Veteran's guide for new trappers

[Foaly's_Pub]

Ok so you want to do traps. well nooblet let me brake it down for you.

Trappers are some of the most quest knowledgeable players out there (at least those of us that have mained them for a while). You will have to learn trap box locations, Trap hit radius, Safe search locations, trap timings, and last but not least what quests have random traps and were they spawn and where are safe locations for your party and if its a go/no-go and the path for it.

Now that's a lot to learn and most some players expect you to know this as a trapper(hardcore server players especially most of the time). But this isn't a post to dissuade you from playing one all to the contrary. Trappers especially competent and multi functional trappers are where you will see most players build a character to fill 2 or 3 roles. How ever these players have the Gear, lives, and tomes to back that up.... you most likely do not hence why you are reading this.

I want to set you on a path that will benefit not only you but also your party.
so here is a list in order of importance

1. trap location and box location
2. Quest objectives (what is required and what is objectives you should just pass on)
3. Safe spots from traps
4. types of traps for (insert name here) quest

Now there are other things to keep in mind like what can spawn while you are disabling, what can't be disabled, etc., ect. (trust me I could type up a novel and would still just be scratching the surface on playing a Great trapper)

But you are just starting out so I'm going to make your learning a bit easier.
Firstly you should focus on learning a quests trap locations (if they are random just know were they can spawn) you don't have to know exactly were they at just get a feel for were to look before you run into it.

Take it slow your learning I've taught several of the people in my static group how to trap and I tell them all the same thing Focus on traps first before you worry about multi roles once you have a good enough base to say ok there are X traps in the quest and they spawn here, here, and here, then you can spread out to do DPS or locking down mobs if you choose to go the caster route.

There are a number of builds both simple and advanced to choose from or ask for but for a beginner lets keep it kiss (keep it simple St....) stick with either rogue or artifice or a mix of the 2 if you want to have evasion and a dog (you only need 2 levels to get evasion but you get more sneak attack if you stay pure) just something to keep in mind if you choose to multi class.

Take a hire with you and just crawl you don't have to blitz a quest. If you want/need help with a quest through up an LFM and say New trapper please take it slow and generally you will get 1 of 2 types of people... blitzers and those that like to sniff daises (people who like to explore and pick up everything) i'm the former. But I will slow down... damn near sit still let you trap and run off and wait at the next trap location but I've also played a trapper for years.

Remember learning to trap takes time some are better then others. while some just aren't suited for the role. so Take your time everyone of the trappers in game all started where you are now. Which is looking into the abyss that screams quest mastery.

So take you time and learn it may take several runs of a quest to learn all the locations and that's completely fine. Just take a breath and buckle down and take it one quest at a time and master it you don't have to memorize everything about a quest to have mastery of it. You just have to know how to make it work for you.

something you should know the better your tools the higher you are to be able to disable the trap:
masterwork<+1<+2<+3<+4<+5 thieve tools
Worst -> best

Good luck nooblet trapper maybe you will trap for me some time maybe not who know that is for the dice to decide

 

[Livmo]

• INT for Search. You can't disarm a trap you cannot locate. Or find that secret door you're lookin' for.
• DEX for open lock.
• Spot is not as important as Search.
  • Use this hierarchy when investing Skill Points:
    1. Search
    2. Disable Device
    3. Open Lock
    4. Spot

You can craft Thieves' Tools at the Device Workstation with +5 weapons.

Depending on your build and gear, as a 1st lifer you may need buffs like Greater Heroism, bard songs from party members, and/or skill boost SLAs to locate stuff and not blow trap boxes up.

 

[Garix]

• INT for Search. You can't disarm a trap you cannot locate. Or find that secret door you're lookin' for.
• DEX for open lock.
• Spot is not as important as Search.
  • Use this hierarchy when investing Skill Points:
    1. Search
    2. Disable Device
    3. Open Lock
    4. Spot

You can craft Thieves' Tools at the Device Workstation with +5 weapons.

Depending on your build and gear, as a 1st lifer you may need buffs like Greater Heroism, bard songs from party members, and/or skill boost SLAs to locate stuff and not blow trap boxes up.

I'd swap 3 and 4 around. A new player isn't going to have all locations memorised so they'll need spot, and you can keep rerolling for Open Lock.

 

[Livmo]

I'd swap 3 and 4 around. A new player isn't going to have all locations memorised so they'll need spot, and you can keep rerolling for Open Lock.

Great points!

Easy to get Thieves' Tools. If you get a free Bell of Opening from daily rolls, those work great on the hard to pick chests.

 

[Buddha5440]

Another thing to do is craft (or have someone else craft them for you) some rogue items (I go with goggles).

