Lightning trapper seeking advice (hc/tempest)

Hi

With the start of new leagues I've decided to play a spec that I've never tried before and so I ended up with a trapper character. Originally I wanted to play with fire based traps but after seeing the lightning trap in action I quickly changed my mind. I got to level ~35 yesterday where I ripped, ironically, to Caliga :D. But getting to that point gave me a glimpse into some potential issues:

a) trap flight path - it seems that even the smallest obstacles stop the traps dead in their tracks which is really annoying if you're trying to fight from stairs or similar. Any way around this?

b) Lightning trap is pretty good for packs but sucks for single target. Are there any good ST options availble (for Deerstalker initially)? I read some old threads where people suggested Storm Call and Lightning Warp (I have no idea how this works) but those posts were from over a year ago. I've tried a bear trap with physical to lightning but it did less damage than Lightning trap.

c) Defense - since this is HC it's obviously a priority. I'm having a little issue getting enough life nodes though. A friend who helped me come up with a build suggested I go for Acrobatics and Phase Acrobatics but I was thinking of speccing into energy shield instead since it's just below the line I'm talking to the lightning cluster. Thoughts?

Hi, I'm playing in the warbands league and have a level 56 Lightning trapper. Just for some info I'm doing a crit based spec so my experience might be a bit different. From my experience so far LT should only be really used for groups of enemies otherwise a high level bear trap, and fire trap along with trap damage nodes (and possibly trap or mine damage support) is the best option for single target.

a) For the flight path the only thing you can really do is use chain so the projectiles go between enemies, and use multiple traps to maximize the spread.

b) Again so far I have just used bear trap and fire trap for single target. From what I've found of other people's experiences Phys to lightning shouldn't be used in bear trap because of the enemies high ele resist as you progress further so trap and mine damage or added fire might actually be better supports. Also considering the high damage effectiveness of bear trap a flat damage support is also a good option. Fire trap is just a good supplement to hard bosses due to the burning ground. Late game I plan to use the shield jaws of agony for a free level 20 bear trap with 4 links (including bear trap).

c) With my current crit Spec I'm getting about 150% increased maximum life on top of acrobatics and evasion. Survivability has been fairly good so far though I've had some troubles with act 4 considering the massive damage ramp up. I would skip any unneeded bosses to avoid potential rips especially with our single target problems. I personally wouldn't go full ES as it requires expensive gear and might be hard to chrome, though hybrid is definitely an option i wouldn't rule out.

Overall the main reason I chose a crit base spec was because I can now use a variety of skills mainly being both fire trap and lightning trap. Otherwise the build could be limited by trap cooldown speed. Another important thing to note is the massive variability with Lightning traps damage as it has a massive range which was another reason to go crit. Usually crit is a bad idea in HC but since we use traps damage can't be reflected so that's a non-issue. I also have a suspicion that each trap has a separate crit role when using multiple traps unlike every other skill which has one crit role per cast or attack, but throwing a trap is no longer a cast from you but a cast from the trap itself so a somewhat low base crit chance is actually having three roles. This also seems to be supported by the fact that some monsters are left shocked and others are not due to one trap criting and one not. Additionally when using Jaws of Agony the 15% chance to gain a power charge on trap throw is rolled once for every trap when using multiple traps. This might mean every trap is a separate entity in the same throw or "cast".

Also don't forget that fire and lightning traps count as spells and bear trap does not. And additionally I've heard some people are doing ball lightning traps (I think Ghudda was, not sure).

TLDR; LT for groups, FT and BT for single target, and go crit.

Hey there, I'm also playing a lightning trapper, currently level 47 act one Cruel, Tempest league. What I've really found to be useful for boss/rare mobs is Bear Trap/Phys to Lightning/Increased Crit. That bear trap does some serious work, and helps you keep your distance. Also trying to pair a Ball Lighting/Trap/Multi-trap/Lmp will help a ton with mob packs. I'm not going to give away all my secrets, but Vaal Lightning Trap does some SERIOUS work if placed correctly. If you think you're going to go more into mines (I have zero mine nodes, unless they were combo'd with trap dmg/etc.) I would highly recommend Arc/Mine/Chain, REALLY effective.

Other than all that, keep your potions up to date with the level you are at. ALWAYS upgrade them the first chance you get, and roll them to have beneficial effects/different timers, that way you can overlap 2-3 pots at once.

Edit

hey i've played 10~ ele trappers in hc. lite trap is the way to go for clearing, firetrap for ST(lite trap got 60% buff tho so not sure how much it matters anymore).

multi trap/cold snap/proliferate/trap is THE most important thing, you should be throwing these defensively constantly, at your feet, behind you and retreating to them, etc. Put this in your deerstalker, there is NO other option that even comes close. Look into EE, as lite trap is the BEST at spreading it, and it makes your fire trap ridiculous, and your lite traps ridiculous when someone is burnt/frozen.