AcidRane’s Fire Trapper/Kicker (PvP)
This build combines a high-powered Wake of Fire and a Venom-enhanced Dragon Flight and Dragon Talon to defeat opponents. I basically tried to combine the basic principles behind a Wwsin and a Fire Trapper, to come up with a Fire and Poison-based Assassin. It’s a very versatile build, capable of beating almost any build consistently, once mastered. Do not expect to beat anyone quickly, but if played right, you shouldn’t get hit either.
This character is a great melee killer, a good trapper killer, and a good caster killer. The only real downsides are WW Barbs and people who stack absorb (which is lame and you should learn a real strategy if it’s the only way you can win).
What? Fire traps are weak!!
Well, to an extent, yes. Their damage is lower than lightning traps, so it does take more hits to kill your opponent. But they really shine when it comes to stunlocking. Combine a lvl 35 Wake of Fire with Mind Blast, and you can cook many opponents to death over time. It’s not a sudden 2 or 3-hit kill like lightning traps can be, so it’s a very frustrating way to lose :) I get a lot of “OMG that’s cheap,” but it’s how you gotta play.
For opponents with higher life, you may need to stunlock them for a bit, then Dragon Flight in for the kill. And still, if that doesn’t work, you can follow up with Dragon Talon, which scores knockback—another way to stun. This build is ALL about disabling your opponent by stunning them.
Stats;
Str: 158 after items. This allows you to equip upped Gore Riders.
Dex: 105 after gear. This is for your Jade Talon.
Vit: Everything else. You can get over 375 easily if you stack your charms right.
Ener: None.
Skills
Here’s what to shoot for with Hard Points…
Max Fire Blast
Max Wake of Fire
Max Wake of Inferno
Max Venom (includes 1 BoS and 1 Fade, both very effective with just 1 hard point after +skills)
1 Shadow Master (Includes 1 Weapon Block, which will be at least 56% after +skills)
2 Mind Blast (so your shadow will choose it more than the other 1-point wonder skills)
1 Dragon Flight (Includes 1 Dragon Talon)
-Pick one skill to invest the rest of your points in. Spreading them out won’t help much.
Dragon Flight – Not for damage, but for more AR. You need to hit with this, otherwise, you’re just going to teleport right into attack range without hitting.
Mind Blast – Not for Stun length, but your shadow will use it more the more you have here.
Dragon Talon – For AR again. If your DFlight misses, you need to follow up or you’ll get munched by a melee powerhouse like a Zealot.
Blade Fury - useful because it carries your Venom, Crushing Blow and OW, and can be very beneficial against people who are hard to stunlock in your traps, like WW Barbs.
Blade Shield – Carries the same things Blade Fury does, but will hit anyone who comes close to you. It’s like scoring a free hit.
I went with Dragon Flight, to help me land easier killshots on teleporters.
Gear:
This character will have maxed resists before Fade, so that you can truly be effective with either Fade or BoS when needed. Also, there is a careful balance between IAS and FCR. AR is extremely important, as you have not maxed Claw Mastery to help.
CLAW 1: Bartuc’s Cutthroat, socketed with Shael or IAS Jewel – Non upped is fine. You need this for the skills, IAS, FHR, AR bonus, and the massive stats bonus.
CLAW 2: Jade Talon, socketed with a Poison Facet – A good “shield” claw, it has huge Resists, FHR, Skills, and it’s faceted for a nice Poison boost. It’s a good balance between the Trapper and Kicker sides to the build.
-Alternaive: Chaos might be good, but then you’re changing the build entirely, and need to make up a lot of resists, etc. I imagine this WW variant would be pretty effective if you focused more on hand-to-hand, though
-Alternative: +6 WoF Claw - Only good if you’re really trying to rely on only your trap damage (which would be hard). You’ll be lacking in MANY other areas, though.
SWITCH: 2x +3 Shadow claws - If you can find one with +Venom and/or Shadow Master, too, you’re gold. Plain +3’s will work just fine, though.
-Note: if you want to use a CTA, you’ll need to do a lot of switching and running in and out of town. I don’t think it’s necessary, but to each his own. You get more bang out of the Shadow Claws than you’d ever get from CTA.
ARMOR: Upped Vipermagi socketed with Um or resist jewel - +1 Skill, FCR to help your Mindblast and Dflight, and great resists.
BOOTS: Upgraded Gore Riders – Open Wounds, Crushing Blow, Deadly Strike, and max kick damage. ‘Nuff said.
Alternative: Sandstorms are decent, but you’ll be relying solely on your Venom damage at that point. OW is your friend.
GLOVES: Trang’s gloves – FCR for Mindblast and DFlight, Cold resist, and a big poison damage boost. Perfect.
BELT: Arachnid’s Mesh - +1 skill, FCR for your Blast and Dflight, extra mana.
Alternative: Verdungo if you’re dying to hit 50% DR after Fade, but you’ll lose the FCR and skill… not worth it, IMO. You’ll have at least 30% without Verdungo.
Alternative: A perfectly crafted Blood Belt might actually be better than the Arach, if you can get max OW, a high stat boost, high life, and dual resists, but that’s rough to find.
HELM: Harlequin Crest Shako, socketed with a Poison Facet or Um/resist jewel - +2 skills, huge life/mana boost, and 10% DR, tto top you off at 31% after Fade. Socketing depends on your charms and if you have max resists already.
RING 1; Ravenfrost – As if you need to know why. Dex, mana, Cannot be Frozen.
RING 2: Rare ring with AR, stats and resists - Life and/or mana won’t hurt either. If it has +stats, it can help you divert more points to Vit.
AMULET: Metalgrid – Mainly for the AR bonus, but the resists help a lot as well. Mara’s might be almost as good, but lacks the massive AR.
