Path of Exile BuildsPOE Guides

[3.3] Path of Exile Saboteur Fire Nova Mine Build

Traps and Mines are one of the more under-utilized build categories in Path of Exile, but with 3.3 and the Incursion League, these mechanics underwent a major revamp that made them much more enjoyable and viable. Check out some of our Incursion League coverage to learn more about the modified trap mechanics in POE.

The general idea with this build is to use mobility to pick away at mob packs from the periphery. Move around mob packs, dropping Curses then Traps as you go and let your insane Elemental/Crits do the work. Keep your Curses and Curse Removal Flask up AT ALL TIMES, this part is crucial to survivability.

But assuming you can keep mobile and keep your defensive structure intact, you’ll be golden as you let your fiery explosions lay waste to endless maps in your quest for more loot in Path of Exile.

This build does have some issues when running Bosses with really bad gear, think 4-link bad weapons, but even with a 5-link it really blows past the competition.

Build Pros

  • Cheap gear makes this a good league starter
  • Great clear speed
  • Can do usually annoying mapmods like Reflect once you get good gear

Build Cons

  • Trap/Mine mechanics may not be for all players
  • Needing to manage Curses/Flasks is not for extremely new players
  • Killing bosses with sub-optimal gear is difficult
  • Mana Costs
  • May be too squishy for some

Passive Tree(s)

Endgame Trees:
Softcore: http://poeurl.com/bXeD

Hardcore (LifeReg Version) http://poeurl.com/bXeG
Hardcore (Acrobatics Version) http://poeurl.com/bXeE

Pantheon

For Major God: Brine King
For Minor God: Ralakesh

Bandits

Kill All for the bonus Passives.

Ascendancy skill points

Saboteur

Ascendancy Nodes:

Bomb Specialist>Demolition Specialist>Pyromaniac>Born in the Shadows (recommended) or Explosive Expert

Enchants

Helmet:
Fire Nova Mine Repeats X Additional Times
X% Increased Fire Nova Mine Damage

Boots:
16% increased Attack and Cast Speed if you’ve Killed Recently
0.6% of Damage Leeched as Life and Mana if you’ve Killed Recently
1 to 160 Lightning Damage if you haven’t killed Recently
Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently

Gloves:
Commandment of Inferno

Leveling Items and General Tips

New League leveling:

Established League leveling:

Avoid these map mods:

  • Temporal Chains
  • Hexproof
  • No Regen (This is a personal choice, with enough Life and good positioning it is possible to run this)

If you are a brand new Path of Exile player, feel free to check out our various POE guides for noobs.

Skill Gem Setup

You’ll find recommendations for different attack skill setups for this build below. The basic buff and aura setups are down there too.

=== FIRE NOVA MINE ===
FNM – Minefield – Elemental Focus – Fire Pen – Increased Critical Strikes – Trap and Mine Damage
SWAP TO GLACIAL CASCADE MINES FOR BOSS KILLING

=== MOVEMENT ===
Shield Charge – Leap Slam – Faster Attacks – Fortify

=== AURA/UTILITY ===
Vaal Clarity – Decoy Totem – Increased Duration – Faster Casting

=== UTILITY CURSE ===
Temporal Chains – Enfeeble – Blasphemy

=== GOLEM/BUFF ===
Stone Golem – Portal – Faster Casting

=== CWDT ===
Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 3) – Vortex (lvl 6) – Immortal Call (lvl 5) – increased Duration (max lvl)

Build Uniques / Example Rare Gear

In this section you will find all the suggested items for this build. We always try to include optional gear in our listing, or try your own assuming you get similar stat rolls. Aim for high-quality Rares if you’re replacing Uniques. The Minimum/Optional requirements listed assume you’re using Rares as a replacement for listed Uniques (where possible).

Depending on your gear choices, you can go for either a lot more DPS at the expense of Life, or go for more defensiveness by sacrificing a portion of DPS. This is your choice.

Stat Priorities:

Life and Energy Shield are super important for survivability, especially at end-game. Reducing incoming DPS is vital to surviving in higher-tier maps. Although be careful to to forsake too many damage mods for it or you won’t be able to kill mobs quick enough for your defenses to handle incoming DPS. If you’re stacking ES, try to get both X% Increased and +X to Maximum rolls on a single item where possible.

Elemental Damage is your main scaling and your primary DPS with Crits, add Elemental with a focus on Fire as that’s where most of your skill-based damage is. Other Added X Damage mods can be helpful, but aren’t the best.

