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Game Forum / Role Playing Games / Diablo 2 / July 2008Building a Trapper Assassin
I'm building a trapper assassin and I'm confused by all of the contrary advice I find on the web. In particular, one guide says to max Fire Blast at the expense of the Lightning Tree, and this seems to run contrary to other advice I've read. Also what about Shadow Master. Is it worth putting points into this skill? After reading all of the guides I can find, I am totally confused. I would be grateful for any help. Playing Diablo2/Lod SP Manythanks in advance -- >I'm building a trapper assassin and I'm confused by all of the contrary >advice I find on the web. As with any build, there are probably loads of guides floating around. What would've perhaps helped us a bit more, is if you had included some links to the guides that confuse you. That would have allowed us to point out the 'problems' (or sometimes even downright errors) in those guides. Anyway... >In particular, one guide says to max Fire Blast at the expense of the >Lightning Tree, and this seems to run contrary to other advice I've >read. Also what about Shadow Master. Is it worth putting points into >this skill? Fire Blast is a very nice way to get a second elemental (Fire in this case) on a Trapper. A maxed Fire Blast, synergized by the Lightning Trap skills, can deal more than 3 or even 4k of fire damage per bomb. Very nice to bombard LI immune monsters with when they're being held in place by your Merc and Shadow Master. Even nicer when that same monster is also PI. You can save a few point in Fire Bomb if you want to maximise it's synergy back into the Lightning traps; Fire Bombs adds something per 3 or around that amount of hard points, so in that case, it's not necessary to put more than 18 hard points in it. But I usually max it. As for the WShadow Master: the generic advice is to get her to at least slvl 17 (after equipment), since that's the lvl at which she gets her last rare equipment. Depending on the +skills items you have, this means you can get by with a few less 'hard' points in Shadow Master. She is a very useful minion, which takes a lot of heat off you, and if you intend to solo-play, I wouldn't leave town without her... As for the precise build, you really can't go wrong with: Maxed LS Maxed DS Maxed FB (17- '+skills') SM 1 point in Mind Blast, BoS, and perhaps CoS and Fade. Rest in Lightning Synergies, where perhaps CBS is more useful than Shock Web. Hope the above helps. Regards, Patrick. > >I'm building a trapper assassin and I'm confused by all of the contrary > >advice I find on the web. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > links to the guides that confuse you. That would have allowed us to point > out the 'problems' (or sometimes even downright errors) in those guides. Thank you very much for the information. Very grateful. Joe >Maxed LS >Maxed DS [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Rest in Lightning Synergies, where perhaps CBS is more useful than Shock >Web. That's basically how I built my D-key runner last ladder. She reached 90 with very little difficulty, and was generally able to run Nilly in a few minutes. HC, of course. -- Roy L Everything that Patrick said is on the money in my experience. I start every ladder with a trapper because she has enough offensive/defensive power to run all three difficulties wearing absolute crap, which means you can load her up with any magic find you can find or build. To what Patrick said, I would add that a few points in burst of speed and cloak of shadows are always worth it. Especially if your equipment is crap, burst of speed speeds up your trap throwing ability. If you are using fire blast as a back up skill, the faster you throw bombs the more damage you do. And a few extra resists and physical resistance is always handy on demand. No mention was ever made of equipment, but Insight is awesome for a trapper. No more mana pots. [...] >To what Patrick said, I would add that a few points in burst of speed >and cloak of shadows are always worth it. Especially if your equipment >is crap, burst of speed speeds up your trap throwing ability. If you are >using fire blast as a back up skill, the faster you throw bombs the more >damage you do. And a few extra resists and physical resistance is always >handy on demand. Actually, I would still advise against spending more than a single point in either Burst of Speed and Cloak of Shadows. Main reason is what you already mentioned yourself: you can get by with super-cheap gear. One of those super-cheap items you can get a Trapper are +3 Shadow skills claws. Equip two of those, and you already have +6 to the Shadow Tree, allowing you to boost BoS/CoS a lot. Add in other (cheapish) +skills gear and it's rare you need more than 1 point in either. >No mention was ever made of equipment, but Insight is awesome for a >trapper. No more mana pots. For a cheap starter polearm, nothing actually beats Insight in an Exceptional Polearm, ethereal preferred. ;) Regards, Patrick. >snipped > For a cheap starter polearm, nothing actually beats Insight in an > Exceptional Polearm, ethereal preferred. ;) > > Regards, Patrick. Is the life of an etheral weapon not limited? The other thing that intriques me is how does a Trapper beat Duriel? Can she do it with traps alone? Peter >>snipped >> For a cheap starter polearm, nothing actually beats Insight in an >> Exceptional Polearm, ethereal preferred. ;) > >Is the life of an etheral weapon not limited? Ethereal weapons wielded by a Merc do not lose durability. >The other thing that intriques me is how does a Trapper beat Duriel? >Can she do it with traps alone? A Trapper, like about any other character, will have quite some problems with Normal Duriel. Depending on her level, she will have to depend on her Merc holding off Duriel, perhaps the 1-point Shadow Warrior (I don't expect a Trapper to have access to Shadow Master when encountering Normal Duriel) can provide an extra buffer. Beyond that, the traps she has then (most like likely Charged Bolt Sentry and perhaps a semi-weak Fire Blast) should do the job. It will probably take quite a few trips back to town. NM and Hell Duriel should be a piece of cake: either the Merc or Shadow Master will keep Duriel busy while her Traps (Lightning Sentry should be available by now, synergized by CBS/Fire Blast/etc, and probably the best trap to lay down) make short work of Duriel. Regards, Patrick. > Is the life of an etheral weapon not limited? He's talking about for merc use, merc weapons never break. > Peter >The other thing that intriques me is how does a Trapper beat Duriel? >Can she do it with traps alone? Trappers solo Normal Duriel with little difficulty. Only druids and necros have it easier. Get a three-row belt and fill it with one stack of healing, one of mana, two of small juvs. SW, BoS, into the chamber, traps, then run in circles around him while the traps fry him. He basically just spins around, giving the traps lots of chances to hit. Recast SW as needed to keep him distracted (don't even bother rezzing your merc). Rinse and repeat. A bit of FRW helps, and WoF seems to be more effective than CBS. I have done this untwinked at 18, in HC. -- Roy L > I'm building a trapper assassin and I'm confused by all of the contrary > advice I find on the web. > In particular, one guide says to max Fire Blast at the expense of the > Lightning Tree, and this seems to run contrary to other advice I've > read. It's not totally a bad idea, actually. Your lightning traps will be lower, but you'll be able to kill lightning immunes a lot easier. It's really up to you if you want to max the lightning tree then pump fireblast when they're done, or max it then put your remaining points towards whatever lightning skill you didn't max. > Also what about Shadow Master. Is it worth putting points into > this skill? 1 point is usually sufficient. >I'm building a trapper assassin and I'm confused by all of the contrary >advice I find on the web. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Playing Diablo2/Lod SP >Manythanks in advance i've built two and i have only two points of advice: to me, either lightning or fire traps were fine, both had advantages and disadvantages I always "cheated the build" and had a nice katar, with shield, and two or three points into tigerstrike, just for tough bosses like Duriel. I wouldnt use it unless i had to, but i was glad i had it. |
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