Guild Wars 2

Well as per request by a few, I made a small montage of the build I just came up with. It’s a d/p power build that used runes of the trapper with all traps as my utility skills. It’s a lot of fun and gives a kitten load of cc. I left the build link in the description of the video. If you would like for me to go more into detail on the build or have any questions, feel free to ask away.

Video Link

I always appreciate Thief skill videos cause we are facing dire moments. So I thank you for you putting it some diversity into the Thief’s Forum.
the build sounds promising. I like how one the thief’s wielding a P/P is also using Black Smoke, so we can also use it as a combo.

I wouldn’t say it’s original, but it’s lot less uncommon than normal D/P, and since people are expecting a complete Trap build it also plays in your favor. I think.

With all those incoming incoming anti-stealth build, this Trapper build won’t hold long
Well done. The music in the beginning is fire.

Kocoff.7582:

I always appreciate Thief skill videos cause we are facing dire moments. So I thank you for you putting it some diversity into the Thief’s Forum.
the build sounds promising. I like how one the thief’s wielding a P/P is also using Black Smoke, so we can also use it as a combo.

I wouldn’t say it’s original, but it’s lot less uncommon than normal D/P, and since people are expecting a complete Trap build it also plays in your favor. I think.

With all those incoming incoming anti-stealth build, this Trapper build won’t hold long
Well done. The music in the beginning is fire.

Many thanks for the response, it was a lot of fun theory crafting this. I’ll admit I am negative about the class at times, but coming up with this was a lot of fun and gave me a gleam of hope! As far as the anti stealth builds go…. I can only cross my fingers.

Did you try it with Some Valk armor? The added HP might be worth it in WvW.

I know hitting those autos is alot, but would the survival vs the 10% extra crit chance be worth it to you?

Faux.1937:

Did you try it with Some Valk armor? The added HP might be worth it in WvW.

I know hitting those autos is alot, but would the survival vs the 10% extra crit chance be worth it to you?

I’m in the process of saving some gold up to get some valk and Mats for more trapper runes. I do take the 100% crit from stealth so it could work. I’m just worried that I might miss out on a bit of dps from the lower crit chance and I don’t really feel like I’m having that much trouble surviving. For the outnumbered roaming the valk might be necessary. I’ll get back to you with results once I got the money for it

Nice gameplay I question Ambush though Shadow Trap is better in my opinion it just has a higher CD but the trade-offs are good,interesting to not see Trickery and the traditional Steal set up in use. Despite my hate on why the spec is working it’s kind of disappointing that trapper thieves are extremely rare in WvW.

Sagat.3285:

Nice gameplay I question Ambush though Shadow Trap is better in my opinion it just has a higher CD but the trade-offs are good,interesting to not see Trickery and the traditional Steal set up in use. Despite my hate on why the spec is working it’s kind of disappointing that trapper thieves are extremely rare in WvW.

I take ambush over shadow trap for a couple of reasons. 1. Lower cd (like you said) means more stealth and if I took shadow trap I couldn’t permastealth as easy. 2. The cc and extra dmg from the npc thief actually helps a lot. Including the black powder he puts down for me occasionally.

I took no trickery because I just couldn’t make it work without da, sa, and cs. They all fill the roles I need and trickery doesn’t provide a whole lot for this build. I don’t need extra ini because the traps free up the 5,2 combo init drain. I don’t need steal as often cause d/p 3 is very prominent for me. totc is meh because I already have super speed and fury is kind of meh cause 100% crit in stealth.

Edit: another reason I take cs over trickery is because the dmg multipliers help me have higher burst

reinforever.8902:

Faux.1937:

Did you try it with Some Valk armor? The added HP might be worth it in WvW.

I know hitting those autos is alot, but would the survival vs the 10% extra crit chance be worth it to you?

I’m in the process of saving some gold up to get some valk and Mats for more trapper runes. I do take the 100% crit from stealth so it could work. I’m just worried that I might miss out on a bit of dps from the lower crit chance and I don’t really feel like I’m having that much trouble surviving. For the outnumbered roaming the valk might be necessary. I’ll get back to you with results once I got the money for it

I am also in the process of starting a full valk armor with ascended quality. it would leave me at about 15.5k HP. Which is reasonable for a thief. I suggest NOT to get crafting until they announce Thief’s Elite Spec is shown.

