Arc Miner
Shadow/Saboteur
Starter Build

Updated for Patch 3.19

The Best Crafty Guides by Odealo

Saboteur is the most popular Ascendancy class for any mine build, rightfully so because it provides the most benefits for that playstyle. Since the major buffs made to most of the spells Arc Mines became one of the most cost-effective combinations in Path of Exile. Mines, on top of being extremely powerful, provide a very budget-friendly and enjoyable gameplay mechanic. Even with the nerfs introduced in Patch 3.17 that slightly lower Mines' Support gems damage, this still remains one of the best Starter Builds in the game. For quite some time Arc was underperforming, but ever since buffs to its Chain range, it became a very strong clearing Skill. Also, the difficulty level has been significantly increased, so making Saboteur/Miners the best choice for the current content. High burst DPS, solid defense, and self-sustain make it one of the best classes to play currently.

You may also want to check our other Path of Exile builds here: Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

As a Miner character, you can plant Mines, which once detonated, will trigger specific Spells. Some Mines use a predefined Spell, or as in our case, with the use of the Remote Mine Support Gem, you can use Remote Mines with any Skill that can be used with Bows and Wands. In our case, this is Arc, which since the changes in Patch 3.17 deals an insane amount of damage and provides amazing clear speed. For the defenses, this build uses moderately high Life and Blind mechanic (from Saboteur Ascendancy passives and Smoke Mines).

This video was recorded on a level 91 Saboteur on Standard League wearing Inpulsa's and random Rares. It's an out-dated video that will be updated after the Patch goes live

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

Leveling with a Miner Saboteur is very easy. Mines deal very high damage even only with the Passives and Skill Gems, allowing you to focus on defensive rare gear and Movement Speed bonuses. Also, the main DPS setup of this build (Arc Mines) becomes available as soon as you reach level 12, which lets you level up all the required Support Gems. Out of all leveling items, we would suggest prioritizing Praxis rings and Tabula Rasa. Other than that, the rest of the gear can be random rares you find during your campaign.

Suggested leveling Gem setups:

Early level Gems
	Freezing Pulse - decent projectile-based Spell which is available right after you start the game
	Fire Trap - used to deal some extra DoT damage

Arc Mines
	Arc - primary Spell in this build. With the use of Blastchain Mine Support, you can plant Mines that will cast Arc once detonated
	Blastchain Mine Support - allows you to plant Mines that will cast Supported Skills once detonated
	Minefield Support - greatly increases your DPS
	Trap and Mine Damage Support - increases the damage of your Mines
	Added Lightning Damage Support - adds big amount of flat lightning damage

Utility Gems
	Clarity - increases your Mana Regenerated per second
	Assassin's Mark - recommended Curse for this build, especially early on when you don't have access to many Critical Strike passives
	Flame Golem - helpful Minion Spell that increases your damage overall
	Herald of Ice - will add Cold Damage to your Spells and cause AoE explosions

Bandits:

We recommend helping Alira for the increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier, Mana Regen. and Elemental Resistances

Leveling Skill Trees:

35 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Saboteur 2) Blood Siphon 3) Successive Detonations 4) Devastating Devices 5) Heart and Soul

68 Points Skill Tree
Priorities: 1) Heart of Thunder 2) Cruel Preparations 3) Explosive Elements 4) Assassination

Recommended leveling items:

Lifesprig - very popular leveling Wand available at lvl 1

(8-12)% increased Spell Damage +1 to Level of Socketed Spell Gems (20-28)% increased Spell Damage (5-8)% increased Cast Speed +(15-20) to maximum Life +(15-20) to maximum Mana Regenerate (6-8) Life over 1 second when you Cast a Spell

Praxis - during the leveling phase, the biggest issue you can come across is sustaining your Mana. This ring (or two of those) solve it entirely

+(20-25) to maximum Mana +(30-60) to maximum Mana (3-6) Mana Regenerated per second -(8-4) to Mana Cost of Skills 8% of Damage taken gained as Mana over 4 seconds when Hit

Wanderlust - those Boots, also available since level 1, provide nice Mana Regeneration Rate boost and make you Immune to Freeze

+5 to Dexterity +(10-20) to maximum Energy Shield (20-40)% increased Mana Regeneration Rate 20% increased Movement Speed Cannot be Frozen

Tabula Rasa - one of the most popular leveling items in Path of Exile. If you have solved the Mana problems, Tabula Rasa will be the best pick for your Arc Mines setup

Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden)

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

113 Points Final Skill Tree (doesn't include Intuitive Leap jewel)
113 Points Path of Building(PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Bomb Specialist
2. Pyromaniac
3. Explosives Expert
4. Born in the Shadows

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of Lunaris 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%, 1% increased Movement Speed for each nearby Enemy, up to 8%

Minor God: Soul of Gruthkul 1% additional Physical Damage Reduction for each Hit you've taken Recently up to a maximum of 5%

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Arc Mines
	Arc - the core skill in this build. It is triggered by detonating Mines
	Blastchain Mine Support - allows you to plant Remote Mines that will cast Arc once detonated
	Mine and Trap Damage support - this support gives the most damage for all Trap and Mine setups possible
	Minefield - makes you throw many Mines at once instead of just one
	Increased Critical Strikes Support - makes capping near 100% Critical Strike chance much easier to achieve
	Elemental Focus Support - makes supported skills unable to apply elemental ailments, but provides a massive boost to raw damage output

[UTILITY] Immortal Call and Smoke Mine
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - auto-casts supported skills after a certain amount of damage is taken. Keep this Gem at level 10
	Immortal Call - grants brief immunity to Physical Damage. Keep this Gem at level 12
	Increased Duration Support - increased the duration of Immortal Call and Smoke Mine's effects
	Smoke Mine - used as an escape mechanic. It also creates Smoke Clouds and increases your Movement Speed

[MOBILITY] Flame Dash
	Flame Dash - one of the best Movements Skills that can be used with Wands. It also will grant Arcane Surge buff
	Faster Casting Support - the first use of Flame Dash is instant, but consecutive uses require some cast speed to make it smoother
	Arcane Surge Support - grants increased Spell Damage and Mana Regen. after you spend a certain amount of Mana on supported skills. Keep it at level 7 to gain the buff after each Dash

[UTILITY] Orb of Storms Curse setup
	Orb of Storms - which is used to apply your Curse
	Hextouch Support - makes your Orb of Storms apply your Supported Curse
	Conductivity - the recommended Curse for this build which reduces Lightning Resistance of affected enemies
	Precision - use a low-level Aura to not Reserve too much Mana. It doesn't have to be linked to anything in this setup

[UTILITY] Aura and Skitterbots
	Wrath - increases your Lightning Spell Damage by a lot. The best DPS Aura for this build
	Summon Skitterbots - Skitterbots are used to Shock and Chill enemies, as well as help you detonate your Mines. They also directly increase your Mine DPS
	Enlighten Support - reduces the amount of Mana Reserved by Supported Spells

[UTILITY] Golems
	Cast when Damage Taken Support - for the Golem setup, use CwDT at maximum level
	Summon Ice Golem - increases your chance to Critically Strike
	Minion Life Support - provides help for your golem survivability so it can boost your Critical Strike Chance more reliably

5. Gear Setup

Now onto the most interesting part - gear selection. Below you will find all the required and recommended equipment for this Arc Miner build. Since we have decided to make a Starter build, mostly rare gear will be included, and harder-to-obtain unique items will be listed as optional. 

Also, if you are looking for cheap PoE Currency we would like to invite you to visit our Path of Exile marketplace section. You can access it by links on top of the page.

We can guarantee that the items listed by us will:

1. Cap your resistances 
2. Give you enough DPS/Life to start mapping successfully

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - with the highest defensive stats possible

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana 29% Fire Resistance 29% Cold Resistance 29% Lightning Resistance

Helmet enchantment: 40% increased Arc Damage

(Body Armour) Tabula Rasa - should be more than enough for this build. Getting a corrupted piece that will increase the level of socketed Gems shouldn't be a problem either even with a low budget

3% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden) Item has no level requirement and Energy Shield (Hidden) Item has 6 White Sockets and is fully linked (Hidden) Corrupted implicit modifiers: +2 to Level of Socketed Trap or Mine Gems +1 to Level of Socketed Gems

(Body Armour) Rare Body Armour - the recommended end-game Body Armour for this build. Sacrificial Garb base with implicit "+1 to Level of all Vaal Skill Gems" paired with Vaal Arc makes very cost-effective combo

(100-120) to maximum Life 29% Fire Resistance 29% Cold Resistance 29% Lightning Resistance Optional affixes: Additional curse Spell Critical Strike Chance

(Weapons) Rare Crit./Spell Damage wand - depending on your budget just stack more of the recommended stats

