Path of Exile Gems PoE Builds, PoE Currency guide and other guides
Intro & build description
This has been my go-to build when playing and it allowed me to complete every bit of content game has to offer, including guardians, Shaper, Uber Atziri, Pale Court, Uber Elder, Hall of Grandmasters – you name it. It has decent survivability because of MoM keystone and solid amount of unreserved mana, very high AoE and damage which allows us to clear very quickly and from safe distance.
It’s great as a league starter build because it doesn’t take a lot to get it going and it scales extremely well with some investment. Essentially this build is the same as Ziggy D’s GC miner, but I pushed it to the limit and made some adjustments to better fit my playstyle.
Build Pros
- Can do all the content game has to offer
- Can do all map mods
- You can forget about reflect
Build Cons
- Some people don't like mine builds as a concept
Passive tree(s) and Path of Building
Skill Tree [116 points]Bandits
| Bandits Quest Choice |
| Kill all bandits |
Ascendancy skill points
| Labyrinths | Skill point choice |
|---|---|
| Labyrinth 1 | Bomb Specialist |
| Labyrinth 2 | Demolitions Specialist |
| Labyrinth 3 | Explosives Expert |
| Endgame Labyrinth | Born in The Shadows |
Skill gem setup
Helm
Curse on Hit Support
Elemental Weakness
Orb of Storms
Vaal Lightning Trap
Body Armor
Frost Bomb
Cluster Traps Support
Trap Support
Gloves
Arcane Surge (LVL 8)
Faster Casting Support
Less Duration Support
Lightning Warp
Boots
Detonate Mines
Spell Totem Support
Summon Ice Golem
Increased Duration Support
2h Weapon
Glacial Cascade
Concentrated Effect Support
Minefield Support
Trap and Mine Damage Support
Increased Critical Strikes Support
Physical to Lightning Support
1h Weapon
None
Offhand weapon / shield
None
Build uniques / Example rare gear
Tip: Click on the item to view it on PoE Wiki or to view similar rare items in poe.tradeHelmet
Hubris Circlet / Eternal BurgonetMain thing to look for when searching for helmet is the enchantment – 40% increased Glacial Cascade Damage.
Best bet is to buy white Hubris Circlet with aforementioned enchantment and craft it yourself.
Stats to aim for when crafting is as much life as possible and some resistances. Energy Shield and maximum mana are nice bonuses.
Body Armour
Carcass JackGreat offensive body armour for the build – gives us nice balance of life, some resistances, AoE and damage.
Gloves
Fingerless Silk GlovesIdeally look for Fingerless silk gloves with as much life and resistances as you can.
A pair of Sorcerer gloves is a nice alternative.
Boots
Two-Toned BootsLook for Two-Toned boots base with 30% increased movement speed, as high life and resistances as you can find.
Great enchantment for the boots is – “Damage Penetrates 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances if you haven’t Killed Recently” if you by some miracle have capped resistances.
Left Ring
Diamond RingLook for Diamond Ring with as much life and resistance as you can.
If you have capped resistances, you can look for ring with open suffix and use Elreon to craft Increased Critical Strike chance on the ring for even more damage.
If you need it, use ring to get some attributes that you lack.
Right Ring
Essence WormWear Essence Worm and put Hatred aura in it.
Having no mana reserved synergizes well with Clear mind jewel which gives us increased spell damage while no mana is reserved.
Amulet
Citrine AmuletIdeally look for amulet with global critical strike chance and multiplier. If there is open prefix you can craft life because having high life and both crit mods will make amulet expensive.
You can also use different base if you have problems with attributes such as Jade or Amber amulet.
Belt
Leather Belt / Stygian ViseLook for Leather belt with as much life and resistance as you can find.
Great idea is to get belt with life, 2 resistances and an open suffix – that way you can use Tora to craft “#% increased Trap Damage / #% increased Mine Damage” mod on the belt.
After 3.1, Stygian Vise is a great belt option. Pair it with a well-rolled abyss jewel and you can easily outscale Leather Belt.
2Hand Weapon
Tremor RodThe most important item in our build is Tremor rod – staff that’s essentialy a 7-link. 6-linked Tremor Rods are expensive but it works very well as a 5-link and even 4-link.
Jewel
Builds JewelsStats to look for on jewels:
1.) Increased crit chance with cold / elemental skills etc
2.) Increased crit multiplier with cold/ elemental skills etc
3.) Increased Maximum life
4.) Increased Cold / Spell / Mine / Area Damage
5.) Resistances and attributes if you are lacking
Very good damage option would be Watcher’s Eye with additional crit chance while affected by Hatred.
