Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction Trapassin Guide
By Morrigan (c) 2001 (morrisama@juno.com)
Version 1.0 (last edited 8/17/2001)
Typed in Microsoft Word (Courier New Font Size 10)
The "trapassin," or traps assassin is one of the not-so-popular types
of builds due to the myth of traps being ineffective at higher
difficulties. But I'm positive that this type of assassin is
definitely the more safer type. And the damage isn't bad at all; it
just doesn't do the incredible amount of damage as a powerful firewall.
As a master of traps you generally act as a "supervisor" while your
traps, shadow, and mercenary are your "employees" doing the work for
you. If you want to be different from the majority of assassins that
specialize in martial arts (tiger strike/dragon tail or phoenix strike
specialists in particular), try out the trapassin.
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CONTENTS
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-Trap Skills
-Trap Skills
-Shadow Disciplines
-Martial Arts
-Attribute Points
-Items
-Strategies
-PvM and PvP skills
-Trap usage
-Skill combinations
-Mercenaries
-Special boss battles
-Miscellaneous
-Legal Stuff
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TRAP SKILLS
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Fire Blast - Level 1 Skill
Throws a grenade that explodes and deals fire damage in a small radius.
You simply throw this bomb to your destination, and it explodes after
landing.
Advantages:
+Can be thrown anywhere on the screen
+No casting delay
Disadvantages:
-Outside Act 1 Normal you will not get enough bang for your buck
-At very high levels it's damage is comparable to a very low level wake
skill
My suggestion:
Put 1 point in it, as it is a prerequisite for the other traps.
Shock Web - Level 6 Skill
Very similar to Fire Blast. But her you throw a set of spikes instead
of 1 grenade. The spikes create a web of lightning between each other.
More points will increase the number of spikes and damage.
Advantages:
+Alternate to Fire Blast
+No casting delay
Disadvantages:
-Like fire blast, the damage is horrid outside Act 1 normal
My suggestion:
Again, only 1 point here, as the damage doesn't cut it.
Blade Sentinel - Level 6 Skill
Throws a spinning blade that patrols between the area you used the
skill and the target area. It will do damage to anything it touches
along its path. The sentinel will last for 4 seconds before self-
destruction.
Advantages:
+Can slice through many monsters with the proper angle
+Monsters nearby can take lots of hits from this skill if you make the
destination point just behind you
Disadvantages:
-2 second casting delay. And it only lasts 4 seconds.
-Damage is not so keen at the later stages of the game (in NORMAL)
My suggestion:
This skill appears to have potential, but I don't think this skill is
worth it. But it does have uses outside act 1. Throw in a point if
you wish to get Blade Fury/Shield.
Charged Bolt Sentry - Level 12 Skill
Sets up a sentry that emits charged bolts in the direction of the
nearest target. It shoots 5 times, each time releasing 5 charged
bolts. Additional levels do not increase the number of bolts per shot.
Advantages:
+Covers a good distance
+Fire-and-forget skill
Disadvantages:
-Damage pales in comparison to Lightning Sentry
-Seems to spit out the bolts at a slow rate
Useful even with 1 point in earlier acts, but gets replaced by
Lightning Sentry.
Wake of Fire - Level 12 Skill
Sets up a wake that shoots fire in the shape of a V. Fires in
succession fairly quickly. After 5 shots it disappears.
Advantages:
+It covers a decent area although the range is a little limited
+Does its damage rather quickly for a fire skill
Disadvantages:
-The last fire trap is much better for damage
-Don't last very long; sometimes require recasting which eats up mana
especially in the early to mid stages
My suggestion:
Put 1 point in it as it is a prerequisite for Wake of Inferno.
Blade Fury - Level 18 Skill
A skill that allows you to throw stars at enemies. It requires some
practice to get in all your hits. Upon casting the skill you throw 3
blades, and as long as you hold the mouse button down more blades will
be thrown. There is a small costs of 3 mana to activate the skill,
which is negligible. Note that the rate you throw the blades relies on
ATTACK SPEED, not CASTING SPEED.
Advantages:
+Looks really cool :) And it gives you something to do besides
watching your pretty traps go to work.
+If you are a pure trapassin this becomes your prime source of physical
damage
+Does good damage at high levels
Disadvantages:
-You must stand still while using this skill
-Each blade has a mana cost. At level 20 it's 8 mana a blade.
Continuous blade fury will tax your mana heavily.
-The blades don't move very fast, you could miss with them
My suggestion:
Pure trapassins may opt to invest in this skill. If you do decide to
go for blade fury, max it. Assassins that only specialize in traps can
leave it at level 1.
