07-07-2003, 03:38 PM
I thought I'd update with my observations from Nightmare.
The character is now level 70 and playing in Act1 Hell. She has adequate damage, but her gear needs to be improved. At a guess I'd say I need to increase her defense - she's getting hit too hard and too often by ranged attacks.
I ended up maxing Lightning Sentry and Fire Blast. I'm now pumping Death Sentry. I'm also using the Shadow Master, Burst of Speed , Mind Blast and Fade. Fade makes the character ethereal, causing many people to think you're using Nat's Set, even when they can see you have a flail in your hands. :)
As for gear ( and keep in mind I've spent the weekend playing not shopping ) she's wearing a 4 hole ghost armor with 3 flawless sapphires and an eth, a kite shield Ancients Pledge, a +1 Assassin skills circlet with resists, a low level belt with FHR, two rings with +62 mana each, some 30% faster R/w boots ,a +1 Assassin skills ammy and a +3 traps claw. Not what I'd call high end gear. :)
I can't look at her character screen as I type this, but roughly speaking she does 900 damage per throw with the Fire Blast and 1-1100 per shot with the Lightning Sentry. The Death Sentry shoots 11 times and has a 7 yard range. The basic strategy is the same as it's always been with a Trapper - keep everything off of her with the minions and Mind Blast until the traps have a chance to work. But I often switch from Fade to BoS in mid-battle in order to lob fire bombs more quickly.
My overall impression is that the Trapper will be quite viable untwinked in Hardcore, even though the game is now much harder. The character has only died twice, once to a bug that froze her in place in the Chaos Sanctuary and once to poor play in the Cold Plains of Hell.
I'd say that Blizzard has done a fine job with this patch. I'm having a blast!
-davcol
The character is now level 70 and playing in Act1 Hell. She has adequate damage, but her gear needs to be improved. At a guess I'd say I need to increase her defense - she's getting hit too hard and too often by ranged attacks.
I ended up maxing Lightning Sentry and Fire Blast. I'm now pumping Death Sentry. I'm also using the Shadow Master, Burst of Speed , Mind Blast and Fade. Fade makes the character ethereal, causing many people to think you're using Nat's Set, even when they can see you have a flail in your hands. :)
As for gear ( and keep in mind I've spent the weekend playing not shopping ) she's wearing a 4 hole ghost armor with 3 flawless sapphires and an eth, a kite shield Ancients Pledge, a +1 Assassin skills circlet with resists, a low level belt with FHR, two rings with +62 mana each, some 30% faster R/w boots ,a +1 Assassin skills ammy and a +3 traps claw. Not what I'd call high end gear. :)
I can't look at her character screen as I type this, but roughly speaking she does 900 damage per throw with the Fire Blast and 1-1100 per shot with the Lightning Sentry. The Death Sentry shoots 11 times and has a 7 yard range. The basic strategy is the same as it's always been with a Trapper - keep everything off of her with the minions and Mind Blast until the traps have a chance to work. But I often switch from Fade to BoS in mid-battle in order to lob fire bombs more quickly.
My overall impression is that the Trapper will be quite viable untwinked in Hardcore, even though the game is now much harder. The character has only died twice, once to a bug that froze her in place in the Chaos Sanctuary and once to poor play in the Cold Plains of Hell.
I'd say that Blizzard has done a fine job with this patch. I'm having a blast!
-davcol