Critical Strikes are a good source of damage, buff them whenever possible.

Attack Speed can help increase DPS from non-crit damage, but be careful not to sacrifice other important stats for it. One or two rolls on certain gear is enough for most players.

Resistances until you cap them off.

Weapons

Most trap builds nowadays run a split between a stat stick and shield setup. A high-end Rare with multiple Elemental Damage (Added, Increased, Increased Fire, Increased Spell, etc.) is a great choice for DPS buffing to an insane degree with this build.

Your shield is all about one thing, Life. Lioneye’s Remorse is an OK choice, although some Shaper/Elder Rares can have massive boons with the Life Recovery on Block/Kill special mods.

Min. requirements:
As many Elemental Damage Buffs as you can get on your main hand
Maximum Life
Attack Speed
Energy Shield
Optional affixes:
Uncapped Resistances
Attributes

Helmet

Rare Helmets, especially those with a beneficial Lab Enchant are the best here. Voll’s Vision can help with survivability, but you CANNOT user Corrupted items with that, so be aware.

Min. requirements:
80 maximum Life
Energy Shield
Added Elemental Damage
Uncapped Resistances

Body Armor

The Covenant Spidersilk Robe is great for buffing both DPS and Energy Shield. However, it’s a late-game addition as the Blood Magic mod can kill an unprepared character. For this reason, stack as much Life as you can get your hands on so that X% Increased Life has maximum effect. THIS ITEM MUST BE PERFECTLY ROLLED.

Rares can’t really replace the Unique here unfortunately.

Belt

Abyss Belts with Life and Resistances are a good option for end-game. Other Rares might do in a pinch, but not having good rolls can make you a lot more squishy than is tolerable. Abyss Jewels are also a great source for damage buffs like these. Buffing your damage and Life is the best bet here.

Min. requirements:
80 maximum Life
Added Elemental Damage
Uncapped Resistances
Optional affixes:
Energy Shield

Gloves

Rare Gloves work fine here. Prioritize Life, then followed by either more survivability or DPS depending on your preferred play style.

Min. requirements:
Maximum Life
Elemental Damage Buffs
Energy Shield

Optional affixes:
Attributes
Any Uncapped Resistances

Boots

Mutewind Whispersteps are great if you’re going for full DPS, but if you feel to squishy

Rare boots with max rolled Life, Evasion, Resists and Movement Speed are great as a generic choice.

Min. requirements:
70 maximum Life
Evasion Rating/Energy Shield
30% increased Movement Speed
Any Uncapped Resistances

Amulet

Stack as much life as you can on your Amulet to prevent feeling too squishy. An Elder/Shaper with increased AOE and spell damage is great for DPS, but sacrifices some life.

Once you’ve completed your Atlas and started farming for Currency, a Bicco’s Collar can really make you rich, if you can get one.

Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
Added Elemental/Spell Damage
Optional affixes:
Increased Area of Effect
60 Intelligence
Uncapped Resistances

Rings

Since this build relies on Curses and Crits to effectively scale Elemental Damage, you need as many Curses to stack on enemies as possible.

There are 2 possibilities on how to get +1 curse on your gear.

1) Doedre’s Damning
Sacrifice one ring slot. In my opinion the best solution since it’s not too hard to get res capped anyways. The disadvantage is that you can’t equip two diamond rings then, the bit of extra crit could have helped.

2) Corrupted amulet with +1 curse implicit

Doedre’s Damning is by far the cheapest, if you manage to farm enough currency, or get a lucky drop with the right roll, go with that though.

Min. requirements:
70 Maximum Life
Uncapped Resistances
Spell Damage Buffs
Optional affixes:
Attributes

Flasks

Instant Life
Instant Life
Diamond
Granite
Basalt

Needed Mods:
Freeze Removal
Bleed Removal
Curse Removal
Shock Removal

You can swap the mods around if needed due to RNG.

Jewels

Jewels:

Life > Fire/Spell Damage > Area of Effect > Crit Multiplier/Crit Chance

The products below are affiliate links, we get a commission for any purchases made. If you want to help support ISKMogul at no additional cost, we really appreciate it.

Related Posts

10976 posts

About author
ISKMogul is a growing video game publication that got its start covering EVE Online, and has since expanded to cover a large number of topics and niches within the purview of gaming.
Articles