[Trap Build] The Mechromancer - Trap based Elementalist

So i was playing around with Dammit’s tool GD Build Calc and got a build idea few hours ago. I backed up my WK Might Elementalist and spec’d into this Trap build. I tested solely on Mad Queen and it turned out rather well.

Build Concept-

1. Traps-

“Traps” are basically player scaling stationary summons. They share many features with pets.
The most noticeable one is that each trap has it’s own separate crit chance. So 3 traps will have their own crit chance

Traps also allow you to kite and kill your target. Since the nukes and traps are doing the damage you don’t need to be standing still to kill your enemy. Allowing very easy gameplay.

2. Single Target-

While traps seem nice and all, 6 traps on an end game boss will still not be strong enough to take it down.
In this case a nuker is required, this is one of the main reason why everyone picked Arcanist over Shaman - due to Devastation.
Personally, i find it extremely lazy for one skill (devastation) to be picked by almost every other arcanist hybrid.
Grenado and Stun Jacks take over the role of Devastation. And when they connect (and they do) they hit like a freight train.
AoE isn’t an issue since the traps cover it up nicely. Grenado isn’t needed in most cases but against end game bosses you’ll need it.

3. Shaman vs. Arcanist-

Arcanist brings its own set of skills to the table like Inner Focus, Star Pact, Mirror and Nullification.
Shaman brings HP, Wendigo Totem (a must since we lack ADCtH), an extra Trap skill (Storm Totem)

Elementalist beats Sorcerer since the final build version uses Light’s Defender Set’s Summon and the plus skills suit Elementalist more than Sorcerer.
Even without the LD Set, Elementalist will be a solid choice.

This is the level 100 GrimTool link, please refer to this from now on. The rest of the guide will be updated later at some point

Grimtools - https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNk3brdN

-Mythical Herald of the Apocalypse is good because of its granted skill and is certainly an option.
-I won’t recommend Grenado or Stun Jacks anymore as they consume energy and don’t contribute to much to our overall playstyle
-Terronox Tome doesn’t require specific rolls, the base item skill mod is what we need. So just get his MI and start kicking ass :smiley:
-Energy isn’t an issue, if you feel squishy then swap Ectoplasm for another Topaz

GT Link-

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/p256mlV5

-Indeed the setup is more Grenado centric, the reason is simple - pure trap based builds lack single target currently.
-Stun Jacks is optional, it’s there cause i have plus skills to support it.
-Devotion can be done in different ways, i prefer this over others
-You can pump more points into Grenado by taking points out of “The Big One” and Heavy Ordnance but i feel it’d lessen the importance of traps and the current distribution is good enough and doesn’t make traps completely irrelevant.

Keybinding-

LMB- Stun Jacks
RMB- Grenado
Keyboard 1- Flashbang
Keyboard 2- Mortar Trap
Keyboard 3- Thermite Mines
Keyboard 4- Wendigo Totem
Keyboard 5- Storm Shard
Keyboard 6- Storm Totem

Items-

GT links seem stable enough so this section will only go over briefly why certain items have been preferred rather than listing all the items used like I usually do with my builds.

1. Amulet - The Peerless Eye of Beronath

The traditional amulet for trap builds would Celestial Stone or Herald of the Apocalypse.
Herald of the Apocalypse is pure donkey shit so no point in dwelling over that one with the granted skill that tries its level best to miss the target(s).

Celestial Stone is a solid item, i was initially using it for the proc. But the proc despite having a good area is limited to 1 target. Which isn’t very useful.
And switching to Peerless Eye only make me loose some damage, the plus skills gained help me get more points into our nuker -Grenado.

Although, i’d still say Celestial Stone is the next best thing for this build

2. Pants - Hellforged Legplates

These beat the one’s i was using before - Stormcage Legguards.
The +skills to Grenado on this one and slight amount of Physical Resistance make it a better choice than anything else available (even beats MIs imo unless you get a crazy roll)

3. Relic - Ulzuin’s Pyroclasm

Trap builds usually go for Annihilation since the granted skill Meteor is a nice nuker. Well Pyroclasm beats it. The granted skill of Annihilation is still chicken shit and to make matters worse the fucking thing needs Pyroclasm as a crafting material (a vastly superior relic).
Annihilation is the ultimate troll relic and i’d recommend not even considering it on any build. I’d rather use Empowered Soiled Trousers in pants slot than use that relic.

4. Light’s Defender Set-

The set has been used since the plus skills allow us to get Storm Totem to a decent level with just 1 point investment.
The main reason why we go for LD set is cause of the summon. The summon - Storm Shard is stronger than Storm Totem and Wind Devil Maelstrom, mostly cause it’s a free skill for Trap users.
I tested with field full of monsters cleared solely using Storm Shard and Storm Totem (w/o Grenado, Trap and Jacks). So these traps while being not so good with single target still do contribute to AoE.

Bosses-

Only have done Rashalga the Mad Queen runs so far. But i’d imagine every boss to be an easy prey since Trap based casters are the “Fire and Forget” Type.

Do remember that when kiting a boss circle around the traps whilst keeping the target within the range of your traps. With Grenado and SJ you’re good to go.

