Through Norm with a Trapper

[Dagni]

Frenzytaurs were scary. Even in normal they took a lot of Fire blasts to bring down (heavy fire resistance?), and they'd chop up my merc in no time if I fought more than 2 at once. The fact that they're so fast and hit so hard makes it more or less impossible to kill them without stalling them somehow.

You're still playing "players 8" aren't you? :) They have no resistances of any kind, base life of about 330 avg. Fire Blast, against any monster but especially Frenzytaurs, is far more effective as long as it does more than 1/12 the monster's life. Stunlock. That IS how I stall them, by stunlocking them. Plus my cold merc can do a pretty good job of stalling at least one. :) No need for hit and run as long as the monsters get stunned.

Do you by the way know what fps that puts me in? I have Blade Talons with 20% IAS, Lvl 1 BoS, and Arctic mitts which give 10% IAS. I tried the speed calculator at the German D2 site, but the business with the left claw gave me some confusing results that I didn't know what to do with.

You should be doing (the fastest) 9 frames per attack. On using the german calculator, select Trap placing as the skill, and just leave the "left claw" blank. I *think* that it won't affect your speed at all. Certainly if you aren't dual-wielding it won't. :P Also leave "WIAS" blank, include any IAS on your right claw in with the other IAS, (so in your case 30% IAS total) and don't count any IAS on your other claw. In general, with any base 20% faster weapon, like the Blade Talons, and slvl 1 BoS, you need 25% IAS to reach the fastest breakpoint. So you've got 5% extra. :) If for some reason you switch to a weapon with a base of 10% faster, like a short staff or a Katar, you'd need 40% IAS total.

Still, ít gives synergestic bonues to most traps I have considered using, so maxing it wasn't a waste anyhow

Yes, it gives a great synergy for Charged Bolt sentry! If you still have it at slvl 1, it may only do 1-14 dmg, but with 11 bolts per shot from 5 of these suckers, and the damage gets up there fast. But then, that's one of the things I hope to find out with this character, once Fire Blast, Shock Web, CB Sentry, and Lightning Sentry are all maxed, which is better? CBS or LS?

- Dagni