General trapping guide

Overview
This guide discusses rangers specialized in using traps to overcome their enemy. Traps are a powerful weapon when used correctly, but in unexperienced hands they turn against their user. This guide is intended as a starting guide for new trappers, but it includes more detailed information and tips for more experienced trappers.

General Concepts and Theory
There are many ways in which one could describe a theory or general concept behind the usage of traps, but deriving from common knowledge of traps, one could simply say it is the setting up of a device or an idea which catches an enemy unaware. Unless an opponent is targeting a Trapper specifically and taking note of the skills being used, traps can be set up without the enemy noticing- thus said, this means there are different tactics one needs to be aware of depending on trap usage during PvE, PvP or GvG.

PvE Trapping might be considered the easiest form of trapping within the game, if only that the enemy A.I. does not detect traps and will generally not react if one is being set up- of course, any attack on the trapper will negate the trap immediately. Thus said, those using traps generally plan ahead of time and plant traps outside of the aggro radius of an enemy in an area where one can easily invoke the enemy to chase over, activating the trap. This minimizes the risk of the trap being interrupted while setting it up, and ensures that as long as the enemy follows suit it will become affected by the trap.

PvP Trapping, on the other hand, is generally more difficult, and not just for reasons in that the enemies are actual players- this becomes immediately apparent when those that are grouped for PvP happen to be random players and strict coordination to plant a successful trap is required. Forethought and making it known that a player plans to use traps is almost mandatory, and not everyone may have the forethought in terms of skills to compliment those traps. This does not mean that traps are not practical in PvP, only that a greater demand of coordination is present.

GvG Trapping may not be as difficult as PvP Trapping unless the guild members are unreceptive of trap usage, and in the right situations and with correct usage, can become deadly tools when one needs to block off a path or defend an area. The use of team voice-chat interfaces can greatly increase the effectiveness of traps when one is being announced. However, one must be aware that, like PvP, any enemy aware of a player setting a trap needs only to attack to put a stop to it, meaning that inconscipous behavior and discretion must be practiced.

Wilderness Survival
Wilderness Survival is the most important of the attributes of a trapper. All of the traps in the game, excluding Viper's Nest, use Wilderness Survival. Therefor the trapper should have the maximum possible WS, currently 16 (12 + 1 from mask + 3 from a superior rune). This increses the damage output of the traps and the duration of secondary effects such as blind, cripple and bleeding. It also increases lasting time of many Nature Rituals.

Expertise
Expertise is also very important for trappers. It lowers the huge energy costs of the traps so that the trapper is able to set many more traps than he normally could. A trapper should have a very high expertise rank, preferably 12 or 13.

Beast Mastery
Beast Mastery is not always needed, but the trap Viper's Nest and some Nature Rituals benefit from it. If you use BM based skills you should usually have rank 6 in it.

Secondary attributes
Depending on the task at hand the trapper might want to use skills from a secondary profession or the Marksmanship attribute. The trapper will generally have only a few attribute points to spend on these skills and he should never spend the points to more than one secondary attribute.

Traps
Without traps there wouldn't be a trapper. A trapper with only the Prophecies Campaign usually uses all 4 traps available to him - Barbed Trap, Dust Trap, Flame Trap and Spike Trap. Access to the Factions Campaign skills adds more variety with the new Snare and Viper's Nest traps. Each trap has its pros and cons and the trapper should carefully decide which traps to include depending on the task he want's to have.

If the traps' main purpose is to deal damage, taking Snare is a bad choice. If you want to prevent the enemy from dealing damage, take Dust Trap to cause blind, Spike Trap to knock down and Barbed Trap and Snare for crippling the enemy. All of the traps cause one or more conditions. The trapper should examine them carefully and decide which ones he needs. Taking note of the energy costs is also wise, even though high Expertise rank and some other skills might affect it.

Depending on the team and fighting place the traps are used in different ways. If you are playing PvE with a full trapper team, all members set traps in one spot and pull the enemy to them. If the trapper is part of a mixed team he closes in to the enemy with the teams warriors setting traps to deal damage or stays with the casters to protect them from harm. Selecting the right traps is crucial, so discuss your game plan with the team before beginning.

