Pyroclast Miner Saboteur - Path of Exile: 3.24

Mine builds in Path of Exile are typically looked at from the perspective of being only good for the mid-game. However, Grinding Gear Games has made a lot of changes in the past few leagues that make such builds fun and interesting, with the possibility of scaling them further into the endgame.

One build, in particular, comes to mind when it comes to that: the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur. In this build guide, you will learn how to create this character with gear and gems for a league start scenario, as well as how you can improve it to become a potent pinnacle boss killer.

So, if you are interested in creating this character, then read ahead. This is our comprehensive build guide for the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League!

Basics

This build works by utilizing the Pyroclast Mine gem. This is a fire spell skill gem in Path of Exile where you throw mines that spew out fiery projectiles at a targeted location.

What makes this build work is the Astral Projector – a unique Topaz Ring that alleviates the need to aim at the target. With this ring equipped, all you have to do is throw the mines at the general location of the enemy and the projectiles will come after those that are nearby, similar to how homing missiles work.

The reason why the Astral Projector changes how the Pyroclast Mine’s projectiles work at a fundamental level is that the fire spell skill gem itself has the “Nova” tag on it. And, the Astral Projector changes nova spells to cast at the targeted location instead of around the source (which, in this case, is your Pyroclast Mine).

During league start, this build uses a wand and shield combo, enabling you to utilize Shield Charge to move around the map quickly. If you want to go with this setup in the endgame, you can transition to a self-crafted wand with better mods, as well as the Rathpith Globe.

Another way to scale the damage of this build even further is by equipping The Annihilating Light – a unique Quarterstaff that drops from the Searing Exarch. This essentially triples the damage of your Pyroclast Mines, though this comes at the cost of heavily reduced elemental resistances.

Anyway, you are just going to use the base version of fire spell skill gem on this build. That is because Pyroclast Mine has gotten so much better now because it fires four projectiles instead of two.

Pyroclast Mine of Sabotage, the transfigured version, is just not good. It has lower damage and damage effectiveness and has a higher mana reservation requirement, so it’s a no-go for this one.

Another way to boost the damage of the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur is by activating Skitterbots. These minions will occasionally detonate the mines that you have already laid out on the battlefield, resulting in more projectiles. Plus, they grant 10% more mine damage, so it’s always a good thing to include them in the build.

Look for the following mods on gear to improve the damage of the build even further:

• Increased Fire Damage

• Increased Trap/Mine Damage

• Increased Spell Damage

• Increased Elemental Damage

• Increased Area Damage

• Critical Strike Multiplier

Playstyle

There is a slight change in the way the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur is played. You see, in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, you can no longer bind instant skills or actions on the left click. This means that you can no longer put “Detonate Mines” on the left mouse button, so you have to bind it either on the right click or on another hotkey.

Anyway, move around the map using Shield Charge (when wearing wand + shield) or Frostblink (when using The Annihilating Light) to search for enemies.

Once you have encountered a huge pack of monsters, throw mines at them and then move around to detonate. Just repeat this process until they are all burned to a crisp. Thanks to the Astral Projector, aiming specifically at the desired target is no longer mandatory, ensuring a more laid-back approach to playing PoE without compromising the damage output.

In addition, set your Bear Trap and Arcanist Brand accordingly, especially if you are dealing with tougher enemies.

When you are bossing, you can preemptively place multiple mines at the location where the bosses will spawn without making them explode yet. When the battle begins, press the appropriate hotkey to detonate your mines and watch the boss’ HP deteriorate quickly!

Ascendancy

When you are using a Mine skill gem in Path of Exile, there is no better ascendancy class than the Saboteur. This, as you could say, is the quintessential class for all Mine builds due to its notable ascendancy passives.

Explosives Expert is just too good, which is why you are going to take this first. This increases your crit chance and adds 10% elemental penetration against chilled and shocked enemies. As you can already tell, you will always take advantage of these bonuses because of Summon Skitterbots.

The next thing you want to do is improve your defenses and that is where Born in the Shadows comes in. Thanks to this notable passive, nearby monsters are affected by the “Blind” status effect automatically. This not only means that they are less likely to hit you, but in case they do, you take 15% reduced damage as a result of Born in the Shadows.

