[3.11] Ice trap Saboteur - Freeze the Atlas
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Hello there, I like to investigate some skills that don't get much attention despite being mechanically interesting. This league I started with Ice trap, and I was enjoying the playstyle and overall power. I've brought this character pretty far already, so I can vouch for its endgame potential, both dmg-wise and in terms of survivability. Talking numbers that's 230k shaper hit per trap, 7k+ life, 1k ES, 46/30 dodge, 30%evasion , permablind and plenty of recovery through tinkerskin and pyromaniac.
Path of building
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https://pastebin.com/czxyrLhb If you are having trouble with importing the build it might be because the version of POB I am using is a fork of the original version(you can look up LocalIdentity). The developer of the original POB is working in GGG now and has less time to develop this application. So community created a fork to this program with much more functionality. I can't tell whether the compatibility issues are always persistent but either way I recommend using that POB version. https://github.com/PathOfBuildingCommunity/PathOfBuilding/releases Pros/cons
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Pros: - high boss dmg potential - freezing all enemies(including most bosses) meaning also negating porcupines etc. - tanky with good recovery - can do all map mods Cons: - can run into mana issues (relies on enduring mana flask) - clearspeed is good but certainly not top-end My gear overview
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General gear overview:
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Weapon: 1h with mods ordered by importance - +1cold gems, crit multi, crit for spells, spell dmg, cold dmg, added flat spell dmg, mana, mana regen rate Shield: Look for life, +1 cold, spell crit, and of course any resistances you need to fill. Also, some decent ES helps too. Body armour: This pretty much has to be tinkerskin, it simply has way too many synergies to be given up upon. Try to get good rolls on it, 6-link tinkerskin is also pretty cheap. Helmet: Good enchants are either ice trap 10% cold pen or 40% dmg. Otherwise life, resists ( you could also craft with pristine+frigid to hit enemies -9cold res mod) Gloves: Good option is a temple mod (dmg against chilled enemies). Other important mods are of course life and resists. Boots: life, 30 movespeed, resists. Temple mod dodge is a good bonus. Getting a good enchant (life regen, stun avoidance, movement speed) is a nice addition too. Belt: Best option is elder leather belt ( if you craft you can use fertile catalysts on white base first, then use pristine fossils) . Life, %life, life recovery rate, resists, reduced flask charges used etc. Rings: These mostly serve purpose of filling needs of resists and attributes. Good implicit bases are diamond, vermillion. Amulet: Two best mods we can get on amulet are +1cold and crit multi. All other mods are mostly bonuses, of course life is pretty important too. For annoint I would recommend either Discipline and training(defensive) or Arcane Potency(offensive) Flasks: Instant life flask with bleed removal, quicksilver flask of adrenaline, enduring mana flask of heat, wise oak and diamond flask of warding (of course all 20 quality) Jewels: Look for regular jewels with such mod priority: %life, crit multi(with spells, with cold skills), trap throwing speed, spell dmg, cold dmg, resists, attributes. Watcher's eye of choice is crit multi with precision. Precision itself is not really that good since the nerf, but it only reserves 22 mana and 50 crit multi is a lot on the jewel. Ascendancy:
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Born in the shadows->Perfect crime->Chain reaction->Pyromaniac Gems:
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ice trap+ multiple traps+ trap and mine damage+ controlled destruction+ cold penetration+ increased critical strikes flame dash+ second wind frost bomb+ arcane surge+ increased duration+ increased area of effect cast when damage taken+ summon stone golem+ immortal call+ tempest shield assasin's mark+ blasphemy + summon skitterbots+ enlighten precision Leveling:
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Saboteur in general never dissapoints during leveling. Ice trap is no exception. No issues with clear nor dmg. Born in the shadows is a great start as an ascendancy. Until you can start using ice trap use first explosive trap, then lightning trap. Of course leveling uniques like tabula, goldrim, wanderlust, lifesprig/axiom perpetuum make it even easier. During early leveling try to skip most crit nodes and focus on reaching the trap dmg/life instead General tips
