gained

• Directly improves your Flask and Charm system
• More valuable for builds that rely heavily on Charm effects
• Useful throughout the entire game for any build using Charms

Buff Option 2: 15% Mana Recovery From Flasks

• Improves Mana sustainability for caster builds
• More valuable for Intelligence-based builds running multiple active spells
• Less useful for physical attack builds that do not rely on Mana flasks

Which Buff Should You Choose?

The initial choice is not permanent. Because you can return to the altar at any time to switch between buffs, your first selection does not have lasting consequences.

Recommended initial selection by build type:

Ancient Vows Path Of Exile 2: Tips For Finding The Relics Faster

Strategies To Speed Up Relic Drops

The main frustration with Ancient Vows is the variable drop time for both Relics. These strategies reduce the time spent farming:

1. Focus on pack clearing rather than individual enemy targeting. Both Relics drop from enemy types distributed throughout their respective zones, not from a specific enemy. Clearing entire packs covers more potential drop chances per minute than hunting individual targets.
   
2. Do not leave the zone between clear attempts. Each time you leave and re-enter a zone, the map regenerates and monsters respawn. Staying inside the zone and completing full clears provides more total drop attempts per unit of time.
   
3. Use skills with large area of effect. AoE skills hit more enemies per cast, increasing total drop chance per second. This is particularly useful in the Bone Pits where hyena packs appear in large groups.
   
4. Complete the quest during your normal Act 2 progression. Both Relic drop zones are required stops on the main story path. Attempting to find the Relics while completing the main quests means you are farming them passively alongside mandatory story content, which eliminates dedicated farming time.
   

Pro Tips: Ancient Vows Path Of Exile 2

• Complete this quest on every new character you create. The permanent buff applies to the current character only, not account-wide. Every new league start means re-completing Ancient Vows for the buff.
• Do not swap to your preferred buff immediately. Try both buffs for a few maps each before committing to a preference. The difference between 30% Charm Charges and 15% Mana Recovery is meaningful but not immediately obvious in normal campaign gameplay.
• Visit the altar during endgame if you change builds. Players who respec from a caster build to an attack build after the campaign should revisit the Valley of the Titans altar to swap their active buff accordingly.
• The Valley of the Titans is also used for other Act 2 quests. If you are already in the area for A Crown of Stone or another main story quest, completing Ancient Vows at the same time costs no extra time.
• Bring a movement skill to the Bone Pits. The Bone Pits has a relatively spread-out layout. A movement skill reduces the time spent running between enemy packs, directly improving your Relic drop farming efficiency.

Common Ancient Vows Mistakes

1. Leaving the zone repeatedly between enemy clears. Each zone exit and re-entry resets the procedurally generated layout. This means shorter enemy encounters and inconsistent farming patterns. Fix: stay in the Bone Pits or Keth for a full clear cycle before exiting, then return for a second cycle if needed.
   
2. Not knowing how to place the Relics on the altar. Many players reach the Valley of the Titans altar and cannot figure out how to interact with it. Fix: hold the Alt key on PC to reveal the item slots on the altar, then drag each Relic from your inventory onto its corresponding slot. The altar accepts both simultaneously.
   
3. Discarding or selling the Relics before completing the quest. Because the Relics look like random drops and the quest instructions are vague, some players mistake them for vendor trash. Fix: any item with an unusual description referencing “notches” or “connections” should be kept until you know its purpose. Both Relics are quest items and should never be sold to vendors.
   

How ExitLag Helps During Act 2 Progression

Ancient Vows Path of Exile 2 is completed during Act 2, which contains some of the most demanding endgame-adjacent content in the campaign. Boss fights in Act 2 zones like Keth require precise dodge timing, and network instability during these encounters can cause missed dodge inputs that result in character deaths.

ExitLag is not a VPN. It is a game connection optimizer that maintains a low-latency, stable connection to Path of Exile 2’s servers. For Act 2 content where combat precision matters and Relic farming requires consistent enemy interactions, a stable connection is a direct quality-of-life improvement.

Download ExitLag atexitlag.com/download and complete your Act 2 quest progression without connection-related interruptions.

Ancient Vows Path of Exile 2 is a short quest with permanent benefits and vague instructions. Once you know where to farm both Relics (Bone Pits for Sun Clan, Keth for Kabala Clan) and how to use the altar in the Valley of the Titans, the quest completes in under an hour even with slow drop luck. Complete it on every character for the permanent buff, and return to the altar any time your build changes to swap between the two reward options.

All game images used in this blog post belong to Grinding Gear Games. They are used for informational and educational purposes only and do not imply endorsement or affiliation with the rights holders.

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