



* Leveling a semi-funded character in PrHC. Stay Tuned! *



Hey folks, and welcome to my first ever PoE guide. This guide will be modeled after my PHC SSF challenge character who made it just shy of lv 88.



When deciding on how to make my SSF character, I had the following things in mind:

- No chaos conversion - Hard to do in SSF, chaos conversion nerfs were inevitable, originality

- Budget friendly and hardcore viable (including for potential future users of my build)

- Decently durable since my mechanics are meh

- Potential for growth - If played for longer in SSF or in non-SSF

- Creating and preserving the feeling of a "tactical Saboteur"



Videos

- Gorge Run

- Atziri Run

- Approaching Strongboxes

- When to: Temporal Chains Example

- When to: Enfeeble Example

- When to: Arctic Armour Example

- Don't Stop Moving Concept

- Annoying Mine Mechanic

Please read the YouTube video descriptions for more information.



Build Pros - 208% maximum life w/ no jewels, 207 hp/s regen, 30% evasion, Acro and Phase Acro and a Basalt flask of Reflexes = decently durable

- Decent damage and clear speed for the investment (considering my investment was zilch)

- Zero reliance on unique items

- Efficient in a 4L (and very efficient in a 5L)

- No reflect issues to worry about :)

- Very budget friendly if not playing SSF

- Can start playing the build as soon as FNM is available (lv 12) with no respecing

- Atziri viable

- Scales very well with better budgets





Build Cons - You're playing a mine build - No sense of beating around the bush here. Mine builds are a totally different type of build and it is something that takes a lot of time to get used to. You basically have to retrain your PoE muscle memory and even after that you'll find yourself feeling flustered at times. Having to mash your detonate button while constantly moving and trying to maintain good flask usage can be frustrating.

- It's no 2.2 LA/Spark Voltaxic - You will probably not be racing to the top of the ladder with this build. That being said, I hear that in Perandus 2 week flashbacks there were some very high leveled FNM Saboteurs that were pushing the top of the ladder!

- Mines have INSANELY high mana costs.





Character Link Clicky





Offence Screen



Looks like crap, I know. Luckily, FNM has a nifty little line in the description that states, "(20 to 29)% more Damage per Repeat". So essentially by the time FNM is on it's 4th stage it is doing a lot of damage. Oh, and that "damage per use" is factoring in the damage reduction from minefield but not accounting for the fact that you'll always be having at least 3 mines detonating at one time (and often 6+).

Looks like crap, I know. Luckily, FNM has a nifty little line in the description that states, "(20 to 29)% more Damage per Repeat". So essentially by the time FNM is on it's 4th stage it is doing a lot of damage. Oh, and that "damage per use" is factoring in the damage reduction from minefield but not accounting for the fact that you'll always be having at least 3 mines detonating at one time (and often 6+).



Defence Screen



Not too much to say here. If I had better gear I could easily squeeze well over 6k life (6.2k with good life rolls) thanks to the 208% life from the tree. Also, a pure evasion shield + better gear (*coughglovescough*) should net a fair bit more evasion.

Not too much to say here. If I had better gear I could easily squeeze well over 6k life (6.2k with good life rolls) thanks to the 208% life from the tree. Also, a pure evasion shield + better gear (*coughglovescough*) should net a fair bit more evasion.



Passive Skill Tree Level 88 SSF Version



This is the skill tree that I was playing with on my character. If I were to make it to 90 I would have completed the Witch flask nodes and anything after that would be going towards jewel sockets. I was weary of jewel sockets in this build because I have crap luck rolling them and could not trade in SSF.

This is the skill tree that I was playing with on my character. If I were to make it to 90 I would have completed the Witch flask nodes and anything after that would be going towards jewel sockets. I was weary of jewel sockets in this build because I have crap luck rolling them and could not trade in SSF.



My Character's Gear





As you can see, I had mixed luck with gearing. I have some really nice pieces of gear and I have some gear that's really mediocre (ty glove RNG).



