Guild Wars 2

I run with two traps, flame and one of the above. The third slot goes to signet of the hunt. As far as I can tell the advantages of each are this:

Spike trap:
-Has a decent chunk of damage, rewards my condition stat
-An extra second of immobilize can really mess people up, especially if it’s holding them in my flame trap
-Great “all in one” trap with the bleed, cripple, and immob
-Hits all at once if people trigger it, so they can’t mitigate by rolling out of the way…but also means that if they evade roll over it, it fully misses.
-Shorter cooldown

Frost trap:
-More powerful slow overall for a longer time, if you get just a few applications of it
-Combo field!
-Has the recharge slow, which can help subdue people’s heals and other junk
-If the initial burst is avoided, it’s more likely to at least get a few ticks in there

Discuss?

What’s your weapon combo? I will try to be unbiased in this… but i personally absolutely love the frost trap so it will be hard xD.

If you’re a condi damage build (as i assume you are since you’re using flame trap) then you’d absolutely want to be using spike trap, it’s just too good to pass up and you’d be able to hold them in your flame trap just that much longer.

Ice trap however would favor you much more if you were a power or crit build (like the snake trap would) because it hinders your enemy A LOT, not to mention a chilled enemy is an easy target to hit, and very easy to stay away from. A pet can also hit a chilled target almost as often as a stationary target i’ve noticed, i run a chill + pet build and my pet has not had an issue hitting any victim of my chill.

I know what you mean Otha, I run with the same setup on my ranger usually. Stick with Spike Trap, it helps both for the CD and it’s a good way of keeping enemies behind you for a little while when you need to make a hasty retreat. Also, Signet of the Hunt is good if you’re in PvE or just wandering around in WvW. Otherwise, if you’re in a dungeon and not running past a bunch of mobs, in PvP, or helping defend a keep in WvW, exchange the Signet for Frost Trap. It helps keep the enemies moving the slowest they can and makes it easier on the group and yourself due to their increased recharge time for their skills.

i have little experience playing as a trap ranger, but playing against them – for classes with on-demand condition removal, freeze not that big of a deal, whereas it’s harder to remove the multiple conditions – bleeds, cripples, immobilizes etc of spike trap, and if they do, it will have done more damage, whereas a removed frost trap is almost like nothing happened.

Sounds like a heavy lean towards spike trap!

I’m mainly focused on s/tpvp, but I love my speed signet. It’d be hard to let go of it. And I run shortbow/sword/dagger. I have a good chunk of physical damage (1650 pow, 30% crit, 43 cr.dam), and 1091 condition damage.

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I welcome more if anyone has them.

Othayuni.7369:

Sounds like a heavy lean towards spike trap!

I’m mainly focused on s/tpvp, but I love my speed signet. It’d be hard to let go of it. And I run shortbow/sword/dagger. I have a good chunk of physical damage (1650 pow, 30% crit, 43 cr.dam), and 1091 condition damage.

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I welcome more if anyone has them.

Well do you plan on running around the map a lot? If so stick with the signet, if you plan on sitting down and defending an area drop it and pick up another trap.

I rather like being able to do both. I use cover a lot when I fight as needed and I like being able to get to where people need me the most, though I also enjoy team fights. I’m heavily hybridized, what can I say, but I feel like it excels for me.

I’d say keep signet of the hunt then and -not- pick up another trap.

Durzlla.6295:

I’d say keep signet of the hunt then and -not- pick up another trap.

Yeah I agree, unless you’re very heavy into condition damage I think two wouldn’t really be a gain over a another utility.

Frost trap is great though if you have time to fire into them and keep the chill running, same with fire as well. Over all though I’d go with spike most of the time.

Confused on the spike trap, when does it get the immobilize ability?

Bailey.6892:

Confused on the spike trap, when does it get the immobilize ability?

It immobilizes for like 1s (maybe less) right when it procs, you only notice it when you’re a victim of it.

It only happens if you have trapper’s expertise. I think this is to make it so it benefits from the large trap zone somehow since it only hits once so it’s not like being larger will help people stand in it more. And yes, it’s one second, and yes, you can see the debuff icon and chains if you look.

Othayuni.7369:

It only happens if you have trapper’s expertise. I think this is to make it so it benefits from the large trap zone somehow since it only hits once so it’s not like being larger will help people stand in it more. And yes, it’s one second, and yes, you can see the debuff icon and chains if you look.

Well i know that i -don’t- have trappers expertise and it still stops them in their tracks when they pop it… not for long granted, it’s pretty freaking small, but this may just be a PvE mob thing ( i don’t use spike trap in PvP), and seeing as how a daze = a stun in PvE i’m willing to assume it’s just that.

Guys guys, just look at the spike trap skill. It does 1 second of immobilize in addition to its cripple and bleeding. No traits necessary, its just part of the default skill.

The thing I didn’t like about spike trap was that it only really works as an AOE DD, not as a trap. If you try to use it as a trap and a group of mobs or players run through it, most of the time the first mob triggers it and is the only one to get hit by the damage and cripple. To reliably hit more than one target with it, you have to throw it where mobs or people are like an AOE DD spell, not set it out where they’re going to go.

If you get the trap potency grandmaster trait, frost trap’s chill is 10 sec (if the target stays in the field for the full 5 sec), while its cooldown is 24 sec. That’s pretty delicious in a choke point, or on top of a party member who’s trying to get away.