trapper

[aputamkon]

how hard is it to solo without having the abiity to search and disarm traps? i read a high spot skill can help you find them but with out disarm how difficult is hc ?

[DYWYPI]

I assume you are planning on using a non-rogue Character...

You usually cannot either Spot or Search for "difficult" traps with a [Search] DC of higher than 20 without having the Trapfinding Feat: https://ddowiki.com/page/Trapfinding.

The Spell 'Find Traps' (https://ddowiki.com/page/Find_Traps) temporarily removes the restriction for Classes without the 'Trapfinding' feat that normally cannot find traps with the Search skill if the DC is higher than 20.

Secret doors don't have that DC limitation and anyone can invest in Spot and Search.

Whilst the 'Find Traps' spell is running with a successful Spot check I believe you'll get the "danger" alert message when you are near a trap. In a nutshell it should work the same way as - temporarily - having the Trapfinding feat. So both Spot and Search restrictions for traps would be lifted.

Most traps within Level 6 quests on Elite have Spot/Search DC:22, e.g. Purge the Heretics.

[C-Dog]

Many trappers ignore Spot because the player knows the quests so well that they remember where every trap is. They stop in the general area (maybe a bit early!), Search, find the box, and Disable. No need for Spot because they already know where the trouble areas are.

Without that knowledge, a high Spot on a non-trapper may or may not give you a (very!) short warning that "Traps ahead!". If you react, you live - if you miss that warning, or react too slowly, good luck. (If no warning... GOOD LUCK!)

Solo builds need to be able to either 1) trap, and trap well! (Spot, Search, & DD, skill, abilities and gear, all at-level), 2) survive running through a trap - barbarian massive hit points, or Improved Evasion and a (very!) high Reflex saving throw, or whatever, or 3) avoid traps via player knowledge/ability.

In Hardcore, there is no second chance; it's not a place to learn from mistakes. If you do see a trap (or know there are some in a certain quest), but you can't disarm/survive it... well, not every trap can be timed or avoided. So, if you solo and you don't trap, your options are to risk death or not run that quest.

[archest]

Elf Race can find traps but cannot disable them

Racial Trait
+2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.

Tier One Racial Tree
Keen Senses: +1/+2/+3 Listen, Search, and Spot.

Tier Two Racial Tree
Nothing Is Hidden: Your senses are so acute that you no longer need to spend time searching for the obvious. You will automatically perform a Search check to locate traps and secret doors when you are in range to Spot them, although this Search check occurs at a -12/-8/-4 penalty.

[DYWYPI]

I'm not particularly sure why the quest: Tomb of the Shadow Knight is sometimes mentioned by some people as having "difficult traps" that can possibly: one-shot? I presume it's more a case of the fact one of the quest Optionals involves disabling up to: 20 Control Panels - so people remember it has numerous traps. There are nearer eighteen separate traps than over twenty, but some traps have more than one panel.

I've probably only run that quest handful of times in the past on an Assassin so I'm not familiar with it. However, as it so happens on a previous Hardcore server I had chance to run the quest. I obviously was soloing on a pure melee, and couldn't disable traps or unlock any doors without the named Keys on my melee. I think it's fair she couldn't disarm traps without taking specific 'Disable Device' training, etc.

Out of those eighteen or so traps; at least three are in dead-end passages where you don't even have to go anywhere near. Another two traps guard random loot Chests, where the DM explicitly tells you they are trapped! Quite a few of the traps in the quest, you can just easily walk around them in that quest - no timing required. The Darts, which possibly could deal minor scratches, are not even closely spaced in most places and you can easily walk between them.

Several of the traps trigger well in advance of you getting close to the dangerous parts and each dungeon wing even has its own individual Shrines should things go slightly wrong.

There are possibly two traps that may catch you out, on doors; one a spinning blade and the other electrical based. Those two potentially could deal some significant damage. About the only other two traps that would likely cause reasonable damage (unless you decide to stay bathing in the trap) were a thin strip lightning trap and a room with spinning blades.

Notably there is a Shrine adjacent to the trap albeit you don't even need to go near the blades you can walk around the wall on the far right by the altar. Therefore totally avoiding and bypassing them you - no need to do a timed dash.

The lightning trap I believe 'triggers' before you get near it. Again if you look at the screenshot you can just walk around the edge of the room and completely bypass - walking behind - those skulls nozzles.

