iao's Miner Infodump - Remote Mine, Saboteur Miner, Fire Nova Mine Mechanics and their Application

Remote Mines in this game are mechanically a lot like its Traps. However there are some design decisions that make them very different and force a different playstyle.

Remote Mines are entities with the sole purpose of performing a skill when detonated. This detonation occurs manually with a hotkey or with use of the Detonate Mines skill gem, which can be supported in various ways such as with trigger gems.

The cap to the active mines placed is 5, but this can be increased with some nodes, the Minefield support gem, and Saboteur's Bomb Specialist. When you reach the limit, if you lay a mine again the oldest active mine is destroyed. Lets go into each stage and what modifies each.

1. Remote Mine Laying (500ms base time)

This is what happens first when you use the remote mine skill. You lay the remote mine at your feet. If you target a different location, you walk there then lay it there. If you have "attack in place" enabled, you will always lay it at your current location. This can be modified with "increased/reduced mine laying speed".

2. Remote Mine Arming Time (500ms base time)

This is what happens to the remote mine you placed. It immediately begins arming itself, which is essentially a short cooldown you must wait before it can be detonated. This can be modified with "increased mine arming speed" (only available from Saboteur's Demolitions Specialist).

It is at this time the remote mine becomes vulnerable to hits. Mines have 1 life, thus when they are ever hit they are destroyed. This usually occurs from enemy AoE and chaining skills. With the Clever Construction node a mine cannot be damaged for 5 seconds after it's placed, making it a necessity in some situations.

3. Remote Mine Armed & Detonation (200ms base time)

It is at this point where the remote mine is armed and can be detonated.

Detonate Mines is a skill that detonates all of your currently armed remote mines (not your active remote mines that are still in their arming time).

This can be achieved with both the default Detonate Mines skill that is mapped to the D key when a remote mine skill is equipped, or using the Detonate Mines skill gem. The former cannot be modified, and the latter can be modified with "increased cast speed". The time can be removed altogether with the Volatile Mines node, though you must not be preoccupied.

The gem can be supported by support gems such as Spell Totem, Cast When Damage Taken, Cast While Channeling, etc. or items such as Kitava's Thirst.

4. Remote Mine's Contained Skill Performance (varying base time) & Destruction

When a remote mine is detonated, it begins to perform the skill it contains. This can be either a cast or a ranged weapon attack. The remote mine itself goes through the skill's cast/attack time, modified by your "increased cast speed" or "increased attack speed" respectively. This is usually not relevant for single cast/attack skills though, which almost all skills are. When the final cast/attack time is finished, the remote mine is destroyed.

The stats of the skill are determined at the time of the contained skill's performance: the damage, whether it critically strikes, etc. For example if you do not have a damage buff when you place the mine, but do when you detonate it, it will affect the skill's stats.

Remote mines have a detonation radius, which is the radial area of effect that is used to determine the target of the contained skill. It targets the enemy within the detonation radius that is closest to the remote mine.

Saboteur is very potent for mine builds. Not only for clear speed, but actually for true DPS. Here I will explain to you why this is true when remote mine mechanics are applied.

With the combination of Bomb Specialist, Demolitions Specialist, Explosives Expert, and the basic nodes the relevant modifiers are:

1. 16% mine laying speed, 20% mine laying speed if you've detonated mines recently
2. can have up to 2 additional remote mines placed at a time
3. 100% increased mine arming speed
4. 20% chance to place an additional mine
5. you gain 4% increased area of effect per mine
6. damage penetrates 10% elemental resistances
7. 40% increased elemental damage, 40% increased damage if you've detonated mines recently

The power mostly lies in the more unique modifiers here. Let me explain. When determining your true DPS with a miner (in cases where it really matters) you are working within the limitations of remote mine mechanics. The relevant limitations are the speed at which mines are laid, how many mines can be active at once, and how long a mine must last to complete necessary stages.

Increasing the cap to the amount of mines means you have more mines to deal damage at the same time. Increasing the laying speed and how many mines you lay per laying time has you reaching that cap faster. Decreasing the overall duration of the mines has you laying your next batch of mines sooner. These combined allow a Saboteur miner to detonate mines at a faster rate than is possible with other Ascendancy classes.

This is why I have said in the past that Saboteur's remote mine mods can be considered boosts to your true DPS with mines, and also why I've said it is powerful for sustained damage. Lets consider these modifiers in the situation of the Guardian of the Minotaur encounter to better convey what I've been talking about.

"

You arrive outside the enemy's awaken range, and lay down 11 mines.

You then wake the enemy and detonate the mines. With the 44% increased area of effect the targeting of a contained AoE skill is more forgiving. So the mines deal their damage.

You then lay down another 11 at a faster rate than other Ascendancy classes can achieve.

These mines arm faster, and thus can detonate sooner. With this faster rate you're able to detonate them and land the hits before the enemy burrows underground.

In which time you lay the 11 again, the enemy emerges and you detonate.

Rinse and repeat.

This is the meat and potatoes. Let's incorporate the unique mechanics of this skill gem and apply them to the info previously dumped.



Fire Nova Mine is unique in that it casts a skill multiple times from a single remote mine, with each repeat dealing higher damage than the previous. With it having to cast multiple times and need to complete each of its casts to deal optimal damage, it creates some interesting dynamics.

1. Base Damage

At level 21, Fire Nova Mine boasts extremely high base damage relative to other skills. It may not seem so on first glance, but the in-built damage multiplier and skill repeats are tremendous:

"

(140 + 210) / 2 = 175 average damage per hit.

175 * (1 + 1.3 + 1.6 + 1.9) = 1015 average damage from all repeats.

With everything considered, that's pretty average. 1015 is high, but the overall duration with all mechanics included is average for DPS. But this is where another important factor comes in: the helmet enchantment. The skill by no means relies on it, but it is definitely powerful:


In a nutshell, this enchantment causes the skill to deal far higher damage over its full duration, but also last longer as a drawback (which I have yet to see people consider):

"

175 * (1 + 1.3 + 1.6 + 1.9 + 2.2 + 2.5) = 1837.5 average damage from all repeats.

((1837.5 / 1015) - 1) * 100 = 81.034482759... 81% damage improvement.

At an overall 81% damage increase, the aforementioned drawback of 2 additional casts is easily worth it and pushes the skill from good to incredible.

2. Cast Time

Since Fire Nova Mine lasts much longer as a remote mine than other remote mine skills, it stresses more importance on expanding the limitations of remote mine mechanics. This is why Saboteur is so important. More than any other skill, the additional mines that can be placed and the increased mine arming speed are very important for Fire Nova Mine.

Because of the multiple repeated casts and the fact that reducing overall mine duration is an increase to sustained damage, modifying your cast speed becomes a priority. Why? Well for example if you have 100% increased cast speed, that cuts down your combined total cast time in half. And as I've explained, reducing the overall duration of a mine can be used to increase your DPS and clear speed.