INVENTORY: Trap Charms and Shadow Charms, Steel SC’s, enough FHR on charms to hit 86%, an Annihilus, and a Hellfire Torch. I used 5 Trap, 3 Shadow.
Note: Keep a +3 Shadow Ammy in your inventory for prebuffing.
STASH: Nothing of note here, unless you want to keep a Demon Limb for Enchant, but it’s a pain when you have to switch 2 claws out just to use it. If you’re industrious, keep a set of resist helms or something.
My character
747-848 Wake of Fire (lvl 35)
1397-1423 Venom (lvl 40)
10k AR Dflight, 9k Talon
56% Blocking
~1400 life
75% Res all before Fade
86% FHR – Hits 86% BP
70% FCR – Hits 65% BP
Lays traps at 10 frames, before BoS, Max speed with BoS.
Lvl 21 Fade and BoS
Lvl 16 Mindblast
Lvl 21 Shadow Master
-9% to enemy poison resist
Strategy:
GENERAL STRATEGY: Prebuff Venom, Fade or BoS, and your Shadow (and maybe Blade Shield) with your Switch claws and your ammy. If you’ve ever played a Lightning trapper, you know what to do, to an extent, but you’ll need to rely on your Mind Blast a lot more. Basically, you’ll MB->throw a trap near to them->MB->throw another->MB… Keep this up until you have 4 traps out and they’ll start to notice, “wow, I never thought fire traps could hurt so bad.” Keep Mind Blasting ‘till death, which will come after much frustration on their part. If they’re slow to go down, throw a couple more traps, then Dflight in, and follow up with Talon once they’re at about ¼ life. Often, you Shadow will join the party, by Mind Blasting people for you.
Tip: Namelock MB. Then, while holding the mouse button down, switch your hotkey to your traps. This will keep the namelock for when you switch back to MB. Takes practice, but will win you a lot if duels, and create a lot of "OMG CHEAP" complaints, but once again... It's how you gotta play.
Wind Druids: Tough, but playable. Use Fade. Lay your traps and wait within their range. They’ll tele in on you, you start kicking with Talon. They’ll be stunlocked, and the bear will be stuck, all the while their Cyclone Armor is eating your fire damage. But the Venom goes right on through…. Run if necessary, and repeat.
Melee, Zealots, Smiters, Shifters: Easy, usually. Use Fade. Follow the General instructions. If they just refuse to die, Dflight in and Talon for the kill. They’ll be too stunlocked to fight back. They often have a lot of life, so be patient. They may need to simmer for a while in your traps before you move in. Don’t get greedy.
Sorcs: Use Fade. Don’t even bother with traps, unless you’re trying to herd them a certain direction. Dflight and Talon for the kill. If they’re 200% FCR casters, use MB to get them to quit moving for a damn second, then Dflight in.
Hammerdins: Use BoS. Pretend they’re Melee. MB them as soon as you can see them, then keep them the heck away from you while laying traps around them. If they’re the kind that just stand there and spam hammers, kindly start throwing traps at their feet and MB away.
Bone Necros: Same as Sorcs, but use BoS. Their Bone Armor doesn’t help against poison, and they won’t have the life to handle that much poison that quickly. Added bonus: you can Claw Block their Spirits, etc…
Bow Zons: Use BoS. Throw some traps to scare them, then MB and Dflight in. If you’re lucky they’ll get caught in the trap and will be mostly dead when you get there. Zons are usually glass cannons and won’t take much to kill.
Lightning Zon: Use Fade. They’ll try to Fury you until you get close, then CS. Do not let them get close. It hurts. Follow the melee instructions, and keep them trying to get in on you… They’ll die trying.
WW Barbs: Yikes. Use Fade. Throw traps, they’ll just WW out of stunlock. MB, they’ll just WW out. Your best bet is to make them chase you through some traps while using Blade Fury to nick away at them. If they get to you, you’re probably dead, unless you land a couple lucky Talon hits. This is one of your hardest duels if the player knows what the heck they’re doing.
TeleBarbs: Use Fade. Made for killing casters, they’ll have high resists and stacked absorb. This sucks. Usually, they have lower defense than their BvB counterparts, however. Make them fight you IN the traps while they go off. Hope you can hit them and block your way through a couple WWs, while they cook in the traps. Still, very tough.
Trappers: Use Fade. If they’re lame, they’ll camp in their traps. Draw them out by laying your traps in their camp. When they’re on the run, MB to stop them, and start the trap-laying process. If they use Enigma, lay a few traps to herd them, then Dflight in for the kill. They won’t have much defense and hitting them is pretty easy. (Enigma trappers are lame… just my opinion).
Hope you enjoyed it. Comments, questions? People who’ve made something similar?
I like it!
What about WWsins?
Also, what about namelocking hammerdins and druids who use wolves? From my experience against fire trappers, the wolves take 2-3 hits from WoF before dying, and we all know that wolves shield the druid.
If I were playing my windy, I would hit and run, tele on you (with 174% FHR and max fire res of course), throw 1 tornado, and tele 3 screens away. And rinse and repeat.
Also, I think you shouyld discuss namelocking MBing someone offcreen. If you right click and hold on someone with mb, I often find that I can kill with my trapper/kicker, simply by casting mb on them tons, and throwing a trap ion on them offscreen, by switching hotkeys but keeping my finger held down. The cries of "OMG AA U NUB" are music to my ears.
edit: And 1 more thing: the trapper killer: chargers. And their vs. all counterpart: liberators.
Well, I have yet to duel a WWsin with this character... I'd imagine it would be a lot like a Telebarb, though. Pretty tough. Fortunately, with less life :)
*adding some namelock advice