[2.4] Blue Screen of Death: Arc Tremor Rod Trapper. HC viable. Cheap. Lots of Arcs.

== Build was made in 2.3, still works fine in 2.4. ==
== NOTE: Some people have experienced lag on detonating mines in 2.4 ==

INTRODUCTION

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This build is all about using Tremor Rod to lay 3 mines, which each lay 4 traps (so 12 traps each time). Then each trap casts an Arc! Create your very own Blue Screen of Death!



It is safe, and can work fine with bad gear (as showcased below!)
It can't tank anything though, the safety comes from always being on the move! Because of this it is very kiting-heavy, so not ideal if you often get screen freezes.

VIDEO

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https://youtu.be/h4AasJ_eYpQ

Note: I only just now realised that I had the map overlay up the whole time! I guess that shows how safe the build feels when playing it though.

OVERVIEW

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Pros:

+ Can run most map mods (in HC though you need to be careful!)
+ Cheap to gear
+ Works ok with crappy gear
+ Always on the move - no need to tank enemies
+ High damage per skill use
+ Fast screen-clearing.
+ Doesn't rely on curses, auras, totems etc...

Cons:

- Poor Defenses, and difficult to get a good life pool.
- 'Allies cannot die' aura - the bane of all Arc builds.
- Can be slow if enemies don't die in two detonations.
- Manual detonation required. Traps can over-write each other if you time it badly. Requires coordination.
- 2 uniques (+ 2 unique jewels) required for build


SKILL TREE

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Saboteur

Passives

Ascendancy Points:
Required: Bomb Specialist and Demolitions Specialist
Recommended: Blinding Assault (especially in HC).

Bandits: Oak - skill point - skill point.

LEVELING TREE

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Important nodes to get first

Then just work your way across the tree; get the nodes in whatever order you like.

SKILL TREE EXPLANATION

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How the build works is that when you use the skill, you walk to that location then place 3 mines. Once the mines are armed you can detonate them, and each mine lays 4 traps. (12 traps total). Then those traps explode, each casting Arc.
You can then detonate the mines again if you like, or place some new ones :)

Important stats for this build are:
Mine laying speed (faster laying means less time standing around, and more time kiting)
Mine Arm speed (if mines arm quicker, you're less likely to try to detonate them too early.)
Trap/elemental damage. "Mine damage" is not useful.
Elemental damage penetration
Life (of course)
Move speed (for kiting.)
+1 to maximum traps (you need 12 traps in total)

You must get 'clever construction' (stops mines/traps getting killed) and 'volatile mines' (instant detonation), or the build won't work properly.

This build makes a lot of use of the 'Bomb Specialist' node. It gives "8% increased damage for each trap".
Since you have 12 traps, that's 96% increased damage :)

The Demolitions Specialist node is also really good. '100% increased mine arming' speed makes timing the detonation so much easier. And '40% increased damage if you have detonated a mine recently' doesn't hurt either :)

Cast speed and trap laying speed will give you a very slight dps boost, but it's not really worth worrying about.
'Trap cooldown recovery' isn't very important either because of tremor rod's ability to re-detonate mines without consuming another use.

JEWELS

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You need two of these:

For 2 extra traps (needed), and also so that your traps will detonate instantly when using the 'sunblast' belt.

For other jewels, I would recommend jewels with 'increased maximum life' and 'shock duration' on them, since they're usually about 1 chaos, and its hard to get enough life in the shadow/witch area.

SCREENSHOTS

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SKILL DAMAGE



DEFENSE



GEAR

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GEAR EXPLANATION

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LINKS AND GEMS

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Main Damage Setup



Arc is the best skill to use for this build. Multiple hits means it is very likely to blind and shock the enemy, and it auto-aims so you don't really need to be too careful where you place your mines.
AoE skills (eg: shock nova) would work too, but require you to get in too close to the enemy; so you'd need to have better defenses for it to work.

Projectile skills won't work because the traps disappear before they deal damage (meaning you don't get that juicy 96% increased damage bonus).

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Trap Support, Cluster Trap Support and Minefield are all essential for the build to work. You can use 'Multiple Traps' instead of Cluster trap if you don't have enough "+1 to maximum number of traps" bonuses yet.

Lightning Penetration is the obvious 5th gem for Arc. If I had a 6L, I'd put controlled destruction in there.



Secondary Damage Setup


I use vortex as a secondary/backup damage source. Just in a normal trap setup, so that I can throw it to where I want it.

it does more damage than ice nova, and the chilled ground is helpful to slow down enemies. The hit damage is OK, and it also benefits from the "increased AoE per mine" that Saboteur gets, if you still have some Arc mines lying around.

If you throw 3 sets of traps, then there will be more traps out to boost the damage as well :)

You need to be careful with the timing of this skill though. If you detonate your arc mines around the same time as you throw the vortex traps, you will go over your limit of 12 traps.

