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.

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.

Armor
Traps cost a lot of energy to use, os a trapper has to maximize his energy. In addition to lowering the energy cost of traps with skills a trapper can 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 in any way as he shouldn't be taking hits from attackers.

Runes
The trapper will ofcourse want the best possible Vigor rune available. 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.

Staffs 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 staffs 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