It's not a good example of a Heroic quest where the majority of traps are difficult to avoid or do huge damage. Albeit if someone had mentioned the quest 'The Enemy Within', in relation to "hazardous traps" I might be more convinced (even that quest has some tells). Tomb of the Shadow Knight, however, gives plenty of opportunity and warnings throughout about it having traps. Thus 'Tomb of the Shadow Knight' provides opportunity to avoid a lot of potential trap damage by simple manoeuvring, etc. I believe if you can also unlock doors via Knock or Open Lock you can avoid some potential hazards in that quest. :-)

For a previous Hardcore I just soloed on my pure generic melee to Level 20; not in a Guild, no Tomes or Store purchases. I didn't have any problems, or major risk of death. I wasn't bothered about gaining any rewards or achievements as I'm a casual player. My view was: if I hit Level 20 or 1750 Favour that was just an extra bonus.

I'm mostly indifferent about participating in Hardcore; I was mainly just doing it out of interest and curiosity. I don't have self-esteem issues nor do I need brightly coloured trinkets to prove anything. :-)

Overall I didn't find the quests with traps that problematic when doing Hardcore even though I never grouped and couldn't detect traps. Be wary of the quest: 'Repossession' on Elite if you don't have good reflex saves or other relevant trap mitigation methods.

Note both 'Nothing Is Hidden' and 'Mind Like Iron' would already require you to have Trapfinding (or Find Traps) to deal with Traps on Level 6 quests on Elite.

[Buddha5440]

Whilst the 'Find Traps' spell is running with a successful Spot check I believe you'll get the "danger" alert message when you are near a trap. In a nutshell it should work the same way as - temporarily - having the Trapfinding feat. So both Spot and Search restrictions for traps would be lifted.

You will get the "danger" alert (icon) even if you have a high enough Wis (and thus a high modded spot skill) or have a hireling with a high enough Wis regardless of having the trapfinding feat or Find Traps active. You will not, however, be able to locate said trap other than by proximity without the Feat or spell.

[fatherpirate]

traps in HCL

the 3 most used ways to deal with them

1. a trapper (of course)
2. ignore it (Barbarian with blood tribute)
3. RNG/ROG/MNK//TAB//HOR improved evasion so it misses you

well 4
4. Mario Brothers the thing (not recommended)

pick your poison

[DYWYPI]

Most deaths to traps on Hardcore in the early levels are common YASDs indicators. Without special abilities like 'Find Traps' active or the Trapfinding Feat; will not get the following "danger" alert message (see image) when you are in close proximity to traps. That is presuming; the Trap's DC is above 20, even if your Modified Spot skill is above the required DC value. Occasionally nozzles can have their DC set much lower.

You will get that warning; if 'Find Traps' in running and you meet the minimum required DC values.

[StoneGiant]

You can buy a rogue hireling for astral shards, which can get you past a few quests that you might skip if soloing on a non-trapper, although they are tricky to use as you have to make sure they are near the front so that their spot sense works. They work best in tandem with your character at least having high spot so you know when to pull them to the front, or if you know the quest well and the traps aren't random, that helps too, as they will often die on elite/reaper otherwise. Another option is to run trap-heavy quests on hard if soloing on a non-trapper, although some high lv heroic quests still can do high dmg on hard difficulty if not careful (I'm looking at you, Lord of Eyes end fight...) If buying a rogue hireling, it helps to do all the trap quests of a level in a row so that you get the most value out of the hour-long hireling duration. The bullywug lv 3 hireling also is useful up to the lv 3 quests on elite/reaper but on the lv 4 and 5 ones he may miss a few things. In epic quests if you have the legendary bullywug hireling he is rock-solid, although I haven't tested him in the Isle of Dread content. It's also relatively easy to get a ton of hireling buffs by the time you are lv 30-32.

[ekaterina]

Without a trapper the best bet is to know the quests and skip the ones with dangerous traps or run them at low difficulty.

If you don't know a quest have a character on another server of a comparable level and run the dungeon with that one to learn it before risking your priceless HC character.

[PurpleTimb]

Another technique that can help is if you know a quest has a dangerous trap you can start the quest on casual difficulty first. On casual I'm able to confirm the exact trap location and then practice my (admittedly poor) Mario skills. On casual the trap damage is trivial so I can afford to screw up a jump or two while reminding myself how to get through the trap. The quest Another Man's Treasure is one that I frequently do this on; I feel much better doing the swim a couple of times on casual difficulty before restarting the quest on elite for the real run.