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This is a very cool build to play, primarily due to how safely you can play with potential of ranged playstyle and freezing everything around. I like building defensively so I made sure that character has more than enough life pool, dmg avoidance and recovery to tackle all hardest content. In this build, there is plenty of room for meaningful upgrades and impactful passives during whole process of gaining skillpoints. Once built properly, this build handles all crazy delirium easily (except for low fps, but we have no influence on game optimization :) ). I will touch on one issue which you might run into which has different possible solutions. Namely, mana sustain. Unfortunately, it is really dificult to solve mana problems in this kind of build. Mostly, this is solved via enduring mana flask. It's not really a big issue, but you simply have to keep in mind that in order to be able to spam traps you need to have mana flask active, and time usage well so that you do not waste charges while effect is still up. For tougher bosses(like conquerors or sirus) I tend to disable assasin's mark as curses are not that good against bosses anyways and that allows me to have more mana room to work with. There are some other solutions, like eldritch battery, but they all have their flaws and ultimately the mana flask setup is what I've found to be most efficient. Either way, I really enjoy that build and if you like strong builds that utilise cool off-meta skills I recommend this one (since at least for me, playing really diverse builds is what keeps me engaged and interested). If you have any extra questions feel free to ask and I'll be happy to answer to you. Good luck! Alternative endgame variant
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I have also tested the Devouring Diadem helmet - it is and alternative to help with mana sustain. It's and option for endgame if you would be lacking mana against bosses with no mana refill. This change means losing some HP due to not using rare helmet and due to ES no longer protecting life, but on the other side it allows to run one extra aura(like zealotry) and frees one flask slot since enduring mana flask is no longer needed. Gameplay video
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoobcXCnwv0 sorry for delirium lags :) Last edited by Grozaa on Jun 18, 2020, 12:10:53 PM Last bumped on Jun 1, 2021, 4:43:54 PM
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Well hey, +1 for old skills that are unloved. Ice trap was popular when it first came out but then was gutted immediately and never came back. Too bad, it has a sweet MTX.
You should record a video if possible to show folks how it looks in Delirium. |
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" I've added a quick gameplay video upon your request. Unfortunately, performance isn't great, but I guess it's still enough to validate build's efficiency and playstyle. | |
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would Slavedriver's Hand be a viable option to solve the mana problem?
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" It is a thing to consider, though it's not ideal. First of all using those gloves probably mean some changes to tree to get some cast speed since by default you would lose plenty of trap throwing speed. But more importantly the problem is that especially with the approach of getting plenty of +gem levels of ice trap the cost of a single throw is rather expensive (70+ mana). So in some cases you would need to be careful not to kill yourself (since most of regen from pyromaniac/tinkerskin is tied to trap triggering, so if you throw many traps preempptively for example into invulnerable boss, you might screw yourself). Of course also using those gloves also means the loss of life and resists in comparison to rare gloves. Still, this is a viable option to consider. I'd say it's a matter of preference and different ways of handling mana issues would fit better for different people. | |
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Hi, I was just thinking about trying out ice traps and found your build guide. Didn't check with POB, but wouldn't hypothermia be more damage than increased critical support?
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" Yes it would. The reason why I use crit strikes over hypothermia is a) I like having crits to be very consistent (for shattering purposes etc.) b) hypothermia only has the bonus damage against chilled enemies, and during the very first hit they are not yet chilled(and 1 hit is usually good enough against mostly everything except bosses anyways). Of course chilling skitterbot also helps but it isn't very consistent. Either way I'd say both options are good, and perhaps you might consider hypothermia as superior against bosses. Last edited by Grozaa on Mar 27, 2020, 12:57:52 PM
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Why not EB? :)
You can put on it and save 1 mana flask, and solve the mana problem issue, with Thinkerskin combo... :D |
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" EB is a viable option but it comes with the cost. To make a direct comparison against enduring mana flask solution: Gain: -1 aura (aspect of the spider/ discipline) -1 flask slot Loss: - about 900 EHP - double-recovery with tinkerskin life+ES - 5 skillpoints The mana problem somehow is still present in both solutions. With EB if you throw traps at invulnerable enemies or simply miss and your traps don't trigger your ES is drained very fast. And base ES recharge especially with EB does almost nothing. On the other hand of course with mana flask solution you may run out of charges during bossfight and then unless invested heavily into mana regen rate recovery is also not quite sufficient. But I'd still take mana regen over ES recharge as a backup option. Either way both options make sense it is just about understanding what is on the line and which benefits/drawbacks do you value more personally. | |
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Just use Devouring Diadem and all your problems with mana will be solved. Nice recovery, EB, 20% reduced mana for socketed gems and +1 level to soketed auras.
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