Build information for the Trap Assassin (Trapsin), including suggested skills, stat distribution and gear.

Trap Assassin Pros

Trap Assassin Cons

Like the Paladin and Druid, the Assassin is a hybrid-capable class, with one tree mostly devoted to melee combat (Martial Arts) another to passives/summons/buffs (Shadow Disciplines) and a third that covers what can - if you squint hard enough - be considered a caster build (Traps).

Traps are a bit odd, and don’t fit cleanly into the caster niche. They cannot be aimed, they are stationary, you can only deploy five of them at a time, they fire a limited number of times, and sometimes their attacks only trigger under certain conditions. In addition, they do not benefit from Faster Cast Rate - their attack speed cannot be modified at all, in fact. “Increased Attack Speed” will increase the rate at which you can deploy them, but this is rarely a relevant factor in Trapsin play. Furthermore, direct boosts to damage or enemy resistance reduction like the sort found on [Griffon’s Eye] do not apply to your traps. +Skills gear is one of the few ways to boost their damage, along with afflicting enemies with curses like Lower Resist or auras like Conviction.

Most painfully for new characters, traps do not benefit from “Mana After Kill” modifiers, so the Tir rune gear will not help them at all in the early going, making it somewhat painful to level them. Even worse, their primary source of damage - Lightning Sentry - requires them to be Lv24. These two factors combined make the Trapsin a somewhat poor choice for a starting character - they really need a respec and a hand-me-down Spirit sword to start functioning properly,

On the plus side, dropping a series of five traps in an area where you expect combat to occur will result in five autonomous - and potentially quite powerful - traps laying into your enemies with a variety of elements… but mostly lightning. Lightning Sentry is the Trapsin’s bread-and-butter skill, along with Death Sentry, which are fortunately synergies. The former shoots lightning bolts and accounts for most of the build’s brute damage, while the latter also shoots lightning bolts, but can also use Corpse Explosion on enemy remains, dealing physical and fire damage. Lay down Lightning Sentry traps and when they make a kill, deploy a Death Sentry or two to proc Corpse Explosions. While your traps do their thing, kite foes near them, use Mind Blast to stun and convert them, or toss Fire Blast if your foes are otherwise preoccupied.

As of Patch 2.4, Fire Trap Assassins are more competitive, but Lightning Sentry still deals far more damage. Either way, Fire Blast and Death Sentry augment your build, adding fire and physical damage.

Since the traps don’t move and can’t be aimed, a lot of the Trapsin’ gameplay involved planning out killing fields and luring enemies, either kiting them while your traps blast them apart, or relying on tanks like mercenaries and summons to hold the line. Whether you find the playstyle intriguing or not, it can’t be argued that it’s not quite different to any other caster build in the game.

Trap Assassin - Skills¶

The Trapsin focuses primarily on Lightning Sentry and its synergies, which includes Fire Blast, Shock Web, Charged Bolt Sentry - basically everything on the left side of the Traps skill tree. These four skills will consume the majority of your Skill Points and comprise almost the entirety of the build. Other than that, you’ll also put a single point in every skill on the Shadow Disciplines tree save Venom, and anything left over goes to Death’s Sentry. Since the primary function of Death Sentry is to use Corpse Explosion (which deals a static 40-80% of the corpse’s life, regardless of skill points invested), you don’t really need to invest many points into it until you’ve finished up other skills.

The gameplay loop is pretty simple - summon a Shadow Warrior or Shadow Master, find enemies, lay down traps, repeat. Make use of Burst of Speed, Cloak of Shadows and Fade as the need arises. Start out with Lightning Sentry traps, and when there are copses available, deploy Death Sentry traps. If there’s nothing else to do, use Mind Blast and Fire Blast to pelt enemies from afar.