In Closing-

Props to Dammit for introducing the forums to GrimTools. I came up with this build due to playing around with GrimTools so it’s been very helpful.
Also to PrinceXavier for yet another cool screenshot location :cool:

Overall i am satisfied i managed to make my first trap build and am really glad that it isn’t a sorcerer.

The build’s fire and forget nature makes it convenient to play and the two nukes help us kill pretty much everything

Hope you guys enjoy this build.

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In the screenshot you have Grenado as LMB but I don’t see Grenado in your build?

I made a similar Elementalist except I took Ulzuin’s Chosen and placed Stun Jacks as LMB. It occasionally has the potential to perma-stun the screen which was what I was going for. Etc Etc.

Yeah i am trying Chosen as well

That GT link is the one i made before actually trying out the build. In the screen i also use Wind Devil but i had to drop it :cry:
So current setup is a little different than the one i am using.

And yeah Jacks stun is pretty awesome. My reason to make the build was to try traps and Maelstrom. But i was starved on skill points and ended up dropping Maelstrom/WD in favor Wendigo Totem to tackled the end game

I am still testing at the moment, and will update soon

Next build - with Barrelsmith’s Twins :smiley:

:stuck_out_tongue:

BS Twins are pretty easy. Go WPS Fire Strike or go Grenado. No point in going hybrid imo (never tried it too much either) since it’d be major PITA cycling between skills

I think i have arrived at a more or less final version of this elementalist. Still trying to get Maelstrom, but only way possible is to loose either Grenado and get shit skill called Annihilation or loose Wendigo Totem
Neither of which are very practical, while i did test the build without Wendigo totem. There are situations where Wendigo saves your hide a lot so it’d be best not to drop it

I’ll do some extra testing since the entire point was to get Maelstrom in the build and so far i am failing miserably at it. I will update it soon since i doubt i’ll succeed due to shit item support.

When should we wait for it then?? :smiley:

Wait, you meant i post a build around that set? :eek:

Yup) You made build with so rarely thing as Mortal trap, so next step would be BS set)

BS Set is rare? I thought WPS based FS builds used it

I think a guide will be redundant since Cry’s Brimstone Gunslinger with a little modification = Barrelsmith WPS Pyro

Or

My Fire based Melee Warlock Guide + Barrelsmith Set = DW Pistol Beronath’s Fury Warlock

Guide’s are major PITA so i avoid writing them if i can through concept extensions :p. Sorry to disappoint

Player scaled pets are only good at assigning powerful devotion procs on them because they can cheat the cooldowns imo. So there’s no point in getting wind devils in if you can’t manage to fit in Reckless tempest on top, since you’ve already bound Torch and Crown to pets that can proc them multiple times… And even then you’d still have thermite mines to do so anyway.

Damage you would get from Maelstrom alone would be terribly low since you don’t have the CDR to have 3 devils/totems out 100% of the time and the damage from those skills is already quite mediocre even when you can manage to get 3 if they don’t have a devotion proc bound to them.

I’m excited to see what you’ve come up with for this kind of build. I messed around with the idea some while planning a LD set SJ build but could never find something satisfactory because the item support is so bad. It’ll also be interesting to see how much better your version turns out to be than that of a certain youtuber. 200% ? 300% ? :smiley:

PS: I’m looking forward to trying BS set with the Inquisitor once it releases. Maybe the pierce on pistols won’t be so hard to scale then.

-It’s been confirmed pets can no longer abuse this entire CD thing so the build was planned for that specific nerf (next patch/hotfix)
-Wind Devils and more specifically Maelstrom is something i want cause of a personal preference. True damage indeed is low, Storm Shard alone beats WD and ST individually
-Player Scaled pets damage is mediocre, won’t disagree there. But 2 of each of the 3 pets here in a single instant help with Kite and Kill

I just want Maelstrom cause it looks really cool, oh well. I’ll update in a few hours (got some IRL stuff, done with tests)

Gear choices are more or less same, pants = Hellforge Legs and skill distribution is slightly different
Relic = Pyroclams cause Annihilation is donkey shit

But BS set is for Canister Bomb and Grenado, FS isn’t needed :slight_smile:

Certain youtuber? :confused:. I had no inspirations for this idea. I literally stumbled upon it while dicking around with GrimTools

Updating guide at the moment

WolfOverclocked, who makes a lot of build videos but the builds are always bad. Like AAR sorcs with 2000 OA. I didn’t mean to imply that you were inspired by him, it’s just gonna be interesting to see the differences.

Ah, yeah i’ve only seen one video of him that is the one where he and Ceno do an EoR run.
Never knew how good a player he is but i do know he wrote on of the earliest and most popular AAR guides

This build is cool :slight_smile: Love the attempt to make trap builds shine.

This build is very similar to a build I theorycrafted that tries to be an Electrocute melee-caster Elementalist. Here’s the link if you’re interested, it doesn’t use traps but it tries to use Full Spread, Maelstrom, Skynado Shattering Blast and Storm Tap for maximum zappy goodness. I know you said you really wanted to use Maelstrom, so maybe you might enjoy trying this since it doesn’t fit in your trap build? It’s a real shame that Mortar Trap/Storm Totem don’t do more DoT damage because that would justify fitting in Maelstrom more :frowning:

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/r2BozJVA

Ah nice an electrocution build.

Well i wanted to Maelstrom in a trap build but oh well. Can’t have it all