In Path of Exile 2, understanding unique jewels like Against the Darkness is essential for optimizing builds and managing your PoE 2 Currency effectively. This guide provides information about the Time-Lost Diamond, its modifiers, and how to obtain it.

List of PoE 2 Against The Darkness Time-Lost Diamond Modifiers

2 random jewel modifiers: This unique randomly generates with two of the following modifiers:

Against The Darkness Time-Lost Diamond

Jewel. Limited To: 1.

• 2 random jewel modifiers

Flavour Text: After the fires, in the depths of the Winter of the World, all life in the Vastiri banded together. Whether serpent, hyena, human, or golem, hated enemies clasped hand to claw, built refuge, and fought side by side against the Abyssals. Thus, the Third Pact was born.

Radius

• Radius: Medium (1150).

How to get it?

1. Drops from Zarokh, the Eternal when completing a run using The Desperate Alliance. Zarokh, the Temporal is the final boss of the Trial of the Sekhemas, found on the fourth floor. He can drop unique relics. Defeating him with a unique relic applied to a Trial provides various rewards, including several exclusive unique items.
2. It cannot be chanced.

In Path of Exile 2, the Against the Darkness Jewel is a rare and valuable drop from Zarokh, the Temporal, the final boss of the fourth floor in the Trial of the Sekhemas. However, obtaining this jewel requires meeting specific conditions. Players must defeat Zarokh while using a Djinn Barya with the Desperate Alliance Vase Relic activated. Without this Unique Relic, it is impossible to secure the Against the Darkness drop.

The Desperate Alliance Relic significantly increases the difficulty of the encounter, reducing the damage Zarokh takes by 75% and boosting his damage output by 100%. Proper preparation and careful strategy are essential for success.

After defeating Zarokh with the Desperate Alliance active, proceed to the final reward chest room and search for the Time-Lost Cache. Opening this cache will yield the Against the Darkness Jewel. It is important to note that although Time-Lost Caches can also spawn after defeating Ashar, the Sand Mother (the third-floor boss), these earlier caches only contain regular Time-Lost Jewels, such as Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald variants, and not Against the Darkness.

For players seeking quicker access, both the Against the Darkness Jewel and the Desperate Alliance Vase Relic are available for purchase through the trade marketplace.

How to Get The Desperate Alliance Vase Relic

The Desperate Alliance is one of six Unique Relics that can randomly drop from Zarokh, the Temporal. This drop can occur during any Trial run, regardless of whether relics are active. These relics serve to increase the difficulty of the Trial of the Sekhemas while guaranteeing the potential for valuable unique rewards, such as Against the Darkness or Temporalis.

Although players cannot directly influence which specific relic will drop, they can enhance the chance of relic drops by stacking relic modifiers that increase the quantity of relics dropped by monsters when using the Djinn Barya. The Desperate Alliance Relic is a single-use item and is consumed once activated in a Trial.

How Against the Darkness Works in PoE 2

Unlike many other Jewels in Path of Exile 2, Time-Lost Jewels, including Against the Darkness, have a special mechanic involving Radius. When placed into a Jewel socket on the passive skill tree, these Jewels apply their effects to all passive nodes within a circular area around the socket.

Against the Darkness has a fixed Medium Radius and influences nearby passive skills. Using a Vaal Orb on an Against the Darkness Jewel will not alter its radius size but may change its modifiers or implicit properties.

There are two types of passive skill bonuses that can be granted by Against the Darkness:

• Bonuses that affect Small Passive Skills.
• Bonuses that affect Notable Passive Skills.

Notable Passive Skills are easily identifiable by their larger icons on the passive tree and typically provide significant build-defining benefits. All other passive nodes are classified as Small Passive Skills. When an Against the Darkness Jewel is inserted, a white circle will visibly highlight all affected skills inside its area.

Against the Darkness can roll two random modifiers from a pool of 21 possible outcomes. Because of the low probability of rolling an ideal combination, most players opt to trade with others to acquire a perfectly rolled jewel rather than attempt to craft one themselves.