DP/Traps, various questions

Im a complete noob on DP powers. For ST damage it "seems" Exec Shot/Pistols/Piercing Rounds/Pistols is the best cycle but sheer numbers on mids and CoData are very bad on DPA. I dont realise how much amo change affects it. Does anyone have a guide or just a list of how power actually works?

I m very much not impressed on Traps numbers compared to cold dom for exemple. It has more self def but very less team def. Acid Mortar is good but duration on seeker drones and poison trap says 5 seconds, it seems terribly low for 2 minutes recharge.

Also, are time bomb and Hail of Bullets worth anything?

I don't know, being fully positional defense soft capped and being able to solo 4/8 setting is really nothing to complain about. Assuming your using IOs.

The duration for Poison trap is 30 seconds add in lockdown proc and you will see the proc take effect long after you thought poison traps no longer was in effect. Real cool stuff.

Traps is very much an in your face type of set. So being in the background is not as beneficial as being in the front near the melee types.

Poison Trap has a quick recharge so you literally can use the trap in conjunction with Trip mine and HOB combo or vice versa.

I'm not that sharp to do the math but I would say that the debuffs offered from traps probably just about evens out what your loosing in DPS for trying to obtain the defenses. Meaning over the long run between being able to do higher settings then normal even at 3/8 and dying less. Your benefits will outweigh the guy who is doing more DPS but not such higher settings or limited in mob types based on the damage he decided to cap for, EG S/L and Energy / Range.

Many go recharge forgoing many of the defenses but once your set in IOs if you start looking at the set the longest recharge is going to be Triage Beacon. With my Traps builds I have double Triage Beacon out for 20 seconds and everything else is a constant double. Some go for Tripe but you need to forgo some defenses trying to do something like that. I think triple is overkill personally.

PGT:
The initial alpha hold is about 5 seconds. If you put a lockdown set in it, it's just long enough to drop AM, TM, and maybe Caltrops as well. It's short, but it's also "just long enough".
The Field it creates will causes both puking and a hold; and the field lasts significantly longer. I don't know if it's 30, 60, 90, or 260 seconds, but it is definitely more than long enough to kill the spawn. I've even seen the field proc much later on a second patrol or ambush.
The -regen part of the power, lasts somewhere between 10 and 30 seconds. I' don't know if it's part of the field effect, if it is, it can be reapplied, lasting longer and potentially the duration of the field. I honestly don't recall the details and can't seem to find accurate information that corresponds to how I've seen it work.
It's a very complex power, and I don't know without looking if in-game numbers properly describes it. I know neither Mids nor City of Data tell the whole story.

Seekers:
Seekers Stun is mag 2 on a 25% chance and lasts 9 seconds, per seeker. This means it's possible to get lucky and stun a mag 4 for 9 seconds.
The -To-hit, -Damage, -Perception are all 100% for 40 seconds, per seeker. Which is up to -15 or 20 -Tohit, with -40 or -50 -Damage for up to 40 seconds depending on seeker def/cor, placement, detonation, and range.
Again, another very complex power that I'm not sure if Mids, City of Data, nor In-game numbers does complete justice to.


I typically lead with Seekers from range, letting them take alpha, debuff, and stun. While they hover down and go boom, I run in stealthed and drop PGT point blank, locking down the spawn, then I drop AM, then Trip Mine, followed by optional Caltrops. At that point I start blasting.

Dropping AM first gives the PGT time to proc and actually lock things down. Sometimes if you try TM first, you'll still be ticking a dot, still moving, or one last lucky swing by a minion will land and cause an interrupt. So, I almost always drop AM first, letting its animation time soak up any lucky hits or dots, so that dropping TM is interrupt free. You can also Drop Seekers behind a spawn, to further confuse things, which can be helpful with things that drop burn patches, caltrops, AoEs, or have massive Cones that would other wise inadvertently hit you or a team-mate.

What about the regen debuff on poison trap?

What about DP general damage capacities and Time Bomb usefullness?

In response to your question about Hail of Bullets and Time Bomb

I personally think Hail of Bullets is a great power. It's not a nuke like most T9 in Blast sets, instead it's high damage PBAoE that has a chance to cause knockdown at several intervals and gives you a little bit of extra defence to handle the aggro it draws. It's got a pretty high endurance cost, but it's crashless. I actually prefer this power to nukes as it's more reliable and fully slotted after you've got your Traps debuffs on a mob can be pretty devastating to a mob.

As for Time Bomb, well I've not got my DP/Traps to level 38 yet, but I don't think I'll be taking it. From what I've heard it is an extremely underwhelming power considering it's a T9. Due to its timed nature it's a lot harder to use than Trip Mine which simply activates when an enemy is near it.

Ok, DP damage capabilites. Using Incendiary Ammo which has a secondary effect of Fire DoT does have a significant enough of an effect to point out. Really the debuffs of Cryogenic and Toxic ammo are negligible imo, though others may find it differently, not to mention you have better versions of both debuffs in Traps (Web Grenade although ST, Caltrops, Seeker Drones) and normal ammo causes knockback which I suppose can be helpful in a situational manner as soft control but to be honest it's just going to knock everything out of your Traps so it's not that great.

So, if you're like me, you'll probably be using Incendiary Ammo most of the time as the added damage is useful. But I'll be honest with you, DP's damage is not the highest, and this is partially due to the majority of its damage being Lethal-typed which is resisted by damn well near everything (especially later on). But it's not too much of a problem with Corruptors as their damage modifier is high enough and certain powers (Hail of Bullets, Piercing Rounds, Executioner's Shot) are still high damage and they also get more DoT from the Incendiary Ammo.

But doing enough damage with /Traps shouldn't be a problem. You have the -Res of Acid Mortar and the -Regen of Poison Trap to help you.

Anyone has a build to share? To see what I should aim for?

Couple of question:
- Why no procs into mortar?
- Why SJ +stealth instead of -slow from Winters Gift (Stealth can go into sprint with celerity), well generally I use Cele in sprint+Super Speed.
- Are the x3 LotG really worth it compared to just +recharge and x2 Enzyme?
- Is Empty Clips worth taking?
- How is Dual Wield better than Pistols (DPA looks better on Pistols)?
- Is Triae Beacon really worth taking if you dont go for max +recharge +heal? I mean, tripple dip +300% regen looks sexy. Single 150% shouldnt make the difference on a fight, should it?