Refer to the "gearing section" to see where I would go with my gear in a non-SSF build

As you can see, I had mixed luck with gearing. I have some really nice pieces of gear and I have some gear that's really mediocre (ty glove RNG).Refer to the "gearing section" to see where I would go with my gear in a non-SSF build



Gems My character Main Hand: 2L + 1L - BBB- Flame Dash + Faster Casting || Clarity in single socket

Off Hand: 3L - BBG - Blasphemy + Temporal Chains + Enfeeble

Helmet: 3L - RRG - CWDT + Immortal Call + Phase Run

Chest: 5L - BBBBR - FNM + Minefield + Elemental Focus + Controlled Destruction + Fire Pen

Gloves: 3L + 1L RRB G - Summon Stone Golem + Minion/Totem Ele Res + Fortify || Arctic Armour in single socket

Boots: 4L - GGGG - Bear Trap + Cluster Traps + Multi Traps + Blind





Ideal Main Hand: 2L + 1L - BBB- Flame Dash + Faster Casting || Clarity in single socket

Off Hand: 3L - BBG - Blasphemy + Temporal Chains + Enfeeble

Helmet: 4L - RRRG - CWDT + Immortal Call + Increased Duration + Phase Run

Chest: 6L - BBBBBR - FNM + Minefield + Elemental Focus + Controlled Destruction + Fire Pen + Added Chaos

- 4L = FNM + Minefield + Ele Focus + Controlled Destruction

- 5L = FNM + Minefield + Ele Focus + Controlled Destruction + Fire Pen

Gloves: 3L + 1L RRB G - Summon Stone Golem + Minion/Totem Ele Res + Fortify || Arctic Armour in single socket

Boots: 4L - GGGR - Bear Trap + Cluster Traps + Multi Traps + Increased Duration



Differences from my character:

Helmet - Increased duration is ideal to boost both immortal call and phase run.

Chest - Added 6th link - Added chaos scales insanely well due to FNMs 120% total effectiveness PLUS more damage per stage. Other options: increased AoE/Conc Effect

Boots - Increased duration scales both the trap duration (which we love) as well as the "locking in place" of bear trap.



If budget is not an issue - your best option for your 6th link would be a leveled empower. This is especially true if you are running the Kaom's Heart/+3 Staff route.







Gearing Main Hand - You have your choice of a wand, sceptre or dagger. A dagger would unlock the ability to use whirling blades but if you do WB + FA + Fortify you'll have to get a socket for clarity elsewhere. You're looking for a good spell damage roll and some mana regeneration. Other decent mods include: fire damage, max mana, resistances.



Off Hand - A good pure Evasion shield is what you're looking for. BBG is not too difficult to roll on a pure evasion shield but an EV/ES hybrid shield can work too. You're looking for a high evasion roll, life, and some res. Additional block chance is always welcomed as well.



Helmet - I prefer a good rare pure evasion helmet here. Life + Res is basically all you're looking for from this slot. The more evasion the merrier. If you're having a hard time getting the colours you need you can go for a hybrid Ev/Arm helmet.



Chest - An Evasion/ES hybrid is almost mandatory here unless you want to use a plain ES piece (remember that ES gets chunked in half by Acrobatics). The more links the better. Carcass Jack is a decent option here for sure. For a rare chest, high ES, life, and res is what you're looking for.



Gloves - If you can roll the required colours on a pure Evasion set of gloves, that would be ideal here. If not, an Armour/Evasion hybrid set of gloves would be fine. Life, evasion, and res here.



Boots - Windscream, Windscream, Windscream. Windscream unlocks some very cool gameplay for this build and I'm really sad I never found a pair for my SSF character. See "Windscream variation" section below for more details. If Windscream's aren't in the budget, a set of pure evasion boots are ideal. Movement speed should be your highest priority here (as we do a lot of running) followed by

life, ES, res.



Jewellry - Aim for life, mana regeneration, and some resistances. Other good stats include: spell damage, fire damage, maximum mana.



Belt - Life and Res here. I also used my belt slot to fulfill a lot of my strength stat requirement. Flask mods, and the Tora movement speed prefix or mine damage suffix are also great.



Flasks - I run 2 Divine Flasks, one Quicksilver, a Hallowed Hybrid Flask, and a basalt flask. You can check out the "My Character's Gear" section to see what rolls I have on each flask. There is wiggle room here for sure and unique flasks can be incorporated into the build.



