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Explosive Trap Of Shrapnel Is The Best Bossing Trap In Path Of Exile 3.24

Mar 21, 2024

Currently, we are just a few days away from the release of the POE 3.24 patch notes, and there has been considerable interest in Explosive Trap and traps in general, particularly on platforms like Reddit and within the creator community. There appears to be a notable lack of accurate information or perhaps simply insufficient information regarding Explosive Trap and its variant, Shrapnel. Having extensively engaged with this skill across various builds in Affliction League for numerous hours, I have developed a deep understanding of its mechanics. 

The Truth

Shrapnel proves to be a superior and more potent bossing skill, offering higher DPS performance across most boss encounters in Path of Exile. Contrary to widely held beliefs on platforms like Reddit, which suggest that Shrapnel is primarily suited for clearing with mediocre single-target damage, this notion is simply incorrect.

However, it's understandable why these misconceptions exist, particularly given the recent introduction of Transfigure Gems and the inherent challenge of accurately quantifying trap damage within tools like Path of Building (PoB) for comparison purposes.

Path of Exile Explosive Trap of Shrapnel

The Uber Boss Showcase

Now, I'll delve into the mechanics of the gem and elucidate why Shrapnel yields greater damage. However, the most effective way to illustrate Shrapnel's superiority in boss encounters is through empirical evidence. Here's a direct comparison of the two gems battling an Uber boss.

To ensure a fair comparison, I've significantly weakened this character, reducing its power to about 4% of my league build although this process may waste some of my POE Currency. This was achieved by deactivating auras and removing several support gems and curses to prevent instant defeat. Apart from the chosen skill gem, these characters are identical in every aspect. 

Now, let's begin by examining three distinct boss scenarios, each with its explanation. The commonality among these scenarios is their stationary nature. Uber Shaper occupies the center of an open space, while Uber Maven emerges against the back wall, and the Uber Brain roams in an open area with a larger hitbox than Shaper. 

I've selected these scenarios because stationary encounters are more favorable for the standard gem, whereas in mobile boss scenarios, Shrapnel significantly outperforms it.

Overview Of Mechanics

It's essential to understand the key changes in the gems. 

Firstly, Shrapnel receives an additional 20% effectiveness of added damage. Secondly, it gains a 30% increase in damage per hit multiplier through a higher base physical hit. Thirdly, Shrapnel benefits from an AOE multiplier on its two secondary radii. While the increase in damage is straightforward, the aspect of AOE is often misunderstood by many, including content creators.

At a basic level, Explosive Trap produces a primary hit of a certain size for a level 21 gem. The secondary radius, where smaller explosions occur, matches this size. Visualizing it, this is represented by our blue circle, typically 1.9 meters for a level 21 gem. The smaller explosions can spawn anywhere within this radius, leading to a gradient decrease in effective damage from the center to the edge of the green circle. This effective damage reduction occurs within a 1-meter circle at the center for a level 21 normal gem, as illustrated by the orange circle.

Path of Exile Overview Of Mechanics

Shrapnel Overview

In functionality, Shrapnel operates similarly to the standard version. 

However, its secondary explosion radius is doubled, and the secondary explosions themselves are approximately 40% larger. This expanded spawning radius decreases the degree of overlap by roughly 45%, leading to a common misconception that it's solely effective for clearing purposes. 

Reason 1: Mobility of Bosses

When facing mobile bosses where Explosive Trap's damage reaches 0%, Shrapnel still maintains half or more of its expected damage output. 

However, in our initial boss encounter assessment, these bosses lacked mobility, thus not benefiting from Shrapnel's enhanced damage uptime.

Reason 2: Enhanced Ailment Effect

This constitutes the second point supporting Shrapnel's superiority as a bossing gem, attributed to its access to ailments. 

By considering the straightforward calculations involving the increased effectiveness and base physical damage, adjusted for expected overlaps, Shrapnel demonstrates approximately 85% of the damage of the standard gem. 

Moreover, many Explosive Trap builds utilize Conflux or Secrets of Suffering to induce potent alternative ailments. The 30% higher base physical hit of Shrapnel translates to a flat 30% increase in ailment effectiveness. If one opts against using alternative ailments, it prompts the question of why not, as effects like Scorch, reducing all Elemental Resistances by up to 30%, and Brittle, providing a flat 6% base crit, remain unutilized. 

Thus, the second reason for its superiority as a bossing skill lies in the expanded access to ailments.

Reason 3: Hitboxes & Overlaps

However, what about the Maven? 

The explanation doesn't solely rely on an 8% increase in Scorch. Ironically, many believed this was the reason the skill was inferior, but in reality, its superiority stems from its significantly higher potential. At the baseline, it's been established that both skills do roughly equal damage. 

However, increasing overlaps from 80% to 100% with the normal gem results in a 25% damage boost, while going from 40% to 80% effectively doubles your damage. These boss hitboxes can reach up to 1.1 million.

Reason 4: Overlaps Again

The penultimate topic I want to discuss is leveraging reduced overlaps to yield significant additional damage. 

Let's revisit Uber Maven. Notice how she, like all invitation boss encounters, spawns near a wall. Understanding the mechanical dynamics enables you to exploit this for effortless damage gains. Allow me to elaborate.

Path of Exile Uber Maven

In open scenarios, where smaller explosions occur randomly, overlaps typically hover around 40%. By intentionally confining the secondary radius against a wall or obstacle, you limit the space available for secondary explosions while maintaining their radius. This reduction in available space can easily result in a 30% to 40% damage increase, simplifying encounters like invitations, which I intend to focus on early in the league. However, this strategy isn't as effective with the normal gem due to its already high overlap rate and smaller explosion radius.

Moreover, in battles such as Uber Elder, Uber Cortex, and Uber Shaper, approximately half of the arena can yield damage increases ranging from 10% to 40%, depending on the boss's teleportation patterns.

Reason 5: AoE & Random Throws

The final aspect I wish to address, and the ultimate reason why Shrapnel excels as a bossing skill, pertains to its area of effect (AOE). 

This time, there's a critical mechanical issue with the normal gem involving random throws around the target location. Most non-cooldown traps typically utilize supports like Swift Assembly, Sunblast, or Cluster Traps to increase trap quantity.

Numerically, Swift Assembly stands out as one of the most effective supports for traps. I'll employ Swift Assembly until acquiring a Sunblast, and subsequently, switch to Sunblast until obtaining a Mageblood. However, it's essential to note that Explosive Trap incurs a damage penalty when traps are randomly thrown, unlike Shrapnel.

Recall my initial explanation of how the skill gem functions. When traps are randomly thrown at a target location, they may spawn outside this window, resulting in a slight reduction in damage. While this doesn't justify skipping Swift Assembly, it underscores a difference that Shrapnel doesn't face, as its area of expected maximal overlaps is significantly larger.

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