HOW TO PVP WITHOUT BEING RICH: The Electric Mine Layer

Hey all,

By now I have dueled numerous people, including fun times in the Sarn Arena, and because many people who have fought against me tended to be surprised and curious about my build, I've decided to write a guide.

This guide is aimed purely at PVP. You will be mediocre/weak in the normal game!

I created this build because I'm poor. I love high-level pvp in standard, where all the bad boys are, but I didn't have the currency to match them. So I decided to create a build that is relatively cheap but stands a chance against the rich guys. The results were exceeding my expectations:

I often win from rich guys (like 10 times more expensive gear then me), very often. Only world-top pvp'ers like SlayDemKidz can own me, and still if I ever get some currency (like 25-50ex), I can beat them too. The gear I bought costed me like 10-15ex. I leveled all gems myself though. I think if you start from scratch you have to count on around 15ex to be able to duel the big boys. If you have more currency then that, it only gets better. Personally I never had more then 15ex of currency in my stash, and I've never seen a 6-link or a BiS item in my life. I never MF, just farmed for experience to get two characters to lvl 85 and lvl 89 respectively.

What is this character about?

I use the highly unpopular Remote Mine support. In pvp mines are great: it requires a lot of strategy to place them well and trigger at the right time, but once you get the hang of it, it's a great way to beat up people.

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Skills:

1) Arc - Remote Mine

This is your main skill. With the passive tree, you can lay up to 7 mines around. They can all be stacked on a single spot, or spread around. Mines do "more" damage and trigger all at once, resulting in gigantic burst damage. Most players will be one-shot with 7 mines, but some really tanky uberguys can take 2 or even 3 volleys. In that case you'll have to keep the pressure on them by chasing them while laying mines and luring them back into your mine field.

Arc should be as high level as possible. I personally don't have any quality on my Arc, which is no problem: the really good pvp'ers have such high life that they won't be shocked anyway.

Remote Mine has a very necessary quality! The faster you lay your mines, the more chances you have to win. Since nobody is using this gem, getting one with 15% quality or more is an achievable goal and therefor a must.

=> 3rd slot: Lightning Penetration. In pvp everybody has maxed lightning resistance. Some have 80%, even close to 90%. Penetration is the best way to break this defense. A level 18 Lightning Penetration brings a 88% resist down to 55%, effectively almost quadrupling your damage!

=> 4th slot: Block Chance Reduction! Immensly important in pvp! Max spell block builds will otherwise laugh at your mines. Vendor a 20% dexterity-based shield together with a Puncture gem at a shop to get this gem. At level 18 it will lower the enemy's block chance by 37%, which is half the maximum block percentage so it certainly makes a huge difference.

=> The 5th and 6th slot are optional, as this is a cheap build. Pure damage for those slots are the best, in the form of Added Lightning Damage and Empower. This is for the rich ofcourse, so not for me. I cope with a 5-link.

2) Lightning Warp

This skill is so important in pvp. Mobility is crucial, and this skill gives it to you. You can escape, chase, hide and lure with this skill. Quality is good on this one, as it makes you warp faster.

=> Reduced Duration and Faster Casting are the two obvious supports to make Lightning Warp better. The skill is about mobility and speed, and these two gems augment that.

3) Discipline and Clarity

Only 2 aura's. As you'll see later, this is a MoM build so a good spare pool of mana is always good. Discipline just gives you more mana through EB, and Clarity is almost like life regeneration for an EB/MoM build. In pvp having few aura's is a plus, because some rushers will want to kill you before they are switched on. If you're facing a rusher, leave the aura's and drop the mines first.

=> Reduced Mana is the obvious support.

4) Temporal Chains - Spell Totem

Tried and tested. TC is an awesome pvp curse. People hate the mod in maps, they hate it even more in pvp. Not only their dps will drop, but also their mobility, which is so important in pvp. A totem is the most efficient way to apply curses in pvp: they autotarget and keep on casting. So enemies have to make a choice: destroy the totem, therefor losing time and getting in danger if you've surrounded your totem with mines or cope with being TC'd.

TC has awesome quality: even more slow! Try to get some!!

=> Supports make few difference: Faster Casting lets you put the totem faster, which is always good. Totem Resistance might let him take a hit and Increased Duration will keep the TC curse on the enemy longer after the totem is destroyed. It's up to you!

5) The rest is debatable. I like to use both Cast when Stunned and a leveled Cast when Damage Taken with Cold Snap/Cold Penetration(/Concentrated Effect). The freeze can save your ass in tough situations. Also a second TC to be triggered makes sure you can keep your enemy cursed, if he's good at dodging the totem or destroying it fast.

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Items:

Cloak of Defiance:

This armor is so good. It makes ES an allround-defence, without having to take the expensive CI option. A CoD will make any added ES usefull, without requiring a crapload of it only found on expensive items. 40% of your damage is diverted to mana, mathematically you can compare this with 2/3rd MORE life mod.

Other items:

No other unique is required. Try to max your resistances (aim for some chaos too, it can be dangerous in pvp), get life and ES. Shield and weapon should have increased damage ofcourse. All in all, you are ultra-flexible gear-wise and can cope with cheap pieces, like under 1 ex each.

Potions:

The "of warding" affix is very important, as curses can destroy you. For the rest a bit of everything can be used: healing flasks to recover, quicksilver to run away or chase, resistance flasks against certain enemies. If you're facing chaos-dealing opponents those chaos resist flasks will be a blessing!

