[1.1.5]PewPewPews Cheap Starter Friendly Surge Trapper | Working on 1.3!

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He looked defenseless. His armor was weak, there was no magic surrounding him. And yet, he looked confident, relaxed. We had him surrounded. An army of the finest blackguards. Yet they all seemed fearful of the exile. They couldn't sense anything, but they knew it was wrong. Why would a man, who slaughtered thousands of others before, stand here, defenseless. He had to be up to something. I gave the order to attack. No one hesitated, they all charged forward. And that is where everything went wrong.

Flames erupted from below my man, spreading fire throughout the ranks. Those caught on fire, ran away, only to burn to cinders outside the fiery hell. And those who didn't, where engulfed by even stronger flames. It all took less than a few seconds. That seemingly defenseless man. A
monster.

So... What's this build all about?
Hello and welcome to my Surge trapper build! A cheap and easy to gear build, that focuses on mobility and good clearing speed while still being suitable for starting exilers!

Sounds good! So what are the basics of this build?
This build revolves around two skills. Fire trap and Flame Surge. Let's go over them one by one.

Fire trap is a trap spell. You throw down a trap, and as soon as a mob gets close to it, it detonates, dealing fire damage and leaves burning ground behind. The Fire damage dealt by the explosion and the Burning ground are two separate sources of damage. We'll get back to this in the advanced section.

Flame Surge is a fire spell that deals a set amount of fire damage to anyone caught in it's blast. Flame Surge deals more damage whenever it's target is burning. A target is burning when either it's ignited or standing on burning ground.

As you can see, Fire trap and Flame Surge have a good synergy: Fire trap sets the ground on fire, turning everything on it into a burning target, so that Flame Surge deals more damage on everything standing on it.

Easy stuff eh? So you said something about advanced?
Yes, there is more. Both Flame trap and Flame Surge will be adjusted to fit the build and playstyle better.

Let's start with Fire Trap. Like I said before, Fire trap has two damage sources. The explosion and the Burning Ground effect. The explosion is fire damage, and that is interesting since "If you land a critical strike with an attack or spell that deals fire damage, the Ignite Status Ailment is inflicted." In other words, the Explosion can also ignite the target dealing additional damage over time.
Chance to ignite, Flammability and Elemental Proliferation will help us greatly here, increasing the Change to Ignite to over 50%. Ignited targets will deal damage to nearby targets as well, thanks to Elemental Proliferation.

Though, an enemy can only receive damage from one ignite at a time. This does not include the burning ground effect from Fire trap. So an enemy can be affected by the ignite effect from the explosion, and the burning ground at the same time.

Flame Surge will also get a few adjustments. Most prominent is the trap support gem. Any skill linked to a Trap support gem will turn that skill into a trap, that uses that skill whenever an enemy is near. Having a skill in a trap has multiple benefits. More damage, from both the trap damage nodes, and the trap support gem itself, immunity to Reflect, since the trap deals the damage, the trap will 'take' the damage from reflect. Another small benefit is that you can hit mobs protected by a proximity shield, since the damage is dealt by the trap, and not you.
On top of the trap support gem, we also use Multiple traps. Even though the damage from an individual trap is less, the overal damage, when all three traps are triggers is far higher(1.8x). This is especially useful for those annoying(fast)rares with high ele resistance/health, or to clear a big blue pack in one go.

So what about the gearing?
As said before, it's dirt cheap. We need two uniques, both priced for less than 1c. Everything else should just focus on getting max resists on merciless and as much HP as you can get. Since we do not need Arctic Armour, we don't need to get mana and mana regen on our gear, or focus on high ES gear so we can use Eldritch Battery. We also don't need a 5/6L. Even though it will help, we can run 75+ maps easily without.

The uniques we want are DeerStalker and Sunblast.

Thanks to the "Gems in this item are Supported by level 11 Trap", these boots are perfect to put our Flame Surge in. The other stats on the boots are helpful as well, since it gives us more damage, life, movement speed and trap throwing speed. The only downsides of these boots is the lack of resistances and that we need three of colours on it, so colouring these boots might require a decent amount of chromes(depending on your luck).

The belt is also great. The damage, resists and mana regen are a big help. Same with the "Traps trigger at the end of their Duration". In combination with Reduced Duration, this will detonate our traps instantly. Even though this is optional, it might pique your interest.

