Gear Progression
Learn how to progress your gear, important Milestones, Budget Items, Earlygame, Endgame & Crafting for the Poison Seismic Trap Saboteur Build.
Character Progression
Early Game Goal
Your goal in the early game is to cap your Elemental Resistances, obtain the Unveiled Syndicate Crafts, and obtain a The Devouring Diadem. By the end of these milestones, you should have no issue progressing far into the Atlas of Worlds.
Milestone 1 - Syndicate Crafts and Progression
Your very first priority is obtaining a The Devouring Diadem from defeating the Syndicate Mastermind. This will take you many Syndicate missions to complete and you may not get it to drop, but it's important to give yourself a chance and start farming for it. You also need to obtain the following Syndicate Crafts by unveiling gear dropped during their missions:
- Gain x% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage - Unveiled from It that Fled
- x% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage - Unveiled from Korrel
- x% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Lightning and Fire Damage - Unveiled from Gravicious
- x% increased Movement Speed AND x% chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill
- % increased Trap Throwing Speed
- +1 to Minimum Endurance Charges and (3-4)% chance to gain an Endurance Charge on Kill
- You can equip this Ring as soon as you obtain it for some additional Defence.
Milestone 2 - Flask Setup
Flasks are a significant defensive upgrade that's often overlooked. The flask bases we run are:
- Divine Life Flask
- Jade Flask
- Quartz Flask
- Granite Flask
- Quicksilver Flask
We craft our Flasks using basic crafting methods, first using an Orb of Transmutation on White Flasks and then alternating between using Orb of Alteration and Orb of Augmentation until hitting the following mods on your Quartz Flask, Granite Flask and Diamond Flask. Any of the below mods can be on any of the flasks you're rolling:
- Reduced effect of Freeze and Chill during Flask effect.
- Increased Armour during Flask effect.
- Increased Evasion Rating during Flask effect
- Reduced Effect of Curses on you during Flask effect.
When rolling your Divine Life Flask look for the following modifiers:
- Grants Immunity to Bleeding if used while Bleeding
- Any Instant Life modifier
Milestone 3 - Obliteration
Purchase an Obliteration to increase your mapping speed. Keep in mind this has a high Intelligence requirement so you must obtain a Rare jewel that has any amount of Intelligence and an Agate Amulet to meet this requirement.
Milestone 4 - Shield, Helmet, Body, Gloves and Boots
Upgrade the following gear to slots to Evasion/Energy Shield and Energy Shield bases so that you may cast your Malevolence linked to Divine Blessing Support with Eldritch Battery. Do this by using Essences (Greed, Hatred, Wrath, Anger), purchasing them through Trade, or by identifying them off the ground.
- Shield: 60+ to maximum Life, 2 Resistances and Craft Gain x% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage.
- Helmet: 60+ to maximum Life, 2 Resistances and Craft x% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Fire Damage
- Body: Purchase a 5-linked Base and obtain: 60+ to maximum Life, 2 Resistances and Craft x% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Lightning and Fire Damage
- Gloves: 60+ to maximum Life, 2 Resistances and Craft x% to Lightning/Fire/Cold and Chaos Resistances.
- Boots: 60+ to maximum Life, 2 Resistances and Craft x% increased Movement Speed AND x% chance to gain Onslaught for 4 seconds on Kill
Milestone 5 - Amulet, Rings and Belt
- Purchase an Agate Amulet with +15% to Damage over Time Multiplier a 40+ Life roll and Craft x% increased Trap Throwing Speed
- Purchase a Ring with 3 Elemental Resistances and Craft Life
- Purchase a 2nd Ring with +1 to Minimum Endurance Charges and (3-4)% chance to gain an Endurance Charge on Kill. The Endurance Charge on Kill is the important part, as it allows you to have Charges to consume when using Immortal Call.
- Purchase or Craft a Heavy Belt so it has 60+ to maximum Life and at least 20% to Chaos Resistance, finishing with the x% increased Trap Throwing Speed Craft.