Flask
Flask Setup1.) Divine Life flask with instant recovery and bleed removal
2.) Divine Life flask with instant recovery and freeze removal
3.) Lavianga’s Spirit (very nice flask for the build)
4.) Quicksilver flask of Adrenaline
5.) Atziri’s Promise
How to play the build:
Place mines -> Detonate, if something is still alive, detonate additional time because Tremor Rod allows us to do that. Repeat.
This build also uses Spell Totem & Detonate mine combo, which means we summon Spell Totem that will instantly detonate your mines for you when there are monsters in range. This allows us to dish out extreme amounts of damage on bosses. I also mentioned Lavianga’s Spirit flask; because mines are very mana hungry, this flask is ideal because it allows us to spam mines with no mana cost while it’s affecting us.
We also use Frost Bomb Traps that serve 2 purposes – frost bomb reduces target’s cold resistance and because of Bomb Specialist ascendancy node, we get 8% increased damage for each trap we have on the ground.
Typical Spell and flask rotation for bosses:
Put Orb of Storms on top of boss to apply Elemental Weakness -> Throw one of your Frost Bomb Traps on the boss to reduce its resistance -> Put down Detonate mines Spell totem -> Drink Atziri’s Promise -> Start Placing as many mines as you can, when your mana drops to around half or 1/3, drink Lavianga’s Spirit and continue placing as many mines as you can while avoiding hits from boss.
Using this tactic, you should be able to deal enough damage to take down even the toughest bosses but be careful not to get hit.
Hall of Grandmasters tips:
This build is excellent Hall of Grandmasters farmer.
To do this map, it’s suggested to have searing touch with Scorching Ray setup for the Energy shield grandmasters. You should also swap out Concentrated Effect Support for Increased Area of Effect because the damage is sufficient.
How to do this map:
Place mines while keeping yourself in safe distance from the energy barrier -> move closer to the energy barrier and release the grandmasters -> detonate 2 times. If they are not dead yet, place new mines and detonate. For energy shield grandmasters use scorching ray setup.
I played ziggy’s build last league and am using it this league as my leaguestarter but i am planing on going low life later on. I do not believe there is a benefit to throwing all of your frost bomb traps on top of the boss. You get bonus damage for each active trap but that bonus disappears once the trap is triggered. Ideally you want to pop one trap on the boss for the debuff and then you want as many active trap as possible on the ground to get the damage buff.
That’s a good point, overlooked it when playing it last time. Thank you, added it to the guide.
How to level with this build?
Blade vortex at first and as soon as you get lvl 28, find 4-link and use Glacial Cascade – Remote Mine Support – Trap and Mine Damage Support – Minefield and you are good to go until you get Tremor rod.
What items to get to survive with this build?the ones you recommand kinda don’t help me
With items I recommendded you should at least have 4300-4500 life, some ES and more than 1000-1400 unreserved mana which allows you to survive hit or 2 even in T16 maps. You can always get different chest piece like Belly of The Beast or rare armor chest with 130+ life, but these items are pretty optimal for the survival.
With the items i bought from your recommendations i got 2.7k hp with capped res.
I have to say, i dont have 50ex per item to buy the best items out there.
I did this build as a league starter and was able to get 4k life even with crap gear (same recommendations btw) on the 3rd day of the league with an investment of no more than 3 EX into all gear except my Tremor rod. Now the items are even cheaper, I don’t know what you’re doing there but it cannot be right 😀 What lvl are you?
I’m playing this build, or close to it, and it’s really great. I am still wondering though, with weapons, asides from the staff you are using, if spell damage, physical damage, or global crit are the way to go. Since Glacial Cascade deals physical damage, would increased physical damage in weapons and other places improve this, or will that only apply to attack skills? And is spell damage or crit chance/multiplier more important?
Don’t bother with that, just look for crit chance, multi and spell damage and good jewels. This build certainly doesn’t lack damage and it’s pretty well optimized as is.
Awesome Thanks!
Can you tell me more about scorching ray setup? I tried HoG and gubben whipped my ass with his block.
Sure. Buy searing touch (5-link is preferred), link it with high-level Scorching ray – Burning damage – Controlled Destruction – Efficacy – Elemental Focus. From now on, you will melt max block exiles. Frost bomb works wonders as well since it reduces regeneration.
The Avg.Damage, what should that say because for me its 16k is it ok?
It’s pretty good, but there is a room for improvement.
Why only 3 gems in that chest/armor/body?
This build has all the gems it needs in other pieces of gear, it could even use Kaom’s Heart because there are no real need for more gems.
Sry im noob
Why need spell totem??
Spell Totem linked with detonate mines automatically detonates them – you can put the totem down and just spam your mines and they will automatically detonate meaning you can do more damage in shorter period of time.
how about hold in place hotkey and get the instant detonate node from the tree? isn’t that as efficient as getting the spell totem just without any links?
care to hear your arguments
It doesn’t work that way – Spell Totem is still faster.