Psh. I'm rich though.
Fine, fine. If you want to spend exalts after exalts for a build, you definitely want to get a Doryani's Catalyst, you can get a Doryani's Invitation as well. A 6L Atziri's Splendour will make you nearly immortal as long as you kite, while a 6L Cloak of Defiance will decrease the damage you get by a lot as well(make sure you get Eldritch battery then). For those that rather have some more damage, a 6L Carcass Jack is definitely your best option. A nonlegacy Kaom's Heart will also be really good on this guy, for both offence and defence. A Voidbringer can also be very good in combination with a good Splendour etc. There are tons of options to increase your damage and survivability. But honestly, it's not necessary, since the simplest of items can bring you really far.

Just the "Simplest of Items" is needed?
Yes. To prove my point, this is the gear I have been using during the video's. Nothing top notch, except for maybe my wand, but since I don't need the cast speed on it, it's for this build mediocre at best. Still, it's enough to survive even in 75+ maps.



Everything is found or crafted(5L arm, just threw a few chaos on it). Especially with the new crafting addition upcoming, it will be really easy to get your end game gear. We do not need perfect gear. We just need gear that is good enough(maxes out our resistances/gives us a decent amount of HP) :)

Things to look out for(in order of importance):
Head: Life/Resistances/Item Rarity/ES
Body: Life/Resistances/ES
Gloves: Life/Resistances/ES
Shield: Life/Resistances/ES
Rings:: Life/Resistances/Fire Damage(not flat)/Item Rarity
Amulet:: Life/Resistances/Fire Damage/Spell Damage/Item Rarity

Note: Even though I recommend ES as a base, sometimes it's easier to get a combination like Ar/ES for the coloring.

So we don't need good defences?
Unless you plan on taking this build to hardcore, no. With two simple Cast when Damage taken set ups, we should be fine in almost any situation.

CwDT + Frost Wall
Those who know my builds, know I love my Frost Wall. And can you blame me? A pack of ten blackguards charging at you at the same time, and you can't dodge it? The first one, or two will hit. Everything else will be stopped by the Frost wall. Got desynced back into a room full of TittyBlasters? Frost Wall has your back, and popped up in front of those nasty miscreations.

CwDT + Devouring Totem
Underrated, but extremely powerful for this build. Whenever you get to low life, Devouring Totem will regen your life and mana rapidly. Especially when you get it to higher levels, it will also be able to survive a hit or two, making it a reliable sustain when you get struck by that big hit.

Yes, you can also get the Enduring Cry + Immortal Call combo running, or a nice Molten shell, but honestly, we don't really need those. Maybe during certain hard bosses, but other than that, we should be just fine with frost wall and a devouring totem.

So how do we socket our gems?
We do it like this.



Let's start with the top shall we?

Ball Lightning could be substituted with any other skill really. We use this set up to cull. Since we rely on DoT, it should be rather easy to get culls off on high priority targets. I prefer Ball Lightning since it's fire and forget(just like the traps). For that reason we have it linked to Item Rarity and Culling Strike. I put in Spell echo to make sure I get the cull, but slower projectiles, greater multiple projectiles can also be a great substitute for spell echo.

The first Cast when Damage Taken is linked to Frost wall and Enduring Cry. Due to the lack of slots, we won't get immortal call running(we could sacrifice our culling for that, but honestly, we don't need it desperately). We leave the CwDT at level 1, so that our frost walls proc as often as possible.

Our Aura of choice is Clarity. The reduced mana should be a no brainer. We don't need a second aura, so let's just put Flammability among these as well.

Ah yes, the first part of our main set up, Fire Trap. Honestly, we just need a 4 link. But a 5/6 link will help in terms of clearing. The uses of both Elemental Proliferation and Chance to Ignite has both been explained already. Fire penetration will help us a lot, since the pen increases the damage taken, thus the damage from the ignite as well. Increased Burning Damage will increase the damage from both the burned ground and the ignite, so that's nice to have. And for our last slot, Increased Area of Effect works best. We can also slip in Concentrated effect, but due to the nature of this build, it's better to have a bigger AoE.

