Teach me how to become a (set) Trap Queen
booinyoureyes
Member Posts: 6,164
1738!
Hey guys, so everyone keeps saying how traps are super powerful and useful. Being a bit of a noob I've... NEVER used them. Can someone please give me a quick run through on how to best make use of them? Where do you set them, how do you lure people into them, and what specific monsters are they good against?
I hear they work against dragons, which sounds super powerful.
Any How-To Guide would be useful! Thanks
Hey guys, so everyone keeps saying how traps are super powerful and useful. Being a bit of a noob I've... NEVER used them. Can someone please give me a quick run through on how to best make use of them? Where do you set them, how do you lure people into them, and what specific monsters are they good against?
I hear they work against dragons, which sounds super powerful.
Any How-To Guide would be useful! Thanks
2
Comments
The specifics of trap setting are hard to pin down. The right place to put traps is almost entirely dependent on which map you're in. Since traps can't be set when enemies (any hostile critter; enemies who start out neutral like dragons do not count) are in the thief's line of sight, you generally need to be either at a safe distance from the enemy or behind a wall. Hiding behind a corner is a good way to set a trap very close to an enemy.
Traps deal missile damage and can be reflected by a Physical Mirror spell, so any critter that's resistant to missile attacks will suffer little damage from traps. However, traps get some nice on-hit effects as well:
Level 11: 2d6 poison damage per round for 3 rounds
Level 16: 4d8 fire damage
Level 21: 20 poison damage, save vs. death at +4 or die
The level 11 traps are especially excellent for disrupting mage spells, and deal the most damage overall, so level 16 is actually a downgrade from the level 11 version. Sometimes I avoid leveling up thieves specifically for this reason. Note that the poison damage uses the damage opcode rather than the poison opcode, which means it can disrupt lich spells even though it won't actually deal any damage to them.
For me, the best way to use traps is to blind your thief. Since trap setting only checks the thief's field of vision and not the enemies, blindness can let your thief set traps in the middle of combat, as long as no enemies are directly next to the thief. This also allows you to hide in plain sight like a Shadowdancer, though you have to shoulder all the typical penalties of blindness.
Traps are area-effect spells and are ideal for groups of enemies, but there are almost no situations where traps aren't worth using. Only if you're a multi-classed thief are there going to be better uses for your aura than setting traps, provided you've invested the skill points into Set Traps.
Bounty Hunter traps deal 3d8+5 damage to a regular trap's 2d8+5 damage and get the following on-hit effects:
Level 1: Slow on a failed save vs. spell
Level 11: Hold on a failed save vs. spell
Level 16: Otiluke's Resilient Sphere on a failed save vs. spell (no damage)
Level 21: Maze (no damage, bypasses magic resistance)
Before level 21, the Bounty Hunter will mostly just be dealing missile damage with his or her traps. But when you finally get the Maze traps, you can Maze entire groups of enemies, and since Maze duration is partly random as well as dependent on Intelligence, the enemies will return at different times, allowing you to pick them off one by one.
Other random minutiae:
All traps ignore MR. This includes HLA traps.
All traps persist on rest, with up to seven in an area of any type.
Traps are great to set before you rest, potentially killing any random rest spawns in a single burst.
If you know where an enemy is going to spawn, trap them.
If you're going to leave a map with enemies following you, trap them.
If you're going to run (or kite)away from an encounter, trap your escape route.
Also, after you use a special trap to Maze a group of enemies, one (cheesy) strategy is to set a few traps and then rest. That way, they'll all come back at once, right on top of your traps.
Thanks @semiticgod and @Pantalion . I'm officially going to start using traps. Jan Jansen, here I come.
My gnome squad maximum shorties playthrough is gonna rock:
Gnome F/Illusionist
Jan Jansen
Korgan
Mazzy
Aerie for some gnome-lovin'
Imoen (EEkeepered into a gnome)
I'm naming my next thief Fetty Wap
No idea why it's nerfed in BGEE. Personally, long-range traps have always been really cool.
I just destroyed Firkraag with such ease I felt guilty.