CWDT Setup


I use this CWDT setup because cwdt - Immortal call is too good in HC. It saves you a lot from lab traps, and also from porcupine explosions or tentacle miscreations etc...

I have my golem on CWDT because I am too lazy to self-cast it. That's the only reason. Same thing for enfeeble. :)

Mobility Setup


You should use a quicksilver flask for moving, because you can detonate mines while walking, but not while using a movement skill.
I use flame dash for my repositioning skill (eg: to avoid lab traps) because it is faster than LW or leap slam for this build.

Aura Setup


I use clarity because the build is quite mana-heavy (I think it's like 180 mana per skill use). but you aren't spamming the skill, so a mana potion would also work fine.

I use herald of thunder for a slight dps boost. You could also use discipline, or an curse on blasphemy (eg: ele weakness, conductivity, enfeeble or temp chains).

Golem

Stone golem is good because it taunts enemies, making it easier to kite. If you don't use stone golem, maybe you could equip a decoy totem instead.

LEVELING

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You can start using the build properly after you have completed the Cruel Labyrinth. (You might need to use 'multiple traps' instead of cluster trap until you get enough extra traps allowed.)

Before Cruel Lab, you can use Tremor rod if you like, but it will be a bit annoying since your mines are slow to arm.

Since you are getting trap nodes to start with, I would suggest levelling like a normal trapper. http://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Fencoil is a great unique to help with that. I used ice nova + multiple traps in my fencoil.

You could also use ice trap or fire trap as well, and just use a regular weapon. Having two or more different traps available (eg: ice nova in fencoil, and ice trap in another item) would help you deal with any cooldown issues.
I wouldn't recommend using arc this early on because it doesn't chain very much at low levels.

Important note: colouring your Tremor Rod can be annoying and a bit expensive (maybe a couple hundred chromes to colour the 5L). If you can't get the colours right, you'll need to use a Tabula or 5L chest instead, and add in a remote mine gem yourself.

1Now I want to know how this works with 100% reduced duration and light warp. Great thinking!

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PrinceOfPuddles wrote:

1Now I want to know how this works with 100% reduced duration and light warp. Great thinking!

LW doesn't auto-aim, so it's pretty annoying to use with traps or mines. It just warps to a random area. :(

I tried a *lot* of skills with this setup and Arc is definitely the best one I could find. If you find one that works just as well, please post it here though! :)

any changes for 2.4?

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blazerbelieve wrote:

any changes for 2.4?

Nope, nothing about the build has been nerfed or buffed, and the skill tree is still the same :)
So it's business as usual.

I haven't re-made the character in Essence league, so it has no essence rares. I have a new helmet though, trying to overcap resists:



The build doesn't really specify what rares you need, so you can get whichever ones you want.

I will be continuing to play this character in 2.4 Hardcore league, to unlock Atlas, since it was so fun to use in Prophecy.

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dudiobugtron wrote:

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blazerbelieve wrote:

any changes for 2.4?

Nope, nothing about the build has been nerfed or buffed, and the skill tree is still the same :)
So it's business as usual.

I haven't re-made the character in Essence league, so it has no essence rares. I have a new helmet though, trying to overcap resists:

The build doesn't really specify what rares you need, so you can get whichever ones you want.

I will be continuing to play this character in 2.4 Hardcore league, to unlock Atlas, since it was so fun to use in Prophecy.

thanks ill try this build for 2.4 :D

Cool! Hope you enjoy it :)

Feel free to post in here about how you found it as well.

Hey I tried your build and well I think I got server lag from all the arcs going up, the game freezes for like 0,5 sec every now and then when i detonate the mines, anything you can relate to? or anything you can tell me about it, other then that it works like a charm :)

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anarkai wrote:

Hey I tried your build and well I think I got server lag from all the arcs going up, the game freezes for like 0,5 sec every now and then when i detonate the mines, anything you can relate to? or anything you can tell me about it, other then that it works like a charm :)

Glad you are enjoying it, and thanks for the feedback!

I noticed this has started happening in 2.4 a bit for me too. (You can see in the video I posted that even with crappy lag from my wireless connection it wasn't spiking when detonating mines.)

I think it's a general issue with having lots of traps/mines given the new server problems they were having at the start of the AoW release.

Here's some people talking about it for fire nova mine too:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1721419
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1721818

It seems to be getting better as they slowly work to upgrade the server. It is also less noticable at non-peak times.

Workaround:
Hopefully it will go away entirely soon, but until then, what I have been doing is to act as though it's not lagging and just click the movement key to move where you want to. Since it's not a client freeze or anything, your client is still sending all of your movements and commands to the server, so they will be processed. You can pot as well. Then after the lag spike ends you will have moved or potted if you need to. That way you're still safe and not unnecessarily tanking enemies.

If you find you are stuck in a corner, I advise using your movement skill to dash past the enemies first, before detonating your mines. (Unless you are confident that the detonation will kill all the enemies.)

yeah i feel it too the lag after i got my tremor rod, what ascendancy point you recommend for end game lab?