Higher Budget Options I believe that with a high tier budget a lot more can be squeezed out of this build.

A Kaom's heart chest with a 6L +3 fire gem staff would raise the damage of this build through the roof. Of course you miss out on some defenses from having a shield but you gain the flat 500 health from Kaom's (which actually adds a whopping 1540 hp thanks to our 208% life from the tree) and soooo much damage.



- You have your choice of a wand, sceptre or dagger. A dagger would unlock the ability to use whirling blades but if you do WB + FA + Fortify you'll have to get a socket for clarity elsewhere. You're looking for a good spell damage roll and some mana regeneration. Other decent mods include: fire damage, max mana, resistances.- A good pure Evasion shield is what you're looking for. BBG is not too difficult to roll on a pure evasion shield but an EV/ES hybrid shield can work too. You're looking for a high evasion roll, life, and some res. Additional block chance is always welcomed as well.- I prefer a good rare pure evasion helmet here. Life + Res is basically all you're looking for from this slot. The more evasion the merrier. If you're having a hard time getting the colours you need you can go for a hybrid Ev/Arm helmet.- An Evasion/ES hybrid is almost mandatory here unless you want to use a plain ES piece (remember that ES gets chunked in half by Acrobatics). The more links the better. Carcass Jack is a decent option here for sure. For a rare chest, high ES, life, and res is what you're looking for.- If you can roll the required colours on a pure Evasion set of gloves, that would be ideal here. If not, an Armour/Evasion hybrid set of gloves would be fine. Life, evasion, and res here.- Windscream, Windscream, Windscream. Windscream unlocks some very cool gameplay for this build and I'm really sad I never found a pair for my SSF character. See "Windscream variation" section below for more details. If Windscream's aren't in the budget, a set of pure evasion boots are ideal. Movement speed should be your highest priority here (as we do a lot of running) followed bylife, ES, res.- Aim for life, mana regeneration, and some resistances. Other good stats include: spell damage, fire damage, maximum mana.- Life and Res here. I also used my belt slot to fulfill a lot of my strength stat requirement. Flask mods, and the Tora movement speed prefix or mine damage suffix are also great.- I run 2 Divine Flasks, one Quicksilver, a Hallowed Hybrid Flask, and a basalt flask. You can check out the "My Character's Gear" section to see what rolls I have on each flask. There is wiggle room here for sure and unique flasks can be incorporated into the build.



Gameplay - Clarity should be on at all times.



- Summon Stone Golem should be up at all times.



- Don't forget to move. With instant detonation, miners are actually fairly mobile. You really don't stop moving at all when playing a miner. Even on high HP foes that require constant spamming, I am constantly moving. Refer to the "videos" section for an example.



- As a default, my blasphemy curse of choice is temporal chains. While it is weaker as a defensive curse to enfeeble it adds a lot of utility and really helps with the overall feel of the build. Not being swarmed to death makes playing mine builds much smoother. If a map has the monster crit chance/multi mod or has several rippy map mods (ex. Minus max res + added monster lightning damage + monster damage) I drop temp chains for enfeeble. Refer to the "videos" section for an example.



- If a map has the "monsters are immune to curses mod" I drop any blasphemy curse and run Arctic Armour. It's not the best spell, but it's better than nothing. Refer to the "videos" section for an example.



- General rules for clearing packs:

- If it's white, 1 is alright (one minefield on white packs)

- If it's blue, 2 will do (two minefields on magic packs)

- If it's yellow/rare, I can't come up with anything clever but use 3 minefields.

- You'll eventually figure out which mob types and which mods require you to go outside this scheme. That takes time to figure out but it becomes second nature.



- For difficult packs, or unique monsters/bosses it is worthwhile to use two casts of your bear trap setup (throw them off to the side where they won't be stepped on). This rewards you with 96% increased damage thanks to the "Bomb Specialist" Ascendancy passive. Refer to the "videos" section for an example (The Approach to Strongboxes video highlights this technique).



- Speaking of unique monsters/bosses - I usually start the fight out with 3 casts of minefield for maximum initial burst (if setting up the 3 is possible). Once I start spamming mines I generally only use 2 casts of minefields before detonating to not run OOM. It is also the spamming rotation that felt the best. Sometimes I'd use three depends on how much I was moving, and sometimes I would just use the one.



