This Poe 3.21 Ice Trap Occultist League Starter for Crucible League build is well-rounded with good clear and excellent single target damage, and has the potential to scale well into the end game. We tested the build in SSF Lost League and was able to clear all content in the game on self-found gear, including pinnacle bosses, the Awakener, and Maven deathless. The build guide includes detailed information on building, leveling, and gear. The build uses an Occultist instead of a Saboteur for more damage and flexibility in gearing and playstyle. The Occultist also allows the use of Profane Bloom, a skill that causes explosions, which can greatly improve clear speed.

• POB Link
• Pros and Cons
• Playstyle
• Changes in Poe 3.21
• Skril Gems
• Gear
• Skril Tree
• Charge Mastery
• Cluster Jewels
• Ascendancy Nodes

↖POB Link: https://pobb.in/WuUHZ4P69z3t

↖Pros and Cons

• + Great all-rounder build with good single target and decent clear
• + Low Poe Currency budget build that can be done with basic self-found gear
• + Very malleable class that can be shaped and scaled into crazy levels
• + Leveling is super smooth and comfy
• + Having a leveled witch allows for more build options
• - Trap play style may take some getting used to and not suitable for those who don't like it
• - Recovery is quite poor compared to other builds
• - Suffix starved build that struggles to get required dexterity, strength, and resistances
• - May require shuffling gear around and making decisions, and even choosing a Lira's Lament as an option

↖Playstyle:

This is a trapper build in Path of Exile, which involves throwing traps and waiting for them to trigger before moving on. It's important to note that there is a slight delay between throwing the traps and dealing damage, so it's best to stay away from monsters while waiting for them to explode. The traps have a decent area of effect, so you can throw them under a large group of enemies and move on, but be careful not to run too far ahead and get killed before the traps go off.

For mapping, the player can use an Arcanist Brand on a group of mobs to apply a curse, and the Hex Bloom will allow the curse to spread throughout the pack. While this may not be necessary for general mapping, it can be helpful when facing tougher enemies like map bosses. The player can also use their Divine Blessing button to increase damage from their hatred aura.

One important note is to turn on flasks and Divine Blessing aura after throwing the traps but before they trigger. Contrary to what the player was originally informed, traps do not snapshot, meaning that the player should wait until just before the traps explode to activate their auras and flasks. Overall, this playstyle may not be for everyone, but for those who enjoy strategic gameplay and a bit of patience, it can be a rewarding and effective build.

↖Changes in Poe 3.21

The Poe build changes mentioned in the text are focused on improving the reservation efficiency and addressing recovery issues. Players are encouraged to grab the two mana points at Deep Thoughts for the increased mana reservation efficiency. Additionally, players can opt not to use Vitality or not level it too high until they get an Enlighten Level 3 gem. Early acquisition of Tinker Skin can also help address recovery issues.

Regarding Spell Suppression Mastery, the build will lose 100 global critical strike chance. However, Power Chargers are slightly buffed and now grant 10 increased critical strike chance. The build can use up to 10 Power Chargers (possibly even more on the budget version at 7), allowing players to recover a lot of the critical strike chance.

↖Skril Gems

• Ice Trap - This is your primary skill and will deal cold damage to enemies and apply the chilled and frozen status ailments.
• Remote Mine Support - This support gem will allow you to place your Ice Traps at a distance, increasing their effective range and damage.
• Trap and Mine Damage Support - This support gem will increase the damage of your traps and mines.
• Controlled Destruction Support - This support gem will increase your critical strike chance while reducing your chance to deal critical strikes, resulting in higher average damage.
• Added Cold Damage Support - This support gem will add cold damage to your Ice Traps, increasing their overall damage.
• Hypothermia Support - This support gem will increase the damage of your Ice Traps against chilled or frozen enemies.
• Cold Penetration Support - This support gem will allow your Ice Traps to ignore a portion of the enemy's cold resistance, increasing your damage output.
• Faster Casting Support - This support gem will increase the casting speed of your Ice Traps, allowing you to lay down traps faster.

↖Gear

• Heat Shiver: This helmet is a no-brainer due to its increased damage. It's best in slot when it comes to damage, and you may even find one in the campaign.
• Slave Drivers Hands/Architects Hands: These gloves allow us to scale our trap throwing speed based on our cast speed.
• Void Battery: This wand is a no-brainer, granting us more power charges and increased crit chance for tons more damage.
• Rally Caches Impatience: These boots will instantly set you to max charges while stationary.
• Grave Binds: This is a great option for mapping, letting us use profane bloom and Herald of Ash explosions. It also lets us use a Life Gain on Hit Vitality Watcher's Eye.
• Badge of the Brotherhood: This amulet grants us as many frenzy charges as we have power charges. It can be difficult to fit in, however, due to attribute and resistance requirements.
• Tinkerskin: This is a really nice shield early on, improving our physical defenses hugely.
• Gas Theater's Shield: This is a great shield early on, improving our physical defenses hugely.
• Ashes of the Stars: This is a very obvious option, although it can be expensive.

↖Skril Tree

Starting with the new reservation mastery, we will take some spell suppression nodes that will be crucial for this build. We can then grab some power charge nodes and move to the left side of the tree for some life and evasion rating. Next, we will take some coal damage nodes and move towards the eldritch battery node. From here, we can grab some lightning, cold, and fire exposure on enemies with our spell suppression. We can also take some trap and crit nodes and some power and frenzy charge nodes.

At high levels, you can consider grabbing herbalism if you need cancer resistance, but if not, you can move towards the optics path for more life and chaos resistance. Quick recovery is also an option for more life. If you make it to level 100, you can grab a basic dual socket node.

↖Charge Mastery

If you are just mapping, you can take the three percent increase damage per endurance, frenzy, or power charge. However, for boss fights, you will want to swap it over to 100 percent increased charge duration to keep your charges up during extended phases.

↖Cluster Jewels

If you want to do more damage, you can throw in some cluster jewels, but it's not necessary.

↖Ascendancy Nodes

For ascendancy nodes, we will take the usual ones, but if you are using the explode version, you can drop an additional curse and take profane bloom if you have gravebein gloves.