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Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction Trapassin Guide
By Morrigan (c) 2001 (morrisama@juno.com)
Version 1.0 (last edited 8/17/2001)
Typed in Microsoft Word (Courier New Font Size 10)


The "trapassin," or traps assassin is one of the not-so-popular types of builds due to the myth of traps being ineffective at higher difficulties.  But I'm positive that this type of assassin is definitely the more safer type.  And the damage isn't bad at all; it just doesn't do the incredible amount of damage as a powerful firewall.
As a master of traps you generally act as a "supervisor" while your traps, shadow, and mercenary are your "employees" doing the work for you.  If you want to be different from the majority of assassins that specialize in martial arts (tiger strike/dragon tail or phoenix strike specialists in particular), try out the trapassin.


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CONTENTS
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-Trap Skills
-Trap Skills
-Shadow Disciplines
-Martial Arts
-Attribute Points
-Items
-Strategies
-PvM and PvP skills
-Trap usage
-Skill combinations
-Mercenaries
-Special boss battles
-Miscellaneous
-Legal Stuff


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TRAP SKILLS
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Fire Blast - Level 1 Skill
Throws a grenade that explodes and deals fire damage in a small radius.
You simply throw this bomb to your destination, and it explodes after landing.

Advantages:
+Can be thrown anywhere on the screen
+No casting delay

Disadvantages:
-Outside Act 1 Normal you will not get enough bang for your buck
-At very high levels it's damage is comparable to a very low level wake skill

My suggestion:
Put 1 point in it, as it is a prerequisite for the other traps.


Shock Web - Level 6 Skill
Very similar to Fire Blast.  But her you throw a set of spikes instead of 1 grenade.  The spikes create a web of lightning between each other.
More points will increase the number of spikes and damage.

Advantages:
+Alternate to Fire Blast
+No casting delay

Disadvantages:
-Like fire blast, the damage is horrid outside Act 1 normal

My suggestion:
Again, only 1 point here, as the damage doesn't cut it.


Blade Sentinel - Level 6 Skill
Throws a spinning blade that patrols between the area you used the skill and the target area.  It will do damage to anything it touches along its path.  The sentinel will last for 4 seconds before self- destruction.

Advantages:
+Can slice through many monsters with the proper angle
+Monsters nearby can take lots of hits from this skill if you make the destination point just behind you

Disadvantages:
-2 second casting delay.  And it only lasts 4 seconds.
-Damage is not so keen at the later stages of the game (in NORMAL)

My suggestion:
This skill appears to have potential, but I don't think this skill is worth it.  But it does have uses outside act 1.  Throw in a point if you wish to get Blade Fury/Shield.


Charged Bolt Sentry - Level 12 Skill
Sets up a sentry that emits charged bolts in the direction of the nearest target.  It shoots 5 times, each time releasing 5 charged bolts.  Additional levels do not increase the number of bolts per shot.

Advantages:
+Covers a good distance
+Fire-and-forget skill

Disadvantages:
-Damage pales in comparison to Lightning Sentry
-Seems to spit out the bolts at a slow rate

Useful even with 1 point in earlier acts, but gets replaced by
Lightning Sentry.


Wake of Fire - Level 12 Skill
Sets up a wake that shoots fire in the shape of a V.  Fires in succession fairly quickly.  After 5 shots it disappears.

Advantages:
+It covers a decent area although the range is a little limited
+Does its damage rather quickly for a fire skill

Disadvantages:
-The last fire trap is much better for damage
-Don't last very long; sometimes require recasting which eats up mana especially in the early to mid stages

My suggestion:
Put 1 point in it as it is a prerequisite for Wake of Inferno.


Blade Fury - Level 18 Skill
A skill that allows you to throw stars at enemies.  It requires some practice to get in all your hits.  Upon casting the skill you throw 3 blades, and as long as you hold the mouse button down more blades will be thrown.  There is a small costs of 3 mana to activate the skill, which is negligible.  Note that the rate you throw the blades relies on
ATTACK SPEED, not CASTING SPEED.

Advantages:
+Looks really cool :)  And it gives you something to do besides watching your pretty traps go to work.
+If you are a pure trapassin this becomes your prime source of physical damage
+Does good damage at high levels

Disadvantages:
-You must stand still while using this skill
-Each blade has a mana cost.  At level 20 it's 8 mana a blade.
Continuous blade fury will tax your mana heavily.
-The blades don't move very fast, you could miss with them

My suggestion:
Pure trapassins may opt to invest in this skill.  If you do decide to go for blade fury, max it.  Assassins that only specialize in traps can leave it at level 1.


Lightning Sentry (LS for short) - Level 24 Skill
It lays down a sentry that fires lightning bolts.  The sentry will emit its lightning 10 times before self-destruction.

Advantages:
+More points into it result the greater the distance of the bolts
+Proper placement can let them cross paths can inflict great pain to mobs of monsters
+Unlike Wake of Inferno, it deals all of its damage very quickly
+Like most lightning skills, the lightning travels fast

Disadvantages:
-It's 20 mana for one trap.  Expensive when you start feeling the need to put down 5 of these sentries.
-Does less damage than Wake of Inferno at equal levels

My suggestion:
Pure trapassins should max this skill.  You can max wake of inferno first, but this is a perfectly good alternate.  Trap specialized assassins may leave it at level 1 if they melee a lot and already have
Wake of Inferno.


Wake of Inferno (WoI for short) - Level 24 Skill
The fire version of LS (Lightning Sentry).  It fires a sorceress-like inferno 10 times before disintegrating.

Advantages:
+Does lots of damage
+Good placement of wakes = good area coverage

Disadvantages:
-This trap can be avoided by faster enemies due to the nature of an inferno attack
-No range increase as level increases
-Costs 20 mana for one wake.

My suggestion:
Anyone who decides to have a trap should invest in WoI - heavily.


Death Sentry (DS for short) - Level 30 Skill
Like LS, Death Sentry will emit lightning bolts.  However if there is a corpse in range of its sight it can detonate it as long as there is a monster in range of the blast radius.  So DS is basically an assassin's version of Corpse Explosion.  It only fires 5 times, and any combination of the lightning and the corpse explosions that add up to 5 will do.

Advantages:
+Corpse explosion is what makes this skill a real killer.  Not quite as powerful as the necromancer's version, but still a powerhouse.
+At high levels the lightning does decent damage per bolt and the corpse explosion radius is just nuts
+This trap can detonate corpses from a screen and a half away!

Disadvantages:
-Not a good source of lightning damage.  It only fires 5 times as opposed to LS's 10.
-20 mana for this sentry

My suggestion:
Don't be so quick to max this skill. I recommend around 6-12 points here for good coverage of corpse explosion.  You can max it if you want if you are not a pure trapassin.


Blade Shield - Level 30 Skill
Interesting skill here.  You get some sort of extended thorn effect (not like a paladin's thorn aura, like an "attacker takes x amount of damage" effect).  The monsters don't have to be attacking you, but they do have to be real close for the blades to slice them up.

Advantages:
+There are reports of the blade shield working with certain attributes like "crushing blow" and "causes monsters to flee" and the like.  Just imagine what you can do with it!
+Free damage to anything that comes too close to you
+Looks really cool :)

-Very steep mana cost for the short duration of the skill
-More skill levels will result in a somewhat bigger duration, but an ever bigger mana cost

My suggestion:
Pure trapassins should get 1 point into it.  The first advantage of this skill is godly enough for you to get it.  IMO more points are just gravy.


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SHADOW DISCIPLINES
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