Video Guide Video Guide from The Awakening Beta







Hi! I'm cha_siu_bao. Nice to meet you.

I've been playing Path of Exile since official release (October 2013) and I never expected to love this game so much. Between the community and the endless replay value, I'm perpetually awestruck by the degree of creative expression that PoE offers. I enjoy exploring different playstyles and mechanics, particularly those that are disregarded by the majority of the player base. I like to keep budget in mind; my favorite builds are those that can be run by a casual player.



If you want to hang out and have a chat about anything Wraeclast-related, feel free to stop by the stream:





Quotes/Reactions to the Build:

"What the hell is that sound?" -Odir

"I shut the **** up and got carried." -Hyperbear





How did you come up with this madness? Why would you even?

I was playing a crit Fire Nova Mine build in the Awakening beta and I got my hands on a 5L Tremor Rod. Stream viewers had a huge variety of suggestions but they all seemed to lack the damage I was looking for. We were delivering a huge volume of spells, but they just didn't pack enough punch. Trappers and miners are supposed to excel in high burst damage, and I felt the lack of damage scaling in Tremor Rod made fights drag on far too long to make this glass cannon worthwhile. Why not just throw traps at this point? Why not just self-cast?



And that's how the idea of a Summon Raging Spirits miner was conceived. Let's run a skill that benefits from a high volume of spell casts, but doesn't care about the shitty per-spell damage scaling that Tremor Rod offers. Mine damage modifiers, spell damage modifiers, etc, have no effect on SRS damage. Furthermore, let's run four minion-oriented support gems in a 5L staff. So it's kind of like Pledge of Hands SRS or Soul Mantle SRS totems... but you can buy a Tremor Rod for a chaos orb or two. Moreover, unlike Soul Mantle SRS totems you get the perk of 4 support gems but don't have to give up a life roll on your chestpiece. Now that's my kind of endgame weapon!



'But Cha,' you say, 'Is it hardcore viable?'

Don't even bother trying. Spoiler I didn't know how to answer this question when farming Atziri in the Awakening beta, so when 2.0 hit I decided to take the plunge. Modified to have more life at the cost of luxury damage perks, she's level 94 in Tempest and still going strong. My favorite part? Whether it's cyclone or split arrow or ice crash or shockwave totem, etc, Meta builds love her.

No.

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The basic mechanics behind SRS mines:

allows for ridiculously fast mine placement - far faster than we could find on the passive tree. Plant one mine and it can be detonated twice within a time span of about one second. Faster mine placement also enables this squishy build to spend more time maneuvering and re-positioning, while still churning out dozens of angry flaming skulls.



"But Cha," you say, "Isn't detonating mines kind of a pain? How do?" Fear not, my friends. GGG's got you covered. Behold: a totem that detonates your mines for you. With zero cast speed from the tree or gear, the totem has a cast time of 0.08 seconds. The one catch is that the totem will not cast without a nearby monster to draw aggro.





Pros and Cons



Pros:

Hipster-friendly

Great in parties (Generosity - Haste - Hatred)

Great in parties (Vaal Haste - Increased Duration)

Did I mention it's great in parties? (huge sustained single-target DPS)

Engaging playstyle

No need for cast speed on tree/jewels/gear



Cons:

Absurdly high mana cost (this has yet to be resolved. Please help!)

Slow set-up time (clunky)

Requires lots of attention to detail

Very squishy (manual avoidance and positioning for survival)

Low gear ceiling (gets outshined by a +3 6L staff, doesn't have a ton of jewel sockets)

No cast speed (Flame Dash is slow compared to self-cast SRS)



Skill Gems

Added Fire instead of Melee Splash for more single target damage.



If you manage to get your hands on a 6L Tremor Rod:



Inside the





Inside the

Don't have a 5L? Flame Dash will be slower, but it's still manageable.



Bööts:



Gloves:

Added Fire instead of Melee Splash for more single target damage.If you manage to get your hands on a 6L Tremor Rod:Inside theInside theDon't have a 5L? Flame Dash will be slower, but it's still manageable.Bööts:Gloves:



The important mods to look for on your gear:

Life

Mana Regeneration

Mana

Chaos Resistance

Gloves with a prefix free

Corrupted Helm and Amulet with Minion Damage implicit (I'm not there yet)



The important mods to look for on your jewels:

Minion Damage

Life

Attributes (strength and dexterity)

Mine Laying Speed



Gear





But why this gear, Cha?

The build starts to fall apart without:

5L (the 6L is luxury)

without this hat, mana management becomes a pain in the ass

allows you to spam mines for big fights



Non-essential luxuries that I probably would have died without because I'm bad at PoE:

3L for long Vaal Haste duration, 4L for long Flesh Offering duration, 5L for faster Flame Dashes, 6L for pointless absurdity

MINION DAMAGE!

Walking in circles is strong. Walking faster circles is OP.

5L (the 6L is luxury)without this hat, mana management becomes a pain in the assallows you to spam mines for big fights3L for long Vaal Haste duration, 4L for long Flesh Offering duration, 5L for faster Flame Dashes, 6L for pointless absurdityMINION DAMAGE!Walking in circles is strong. Walking faster circles is OP.





