Poison Seismic Trap Saboteur Build Guide (The Forbiden Sanctum 3.20)
Latest Update
This guide went through a major overhaul, changing it to the Poison variant because of the recent changes to Poison, Hexes & the skill itself. It has received a complete pass going from Gear to Skills to the Tree. It most likely received a buff rather than the expected nerfs. Knowing that it already was being played in almost any competetive scenario, it getting buffed is absolutely ridiculous.
Introduction
Seismic Trap has been the strongest build in the game, especially in League Start environments, when it comes to absolutely deleting bosses. Because of its fairly mediocre efficiency of clearing maps, it is paired with an
Exsanguinate traps which is used to clear packs more efficiently.
Mechanics
Because of the way poison works, Seismic is a pretty good (ab)user of the poison mechanic. This is because Seismic applies multiple poisons per wave and has multiple waves per cast. Therefore, it ramps up super fast and is a huge poison enabler. Because the damage of the build is so ridiculous, it gets to run a ton of defensive auras, defensive layers and what not and should be very very tanky to play. People have cleared Uber Bosses on virtually no budget because most of the Damage comes from the tree. This makes gearing super easy & non-problematic for any type of players.
Playstyle-wise the build is fairly simple. You use Exsanguinate traps to clear packs and whenever something poses a challenge, you throw your Seismic Trap to deal with them.
Build Viability in Numbers
This is where I’ll rate the build in numbers. The lower the number the worse I actually think the build is in that compartment.
- Durability : 9/10
- Damage : 10/10
- Playstyle : 7/10
- Gearing : 8/10
- Complexity : 5/10
Path of Building & Skill Tree
You can find an optimized Path of Building here. Every build I release will use the community fork of Path of Building, which is maintained and updated in a much more regular fashion than the original one. You can find PoB’s Fork, by LocalIdentity, here.
If you are not comfortable with Path of Building, we also have a PoePlanner for you. Do note that PoE Planner does not support Cluster Jewels and some specific unique jewels and it is highly recommended you install Path of Building to follow builds most optimally.
Gem Links – Bandits – Pantheons
Early Game – League start Environment:
Main Link: Seismic Trap –
Trap and Mine Damage Support –
Advanced Traps Support –
Void Manipulation Support –
Deadly Ailments Support –
Unbound Ailments Support
Clearing Link: Exsanguinate –
Chain Support –
Cluster Traps Support –
Trap Support
Auras + Curse: Herald of Agony –
Summon Skitterbots –
Grace –
Temporal Chains
Defenses + Curse: Vaal Molten Shell (L10) –
Cast when Damage Taken Support (L1) –
Despair
Mobility: Flame Dash –
Shield Charge –
Faster Attacks Support –
Withering Step
Wither Application: Spell Totem Support –
Multiple Totems Support –
Wither
Endgame – Upgrades:
Main Link:
Seismic Trap –
Trap and Mine Damage Support –
Advanced Traps Support –
Awakened Void Manipulation Support –
Awakened Deadly Ailments Support –
Awakened Unbound Ailments Support
Clearing Link: Exsanguinate –
Chain Support –
Cluster Traps Support –
Trap Support
Auras: *Divergent* Herald of Agony –
Summon Skitterbots –
Grace –
Determination
These go into The Devouring Diadem – Then socket a
Defiance Banner elsewhere.
Aura on Blessing + Curse: Malevolence –
Divine Blessing Support –
Despair
Defenses + Curse: Vaal Molten Shell (L10) –
Cast when Damage Taken Support (L1) –
Temporal Chains
Mobility: Flame Dash –
Shield Charge –
Faster Attacks Support –
Withering Step
Wither Application (swap with Exsanguinate for Endgame Bosses): - Wither –
Multiple Totems Support –
Spell Totem Support
Bandits:Kill all
Pantheons: Brine King Major and Yugul Minor
Gear Summary
Early Game – Leaguestart Environment:
Item Slot | Item Name |
Head | Rare Evasion or Armour/Evasion based Helmet with Life/Suppression/Resistances |
Amulet | Rare Neck with Life, Resistances & Damage over Time Multiplier |
Chest | Rare Evasion or Armour/Evasion based Body Armour with Life, Resistances & a Life/Mana Craft |
Gloves | Rare Evasion or Armour/Evasion based Gloves with Life, Resistances |
Boots | ![]() |
Belt | Rare Belt with Life & Resistances |
Rings | Rare Rings with Life, Resistances & Attributes |
Weapon | ![]() |
Shield | Rare Evasion/Energy Shield Shield with Life, chance to Suppress Spell Damage and a Physical Damage as Extra Chaos benchcraft |
Endgame – Medium Upgrades:
Item Slot | Item Name |
Head | ![]() |
Amulet | ![]() |
Chest | Rare Evasion or Evasion/Armour Body Armour with Life, Spell Suppression, Resistances & a Life / Mana Craft |
Gloves | Rare Evasion or Evasion/Armour Gloves with Life, Resistances and Suppression |
Boots | Rare Evasion or Evasion/Armour Boots with Movement Speed, Suppression, Life & Resistances |
Belt | ![]() |
Rings | 1 ![]() ![]() |
Weapon | ![]() |
Shield | Rare Energy Shield/Evasion shield with Energy Shield & Evasion, Spell Suppression, Resistances and a Phys as Extra Chaos benchcraft |
Jewels | Increased Maximum Life, Critical Strike Multiplier, Trap & Mine Damage |
Gearing Tips
- First of all, make sure you maintain a reasonable amount of Energy Shield to make sure you can keep casting. Generally, this is easily solved by running a hybrid Energy Shield / Evasion Shield which can get you a solid amount.
- This, together with the
The Devouring Diadem Capping suppression is obviously super strong and even the slightest undercap will be very impactful.
- A Ming’s Heart is a huge upgrade for your damage. Pair it with an Unset Ring to make sure you have enough sockets for your skills.
- Don’t forget that Eldritch Implicits on Gear can be cheap by using the cheaper currency and are very impactful to the strength of the build.
- Try to Cap your Chaos Resistance – The build is very lenient on suffixes so this shouldn’t be to hard.
- In endgame 1 skill point can be saved by getting 30 intellect on a gear piece.
Flasks
1 | ![]() |
2 | ![]() |
3 | Enduring ![]() |
4 | ![]() |
5 | Bubbling ![]() |
As for Flasks, you’ll be able to swap out the Enduring Mana Flask for a Silver Flask to amplify your Speed. You can also drop the Penguin affix for an Increased Armour affix whenever you either upgrade your Brine King or craft Cannot be Frozen on boots. Since you’re dropping the Warding affix, you’re taking Yugul as a second pantheon to cap out Curse Immunity
Be sure to check out our Flask Crafting Guide to learn everything you need to know about how to set up your non-Unique flasks.
Questions & Support
I prefer you making remarks, suggestions or asking questions through our Discord Channel, there’s a team of people making it their own providing you with an answer to your question. If we have somehow missed your question, you can try @‘ing me on our Discord.
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