Completing each Trial of Aql in Dune: Awakening unlocks important gear and abilities that'll help you survive and thrive in the scorching, worm-infested deserts of Arrakis. Whether it's the ability to craft a stillsuit and keep yourself hydrated, or consume spice to enhance your abilities and shank enemies with a Crysknife, all of these are locked behind trial completions.
Each challenge is pretty straightforward, but the main difficulty is puzzling out each Trial of Aql location using the riddle and clue map in the journey quest menu. Here I'll provide the means for you to find each trial location, what you'll get as a reward, plus some tips around accessing the trickier ones that require you to climb.
First Trial of Aql location
This trial location in Hagga Basin South isn't tough to find since the game literally guides you to this first one as part of the Trials of the Past quest. Once you inhale the spice and sneak around avoiding the floating eyeballs, you'll be rewarded with the Scavenger Stillsuit schematics, so you can craft your first stillsuit to recycle water for you to drink.
Second Trial of Aql location
The second trial is a bit trickier; you'll have to find it yourself using a map in the journey menu and the following riddle:
- "Para-southeast of the great hammer of Mirzabah… the shattered teeth of the gods… nestled between molar and incisor… a cavity revealed."
This trial is located in The Deep Struggle cave in Eastern Vermilius Gap, to the southeast of the giant hammer rock formation you can see at the centre of the region. If you haven't acquired one, you'll need a sandbike to cross the sands from Hagga Basin South to Vermillius without getting sandwormed.
Otherwise, head southeast from the hammer to find the formation of pinnacles and the cave marked above—look for the ruins with the sideways eye symbol protecting the cave entrance. The reward for this trial is the Static Compactor schematic, which lets you harvest flour sand for making silicone blocks.
Third Trial of Aql location
The third trial is a bit easier than the last one since it doesn't actually involve a trial at all. Once again, you need to navigate via a map and a riddle:
- "Para-west of the great hammer of Mirzabah… a table of stone for god's feast… turn para-north from its bounty and seek the cave of the purple eye."
This trial is located in the Cave of the Lost Pilgrim in West Vermillius Gap. Head west from the big stone hammer rock formation at the centre of the region and you'll soon spot a table-like rock formation in the distance held up by two pillars; this is your objective. A little way north of the table itself—but still part of the same overall rock formation—you'll find the Cave of the Lost Pilgrim, as marked in the screen above.
There are a few enemies to beat inside, but otherwise it's simply a case of getting to the trial chamber and listening to a message there. Unfortunately, someone has smashed up the trial stone in this one, so no spice-induced hallucinations for you this time.
Fourth Trial of Aql location
The fourth trial is the hardest to access, mainly because it involves a lot of climbing. Same as before, you'll have a small map and a riddle:
- "The iron hammer that beats the dead who cannot enter paradise. The head of the hammer awaits."
That's right; you've got to climb the hammer rock formation in the centre of the Vermillius region to access the Hollow Hammer cave. I'd suggest grabbing the permit for the Emperor's Wings from Imperial Testing Station 2 if you haven't already, and completing the contract for Ghavouri at the Griffin's Reach Trade Post in Hagga Basin South. This unlocks the Trooper skill tree and lets you access the Shigawire Claw, which is very useful for climbing.
Once you climb around halfway up on the southern side of the rock formation, you'll find some ruins and a broken staircase you can climb up to the cave entrance. Inhale the spice, complete the trial—which involves fighting a load of enemies in melee—and you'll unlock a few different things:
- A third skill slot
- The Unfixed Crysknife schematic
- The ability to consume spice and enter the supercharged Presience combat state
I'm yet to locate the fifth trial, which is in Hagga Rift, so I'll add those details when I've got them.
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