I personally have 3 sets of Med Ascended Armor, I was thinking of Making one into a WvW set, I too also was going ot wait for the Thief Elite spec, it could completely change the thief.

Will have to wait and see. but back in the day I ran Valk BS build it was so fun.

Faux.1937:

I personally have 3 sets of Med Ascended Armor, I was thinking of Making one into a WvW set, I too also was going ot wait for the Thief Elite spec, it could completely change the thief.

Will have to wait and see. but back in the day I ran Valk BS build it was so fun.

I implore you to give the backstab trapper a try before hot comes out! Lots of fun.

I gotta give this a try with s/p

I hope lag wars is gonna be less laggy while I get me some gold for the set of armor

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

Kocoff.7582:

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

About 3g to make all 6 I believe. Its something like 1 Gossamer and 1 Onyx Lodestone.

@Reinforever- I was thinking of making a video as well, which recording device do you use?
Also nice =D I tried this in spvp, but condi pu mesmers were brutal. I’m using full signet might over trap might.

Serious Thought.5394:

@Reinforever- I was thinking of making a video as well, which recording device do you use?
Also nice =D I tried this in spvp, but condi pu mesmers were brutal. I’m using full signet might over trap might.

You need the trap runes, and they arnt in pvp, I hope they will be when HoT comes out.

Faux.1937:

Serious Thought.5394:

@Reinforever- I was thinking of making a video as well, which recording device do you use?
Also nice =D I tried this in spvp, but condi pu mesmers were brutal. I’m using full signet might over trap might.

You need the trap runes, and they arnt in pvp, I hope they will be when HoT comes out.

It won’t be viable in HoT. Look at all those reveals waiting for us. Anet doesn’t want us to stealth anymore.

Oslaf Beinir.5842:

I gotta give this a try with s/p

I hope lag wars is gonna be less laggy while I get me some gold for the set of armor

There’s another guy in one of my old guilds who uses it with s/p and he just spams pistol whip. Apparently it outdps’ d/p

Serious Thought.5394:

@Reinforever- I was thinking of making a video as well, which recording device do you use?
Also nice =D I tried this in spvp, but condi pu mesmers were brutal. I’m using full signet might over trap might.

I ended up using the built in windows 10 screen capture stuff, worked out decent. Someone else pointed it out, but these runes aren’t in pvp

Kocoff.7582:

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

I’m excited to hear what your personal experience with them is.

Kocoff.7582:

Faux.1937:

Serious Thought.5394:

@Reinforever- I was thinking of making a video as well, which recording device do you use?
Also nice =D I tried this in spvp, but condi pu mesmers were brutal. I’m using full signet might over trap might.

You need the trap runes, and they arnt in pvp, I hope they will be when HoT comes out.

It won’t be viable in HoT. Look at all those reveals waiting for us. Anet doesn’t want us to stealth anymore.

Add reveal and Not wanting stealth are 2 different things, I personally think they will add the runes mostly b.c Dragonhunter uses Traps and they Dont have huch to make a trap build better.

But we will see.

Hi,

I have used trapper runes with :
-condition : great survivability but can be long to kill.
-hybrid : more damage but far less tough

Also, in my opinion it is now the best way to be stealthed.

I never tried with full front damage, it seems great.

Lud

Well done my man. Keep it up, hope to see more. I deem you trap master, and will refer Thieves to your video, if any avid adventurous Thief wants to go outside the norm, and experience Trap Life #TrapGod

reinforever.8902:

Kocoff.7582:

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

I’m excited to hear what your personal experience with them is.

yeah well… I have been trying to log in for the last 5 hours so… it’s gonna take a while lol.

IN THE MEANTIME I noticed this terrible terrible skill while checking your build:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Trap

It could be useful and even compete with Signet of Infiltration but 45 seconds CD? What were they thinking? Who is using this? Why?
If they added some condition cleansing or something but wow this is bad.

