Intro

This is a zero budget, league start and hardcore viable build guide designed for all players veteran and new. If you’re a seasoned player and just want the POB link, you can find it below. If you require a more detailed guide then read on!

Videos

Changelog

v3.02 – 16/04/2021

• Path of Building updated for 3.14 (Ritual)
• 3.14 POB

v3.01 – 15/01/2021

• Path of Building updated for 3.13 (Ritual)
• 3.13 POB

v3.0 – 18/09/2020

• Tree and Path of Building updated for 3.12 (Heist)
• Added section for alternate quality gems

v2.0 – 19/06/2020

• Updated tree and Path of Building for 3.11 (Harvest)

v1.0 – 11/03/2020

• Guide Published

Overview

The written portion of this build guide is designed for new players who feel like they need some hand holding. As such some things that veteran players and experienced racers might do in the early levels have been left out as to not be too complicated. That being said, this should still be a smooth and quick levelling experience.

This build is an incredible league start, immune to all maps mods. High damage, decent clear, above-average survivability, and most importantly….. cheap as chips and runnable in SSF. Enjoy!

Path of Building

Don’t have Path of Building? You need it.

Pastebin Import: 3.14 POB Link

Gem Setup

Main Skill: Toxic Rain Mine

Toxic Rain – Swift Assembly Support – Blastchain Mine Support – Vicious Projectiles Support – Efficacy Support – Void Manipulation Support

4 Link: Smoke Mine/CWDT

Smoke Mine – Increased Duration Support – Cast when Damage Taken Support (level 11)* – Steelskin (level 16)*

4 Link: Wither totem

Wither – Multiple Totems Support – Spell Totem Support– Faster Casting Support

Movement (these can be in a single 4 link, or 2 separate 2 links)

Flame Dash

Auras

Summon Skitterbots / Clarity (optional) / Malevolence

Other skill gems:

Despair

Alternate Gem Quality

This area has been added for Heist only, and is just a list of options for alternate quality gems that are usful for this build

• Toxic Rain – Alt quality 1. Skill effect Duration
• Efficacy Support – Alt quality 1. Skill effect Duration
• Smoke Mine – Alt quality 1. Skill effect Duration
• Summon Skitterbots – Alt quality 2. Minions have 10% increased Effect of non-damaging Ailments on Enemies
• Malevolence – Alt quality 1. You and nearby allies have 10% increased skill effect duration

Levelling

There are some good general levelling guides that can be found here for specifics on how to get through the acts: https://exiledguides.com/home/beginner-guides/leveling-guides/ 

Act 1

Got	Gem	Source	Quest
	Explosive Trap	Reward	Enemy at the Gate
	Caustic Arrow	Nessa	Enemy at the Gate
	Swift Assembly Support	Reward	Mercy Mission
	Frost Blink	Reward	Breaking Some Eggs
	Blastchain Mine Support	Nessa	The Caged Brute
	Flame Dash/Smoke Mine	Reward	The Caged Brute
	Toxic Rain	Reward	The Siren’s Cadence
	Clarity	Nessa	The Caged Brute
	Void Manipulation	Nessa	The Caged Brute

After killing Hillock, choose Explosive Trap as your quest reward. This will be your single target until such time as we get Toxic Rain mines setup (level 12).

Buy a Caustic Arrow from Nessa. Check Tarkleigh for any bow at all (3 link with 1 blue if available) and movement speed boots (you can use the search function at the bottom right of the trade window with Ctrl+F and type “move” to search his inventory quickly – this will highlight anything with movement speed).

As we move though the first act,  keep an eye out for 3 links on any piece of gear – we specifically want Blue – Green – Green. Look for this on any piece of gear, but try to avoid having your main links on boots or a chest,  as we prioritise movement speed rolls on boots over anything else, and not wearing a chest is preferred for the first few acts as it gives a hidden 3% movement speed penalty. 

After completing the quests ‘Mercy Mission’ and ‘Breaking Some Eggs’, return to town at the next way point and pick up Swift Assembly Support as your quest reward to link with our Explosive Trap for now, (this will move to the main links on Toxic rain once we reach level 12.) Choose Frost Blink as your other quest reward.

Once you’ve killed Brutus, select either Flame Dash or Smoke Mine as your quest reward. Purchase Blastchain Mine Support and Void Manipulation from Nessa. Void Manipulation will be your 4th link whenever we find a 4 link with the correct colours (likely be during act 3 or 4, depending on your luck). When possible, place this into a spare gem spot to level (even while unlinked).

Don’t forget to left click Flame Dash on your bar and set it to ‘always attack without moving‘

Complete the passive point quest ‘The Marooned Mariner’ (in the Ship Graveyard). Grab the way point in the Cavern of Wrath and return to town to pick up Toxic Rain as your reward. At this point, remove both Caustic Arrow and Explosive Trap. Our links should now be:

• Toxic Rain – Swift Assembly Support – Blastchain Mine Support

Keep an eye out for the unique bow Silverbranch,  as it has the affix +1 to socketed bow gems, so if this drops it will carry you all the way to maps on a 4 link.

Act 2

Got	Gem	Source	Quest
	Summon Skitterbots	Reward	Intruders in Black
		Reward
		Reward
		Yeena

In this build we Kill all the Bandits for the extra 2 passive points.

Once you’ve completed ‘Intruders in Black’ (in the Chamber of Sins), Gruest will reward you with Summon Skitterbots. We will be using this aura permanently.

