Mercs/Traps, as good as Regen?

[Captain Fabulous]

So is this a viable combo, or am I going to regret every single one of my life choices?

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Traps is not as quick-moving as a number of other choices. So, in really fast moving teams your MM probably won't contribute as much as other characters, in case that's the kind of thing that might bring you regrets. Also, sometimes force field generator will be destroyed by incoming damage, which can be inconvenient.

 

Still, all secondaries have their weaknesses. Traps is still a really solid choice for a secondary.  

[kelika2]

you will regret it

mercs just dont.. synergize well with any secondary

their second upgrade defenses are not that great and kinda late

and i been noticing that FFG kinda just does not follow you all the time.  and if your pets run away for whatever reason they leave the bubble

and the rest of traps are just long recharges

[Maelwys]

Ehh; it's alright.

Mercs are pretty well behaved + will tend to stay within range of the buffs from FFG and Triage Beacon etc. and if you stick a Panacea Proc in Triage beacon it'll take some of the pressure off your medic. The Mez Protection granted by FFG is a bit less useful if you're doing level 50 content (with Perma-Clarion) and Mercs don't get a huge amount of +Defence from their upgrades to stack with it... but +Def is substantially more useful than large amounts of +Res would be (assuming you're leveraging perma-serum).

The base damage buffs from the Merc personal weapon attacks stack multiplicatively with the -Res from Acid Mortar; and you can avoid having to shoehorn an Achilles' Heel -Res into it because that proc performs so much better in your T1 pets.

Poison Trap's -Regen debuff covers a lot of ground.
 

Slotting Caltrops for slow and procs doesn't conflict with anything (even the Commando's LRM Rocket inflicts knockdown rather than knockback)

As @EnjoyTheJourney notes above, the main headaches are the same ones that all /Traps MMs have - you're slow moving and the FFG is rather flimsy. You can kinda-sorta get around that with Group Fly and/or keeping Arcane Ward on the FFG... and whilst neither are necessary going /Traps tends to leave you with a fair number of extra power picks.
 

Edited Tuesday at 01:49 PM by Maelwys

[evetsleep]

I always look at traps (for any AT) as a great soloing secondary, but if I'm going to be teaming I tend to take my trick arrow MM's off the shelf.  Plays similar, but a lot more friendly to a fast moving team.

 

I don't really have problems with traps and teaming honestly, but most teams move way too fast to make traps feel useful.

[Captain Fabulous]

Yeah, the slowness in Traps is something I experienced with a Beam Rifle/Traps Corruptor I tried out and wound up remaking as a Beam Rifle/Devices Blaster who then got remade again into a BR/Time Blaster. In fairness, if the team is moving that fast then your traps aren't really needed, but still it's nice to feel as though you're contributing.

[stryve]

Personally I've found the trick for Traps on fast moving teams is to cycle one, maybe two traps per fight until you run up against a hard target.  Trying to get everything out every fight just means constantly playing catch-up without accomplishing much.  

[Hedgefund]

I've never bought into "Traps is too slow for fast moving teams".  If they're so fast moving, you're not exactly a hindrance and when you get to the final fight, your contribution will be massive, the tougher the target the better.  

 

Eventually a high recharge build will have Acid and Poison up within 30 seconds so one of those will be available for each spawn as stryve suggested.  

 

FFG in caves is a concern, it can get held up around corners, but I guess that's true for any pet.  

 

As for regretting it, not by a long shot, it does the things I want from a MM - 4/8 missions against anybody, solos AVs/GMs.

Edited 15 hours ago by Hedgefund

[biostem]

Thematically, the 2 sets fit, but having played one back on live, I never really felt like /traps contributed as much as other possible secondary choices.  I do like acid mortar, but found ffg, (even with it's higher base def value), too fragile to be relied upon, and having to be recast quite often.  The other powers... just really didn't stand out for me, (though you can place some nice procs in caltrops).

[Force Redux]

I had one on live. I actually like my Merc/Nature much more for the reasons listed above. 

 

I actually like traps on my illusion controller much better because of PA.

[Psiphon]

I have to be in the right state of mind to play any of my traps. 

It can be annoying having to run in and set them up. 

It would be nice if they had a quality of life change that allowed them to be thrown in a short distance. 

[tidge]

I haven't found /Traps to be a particularly slow secondary, at least not with level 50 build values of global recharge. My power choices are somewhat minimal:

 

Spoiler

Level     1:            Caltrops              

 (A) Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime

 (*) Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime

 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Damage/Recharge

 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

 (*) Ice Mistral’s Torment - Chance for Damage (Cold)

 (*) Javelin Volley - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 

Level 14:              Acid Mortar       

 (A) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff

 (*) Undermined Defenses - Defense Debuff/Recharge

 (*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge/Endurance

 (*) Undermined Defenses - Recharge

 (*) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff

 (*) Accuracy: Level 50+5

 

Level 16:              Force Field Generator   

 (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

 (*) Luck of the Gambler - Defense

 (*) Defense Buff IO: Level 50+5

 

Level 20:              Poison Trap       

 (A) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Hold: Level 50+5

 (*) Gladiator's Net - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50+5

 (*) Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage (Lethal)

 (*) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Damage (Smashing): Level 50

 (*) Superior Entomb: Chance for +Absorb: Level 50

 

Caltrops is a reliable %damage power on cast, but not as a patch.

Acid Mortar has an excellent range; I have the %-Res in it because that same piece is peppered in other attacks and when kept up is a reliable force multiplier

FFG is a no-brainer. More HP for a MM is nice, but I prefered the straight-up +Defense boost.

Poison Trap is a reliable %proc power, but it is too slow to cast IMO to add more %damage to it.

 

I skip:

 

Web Grenade (since the change to allowable starting secondary choices), as a single-target immobilize I find it to be too niche.

 

Triage Beacon is also somewhat niche use. I find it useful when leveling up (for lower level content that is "turned up", or any "stand in place and fight" content) but not very useful over all because of base recharge time.

 

Seeker Drones are cute, but pretty unreliable IMO.

 

Trip Mine is a power I always skip. Primarily: I don't have slots for it! I dislike the need to drop them in place. It isn't a bad power at all, I just think it reinforces a slower-style of play even though its recharge time is very reasonable. I'm comfortable taking my "softcap defense" MM into melee contact, yet I still would worry about the interrupt/

 

Detonator is by all accounts, since the rework, a pretty good potential source of extra damage for MMs. I haven't used it for reasons. I'm pretty active with my MMs yet I don't think I have the mental bandwidth to keep an eye on the timer, and the henchmen, to select the most appropriate one to "detonate". My preferred enemies seem to fall into two categories: ones that I don't need the extra AoE to defeat, and ones that I'd probably prefer to have the henchmen lobbing damage at (and/or providing Bodyguard support).