With the full launch of Blight League just over a week away, things are really heating up in the Path of Exile fanbase. A big part of the hype for this new tower defense league rests on the massive sweeping changes developer Grinding Gear Games is pushing for a variety of class archetypes in the ARPG. First up, we saw big reworks to Summoner AI, making Minion builds easier to use. Then Assassins and their poison-based mechanics got a major buff.
Mines are one of the subset of trap builds in Path of Exile that has been a little wonky for a while now, but with the changes to the basic way Mines work in 3.8, GGG is making them much more appealing. For one thing, Mines will now be considered thrown, which massively buffs their range. Mines now detonate instantly, the time to place Mines has also been reduced, this should increase DPS uptime with Mine skills a lot. The overall number of deployable Mines is also being increased.
These changes alone make mines rather strong in POE 3.8 and beyond, but that’s just the beginning of what the developer has planned. GGG is also dropping a handful of new skill gems and support gems to offer entirely new playstyles to fans.
Pyroclast Mine, Icicle Mine, Stormblast Mine all offer different types of elemental damage, and are available at different points in the leveling process, with power that scales accordingly. These specialize in different types of AoE attacks, as well as some very unique amalgamations of projectile attacks and Mine gameplay.
The real winners here though are the other new skills announced in this update. Summon Skitterbots is a new hybrid Minion/Mine skill that both offers more Trap and Mine damage, as well as a new mechanic that allows Traps and Mines to be automatically triggered then re-armed. This adds the potentially for infinitely detonating mines that obliterate mob packs.
Four new Support gems, Blastchain Mine Support, High-Impact Mine Support, Charged Mines Support and Swift Assembly Support round out the new offerings.
Blastchain replaces Remote Mine, which offers a lower damage bonus due to faster mine laying time, and a 5% more multiplier per mine detonated in a sequence.
High Impact Mine Support is being added as a level 31 support, which offers lower damage than Blastchain Mine, but an aura that gives a chance for nearby enemies to take double damage from hits.
Charged Mine Support grants the ability to generate Frenzy and Power Charges from enemies for these build types, something sorely lacking with some Ascendancy choices.
Swift Assembly Support is a new support for both types of attacks that offers the ability to trigger multiple traps or mines on a single use.
See some of these mechanical changes and new skills in action in the preview trailer down below.
