[2.1 HC] Guide for Tri-Ele EE MoM/EB Crit Trapper

Old: 107 points, New: 108 points
-4% Max Life (182% -> 178%)
-0.2% Life Regen (3.0% -> 2.8%)
+40% crit chance (Blast Cascade Cluster)
+20% crit multiplier (Blast Cascade Cluster)
+64% Trap damage (34% -> 98%)

For 4 more points, you can also grab Hasty Reconstruction for even more damage and trap cool down.

Overall:
Slight hit to defenses
Decent increase in damage
More utility (+30% trigger radius) + options (Hasty Reconstruction)

Pros:
Consistent Damage: Elemental Equilibrium + Lots of penetration means you can counter any mobs/maps with single resistances
No reflect or corrupting blood: Traps deal the damage, so less unexpected deaths
Party friendly (kinda): Elemental Equilibrium debuffs the mob, so all party members can take advantage of the minus resistances. Fire and lightning traps are a little heavy the particles, but not nearly as bad as some builds (friend complains sometimes).
Mobile: Traps have a some delay between cast and damage. Also you have to lead your targets a bit. More time to move around! Great for killing melee bosses that chase you.
Lots of more multipliers: Trap, Trap and mine damage, resistance penetration. It makes every % increased damage feel strong
Dirt cheap uniques: Since no one plays trappers, the unqiues I used were 1c or less. Lets change that!
Fun to play: No more holding down a single key!

Cons:
Very high mana cost: There's ways to counter this, but it will be a bit painful until everything lines up.
DPS isn't insane: Its good enough for me and I'm not a heavy spender. I doubt it will ever do as much damage as CoC or Crit Tornado shot builds do, but maybe someone with deep pockets can prove me wrong.
Bad trap placement = less dps: This will take a little practice (especially for bear traps if you choose to use them). Flicker strike mobs will make you cry sometimes.
No leech: Downside to no reflect is no leech.
A Little annoying to kill stragglers: Packs are fun, but because traps deal concentrated damage in an area, killing a single white mobs that are spread out takes more effort than most builds.
Heavy socket/skill bar usage: Though you only need at most a 5L (if you aren't using Dearstalkers), with 3 main skills you won't have much room left for extras gems.

Shadow Skill Tree (108 pts)
(You can also start as a witch)

For 4 more points (total 112) pick up the Hasty Reconstruction cluster

Attempt at Support/Team Build (114 pts)
+Conduit (compared to basic version)
+Aura reservation/effectivness
+Can start as Scion and save points for less damage
+Close to curse nodes
-Less Crit
-More Points
(Untested, just theorycrafting. Not recommended unless you want to experiment)

Normal: Help Oak for 40 life
Cruel: Kill all for 1 skill point
Merciless: Help Alira for +1 Power charge

(Power charges come from Jaws of Agony and/or the Blast Cascade notable)

Note: Links are ordered from most important to least. If you only have a 3L, use the first 3 gems.

Lightning Trap
Lightning Trap - Multiple Traps - Lightning Penetration - Trap and Mine Damage
We'll use lightning trap because it has the shortest cooldown. (I've always used this trap as my lightning skill of choice and in 2.0 they doubled its damage. Woohoo!)

Fire Trap
Fire Trap - Multiple Traps - Fire Penetration - Trap and Mine Damage - Conc Effect/Increase AoE
(Alternate option for 5L)
Fire traps have a longer cooldown than lightning traps, but shorter than trap supported skills. As a bonus, fire ground does not proc Elemental Equilibrium, so it'll deal bonus damage after using another skill

Cold Snap Trap
Cold Snap - Trap - Cold Penetration - Elemental Proliferation/Increased Aoe - Trap and Mine Damage
(in Deerstalkers or 5L)
Cold snap traps are popular in most trapper builds. Unfortunately, the changes to ele prolif hurt its utility a lot. I decided to still try it and I like the pack freezing it does. Switch to Increased AoE once you get enough crit (40%).