When you finish your third labyrinth trial, you are going to allocate points to Demolitions Specialist. This increases the effect of your Pyroclast Mine’s aura by a whopping 150%. This is basically a free bonus, so why not take it?

The last node you should get is Pyromaniac. This heavily improves your survivability in a couple of ways. First, it makes you immune to Shock, meaning, you won’t take increased damage from enemy attacks. Second, you regenerate up to 10% HP every time you trigger your mines, which is basically all the time when mapping!

Notable Ascendancy Passives for Pyroclast Mine Saboteur

Gear

The Pyroclast Mine Saboteur is a great league starter as it is able to function really well with just a minimal investment. However, if you love the playstyle so much and would like to continue, you can invest PoE Currency and take this build to the endgame. Each section will provide you with budget and endgame pieces so that you have some options to choose from. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Weapon

For a good league starter wand, get an ilvl 82 Prophecy Wand and spam it with Scorched Fossils until you get “+1 to Level of All Fire Spell Skill Gems.”

Self-crafted Prophecy Wand (Budget)

As you reach the endgame, you can transition to The Annihilating Light. It allows your Pyroclast Mine to deal triple damage without even trying. You can counter its downside by adding elemental resistance mods on your other pieces of gear. But, because this is a two-handed weapon, you will forgo Shield Charge in favor of Frostblink.

The Annihilating Light

If you would like to continue using a wand and shield in the endgame instead of replacing them with The Annihilating Light, you can craft a much better wand. However, crafting it is quite expensive and will really require you to invest a ton of currency. But, if that does not deter you one bit, you can follow our crafting guide to learn more.

Self-crafted Wand (Endgame)

Shield

You have a couple of options when it comes to the shield. If you want more damage, you can opt for an ilvl 84+ Harmonic Spirit Shield. Use Scorched Fossils until you get the “+1 to Level of All Fire Spell Skill Gems” mod, as well as other affixes that can benefit the build, such as max life, resistances, and chance to block.

Self-crafted Spirit Shield (Budget)

Since this build also utilizes evasion as a potent defensive layer, you also have the option of using a DEX shield like an ilvl 85+ Lacquered Buckler for more movement speed or Supreme Spiked Shield for spell suppression. Unlike the Spirit Shield, you will use essences to craft the DEX shield. We recommend that you spam it with Essence of Envy since chaos resistance is hard to come on this build. Do it until you get spell suppression and other useful mods.

Self-crafted DEX Shield

Once you have enough currency to purchase the Dissolution of the Flesh jewel, you can transition to using the Rathpith Globe. This unique Titanium Spirit Shield is typically used for low-life builds due to its ability to increase your crit chance and spell damage significantly. Although the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur is not a low-life build, you can utilize this to great effect if you pair it with Dissolution of the Flesh.

Rathpith Globe

Body Armor

Victario’s Influence is tough to beat for this build. This unique Lacquered Garb has all of the goods that can mightily improve the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur. First, it provides a 45% increased reservation efficiency, which works perfectly with how mines work in Path of Exile. This essentially gives you a lot more mana to work with.

Besides that, the Pyroclast Mine’s area of effect is increased by 25%, thus allowing it to cover most of the screen with projectiles. Not only that but this also affects the trigger area, leaving your enemies with no chance to escape! 

We recommend that you buy a Victario’s Influence body armor with any two of these corrupted implicit modifiers:

• +2 to Level of Socketed Trap or Mine Gems (Best)

• +2 to Level of Socketed AoE Gems

• +2 to Level of Socketed Aura Gems

• +2 to Level of Socketed Projectile Gems

Victario’s Influence

For a more defensive option, you can equip the Kintsugi. This unique Exquisite Leather Armor provides a huge boost to your evasion rating, especially when you are hit by the enemy recently. If you are not hit in the last several seconds, you take 35% less damage from the first damaging attack you receive.

Kintsugi

A good alternative to the Kintsugi is Skin of the Loyal for that “+1 to Level of Socketed Gems.” In terms of defenses, this unique Simple Robe increases your armor, evasion, and energy shield by 100%. However, the problem with this body armor is that you cannot change its socket colors. Therefore, if you want to use this one, acquire a Skin of the Loyal with the right gem colors right from the get-go.

Skin of the Loyal

Helmet

Early on, you can use Hrimnor’s Resolve to give you a slight boost in fire damage and defenses. It has a unique effect where you become immune to Freeze and Chill if you have used a fire skill in the last four seconds.