- Kiting can be a saviour for this build. Difficult Bosses/Uniques like Kole or heavy hitting packs of monsters should never even get a chance to touch you. Good placement of your mines and kiting enemies into the area of effect will save your life will letting you laugh at your melting enemies. Keep constantly moving and place your mines in smart zones to maximize damage dealt while minimizing damage taken.



- The "tactical" part of this build is a combination of temporal chains allowing you to have better positioning, CWDT phase run to save you when you've made a mistake in your positioning or you need to run through a pack to get somewhere, and clever placements of your mines to maximize clearing. In Perandus, I often found myself circling around packs (which was easy thanks to temp chains) of Perandus mobs in order to avoid taking damage while maximizing the area of effect in each detonation. I could generally wipe out the entire Perandus pack every time I detonated my mines. I also mentioned above that you will begin to understand how many mine clusters you need in each situation. You will also learn to kite monsters over your minefields (hello, Kole) and laugh as they melt and never get a chance to touch you.





Windscream Variant

With these boots equipped, you can permanently keep up a blasphemied temporal chains (for more "tactical" and better feeling gameplay), and add enfeeble to your CWDT setup in place of the increased duration gem. You may also have an Elemental Weakness gem socketed to manually curse those pesky resistant mobs. So much win!

Oh boy, am I ever sad that I couldn't find myself a set of Windscreams . These unique boots give us some movement speed, some resistances, and some elemental damage. However their biggest draw is the "enemies can have one additional curse".With these boots equipped, you can permanently keep up a blasphemied temporal chains (for more "tactical" and better feeling gameplay), and add enfeeble to your CWDT setup in place of the increased duration gem. You may also have an Elemental Weakness gem socketed to manually curse those pesky resistant mobs. So much win!



Leveling

27 Points Tree



Right off the bat, we are coursing up through the shadow ele damage and grabbing life. I grab "Coordination" here to help with the dex/int requirements of my gems for the early levels. I spec out of this node later. Moving on, we go though more ele damage and down through "Nullification" to grab the "Blood Drinker" life nodes. Next, we rush to "Clever Construction" which is EXTREMELY important as mines simply do not function without this node.

Right off the bat, we are coursing up through the shadow ele damage and grabbing life. I grab "Coordination" here to help with the dex/int requirements of my gems for the early levels. I spec out of this node later. Moving on, we go though more ele damage and down through "Nullification" to grab the "Blood Drinker" life nodes. Next, we rush to "Clever Construction" which is EXTREMELY important as mines simply do not function without this node.

51 Points Tree



Next up we're grabbing the "Written in Blood" cluster for more HP. We traverse over to the witch zone and grab the Heart and Soul cluster (woo for mana and life). We grab the area damage/radius nodes here and then grab the "Cruel Preparation" hp nodes.

Next up we're grabbing the "Written in Blood" cluster for more HP. We traverse over to the witch zone and grab the Heart and Soul cluster (woo for mana and life). We grab the area damage/radius nodes here and then grab the "Cruel Preparation" hp nodes.

74 Points Tree



At this point, I feel pretty comfortable with my HP. I grab the Volatile Mines notable (and the instant detonation feels AMAZING) along with the additional mines node in that wheel. Next, we're going towards the templar and grabbing the "Quick Recovery" wheel on the way. Once I hit "Retribution" I go for the area damage/radius cluster next to it and then grab the life nodes below it.

At this point, I feel pretty comfortable with my HP. I grab the Volatile Mines notable (and the instant detonation feels AMAZING) along with the additional mines node in that wheel. Next, we're going towards the templar and grabbing the "Quick Recovery" wheel on the way. Once I hit "Retribution" I go for the area damage/radius cluster next to it and then grab the life nodes below it.

93 Points Tree



Getting close now! At this point I head down to the Scion life rectangle-thing and put in 3 points into the wheel. I grab the jewel socket on the way and throw in a Survival Secrets jewel (Act 2 quest reward) which gives a surprising amount of mana regen and a little ele damage. From here, I go back to the other side of the tree and grab Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics.