I suggest 1 with search and spot (adding insightful search after lv 10) and 1 with disable device and open lock (with insightful disable after lv 10).

 

[Mary]

Ive been trapping since the beta, great advice in this thread.

I always prioritize Search, then Disable, then Spot - open lock always last; I don't worry about it because if you pug people can knock, or melt, or smash locks, also if you gold roll ever and win bells, you can bell any lock. Also, nothing essential is locked, usually its extra loot etc, helpful sometimes to open locked doors to save time, but nothing as show-stopping as blowing up or not finding or noticing a trap

 

[Buddha5440]

Also with an open lock skill of ~8 (not counting stat bonuses, just base skill) and something with a lv appropriate OL bonus, you can unlock almost all (if not all) locks in the game.

 

[Sylvado]

Even move spot to number 2 unless you already know all the quests. Remember the thieves tools give you a nice boost to the skills. Open lock is rarely necessary just nice for extras and use an action boost for open lock when you need it.
Also, I have never created +5 tools, that is a lot of trap parts for every 50 tools. The +4 you can buy from the Free Agent vendor is good enough for my use.

 

[Bjond]

Also with an open lock skill of ~8 (not counting stat bonuses, just base skill) and something with a lv appropriate OL bonus, you can unlock almost all (if not all) locks in the game.

You can even skip putting points at all in open lock if you have at least tome+1. Lock DCs are MUCH lower than traps and I've never found one that had any time-pressure; ie. it's OK to take time to swap gear for it and reroll for success.

AFAIK, the only skill that does NOT work for tome+1 the same as if you had a real point in it is Tumble. You need a real point in that if you want the long rolling style.

 

[saekee]

Hmmn not sure if I agree with everything here. New players will need spot above all, I suppose, since they will not find the trap until it is activating upon them! Spot is based on wisdom which is a dump stat for many trappers. SO here is my recommendation, skipping stuff covered above:

1. You will need evasion since you will be standing ignorantly in the midst of a lot of traps and in fact that will be how you find most of them! Artificer is not a new player class. So we are going rogue mechanic and INT based at that, since INT will allow you to search/disable (and works with the tree anyway). Artificers do not get evasion. Thief acrobat and assassin are usually Dex-based so forget them. Make sure to take Insightful reflexes early and for the rogue special ability, Improved evasion FIRST. Also, since you will be walking into traps, make sure your reflex save is high: 1) boost saves versus traps (in the enhancement tree) and 2) make sure you have a general resistance item (you should have this anyway for saving throws). Get your INT as high as possible and remember you need dex for ranged weapon pre-reqs. Drow is not a new player race but is very good for INT; I suggest a human mechanic and that covers the extra feat you will need to get insightful reflexes (vet players won't need the feat).
2. You will be hunting for gear that you will be for swapping for traps. Swapping gear is painful and time consuming (and probably lag inducing). Someday you will be a vet with crafting, so you can craft a ML 10 insightful search/search and insightful disable/disable item; until then you are relying on Randomly generated loot. SPECIAL LOOTGEN AFFIXES TO SEARCH FOR IN THE AH: Technical and Tinkering. You can also search for the words themselves: Search, disable, open lock, burglar (for open lock). (You can slot a skill augment but they are rare.) Smart players post this stuff for cheap as they know they might group with a trapper!
3. You want one piece of gear to wear at all times with Spot; in an ideal world it will buff your wisdom as well. For spot gear, look on the AH for Sensory and Tactical, as well as Spot of course.
4. There are enhancements in different trees that will boost search, spot, disable etc. The mech tree has some low-hanging fruit. Elves and Drow can take Keen senses; humans have skill focus and skill boost action clicky; gnomes can take Awareness; maybe some others. The harper tree has other boosts as well but a new player might not have access to them.
5. The easiest name gear for starting is the Korthos Troubleshooter set, very good for a while. Don't bother farming out named items for trapping; it is a waste of time. Yes the ring in Death House is fancy but not worth the farm. Just swap lootgen; the only gear for trapping that you will wear all the time is spot. If you really want to farm a low-level heroic item, go for the Snakeskin vest of out Framework as it is a fast quest for trappers and fun too.
6. If you are worried about being slaughtered while dealing with a trap, you can try doing some trap mitigation beforehand. A simple method is drinking a potion of aid (or use the Korthos clickie bracelets) and stacking a scroll of false life. This will give you about 24 hp temporary to buff failed reflex saves on low level traps. Once you move into higher levels, this won't accomplish anything. There are further ways to mitigate trap damage (there was a great thread on the old forums about this if you want to hunt it down someday).

