Rolling Magma Miner
Saboteur Build

Updated for Patch 3.21

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Saboteur has been hit pretty hard with multiple changes, nerfs even, in patch 3.21. Despite it, the new additions to its Ascendancy combined with a certain Crucible Passive on a weapon may yield a promising result. We've linked up a Rolling Magma Spell to a Blastchain Mine. With a Crucible mod to make Rolling Magma Skill have 200% more Area of Effect a single bounce is enough to cover a large area. The same modifiers make the number of projectiles have no effect, which is not a big issue if you can still set up multiple Mines at once. The Spell is already powerful, but it can be more so with Nimis Ring which makes the Projectile roll in random directions increasing the chance to Hit the same target multiple times and nearly doubling the number of Chains. All these Hits will easily be able to target the same single enemy making it extremely good at killing bosses as well as clearing maps due to the already mentioned enormous AoE. The build is adjusted to deal Hit Damage, not to damage with Ignites.

The Saboteur is still one of the best choices for a Mine build. As the enemy is Shocked, Chilled, and Ignited you can use Explosives Expert for more Crit Multiplier, Crit Chance, and Fire Penetration. It's easily done with Skitterbots, which also grant more Mine Damage and detonate them for you. With Bomb Specialist you have a 20% chance to deal 50% more and take 50% less Area Damage. It's a nice addition to the pool of other defensive layers like Ignite and Shock immunity, Life Regeneration as your Mines are triggered, mediocre Armour, Attack and Spell Block Chance at over 40%, and even some Spell Suppression. The build is not fragile by any means, but not outstandingly resilient too. It can be improved if you manage to accumulate a large enough Life Pool with more investment into defensive layers to make it worth adding Petrified Blood and Paint Attunement, but in this version, we've passed this opportunity and focused more on the damage.

You can also check our other Path of Exile builds right over here Odealo's Crafty Guides - Full List

1. Gameplay

Throw your Mines ahead of you, Skitterbots will activate them, but you should also do so with the provided key. You can set it up as your movement key if you plan to instantly detonate all the Mines you plant. Another very important Skill is Arcanist Brand that's supposed to be attached to tough enemies. It will activate Wave of Conviction and Flammability. It will add tons of Damage, Ignite, and Reduce Fire Resistance. Molten Shell and Flame Dash are the standard set of skills to mitigate damage and move quicker. It's also possible to generate Power Charges Charges after linking Power Charge on Critical Support with a level-1 CwDT and a Spell such as Tornado. For Auras we've selected Determination, Skitterbots, Herald of Ash, and Clarity. You have to have some Mana unreserved to actually place Mines which reserve Mana, but if you're able to squeeze in one more Aura, pick Zealotry.

2. Build's PROS & CONS

3. Leveling tips

To level up efficiently, use our Shadow/Saboteur leveling guide. Chose the Explosive Trap variant. Switch to the Rolling Magma setup after obtaining the necessary Crucible mod.

Bandits:

Kill all three bandits and be rewarded with two additional Skill Points

Leveling Skill Trees:

40 Points Passive Tree
Allocate Maximum Life, Trap, and Fire Damage nodes as shown
 

69 Points Passive Tree
Get more Damage from the big Fire Damage Cluster and a Trap Cluster that's nearby. Get some more Maximum Life and Reservation Efficiency

4. Final Skill Tree, Ascendancy Points, and Pantheon

Final Skill Tree:

119 Points Final Passive Tree (doesn't include Cluster Jewels)
119 Points Path of Building (PoB) link

Ascendancy points:

Preferably in that order:

1. Demolitions Specialist
2. Bomb Specialist
3. Pyromaniac
4. Explosives Expert

Pantheon:

Major God: Soul of the Brine King: You cannot be Stunned if you've been Stunned or Blocked a Stunning Hit in the past 2 seconds

Minor God: Soul of Ryslatha: Life Flasks gain 3 Charges every 3 seconds if you haven't used a Life Flask Recently; 60% increased Life Recovery from Flasks used when on Low Life

5. Final Gems links

[DPS] Rolling Magma setup can be socketed in a Helmet with built-in Blastchain Mine and Hypothermia Support
	Rolling Magma - Very simple Spell that deals plain Fire Damage to all targets surrounding its impact location.
	Blastchain Mine Support - Transmogrifies Rolling Magma into a Mine, the Spell is cast by proxy from these Mines, allowing you to cast more Rolling Magma Projectiles at once. It can be found on a Helmet as a Shaper's Suffix.
	Minefield Support - You can throw four more and place three more Mines at one time, but your Throwing Speed is reduced.
	Trap and Mine Damage Support - Mines deal more damage, but the Throwing Speed is once more reduced.
	Elemental Focus Support - Rolling Magma is unable to inflict Elemental Ailments but deals more Damage. You will still be able to Ignite, Chill, and Shock with other Skills.
	Hypothermia Support - Hits against Chilled enemies deal more damage. It can be found on a Helmet as a Shaper's Suffix

[UTILITY] Arcanist Brand setup
	Arcanist Brand - Arcanist Brand attaches itself to an enemy and triggers all linked to it Spells.
	Wave of Conviction - Applies Exposure and Hits the enemy, so that it can cause Ignite.
	Combustion Support - Enemies Ignited with any linked Spell have reduced Fire Resistance. Chance to Ignite is increased by 25%.
	Flammability - Hex Curse that lowers Fire Resistance.