AikijinX.6258:

Well done my man. Keep it up, hope to see more. I deem you trap master, and will refer Thieves to your video, if any avid adventurous Thief wants to go outside the norm, and experience Trap Life #TrapGod

I am honored to be #yungtraplord GucciXkiller. For real though it’s cool to have so much positive feedback <3 and I appreciate the support. Send anyone who’s curious my way

azmodey.4576:

Hi,

I have used trapper runes with :
-condition : great survivability but can be long to kill.
-hybrid : more damage but far less tough

Also, in my opinion it is now the best way to be stealthed.

I never tried with full front damage, it seems great.

Lud

I never even thought of trying to do a hybrid build, sounds like it could be fun. But I’m enjoying the full power build definitely.

Faux.1937:

Add reveal and Not wanting stealth are 2 different things, I personally think they will add the runes mostly b.c Dragonhunter uses Traps and they Dont have huch to make a trap build better.

But we will see.

If they add them to pvp, this definitely would be my build of choice just cause the mobility and cc the traps provide.

Kocoff.7582:

yeah well… I have been trying to log in for the last 5 hours so… it’s gonna take a while lol.

IN THE MEANTIME I noticed this terrible terrible skill while checking your build:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Trap

It could be useful and even compete with Signet of Infiltration but 45 seconds CD? What were they thinking? Who is using this? Why?
If they added some condition cleansing or something but wow this is bad.

I think it’s a cool skill in theory. A shadow step to target, and if they don’t pop the trap it’s an escape (with a horribly long cast time). The cooldown is just way too long for me to actually want to take it, if they reduced the cooldown or added some extra effect like condi cleanse as you suggested, it would improve the usefulness of the skill and make it more viable.

Kocoff.7582:

reinforever.8902:

Kocoff.7582:

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

I’m excited to hear what your personal experience with them is.

IN THE MEANTIME I noticed this terrible terrible skill while checking your build:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Trap

I find no Shadow Trap in the build. But would not that bad. The skill generates 15 stacks Might. In PVP I use to always, is nothing better for mobility.

Magira.6390:

Kocoff.7582:

reinforever.8902:

Kocoff.7582:

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

I’m excited to hear what your personal experience with them is.

IN THE MEANTIME I noticed this terrible terrible skill while checking your build:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Trap

I find no Shadow Trap in the build. But would not that bad. The skill generates 15 stacks Might. In PVP I use to always, is nothing better for mobility.

I think he was just referring to the skill as it is another trap I COULD have used for the build. It gives 15 stacks of might? I though it was 5 stacks per trap. I can see the use of it for mobility though. Almost like a solo Mesmer portal for emergencies. In wvw it’s near useless IMO.

Edit: like I said in another post, I would prefer the shorter cooldown trap for more access to stealth and super speed, and the thief npc provides decent dps and cc.

reinforever.8902:

Magira.6390:

Kocoff.7582:

reinforever.8902:

Kocoff.7582:

I will definitely try this out. Hoping Trapper runes is not expensive…. probably is.

I’m excited to hear what your personal experience with them is.

IN THE MEANTIME I noticed this terrible terrible skill while checking your build:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shadow_Trap

I find no Shadow Trap in the build. But would not that bad. The skill generates 15 stacks Might. In PVP I use to always, is nothing better for mobility.

I think he was just referring to the skill as it is another trap I COULD have used for the build. It gives 15 stacks of might? I though it was 5 stacks per trap. I can see the use of it for mobility though. Almost like a solo Mesmer portal for emergencies. In wvw it’s near useless IMO.

Edit: like I said in another post, I would prefer the shorter cooldown trap for more access to stealth and super speed, and the thief npc provides decent dps and cc.

It gives 10 on it’s own with some fury and stealth it’s also a break stun (kind off) it depends on your style I hate the cast time on return without a target though.

Sagat.3285:

It gives 10 on it’s own with some fury and stealth it’s also a break stun (kind off) it depends on your style I hate the cast time on return without a target though.

Oh that’s pretty cool then. They should fix the wiki on it, it doesn’t say the 10 might stacks anywhere or the fury. Good info though, thank you.

Edit: oh it’s on the wiki for shadow pursuit, I’m and idiot I guess. X.X

I was pretty much just browsing the Trap skills cause it got me curious and made me realize How I NEVER used this Shadow trap. He is actually right. 10 stacks of might naturally and an 5 extra from the trait. kitten that could be a real killer. I take back all i said about how useless this skill is..