Our second Cast when Damage taken Is linked to Desecrate and Devouring Totem. We want Desecrate here so that our Devouring Totem can start munching on bodies. In the last slot, linked or unlinked, we put in Vaal Lightning Trap. The shocked ground works as a free 40% damage increase, which, in turn, will also increase our ignite from firetrap(which will also spread to others etc). It's the only Vaal skill we use, so we should have the stacks up rather fast.

Flame Surge, the second part of our main set up, is, as said, linked to Multiple Traps and Fire penetration. Since we put Flame surge in our boots, it's also linked to the trap gem. Our last slot is can be either Increased Area of Effect, to hit a broader pack, Concentrated Effect, for that extra damage boost, or Reduced Duration, so that your flame surge traps detonate instantly. It is hard to get 3 off colors on your boots, so if you want to swap between the two, get two deerstalkers, and get both with the right colors.

What about the tree?

This is the tree as we are using it.



This is the tree as we have it. It's rather straightforward, picking up Fire/spell/elemental/burning damage, Trap enhancement nodes, Increased Area of Effect nodes, Life/Mana, Life regen. We do not need to focus on anything else meaning, nor do we need any keystones. points remaining can be put into more of the above, strenght/dex nodes, or even those 6% resist nodes, where it's needed.

Feel free to stray from the tree, if you find yourself in need of more damage, or more life. As long as you get the majority of the points above, it should be fine.

For those who like to stick with the tree as above, here's a leveling guide.



As for the Bandits, we want the following:



Got it. So how do we play as a Flame Surger?
Throw traps. Run around. As simple as that. Our goal is to burn everything to cinders with our fire traps. Those who resist, are shot down with the surge traps.

At early stages of the game, it will be mostly firetrap seeing action. Since we get it at an early level, we can use it to get through content. Some bosses, like brutus, might be hard to take down with just the fire traps, so keep a levelled fireball handy to make sure he dies before doing too much.
Once you get flame surge, it shouldn't be too long before you can equip your deerstalkers. Just make sure you have at least one blue slot in your deerstalkers, and put Flame Surge into it. Since you have a few trap nodes taken by this point, the damage boost from both the trap gem and nodes, should be noticeable. The two should be enough to get to at least cruel. If you don't have a deerstalkers, selfcast flame surge, works as well.

From this point on, try getting the rest of the supports linked as well. Since we run Clarity, it's easy to sustain the mana costs. And wherever those costs aren't enough, pots will be your saviour. Kite hard bosses around, and put traps among their way. The key to survival is moving around. Since mobs tend to attack your current location, instead of where you are going, you will dodge most of the projectile and ground based attacks this way.

The placements of the traps will be really important during the late/endgame. By this point, mobs don't just fall over, like they did before, you actually need to place your traps right, to maximize your damage against the groups. During mapping, you will encounter three different kinds of mobs. Stationary mobs, like totems, ranged casters or archers. Slow melee attackers, like Rock Golems, skeletons, but also blackguards, after they've done their charge. High mobile attackers, like Construct Snakes, Hasted non stationary mobs etc.

It should not be a shocking revelation that stationary mobs are the easiest to take down. Usually these are weak ranged mobs, that die to a single firetrap. Since their damage is usually decent, stay at range, and throw a fire trap in the middle of the pack. If their resistances are high - like skeleton mages - throw in a set of surge traps to seal the deal.

Slow melee attackers is what you will encounter most of the times in maps. Well, I call them slow, but I include everything that isn't lightning fast among these, so even monkey's, humanoids, rhoa's, etc etc. The key to defeating those is to predict their movement. Usually, that's towards you, which makes it easy where to place the traps.


The red dots are the enemy
The green dot is the player
The yellow dot is the fire trap
The purple dots are the flame surge traps

Throwing both traps at the same location will make the traps being spread like this. The reason is simple, since Flame Surge is linked to Multitrap, those traps are thrown from the player. Meaning, you will throw two traps between you and the trap cast location. And this is perfect. The mobs will run over the fire trap, and then run to you. The fire trap will burn them, so the surge traps will deal increased damage. This will only work while there is room between you and the mobs. If they spawned beside you, or charged in, it's best to pop a quick silver, make a bit of room, and then throw down the traps as shown above.

High mobile attackers won't give you the space to throw those traps. If you do, you will be forced to take unnecessary damage. So instead, we throw the traps into the direct we are going to, just to lure the mobs over our lovely traps. That looks like this.