 

[eshadowbringer]

My preference for skill points and prioritization if you are going to be a first life "Trapper" as apposed to being a first life toon that can do traps.

1. SPOT - it is essential and becomes more important the less experience you have trapping! and it's DC stat is wisdom so it will likley be lower than you other trapping skills. "usually" meaning if you can spot it you can search and disable it.
2. Search and Disable - These are a mated pair if you are trapping!
3. Open lock - as others have said its nice and conveinient but since you can keep trying till you get it having a swap item is often enough!

 

[eshadowbringer]

New players will need spot above all

sorry I just Just saw this. and 100% agree

 

[Garix]

I'll disagree that spot is essential. Needed for a new player but not essential.

There aren't too many traps that will one shot a new player (as long as they don't just stand there wondering what's happening) but once the trap goes off at least you know to start searching for it.

 

[eshadowbringer]

I'll disagree that spot is essential. Needed for a new player but not essential.

While I appreciate your sentiment, it's important to remember that this post was specifically created for new players. Therefore, the advice I provided was tailored to cater to that premise. How I build my characters is irrelevant

 

[DYWYPI]

Any newbie with an ounce of sense playing pure Rogue (and wants to Disable Traps) will invest ranks in both: Search and Disable skills. Even the premade Rogue spends 'Skill points' at each level in those two skills. The Rogue receives more Skills and more skill points than any other class those two are 'core skills' if you want to deal with traps.

Then consider the D20 roll, for Disable Device that will add: 1–20. The generic Disable DC tends to be ~ +10 higher than Search DC but Disable DCs will typically vary a lot more with quests.

Note: Also, remember: you cannot Disable a trap control panel; if you fail to meet the Search DC value for the Control panel.

The Spot skill can be very useful (and not just for spotting traps or secret doors) if you can manage to get the value high enough. A new [Rogue] player would probably find it tremendously useful, if they manage to get (and maintain) a sufficient Spot skill. I still find keeping my Spot high, beneficial when playing my Rogues.

Most generic Locks tend to have low Open Lock DCs in heroics. Even Epic Locks currently won't likely have a DC higher than 100.

By Level 8, the [Rogue] should be 'getting their act together'. If not, they probably should start asking people in the PUG or 'Advice Channel' (or use references like the DDO Wiki, e.g. [DDO information project/Spot and Search] or DDO Forum) about how they can boost their skills or INT Ability. If they aren't reliably managing to perform their basic role of finding the Trap Control Panels and disabling traps.

 

[Enoach]

I would point out that as you progress as a roguish type that a good portion of your skills will come from a combination of Gear & Buffs

When gear and buff light you will lean more on your attributes and skill point allocations

The Crafting system can help keep your gear at level when you lack found/named gear
Get in the habit of gear swapping - don't expect a one gear set to rule them all
Spend coin on buffs in early lives/levels - Stat pots/wands when you don't have +4 stat items (Int, Dex, Wis), potions of heroism for moral bonus
The skill boost enhancement even with its limited time can be a good way to get you from a will fail to will succeed.

 

[Sylvado]

1. You will need evasion since you will be standing ignorantly in the midst of a lot of traps and in fact that will be how you find most of them! Artificer is not a new player class. So we are going rogue mechanic and INT based at that, since INT will allow you to search/disable (and works with the tree anyway). Artificers do not get evasion. Thief acrobat and assassin are usually Dex-based so forget them. Make sure to take Insightful reflexes early and for the rogue special ability, Improved evasion FIRST.

Dark Hunter get 50% reduced damage from traps when wearing medium armor. I was testing DH for hardcore running elite at +2 and that 50% was great.

 

[C-Dog]

Hmmn not sure if I agree with everything here. New players will need spot above all, I suppose, since they will not find the trap until it is activating upon them!

Nah, just let the zergy barbarian go first, they'll find the traps just fine.

 

[saekee]

I would point out that as you progress as a roguish type that a good portion of your skills will come from a combination of Gear & Buffs

When gear and buff light you will lean more on your attributes and skill point allocations

The Crafting system can help keep your gear at level when you lack found/named gear
Get in the habit of gear swapping - don't expect a one gear set to rule them all
Spend coin on buffs in early lives/levels - Stat pots/wands when you don't have +4 stat items (Int, Dex, Wis), potions of heroism for moral bonus
The skill boost enhancement even with its limited time can be a good way to get you from a will fail to will succeed.

potion of heroism—good to add to the list—I get them in House J

 

[Celdiseth]

Great thread.

Perhaps someone shares notes on best ways to get to famously difficult boxes?