Bit of a heads up to everyone that uses Trip Mine.
Iv used it on a Blaster, and a Defender, and unless im mistaken, both of the ATs Trip Mines, do the exact same damage.
Its rather cute when I set a Trip mine in a mob on my Traps Defender, and it hits them all for 200 at level 27.
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That's pretty much what kills nearly 90% of prospective Devices Blasters. Once they realise that setting up huge mine fields is just a very bad way to play if you want to get anything done TODAY, the whole set feels like a giant waste of time. And while I don't want to rag on people who do just that - your time is yours to waste - there are plenty of other ways to use mines that aren't nearly as mind-numbingly boring and as prone to completely going down the drain thanks to funky AI.|
Originally Posted by Jophiel
Previously I had been using trip mines just to set mine fields which was tedious and rarely worked well (one minion sets off four mines, etc). I was about ready to respec out of it since I rarely felt like spending what felt like a minute and a half before each fight. This has made them a lot more useful to me. Of course, I still do the "Run mines along the wall and around the corner" routine when the situation calls for it.
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I personally favour the "mine at my own feet" approach because it gives me a slight damage boost just before I let rip AND it provides me one level of safety should I happen to need it. As a Hover Blaster, I tend to not really stand on top of my mine, but if I get swamped, I can always Hover past it and let what's chasing me trod right over the thing. I refuse to set up minefields for anything other than really big, really tough bosses, which basically means EBs. I play at -1x3 with regular bosses turned off, so I generally don't have to worry about anything else, which makes large minefields really unnecessary. And all the better. That crap is BORING!
I try to avoid "toe-bombing" with Trip Mine because it can't really single-kill large spawns on its own, yet it has the tendency to scatter enemies and it blows up as soon as you set it down, so it doesn't give you much leeway. It's possible, I hear, but it's inelegant to my eyes. Besides, that's what Time Bomb is for. And, really, unless you're playing Assault Rifle, you should be good for outgoing damage even without fancy mine tricks.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Toebombing in my experience is a better trick for a /traps mastermind, who is likely not to have much else for direct attacks. Against a sufficiently beefy enemy my bots/traps will frequently toebomb once her other traps are set up.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
I try to avoid "toe-bombing" with Trip Mine because it can't really single-kill large spawns on its own, yet it has the tendency to scatter enemies and it blows up as soon as you set it down, so it doesn't give you much leeway. It's possible, I hear, but it's inelegant to my eyes. Besides, that's what Time Bomb is for. And, really, unless you're playing Assault Rifle, you should be good for outgoing damage even without fancy mine tricks.
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For a /devices blaster, my experience is that it's best to place it right next to your edge of the caltrop patch, then take a step back and unload, which more or less matches your analysis (I don't have a hoverblasting /dev, myself.)
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Yeah, setting down one Mine is fast. It's setting down multiple mines that KILLS. I actually don't tend to slot mine for recharge at all, simply because I need multiples so very rarely. "Mine at your feet," though, is a very good idea if you expect to be bumrushed because it does a LOT of damage for the endurance it costs and the time it takes to set down, and if the gods permit, you might even hit multiple bad guys.|
Originally Posted by Ben_Arizona
For a /devices blaster, my experience is that it's best to place it right next to your edge of the caltrop patch, then take a step back and unload, which more or less matches your analysis (I don't have a hoverblasting /dev, myself.)
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And besides, a Blaster ought to have other means to sew AoE carnage
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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Trips mines are not for everyone, but can be extremely effective when used in certain circumstances. Where can you place trip mines for effect:
In the middle of a mob
(stealth into mob and place a mine)
In the middle of a mob, while on a team
(mob is busy fighting whoever is causing them most damage or has agro, nothing wrong with you bringing them a little boom-boom in their pants when they're not paying attention to you)
Every couple of feet from one another down a long passageway
(fun to watch mobs being thrown and blown up as they attempt to chase you)
In, or near a doorway
(they're all coming anyway; no need to make it easy for them)
Around a corner
(oops - for them)
Ontop of structures mob/s must jump onto to get to you
(this is just fun to do)
When mob is already in a corner or at the end of a passageway
(where are they going to be tossed to but further into the corner or end of passageway)
Experiment
(place between different objects)
(create different shaped patterns with your trip mines for varying effects; circle, square, target ring, etc...).
Let your imagination guide you. Trip mines are not for everyone, but really fun for those who can figure out how to abuse them. I know I do ;P
Be happy!
While playing around with mines is a lot of fun in the same way as designing levels for The Incredible Machine, I'd personally restrict myself to ways to use mines that don't take all day to set up. Mines simply don't pay off for all that time spent setting them up, specifically when another Blaster might insta-kill a spawn with direct-fire AoE. While I'm not a stickler for levelling speed, I do know that the feeling that you're doing things five times as slowly as other Blasters would tends to ruin my fun in a big way.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.
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I slot them for recharge because I fight rushing bums often enough to warrant it. |
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
Yeah, setting down one Mine is fast. It's setting down multiple mines that KILLS. I actually don't tend to slot mine for recharge at all, simply because I need multiples so very rarely. "Mine at your feet," though, is a very good idea if you expect to be bumrushed because it does a LOT of damage for the endurance it costs and the time it takes to set down, and if the gods permit, you might even hit multiple bad guys.
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As for more complicated trip mine stunts, they're basically that: stunts. It's the same kind of pastime as slotting Power Thrust for KB and seeing how many blocks you can launch a Hellion. Every so often I get the urge to set up a little trip mine laser-light rave on the floor and teleport an enemy onto it, but it's not a standard practice. Fun when you're in the mood, though.
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