Nature Rituals
Nature Rituals are possibly the most efficient way for a trapper to lower the high energy cost and shorten the long recharge time of traps. Nature Rituals can also boost the damage of traps and cause other positive effects.

Full trapper teams often use Energizing Wind and Quickening Zephyr together as this both lowers the energy cost and shortens the recharge time. Some teams only use EW and shorten the recharge time with the stance Serpent's Quickness. Winnowing and Brambles add damage to the traps and Edge of Extinction makes it easier to kill whole enemy mobs at the same time.

Stances
Stances are often used by trappers. One of the most useful stances is the Serpent's Quickness which shortens the recharge time of skills by 33%. With the long recharge time of traps the effect is great. Stances which provide you with a chance of evading or blocking attacks (eg. Whirling Defense) are great when the trapper is needed to set traps while being under attack.

Preperations
Preparations don't generally help trappers, but those who have Guild Wars:Factions might want to consider the elite skill Trapper's Focus. It prevents your traps from being easily interrupted, but you will not be able to take Spike Trap.

Miscellaneous skills
There are many skills which a trapper should consider when creating his build. Resurrection skills are often taken in case something goes wrong. Energy management skills might come in handy, especially in prolonged trapping situations.

Various unexpected other skills might solve unusual or special situatons. Go through the list of skills and think about the places you are going to use the build in. If you are entering the Underworld your build is very likely to be a lot different than the build of a trapper in a PvP team.

Armor
Traps cost a lot of energy to use, so a trapper has to maximize his energy. In addition to lowering the energy cost of traps with skills a trapper should also rise his maximum energy. The Druid's Armor is the only real choice for a trapper. The 7 extra energy allows to set up more traps, where the additonal armor or hit points from other armor types do not benefit a trapper as he shouldn't be taking a lot of hits from attackers.

Runes
The trapper will ofcourse want the best possible Vigor rune available as there are no penalties for having one. As discussed earlier, a superior Wilderness Survival rune is almost a must. Minor Expertise and Beast Mastery runes should also be taken as they don't have any penalties.

Weapons
Most beginning trappers bring only their usual bow with them, but a trapper doesn't have a high Marksmanship to use a bow. A bow is sometimes used for pulling in PvE, but only if the group doesn't have a real puller who aggroes the enemy mobs. You shouldn't usually change to a bow even when a mob doesn't die to the initial traps, as you will lose the energy bonus from your other equipped items. If you want to use a bow, the best one to use is propably the Candy Cane Bow, beause it has no requirements.

The more important weapon to bring is a staff or wand/off-hand combination. Rangers don't typically use these type of weapons but the benefits of +10 to +15 energy these magic weapons provide is uncanny. These magic weapons don't have to be the most expensive or rarest around. Any weapon that gives the additional energy will help. Doing so increases an average ranger's energy from 32 to 42-47, depending on the weapon.

There are many choices for trapping equipment. Flint's Fleshcleaver and the Handsmasher (and their collector weapon counterparts) make excellent weapons for trappers. Both offer +15 energy and +30 health. Brohn's Staff, Villnar's Staff, and the Willcrusher offer the same boosts, but the price and availability are much more prohibitive than the aforementioned. New options to consider are Milius' Pillar, Wenslauss' Faith, Illyana's Staff and Kole's Torment.

Staves with anoter +30 health mod instead of the +5 energy mod, such as Gorrel's Staff, are also a good choice.

The Fires in the East quest-reward is a staff that provides 13 energy, and can be upgraded with a perfect Insightful Staff Head, for a total of 18 energy, briging the trapper to a total of 50 energy. Adding a +5 AL or a +30 HP staff wrapping upgrade to this in addition to the head will make this one of the best staves to use.

Other sources

 * See Team - Trapper Farm Build for an Underworld team trapping guide
 * See Team - ViMtrap Group for a PvP team trapping build