Lightning Sentry (LS for short) - Level 24 Skill
It lays down a sentry that fires lightning bolts. The sentry will emit
its lightning 10 times before self-destruction.
Advantages:
+More points into it result the greater the distance of the bolts
+Proper placement can let them cross paths can inflict great pain to
mobs of monsters
+Unlike Wake of Inferno, it deals all of its damage very quickly
+Like most lightning skills, the lightning travels fast
Disadvantages:
-It's 20 mana for one trap. Expensive when you start feeling the need
to put down 5 of these sentries.
-Does less damage than Wake of Inferno at equal levels
My suggestion:
Pure trapassins should max this skill. You can max wake of inferno
first, but this is a perfectly good alternate. Trap specialized
assassins may leave it at level 1 if they melee a lot and already have
Wake of Inferno.
Wake of Inferno (WoI for short) - Level 24 Skill
The fire version of LS (Lightning Sentry). It fires a sorceress-like
inferno 10 times before disintegrating.
Advantages:
+Does lots of damage
+Good placement of wakes = good area coverage
Disadvantages:
-This trap can be avoided by faster enemies due to the nature of an
inferno attack
-No range increase as level increases
-Costs 20 mana for one wake.
My suggestion:
Anyone who decides to have a trap should invest in WoI - heavily.
Death Sentry (DS for short) - Level 30 Skill
Like LS, Death Sentry will emit lightning bolts. However if there is a
corpse in range of its sight it can detonate it as long as there is a
monster in range of the blast radius. So DS is basically an assassin's
version of Corpse Explosion. It only fires 5 times, and any
combination of the lightning and the corpse explosions that add up to 5
will do.
Advantages:
+Corpse explosion is what makes this skill a real killer. Not quite as
powerful as the necromancer's version, but still a powerhouse.
+At high levels the lightning does decent damage per bolt and the
corpse explosion radius is just nuts
+This trap can detonate corpses from a screen and a half away!
Disadvantages:
-Not a good source of lightning damage. It only fires 5 times as
opposed to LS's 10.
-20 mana for this sentry
My suggestion:
Don't be so quick to max this skill. I recommend around 6-12 points
here for good coverage of corpse explosion. You can max it if you want
if you are not a pure trapassin.
Blade Shield - Level 30 Skill
Interesting skill here. You get some sort of extended thorn effect
(not like a paladin's thorn aura, like an "attacker takes x amount of
damage" effect). The monsters don't have to be attacking you, but they
do have to be real close for the blades to slice them up.
Advantages:
+There are reports of the blade shield working with certain attributes
like "crushing blow" and "causes monsters to flee" and the like. Just
imagine what you can do with it!
+Free damage to anything that comes too close to you
+Looks really cool :)
-Very steep mana cost for the short duration of the skill
-More skill levels will result in a somewhat bigger duration, but an
ever bigger mana cost
My suggestion:
Pure trapassins should get 1 point into it. The first advantage of
this skill is godly enough for you to get it. IMO more points are just
gravy.
Advantages:
+Blocking without a shield
+The percentages you see is what you get, unlike shield blocking where
character level and dexterity come into play
Disadvantages:
-Shields can have better blocking percentages and resistances
-A successful block has a chance of damaging your claws, and as of
right now good claws are a fortune to repair
My suggestion:
You're gonna get 1 point into this skill if you want either of your
shadows (which you should get). Pure trapassins who are aiming for
lots of +skill items may invest a few points as they will wield dual
claws for +skill bonuses.
Cloak of Shadows - Level 12 Skill
Upon casting all monsters in the area of effect are blinded and have a
decrease in defense. The area also becomes very dark.
Advantages:
+20 yard radius. Wow.
+The blinding feature is so key. It allows you to place your traps
without fear of being attacked (as long as you don't run into them :P )
+Only 1 point is needed!
Disadvantages:
-More points into this skill have no effect on the duration or radius
of the skill
-Defense reduction is pointless since you generally do not melee anyway
-The darkness gets extremely annoying
My suggestion:
1 point and your done with it. Practice with this skill.
Fade - Level 18 Skill
Temporary resistance to all elemental attacks.
Advantages:
+Not necessary in normal, but gains its uses in Nightmare and Hell
Disadvantages:
-You cannot have BoS on at the same time :(
-Diminishing returns for every skill point
My suggestion:
Again, around 3-10 points.
Shadow Warrior - Level 18 Skill
Creates a minion that looks just like you. The minion will use the two
skills you have readied for yourself (as well as the standard attack).