Hrimnor's Resolve

Elemental and chaos resistances are important if you want to survive in PoE. Admittedly, this build naturally does not come with high enough resistances to survive comfortably. That is why you’re going to end up using a self-crafted helmet, specifically an ilvl 85 Vaal Mask or any evasion/energy shield-based helm. This gives you a chance to obtain the spell suppression mod, assuming that it is still not capped yet.

With the changes to mana in the 3.24 Necropolis League, you can think of spamming the helmet with Screaming/Shrieking Essence of Loathing for that mana reservation efficiency mod. Do this until you get life, spell suppression, and elemental resistance.

Self-crafted Helmet (Budget)

In the endgame, you will be a lot quicker when throwing your mines, which may leave you starving for more mana. Hence, you will craft the helmet using the Deafening Essence of Loathing for a higher mana reservation efficiency mod. You can even get more of the same mod by using Grand Eldritch Ichors. To cap it off, spam Grand Eldritch Ember to get “% Increased Critical Strike Chance for Spells.”

The goal of crafting the helmet is to sort out your resistances, with some life and mana for good measure.

Self-crafted Helmet

Gloves

A few weeks into the league, you can get the Machina Mitts for a cheap price. These unique Murder Mitts provide a ton of evasion and energy shield to improve your survivability. In addition, 1% of the damage dealt by your mines is leeched to you as life, making you tankier in the process. Scout the trade website to get one with the corrupted implicit mod, “+% to Spell Critical Strike Chance” for better results.

Machina Mitts

So, where do you go from here? Well, you can get evasion-based gloves from the Alva Temple, specifically with the mod, “+(46-48)% to Cold Resistance, (30-50)% Increased Damage with Hits Against Chilled Enemies.” Fracture the said mod using a Fracturing Orb to make it easier for you to craft the endgame gloves.

Once the mod is fractured, use Deafening Essence of Envy for some added chaos resistance along with other mods that can benefit the build.

For the Eldritch Implicits, use Grand Eldritch Ichor to obtain “Inflict Fire Exposure on Hit, applying -13% to Fire Resistance” and Grand Eldritch Ember for that “25% Chance to Unnerve Enemies for 4 Seconds on Hit.”

Self-crafted Gloves

Boots

The boots you’re going to use for this build are nothing special. Use this gear slot to sort out elemental/chaos resistances or any issues you may have.

If you are so inclined, you can follow our crafting guide to create a pretty good pair of Onslaught boots for the endgame.

For the implicit modifiers, use Eldritch Ichors for cooldown recovery rate and Eldritch Embers for increased action speed.

Self-crafted Boots

Amulet

There are three good amulets you can choose for the build. The most popular is the Replica Dragonfang’s Flight, particularly one that comes with “+3 to Level of All Pyroclast Mine Gems.” Besides that, this amulet provides a bit of mana reservation efficiency, which is always welcome for builds such as the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur.

Replica Dragonfang's Flight (with +3 Pyroclast Mine Gems)

Another unique amulet you can try is Defiance of Destiny. What makes this special is its unique effect where you get healed a huge chunk of your HP before you receive an impending hit. The added fire/cold/lightning resistances can help you cap them with ease.

Defiance of Destiny

If you want to raise the level of your Pyroclast Mine by two, as well as gain mana reservation efficiency for Anger, then you can opt for a self-crafted amulet using a Warlord Exalted Orb. Refer to our comprehensive crafting guide for more info.

Self-crafted Amulet (with Warlord Exalted Orb)

As for the anointments, there are several good options:

• Sovereignty

• 12% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills

• 10% Increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills

• Requires Silver Oil x3

• Champion of the Cause

• 6% Increased Effect of Non-Curse Auras from Your Skills

• 8% Increased Reservation Efficiency of Skills

• 12% Increased Area of Effect of Aura Skills

• Requires Teal Oil, Crimson Oil, Golden Oil

• Efficient Explosives

• 30% Increased Mana Reservation Efficiency of Skills That Throw Mines

• Mines Have a 15% Chance to Be Detonated an Additional Time

• Requires Sepia Oil, Teal Oil, Violet Oil

• Heart of Flame

• 30% Increased Fire Damage

• Damage Penetrates 6% Fire Resistance

Rings

One of the most important rings that you should equip for the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur is the Astral Projector. As mentioned earlier, this unique Topaz Ring makes the projectiles that come out of your Pyroclast Mines seek out nearby enemies, ensuring that they take the most amount of damage from each mine you have laid out.

