[2.5] Saboteur Fire Nova Mine (cheap)

Hi,

I did this build during the essence league (2.4) and i've quite enjoyed it so here's a build for it if anyone wants to try this. I used different existent builds to do mine. Especially this Pohx's video, and this 2.2 build.
You can also see a sample of the skill in action in this Gorge map video. Not the same build that i'll describe but you can get the idea.

Demo (video), in a Chateau Map (T11).
Passive tree (life based, 113 points, lvl 91 ; PoEPlanner link)
Keystones & explanation :
Bandits : +40 life (Oak), passive point, passive point.
Ascendancy (by order of priority) : Bomb Specialist, Demolitions Specialist, Blinding Assault, Explosives Expert.

Gems (155 int, 111 str, 98 dex) :

• 5/6l, BBRBB(B) : Fire Nova Mine (FNM) + Minefield + Fire Penetration + Controlled Destruction + Elemental Focus (+ Inc. AoE / Concentrated Effect).
• 4l : RRRG : Cast when Damage Taken (lvl 2) + Immortal Call (lvl 4) + Increased Duration (lvl 5) + Phase Run (lvl 4). Our defensive trigger. You'll find this in almost every build. It prevents to be instantly kill with several quick physical hits. The levels are indicative, you can up these gems more if you want.
• 3l, GGG : Bear Trap (lvl 1) + Cluster Traps + Multiple Traps. 6 traps / cast, max. 12. It'll increase our damages with the ascendancy node Bomb Specialist by 96%.
• 2l, BB : Blasphemy + Enfeeble. A cheap way to get some additional defense.
• 2l, BB : Flame Dash + Faster Casting. Our movement skill.
• 1s, R : Summon Stone Golem. Give us 105 energy shield regen / s at lvl 20. It makes us able to cast our fire nova mines without much issues (for the reference, FNM mana cost = 190 on my char).
• 1s, G : Arctic Armour. Additional defensive layer with 12% less phys / fire damage taken when hit, chill as a bonus.
• 1s, B : Orb of Storms. Used to proc our keystone Elemental Overload for 40% more elemental damage.
• 1s, B : Clarity. It helps to be able to cast FNM at least once after taking a big hit.
• 1s, B : Vaal Clarity. FNM has a huge mana cost / cast. This will help us especially since we've MoM. Despite i didn't use it much, it was obviously very helpful in no mana regen maps, and in dangerous situation.

That's the list of what i used, i also had a Bone offering for convenience (strongboxes mainly).
You can put a Vaal Lightning Trap for bosses, Vaal Haste... I didn't get nor buy them. I had Lightning Warp for convenience to teleport where flame dash couldn't.
A Decoy Totem can probably be a great addition with 10% less damage applied to mobs + taunt. As far as i went i didn't feel the need.

Leveling : Fire Nova Mine is available at level 12. Before, or even a little after if you're not comfortable with the mana cost, you can use Fire Trap, and eventually Lightning Trap in addition.
Regarding the passive tree, you can honestly choose how to progress. You want High Explosives and Clever Construction asap, but you also want to cross the passive tree until Elemental Overload, the templar area for AoE radius / damage, etc. Generally when i picked a build before, i liked to see the completed tree, see what nodes were taken and then i chose my path.

Gear : Like any of my characters so far, i simply put whatever piece with life + 2 resistances. I bought some on PoE.trade for no more than 1c in the essence league despite i sold a lot of stuff and could afford more. Outside of this general rule (life + 2res) :

• Weapon(s) : Spell damage, flat elemental damage added to spells, fire damage and cast speed.
• Boots : 30% movement speed.

I'm targeting cheap here so i'm not mentioning spell damage, cast speed and fire damage you can get on amulet / rings for instance. Plus the new Opal ring type with 15-25% inc. elemental damage as implicit.
You can see my character over here. The Fire Nova Miner one is novHarest (lvl 91). I'll put his gear here too (yep, nice 6l i know, i couldn't leave the inc. AoE on FNM) :
If you've the currencies, you could take a 6l staff +3 (+1 socketed gems, +2 socketed fire gems) with an Empower lvl 4 instead of Inc. AoE / Conc. Effect. The Searing Touch may be cheaper but it'll not be better than a great rare staff. To compensate the loss of AoE radius : Dying Sun and/or Carcass Jack. I guess i'd take a Kaom's Heart for a nice life boost, even if i'm not sure due to the number of skills we'd have to abandon.
Again, i mainly did cheap characters and i don't know all the uniques available in the game so i'm not the good person to tell you what are the BiS. And if you've the currencies, i'm sure you know what to take.

