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[Halonic]

Template Code: OgATYnLjZy3Q4A5gLs5I5Q5Y5AA

Skills:
Troll Unguent
Whirling Defense
Serpent's Quickness
Piercing Trap
Spike Trap (Elite)
Dust Trap
Barbed Trap
Flame Trap

Attributes:
16 Wilderness Survival
15 Expertise

You need all the energy you can get from armor runes and inscriptions.  You need a staff instead of a bow.  I use a Staff of the Forgotten (req. 9 Blood Magic). I use that same staff when I am a Touch Ranger.  My energy is 53....you can get a few more points but 53 is plenty.

Zaishen Challenge:
I take 2 Fire Ele Heros and one Ranger Hero.  The Eles are there to kill the occasional straggler that I don't get with the traps.  The Ranger is there for two spirits......Winnowing and Frozen Soil.  I manually cast Winnowing as soon as I can see the red dots coming.  I manually cast Frozen Soil so it spawns when the red dots are almost upon me.

I ALWAYS choose De'Alessio Arena.  I choose either the Smiting Monks or the Trappers every time.

As soon as you spawn flag your Heros to the rear out of aggro range.  Go to the door and cast Serpent's Quickness.  Immediately start laying traps (all on top of each other).  Two Dust Traps is a necessity.  Keep laying them until the baddies trigger them.  90% of the time you will kill all 4 baddies instantly.

Occasionally there will be one bad guy left (Frozen Soil keeps him from rezzing the others).  As soon as you see this you need to hit Whirling Defense and unflag your Heros.  Start laying traps again.  Either the traps or your Heros will finish him.

You can get 2000 Balthazar points per day doing this.  5000 Balthazar points can be cashed in to Tolkano in the Guild Hall for one Zaishen Key.

Alliance Battles:
DO NOT go as a trapper when you are with Guildies or Alliance folks.  AB Trapper is shunned because he is not a capper.  If you are in a PUG and they find out you are a trapper most likely they will kick you.  Trappers in AB are not team players.  When I trap in AB I usually leave my team after every round and join a new one that doesn't know yet that I am a trapper.


So why do it?  Its immensely fun (at least to me).  There's nothing like setting a bunch of traps and running when the bad guys come to cap.  Just before you get out of radar range stop and watch....and prepare to laugh.  4 red dots run up on the shrine and 2 of them suddenly blink off.  The in-game chat comments when this happens are priceless.  Sometimes they say GJ trapper.  More often they say "Noob Trapper" (they always say this when they are dead).  Other times they say "%^$#@*! Trapper!" (use your vilest imagination).

You need to find a shrine that your team has already capped.  Get on it.  There needs to be no bad guys on your radar screen.  Hit Serpent's Quickness and start laying traps.  Always Dust Trap first.  If you can get two Dust Traps down (plus assorted others) it will most always kill the one who triggers them. Three Dust Traps is a guaranteed kill.  When the red dots come its time to run to another shrine and repeat.  No red dots yet?  Keep trapping even if your traps are expiring.  Never leave till the red dots start coming.

Choke points are another good place to trap.  Always start trapping when no baddies are on your radar.  Enjoy but be prepared to hear terrible language from the dead that were trapped.  When waiting for a group I usually uncheck Local chat because the language is so bad.

[sreavesjr]

Halonic took me along on his Z-Key runs until I got the hang of it with my Ranger Hero. Plus I supplement as a W/R with three traps. Let me tell you that this is a thing of BEAUTY.   It's a  1-2 min deal each round, short and sweet.  The points between award days run about one key every three of four days for me now. That's up to ten Z-Keys before awards ...making for good cash when they all add up!!  You got to try this...it's a sweet deal!!

[Halonic]

Two other things of note while trapping in AB.  Sometimes you spawn on a shrine that is under attack.  Don't run.  Just hit Whirling Defense and Serpents's Quickness and start laying traps.  Always Dust Trap first.  WD lasts a long time at 15 Expertise and between it and Troll Unguent you can get a lot of traps down.

Sometimes my team is hopelessly behind and the opposing team is getting rather close to 500 points.  I have stopped at ANY PLACE on the map where I can't see the red dots and start laying traps.  As you get a lot of traps down suddenly a solitary red dot appears.  He spotsyou and when he sees you he turns and here he comes.  He thinks you are AFK or an easy kill.  Hehe, little does he suspect.  Juststand there with those dozens of traps RIGHT UNDER YOU.  Boom......instant death and you get one last chuckle before the round is over. 

You see, trapping in AB is not about winning or losing.  Its about assassination in the sneakiest way possible in Guild Wars.

[sreavesjr]

BOOM!!  I've seen him at work...and it is a BOOM!!

[Halonic]

Last comment on AB Trapper.  You can be any secondary because you are using only Ranger skills.  Usually I go R/Mo and start the game with a bow in my hand so the others think I am just an ordinary Ranger.  A staff in your hand at the first invites too many questions. 

I run with my group to cap the first shrine with the bow in my hand.  As soon as its capped and the other 3 guys run off to cap the second shrine its time to change into your SUPER TRAPPER gear.  Equip your staff and start laying the traps down on that first capped shrine.

Final advice......never ping your build when you join a group.  They will kick you or call you a noob.  Trappers aren't welcome in AB.  After all you are not a capper....you are a stealth assasinator that brings out the worst in the foul language brigade of lost souls.

[ajmucha]

Is it possible to arrange an alliance group that is all trappers?  I've done it before and they didn't care, they found it rather funny when the assassin charged in and dropped dead.

[Justice]

Is it possible to arrange an alliance group that is all trappers?  I've done it before and they didn't care, they found it rather funny when the assassin charged in and dropped dead.

If 4 of the 12 people in AB were trappers I am pretty sure it would be very fun, but your team would pretty much lose every match.

[Sergei Voronov]

I just recently started ABing, and I filled my empty char slot with a pvp ranger.  He has superior runes of Expertise and WS, but then radiants and attunements and and carries a staff.  I have 54 energy going in.  I have a very similar skill set to Halonics, though a little more dangerous lol.

Spike Trap (Elite)
Piercing Trap
Flame Trap
Barbed Trap
Dust Trap
Trappers Speed
Whirling Defense
Storm Chaser

With this build I can lay a dust trap for 9 energy and cut a quarter off the recharge, the drawback is lower health(360) and no healing, but i use WD and Storm Chaser to evade, average about 1 death a round.

On the idea of having multiple trappers, I joined up with a group last night that used a derv and 3 trappers to cover the "bridge" where 3 caps are located.  A trapper to each spot would do nothing but trap all around his area and then ping his shrine when baddies showed up.  The derv would run over and, with the help of the trapper(s), stall a large mob until the rest of the team showed up.  The rest of the team would mob the opposing team, getting the cap back.  With this strategy we won between 8-10 rounds in a row.

[Thorn]

Halonic, thanks for the best build ever. I've been testing it out so I can start farming z keys, and the only change I've made is to switch out dust trap for frozen soil. Today while at the zaishen elite, my group fell apart against an ele group, leaving me all alone against 8 to 10 eles. With a determined gleam in my eye, I dropped down and started laying traps like my life depended on it. The eles went into a fit, running up to me to go for the kill, and then backing off after seeing my l33t trapping skillz. I laid down about 3 of each trap, and backed off. Those poor eles: they never stood a chance.

[Halonic]

Lol, glad you like it.