Within the ever-shifting challenges of Wraeclast lies an arena that strips away the raw power of your gear and tests something purer: your skill, positioning, and decision-making. This is the **Sanctum**, a rogue-lite gauntlet where your character's might is secondary to your ability to dodge, plan, and manage a new resource: **Resolve**. Here, you are not an exile crushing monsters with overwhelming damage, but a gladiator navigating haunted halls, where every hit chips away at your will to continue, offering immense treasures for those who can complete the run flawlessly.

The **Sanctum** presents itself as a series of rooms on a branching map. Each room contains a combat encounter, but health and energy shield are irrelevant. Instead, you have two pools of **Resolve**. Taking damage from monster attacks depletes your **Resolve**, not your life. If either pool hits zero, you are banished from the **Sanctum**, losing all accumulated rewards for that run. This fundamental shift changes everything. You can no longer face-tank mechanics; you must learn attack patterns, prioritize dodging, and use environmental cover. Certain afflictions, gained as penalties, can make this even harder, such as "You cannot see monster telegraphed attacks."

As you progress, you earn **Inspiration**, a temporary buffer that can restore lost **Resolve**, and gold, used to purchase boons (helpful modifiers), remove afflictions, or buy unique **Sanctum**-specific rewards from merchants. The branching paths allow you to choose your risk: do you take a path with a dangerous guard encounter for a better reward, or a safer route? Do you visit a merchant to heal **Resolve**, or a treasure room for relics? The final floor culminates in a boss fight against Lycia, the Sanctum's keeper, a demanding battle that tests everything you've learned.

The rewards for conquering the **Sanctum** are exceptional. It is the exclusive source of **Forbidden Tomes**, which reveal the locations of **Forbidden** jewels. These powerful jewels allow you to allocate notable passive skills from other classes' segments of the tree, enabling hybrid class fantasies previously impossible. The **Sanctum** also drops unique relics that provide powerful effects across all your characters in the league.

Thus, the **Sanctum** stands apart as a skill-based challenge. It temporarily nullifies the gear-check aspect of POE 1 Boosting, creating a level playing field where game knowledge and reflexes are paramount. It offers a tense, strategic, and deeply rewarding experience for players who relish mechanical mastery over statistical superiority, proving that in Wraeclast, even the most powerful exile must sometimes rely on wits and will alone.