Guild Wars 2

I was curious what are the benefits of using Caltrops over Needle Trap. I am running a condition build and both are viable options. I feel like Needle Trap is better because it does 4x the damage with a 33% healing debuff along with a 3.25 sec immobalize. Caltrops does less damage and only has a 50% cripple.

Is this just a AoE preference? Like Caltrops can effect more than 1 person or what?

Thanks for the help!

Caltrops is better for running away. It covers a circle rather than a line for activation. Caltrops also lasts quite a while after used.

Needle Trap is still good, though. If you find Needle Trap better, then go ahead and use it. But remember: poisons don’t stack their damage, only their duration.

Alright, so Caltrops covers a larger area and helps get away. If I was going to be using this skill more offensively and I don’t use any other poisons other than from stealing then Needle trap seems to be more effective.

Thanks.

Any more suggestions or ideas would be appreciated also though.

Caltrops. Either from Uncatchable or the skill proper. Wider area, the former is faster for escapes, and it you’re not using poison (and even if you’re not really using Conditions at all), it’s useful because enemies build bleed stacks the longer they stand on them.

Needle Trap absolutely does not do 4x the damage of Caltrops. don’t be misled by the tooltips. Caltrops will stack a bleed EACH SECOND on every enemy in the radius. it will quickly rack up enough stacks to far outdamage Needle Trap.

another major concern, since this is for sPvP we’re talking about, is that a player dodge rolling through a trap just wastes the trap. it triggers but doesn’t affect them (they get an evade). dodge rolling through caltrops won’t cancel the caltrops. if they roll out of the area they’ll be ok but if they just randomly roll around in caltrops and come out of the roll still in the area, they get snared and bleed just the same.

How about visibility? Caltrops are marked as a large red circle, but traps are probably invisible to enemies.

Didn’t realize the caltrops bleed stacked, I’ll be using those more often.

Woah.

Needle Trap is awful, and caltrops is just, insanely amazing.

A little bit of poison (which thief has plenty of access to) and a short immobilize (also not in short supply), versus a very wide range 14s aoe that maintains 6 stacks of bleed and maintains a 10s cripple.

Caltrops is godlike if you’re going condition build. Pop caltrops in the middle of a control point and enjoy. Oh and not to mention if you get tricks trait to drop the recharge to 24s, that’s 14s duration out of 24s, on top of the 10s cripple that’s refreshed at the last tic.

Be warned though, the caltrops on dodge version is actually quite awful. It’s only use IMO is for a condition build that involved accurately dodging on top of people that won’t move alot to get 2-3 stacks of bleed. As an escape tool it will almost NEVER hit anyone.

I’m using both. Effective Combo.

I use both, though I’ve picked up the trait that allows me to use caltrops automatically each time I dodge. I find them both to be very useful, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve been a thorn in the enemy’s side in PvP!