Some additional character / skill stats :

I think we saw everything. I really liked this build and despite going life, we have various defensive abilities. The blind from the ascendancy is very useful. And MoM, CwDT, Arctic armour...
With my character i've completed my objectives in the essence league aka reaching the lvl 90 for the first time. I also did two more things for the first time : Thanks to the Atlas i was able to reach red maps but didn't drop much of them so i went to T13 max (High Gardens) and did a lot of Chateau. And near the end of the league i tried Atziri and succeed. I didn't succeed to clear this map however (damages were still good, but the no mana regen + beyond + -16% max elem res not really).

Maybe i'll try to do a Fire Nova Mine build with crit in mind. Here it's really just an aggregation of what i've found around, not a build i did myself from scratch. But i've started to enjoy to "theorycraft" lately. The only issue i see with FNM and crit, it's the relative loss we get since it's 4 hits and not a big one so the ignite will not be that awesome.

Note : I put the detonate mines on the spacebar for this build. LMB = move as always, and RMB = FNM. By default detonate mines is on D.

Changelog :

Never done a mine build before, what would you recommend using for leveling? If you can make it work, a video would be an excellent addition to the guide I think, especially for someone trying a new type of build.

Also, as someone builds some currency, what would you recommend as upgrades, (to enable to do higher level maps/quicker).

Fire Nova Mine is available quite early : level 12. Before, you can simply use Fire Trap, or whatever you'd like. After that, i think it's not a bad idea to try to use FNM so you'll get used to it. It was also my first mine build, i never wanted to play this kind of builds (traps, totems, mines), but it has changed :p. If i'm remembering correctly, i used fire and lightning trap for a while.
About the video, i'll see what i can do.

For upgrades, i'm not sure to have enough knowledge yet to tell you what would be the BiS.
What i've in mind though : Inc. AoE is a nice gem but it doesn't give us damages. There's Trap and Mine Damage that can adds 39% more damage. You could then compensate the loss of AoE radius with Carcass Jack and/or a Dying Sun flask.
I think an Empower lvl 3 or 4 may also be a great upgrade. I don't know if The Searing Touch could be one also or if 2 really great wands are better. Or a staff +3. That would enable you to wear a Kaom's Heart for a great amount of life (despite losing 6 sockets may be an issue here).
That's what i see atm. Maybe in the older FNM builds we can find some interesting stuff for this. Like i said, i did all my characters with cheap stuff so far so i never searched for BiS yet.

Still, regarding higher tiers, i don't think you'd have a problem with a cheap stuff similar to mine. I didn't go higher than T13 because like i said, even if the Atlas was great and i saw red maps for the first time, i didn't loot enough to go higher. I never saw a T14 map loot yet.

its build comfortable for the average maping?

@Gorjkee : Totally. Except for the no life + mana regen that can be painful with others mods like beyond for instance, i could do almost any map mods and the clear speed is really good.
You can check the video of the Gorge map someone did, or i'll maybe try to do a video right now of a Chateau map for instance. I'll try to not pick anything during it.

Edit : Just did the video, upload almost done, i'll add it in the OP.

Hey, I know you said this build was supposed to be cheap but heading to end game I was wondering if you knew anything about what armor I should have towards end game.

If you could look at this fire nova mine build and tell me if the gear he says endgame would be viable that would be much appreciated: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1774498

Thanks,
xSfy

In the link you gave, it's just a standard body armour like what i said in the gear section : life + 2 res. Like he said "super crappy", meaning this will not cost much. The only cost is the links, i guess he looted the 6l and rolled it with chaos or else.

I still had a tabula rasa on this char despite being 90+. It was fine for t10+, don't know for higher content, couldn't try. A more expensive choice would be a Belly of the Beast. Or a Carcass Jack for the inc AoE, and additional ES for our mana pool.

Also since i was able to try a block build, i think a good shield in the off-hand would be a nice defensive addition.

Edit @xSfy (Below) : You're welcome. Always glad to help. I hope you'll have as much fun as i did with this build.

Hey thanks for responding quickly! One of the more detailed builds I have seen so far and it was very helpful and so were you.

Keep up the good work,
xSfy