League Starts Later: Trickster Miner Build Guide for PoE 3.26 Atlas Secrets

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Understanding the Trickster Build for Path of Exile – Mercenaries of Trarthus

For players looking to dive into the world of Wraeclast in Path of Exile – Mercenaries of Trarthus, the Trickster ascendancy offers a versatile and powerful starting point. This guide is designed for those who might be jumping in late or working with a limited budget, aiming to help you make the most of your initial hours in the game and quickly progress to endgame content.

Why Trickster?

Trickster has consistently been one of the top choices in recent patches, thanks to its adaptability across various playstyles. Skills like Penance Brand, Smite, Lightning Strike, and even Spark provide a broad range of options. The Reap and Exsanguinate combination has seen significant buffs in patch 3.26, making them an S-tier choice for miners in the current metagame. This build can be played in both trade and SSF, offering flexibility for players who want to craft their way through the atlas.

Gameplay Mechanics

As a miner, this build allows for scaling damage to impressive levels, often reaching 50-60 million DPS with Reap in PoB. This makes it easy to farm bosses and handle mapping content efficiently. Mines naturally avoid many common issues, such as elemental reflect. Full cold conversion combined with a 100% crit chance ensures that most enemies are chilled or frozen, providing a safe environment for clearing content.

However, there are some drawbacks. Players may find the need to swap gems when facing pinnacle bosses or adjust their playstyle for certain challenges. The low EHP and reliance on freeze can be challenging for those used to more defensive builds. While the character can take a few hits, it lacks the robust defenses of classes like the Elementalist or Champion.

Leveling the Build

A great starting point for this build is FearlessDumb0’s PoB, which can be found here: [link]. Using the Path of Building Community Fork, this resource provides a solid foundation for your journey.

Here’s a quick checklist of main damaging skills:

  • Level 1 to 31: Rolling Magma or Stormblast Mines
  • Level 31 to Early Maps: Power Siphon linked to Charged Mines
  • Yellow Maps to Endgame: Exsanguinate (once cold conversion and crit cap are achieved)

For weapons, focus on wands, sceptres, or rune daggers. Look for the following stats:

  • Increased Spell Damage
  • Increased Spell Critical Strike Chance (or Increased Critical Strike Chance for Power Siphon)
  • +1 to Level of All Spell Skill Gems

  • % to Global Critical Strike Multiplier

  • Flat damage to spells (or attacks once on Power Siphon)
  • Increased Mine Throwing Speed

A good example of a crafted item to aim for is something with these stats, which can be saved up for or acquired through trade.

Defensive Gear

Focus on high evasion/energy shield bases, resistances, and life. Spell suppression can be capped using your tree, but gear with this stat can save points. Rare gear found or crafted should be sufficient to get you into maps.

Once you reach yellow maps, consider transitioning into Reap/Exsanguinate. This requires:

  • Kikazaru (or around 250+ life regen per second)
  • Hrimsorrow (to convert 100% of damage to cold)
  • High level of Exsanguinate (Level 21 gem with +1 modifiers on main-hand, shield, and amulet)
  • A 5 or 6-link chest piece
  • Enough Crit Chance on gear/tree to ensure crit cap
  • Good freeze duration (scaling with ailment duration or damage per hit)
  • Optional: Heatshiver (mid-league within budget)

After making the transition using the skill tree from the PoB, you should be ready to tackle Tier 16s and beyond.

Endgame Potential

This build excels at farming almost any content in the game, thanks to Exsanguinate’s excellent clear and Reap’s high single-target damage. Consider these Atlas trees for new challenges:

  • Legion: x1 Legion Scarab of Officers, x2-3 Legion Scarabs, x1 Cartography Scarab of Escalation
  • Destructive Play: No scarabs
  • Harbingers: x1-2 Harbinger Scarab, x1 Harbinger Scarab of Obelisks, x1 Harbinger Scarab of Regency, x1 Harbinger Scarab of Warhoards

With around 50-100 Divine Orbs farmed using the strategies above, you can push your build further by crafting a Focused Amulet and picking up a Balance of Terror for self-casting Elemental Weakness. Alternatively, start building currency to transition into more meta Trickster builds like Smite or Kinetic Blast.

Overall, the Reap/Exsanguinate Trickster build is a fun and powerful way to start your journey in Wraeclast. It’s easy to gear yet capable of handling almost anything. Stay safe, Exile!

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