Curse

Solais · Jul 01, 2005, 06:41 PM // 18:41

Well, I've really started to enjoy using traps... except for that easily interrupted part. Looking through my mesmer stances got me thinking about ways to get around the interruptions. Here's what I've come up with so far, I've only been able to play the build in PvP for a couple of days and would love tips on it's function. Taking a cue from the IVEX trapper because I read a few people thought very highly of it... and the trap combo was working so well late game PvE.

Current Attribute totals:

Domination - 9
Inspiration - 6
Expertise - 7 (8 with minor rune)
Wilderness - 8 (11 with major rune and mask)
Marksmanship - 9 (12 with superior rune)

I still have Hero's Challenge to complete for the last 15 points

Skills/Spells in use:

Apply Poison
Troll Unguent
Spike Trap
Barbed Trap
Power Leak
Backfire
Mantra of Resolve
(Skill that floats, I change it depending on the group... but I'd love to settle on something consistent.) Debilitating Shot, Penetrating Attack, Rez Signet have been the more frequent choices.

What I've been working to do so far is as the teams engage I'll annoy the healers first with poison and backfire, waiting to counter something and put their energy total in a bit of distress. Then I switch to casting gear and lay traps while Resolve's still up so I have a mana cushion in case someone tries to interrupt me. Normally I work in order of Spike > Barbed if they're standing and both skills are up... then back to more poison rotation and caster babysitting with counters, trapping around foes that are engaged to help out my other team members. It's had mixed success, but I may have a static team to work with soon.. so more fine tuning will be able to take place

Any thoughts and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!

Enigmatics · Jul 01, 2005, 06:43 PM // 18:43

Instead of diverging into different attributes, you could simply use whirling defence. Oath shot as your elite would work for spammabililty of traps, as well as reset whirling defence.

Solais · Jul 01, 2005, 06:59 PM // 18:59

Alright, I see what you're saying. The issue I was trying to avoid with Resolve was the fact of a trap getting interrupted by a skill that can't be blocked or evaded. As many have said in the past, rangers are generally lower priority targets as long as others are still alive... so if they saw me laying a trap and decided to try and switch just to interrupt it would more likely than not fail, even if they were set up with a skill to negate Whirling Defense. The energy hit hasn't been bad as of yet, but I still have a lot of playing to do.

I'll switch to Whirling and Oath as I play today and see how that works. Unfortunately, I love having Spike Trap available to interrupt... and if not interrupt, delay my opponent from doing something so Barbed Trap is more successful which is the time I take my leave

Thank you very much for the advice.

Enigmatics · Jul 01, 2005, 07:42 PM // 19:42

So use mantra of concentration. That in conjunction with whirling defence would make your traps extremely hard to interrupt. You just won't do the damage you can do with higher wilderness survival. And as for interrupt, you can always bring savage shot and distracting shot.

Jia Xu · Jul 02, 2005, 12:27 AM // 00:27

Don't split into 5 attributes in my opinion. You are spreading yourself too thin. The inspiration line has a lot of handy skills around, and can energy drain very nicely, so consider being a trapper/energy drainer, so that you lay your stuff then hassle casters.

Therefore - go Wilderness Survival max, High inspiration and reasonable marksmanship. The inspiration magic can easily make do for the lack of expertise (thats the main point of the inspiration skill set) and your traps can do lots of damage safe in the knowledge you aren't going to get interrupted.

Thanato · Jul 02, 2005, 12:32 AM // 00:32

if you intend on being a pure trapper, forgo your marksmanship. thats what i did on my ranger when he went trap mad

Solais · Jul 02, 2005, 10:10 AM // 10:10

Well, I had a bad run today... for some reason folks kept hitting me with Called Shots and attacks that couldn't be blocked/evaded. Tore my whirling defense up. Maybe it was just sheer randomness, but I'll keep working at it. Switched back to resolve, got rid of domination and just went totally energy denial with debilitating shot/energy drain. Provided a lot more monk annoyance than waiting to counter something, along with keeping me in poison rotation

So I looked like this for the most part of the day:

Attributes

Inspiration - 9
Expertise - 7 (8 with minor rune)
Wilderness - 8 (11 with major rune and mask)
Marksmanship - 9 (12 with superior rune)

Currently looking for the start of the Hero's Challenge, hoping I haven't messed up a response somewhere with any of the NPCs.

Skills:

Apply Poison
Pin Down
Spike Trap
Barbed Trap
Debilitating Shot
Energy Tap
Mantra of Resolve
Res Signet (I dunno, but I messed around with Ether Feast in a couple of matches in case I needed a pick me up)

Enigmatics · Jul 02, 2005, 11:06 AM // 11:06

This is completely off topic, but you can always go on a spree and echo debilitating shot.

Solais · Jul 02, 2005, 11:37 AM // 11:37

That'd actually be wonderful, but I'm still working to get a hold of Echo at the moment

As soon as I get it though, I'll be sure to try that out too.

Enigmatics · Jul 02, 2005, 11:58 AM // 11:58

Yes i'm having trouble with that as well as punishing shot. I'd hate walking halfway up to snake dance.