Path Of Exile 3.26 Explosive Trap Trickster Build: How Does This League Starter Perform In Secrets Of The Atlas?

If you were asked to vote for the most powerful boss killer in Path of Exile, who would be the first one that comes to your mind? I think Explosive Trap Trickster will definitely be on the list! 

Honestly, this is a proven and powerful build that has been proven to be great in multiple leagues. So, if you want to get more advantages in Secrets of the Atlas league and handle boss battles with ease, this is the best starter build for you!

In this guide, we will break down the pros and cons of Explosive Trap Trickster build, leveling tips, and various suggestions for becoming an Uber boss killer.

Pros And Cons

Now, I think it is most important to understand the pros and cons of this build, or how the build feels to play.

First of all, this is a Trap build, so if you don’t like Trap builds, you will probably not like this one either. However, I recommend everyone try Explosive Trap at least once before playing in a league, get a simple setup in a standard league and try it out, maybe you will find something interesting in it?

So, what are the advantages of this build? Honestly, it scales extremely well on a budget. Explosive Trap is a unique skill that has multiple scaling vectors that can be improved without a lot of investment in POE Currency. Therefore, it can deal a lot of damage earlier than almost any other similar skill.

The skill also scales to billions of DPS if you want to destroy pinnacle bosses in the endgame, so it has the potential to deal critical hits to bosses.

And because it is a Trickster, this build has a lot of flexibility, you can play a tank version, or a glass cannon, or something in between, depending on what style you like.

There are disadvantages, however, this build is at best a usable mapper, and while it will not hinder your progress, it is not suitable for dedicated mapping strategies like Legions.

Frankly, there are many better full screen clearing builds than this one, and choosing it is simply trading mapping for a very powerful bossing utility.

Nerfs And Buffs From 3.26

Now let’s take a look at what POE 3.26 update has affected, starting with the nerfs.

Polymath There’s not much to say, it’s the only one that has an impact, and it’s pretty mild. We lost 7%-9% damage, depending on how you use your Passive Masteries. But overall, this is still super playable and has the potential to be an S-tier Boss Killer.

The second nerf that affects us is the reduction in Evasion and Energy Shield provided by Escape Artist. Since this is a Hybrid build, the effect is somewhat weakened, and we lose about 120 Energy Shields. But it’s not a big deal.

That’s all the nerfs, but it’s important to note that there are some pending patch notes that have not yet been released that may bring additional changes.

For buffs, the developers have actually revealed some subsequent caster-related skill buffs. So ideally we’d get a buff along the way.

Also, a big boost to the evasion roll for Kintsugi, a unique chest piece that was very popular at the start of the league. It now evades around 2800 instead of 2300 previously.

Other than that, everything else about this build remains the same.

Mercenaries

Now, let’s take a look at what’s new with Mercenaries in this league. Honestly, the potential power they can offer looks pretty huge, they’re like a gold-funded Animate Guardian that you can equip and leverage for team play.

Firstly, this is a bossing build, bringing a mercenary into an area means 50% more health on mobs and bosses, so be careful when actually using them. Make sure your mercenary can carry his loadout.

Secondly, and I think most excitingly, in order for mercenaries to be more valuable with 50% more life, they may need to hold their own when mapping, which means you should probably set up a mercenary to help with the weakness of this build, which is map clearing.

There are some ideas being floated right now: equip a Gravebind and an Explode Chest, and your mercenaries can just watch bombs go off.

It’s hard to tell how awesome this would be without AoE investment at this point, but you can get some area damage with gear. There are a lot of general damage tools like Curse on Hit, Reduce Damage with Enfeeble, or adding an effect like Frostbite on top of Elemental Weakness to increase damage.

If you’re having trouble getting a reliable source of Brittle early in the game or in SSF, you can also equip your mercenaries with Brittle Boosts and get defense with Kaom’s Binding and Sign of the Sin Eater.

How To Optimize The Build?

Now, as you progress through the map, make sure you’re regularly upgrading your weapons and getting a better base for your gear. Remember, the damage boosts from upgrading your weapons are probably the key to making the campaign feel the smoothest.

You can also increase the throwing rate of your traps. However, I would caution you against using flat damage, as the added damage of Explosive Trap isn’t particularly amazing, it scales with AoE, overlaps, and gem levels.

However, as you progress, you’ll gain links on Explosive Trap, and you’ll find that casting the trap is very mana-intensive. So, you have to manage the mana cost of the trap properly based on how many links you have, and make sure you use the right gems at the right time.

Unique Items

This build has basically no mandatory items, but there are a few unique items that can make your upgrade in Red Maps very smooth.

They are Wyrmsign, a pair of gloves that give you 5-links for free, and Nycta’s Lantern, which grants you Battlemage. It is a modifier that allows the player character to gain additional spell damage equivalent to the damage of the main-hand weapon, which is very powerful, especially in the early maps.

The price of these items is not too high, a few dozen Chaos Orbs are enough, and it is completely affordable in the early stages of the league.

Damage Scaling

Next, let’s talk about some other stats that are important for damage.

By far the most important is the gem level, both on the weapon and the amulet, which are key to increasing damage.

Also, you need to make sure you have a level 21 Explosive Trap Transfigured Gem. If you’ve been in the league for more than a day or two, you can most likely get one on the trade market for a lower price. Also, make sure you have a high-quality gem.

Other stats that help you deal damage include: spell damage, critical strike, multi-spell critical strike chance. One of my favorites is double damage or double damage when focused, which allows us to easily kill enemies with one shot!

Map Farming Priority

Now, when we get to the late red map, what should we prioritize farming with Explosive Trap Trickster build to get the most benefit?

Personally, I would recommend that you can farm Betrayal and Expedition first, and then Invitations.

After farming these maps, you can still get the same number of boss fragments. Then farm Invitations, and if you don’t like the mods it drops, you can also use a trumpet, then snowball your money and invest in your character, so that your boss battle budget can easily reach a medium level.

As you start to challenge more and more difficult Invitations, you will eventually encounter Pinnacle Boss. Don’t worry, 40 million DPS is enough to beat all bosses!

The above is all about Explosive Trap Trickster league starter build. Are you ready to re-enter Path of Exile? I hope this crazy single-target killer will give you a better experience in your new league journey! Good luck!