[3.13] Saboteur Pyroclast Mine Crit - Cheap, SSF friendly

Hi,

Last time i played a mine build was a long, long time ago, with the first build i did (on the forum). It was a Fire Nova Mine build in 2.5.
I wanted to play mines again for a while, but Cyclone got me in 3.7. Now is the time.

Version history (3.8-3.13) :
3.13 Note : Some ascendancy changes, a good chunk of +% inc dmg lost. It doesn't matter much. And Demolitions Specialist got a decent buff.


Path of Building link (w/ Swift Assembly & Skitterbots shock effect on belt)
Approx. DPS output (from this PoB, w/ trash stuff) : 570k shaper dps. This isn't including projectiles. With them, removing the belt Swift Assembly simulated buff, it adds ~790k (5 mines detonated, 71.6k * (2+2+2+2+3)). So ~1M360 shaper dps total. Don't take this as it is, we don't include the detonation speed in there, but we also didn't include the additional mines thrown for the projectiles, so it should +/- equilibrate this approximative DPS. If you stack your maximum amount of mines before the detonation, it'll obviously be way higher.
Passive skill tree (lvl 93) : On the official site - PoEPlanner link
Ascendancy priorities : Bomb Specialist -> Demolitions Specialist. Pyromaniac in third and Born in the Shadows to finish. Explosives Expert is a decent alternative as the last node too if you prefer more AoE & damages.
Bandits : Kill all for versatility, otherwise Alira is a fine choice too.
Pantheon : Probably Soul of Lunaris as i always do for the major one, and Soul of Ryslatha as minor power. Honestly, it's your own choice there.

Gems :
Dex. required : 98 (93 from tree, 5 req.), str. required : 155 (74 from tree, 81 req.).

• Main setup (6l, BGBBGR) : Pyroclast Mine + Swift Assembly + Combustion + Immolate + Trap and Mine Damage + Empower OR Fire Penetration. Swift Assembly procs only once with Minefield, not worth it combined, so we dropped Minefield. Swift Assembly = ~60% "more" damages on average.
• Auras (2s, B(B/R/G)) : Summon Skitterbots, Herald of Ash. Ideally Zealotry here but you'll need a decent mana pool. So we use a 25% reservation skill instead. You could also use Flesh and Stone in sand stance, Arctic Armour, etc.
• CwDT setup (3/4l, RRBR) : Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 14) + Steelskin (lvl 18) + Enfeeble (lvl 17) + Summon Stone/Flame Golem (lvl 16). A decent defensive setup.
• Travel skill (2/3l, BBB) : Flame Dash + Arcane Surge (lvl 5/6) + Faster Casting. Faster Casting isn't really necessary here.
• Utility / Buffs :
  
  • Decoy Totem (R) : Always there to tank a bit for us.
  • Bear Trap (G) : Free 15% increased damages taken by enemies, on bosses for instance, if you have some time to throw one.
  • Withering Step (G, Travel skill) : Can be useful in place of Flame Dash sometimes.
  • Smoke Mine (G, Travel skill) : Can be a good travel skill if you get used to it.
  • Potential fortify setup (3l, (R/G)GR) : Whirling Blades (Daggers) / Shield Charge (shield) / Leap slam (staff) + Faster Attacks + Fortify. I'm clearly not sure about it. Especially since i'd ideally use a staff as 6l and try to get a Kaom's Heart somehow (in SSF, i'll just pray).

Gear :
I'll just put what i always say on my builds :
As always, priority is to get some life and resistances, and 25/30% movement speed on the boots. When you'll start mapping 135% all elem resists is mandatory and i'd recommend to have 169% asap so you'll be capped even with an Elemental Weakness curse on you from a map mod or else. In your hideout since the -60% are taken into account now you want 109% (75% + the 34% Elemental Weakness removes in high tier maps).

For this build, there's nothing mandatory. You'll need some strength on your stuff, and a bit of dexterity.

For the flasks, you definitely want a Diamond Flask (w/ anti curses, of Warding), the rest is related to preferences. I usually always roll them to get lasting immunity to freeze / bleed and curses.
I'll probably go for a Quicksilver (w/ anti bleed, of Staunching), a Stibnite (w/ anti freeze, of Heat) for the blind, a Panicked Divine Life Flask and either a Mana Flask or Hybrid Flask as the last one.

This build works well with trash tier stuff (cf. PoB link), but can be improved by a lot with proper stuff :

• Weapon : Martyr of Innocence (unique), Tremor Rod (unique), ...
• Body armour : Belly of the Beast (unique) for decent life, Kaom's Heart (unique) for even more life. Carcass Jack (unique) eventually for more AoE.
• Gloves : The new Blight unique gloves (Machina Mitts) enabling us to leech from the mines. Vaaled ones with "Curse enemies with Enfeeble on hit" as the implicit, saves 1 gem slot. Otherwise some good Fingerless Silk Gloves (loot locations).
• Rings : 2 proper Opal Rings.

If you're a new player, you may not know Tabula Rasa is great to get your first 6l, and it's easily achievable through a bit of farming in the Blood Aqueduct (Act 9) to get a full set of the "Humility" divination card.

For the leveling, Stormblast Mine is a level 1 gem, so you should be fine with it until you get Pyroclast Mine at lvl 28. We take almost no damage specific nodes in the skill tree, only Snowforged and the nodes towards it (so 3 total).