Advantages:
+She serves as your tank early on
+You control what skills she uses, which means she'll be much more
prone to using traps as long as you are using them as well
Disadvantages:
-Later on if you do not invest in her she'll be killed easily
-She gains no resistances with additional skill points
-Her life is still small at high levels even at level 20
-Mana cost rises as skill rises
My suggestion:
Throughout normal difficulty and early nightmare you can get away with
level 1 shadow warrior. But she tends to die quickly even then.
Shadow Masters have much more life, deal more damage, and cost LESS
mana at higher levels.
Mindblast - Level 24 Skill
Stuns all monsters in a small radius, as well as small amounts of
physical damage. Also has a chance to convert monsters to fight on
your side for a short while.
Advantages:
+Even at level 1 it's very useful. The stun allows your traps to hit
them.
+Converted monsters also hold enemies in place for your traps to do
their thing.
+No casting delay
Disadvantages:
-Pitiful damage
-15 mana for one blast, although there is no increase of mana cost at
higher levels
My suggestion:
Dueling trapassins may want to max this skill. Otherwise, it can do
the job at level 1 just fine.
Venom - Level 30 Skill
Coats your weapon with poison. I'm only mentioning it because some
trapassins use bows instead of claws.
Advantages:
+Because of the way poison stacks a high level in this skill along with
a few poison charms can earn you poison damage in the thousands
+Allows you to do hit-and-run tactics
Disadvantages:
-If you aren't using a bow, it's useless
-BoS and Fade cannot be used with venom
My suggestion:
If you want to use a nice fast bow with 5 or 6 perfect emeralds max
this skill. If not, ignore it.
Shadow Master - Level 30 Skill
Another version of your shadow. This one has access to all of the
assassin skills.
Advantages:
+At high levels it serves as a tank quite well.
+Has access to every assassin skill regardless of where your skill
points are.
+Gains resistances for each skill point added beyond the first one
Disadvantages:
-Sometimes confused over what skills to use (especially choosing
between BoS, fade, and venom)
-No control over what skill she uses
My suggestion:
Invest in this skill. Doesn't have to be maxed, but a low level shadow
master doesn't last very long. The more multiplayer games you play the
less you need to invest in the skill (her life scales directly with the
number of players in the game).
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MARTIAL ARTS
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*I'm only going to mention those I feel should be considered
Tiger Strike - Level 1 Skill
Each attack gives you a charge that enhances the damage dealt by an
attack or finishing move. You can have up to 3 or these charges at a
time.
Advantages:
+Coupled with cobra strike it's a quick fix to mana problems
Disadvantages:
-Trapassins avoid melee, especially later on
My suggestion:
Only get 1 point in it if you are hurting for mana constantly. You may
ignore the martial arts tree completely if you wish.
Cobra Strike - Level 12 Skill
Each attack gives you a charge that grants life leeching (and mana
leeching with 2+ charges). Like Tiger Strike you can get up to 3 of
these charges.
Advantages:
+Mana leeching is what is important here. Best used to regain mana.
Disadvantages:
-Again, trapassins avoid melee
My suggestion:
If you need leeching, 1 point period. Any more and you're wasting
points that could be used for your traps.
Strength - Allows you to equip heavier items as well as deal more
physical damage on weapons and kicks. Assassins should not be beefing
up strength to wear the best elite armor. Remember certain milestones
for strength, like 100 (for Silks of the Victor if you really want as
many +skill items) and 118 (for scissors suwayyah).
Dexterity - Allows you to equip certain types of weapons, do more
damage on kicks, and increases your chances to hit with melee weapons.
Currently in 1.08 dexterity also affects your block rate. To keep your
block rate at an acceptable level, you must give 2-3 points in
dexterity every level. However if you do not find yourself in
situations where you need to block, you can either leave it at 118 or
lower.
Vitality - The more vitality you have, the more life you have. You
don't need to invest much early on, but one you fulfill all the
strength and dexterity requirements, concentrate on vitality.
Energy - More energy means more mana. Most of your mana will come from
items, but you can dump a few points into it if you wish. Anywhere
from base energy to 100 (which IMO is overkill) is acceptable.
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ITEMS
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Generally, you'll want items that give +mana, +life, +skills,
resistances and +mana regeneration. Life/Mana leeching is only needed
for the early stages of the game. Later you'll want regeneration items
to cover for life/mana recovery.
