Triage really does very little for a solo player. You should look at the combat statistics when it is up to see how much value you actually get for it.
As for the rest, a defender is pretty slow at soloing due to lack of damage, and Traps is a set that's infamous for being safe but slow.
As an AR you should probably be trying to fight the largest amount of enemies you can but at a level close-ish to yours. You have big AOE effects and you need to maximise that to get the most out of the build.
For your trip mines you do not need a sleep effect. You should be planting them before the fight and pulling your enemies over the top of them.
More than anything though, control/debuff doesn't actually win the fight, at some stage you have to do damage, and Traps/AR is fairly so-so on that. Immobilise + Ignite might go a long way if you haven't considered that just yet.
I wasn't planning on using them for Trip Mine, I was planning on using them for Time Bomb. I was clearing defeat x's in Numina by walking into groups of minions, setting a time bomb, walking back, counting to ten, and popping Full Auto on them so that the bomb would go off as they were being hosed down with ammo. Maybe of I mix Seeker Drones in before the Full Auto it would work. Ignite is useful for the tougher stuff, but it's too small for area damage.
I'm comparing against my Dark/Dark at a similar level. Somewhat frustrating. I'm sure there's a trick to it.
oh, and Triage Beacon looked like it heals faster than my WP scrapper who leans heavily on regen as mitigation in a full pack of enemies, it looked like. So I can't complain.
A no attack "Group-Friendly" Defender is like a "Team Friendly" basketball player who won't dribble, run, or shoot, under any circumstances. "I'm a PASSER."
Personally I find Traps/AR does just fine solo.
My general strategy is as follows:
1. Seekers to take the Alpha
2. Drop an Acid Mortar
3. Jump into the middle and plant a Poison Trap
4. Jump out and use Flamethrower -> Full Auto -> Buckshot
5. Mop up the survivors using Burst and Slug with the Web 'Nade/Ignite combo against tough enemies
I don't recommend mucking about with Time Bomb, the Blaster/Corruptor version is pretty situational and the Defender version is horribly weak. I also specced out of Trip Mine but that is more a personal choice. I used it for keeping people out of my face more than the damage and after taking Thunderstrike I found that was even better for the purpose.
Triage Beacon is definitely worth taking, although with a solo only build I could potentially see an argument for taking Aid Self instead.
For Epic Pools I would rate them in this order for a Traps Defender:
1. Dark - you're in melee range anyway so you can use Soul Drain (and possibly Oppressive Gloom) very safely if desired, Traps is pretty well rounded so taking Dark for more damage is a solid choice (I took Electric for concept reasons, I consider Dark more powerful).
2. Electric - Has IMHO the best shield, Thunderstrike is a nice "git outta mah face" power, a ranged hold can be handy and Power Sink is the best endurance power in the Defender epics
3. Power - The two T1s are of limited utility to a Trapper but the other powers are decent. A Defender with Force of Nature and FFG has 75% resistance and 20% defense making him extremely tough, the insane recharge puts me off it though. Temp Invulnerability is in my opinion the weakest shield, it provides about 4% more S/L resistance than the other but they all provide other resistances alongside it. Total Focus is nice both for the mez and to provide a strong ST attack outside of having to use Ignite.
4. The only reason I can see for taking this is if you really want a single target hold and a shield and only have two power choices to spend. Mass Hypnosis works poorly with both Traps and AR. WoC is pretty weak and synergizes poorly with PGT, and I see no practical use for TK with a Trapper.
Could just be playstyle issues too.
I really wanted to like Traps. I could see its potential, understood its mechanics and dont mind being in melee range. All that being said, I just felt it too much fussying around for how I like to play and actually faceplanted more than my Kin/DP. Dont get me wrong, it should be a safer combo than that, but I lacked the patience to play it like it should be played. Sometimes I think its just how sets mesh personnaly with players.
Also, I noticed for myself that I often believe a set it weaker than it is actually playing for me.
I often think of my BS/WP as weaker than he should be, or not much tougher than my Eng/Eng blaster. The truth is, he is much tougher and faceplants rarely, but because I like playing my blaster more and feel epic when he triumphs in stituations that may be routine for my scrapper, I think of him as "better" than my scrapper, even though that is not true at all.
Quote:
This is pretty much exactly how I played my AR/Traps Corrruptor (and very similar to my Traps/Dark Defender if you change a few power names.) Similar to /Devices blasters, I found the durability to scale with setup time--if you're willing to spend a while setting up a mine field and all, you can turn EBs into kittens.|
Originally Posted by Adeon Hawkwood
My general strategy is as follows:
1. Seekers to take the Alpha 2. Drop an Acid Mortar 3. Jump into the middle and plant a Poison Trap 4. Jump out and use Flamethrower -> Full Auto -> Buckshot 5. Mop up the survivors using Burst and Slug with the Web 'Nade/Ignite combo against tough enemies |
On a spawn-to-spawn level, I just found it kind of slow by the time I hit the 30s. I could mow down minions and mop up lieutenants without needing too long, but boss fights (especially against lethal-resistant things like Freak Tanks) would just go on and on and on, so I eventually gave up on soloing it. But:
1. This was before the Buckshot change.
2. I didn't have Ignite, since I can't stand the redraw from cycling Ignite/Webnade.
Having Vengeance and Fallout slotted for recharge means never having to say you're sorry.
I think that Traps is helped immensely by proc abuse. Gas Trap can take 3 or 4 damage procs (two easily available, 1 not, 1 puprle). Caltrops can take a couple more (but it helps if you have something like Tentacles to immob mobs in the patch). Drones can take 1 or 2 damage procs + the hold proc. Ditto for Acid Mortar, with a -resistance proc for good measure.
If you're soloing 8-person spawns, this all amounts to doing lots of bonus damage, with mobs being randomly stun and held with a side of extra -resistance.
Further, Traps is /very/ light on Endurance use with some skippable powers, so it's easy enough to run Assault, Maneuvers, and Tactics.
Throw in some +recharge and / or defense bonuses, and you're pretty much good to go with any secondary.
Theoretically, Traps should be a beast, solo. I am told that Traps is hideously powerful solo.
Uhm.. I'm not doing half bad, but I haven't realized the awesomesauce that other people seem to indicate I should be seeing when solo, is it something i'm doing? Mostly i'm setting down Triage, throwing Seeker Drones (slotted for range and recharge), dropping a Acid Mortar, throwing 'trops under my feet, maybe throwing down poison trap in combat because they're on me by that point, then shooting everything. Sometimes I plant boomgardens for them to charge into, but it seems like it just takes too long and I only get a couple of the ones that charged in first. Just picked up Mass Hyp, thinking it might be useful for setting up the Time Bombs (using Trip Mine for 6 units of KB set, the one with the KB protect, figure Time Bomb will be useful for that as well) but I haven't had a chance to slot it yet. Is my technique bad or am I just missing something?
A no attack "Group-Friendly" Defender is like a "Team Friendly" basketball player who won't dribble, run, or shoot, under any circumstances. "I'm a PASSER."