AR vs DP
Dark is nice with DP for the obvious reasons. But AR/Traps isn't bad as there is synergy between the two, but not my cup of tea.
AR is known for ranged AoE, so if that is what you want then you are good to go.
An AR/Traps can be a very effective single target damage character in addition to a very nice aoe char.
For single target you can web nade/ignite/caltrop/toe bomb while on acid mortar/poison trap for a bucketload of damage (approx 1200 before the debuffs) all while using your FFG/Drones/Beacon for safety.
The aoe is pretty decent too with AR/Flame Thrower/Trip Mine (or 20) behind a wall of caltrops/debuff/buff powers.
AR gets all it's best powers late which is why you don't see more of them, IMO. My guess is you won't be really happy until level 36 when you get trip mine loaded for damage. It's the combo of the three aoe damage sources that really makes for a happy face melter.
Nice additional benefit, you can actually place a 10,000% affraid on a single target with the trops/ignite combo. Don't have any idea how to leverage it cuz you will need to have it immob'd for it to last, but it's there.
I have an AR/TA at level 46/47. Quite the trip, and if you talk about redraw, it isn't all that bad. Oil slick arrow, flame thrower, glue arrow, all fun and games!
Magma Boulder: SL 50 Fiery Aura/Stone Melee/Fire Epic -- Virtue
Traps for Corruptors is very, very endurance heavy. Be prepared to 6 slot stamina and possibly Power Sink.
The good thing is you can defense cap for positional which will allow you to be up front and fighting.
Its not a bad build just a specific build.
I happen to have a DP Traps which is defense capped.
1. Why Soft Cap is Important : http://dechskaison.blogspot.com/2011...important.html
2. Limits: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Limits
3. Attack Mechanics: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
4. Rule of Five: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Rule_o...e_Law_of_Fives
Ah yes traps, the "endurance heavy" set apparently. Y'know the one with no toggles, and long long cast times that prevent you from doing anything else, thus having tiny endurance per time numbers.
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When it comes to /Traps, I would say AR might be slightly better than DP due to it's nature. You have beanbag that can disorient while you set up mortar or toebomb much easier and you can use ignite with caltrops where as DP offers no "extras" outside the secondary effects from it's specialty ammo. The only thing AR/Traps (or DP/Traps for that matter) is lacking is an AOE Hold which between Seekers stuns and Web Immobilize from the Scorpion PP makes up for. All in all, while unlike others I rather like DP, I have to give it to AR for having better Synergy overall.
And yes.. it can be end heavy but that is also YMMV to a degree. It really depends on playstyle, build, recharge, ect. Now, I personally have more experience with /Traps on MM's but I also have it on few corrupters along with /Dark and the endurance issue is comparable, imo.
I am currently running a Fire/Dark so as for your question concerning DP/Dark vs AR/Traps and what you prefer... that's really something only you can decide. I have the same issue sometimes so in most cases, I attempt both to lvl 20 or so. It's usually about 20 that I can decide if I like the set or not.


Ah yes traps, the "endurance heavy" set apparently. Y'know the one with no toggles, and long long cast times that prevent you from doing anything else, thus having tiny endurance per time numbers.
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If you have enough recharge slotted to have most of your usefull traps up every single fight, you WILL burn through a ton of end at the start of a fight. Acid Mortar + poison trap is going to burn through 1/4 of your end bar alone - and if you like to eat the alpha with seeker drones or have to drop an FFG in the middle of a fight (because the previous one just expired) thats another 1/4 of your end bar - leaving you barely 1/2 an end bar to use for attacks.
Plus, anyone who wants to build a */traps for serious performance is probably going to try for one or another def softcap - and maneuvers + weave + scorpion shield (easiest way to hit the S/L softcap) is going to leave you plenty of toggles to run. This doesn't even get into the end use a high recharge build like my fire/traps gets into - he can get up to 3 acid mortars out at a time, although the last one usually has only a few seconds left at that point (admittedly by this point in time I also have a tier 3 cardiac alpha slotted, which gives me plenty of end reduction - but I definitely needed it).
Mind you, 6 slotting stamina is certainly not the answer - actually, 3 slotting it with 2 L50 end mods (or 2 L50+5 if you have the enhancement boosters to do that) and 1 perf shifter proc is probably your best bet, then take those 3 extra slots and put them in acid mortar and poison trap for extra end reduction, which is where you get the best bang for your bucks in slot usage.
Globals: @Midnight Mystique/@Magik13

I have to assume this was a typo. Stamina should never be 6 slotted in my experience. That would be like 6 slotting health to get more regen.
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While health will typically just be 1-2 slot muled for a numina and miracle unique, maximizing Health has a unique niche on defense based powers without a heal such as Super Reflexes and Arachnos Widows. 2 Numinas (unique+heal) + 2 Miracles (unique+heal) + regen tissue makes a big difference for those powersets. I wouldn't do this with any other powerset though.
Traps for corruptors is an issue because it takes a bit more to obtain full positional defense cap for them. It is doable but endurance is a problem.
I don't know exactly what I have slotted but this link will give you pretty much many of my Traps builds for various Archtypes. What I can say is all can solo 4/8. Yes including the petless mastermind
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...1&postcount=11
1. Why Soft Cap is Important : http://dechskaison.blogspot.com/2011...important.html
2. Limits: http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Limits
3. Attack Mechanics: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Attack_Mechanics
4. Rule of Five: http://wiki.cohtitan.com/wiki/Rule_o...e_Law_of_Fives
Even despite diminishing returns, you actually can yield something out of slotting beyond three slots in stamina (eg six slotting stamina with SO's is actually a good idea). But since with IO's it is far easier to obtain recovery set bonuses it isn't worth the opportunity cost really.
Traps is very end heavy when it was ported to Corruptors compared to masterminds.
I think DP has better synergy with Traps because its heavy hitters requires you to be near melee range which is where Traps works best. AR requires you set up cones, which makes it more cumbersome, and AR is end heavy too (eg Flamethrower).
Im torn, Ive played DP/Dark to 50, and loved it, I have not tried AR, but for some reasons I cant get over the ascetics of AR.
the secondary is Traps, which will work better? I will hold onto AR if given a good reason. the only plus I see is every attack is ranged, including the nuke