Astral Projector

The other one is a self-crafted ring that has modifiers that can help you fill in the gaps. You can even take things a step further by crafting on a Hunter-influenced ring so that you can roll the mod, “Curse Enemies with Elemental Weakness on Hit.”

To craft the Hunter-influenced ring, all you have to do is get a good base (we recommend the Amethyst Ring for chaos resistance or Vermillion Ring for more HP) and then use Harvest Reforge Caster until you get the mod, as well as other useful affixes.

Self-crafted Ring (with Hunter Mod)

With the nerfs to mana in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League, the “Non-Channeling Skills Have -7 to Total Mana Cost” mod has become more appealing. Hence, leave a prefix open so that you can add this mod using the Crafting Bench.

Belt

After completing Path of Exile’s main campaign, get yourself an ilevel 82+ Stygian Vise and use Harvest Reforge Chaos until you get some chaos resistance, elemental resistance, life, and mana. This is practically the belt you’re going to use for the most part.

Self-crafted Stygian Vise

In the endgame, you are going to use the Mageblood. This gives you permanent flask uptime, which you can utilize to cap your resistances, improve your crit chance, or bolster your defenses.

Mageblood

Flasks

• Jade Flask

• Diamond Flask

• Amethyst Flask

• Jade Flask

• Life Flask

• Bottled Faith (replace Life Flask)

• Progenesis (swap with Bottled Faith to improve survivability)

Flask Mods

• 60% Increased Evasion Rating (of the Impala)

• 55% Increased Critical Strike Chance (of Incision)

• 14% Increased Movement Speed (of the Cheetah)

• 20% Additional Elemental Resistances (of the Rainbow)

Jewels

The Pyroclast Mine Saboteur does not have any mandatory jewels, but that doesn’t mean you cannot use some to improve various aspects of the build. 

Having said that, get yourself a good Watcher’s Eye with any of the following mods:

• Zealotry

• Critical Strikes Penetrate 10% of Enemy Elemental Resistances

• Grace

• % Chance to Evade Attack Hits

• +% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage

• % Increased Movement Speed

Large Cluster Jewels can roll great notable passives that can complement any build in PoE. That said, get a fire damage Large Cluster Jewel and use Harvest Reforge Fire to get the following notable passive skills:

• Smoking Remains

• 35% Increased Fire Damage

• 10% Chance to Create a Smoke Cloud on Kill

• Prismatic Heart

• +10% to All Elemental Resistances

• 30% Increased Elemental Damage

• Widespread Destruction

• 6% Increased Area of Effect

• 20% Increased Elemental Damage

To improve your mine-throwing speed, you can equip a Medium Cluster Jewel (trap/mine damage) with Expert Sabotage and Guerilla Tactics as the notable passives. Use Harvest Reforge Speed for a good chance of obtaining them.

If you are struggling to activate all of your auras, you can also add a Small Cluster Jewel (mana reservation efficiency) to the build. Spam it with Orb Alteration until you acquire Sublime Form.

Now, if you’ve opted to use the Rathpith Globe, you should definitely pair it with Dissolution of the Flesh. This unique Crimson Jewel counteracts the downside of Rathpith Globe, allowing you to throw your Pyroclast Mines without worrying about your HP.

Gems

No matter what version of the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur you are using, the gem setup remains largely the same. 

Body Armor

• Pyroclast Mine

• Charged Mines Support

• Trap and Mine Damage Support

• Minefield Support

• Concentrated Effect

• Awakened Fire Penetration Support/Empower Support

Charged Mines is a great support gem for Mine builds in Path of Exile. This is primarily because it greatly increases mine-throwing speed. Furthermore, you have a chance of getting Frenzy Charges when you detonate your Pyroclast Mines with an enemy nearby.

Minefield Support is amazing for the build because it allows you to throw up to five Mines at a time. Although this drastically reduces your mine-throwing speed, this is addressed by the Charged Mines Support.

Trap and Mine Damage Support and Concentrated Area of Effect Support improve your Pyroclast Mine’s damage.

