Trap Assassin

I keep coming back to this build because I love the trap mechanic. But man, the nerf a few patches ago have really killed this play style. It admittedly scaled crazy well with the trap set armor. After that nerf, though, it hasn't even felt rewarding to play since.

I want to update that guide but still leveling.On my notice from recent patch the end game should be better now because you can wear

Clockwork Slippers

Clockwork Slippers
Boots (Sacred)
Defense: 651 to 671
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 105
Incineration Trap Radius Reduced by 50%
Catalyst Trap Cooldown Reduced by 10 seconds
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels
20% Cast Speed
(20 to 50)% Movement Speed
+(5 to 30)% to Spell Damage
Socketed (4)

and still reach 16 yards incineration trap.But thats for like lv 125 allready i will test it.Also the shokwave spreads faster and in wider area is super nice for normal/nightmare. Will update soon

I'm currently 125, shockwave damage and incineration trap are just below 5000 damage.

My gear currently is:
3 set vizjun (helm, katar and chest).
anarchy wrist blade.
lahma gloves.
moonwrap.
witchmoon.
rabbits > clockwork slippers (i switch on bosses).
ring of regha.
+1 ring.

gear is mo'd with lightning damage, phys/magic, fire, and mf (where possible), mana regen on rings/amulet.
jewels are Fal crafted, +2% sd & +2% phys/magic.

Still wanna test the build with Tinker's Gambit (if ifind one), 3 set vizjun is solid enough really.

I've gone over the build with someone else, he plays it aswell (he's 130, there's not many playing it btw), at 125 this is pretty much the optimal build atm, in terms of maxing damage/defensive, with more levels maxing out specialization and the traps will give more damage.

Subterfuge - 1 (maxed at 28)
Shockwave Trap - max
Catalyst Trap - max
Incineration Trap - max
Negative charge - max
Enhanced contraption - 1
Artifice - max
Hegamony - max
Prismatic Cloak - 10
Beacon - 1
Shadow Refuge - 1
Blink - 1
Domain - 1
Perfect being - 8
Specialization - 4
Tenacity - 1 (just my preference)
Meditation - 1 (with mana regen on rings, just 1 point in this, puts me at 120%)
Way of the Gryphon - 1 **
Way of the Phoenix - 1 **(with all the +skills this adds quite a bit of damage - more points in it is a waste though, tested with respecs)
2 spare points.

Rusev wrote:I want to update that guide but still leveling.On my notice from recent patch the end game should be better now because you can wear
Clockwork Slippers
Clockwork Slippers
Boots (Sacred)
Defense: 651 to 671
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 105
Incineration Trap Radius Reduced by 50%
Catalyst Trap Cooldown Reduced by 10 seconds
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels
20% Cast Speed
(20 to 50)% Movement Speed
+(5 to 30)% to Spell Damage
Socketed (4)
and still reach 16 yards incineration trap.But thats for like lv 125 allready i will test it.Also the shokwave spreads faster and in wider area is super nice for normal/nightmare. Will update soon

16yard radius with clockwork? Where do you figure this? I'm lvl 125, lvl 27 incineration trap and it's like 8 measley yards.

Speaking of, I'm really starting to think that Trap spec is actually just a trap, since it feels pretty horrible this season. Don't get me wrong, the survivability is great but the actual damaging mechanics feel very clunky. Look how badly clockwork gimps incineration trap:

a 50% reduction in radius is way more than a 50% reduction in effectiveness of a range skill. When you reduce the radius by 50%, you're removing a hell of a lot more area - about 75% of it.

End game mana issues. I've rarely had mana issues on a character past level 125. I'm sitting at 111% mana regen and 3k mana, and can't sustain damage without feeling like every other build is just better. Hard dumping points into traps and Specialization to cap pierce was a good idea on paper, but maxing the traps made the mana cost far out of reach. And on a build that has a vitality synergy with 0 reason to put stats into energy other than to have more mana, that feels really bad. The damage is decent, but you can't even kill a goblin due to running out of mana, even when chugging pots.

I've always loved this build, but I think this is the last time I'll play it.

Well its says that max radius is no longer cap at 16 so it is possible to reach more then 8 with the boots with the mastery specifications and baal charm.i am lv 117 at this moment and cant say yet it is theory

Rusev wrote:Well its says that max radius is no longer cap at 16 so it is possible to reach more then 8 with the boots with the mastery specifications and baal charm.i am lv 117 at this moment and cant say yet it is theory

What is there to test? I'm telling you right now at lvl 130 with baal charm and pumping points into traps that 8 yards is still a thing, and it feels awful to continue pumping points when the mana cost keeps going up while vitality is the stat to stack. The mana cost for traps needs to taper off more so as points are invested, and clockwork boots need a rework. I'm grateful that we can reach 170 pierce now for bosses but the single target damage is crap anyways

has anyone else noticed the way casting anything as a trap assassin feels clunkier in 2.0? I mean, even my blink seems to just hesitate sometimes. Trying to drop a fire trap sometimes it just doesn't come off, then I end up spamming like 2-3 of them right after. Blink sometimes just blinks me like a millimeter in front of me, even when my mouse is half-way across the screen.

Def doesn't feel the way it used to. Also the trap build was overnerfed imo. It went from really good, to just dumpster again. Sigh....

lynxxyarly wrote:has anyone else noticed the way casting anything as a trap assassin feels clunkier in 2.0? I mean, even my blink seems to just hesitate sometimes. Trying to drop a fire trap sometimes it just doesn't come off, then I end up spamming like 2-3 of them right after. Blink sometimes just blinks me like a millimeter in front of me, even when my mouse is half-way across the screen.

Def doesn't feel the way it used to. Also the trap build was overnerfed imo. It went from really good, to just dumpster again. Sigh....

I feel like that's mostly down to the bad servers, sometimes it's ok, other times it's like clicking multiple times before a trap gets put down, it's clunky, desync has been aswful in general this season.

In season 1.6 I used the Assassin Trap build, and at lv 130 the trap was 10k dmg. In later updates, it doesn't even go up to 4k dmg. I don't know how to add more dmg to this build this season. I add items and the orb with spells and the dmg boost is very low. Does anyone have a better tip to have more dmg on this build? I have full Vizjun's set.

Bayah wrote:In season 1.6 I used the Assassin Trap build, and at lv 130 the trap was 10k dmg. In later updates, it doesn't even go up to 4k dmg. I don't know how to add more dmg to this build this season. I add items and the orb with spells and the dmg boost is very low. Does anyone have a better tip to have more dmg on this build? I have full Vizjun's set.

I still only have 3 piece vizjun, i'm 128, and got 5.3k damage, a few posts above shows the build i'm using (took some trial and error, like 10 respecs to find the optimal build for 2.0), one of the major damage increases for the build are +2% phys/magic & +2% sd jewels, you'd be surprised how damage it adds with having them in every piece.

Traps got nerfed quite a bit after 1.6, and reworked a few times, so you won't reach 10k damage anymore, but 6-7k should be doable.