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Passive tree:

http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgMA37CCEFcrB2PAVHkDCPQxiIt6pysc3PF2f8YnqVptJDynXElREZYOSJ2qYqzWneOE7hUe8Ld1oqPB84IeTC2gQxHCndkjXw6ObRktH4-mRKtVriycwbTk7HYRkyfcVx6UrD9-sFu7cFG0DEZxgwlzU2-eykpGK06bwzpWLax_LUdQQow25Rm0OPv11U_ed1VLJpUTnqSR2FR2b5u1GYr7CfbaGo9wu9kTL2_i9zvh2wt-WewYj_pJOzZ7tKPb5zIYpucGd1MxbXvZ4IhrtveZmutjES-H22Hi

1) Damage: under the form of spell damage, elemental/lightning damage and mine damage. The 4% base crit of Arc makes crit a bad investment for reaching more damage! Those mine damage passive points do much more then crit points do.

=> And even more important: mine laying speed! The most important damage attribute in pvp as an Electric Mine Layer. I've taken every single node in the tree that has mine laying speed. If your mine laying speed is not high enough, you'll stand no chance! I still wish they'd create a unique item with some more mine laying speed.

2) Defense: Life is the most important, efficient ES and mana nodes are also taken because of EB and the 40% MoM on the CoD.

3) Some aura nodes: they help keeping more mana free and boost your 2 mana aura's.

4) Special: certain mine passives are indespensable.

=> Volatile Mines: cuts the 0.2 sec delay.
=> Saboteur/Additional Mines: +2 mines, for a total of 7.
=> High Explosives: an additional 10% penetration, stacks with Lightning Penetration. This one notable adds so much effective damage.
=> Clever Construction: guarantees that your mines are not immediately destroyed by colateral damage.

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Videos:

Will be posted when this thread gains interest.

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Strategy:

Will be updated when I have more time!

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Q&A:

1) Why Arc? Remote Mine works with any spell.

=> Well, Arc has high average damage and because of Remote Mine we don't care about the casting speed. Arc is effective without many supports so you don't need a 5- or 6-link. Arc also "jumps" to its target, rather then covering a distance at a certain speed like projectiles do. This makes it impossible to manually dodge, like good players do when they see a projectile coming: they step aside.

I think some other spells could be used for this build though. EK can be good. The main drawback of EK is the slow cast speed which is neutralized by the fact that you're using it on a mine. Ice Spear can work too I guess, but then you'll have to choose the crit path. I didn't test anything else then Arc, so feedback is welcome!

2) Why Witch? Can I do this build with another character?

=> As you see, we'll go all the way to a starting node of the Shadow, so it can certainly be done as a Shadow. The thing is you'll miss out on the two 16% spell damage nodes that the Witch has on the left. And if you still want to take those, you'll have to pass the crit nodes which is less efficient.

A Scion can also have a similar tree by taking her initial spell damage nodes towards the speed notable on her west. Just like the Shadow, it would be a bit less optimal then the Witch, but certainly still viable.

3) What build can defeat you consequently?

=> Actually none. I stand a chance against any build as long as I adapt to it playstyle-wise. One-shot rushers can be countered by placing your 7 mines immediately and detonate them when the enemy is in sight. Builds like that won't have the defence to resist a full 7 mines salvo: 7 * 4500 average lightning damage per mine = 31500 lightning damage at -45% max lightning resist (in case of lvl 20 gem) and -40% enemy (spell)block. Only very tanky builds can resist this kind of burst damage.

On the tanky side, a build could have 78% spellblock (with the Anvil) and 46% spelldodge (with Phase Acrobatics and Atziri's Step) at the very extreme. The spellblock will be lowered with your Reduced Block Chance gem, but they'll still only take damage from 2 or 3 mines out of 7 averagely. The good news is that this kind of builds will not be ES based (because of Acrobatics) and will rarely have more then 5000 life. On top of that, they are shield builds with many passives invested in defence and they won't do gigantic damage to you, so you'll also be tanky vs them, with your 4k+ life pool and 40% damage diverted to manapool.

4) What are the most annoying builds to play against?

=> No build in particular, but melee are much easier then ranged. A ranged character who really knows how to move well and avoid your mines is the hardest to defeat. You'll have to move zigzag, placing mine - run - mine - run - mine - ... Keep yourself covered by obstacles when he shoots/casts and detonate on the good moment. Use the environment to lure him towards your mines.

What I do sometimes is place 5 mines on one stack, then run around, chase him from the other side, place a mine, move, another one, so he runs away from those straight into your bundle of 5 mines and then: "Kaboom".

5) Why do you play high-level pvp in Standard if you're poor?

I like to beat up the rich uber boys. Nothing is more fun to win from overgeared pro's!

6) Can I duel you?

Why yes! Check if I'm ingame. I go by the name of Soepkieken and my pvp-Witch is called Sneeuwklokje. Just pm me and we'll have a duel! You can even make a video from it and post it here!

+1
Nice to have another PvP guide.

Cool guide man, I'd love to see videos

Would be awesome to see a video of this, looks like lots of fun lol

Nice build,would like to see a video of it in PvP

i love to see such hype for pvp, sorry if i seem bad, but your build like is now wont get far against good pvpers. i've a trapper too in pvp and there are certain builds that you cant fight, no matter what.
anyway keep trying, gl man.

Hi,

I don't care about PvP - but I'd love to see a video of this build!

in for video!

I would want to duel your witch just to see how I fare I against other forms of trap except beartrap. I'll try to pm you later.