Curse

SirHc93 · Oct 28, 2011, 06:12 PM // 18:12

It's been a while since I've played GW; about 5+ years. I hark from the days where an elementist's sole purpose was a nuke, Thumper builds Touch Builds were mearly a thought, and people were getting excited about infusing their armor. I've come back, with all the expansions (exception of EotN), but it's still all a bit much right now. I know the game to a degree and it's mechanics, but haven't experienced endgame of any sort. Any sort of help in, well, any matter would be great.

Just starting a ranger, I started digging around for some articles on the profession. Looking through the articles on the GW wikia I found a skill called Trapper's Focus. With that skill, could it be paired with another like it, say Trapper's Speed all while carrying a multitude of traps? It might be further synergized with Epidemic for traps such as Snare, Flame, and Spike Trap. Since the player is already in melee range, throw in Throw Dirt for more utility and pleasure.

My questions to you great and knowlegable people are:
-Does the build exist and if so, point me in the right direction?
-Would this build have energy problems, even if 10+ points were sunk into expertise?
-How effective would such a build be and under what circumstances?
-Would problems arise from being in melee range with only 70 armor?
-An unforseen problem on my part?

Thanks for the help!

P.S. How do you link a spell in these posts?

RedDog91 · Oct 28, 2011, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Trapping does not have a large presence in the game. In PvP people will easily avoid traps and in PvE there are simply many more ways to kill foes faster. Trapping is mainly only used for farming, and it still doesn't really have too big of a presence there either.

But to answer you questions:
Yes, builds using this combination and variations thereof already exist.
Trapper builds tend to be pretty energy efficient because of expertise lowering the cost and because you gain energy back during the long recharges.
Trapper builds are most effective on melee-ranged enemies that can be easily dragged to the traps. Just remember where they are so you can lead them to were you pre-laid them (e.g. use a tree as a marker)
Not many problems arise from have a 70 armor level, specially if you blind the foes so they can't hit you.

Giro · Oct 28, 2011, 07:01 PM // 19:01

http://www.gwpvx.com/Special:PvXDeco...ame=&Go=Submit

I made that to play around with, but tbh it doesnt work that well in harder areas. As RedDog said, energy isn't a problem as it recharges while the skills recharge. Works best if you can ball enemies, but its more of a one-time spike (so not that efficient for general PvE).

wilebill · Oct 28, 2011, 07:20 PM // 19:20

Welcome back, Ranger! There is the official wiki and also this one.

http://www.guildwiki.org/Main_Page much good info in both.

http://www.gwpvx.com/Main_Page lots of builds for pve and farming.

search for ranger trapper in the above. I remember trapping in the UW with my Ranger. These days there are better methods.

Most popular is the spirit spammer. Ranger expertise applies to ritualist spirits also, hence

OgglchYRmAqiMNACNtacN5DWO9Nh5A and decode this using Decode page on pvxwiki link above. Something like this. Any old staff for energy, Ssyn's Staff is ideal.

Short answer is yes, the trapper still works if you stack enough traps but from an efficiency standpoint spirit spamming works better if you are out with a group. Including a group of heroes. With 7 heroes you can work wonders and marvels. Would be interesting to know how well trapper does work. My concern would be getting down enough dps when the party gets jumped as parties often do.

About 12 expertise is ideal. Running out of energy stinks.

Ranger armor is fair, but even with the best armor these days you really depend on heroes to keep you alive. But they can make you darn near invulnerable. A Necro/Rit healer, a monk healer, and Rajah the ritualist spamming protective spirits goes a long way.

There is also a Hard Mode since you were here last. You get it after doing the final mission in a campaign, hopefully Nightfall since you will really need properly selected and finely tuned heroes to survive in HM should you choose to do any of it.

There are a lot of builds for rangers. I run beast master mostly, but farm with spirit spamming, run broadhead arrow with interrupt in dungeons, and try out various strange builds from time to time. The dagger with beast master build is also very popular and there is the scythe ranger, a bit nerfed but still works. Me, I like bows thank you.

As a new returnee concentrate on getting your heroes set up. With 7 heroes in the party set up properly, about all you need is a sharp stick for a weapon and pajamas for armor in most areas of the game.

MisterB · Oct 28, 2011, 07:35 PM // 19:35

Trapper's Focus is bad; you can slot much more effective skills in your elite. Epidemic doesn't combine well with traps, since the traps have a larger area of effect than the spell, and will apply the conditions themselves. Snare is bad; Barbed Trap and Spike Trap exist. Throw Dirt is a nice skill, but a trapper may also use Dust Trap. I guess it could help if you want to trap in someone's face, but more effective options than trapping in group play exist for a Ranger.

Solo trapping is effective at farming Stygian Veil, Zaishen Elite(need henchman here), and UW. Traps can deal with Smite Crawlers and Mindblades easier than spirits can. Most foes in UW will die from 30 seconds of trapping, then you pull, and they explode.

A single gold coin makes a handy marker for your traps that is visible at compass range(Press Alt.). Simply drag and drop from the gold stack in your inventory.

Kunder · Oct 28, 2011, 08:55 PM // 20:55

The only trap that is armor ignoring is Dust Trap. This causes problems in harder PvE areas (especially areas under HM) where your other traps lose 50% of their damage. You CAN boost those traps with Ebon Battle Standard of Honor though (which works on all armor-respecting damage so long as you stand in it while the damage is being dealt).

Dust trap is awesome for other reasons, namely the AoE blind spam. Throw dirt looks laughable in comparison. 70 armor is more than enough when enemies are blind and the 100 armor serves you well enough against most enemy spell casters. You pretty much require max expertise if using it through, the energy drain is harsh.

Overall traps are pretty poor though if you don't want to spend excess time getting through areas. Simply too slow and with too little payoff unless you spend a long time stacking them ontop of each other into a super-nuke.

Vas · Oct 29, 2011, 01:28 AM // 01:28

I used to trap a lot, and I found a build that is pretty fun for general mayhem.
Skills are:
Trappers Focus {E}
trappers speed
barbed trap
flame trap
dust trap
piercing trap
deaths charge
whirling defense.

(sorry, I'm a technological muppet so I have no idea how to make it look prettier).

Anyway, the idea is to use your stance and trappers focus, then teleport into a mob and lay down your traps (dust first for the added protection from blind).
Note: Having a hero cast protective spirit on you before hand is probably reccomended.

The piercing trap can be subbed out for the EBSoH for a damage boost.

I used it fairly frequently and while its not the most powerful ranger build out there, it definately feels like the most versatile and fast trapping build I've tried.