15 stakcs of might + 10 stacks of vulneralibility+ Fury+ Teleport RIGHT next to the guy for a BS+BREAK STUN +10,000 range …

dang. I take everything back. Anet forgive me. This can actually compete with Shadowstep.

Pretty sure shadow trap is a stun break also after setting it. I’d go with it over the assassin trap. May give this a kitten on my power thief. It’s funny on condi thief…

Been using this for quite some time. Shadow trap works great here. You get that extra stealth as well when you trigger the trap. The target in for a world of hurt. The hardest part is the long cast time. I found casting from stealth works best.

If you are tratied SA you will get 6 seconds stealth when this triggers. Thats a couple of conditions cleansed right there with SE

reinforever.8902:

Oslaf Beinir.5842:

I gotta give this a try with s/p

I hope lag wars is gonna be less laggy while I get me some gold for the set of armor

There’s another guy in one of my old guilds who uses it with s/p and he just spams pistol whip. Apparently it outdps’ d/p

nope 1 dodge and ur dead

I know I am being a little too geeky and keen on the detail here but bare with me because I am sure you will appreciate it too:

@ 2minutes 7 seconds, OP chased the downed Ele near the ennemy gate. At that point he proceeds to stomp. But the sexy things is, his assassin aid is behind, he uses Unload on the Ele.

The thing I wanted to point out was the as OP is Finishing the enemy, it looks like he is also dodging all of his aid’s bullets WHILE performing the move. That was awesome, and it goes by so smoothly.

No Friendly Fire just pure professional synergy.

what are you using for speed in terms of getting around the map while roaming?

runes of the trapper = no speedy runes, traps = no signet of Run Forest Run…

Raven.9603:

what are you using for speed in terms of getting around the map while roaming?

runes of the trapper = no speedy runes, traps = no signet of Run Forest Run…

SB……. its amazing fast, can also swap utilities to run, Dont need Trap just to get out there at 1st.

babazhook.6805:

Been using this for quite some time. Shadow trap works great here. You get that extra stealth as well when you trigger the trap. The target in for a world of hurt. The hardest part is the long cast time. I found casting from stealth works best.

If you are tratied SA you will get 6 seconds stealth when this triggers. Thats a couple of conditions cleansed right there with SE

swinsk.6410:

Pretty sure shadow trap is a stun break also after setting it. I’d go with it over the assassin trap. May give this a kitten on my power thief. It’s funny on condi thief…

Kocoff.7582:

I was pretty much just browsing the Trap skills cause it got me curious and made me realize How I NEVER used this Shadow trap. He is actually right. 10 stacks of might naturally and an 5 extra from the trait. kitten that could be a real killer. I take back all i said about how useless this skill is..

15 stakcs of might + 10 stacks of vulneralibility+ Fury+ Teleport RIGHT next to the guy for a BS+BREAK STUN +10,000 range …

dang. I take everything back. Anet forgive me. This can actually compete with Shadowstep.

Yeah, after taking a second look at the skill i’m going to run it tonight and see what kind of results I get. I think it will be a little difficult to get an enemy to kite through that specific trap (i’ll probably lose track of which one is which because I have 2-4 on the ground at all times). But It definitely adds to the burst. I don’t like that it makes me have less stealth though because that cd is sooooo long compared to other traps. Also +1 for it being a stunbreak, just takes some setting up.

reddie.5861:

reinforever.8902:

Oslaf Beinir.5842:

I gotta give this a try with s/p

I hope lag wars is gonna be less laggy while I get me some gold for the set of armor

There’s another guy in one of my old guilds who uses it with s/p and he just spams pistol whip. Apparently it outdps’ d/p

nope 1 dodge and ur dead

I haven’t personally tried the build so I can’t speak for the s/p. Would need an experts opinion on it.

Kocoff.7582:

I know I am being a little too geeky and keen on the detail here but bare with me because I am sure you will appreciate it too:

@ 2minutes 7 seconds, OP chased the downed Ele near the ennemy gate. At that point he proceeds to stomp. But the sexy things is, his assassin aid is behind, he uses Unload on the Ele.

