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Lightning Trap Saboteur/Assassin Build - POE 3.21 League Starter

Apr 10, 2023

The new league has started now, and that means it’s time for building new league starters suitable for POE 3.21. This time I decided to start with Lightning Trap because this skill has very good mapping and a solid single target damage with minimal investment. Also, gear progression is very interesting, which allows us to scale our damage.

Build Overview

I chose this league starter a long time ago because I was sure GGG would nerf anything in this build. I assume there might be some minor nerfs, but nothing big that would affect it much. But GGG surprised me and in POE 3.21, they decided to rework the Saboteur ascendancy.

Personally, I would not call it a rework. It’s more nerve for all Saboteur Trap builds because now Trickster and Assassin have more DPS. But I still decided to start as a Saboteur because it gives us a good quality of life, especially at the beginning of the game when our equipment is not so good.

For me, the main criteria for a good starter build is being able to clear all non-over content with minimal equipment cost and being able to farm POE Currency easily in the early stages of the game and Lightning Trap Saboteur fits these criteria perfectly. We do not need any special or expensive items to get quick Atlas completion and our Voidstones.

POE 3.21 Saboteur Assassin Lightning Trap

Build Showcase

For a comfortable T16 map clearing, we only need Tinkerskin, Divergent Lightning Trap and rare items with resistance, spell suppression and some life.

I even use a very bad weapon, which I made with Shrieking Essence of Torment and then just crafted trap damage. With the new league mechanics, it should be possible to make something much better. This build has no problems with T16 maps.

As for single target damage, it is pretty decent, especially when you consider that I use 5-Link and gear that you can easily get on day two because it’s pretty cheap.

Since Tinkerskin and Divergent Lightning Trap are not the most popular POE Items in Path of Exile, even at the beginning of Crucible League, you don’t have to worry about not being able to afford the cost at all. Especially Divergent Lightning Trap, because this item is only needed to kill bosses when you run red maps. At that time, it is already late in the game, and you have enough time to save a lot of POE Currency to purchase this gem.

POE Tinkerskin

Gear And Items

As I said at the beginning of this article, I like this build for its gear progression and now I would like to talk more about this aspect after completing X, I recommend to start saving up POE Currency for Tinkerskin, it allows us to easily generate Frenzy Charges, gives us Phasing and a good Life and Energy Shield recovery that will allow us to comfortably complete our Atlas.

Next, if you didn’t make your weapon, then make it with Shrieking Essence of Torment or. If you have some extra POE Currency, then purchase Sceptres with +1 to lightning skills gem.

After that, try to purchase Divergent Lightning Trap because it will make map clearing even more comfortable and will also give us more DPS when fighting bosses. These items should be enough to give you up to T14 map.

And before you go to T16, I highly recommend you to purchase clusters (Phoenix Shard Large Cluster Jewel & Loath Ornament Medium Cluster Jewel) and upgrade your gear to get a 100% spell suppression chance. Clusters give us a nice DPS and 100% spell suppression chance is a must for T16 maps if you don’t want to die too often.

After all, these purchases we can consider that we finished the initial stage of gathering items for this build and now we can easily farm some POE Currency, which we need for further improvements.

When you get more POE Currency, first of all, purchase a helmet with an enchantment. Lightning Trap pierces three additional targets. This allows us to free some skill points and spend them on something more useful.

Also, your main priority should be 6-Link because it increases our DPS significantly. Glorious Vanity and Slavedriver’s Hand are our next targets. Timeless Jewel greatly increases our energy shield and thus improves our survivability and the Slavedriver’s Hand is one of our main items, which gives a Trap Throwing Speed and allows us to get rid of a Lifetap gem, which gives us a nice damage boost.

But be warned that these unique gloves will cost a lot, but trust me, they are worth it. After all these purchases, we are ready for the next stage where we need to change our ascendancy.

Also Read: A Complete Guide To Creat Spark Inquisitor Build In Path Of Exile 3.21 Crucible

As I said at the beginning of this article, Saboteur is not a bad choice to start the league, but unfortunately after we upgraded, our gear Saboteur is no longer useful for us and it’s time to move on specifically to change ascendancy to Assassin because it will significantly increase our damage and trust me you will feel the difference right away.

But before changing ascendancy, you will need to purchase Forbidden Jewels (Forbidden Flesh & Forbidden Flame) with Pyromaniac. Our traps cost life and without Pyromaniac, you simply can’t use them effectively.

And the final point is purchasing two Void Battery and Badge of the Brotherhood. With these items, our damage goes up to 50 million, which will allow us to farm almost all the content in the game quickly and efficiently.

POE Ralakesh's Impatience Riveted Boots

Also, you may have noticed that in boss battles, I use Ralakesh’s Impatience Riveted Boots. I use them to get the maximum amount of charges at the very beginning of the boss fight and thus do a lot of damage from the very first seconds. It’s not a mandatory item, but it allows to virtually increase our DPS because our first traps will deal more damage. At this point, we can say that the build is complete and you don’t need anything else.

But if you like min or max builds, there are some additional purchases that will allow you to spend a few hundreds of Divine Orbs.

First of all, you need to purchase rings and a helmet with +1 maximum power charges. These atoms are really expensive, but they actually double our damage.

Also, you will need double Corrupted Tinkerskin because it is another way to increase our DPS.

Leveling

As for leveling for this character, Lightning Trap becomes available from level 12 and that’s when we start using our main skill.

Up to level 12, you can use Stormblast mine or any other skill you like best. Our 3-Link is Lightning Trap, Pierce and Swift Assembly.

Trap and Mine Damage Support

When we have a 4-Link, we add Trap and Mine Damage Support. Lightning Trap is a very solid skill that is very comfortable for ax width and you should not have any issues with it as an extra way to increase your damage to bosses.

You can use Lightning Spire Trap. I personally think that Lightning Trap is a nice and comfortable skill that has a lot of potential as well. As a pretty interesting gear progression, that allows you to get a high DPS.

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