Min. requirements: 60% increased Lightning Spell Damage 80% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells 20 added Lightning Damage to Spells Optional affixes: increased Cast Speed

(Weapon) Divinarius - is a good budget option for early mapping and leveling phases

30% increased Global Critical Strike Chance (50-70)% increased Spell Damage (80-100)% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells +10 Life gained on Kill +5 Mana gained on Kill 10% increased Area of Effect

(Weapon)The Annihilating Light - Insanely powerful item providing a massive boost to damage at the cost of your Elemental Resistances. Use it once you stack enough resistances to cover the penalty

+18% Chance to Block Attack Damage while wielding a Staff (60-70)% reduced Elemental Resistances Deal Triple Damage with Elemental Skills

(Boots) Rare Boots - again, aim for high Movement Speed and defensive stats

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 29% Fire Resistance 29% Cold Resistance 29% Lightning Resistance 25% increased Movement Speed

Boot enchantment: 18% reduced Mana Cost of Skills if you've been Hit Recently

(Belt) Rare Stygian Vise  - with decent Life and Elemental Resistances. It's a good piece to get some extra Strength Attribute as well

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances 30 Strength Optional affixes: Chaos Resistances Increased Damage

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - just look for extra Life, Mana mods,  and Critical Strike Multiplier. When you are looking for a better/end-game version, simply get extra Levels for your Arc Gem

Min. requirements: 60 maximum Life 40 maximum Mana 40% Mana Regeneration rate 20% increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: All Elemental Resistances +1 to Level of all Lightning Skill Gems

(Ring) Rare Rings - used mainly for defensive stats. Get all the missing Resistances and Attributes here. If you are struggling with Mana, also Mana/Mana Regen is useful

Min. requirements: 65 maximum Life 60% Total Elemental Resistances Attributes Optional affixes: maximum Mana increased Mana Regeneration Rate Lightning/Elemental Damage

(Gloves) Rare Life/Res. Gloves - will be the optimal choice if you are missing some Elemental Resistances and maximum Life

Min. requirements: 70 maximum Life Optional affixes: Elemental Resistances maximum Mana Spell Damage

(Jewels) Intuitive Leap - this is pretty much a must-have if you want to get into high Tier Maps with this build. It allows you to pick up Golem Commander, Mysticism, and Prodigal Perfection Passives without expending too many Passives on them. It has to be socketed right above Witch's starting point

Passives in Radius can be Allocated without being connected to your tree

(Jewels) Abyss Jewel - one Abyss Jewel with a chance to Hinder on Spell Hit is recommended

Recommended affixes: maximum Life added Lightning Damage to Spells chance to Hinder on Spell Hit Optional affixes: increased Critical Strike Multiplier with Lightning Skills

(Jewels) Abyss Jewel - other jewels can focus on maximum Life and additional DPS affixes

Recommended affixes: maximum Life added Lightning Damage to Spells increased Critical Strike Multiplier with Lightning Skills Optional affixes: increased Critical Strike Multiplier with Elemental Skills added Lightning Damage to Spells while wielding a Staff

(Jewels) Rare Jewels - same as for Abyss Jewels, look for maximum Life and potential DPS modifiers

Recommended affixes: increased maximum Life increased Elemental/Spell/Lightning Damage increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier Optional affixes: Attributes

(Flask) Atziri's Promise - grants a lot of additional DPS in form of Extra Chaos Damage based on our Lightning Damage

+35% to Chaos Resistance 2% of Chaos Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect Gain (5-8)% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect Gain (5-8)% of Elemental Damage as Extra Chaos Damage during effect

(Flask) Vessel of Vinktar - grants very high bonus Damage to Spells. We are also always immune to Shock, so there is no downside to using this Flask

(80-100)% increased Charges used Shocks nearby Enemies during Flask effect, causing 10% increased Damage taken You are Shocked during Flask effect, causing 50% increased Damage taken Adds (10-15) to (55-65) Lightning Damage to Spells during Flask effect 20% of Lightning Damage Leeched as Life during Flask effect

Other suggested Flasks: Divine Life Flask with Bleeding immunity Quicksilver Flask with Freeze Immunity Diamond Flask with Movement Speed bonus

We hope that you have enjoyed this kind of guide, and we are looking forward to your feedback. We would love to hear your suggestions about which build should we work on next. Let us know in the comments below. 

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Grinding Gear Games.