The thing I wanted to point out was the as OP is Finishing the enemy, it looks like he is also dodging all of his aid’s bullets WHILE performing the move. That was awesome, and it goes by so smoothly.

No Friendly Fire just pure professional synergy.

I actually noticed this and one of the main reasons I included the clip at all! It’s not an amazing play or anything like that, just looked cool xD

Faux.1937:

Raven.9603:

what are you using for speed in terms of getting around the map while roaming?

runes of the trapper = no speedy runes, traps = no signet of Run Forest Run…

SB……. its amazing fast, can also swap utilities to run, Dont need Trap just to get out there at 1st.

What I do to get around is I will go around the map in permastealth. I don’t ever leave stealth until I find a target I want to pick on, then I start setting up and engage. IF however I need to get somewhere fast, sb 5 and spamming all my trap EXCEPT the heal trap because it’s integral for escaping if I get engaged on. This lets me be about as fast as the other classes not including a 25% movespeed thief with sb.

reinforever.8902:

babazhook.6805:

Been using this for quite some time. Shadow trap works great here. You get that extra stealth as well when you trigger the trap. The target in for a world of hurt. The hardest part is the long cast time. I found casting from stealth works best.

If you are tratied SA you will get 6 seconds stealth when this triggers. Thats a couple of conditions cleansed right there with SE

swinsk.6410:

Pretty sure shadow trap is a stun break also after setting it. I’d go with it over the assassin trap. May give this a kitten on my power thief. It’s funny on condi thief…

Kocoff.7582:

I was pretty much just browsing the Trap skills cause it got me curious and made me realize How I NEVER used this Shadow trap. He is actually right. 10 stacks of might naturally and an 5 extra from the trait. kitten that could be a real killer. I take back all i said about how useless this skill is..

15 stakcs of might + 10 stacks of vulneralibility+ Fury+ Teleport RIGHT next to the guy for a BS+BREAK STUN +10,000 range …

dang. I take everything back. Anet forgive me. This can actually compete with Shadowstep.

Yeah, after taking a second look at the skill i’m going to run it tonight and see what kind of results I get. I think it will be a little difficult to get an enemy to kite through that specific trap (i’ll probably lose track of which one is which because I have 2-4 on the ground at all times). But It definitely adds to the burst. I don’t like that it makes me have less stealth though because that cd is sooooo long compared to other traps. Also +1 for it being a stunbreak, just takes some setting up.

Well I tried it for about an hour or so. It messes with the dmg rotation a little bit and stealth rotation unless you can get them to hit the trap, then it ends up working. The stun break is on such a long cast time unless they walk into the trap that it’s not worth using it as a stunbreak. When they do walk into the trap you have 10 seconds to shadowstep to them (and to use the insta stunbreak) Which I was disappointed by, I thought I would be able to shadowstep to them whenever I wanted after they walk through it. This wouldn’t be so bad either if it gave you a timer to use the skill in. Like a buff timer just like shadowstep has. All in all, I won’t personally use the trap, but If you find yourself preferring it over the npc thief then by all means take it as it could be viable in the right hands.

reinforever.8902:

Well I tried it for about an hour or so. It messes with the dmg rotation a little bit and stealth rotation unless you can get them to hit the trap, then it ends up working. The stun break is on such a long cast time unless they walk into the trap that it’s not worth using it as a stunbreak. When they do walk into the trap you have 10 seconds to shadowstep to them (and to use the insta stunbreak) Which I was disappointed by, I thought I would be able to shadowstep to them whenever I wanted after they walk through it. This wouldn’t be so bad either if it gave you a timer to use the skill in. Like a buff timer just like shadowstep has. All in all, I won’t personally use the trap, but If you find yourself preferring it over the npc thief then by all means take it as it could be viable in the right hands.

I finally managed to log in. I had tried your build for about two hours. Man i loved it. I was so skeptical of trapper builds. I also tried it with Shadow Trap : Althought it is pretty OP, it does kind of mess up the whole flow of the fight. So you were right, the lower CD of the other traps are much more suitable for the build.

I replaced The Critical Strike Line with Trickery simply because I couldn’t cope with 30sec CD on Steal. I lost a good amount of crits though (I am at 40% crit without food or buff).
Instead I had Flanking Strikes From the Trickery line, which gives 6 seconds of Fury & Quickness. 15-20 sec Steal was more reliable gap closer to my taste.

