From what I've read, unless the Slow is increased quite a bit, no. Apparently they're not slowing jack crap down without a couple slots, so they seem a waste to me.
- Ping (@iltat, @Pinghole)
Don't take it personally if you think I was mean to you. I'm an ******* to everyone.
It's a penguin thing. Pingu FTW.
Au contraire...Caltrops is amazing for a stalker. I never realized how useful they could be until I tried them for myself.
Throw them down on a group of foes after your AS takes out the first. They tend to try to run off the Caltrops, keeping them from attacking you for awhile. Lay them in doorways and next to corners to bottleneck groups, letting you set up for better hit and run tactics.
In PvP, TP Foe and Caltrops is a deadly combo. Lay out Caltrops, then TP your foe onto them, then Placate, Build Up/Focus Chi and AS.
Never thought much of them before, but I've come to the conclusion that Caltrops is one of the best powers in Ninjitsu.
in solo PvE caltrops are a great power Light has said, but in PvP they suck for stalkers. The Slow seems so low that even without swift you can move out of them fairly easily. The TP Foe into caltrops can work but will rarely work, and from the dev comments here and there tp foe might be getting a look into.
I've found the slow effect in PvP to be quite useful myself. Certaily long enough to Placate and fire off a built-up AS. I don't doubt TP Foe will be seeing some changes to make it a little less powerful, but I'm sure it will always remain useful.
I don't like caltrops and I'm getting rid of them next respec. In PvP, they hardly slow down any super speeders I want to AS, but I haven't tried slotting them yet (cuz im too poor).
In PvE there are horrible IMO, because while enemies are taking dmg from them, they will continue to see you and attack you, even if you placate them. Everytime I throw down caltrops, the enemies run away, but when I placate and AS, they end up hitting me after running away for a bit.
They can slow enemies down while your running away and can slow the enemies to help out your team, but they aren't good for you because even if you re-hide, enemies taking damage from the caltrops are still aggroed to you despite placating.
You just have to learn how to use them effectively. You won't likely get off another AS because of the aggro, but you can Placate and hit with your heaviest attack for the crit without worrying about being interrupted.
Ninjitsu us light on defense even when fully slotted. Caltrops really helps break up the group so they aren't all attacking at once.
In PvE they have some good and some bad. The bad is that they draw aggro on you, even if you are hidden. So they can basically unhide you (as far as aggro goes). The good part is, that most enemies will be too busy trying to run out of the caltrops to attack you. So you can still get off your crit or AS in most occasions.
I use it on teams as a fall back point and to protect other squishies from melee. Solo, I find it's good to use after an initial AS on a boss. I BU+AS+strong melee, then if that doesn't kill him, throw caltrops. He'll try to run out of the caltrops instead of retaliate from the immense hurtin' you just put on him. This gives you time to placate and AS/strong crit him again. Point is, it can buy you time before you have to take a hit, or can downright stop you from taking a hit.
One more PvE use is that it will protect you in bottleneck and small corner situations. I you throw caltrops on a small corner and run around it, the mobs will not pursue you through and you can regain hide and do whatever. I use this technique in the vault to solo heist missions with the ambushes. It allows me to fight one mob at a time instead of dealing with the whole ambush.
As for PvP, I'd have to say its actually very good contrary to what some are saying. Of course, you need a few complimentary powers to make it worthwhile though.
I find that TP foe and Air Sup. with caltrops are very mean indeed. It basically allows you to get off your whole attack chain on flyers and SJ'ers without any retribution.
Flyers (after getting hit with air sup.) and SJ'ers will have to sit there and try to slowly get out while you placate and AS them. SS'ers can get away fairly easy, but I can still get in the AS if I knock them down first with air sup.
Allow me to point you to this thread I started a couple of days ago:
You click here.
There seems to be some debate as to whether they're working or broken in PvP. I don't think there's any debate about their PvE usefulness, but I am yet to experience anything other than frustration with using them in PvP. Teleporting someone into them only to have them instantly run out of them seems a little...odd.
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Caltrops...are they worth it??
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I took up caltrops and it works great in PvE. In PvP i'm not sure. They seem so easily to get out of. You can stand on them, toggle hover and just fly away. People seem to just SS right through without being slowed down. Also the SJ's jump away as if nothing was there too. It seems to only work on someone you can place -fly on and watch them try to run out of them. I sent a PM to _castle_ asking for an explaination.
Thus to sum it up, if you pvp, then they're not ok.
If you pve then their great.
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In PvE they have some good and some bad. The bad is that they draw aggro on you, even if you are hidden.
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While they will draw aggro onto you if you are in the mobs line of sight, I have often found that the mob AI goes kinda nuts if you break LoS and go hidden.
They will yo-yo back and forth out of the caltops 3 or 4 times, then run as fast as they can - usually away from you. They'll lose interest, you'll lose the aggro.