There are several useful traps the Trapsin gains access to at virtually every level, but most of them deal downright terrible damage. Lightning Sentry deals significant damage, but you need to be Lv24 before you can invest any points in it. It’s possible to suffer through with Fire Blast, Shock Web and Charged Bolt Sentry, and if you have starter gear to hand down, you may as well save your respec. Failing that, you’ll need to invest in Fire Blast until you unlock Wake of Fire, then drop all your points in that until you’re ready to respec into Lightning Sentry. Wake of Fire doesn’t deal great damage, but it’s arguably better than Charged Bolt Sentry and Shock Web.

Trap Assassin Suggested Skills

Trap Assassin Level-by-Level Skills

Trap Assassin - Stats¶

Like most casters, Trapsin is a simple creature when it comes to stats: She needs enough Strength wear her gear, which in this case will likely be a Spirit Monarch. This chonk weighs in at a hefty 156 Strength, but once this goal is met, the rest of her Stat Points go into Vitality.

Trap Assassin Level-by-Level Stats

:::note:
Depending on your gear, you may need less Strength than a hard 156. Harlequin Crest adds +2 Strength, War Traveler add +10 Strength, Annihilus can add up to +20 Strength and a Hellfire Torch can add another +20 Strength. While it’s incredibly profligate, if you toss on an Enigma (Jah + Ith + Ber) you’ll also gain +0.75 Strength/Lv, while Chains of Honor (Dol + Um + Ber + Ist) will give you +20 Strength.
:::

Trap Assassin - Gear¶

There’s almost universal overlap between the Trapsin’s ideal endgame gear and that of most other casters. The only unique downside the Trapsin suffers is that she doesn’t benefit from Tir rune laden gear the way other casters do - she’ll really want a Spirit sword waiting for her at Lv25. While not the best starter character, if you have gear to hand down you won’t need any more to outfit her than any other caster.

The sole exception is, of course, armor. Like every non-caster who isn’t a Sorceress, the Trapsin really wants Enigma, and Heart of the Oak is a fine upgrade over Spirit. Otherwise, she’s fine with the standard caster gear, including Skin of the Vipermagi, Harlequin Crest, Arachnid Mesh, Mara’s Kaleidoscope, Stone of Jordan and, of course, a Spirit shield.

Most of this gear you can find by doing relatively easy Nightmare Mephisto runs, and once you accumulate a good collection this (or comparable) gear, you can move on to Hell Mephisto and Hell Andariel. And by “you”, we mean a magic find Sorceress, as the Trapsin is not an ideal magic finding character. Teleport and all. Once she has the gear she needs, however, she can run aLv85 areas just fine… moreso if they’re not full of lightning immune critters.

Like most casters, the Trapsin covets gear with +Skills, as her damage will be largely determined by the sLv of her spells. Unlike other casters, however, she does not benefit from items that give boosts to elemental damage (in this case, to lightning damage), as the Trapsin’s traps do not benefit from it, nor does she really gain all that much from Faster Cast Rate until she’s got Enigma. Faster Teleport speed is nice, but you should be able to hit the 65% Faster Cast Rate breakpoint with decent rolls on a Spirit sword and Spirit Monarch. Increased Attack Speed will determine the rate at which she can deploy traps, which is mostly useful for Fire Blast, and is of dubious overall utility. That being the case, gloves are a tossup between Magefist for the Cast Rate and +1 Fire Skills (which boosts Fire Blast), Trang-Ouls Claws for Cast Rate and Cold Resist +30%, and any gloves with Increased Attack Speed + Resistances. Or you could just toss all of them and wear Chance Guards for the Magic Find.

Rings are much the same. If you have a Stone of Jordan or two, wear those. If not, wear Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band. Failing those two pricey options, you’ll want Resistance, Life, Mana and Strength. A Raven Frost also isn’t a bad bet - a frozen Assassin is one who isn’t kiting enemies around her traps very well.

Trap Assassin Helmets

Trap Assassin Amulets

Trap Assassin Weapons

Trap Assassin Armor

Trap Assassin Shields

Trap Assassin Gloves

Trap Assassin Rings

Trap Assassin Belts

Trap Assassin Boots