[UTILITY] Auras setup
	Determination - Adds and Increases Armour to prevent incoming Physical Hit Damage.
	Summon Skitterbots - Chill and Shock enemies nearby. These invulnerable Minions can also trigger Mines, which you may detonate again, and grant you more Mine Damage.
	Herald of Ash - Use it for more and increased Spell Fire Damage, and to burn enemies dying nearby those that you've killed.
	Clarity - Regenerates a certain amount of Mana per second. You will need it since your Mines constantly reserve Mana until detonated
	Enlighten Support - Linked Spells that Reserve Mana now Reserve less of it

[UTILITY] Tornado setup
	Tornado - Use level-1 Tornado to cast it each time you take damage. It floats toward enemies dealing insignificant damage.
	Power Charge on Critical Support - Tornado has a Chance to grant you a Power Charge on Critical Strike.
	Cast when Damage Taken - Keep it at a level 1 too. It will cast Tornado more frequently.

[UTILITY] Molten Shell
	Molten Shell - A Guard Spell that mitigates incoming Damage for some time. It's more potent the more Armour you have.

[UTILITY] Flame Dash
	Flame Dash - A basic mobility Spell to dodge attacks or move faster.

[UTILITY] Zealotry setup
	Zealotry - Only if you have allocated Eldritch Battery you'll be able to use an extra Aura for more DPS. Zealotry is by far the best option, it grants more Spell Damage and Crit Chance.
	Divine Blessing Support - Zealotry becomes a temporary Aura with a very high Mana Cost. You can use it during boss fights.

[UTILITY] Assassin's Mark
	Assassin's Mark - If you can apply more than one Curse, use Assassin's Mark for an additional Crit Chance and Crit Multiplier.

6. Gear Setup

Focus on gathering a substantial amount of Maximum Life on your gear. Resistances shouldn't be an issue since most of the items are Rare, giving you a great opportunity to easily obtain Attributes, Spell Suppression, and Chaos Resistance. From the Skill Tree, you're only going to get a significant amount of Intelligence, so Strength and Dexterity have to be sought on gear pieces. You're not supposed to deal Damage over time, only Fire Hit Damage with a high Critical Strike Chance. Crit modifiers and increases to the Gem Level of your Rolling Magma Skill will be important for damage. You can find them on a weapon, Amulet, and even Body Armour. You won't need any Cast Speed. In patch 3.21 a very important Crucible mod has been introduced = "Fireball and Rolling Magma have 200% more Area of Effect; Modifiers to number of Projectiles do not apply to Fireball and Rolling Magma". You can get it on a Staff, in which case the AoE is tripled, That's why we won't recommend Unique Weapons unless you manage to get it on a Staff such as The Annihilating Light and be able to cap your Resistances with it. 

Our recommended items will:

1. Cap your resistances at 75%
2. Provide you with enough DPS and Life to start mapping

(Helmet) Rare Helmet - On a Helmet you can either go for the regular Life, Resistnaces, and Spell Suppression, or get a Shaper's one with built-in Support Gems that are Blastchain Mine and Hypothermia. This way you can socket your main setup here.

Min. requirements: 80 Maximum Life +60% Total Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Blastchain Mine Socketed Gems are Supported by Level # Hypothermia Socketed Spells have +#% to Critical Strike Chance Nearby Enemies take 9% increased Fire or Elemental Damage Chaos Resistance increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills Spell Suppression Chance

Helmet enchantments: Rolling Magma Chains an additional time

(Weapon) Rare Staff - Using a Staff is mandatory since the Crucible Mod required for this build is only available here. This might function without it, offering similar clear speed, but without the massive AoE boost you will not be able to hit the same target with each Chain, and hence your single-target DPS will be a few times lower

Min. requirements: 80% increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells 80% increased Fire Spell Damage +# to Level of all Fire Spell Skill Gems Optional affixes: Damage Penetrates #% of Fire Resistance #% Chance to deal Double Damage +% to Global Critical Strike Multiplier +2 to Level of all Spell Skill Gems

