💖[3.23]💖 Kayn's Icicle Mine Assassin Guide

8.3k dept 2 map hp delve node. Solo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJPndrj2tO4&t=6s

80%+ Quant Feared.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frc_utL2unM

Sirus 9
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3N7zKoV_Ws

Maven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItJhSuFDgl0

100% Deli map Showcase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJUwKfq848&t=105s

Small End Game Setup Showcase (with mageblood)
https://clips.twitch.tv/AggressiveFunnyMangetoutSSSsss-blBAWEBdV-Qaqxvw

Tanking Sirus Meteor
https://clips.twitch.tv/TemperedHeartlessMushroomThunBeast-vRPUAm47irDDbpAp

I do not have a leveling guide for this build, i recommend starting Arma Brand and later specking into icicle mines. Icicle mines is a skill that requires investment to get going, but ones you do it rolls like a snowball down a snowy hill. (Scales really well)

Recommended starting budget: 8-12ex

Mines do not scale with; On hit(curses and exposure works while life/mana does not), on crit or on kill mods.
Although there is a pair of gloves that can work around the ''on kill effect''. (Gravebind)
(The new gloves are really bad. Dont try using them.)

The build is really starved for skillpoints so every level matters a lot.
Don't expect to do red maps on lvl 75.
(lets be real you probably will be able to clear them on that level anyways)
A good goal early is to hit level 92-94, and later on trying to push 98-100 for the last life and damage nodes from jewels and clusters.

+ low budget for quick endgame
+ irreplaceable single target and aoe damage
+- amazing clearspeed (scales with investment)
+- decent survivability (scales with investment)
- clearspeed relies on specific items that might be hard to get early
- not made for SSF

This build revolves around stacking Power charges and Frenzy charges with the help of Badge of The brotherhood and instant and perma generation and uptime with the help from Farrul's Fur.

Therefore, we want as many pieces with +1 power charge as possible:


Benefit per Power Charge: 4% more damage - 62% increased damage - 8% mana regen - 10% crit multi - 48% critical strike chance
Benefit per Frenzy Charge: 4% more damage - 7-10% cooldown recovery for movement skills - 12% throwing speed - 4% projectile speed.

Combine all these benefits and multiply them by 10 or 12 depending on how many charges you have to see all the benefits given by your charges.
The amount of projectile speed we get will greatly benefit our clearing speed as the Icicle Mine projectiles will fly further and spread all over the screen covering 360° around you.

Remember to use Arcanist Brand and to Pre-stack your mines before bosses (like Sirus or Maven, this is not needed while mapping as the damage will probably be so high that 2-5 mines will kill the boss in an instant)

In Short, Mines go pew pew

Yes, but there are better league starters out there. There is no such thing as "the best" in Path of Exile.
Everyone plays this game differently. If you can't play a build properly or don't like playing it, then it won't be the best for you no matter how good other people think it is.

And we all know miner playstyle is not for everyone.

Arma Brand Path Of Building:
After multiple questions on how to level this build i personally recommend playing arma brand until getting the "core" items for the Icicle Mines build.

This PoB supplies 6 different leveling trees to follow along the Acts.
https://pastebin.com/q6DvKBcw

("Just" use Stormblast Mine until you can use arma brand)

End game (level 100): https://pastebin.com/5SXzqKkX
Legacy god mode (level 100): https://pastebin.com/iZSd1hSu

Help Alira early if you choose so but swap to Kill All Bandits when your resistance is capped and gear is improved.

Unstable Infusion Provides us with early power charge generation and an additional power charge.

Deadly Infusion Provides a flat 1.5% crit to help us hit the crit cap of 100% and additional crit multi per power charge we have. (up towards 50-60% crit multi depending on how many power charges you have)

Opportunistic Provides amazing damage for single target bossing towards end game and good damage reduction in rough situations.

Ambush and Assassinate is truly one of the best nodes for this build, this node provides us culling strike for our mines and BIG burst of damage for our mines before they get to ramp up. Not only that but it also makes mapping look like a joke. And if that's not enough, try doing a boss fight and see what happens when the boss passes 30% of its health pool. (spoiler, the boss disappears)

Mistwalker - Why are we not using this keystone ?
Since hits and kills from our mines don't count as our own, it is impossible to proc this keystone using mines and therefore deems this useless.

Soul of the Brine King (Major) - Prevents stunlocks, which can happen with our life pool. Its upgrade also makes us Freeze immune as of patch 3.16.

Soul of Solaris (Major) - Take no Extra Damage from Critical Strikes if you have taken a Critical Strike Recently prevents the random offscreen one-shot that might occur randomly. It also provides 8% reduced Elemental Damage taken if you haven't been Hit Recently.

Soul of Abberath (Minor) - Provides Burning Ground immunity for some quality of life.

Soul of Tukohama (Minor) - In this case; While stationary will work for us as a ''while throwing mines'' (While stationary/Throwing mines, gain 2% additional Physical Damage Reduction every second, up to a maximum of 8%)

Soul of Gruthkul (Minor) - Gives additional physical damage reduction when hit (good to pair up with Soul of Solaris). It's upgrade slows enemy attacks after hitting you.

Main 6 link: Icicle Mine (Anomalous) - Swift Asembely (Divergent) - Charged Mines (Divergent) - Power Charge On Crit (Divergent) - (Awakened) Added Cold Damage OR Inspiration (If Added Cold Damage is not awakened level 3 or higher) - Trap and Mine Damage (Divergent) For bosses and (Awakened) Fork Support for mapping/clearing.