Jewels







The tree™

Please don't judge me





Leveling

Pathing on this build lends to easy leveling with Flame Totem. You are going to want to do all of your respec quests in order to save on Regret orbs. Feel free to be even more of a hipster and level with SRS if you so desire.

62 points

Lifesprig, Abberath's Horn, Dreadarc, a decently-rolled quartz sceptre... take your pick and ride it into early maps

Bandits:

Oak, kill, kill

Pathing on this build lends to easy leveling with Flame Totem. You are going to want to do all of your respec quests in order to save on Regret orbs. Feel free to be even more of a hipster and level with SRS if you so desire.Lifesprig, Abberath's Horn, Dreadarc, a decently-rolled quartz sceptre... take your pick and ride it into early mapsOak, kill, kill



Thanks for reading. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to stop by the stream (www.twitch.tv/cha_siu_bao) or post a reply here.



This build is still a work in progress. It cannot run a 6L properly; it uses the Reduced Mana gem instead of Added Fire. If you're interested/crazy enough to play this build, please share your results! I see OPness on the horizon but I don't think I can get there without more input.



Last but certainly not least, I'd like to thank all my friends for the massive contributions they made to helping me get this build up and running. Flababa, Gunshowers, Hyperbear, and PrutsendePrutser, for their boundless support and patience with my bullshit ideas; Karvarousku (www.twitch.tv/KarvarouskuGaming) for sharing his knowledge and experience with self-cast SRS; WizardStrangler for helping me field-test and optimize; and all the great people I've met through twitch.tv who threw out ideas that snowballed into full-on build defining mechanics. I've been playing Path of Exile since official release (October 2013) and I never expected to love this game so much. Between the community and the endless replay value, I'm perpetually awestruck by the degree of creative expression that PoE offers. I enjoy exploring different playstyles and mechanics, particularly those that are disregarded by the majority of the player base. I like to keep budget in mind; my favorite builds are those that can be run by a casual player.If you want to hang out and have a chat about anything Wraeclast-related, feel free to stop by the stream: www.twitch.tv/cha_siu_bao I was playing a crit Fire Nova Mine build in the Awakening beta and I got my hands on a 5L Tremor Rod. Stream viewers had a huge variety of suggestions but they all seemed to lack the damage I was looking for. We were delivering a huge volume of spells, but they just didn't pack enough punch. Trappers and miners are supposed to excel in high burst damage, and I felt the lack of damage scaling in Tremor Rod made fights drag on far too long to make this glass cannon worthwhile. Why not just throw traps at this point? Why not just self-cast?And that's how the idea of a Summon Raging Spirits miner was conceived. Let's run a skill that benefits from a high volume of spell casts, but doesn't care about the shitty per-spell damage scaling that Tremor Rod offers. Mine damage modifiers, spell damage modifiers, etc, have no effect on SRS damage. Furthermore, let's run four minion-oriented support gems in a 5L staff. So it's kind of like Pledge of Hands SRS or Soul Mantle SRS totems... but you can buy a Tremor Rod for a chaos orb or two. Moreover, unlike Soul Mantle SRS totems you get the perk of 4 support gems but don't have to give up a life roll on your chestpiece. Now that's my kind of endgame weapon!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------allows for ridiculously fast mine placement - far faster than we could find on the passive tree. Plant one mine and it can be detonated twice within a time span of about one second. Faster mine placement also enables this squishy build to spend more time maneuvering and re-positioning, while still churning out dozens of angry flaming skulls."But Cha," you say, "Isn't detonating mines kind of a pain? How do?" Fear not, my friends. GGG's got you covered. Behold: a totem that detonates your mines for you.With zero cast speed from the tree or gear, the totem has a cast time of 0.08 seconds. The one catch is that the totem will not cast without a nearby monster to draw aggro.Hipster-friendlyGreat in parties (Generosity - Haste - Hatred)Great in parties (Vaal Haste - Increased Duration)Did I mention it's great in parties? (huge sustained single-target DPS)Engaging playstyleNo need for cast speed on tree/jewels/gearAbsurdly high mana cost (this has yet to be resolved. Please help!)Slow set-up time (clunky)Requires lots of attention to detailVery squishy (manual avoidance and positioning for survival)Low gear ceiling (gets outshined by a +3 6L staff, doesn't have a ton of jewel sockets)No cast speed (Flame Dash is slow compared to self-cast SRS)LifeMana RegenerationManaChaos ResistanceGloves with a prefix freeCorrupted Helm and Amulet with Minion Damage implicit (I'm not there yet)Minion DamageLifeAttributes (strength and dexterity)Mine Laying SpeedThanks for reading. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to stop by the stream (www.twitch.tv/cha_siu_bao) or post a reply here.Last but certainly not least, I'd like to thank all my friends for the massive contributions they made to helping me get this build up and running. Flababa, Gunshowers, Hyperbear, and PrutsendePrutser, for their boundless support and patience with my bullshit ideas; Karvarousku (www.twitch.tv/KarvarouskuGaming) for sharing his knowledge and experience with self-cast SRS; WizardStrangler for helping me field-test and optimize; and all the great people I've met through twitch.tv who threw out ideas that snowballed into full-on build defining mechanics. Last edited by cha_siu_bao on Sep 21, 2015, 11:53:37 PM