Ideally by the end of this act we have links for our damage abilities, along with other things:

• Toxic Rain – Swift Assembly Support – Blastchain Mine Support
• Summon Skitterbots
• Smoke Mine or Flame Dash
• Clarity (optional, but useful if you feel like you have mana problems)

Act 3

Got	Gem	Source	Quest
	Malevolence	Reward	Lost in Love
	Despair	Vendor	Lost in Love
		Vendor

Once you complete the quest ‘Lost in Love’, choose Malevolence as your reward and buy Despair.

You may not be able to use Malevolence yet (depending on your gear and mana regen). Test having it on, and if you need to leave it off that’s fine (the extra damage really isn’t needed until mapping). A good indicator of when you can start using Malevolence is when you can place your maximum number of mines with the aura active.

This is a good time to start looking out for,  or rolling an Enduring Mana flask. The Enduring prefix means that the effects of this flask will not be removed at full mana.  

Despair should only be used on boss’s or very tanky single target rares, and for now will just be self cast.

Gem links at the end of this act:

• Toxic Rain – Swift Assembly Support – Blastchain Mine Support
• Summon Skitterbots
• Smoke Mine or Flame Dash
• Clarity (optional)
• Malevolence
• Despair

Act 4

There are no new skills to pick up in this act, so continue with your current setup. One thing to note though is that Doedre Darktongue (one of the mini-bosses before Malachai) has a skill that causes her to consume curses she is affected by to buff herself. If you find that you’re struggling with her, simply don’t curse her.

Complete your Normal Labyrinth and ascend to Saboteur before moving on. Start with the Born in the Shadows nodes.

Gem links at end of Act 4

• Toxic Rain – Swift Assembly Support – Blastchain Mine Support – Void Manipulation Support
• Summon Skitterbots
• Smoke Mine or Flame Dash
• Clarity (optional)
• Malevolence
• Despair

Act 5

Nothing about the build changes in this act. Look out for better gear, prioritise higher movement speed boots. Pick up and keep other 4 links you find, we can start using them for utility when we get new gems in Act 6.

Act 6

Got	Gem	Source	Quest
	Void Manipulation Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Efficacy Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Wither	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Spell Totem Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Faster Casting Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Multiple Totems Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Increased Duration Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Steelskin	Lily	Fallen from Grace
	Cast when Damage Taken Support	Lily	Fallen from Grace

After you complete the quest ‘Fallen from Grace’ , Lily Roth sells all skill gems (apart from the few drop only gems).

Buy gems as outlined in table above – if you do not have the links to use these yet, then just start levelling them in any empty sockets.

The ideal links to have by the end of this act are:

• Toxic Rain – Swift Assembly Support – Blastchain Mine Support – Vicious Projectiles Support
• Summon Skitterbots
• Smoke Mine – Increased Duration Support – Cast when Damage Taken Support (level 11)* – Steelskin (level 16)*
• Wither – Multiple Totems Support – Spell Totem Support– Faster Casting Support
• Flame Dash
• Clarity (optional)
• Malevolence
• Despair

*We keep these two gems at a lower level as the level of Cast when Damage Taken (CWDT) increases the amount of damage you need to take before it will trigger as it levels up. Also, the level of the gem it can trigger is based on the level of CWDT (if we levelled Steelskin over 16, it wouldn’t be able to be triggered by CWDT)

Act 7

Nothing changes in Act 7. Keep an eye out for linked gear with the right colours if you are missing any.

Act 8

Nothing changes here, again pick up any left over socket links you’re missing and start looking out for decent life/res gear as we move closer to maps.

Do your Cruel Labyrinth at some point during this act, and choose the Pyromaniac Regenerate 1% of Life per Second for each Trap Triggered Recently, up to 10% per second.
Regenerate 1% of Life per second for each Mine Detonated Recently, up to 10% per second.
Immune to Ignite and Shock.
20% reduced Mana Cost of Skills that throw Traps.
20% reduced Mana Reservation of Skills that throw Mines. ascendancy nodes.

Act 9

There are no changes to the build again here. However this is the best place to start farming Imperial Legacy divination cards for a 6 link bow. The Foothills is the best area in this act to farm the cards, so re-run this area until you are around level 70. A 6 link bow is a longer term goal and you likely won’t get all 22 cards needed in the Foothills. However, you can easily start mapping on a 5 link, at which point you can continue to find the cards in maps (or make the currency to buy the remaining cards you need).

If you do happen to farm all 22 cards, you’ll want to get a Shrieking Essence of Dread.  These can be bought in a trade league on day 1 quite cheap, and will guarantee +2 levels of socketed bow gems. In a SSF environment we can use a lower tier of essence and be happy with the +1 level to get started.

Note: Syndicate encounters start spawning in this act, our number one craft to look for is Chaos damage over time Multiplier.  When unveiling items, always select this option when you see it so you can craft it onto your weapon asap. A +2 bow with a Chaos multi craft on it will carry us well into red maps.

If you happen across a 5 or 6 link in this act, you can add Efficacy Support and Void Manipulation Support to your Toxic Rain links:

Toxic Rain–Swift Assembly Support–Blastchain Mine Support–Vicious Projectiles Support–Efficacy Support–Void Manipulation Support

Act 10

This is our last chance to fix up resistances, so keep an eye out for more gear – particularly jewellery. Important stats are:

• higher movement speed boots
• elemental resistances
• life

Complete your Merciless Labyrinth and choose the Bomb Specialist40% increased Damage if you Detonated Mines Recently. 20% increased Mine Throwing Speed if you Detonated Mines Recently. You gain 4% increased Area of Effect for each Mine. Mines have 20% increased Detonation Speed. ascendancy nodes.

Make sure to check and fix your resistances, then proceed to maps and the end game story line!