Aura 3 link + Movement:Summon Skitterbots (Divergent) - (Awakened) Unbound Ailments - Bonechill (Divergent) - Flame Dash

Aura 4 link : Grace - Hatred OR Determination (Divergent) - Defience Banner - Enlighten (If you can afford it)

CoD Portal & Deto: Cast on Death - Portal - Detonate Mines - Enhance

Brand 3 link(Mainly used only on bosses and side-bosses like Kosis): Arcanist Brand - Frost Bomb (Divergent) - Snipers Mark (Keep in mind that this gem needs a lot of Dexterity so keep it on a level that suits your gear and the amount of Dexterity you have) (You can replace this with a Assassins Mark if you aren't at 100% crit chance while ramped up)

Life aura 3 link: Petrified Blood - Arrogance + Enlighten

Reason we use Detonate Mines is: We have insanely high mine throwing speed (close to .1 mine per sec). And since we throw 1.65 mines per .12 seconds on average, this will make it close to impossible to detonate all our mines. Therefore by getting a 23% quality Detonate Mines linked together with Enhance Level 4 our mines will be able to detonate almost twice as fast boosting our DPS to sky-high numbers.

Helmet: The most important thing is +1 Power Charge and Life. After that try to get some Res and Spell Suppression
Rings: Crit multi essence spam until you get some Res and Life (or craft Life)
Gloves: Life + High res>Temple mod; % damage against chilled enemies.
Boots: 25-35MS > Life > Res > Spell Suppression
Belt: Life > Attributes > Res
Remember to also have an open suffix for Aspect of the Cat

Watcher's Eye priority list: % chance to recover 10% of mana (Clarity) > % additional Physical Damage Reduction while affected (Determination) > +# to Armour while affected (Determination)

Early game flask setup:

Midgame flask setup:

Endgame flask setup:

Helmet: Icicle Mine has 30% to Critical Strike Multiplier > Determination has 30% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency = Summon Skitterbots has 45% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency = Icicle Mine has 15% increased Throwing Speed > Icicle Mine deals 40% increased Damage

Boots: Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven't Killed Recently > 10% increased Movement Speed if you haven't been Hit Recently > 8% chance to Suppress Spell Damage if you'vetaken Spell Damage Recently

This section is here to answer the everlasting "What to upgrade next?" question.

It's based on the assumption that you have no gear and have reached maps, if you haven't then you shouldn't even be reading this part of the guide yet, stick to the acts.

First of all make sure you have the "core" items like Void Battery's and Badge of the botherhood (allowing us to get high amount of Frenzy charges for low investment) as this is probobly the biggest DPS boost out of all item uppgrades you can get.



After that make sure to get a +1 Power charge helmet (corrupted or not)



This is a good time to grab a synthsised pair of rings. If they are too expensive at that time, insted try to grab a rare elder ring with crit multi (or essence craft it) and pair it together with a Mark of the Shaper.



Around this stage of gearing you should be able to afford a watcher's eye and 2 passive large and medium clusters along side a few life + single or double crit multi mods.



From this point you should be able to swap to a +2-4 Victario's Influence or Farrul's Fur (Farrul's Fur will be the optimal armour as this provides more defence and quality of life from aspect of the cat)
(Remember to beastcraft aspect of the cat on the gear piece with open suffix)



At this point you probobly faceroll the whole game.But we all know you're not done yet.
To further upgrade the gear try to get better jewels in this order:
Watcher's eye>Large Clusters>Medium Clusters(with chaos res+res you need to perfectly balance your resistance)>Regular Jewels with x2-3 crit multi + life.


If you wish to further upgrade the build, try getting Void Battery's with % Damage penetrates % elemental res corrupt, +1 Power charge rings and upgrade the Farrul's Fur to a +4. You can also upgrade from a +1 helmet to a Awaken orb Crafted helmet with -(9-12)% to nearby enemies cold res.






At this point you have reached the end game potential of the build.
If you're interested in upgrading the build further you can allways try out getting a
and pair it up with




Only after this point can you focus on getting +#% Max Fire Res to pair it up with

Recommended gear:
(With good Aura effect or +#% max fire res mods)

For more info check out the BIS end game POB: https://pastebin.com/ZeaCLvUe

· Guide made. 03.11.2021
· Added New segment added to; Upgrade Order. - 13.12.2021
· Added 3.16 - 100% Deli map Showcase - 15.12.2021
· Added New Best in slot PoB - 28.01.2022
· Added New Leveling section added onto Passive Tree & Bandits - 30.01.2022
· Updated all Gem Setups to 3.17 - 30.01.2022
· Updated all Budget option's - 30.01.2022
· Updated all PoB's for Icicle Mines - 31.01.2022
· Added New 3.17 Endgame Build Showcase - 01.02.2022
· Added New 3.17 Atlas Skilltree - 02.02.2022
· Added Atlas Skilltrees at the beginning of the guide - 03.02.2022
· Updated atlas setup - 22.05.2022
· Added and Updated Skilltrees - 22.05.2022
· Added new Gear to Gear & Flasks sction - 22.05.2022
· Changed main Gem Setup - 22.05.2022
· Added new items and explanation to Upgrade Order - 22.05.2022