Awakened Fire Penetration Support allows you to penetrate 39% Fire Resistance at level 5. It also gives you a slight boost to fire damage at the max level. If you want to raise the gem level of your Pyroclast Mine, you can swap this for a level 4 Empower Support.

Helmet

• Bear Trap

• Arcanist Brand

• Combustion Support

• Assassin’s Mark

Bear Trap and Arcanist Brand should be used whenever you encounter tougher enemies. The former causes enemies to take increased damage from your Pyroclast Mines. The latter activates Combustion Support and Assassin’s Mark so that your mines can do even more damage to affected enemies!

Gloves

• Summon Skitterbots

• Awakened Unbound AIlments

• Defiance Banner

• Enlighten (lvl 3)

Summon Skitterbots enables you to call forth minions that inflict certain elemental ailments on your enemies. They occasionally detonate your mines for additional damage. This gem is supported by Awakened Unbound Ailments to increase the effect of Chill and Shock on affected foes.

Defiance Banner, on the other hand, boosts your armor and evasion rating, thus improving your survivability.

These gems are supported by Enlighten level 3 to give you the power to activate them without reserving so much mana.

Boots

• Grace

• Zealotry

• Herald of Ash

• Enlighten Support

This is your main aura setup. Grace grants you a huge amount of evasion rating. Since this is mainly an evasion-based build, activating this is a no-brainer.

Zealotry increases your spell damage and spell critical strike chance to make your mines even more devastating.

Herald of Ash is a nice addition to the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur because it not only provides a boost to your fire damage, but monsters you kill with the buff active will explode, burning nearby enemies in the process.

Weapon

• Shield Charge

• Faster Attacks

• Frostblink

These gems give you the means of traversing the map quickly. For the most part, use Shield Charge to search for packs of monsters. If you are stuck or you need to go over obstacles use Frostblink.

Shield

• Steelskin/Immortal Call (Lvl 2)

• Cast When Damage Taken (Lvl 1)

• Increased Duration Support

You can choose between Steelskin or Molten Shell for your guard skill. Steelskin is good as it makes you immune to bleeding and has a shorter cooldown. Immortal Call, on the other hand, reduces the physical and elemental damage you take when it is active. It is up to you which one of these guard skills you want for your character. 

Increased Duration Support is there to, well, make these skills last longer, especially since you do not level them to the max.

Weapon (2-Handed)

When you opt for The Annihilating Light instead of a wand + shield combo, you open up a ton of different avenues. You can use the slots on the two-handed weapon to put your auras in. They are then supported by Enlighten lvl 4 to increase mana reservation efficiency. However, you can also come up with your own gem combinations.

Tattoos

We know it sucks that the secondary ascendancy classes are now gone in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. But, as a consolation, GGG has brought back some Tattoos into the game. Here are the ones that we recommend for the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur:

• Tattoo of the Tasalio Scout

• 4% Increased Effect of Your Marks

• Tattoo of the Ramako Sniper

• 5% Increased Projectile Speed

• Tattoo of the Arohongui Shaman

• 5% Increased Effect of Herald Buffs on You

• Tattoo of the Hinekora Storyteller

• +3% to Chaos Resistance

• Tattoo of the Ramako Shaman

• +2% Chance to Suppress Spell Damage

• Tattoo of the Ramako Fleetfoot

• 2% Increased Movement Speed

Passive Tree

Passive Tree for Pyroclast Mine Saboteur

POB

Budget Setup

Main Setup

2-Handed Setup (Endgame)

Final Thoughts

The Pyroclast Mine Saboteur has survived the changes that have been implemented in Path of Exile 3.24 Necropolis League. This means that the build still performs admirably well; whether in a league start scenario or in the endgame.

You can utilize this build as a means of getting good pieces of gear for use on your other characters, assuming that you want to play other builds in the future.

However, if you like the playstyle, you can certainly improve the build in more ways than one. This is a fast mapper and competent bossing build that gets better the more currency you invest into it.

So, there you have it! Try the Pyroclast Mine Saboteur out and let us know what you think. Good luck, Exile!

PROS

+Great league starter

+Good boss-killing potential with minimal investment

+Easy to use thanks to interactions with equipment and gems

+Is tanky enough to take on whatever content there is in the game

+Still great in Patch 3.24

CONS

-Mine playstyle may not be to your liking

-Requires a few unique items to work properly