Key things to remember:
1) Circlets/Amulets/Claws can give +3 to trap skills if it's MAGICAL,
not RARE. However, rare items can give +2 to assassin skills and then
+2 to trap skills. Exceptional/Elite claws can also give +1-3 skill
points to 1 to 3 skills. So it's possible to attain +7 to a single
skill from a single claw!
2) Use socketed gear and perfect gems to boost your mana. More mana =
more mana regenerated per second. This means you should look for
sapphires. Alternatively you could also go for skulls for the
+life/mana regeneration.
3) Your attack power is purely skill based. More skills = more damage.
Look for them in circlets, claws, amulets, and if possible armor and
rings.
4) Caster and Safety crafted items are good while you can't find the
right equipment you need. It's a shame you need perfect gems for the
normal crafted equipment though.
5) I don't recommend dual-claw until the late game because you'll need
the shield for blocking and more importantly resistances. Go with
dual-claw once you find 2 claws that give plenty of +skills.
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STRATEGIES
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Player vs. Monster main skills:
-Lightning Sentry
-Wake of Inferno
-Death Sentry
-Fade (in Hell anyway)
Player vs. Player main skills:
-Lightning Sentry
-Mindblast
-Dragon Flight
-Burst of Speed
-Wake of Inferno (if they need it for leveling purposes)
Using your traps:
1) Circle - Set up your traps to enclose the enemies. WoI works better
than LS if the circle isn't too big. The fire will cross and burn
quite a few enemies. For bigger circles the lightning will cross since
they will travel quite a distance.
2) Half Circle - Set up traps to make a semi-circle around you.
Basically covers the side you want to attack.
3) Laser - Place all the traps right next to each other. With a little
practicing on timing the trap placement, you can have a constant stream
of fire or lightning attacking. A constant stream can stun-lock some
enemies. Doesn't cover a good area obviously, but looks cool. And a
LS laser can put diablo's "red lightning hose" to shame :P
4) Random Area Coverage - Traps are set anywhere that will cover the
best area. This is needed against enemies that move fast enemies like
imps, leapers, etc.
5) Scouting - Very important in some areas. Place one or two lightning
sentries ahead of you. You'll know if monsters lurk there if it
attacks.
Skill Combinations:
1) Combination of LS and WoI that add up to 4 + 1 DS - Use your staple
traps to deal damage and slay a few, then place the DS and watch the
bodies fly. IMO it's the most efficient way to deal with mobs, and the
destruction of corpses relives any stress with reviving certain
monsters.
2) Traps + Mindblast - Mindblast stuns monsters, keeping them in place
for your traps to work. Mindblast also pushes monsters, which is vital
when the enemies is coming towards you. The knockback will work versus
any type of monster, including uniques. The conversion of monsters
will also help mobs stay in one place.
3) Traps + Cloak of Shadows - Although constantly dark, it lets you get
up to the monsters before you lay the traps down.
Mercenaries:
Rogue - Unfortunately she isn't a tank, but if you find a nice bow you
can lend it to her. She'd be best for dealing poison damage from a
multiple emerald socketed bow, or for slowing down monsters with a cold
damaging bow.
Paladin - I consider the mercs from Act 2 paladins since they use
paladin auras. It's your choice of what type you need. The healing
aura can help for life regeneration, but the defense aura can help you
avoid hits should you find yourself being attacked.
Mage - It's best to get a cold mage. It's the main elemental damage
you cannot inflict with your traps, and it holds enemies in place for
your traps. However shattering monsters may not be so good for DS...
Barbarian - This is what I use. He's a big meat shield that does
physical damage. Give him a good sword and some decent resistance gear
and he's all set.
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SPECIAL BOSS BATTLES
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The Smith - He isn't very fast (unless he gets that Extra Fast
attribute), but he's strong. Use the layout of the barracks to hide
around corners and walls and let traps hit him as he finds a way to get
to you.
Andariel - She always has a -50 resistance to fire. So unless your
lightning traps do a ton of damage more than your fire traps, whip out
your Wake of Fire/Inferno. Place them around the pool of blood and run
around it. As she tries to get to you the wakes will get their hits
in.
The Summoner - Once you see his platform put down your traps. Standing
around too long is just asking him to firewall you. And his firewall
hurts a ton.
Duriel - Either type of element is fine (his has no weakness, but is
immune to cold later on). If you have good meat shields go with WoI.
If you are running around the area, use LS.
Mephisto - After getting his attention run back to the other side of
the river of blood. Stand in a place where he is just on the corner of
the screen. Then place your traps. Almost all the time he's too
stupid to find a way to get to you. Lightning and Cold resistance
helps a lot.