Auras/Reservation
Discipline, Vitality, Arctic Armor

Extras - Important:
Flame Dash (+ Faster casting) OR Whirling Blades (+ Faster Attacks) : To use in a pinch
Enduring Cry : For mana regen. Endurance charges are a bonus

Extras - Nice to Haves:
Elemental Weakness or Assassin's Mark : Elemental Weakness for most of the game. Assassin's Mark once you get most of your crit. (~level 81)
Chaos Golem : He dies so fast :(
Cast on Damage Taken - Enfeeble - Molten Shell : I use only enfeeble because lack of sockets.
Vaal Discipline: Also for a pinch if you can't cast
Bear Trap - Culling - Item Rarity - Trap and Mine damage : If you use Jaws of Agony, you get bear trap for free. Nice for some utility and phat lootz


Bonus Note on Auras:
If you're playing with a team and don't care much for damage, you can pick 4% Reduced Mana Reservation node next to Hasty Reconstruction and the Sovereignty cluster on the templar side. Then replace Arctic Armor with a 60% aura of your choice, probably haste, grace or determination.

If you can find a way get the 4% node by Hasty Reconstruction and another 4% from a jewel or item, you can replace arctic armor with a purity aura.

Trees outdated but same general progression

Disclaimer: This is how I leveled minus the major respecing I did playing around with ES recharge. I used our 3 major traps as soon as I could, but there's probably more efficient ways to level with other skills (maybe firestorm traps?).

42 points
The first major goal is to pick up Clever Construction. Nothing is more annoying and rage inducing than broken traps. Pick up health and good damage nodes as you go. Use Elron rings/amulets to keep mana costs low. 2 links should be good enough for now.

73 points
This is where mana will be painful. Go straight for Eldrich Battery and try to get a couple Energy Shield pieces of gear. Don't reserve all your mana so you can still use a mana pot (I would run only discipline until you get Zealot's Oath). If you run out of mana, best thing to do is to run around until your Energy Shield recharges. It sucks, but I promise it will get better. Start replacing Elron gear if you need better rings/amulets. When you get Zealot's Oath, start using vitality. The Energy Shield regen won't be enough, but it should help. (Atziri's Foible and/or Shaper's Seed amulets should help). Stick to 2-3 links to keep mana costs low.

95 Points
Now things should look better. Pick up all the remaining life regen nodes first. If you have ~1500 ES with Discipline, you should have enough to keep up 4L traps. Starting running Arctic Armor as well and rely only on Energy Shield to cast spells. Get Mind over Matter once you hit 1400-1500 ES. Remember to abuse Enduring cry to keep up your ES while under fire. The other major node is Elemental Equilibrium. It's our only damage node during this phase but it should be enough. Pick up the Scion health wheel as you prepare for maps.

Endgame 107+
Now for the fun part: Getting crit. In case you haven't noticed, I like getting all my health first before thinking about damage. At this point, almost every level will be a damage boost. After getting all the nodes in the 107 point tree, you have a couple options. I think I will pick up the Blast Radius cluster in the witch node to help fire trap and cold snap AoE. Alternatively, you can pick up the Heart and Soul life cluster for more health, Nullification cluster for more ES/EV or pick up the farther crit node (Arcane Potency and Blast Cascade). If you've gotten to this point, then you're probably better than I am at the build, so experiment a bit.

Weapon
Aim for a wand or dagger with %spell damage and spell/global crit chance.
Once you get elemental equilibrium, DO NOT use a weapon with +elemental damage to spell
We won't need cast speed, so use that to get a cheaper weapon.
+2 Fire or lightning gems is nice to have. It gives about the same damage as a Trap and Mine damage gem, so its a good way to save mana cost and gem slots.

Armor
Nothing special here, just get ES or ES/EV gear with resistance and life.

Jewels
If you have the strength/dexterity requirements for your preferred level of gems, then just used the best trap-based gem you can find. Otherwise, use Efficient Training or Careful Planning to bump up your str or dex. I chose Efficient Training because having more strength means I can max out vitality and enduring cry plus get extra health. Both of those gems improve mana regen and defenses which are important for hardcore.