Rinse and repeat.
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Allow me to point you to this thread I started a couple of days ago:
You click here.
There seems to be some debate as to whether they're working or broken in PvP. I don't think there's any debate about their PvE usefulness, but I am yet to experience anything other than frustration with using them in PvP. Teleporting someone into them only to have them instantly run out of them seems a little...odd.
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As KOS noted, they seem to not be working very well. I'm used to Caltrops on my /Dev blaster, and I'm certainly getting different results. Castle told me the sets all point to the same Caltrops power, but it really appears as if this is either untrue in some way or that the code to fix Caltrops in PvP (which came I think in I4) is somehow separate from the Caltrops power itself and so we've received the old broken version, anyhow.
In PvP, caltrops are a big "HERE I AM" sign, unless you use them in water.
Well, no PVP experience here with them, but they were a bread and butter power for me as an ar/dev probably up into the high 20's.
As others have said, most enemies won't attack near as much but try and get free of the caltrops instead, allowing you more time to arrest.
Throw them down at a corner or doorway, attack for pull, duck around corner or doorway. Wait for the enemies to bunch up in a pack, then use a cone attack or aoe now that they are tightly packed at the corner.
Also used to throw them straight down as it would deter melee's from getting too close most of the time.
I would also throw them down as a desperation move if I got into trouble and had some enemies forcing me to retreat, caltrops would often buy me the time to rest for a minute and get healthy again.
All in all for PVE, I couldn't even count how many times those little shinies saved my butt 
It's a shame slotting damages never really helped though, it completely ruined my "Caltops Man" concept
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Allow me to point you to this thread I started a couple of days ago:
You click here.
There seems to be some debate as to whether they're working or broken in PvP. I don't think there's any debate about their PvE usefulness, but I am yet to experience anything other than frustration with using them in PvP. Teleporting someone into them only to have them instantly run out of them seems a little...odd.
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As KOS noted, they seem to not be working very well. I'm used to Caltrops on my /Dev blaster, and I'm certainly getting different results. Castle told me the sets all point to the same Caltrops power, but it really appears as if this is either untrue in some way or that the code to fix Caltrops in PvP (which came I think in I4) is somehow separate from the Caltrops power itself and so we've received the old broken version, anyhow.
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Yep. Exactly the same as Traps or Devices Caltrops powers. There ARE limitations to Caltrops -- anyone above them (jumping, flying, doing cartwheels) won't be slowed by them. It is also possible in certain cicumstances for a super speed character to run into and out of the area of effect before the Caltrops power can effect them. That limitation is the same on Tar Patch, Ice Patch and other similar persistent area powers.
To sum up, Caltrops can be a very powerful tool in PvE and PvP, but in PvP players have quite a few 'counters' to the effect. It is not meant to be an "I Win" button.
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Allow me to point you to this thread I started a couple of days ago:
You click here.
There seems to be some debate as to whether they're working or broken in PvP. I don't think there's any debate about their PvE usefulness, but I am yet to experience anything other than frustration with using them in PvP. Teleporting someone into them only to have them instantly run out of them seems a little...odd.
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As KOS noted, they seem to not be working very well. I'm used to Caltrops on my /Dev blaster, and I'm certainly getting different results. Castle told me the sets all point to the same Caltrops power, but it really appears as if this is either untrue in some way or that the code to fix Caltrops in PvP (which came I think in I4) is somehow separate from the Caltrops power itself and so we've received the old broken version, anyhow.
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Yep. Exactly the same as Traps or Devices Caltrops powers. There ARE limitations to Caltrops -- anyone above them (jumping, flying, doing cartwheels) won't be slowed by them. It is also possible in certain cicumstances for a super speed character to run into and out of the area of effect before the Caltrops power can effect them. That limitation is the same on Tar Patch, Ice Patch and other similar persistent area powers.
To sum up, Caltrops can be a very powerful tool in PvE and PvP, but in PvP players have quite a few 'counters' to the effect. It is not meant to be an "I Win" button.
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You can add server lag to the list of "counters". I've been caltropped about 300 yrds away from where the caltrops actually were for a couple of seconds after having super speeded or run/teleport away. If the server is slow to respond, you may see some of this weirdness.
Whoah whoah whoah! Wait just a minute here! I think we've uncovered a far greater issue than problems with Caltrops ... we can do cartwheels??!!! 
I suspect a new travel power in the works that we haven't heard about till now!
This has always been one of my little PVP secrets. If I'm being teleported, whack that spacebar down and hang a hard right. About two thirds of the time, I can get some to most of the way out of the caltrops by the time the port-alignment bit ends. If I've got a travel power on, that means I'm _out_ of the caltrops period, two thirds of the time.