Super Speed is also an excellent gap closer. This build is great. Thanks #TrapMasterFlex lol

I haven’t one-shoted anybody in a LONG kitten WHILE but this is what happens when they trigger all your traps:

Kocoff.7582:

I finally managed to log in. I had tried your build for about two hours. Man i loved it. I was so skeptical of trapper builds. I also tried it with Shadow Trap : Althought it is pretty OP, it does kind of mess up the whole flow of the fight. So you were right, the lower CD of the other traps are much more suitable for the build.

I replaced The Critical Strike Line with Trickery simply because I couldn’t cope with 30sec CD on Steal. I lost a good amount of crits though (I am at 40% crit without food or buff).
Instead I had Flanking Strikes From the Trickery line, which gives 6 seconds of Fury & Quickness. 15-20 sec Steal was more reliable gap closer to my taste.

Super Speed is also an excellent gap closer. This build is great. Thanks #TrapMasterFlex lol

I haven’t one-shoted anybody in a LONG kitten WHILE but this is what happens when they trigger all your traps:

I’m glad you were finally able to log in and try it, and I’m happy to hear you had a lot of success and fun with it I understand your logics behind replacing CS with Trickery as well, it’s a preference thing. I would rather have the damage modifier and 100% stealth crits, but trickery has it’s place definitely. Cool thing about trickery is if you take the trick reduction trait, you will most always clear all the condis off of you from withdraw. This works because withdraw removes chill, cripple, and immob, leaving the trickery trait to clear another condi and then your stealth for 3 seconds will also clear another 2 condis. Both very viable ways to play, It turns it into a more dmg vs utility thing so do whatever works best for you guys!

Edit: That necro tho x_x

Hey, thanks for posting this. I read this thread earlier today when I was at work and I was itching to get home and give it a try. I’ve been at it for a couple hours now and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’m not very good at it but then again I’m not a very good thief in general even though its all I play. I’m going to keep at it and maybe with some practice I’ll get a better hang of it. I think part of my problem is that I’m not used to d/p and all the utilities are different then what i’m used to so I’m trying to break old habits as I learn it. All in all, it’s fun and its a change of pace for me. I think I may stick with this a while but as someone else mentioned I wonder if perhaps I should trade CS trait line for Trickery. Either way, thanks for the share.

I tried running power trapper months before the big June patch and found it lackluster. But now you piqued my interest and I tried it again last night. The two new DA trapper traits really made this build much better. I run ShadowStep and 2 other traps.

I really wish ANet would implement internal cooldown timers on the UI though, so we can see when the next trap on heal would be available. The difference in Withdraw cooldown and Trapper’s Respite cooldown makes it difficult to predict.

Then I’d love a bit more power/prec/fero based stats on the runes itself, at this time it’s heavily weighted towards condi builds. (Please don’t flame me condi thieves!)

Thanks for posting this!

Lambo.1405:

Hey, thanks for posting this. I read this thread earlier today when I was at work and I was itching to get home and give it a try. I’ve been at it for a couple hours now and I’m having a lot of fun with it. I’m not very good at it but then again I’m not a very good thief in general even though its all I play. I’m going to keep at it and maybe with some practice I’ll get a better hang of it. I think part of my problem is that I’m not used to d/p and all the utilities are different then what i’m used to so I’m trying to break old habits as I learn it. All in all, it’s fun and its a change of pace for me. I think I may stick with this a while but as someone else mentioned I wonder if perhaps I should trade CS trait line for Trickery. Either way, thanks for the share.

Yeah just keep at it, you break the habits pretty fast, and the muscle memory kind of kicks in. you treat 7-9 all the same anyways, basically an “ohkitten” move to get stealth and speed. Trading CS for trick works, reduces dps quite a bit because you lose a dmg multiplier in the minor traits. Still viable though.

godmoney.6025:

I tried running power trapper months before the big June patch and found it lackluster. But now you piqued my interest and I tried it again last night. The two new DA trapper traits really made this build much better. I run ShadowStep and 2 other traps.