(Weapon) Annihilating Light - a very powerful Staff, if you manage to find one with the desired Crucible Mod and manage to cap your Resistances with it. It triples your Elemental Damage, making it one of the best items when it comes to damage in the game

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

(Body Armour) Kaom's Heart - As you already have two places in which you can socket your main setup, and you don't need that many sockets, using Kaom's Heart is highly encouraged. You can, of course, use a Rare Armour, Dialla's Malefaction, or Skin of The Lords with Glancing Blows possibly, and play around with the build, maybe add Petrified Blood and make it low-life, but we didn't for the purpose of this Guide

Has no Sockets (20-40)% increased Fire Damage +500 to maximum Life

(Boots) Rare Boots - Try to get Maximum Life, Movement Speed, and Resistances on your Boots. Onslaught, Elusive, and Tailwind modifiers will increase your movement speed but are not that important. For the Eldritch mod, get the one that drops Brittled ground.

Min. requirements: +60 to maximum Life +50% Total Elemental Resistances 30% increased Movement Speed Optional affixes: Attributes Spell Suppression Chance chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill chance to gain Elusive on Critical Strike You have Tailwind if you have dealt a Critical Strike Recently

(Gloves) Rare Gloves - On the Gloves try to gain the basic defensive stats. The Eldritch modifiers here can be quite good - Fire Exposure and Unnerve on Hit.

Min. requirements: +50 to Maximum Life +60% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: Attributes Added Fire Damage against Burning Enemies Spell Suppression Chance Chaos Resistance increased Global Critical Strike Chance

(Belt) Rare Belt - The Belt is a great place to gain a lot of Maximum Life, Resistances, and Strength.

Min. requirements: +80 to Maximum Life +70% to Elemental Resistances Optional affixes: increased Maximum Life increased Damage Strength

(Amulet) Rare Amulet - An Amulet could increase the Gem Level of a relevant Skill by one or two. Critical Strike, Maximum Life, Attributes, and Resistances mods are common.

Min. requirements: +1 to Level of all Fire Skill Gems +70 to Maximum Life Optional affixes: Global Critical Strike modifiers increased Area of Effect increased Area Damage +1 to Level of all Skill Gems Resistances Increased Mine Throwing Speed

(Amulet) Ashes of the Stars - Ashes would always perform great in these types of builds, but it's not overly powerful in this case. Not worth its price here, but still good if you need Gem Quality and Reservation Efficiency.

+(10-16) to all Attributes (5-10)% increased Experience Gain of Gems (10-20)% increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills +1 to Level of all Skill Gems +(20-30)% to Quality of all Skill Gems

Recommended Anointments: Heart of Flame Charisma Destructive Apparatus

(Ring) Rare Ring - Rings are one of the best places to look for Attributes and Resistances. The Flammability Curse on Hit is not really necessary as you can have it linked with Arcanist Brand.

Min. requirements: 80 Maximum Life +80% Total Elemental Resistances Attributes Optional affixes: Chaos Resistance Global Critical Strike modifiers Curse Enemies with Flammability on Hit

(Ring) Nimis - Nimis is extremely powerful as it randomizes the direction in which your Magma rolls, which is good for bossing, and grants you the extra bounce as the Projectile tries to return.

+(20-30)% to Lightning Resistance +(30-50) to Dexterity (25-35)% increased Projectile Damage Projectiles Return to you Projectiles are fired in random directions

(Jewel) Rare Jewels - Besides Life and Resistance, seek the Critical Strike mods on your Jewels.

Recommended affixes: Maximum Life Elemental Resistances Critical Strike Chance Critical Strike Multiplier

(Jewel) Watcher's Eye - Your Auras are Determination and Clarity, maybe Zealotry. We've used this opportunity to reduce Mana Cost of Skills with Clarity, but Zealotry has much more offensively-oriented modifiers.

(4-6)% increased maximum Energy Shield (4-6)% increased maximum Life (4-6)% increased maximum Mana <Two or Three random aura modifiers>

(Jewel) Bottled Faith - For nearly all builds relying on Critical Strikes, Bottled Faith is the best Flask. It increases Damage and Crit Chance

40% increased Damage Creates Consecrated Ground on Use (30-15)% reduced Duration Consecrated Ground created by this Flask has Tripled Radius Consecrated Ground created during Effect applies (7-10)% increased Damage taken to Enemies (100-150)% increased Critical Strike Chance against Enemies on Consecrated Ground during Effect

Other suggested Flasks: Life Flask with Bleeding immunity/removal Granite Flask with increased Armour Silver Flask with reduced Curse Effect or Freeze Immunity Quicksilver Flask with increased Movement Speed

If you have any other build requests please leave that in the comments below. We are always open to suggestions and constructive feedback.

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