Flasks
Pick up 2-3 Life flasks and a Granite. Since we don't have to worry about reflect, just pick what you like for the remaining slot(s). I chose to take a quartz flask to help with Haku missions and because I'm too lazy to switch it out when I don't need it. Make sure to have at least 1 bleed and 1 freeze remove flasks.

Sunblast

BiS for trappers in my opinion. Adds a nice amount of damage and automatically triggering traps is occasionally useful. Also a great vaal orb target.


Deerstalkers

Get this item as soon as you can. Its the perfect place for cold snap and useful until you get a 5L. I replaced my pair at level 78 (mostly because I couldn't find a good pair of ES boots.)


Jaws of Agony

My new favorite item. With this shield and Multiple Traps gem, we can keep up max power charges at all times (multiple traps = 3x procs). The free bear trap saves us a culling skill and its cheap price makes it a good vaal orb target.


Attribute conversion Jewels

Regardless of your build, its nice to have these handy. Swap them in and out based on your gear and gem requirements.


There are more uniques out there we can use (especially more expensive ones), but I haven't tried them. I'll add more as I test.

Honorably mentions:
Atziri's Foible / Shaper's Seed: If you've got some chaos to spend, these should help with mana problems while leveling.
Carcass Jack: I'm considering picking a 5L one along with increased Area of Effect nodes in the witch area. Its always a solid choice when using AoE skills.
Divinarius: Great weapon for an exalt. The increased AoE will help fire and cold traps. You won't get the +2 fire/light gems though.

Surprisingly, there aren't many mods that this build can't run. I split this into 2 categories: Disadvantage and Advantage. The first is for mods that hurt this build specifically. The second is for mods that are this build deals with better than most. Some mods like Exposure (minus max res) or Enfeeble suck for almost every build.

Disadvantage/Avoid:
of Somthering (Players recover Life, Mana and Energy Shield x% slower):
Its hard enough getting mana regen to support traps. This mod is doable, but take it slow. If you have enough regen even with this debuff, then ignore what I said. (Pro tip: Regular flasks will regen less health/mana total, but instant flasks will heal the full amount.)

of Stasis (No regeneration)
Disclaimer: Never tried it. You're stuck with energy shield recharge to get back your mana. Doable, just take it slow and abuse enduring cry.

of Hemomancy (Blood magic):
Disclaimer: Never tried it. No life regen + traps that cost nearly 60-90+ mana/health and no auras...probably won't go well. If you have to run this, bring non-instant life flasks and take it slow. Or spend a regret to spec out of Zealot's Oath temporarily.

of Desecration/of Venom/of Flames (Damage over time)
First, these mods are totally doable and easy. I just mentioned it here because this build has no life regen. So don't stand on desecrated or burning ground if you can help if. Or get hit by mobs.

of Insulation (Status Ailments Avoidance)
Another easy mod that's just an annoyance. Shocking/Freezing/Burning is part of the fun with this build, but not necessary.

Advantage/Better than others
of Balance (Elemental Equilibrium
Free notable!

of Congealment (Cannot leech)
Not that you can anyway

of Temporal Chains
This mod sucks. For every build. That being said, it doesn't affect trap throwing speed so your DPS should be around the same. This needs a bit better testing, but I usually avoid the mod.

Punishing/Mirrored (Reflect)
Check the pro/con list!

Incombustible/Molten/Grounded/Armored (Resistances)
Besides bear traps (which are optional and mainly for culling), we deal no physical damage. Since we use all 3 elements and penetrated a lot of resistances anyway, these mods can be ignored. You can also choose to avoid using that particular element trap (in a fire res map, avoid using fire traps).

Colonade Map (T6). Level 85
Devourers and Kole, Oh my!
Damage feels much better than 2.0. Would be even better if I remembered to curse...
Ran this quickly on normal Hardcore. You can see the trouble with clearing stragglers. On the other hand, traps let you be mobile and easily kite.