Milestone 6 - Devouring Diadem
Before moving on with the build you need to obtain a The Devouring Diadem. This item enables the use of Determination and Vaal Molten Shell. For the Unveil on your The Devouring Diadem, you must eventually obtain the x% increased Duration of Ailments you inflict while Focused Craft as this MASSIVLY increases your damage when you time it properly.
An easy strategy to obtain a The Devouring Diadem is to run Jun Syndicate encounters in T1-3 Maps. This forces the final boss to have only 2 drops, the The Devouring Diadem and a Flask. This massively increases the chance of obtaining your next big upgrade. I recommend to take Intelligence Gathering and Test of Loyalty to increase the speed of getting Master Mind fights.
Mid Game Goal
Our goal is to upgrade into Eldritch Influenced Rares which greatly boost both our defenses and offenses. Once you've completed these Milestones you're more than ready to take on any Atlas content, and farm any non-uber boss.
Milestone 1 - The Devouring Diadem
Now that you have your The Devouring Diadem, put all your Auras , except Defiance Banner, into it to make use of the Socketed Gems have 25% increased Mana Reservation Efficiency. Now that you have Eldritch Battery from your Helmet, make sure to change to the Mid Game tree to remove those traveling nodes. Keep in mind when you do this, you need to obtain ~42 Intelligence somewhere on your gear, or temporarily on your passive Skill Tree. The easiest way is a jewel that has 12 Intelligence, and a gear slot that has 30+. Instead you can spec into Coldhearted Calculation and a small Intelligence node to obtain the 30.
IMPORTANT! If you plan on defeating any Pinnacle bosses, make sure to obtain a Cold Iron Point. Not because it provides more damage than your Obliteration but because you need a Dagger/Sword to use the Blade Trap setup to apply your Wither debuff.
Milestone 2 - 6-Link Body Armour
Purchase a 6-Linked Evasion/Armour Base. Use Screaming Essence of Anger, Screaming Essence of Greed, Screaming Essence of Hatred, Screaming Essence of Wrath until you obtain the following modifiers:
- 80+ to maximum Life
- A 40%+ to any Elemental Resistance
- Either a 2nd 30%+ to any Elemental Resistance, Spell Suppression or 5%+ additional Physical Damage Reduction
Finish with the x% of Physical Damage from Hits taken as Lightning and Fire Damage
Milestone 3 - Unset Ring
You have enough Reservation left to use Defiance Banner, but you need an Extra socket to fit it in. Purchase an Unset Ring with 50+ to maximum Life, 2 Elemental Resistance or 1 Elemental Resistance and Strength. You can obtain Strength elsewhere if it's too expensive here. Finish the item by crafting a Hybrid Elemental and Chaos Resistance mod.
Milestone 4 - Shield, 2nd Ring and Stygian Vise
Purchase or Essence Craft on a Spiked Shield Base that has the Implicit +5% chance to Suppress Spell Damage. On this Shield, roll until you obtain the following modifiers:
- 16% chance to Suppress Spell Damage (Unless you rolled this on your Body Armour. If you don't get it here or your Body Armour, you need to get a 12-14% roll on your Gloves or boots.
- 30+ Strength or Intelligence (if you still need some on your gear)
- 70+ to maximum Life
- Finish this with a Gain x% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage Craft.
On your 2nd Ring obtain the following:
- 30+ to Strength (if you still need it from gear)
- 2 Elemental Resistances
- Open Prefix to craft Life (or get 1 Elemental Resistance with a 50+ Life roll and craft a Resistance)
Purchase Stygian Vise or craft once with Essences for the following modifiers:
- +60 to maximum Life
- Two 30%+ Elemental Resistance rolls
- Open Suffix to craft x% increased Trap Throwing Speed
For your Abyss Jewel obtain a Jewel that has x% chance to gain Phasing for 4 seconds on Kill and if it's not too expensive get a +20 to maximum Life roll as well.