Hephasto the Armorer - Unless you've got a good meat shield, you will
be running constantly. This means for the most part LS traps. Either
shadow will only slow him down for a few seconds, giving you time to
regain stamina and lay down the traps. If he as a cold aura or
teleportation, I would suggest you avoid him and complete his quest at
another time.
Diablo - Lay down traps while constantly running around him. This
should avoid his "red lightning hose" that kills most players. I
usually put down LS because he tends to move around a lot. Fire and
lightning resistance is best here, as well as magic reducing gear.
Nitlathak - Lead his minions away from him and then kill them. If
that's not possible use DS to detonate the corpses before he does. His
corpse explosion is really powerful. An alternate method is to rush
right at him and kill him ASAP. Without corpses all he's got is an
arctic blast attack which isn't powerful at all.
The Ancients - Keep your merc in good health with potions so he can
tank against the big 3. Depending on what bonuses they get use WoI of
LS. If they get bonuses you can't handle, use a scroll of town portal
to reset them.
Listor the Tormentor - He gets special mention because of the "nice"
way he enters the game. Basically right before he makes his entrance
there is always a long period of loading lag. Always. If you are near
his spawning area, you will die once the loading lag finishes (as well
as seeing him and his buddies huddling around your body). Best way to
avoid this is to run once you kill of the other 4 groups of minions
Baal throws at you. Then "crawl" towards Baal, starting from very far
away if the loading lag doesn't begin. If done correctly, you'll
recover from the lag unscratched. It's also possible to enter the
worldstone chamber without defeating his last batch of minions. Just
lead the minions away, then run straight for Baal.
Baal - He doesn't walk around a whole lot, but teleports from time to
time. Still, I'd go with WoI if it's at a good level. Just run around
to avoid those naughty tentacles and his cold blast. Use the pillars
around the area to hide from his fire nova. BTW if you see two of him,
the real one has the label "Demon" slightly off to the right. Once the
real one is dead the other disappears. Fire and cold resistances are
good against him.
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MISCELLANEOUS
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What to be wary of:
1) Sorceress PK- firewall is right now the "hot" skill. It's pretty
safe to assume that all of those level 99 sorceresses have firewall and
thunder storm as their main skills. Those spells do insane damage.
But why should this bother you? It's when they want to PK. And doing
so only requires them to lay down a few firewalls around you (while it
seems as if they are attacking monsters), town portal to town, and then
hostile you while you are still in the firewalls. IMO a very lame way
to PK, but it's being done.
2) Druid PK - oh boy. Because of a very nasty bug in the game, druids
can force your game to freeze up (I'm not sure how it works...has
something to do with using a druid skill granted by an item). So they
freeze your game while you are in battle, then either let the monsters
kill you or they quickly go to town, hostile you, and PK you. The
lameness of this PK trick is way worse than the sorceress
firewall/TP/hostile technique. Worse yet there are no real warning
sings of this. Rumors have it barbarians have a similar bug as well.
3) Lag - an old, but still ongoing problem that will most likely never
resolve itself. Lag is the only thing that cannot gain any resistance
of by the game's natural means. You can indirectly gain lag resistance
with your skills (properly placed traps, blade shield, etc). Type in
the message "fps" to toggle the display of your ping, frames per
second, as well as other stuff. Note that all monsters and minions are
immune to lag ;)
So how can you detect lag attacks?
-Monsters will go to their targets, but will not attack
-Your traps will not spawn when you cast them
-Drinking potions does nothing
-You cannot pick up items from the ground/inventory
-Minions/Players just stand around
-After running around the area you notice things are disappearing
-You come across the infamous black wall (not receiving data from the
game)
-You suddenly teleport to another area instantly (packet loss perhaps)
-Game seems to freeze for a few seconds (loading from your computer)
-Game becomes really choppy and your hard disk is going nuts (more
loading from your system)
The last two can be rectified by purchasing more RAM, although it's not
necessarily a guarantee ;) There's the requirements to play,
recommended specs to play, and the hidden REALITY specs to play. I
find this to be the case with all games :D
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LEGAL STUFF
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Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction are the property and
creation of Blizzard Entertainment. You may distribute this FAQ freely
as long as you give credit where credit is due. This FAQ is
copyrighted 2001 by Morrigan.
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CONCLUSION
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So there you have it. I'll update the FAQ once I get more information.
This is not the end-all perfect trap assassin FAQ as I'm sure there are
better ones out there. I'm just providing information for those who
are brave enough to go with the trap specialist. Enjoy!
