Lightning Trap

The main problem is the mana cost.

The skill is too bad to be used a support so you would want to focus around it. The low crit chance fucks up the damage pretty damn hard when going for crit though. Chain makes sure that the projectiles at least hit something but the mana cost (150+ on level 13 in a 5Link) is completely off the charge and pretty unreasonable.

By level 20 you will have to pay nearly 300 mana for a single trap, thats fucking ridiculous especially considering the damage it deals.

Going for base damage simply isnt an option for Lightning spell since you would basically ignore the strongest asset they offer. I dont really know how to feel about this but the mana cost definitely has to be adjusted because it requires a few specific gems to make the skill not be shit, like Chain for example.

I'm currently leveling up a shadow to test a non crit-based build with lightning trap relying on the 3 passive nodes 'Static Blows', 'Chance to Shock' and 'Shock' for a total of 25% chance to shock.

I've heard that the projectiles of lightning trap will critically hit if the initial hit was a critical hit. If thats true a critical strike based build seems to be not that benificial to me. Maybe someone can confirm this?

What I actually want to know is if this also goes for your flat 25% chance to shock. Will each projectile which hits an enemy shock this enemy by a chance of 25% or will the shock stack only be applied if the initial hit applied a shock stack?

As soon as I get my hands on a Sunblast on HC I will try to make this work properly. Chain and focusing on crits seems the way to go to me, but maybe raw damage turns out better I will have to see.

Right now I honestly think that because of the way Chain works with Crits its the way to go. Then again running raw spelldamage coupled with chance to shock could as well but I honestly think that Shavronnes is required for that since the current Shock duration given by SB isnt good enough anymore unless you deal insane default damage.

Lightning trap is weak. Fire trap at level 20 does 3 TIMES as much damage on average.

I'm finding this skill very weak. It really lacks any sort of punch, which I guess makes sense cause of the short cooldown but it really doesn't seem to do very much, nor really provide very much. Seeing as the skill is fairly pointless without either a lot of piercing, chain or fork there isn't much different between LT and a trap'd Arc other than it uses projectiles and spreads out more.

Honestly I don't really understand what this skill is for, other than to be a lightning spell (aka: weak) that is likely to cover the screen with the right supports. Right now I think the best useage of this skill would be to simply trigger EE, as any shocks are likely to be very short and there's no way to concentrate the projectiles into higher damage like you can with shock nova and conc effect.

I think the skill needs more. Be it a built in pierce chance, a single chain, shock chance or higher crit chance. Low base damage is fine when it recharges so fast but the reliance on supports, that then lower that damage even more, just to make the skill fulfil its screen covering purpose means the damage becomes abysmal to the point of being the new Ice Nova.

So i made a new trapper from lvl 1 (atm lvl 60).
The skill itself is very fun and looks nice!
Some points that arent good imo and could be improved:
- the traps dont work proper vs ele reflect?! (dont trigger properly)
- the manacost is too high
- the damage doesnt scale well on later levels, it should get a small boost
- the base critchance is too low (5% would be better)
- the quality on the gem is kinda useless (should be a dmg boost like extra lightning dmg or shock or whatever)


On a sidenote: the support gem multiple traps should trow in a triangle (the line now is stupid in some cases)


Greetz

removed until further testing

This skill would be fixed if you removed the garunteed pierce. This function makes chain so much less effective unless there is a very large group.

I'd love to see that skill as a spell, where you just drop exploding bomb, or shock nova replaced with this skill. Spamming that nova would look so cool..