Additional links :

• Poe RoadMap or "Where to get the gems during the leveling"
• Craft of Exile, useful to see which mods are available for an item and the crafting odds. F PoECraft.
• My previous builds :
  • Berserker Cyclone RT Axe Impale Full Physical - Cheap, SSF friendly. Updated up to 3.13.
  • Inquisitor (Non-)Crit (MoM) Lightning Tendrils (cheap). Should be suitable for Divine Ire with little to no adjustments. Updated up to 3.6.
  • Champion Crit Claw Reave / Double Strike (cheap / SSF). Updated up to 3.6.

Changelog :

hey just trying this out but as im sure you are already aware skitter bots cannot be linked with unbound aliments

"

hey just trying this out but as im sure you are already aware skitter bots cannot be linked with unbound aliments

and the builds works?what are your experiences?

Trying this build out, thx for your work.

This is my first miner build so is it possible to autocast somehow the mines? Or do can we only blast them up via self cast "detonate"?

Thx for the reply

You can use spell totem support + detonate mines

"

BonusCan wrote:

hey just trying this out but as im sure you are already aware skitter bots cannot be linked with unbound aliments

It's a bug i've reported right here, yes. It should work as stated by Rory.

"

Joybringer75 wrote:

Trying this build out, thx for your work.

This is my first miner build so is it possible to autocast somehow the mines? Or do can we only blast them up via self cast "detonate"?

Thx for the reply

With the current way mines work, you don't want to do that at all cost, at least on a mine like Pyroclast. If you wonder why, simply because the longer your detonate sequence is, the more damages you'll get out of it. The optimal way being to reach max mines counter, start the sequence and continue to throw mines to make the sequence even longer.
Otherwise you can do the usual Spell Totem + Detonate Mines like @AkasahIhasakA said.

"

jorgomos wrote:

and the builds works?what are your experiences?

I can also answer this a bit, though i've only reached the town of Act 6 atm. It'll take a while to get used to mines again. If mines were thrown at your feets before, it's not for nothing. Monsters will rush you a lot. This can be really annoying.
The AoE of the mines is quite small at the beginning, you want to get your inc AoE in the tree asap, but the Clever Construction node is the most important one before anything else.
The strength of the build isn't the survivability as of yet for sure, but the single target damages are insane. And we should hopefully be able to clear well with that mine later with enough inc AoE. Otherwise, i guess we'll just swap for Icicle Mine when we clear... The tree will stay the same, just the support gems will be a bit different.
The thing i really hate for now is the down-time with Minefield after throwing 5 mines. Hopefully once we'll have more throwing speed through ascendancy mainly it'll be fine. In the end maybe Minefield will be swapped by Swift Assembly, i'll need to check that.

Thx a lot guys for your answers, appreciated.

I am act 4 now and the overall damage is really really good, single as well as on packs, really like it a lot up to know. Using only a 3 link with Pyroclast, combustion and trap and mine support. Everything gets destroyed really quickly. To burn packs down quickly that rush into me, I use orb of strom, so also survivability is not a problem at all.


Believe this build will have a lot of potential and i will try out some different setups in path of building when i will reach into maps.

"

Joybringer75 wrote:

... [see above]

I also believe there's potential there, we or at least i, just need to learn to play the build properly.
Careful with Path of Building though, even when it'll be updated. It was never great to calculate mines DPS :/. It only calculates average damages of a hit, which sucks for a skill like Pyroclast Mine with all the mortar projectiles.

Also, for how i'm seeing Minefield currently, it'll be great if 5 mines are enough for a pack, but otherwise i feel like we'll indeed be better with something else. Mainly because we can take advantage of the animation cancel once the 5 mines are thrown to just move for instance and not suffer from the slower throwing speed.
While we'd lose 4 mines for the max mines placed at any point, it'll not lower our maximum detonation sequence that much.

"

Harest wrote:

Also, for how i'm seeing Minefield currently, it'll be great if 5 mines are enough for a pack, but otherwise i feel like we'll indeed be better with something else. Mainly because we can take advantage of the animation cancel once the 5 mines are thrown to just move for instance and not suffer from the slower throwing speed.
While we'd lose 4 mines for the max mines placed at any point, it'll not lower our maximum detonation sequence that much.

Haven't tried yet Minefield but the huge reduced throwing speed my not fit my playstyle, not sure if i will like it. Will tell you tomorrow...:-)

"

Harest wrote:

"

Joybringer75 wrote:

... [see above]

I also believe there's potential there, we or at least i, just need to learn to play the build properly.
Careful with Path of Building though, even when it'll be updated. It was never great to calculate mines DPS :/. It only calculates average damages of a hit, which sucks for a skill like Pyroclast Mine with all the mortar projectiles.

Also, for how i'm seeing Minefield currently, it'll be great if 5 mines are enough for a pack, but otherwise i feel like we'll indeed be better with something else. Mainly because we can take advantage of the animation cancel once the 5 mines are thrown to just move for instance and not suffer from the slower throwing speed.
While we'd lose 4 mines for the max mines placed at any point, it'll not lower our maximum detonation sequence that much.

Honestly I might replace it for bosses or something but I really hate how minefield works and I just replaced it entirely with Swift Assembly. It just feels smoother overall and the DPS is still more than enough so far into maps