The red dots are the enemy
The green dot is the player
The yellow dot is the fire trap
The purple dots are the flame surge traps

As you can see, the surge traps have less spacing here. This is since we do not need to throw them far away, we want the enemy dead as soon as possible, so they can do but little chasing. Frost wall will block off those fast attackers quite often though, usually they just walk around the wall, to our position. Since we throw the traps a bit ahead of us, they will still trigger them. For those extra fast attackers, I recommend moving until they stand still to attack you. Move a bit further, throw the traps, and lure them over it.

Whenever possible, use your culling attack to cull! At max levels, this is an easy 67% Rarity, especially when you solo, or don't have a culler in your party, you will notice a big difference! Of course, if you can't stop moving around(when fighting Fleet Overlord Magaera for example), don't worry too much about culling. Survival comes first.

Sweet! Time to start this build then.
Playing as a surge trapper is all about mobility. This is the reason why we do not need Arctic Armour, Iron Reflexes, or Immortal Call or anything else. We rely on moving and moving only. This is the reason why I wouldn't recommend this set up for Hardcore, just for soft core. Those who do want to play this build on HC are recommended to pick up Arctic Armour and Eldritch Battery, among with a Cloak of Defiance, so you also have that extra bit of damage reduction. Everything else should be still the same for this build to work even there.

Below here are a few video's of me playing as a Surge Trapper. I will add more video's over the course of time.


[1.1.5]VS Merveil the Reflection(70): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZY8oLfLxnc
[1.1.5]VS Shock and horror(72): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNJn5iwsyXA
[1.1.5]VS Shadow of the Vaal(74): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnDRdWsiAJk

Any questions can be asked in this topic, per PM, or ingame(even though I prefer questions per post)
Good luck with the build and have fun!

Reserved

Guide is not finished yet, but there is enough info in here to at least start the build :D

Good informative guide, thanks.

Been tempted to try a trapper, but the regen/cooldown on the traps themselves...

Like your style man, very good guide.
You should add a Carcass Jack to list of Rich items - it's a no brainer for any burn builds.

Also out of curiosity, you have up to 6L for Firetrap, and a 4L for FlameSurge. Which one do you find does most of your damage?

Really like the guide, but can you add a section for gear, like what to look for in headgear etc?

I have never played a Trapper to end game maps. I tend to like to solo ( Wife is immune to fear, stun and silence ). I have played one till the 60 ish range ( tried a crit trapper and hated it when it would not crit, I did not have the gear to support it ).

I have always wanted to play one though.. How do you feel this build is for solo play? I like that you have more then one trap to rotate through ( My other trapper is was 3 and wait ).

Anyone else tried this build with any success?

@j0zef: Good one, added to the guide :)
The biggest damage come from the flame surge traps. Don't forget, even though it's only linked with 3 other gems, it's still a 5 link, thanks to the boots. But honestly, the damage from Fire trap is also insane, especially when we get that burn off. Usually those fire traps are enough to clear entire packs. I only use the flame surge for those fire resistant high HP mobs/fire res blue packs and rares/uniques.

@Trucilent: Sure thing, added it to the guide! Don't mind the gems in there, I messed up with my gloves(wanted to try another set up, forgot I had 3 off colors on it before >.>)

@shahmat1972: This is my second trapper, even though my first one abused the multiple fire trap spam - which allowed me to have an insane amount of fire traps ready. No wonder they patched that.

This one is great for soloing. I wanted to make a vid of me soloing a shrine map, but sadly my recording device is acting up, and kept freezing my comp. I ended up finishing the map(and thus also piety), though. Yeah, the map itself was fairly easy, having only sea witches and their spawn. But Piety + Onslaught + Turbo + Frenzy charges is a force to be reckon with. Had to port out once to refill my potions though. But yeah, I hope this answers your question :)

Another step done, Guide is coming close to completion!

I am going to try this, and level as a trapper. So far its fun and different. The run and gun trapping gameplay seems to agree with me. Thanks for the guide!

My Experience with this trapper build has been really great. leveling with it was very simple yet fun.

I had picked up a Searing Touch once i could equip one and it worked fantastic.
I am beginning to struggle around level 50-55 ish due to taking too much damage from things. It's most likely my gear. ive attempted to pick up a Shield rather than using the Searing Touch and im seeing how that goes for me.

Great build so far. Keep on them updates yo. (:

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