Milestone 5 - Sins' Rebirth
Now that you've obtained Phasing (no collision with monster hit boxes, allowing free movment) from an Abyss Jewel you can drop your Quartz Flask and use a Sin's Rebirth instead for a big damage increase. This gives you the buff Unholy Might, Gain 30% of Physical Damage as extra Chaos Damage. If you haven't already, make sure to enchant your flasks with Use When Full, which costs 5 Glassblower's Bauble and Instilling Orb to craft on the bench.
Milestone 6 - Eldritch Implicits
Use Lesser Eldritch Ember and Lesser Eldritch Ichor to obtain the following modifiers:
- Body Armour: 10% increased effect of Non-Curse Auras from your Skills and Determination has 21% increased Aura Effect
- Gloves: Roll with Greater Eldritch Ember for While a Unique Enemy is in your Presence, 13% increased Trap Throwing Speed
- Boots: Use Greater Eldritch Ember and Lesser Eldritch Ichor for While a Unique Enemy is in your Presence, Gain 6% of Physical Damage as Extra Chaos Damage and +1% to maximum Fire Resistance, 5% increased Movement Speed, or 4% increased Action Speed.
Milestone 7 - Gem Upgrades
Purchase the following Gems for easy damage upgrades:
- Awakened Unbound Ailments Support
- Awakened Void Manipulation Support
- Awakened Deadly Ailments Support
- Level 21 Seismic Trap and Exsanguinate
End Game Goal
Your goal here is to obtain enough Suppression, Resistances, and Stats on your gear to respec your Passive Skill Tree and replace your Body Armour and Ring for more damage. Once you've completed this gear set, you're ready to take on any content POE has to offer.
Milestone 1 - Damage Upgrades
Do not change your Passive Skill Tree just yet. The respec has you drop the Suppression nodes, which requires you to eventually get Suppression on your gear instead of the Passive Skill Tree. The goal in these re-crafting milestones is to obtain enough Elemental Resistances, and Stats so that you don't need your Body Armour AND a ring to fill your needs. These will be replaced with Ming's Heart and Skin of the Lords. Here are some easy upgrades to make without having to re-craft your main gear just yet:
- A Watcher's Eye with +x% to Damage over Time Multiplier while affected by Malevolence.
- A Seismic Enchant for your The Devouring Diadem (don't spend more than 1-2 Divine Orb on this)
- A new Amulet Upgrade
Milestone 2 - Upgraded Jewelry
Purchase an Unset Ring with three 40% Elemental Resistances, and craft Life, or with two 40% Elemental Resistances + Life, and Craft a Resistance.
Milestone 3 - Suppression Gear
To remove the Passive Skill Tree points in Ranger, you need to obtain Suppression on your gear. The easiest way to do this is to obtain a fractured Spell Suppression mod on your Gloves, Boots and Shield. You can purchase a Base, or use Fracturing Orb's to make your own.
Milestone 4 - Ming's Heart and Skin of the Lord's
The last place to fill Stats/Resistances is going to be your Rare Jewels. Purchase a well rolled Ming's Heart. Use 20x Noxious Catalyst to boost the Chaos mods. Then purchase a Skin of the Lords (IMPORTANT) with no detrimental Keystones. Read them and if you think they do anything bad, don't purchase it. The cheapest ones are normally the bad Keystones. With this chest you can only socket Corrupted Gems. Purchase a Corrupted Level 3 or 4 Empower Support and Corrupted Level 5 Awakened Gems if you've not gotten any yet.
Milestone 5 - Final Upgrades
The last upgrades you can make for this gear setup is to purchase Alt Quality and leveled up Gems.
- Level 4 Empower Support
- Level 21 Grace, Determination, and Malevolence.
- Divergent Divergent Herald of Agony to replace the Curse Mastery.
- Divergent Divergent Withering Touch Support to apply consistent Withers.
- Anomalous Anomalous Cast when Damage Taken Support, Anomalous Molten Shell and Anomalous Withering Step
Milestone 6- More Upgrades
If you wish to continue to make upgrades, check out the FINAL POB linked in my video guide below. It has much stricter gearing requirements and is much more expensive, but almost doubles the damage.