PERC Supporter
La Pucelle (BS/SR)
Miseria Bella (Sonic/Dark)
Wrangler Annie (SS/Elec)
Coldsmoke (Ice/Dark)
Saber Maid (BS/Regen)
and others...
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In PvE they have some good and some bad. The bad is that they draw aggro on you, even if you are hidden.
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While they will draw aggro onto you if you are in the mobs line of sight, I have often found that the mob AI goes kinda nuts if you break LoS and go hidden.
They will yo-yo back and forth out of the caltops 3 or 4 times, then run as fast as they can - usually away from you. They'll lose interest, you'll lose the aggro.
Rinse and repeat.
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This is kinda what i was talking about in my next paragraph. You can run around a corner with caltrops on and they tend not to pursue.
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Allow me to point you to this thread I started a couple of days ago:
You click here.
There seems to be some debate as to whether they're working or broken in PvP. I don't think there's any debate about their PvE usefulness, but I am yet to experience anything other than frustration with using them in PvP. Teleporting someone into them only to have them instantly run out of them seems a little...odd.
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As KOS noted, they seem to not be working very well. I'm used to Caltrops on my /Dev blaster, and I'm certainly getting different results. Castle told me the sets all point to the same Caltrops power, but it really appears as if this is either untrue in some way or that the code to fix Caltrops in PvP (which came I think in I4) is somehow separate from the Caltrops power itself and so we've received the old broken version, anyhow.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yep. Exactly the same as Traps or Devices Caltrops powers. There ARE limitations to Caltrops -- anyone above them (jumping, flying, doing cartwheels) won't be slowed by them. It is also possible in certain cicumstances for a super speed character to run into and out of the area of effect before the Caltrops power can effect them. That limitation is the same on Tar Patch, Ice Patch and other similar persistent area powers.
To sum up, Caltrops can be a very powerful tool in PvE and PvP, but in PvP players have quite a few 'counters' to the effect. It is not meant to be an "I Win" button.
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This kinda doesn't do it for me _Castle_. I had a very eyebrow raising experience the other day that kinda points the other way.
I used /Nin caltrops. I tp'd a blaster right onto them and immediately used air superiority. Now I got the full knockdown onto that caltrop pacth. I'd say the blaster spend about a total of 3-4 seconds on top of that patch. When he got up, he immediately turned on SS and zipped right out of the caltrops at full speed (and I have a slow enhancement to boot).
Please explain.
Some of what you guys might be experiencing is due to speed boost, which a great deal of players have in pvp(at least the good ones). Basically speed boost negates every slow power in the game, whether it's caltrops, tar patch, freezing rain, snow storm, whatever. Heck it pretty much negates travel power suppression as well. So if you see someone superspeeding around through slows like they are nothing, and never being affected by travel power suppression, it's because they have speed boost on them.
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This kinda doesn't do it for me _Castle_. I had a very eyebrow raising experience the other day that kinda points the other way.
I used /Nin caltrops. I tp'd a blaster right onto them and immediately used air superiority. Now I got the full knockdown onto that caltrop pacth. I'd say the blaster spend about a total of 3-4 seconds on top of that patch. When he got up, he immediately turned on SS and zipped right out of the caltrops at full speed (and I have a slow enhancement to boot).
Please explain.
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I can echo this experience. I have multiple experiences of Caltrops + TP Foe + Air Superiority + watch my opponent stand up and walk away unhindered. Perhaps there's some carwash effect on my memory, but to my recollection/Nin caltrops only ever slowed an opponent when I threw them underneath someone standing there that I expected would be running soon. I've since respecced out of caltrops.
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To sum up, Caltrops can be a very powerful tool in PvE and PvP, but in PvP players have quite a few 'counters' to the effect. It is not meant to be an "I Win" button.
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The question is, are the few counters to Super Speed and Super Jump working efficiently enough?
The -fly powers are doing pretty well. Super Speeders and Super Jumpers are practically impossible to counter. Having ground targetted counters with a casting animation is not nearly as effective as hitting the ranged web grenade "I win vs flyers" temp power. And yeah, Super Speeders can run over caltrops all day long without being slowed. So what is their counter if it isn't the area slows? And is this counter available at merchants for any AT to buy?
Even when hit with Infrigidate, Snow Storm (2 slotted for slow), Benumb and an Ice Blast, players can still consistantly be out of snow storm range in about 3 seconds even with me flying (with 1 SO) trying to keep up.
I agree Caltrops should not be an "I Win" button, but neither should SS and/or SJ.
I agree fully. While I consider it possible that some folks, many even, are running around with speed boost, should it be so powerful that it completely negates many powers that are designed to slow? That seems...unbalanced.
And if all of these people that are getting out of the slow powers aren't using this and just using, say, super speed by itself, is that right? This is a case where testing needs to be done since there's a lot of unknowns.
Caltrops...are they worth it??