Getting close now! At this point I head down to the Scion life rectangle-thing and put in 3 points into the wheel. I grab the jewel socket on the way and throw in a Survival Secrets jewel (Act 2 quest reward) which gives a surprising amount of mana regen and a little ele damage. From here, I go back to the other side of the tree and grab Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics.

Full Tree/109 Points Tree



For the last chunk of points, I first finish off the Scion wheel. Next, I grab the "High Explosives" notable in the Shadow trap/mine wheel. Then I work my way down the ranger zone and grab the "Herbalism" cluster. Next, I go for the "Saboteur" node in the shadow area. Finally I grab "Deep Thoughts" notable in the Witch area. If you've made it this far, you've caught up to my character!

For the last chunk of points, I first finish off the Scion wheel. Next, I grab the "High Explosives" notable in the Shadow trap/mine wheel. Then I work my way down the ranger zone and grab the "Herbalism" cluster. Next, I go for the "Saboteur" node in the shadow area. Finally I grab "Deep Thoughts" notable in the Witch area. If you've made it this far, you've caught up to my character!

Where next/Alternatives If I were to continue on with this character as a SSF character I would definitely grab the flask effect nodes in the witch area. I'd then probably start going for jewel sockets and finally force myself to roll some jewels.



Speaking of jewels, it is entirely possible to drop nodes on my tree to pick up jewel sockets if you have some really nice jewels. The only nodes you REALLY shouldn't give up are "Volatile Mines" and "Clever Construction"



Bandits Normal - Oak for HP (although I accidentally killed all 3, so that's an option to).

Cruel - Kill all for skill point

Merciless - Kill all for skill point



Ascendancy Points 2 Points - "Bomb Specialist" - This is a bloody great node and it boosts FNM in many, many ways.

4 Points - "Demolitions Specialist" - No brainer for mine builds. It's nothing special but it's nice.

6 Points - " Blinding Assault" - There is really no point in getting "Explosives Expert". So we get some defence here.



Before I start here, let me be clear that it is perfectly fine to grab pure stat nodes while leveling (I.E. a +30 strength node). You can obtain plenty of free respec points through the questing system so that when you no longer need all the extra stats from the pure nodes it's easy to remove them.



FAQ Any questions that frequently come up will go here.



- Q: Why is bear trap part of this build?

- A: Thanks to the "Bomb Specialist" Ascendancy point, in two casts of bear trap (w/ cluster trap and multi trap) we get a massive 96% increased damage modifier. I chose bear trap because it's already a trap skill and if enemies are to step on it (which we don't really want) it does have some utility.



- Q: Why don't you get Explosives Expert as an Ascendancy Point

- A: Essentially the only useful thing we get from that node is 8% ele pen. That's not bad, but I prefer to just grab blinding assault for additional defence.



- Q: Why do you invest so much into mana/mana regeneration?

- A: This was a choice I made playing a SSF character. Mines are EXTREMELY expensive to spam. I specially decided to go with the mana regeneration path because I was already naturally picking up a good chunk of mana regen % on the tree and without a pair of Windscream boots I was only reserving 35% of my max mana so clarity was easy to run. I was considering trying the EB/MoM/ZO combination in this build. It is something I should definitely test out in the future as not only would it help with mana sustain but it adds an extra layer of defence.



- Q: Why elemental focus? Don't you want to be able to ignite?

- A: Unlike poison, ignites (without any unique item influence) do not stack. Having a skill that repeats multiple times and gets stronger every repeat really doesn't have good synergy with igniting. I'd prefer the huge more multiplier of Ele Focus and treat FNM simply as a nuking spell.

Hey folks, and welcome to my first ever PoE guide. This guide will be modeled after my PHC SSF challenge character who made it just shy of lv 88.When deciding on how to make my SSF character, I had the following things in mind:- Hard to do in SSF, chaos conversion nerfs were inevitable, originalityand(including for potential future users of my build)since my mechanics are meh- If played for longer in SSF or in non-SSF- Creating and preserving the feeling of a "Saboteur" Last edited by Jamezuh on Jun 13, 2016, 9:08:11 AM Last bumped on Oct 28, 2016, 3:58:57 AM