I really wish ANet would implement internal cooldown timers on the UI though, so we can see when the next trap on heal would be available. The difference in Withdraw cooldown and Trapper’s Respite cooldown makes it difficult to predict.

Then I’d love a bit more power/prec/fero based stats on the runes itself, at this time it’s heavily weighted towards condi builds. (Please don’t flame me condi thieves!)

Thanks for posting this!

The way I get around the heal trap cooldown is I know if I spam it twice, it will do the trap every other time for sure. I subconsciously track the time after heal comes off cooldown also If i’m planning on waiting for the trap to come up. Idk how to explain it, but I kind of just know if my heal will plant the trap or not. I agree on a power variation for the runes though, very much needed Anet!

I’d like to add how much SB shines with this build as well. I tested it a bit last night and had no problems killing a few enemies with SB alone. The on demand stealth, CC and superspeed afforded by the traps really suits SB. Having 3-4 surprise shots to immob enemies in a fight and then lob clusters and choking gas on them while immob adds a ton of pressure, especially great for securing kills if running in a party. I ran it with +40% condition duration food and the immobs and cripples were just insane.

reinforever.8902:

I agree on a power variation for the runes though, very much needed Anet!

It’d be great if we could just choose the stat/set bonuses we want in SPvP ala carte, but that’s an expansion or two away I’m sure

Amante.8109:

reinforever.8902:

I agree on a power variation for the runes though, very much needed Anet!

It’d be great if we could just choose the stat/set bonuses we want in SPvP ala carte, but that’s an expansion or two away I’m sure

I actually prefer it the way it is. Everybody is on the same page very little tweaking opportunity (Amulet, Runes, and Sigil tweaking is very valuable nonetheless). It reminds me of this terrible game where you get into pvp, not only it’s not balanced but you even have people of different levels stuck in a bracket. Oh man what I nightmare.

I do agree with adding more avalaible runes however.

reinforever.8902:

Well as per request by a few, I made a small montage of the build I just came up with. It’s a d/p power build that used runes of the trapper with all traps as my utility skills. It’s a lot of fun and gives a kitten load of cc. I left the build link in the description of the video. If you would like for me to go more into detail on the build or have any questions, feel free to ask away.

Video Link

I’ve thought about using the trapper runes before, but I always dismissed it since I thought the damage output would be too low to be viable. I was amazed when I saw your video and I knew I just had to test it out for myself.

Just like the others in this thread, I found it to be a very enjoyable build. Thank you very much for sharing it!

For map mobility if one has 3 traps traited you can get around pretty quickly just laying down traps as you run.

The runes also work pretty good for the p/p users who are lacking defenses and access to stealth. They provide a very much needed loss of target loss to the enemy, and allow you to relocate and use the sneak attack from hiding as your ini builds. You can then use heal to stealth in your p/p build, use vital shot at range from hiding and than get an unload or two off before setting another trap.

Vital shot from hiding hits pretty hard. For those p/p power sets if one uses the might on crit food along sith a sigil of strength , you can easily build over 20 might coupled with the trap trait

I note the OP uses Omnomberry which an excellent choice but the dumplings can be considered as well. You add 20 percent to boons (thus your might) and it gets might on crit with no cooldown.

The overall power generated by such a build will be over 3000 with regularity , more than enough to make up for the loss of power on runes themself. I have long maintained these one of the best runes out there as the stealth available via the trap along with the function of the trap itself really saves us INI allowing the INI to be used for our attacks.

Oh and to the “flow” of the shadowtrap itself. I understand the concerns some have in getting this to work in combat without interrupting said flow. I still found they well worth it. It takes time but after a while you can predict where people will run in battle so It usually not a problem getting it to trigger. That said what I tend to do is use one of the other traps to stealth (or stealth via other means) and then immediately lay this trap on top of the enemy. It instantly triggers and then you got plenty of time to use pursuit to get to where you are and setup your attack.

Heal forward is also a very nice tactic if you can get good at it using withdraw. Withdraw into the enemy and instantly stealth , launch your backstab. No INI used.

I just wish we had an elite as a trap. I was hoping thieves guild would be made one.

This build looks really fun! I was messing around with D/D trapper, but that didn’t seem to work out too well for my playstyle. Maybe D/P would work better. Thanks for the idea!