A few questions =

[Zeonus]

I'm sure this is easily found info, however I have looked in many forums and a lot of people say different things. Well here is a few questions about equipping my assasin. I have pretty laughable gear right now, level 74 Trap sin with; (Excluding pre-reqs)

10 SW
20 CBS
20 LS
18 DS (Maxing this, then SW, then I think Shadow Master)
1 SM (Maxing last)

So how's my build? I figure with good gear, I won't need to put any points into Weapon Block, and that they may be better kept in SM.

I play USeast, non ladder.

My gear..well I can solo all of NM pretty easily and I'm doing great in hell. My traps hit around 1-2.4k ish.

Anyways. I am curious about a few things, hence this thread.

The first thing..what gear should I aim for? I am pretty sure for my build & playstyle, I should roll a Nigma. I played this game about 4-6 years ago and I remember Enigma was the bomb. But I completely forgot the trading economy, can someone refresh my memory? I think they use High Runes (HRs?) to trade. Not sure though. I really wouldn't want to buy any Diablo items from a website unless like, there is NO economy. Even so I'd probably just mf for a week, lol.

Basically I am just asking about the economy, trading, and the best gears for a trapper sin. Prices and requirements on them if possible.

Also, which act's merc gives the right Aura to help me against lightning resists for hell mode?

Also, any suggestions are welcomed.

[Scudstorm]

Don't max Shadow Master. She's recastable, 1 pt is enough. If you run into a tough situation where she doesn't last long, Mind Blast is your friend.

Enigma is effectively one of the best armors for a Trapper. However, if you don't plan on teleporting around a lot, grab a Chain of Honors. As an untwink char, you will be losing Enigma's huge str bonus.

People still use HR's for trading. Basically, trade stuff you don't want for Pgems and crafting runes, then make bundles of these and sell for HR's. Check out the trade values forum for more info.

No merc will come with an inherent Conviction aura: it's obtained through the Infinity runeword. It's VERY expensive on non ladder (ladder only item), so you'd probably have a hard time getting one.

You should max out Fire Blast. It does pretty good spammable damage in a different element, what's not to love :P

[Zeonus]

Don't max Shadow Master. She's recastable, 1 pt is enough. If you run into a tough situation where she doesn't last long, Mind Blast is your friend.

Enigma is effectively one of the best armors for a Trapper. However, if you don't plan on teleporting around a lot, grab a Chain of Honors. As an untwink char, you will be losing Enigma's huge str bonus.

People still use HR's for trading. Basically, trade stuff you don't want for Pgems and crafting runes, then make bundles of these and sell for HR's. Check out the trade values forum for more info.

No merc will come with an inherent Conviction aura: it's obtained through the Infinity runeword. It's VERY expensive on non ladder (ladder only item), so you'd probably have a hard time getting one.

You should max out Fire Blast. It does pretty good spammable damage in a different element, what's not to love :P

Thanks for the helpful reply. I have a few comments...

Which Enigma seems to work best for pure trap sins? For +skill claws I think they have lower reqs, around Dusk Shroud. Where as MA claws would be higher around the upper Nigmas. Right?

I heard Mind Blast is better than Fire Blast? Or even just putting one level in it if you have good +skills gear. Because like it does crap damage but the convert+low damage seems good to put one point in. Combining that, with Death Sentry (in some situations) and a higher leveled fire blast, seems good? I just don't want to miss out too much on my Sinergies (cwhatididthar?) you know? But hell is impossible for me if I can't get off death sentry. Even mfing is harder with these damn immunities.

What's some of the better gear for a pure trapsin build?
Shako, Enigma...that's all I know for sure. What claws should I aim for?

[Scudstorm]

Any base armor works for Enigma since the +def isn't based on percentages. Even Mage Plates or Breastplates work. As long as you like the look and the str req isn't too high, it's good.

Mind Blast and Fire Blast serve totally different functions. Mind Blast is useful for tough situations and is used as a crowd control skill, while Fire Blast is dmg. If you think you'll have very good gear (including Infinity!), you don't have to max it. I would aim for ~8-12 hard points in that case. If you don't think you'll be able to get an Infinity, you shall max it. It's very good damage in either case and I personally use it a lot more than Shock Web as spammable skill.

If you go for Enigma, you'll need some FCR. Hoto and Spirit are good choices (good thing here is the Spirit doesn't need to be 35fcr, saves quite a few hrs for you :)), along with Arach and Magefist. You'll get 102%fcr bp this way without wasting ring and ammy slots, which allow you to use sojs/bks and Mara's. Along with Torch, Anni and maybe ~3 skillers, that's pretty much the standard end game setup for PvM.

Don't forget to get some sort of Cannot Be Frozen. A Ravenfrost, Cham in the Shako, or a Kira's Guardian all do the trick.

Trappers should use claws only for PvP. Unless you really love your claws and have to use them.

[Zeonus]

Any base armor works for Enigma since the +def isn't based on percentages. Even Mage Plates or Breastplates work. As long as you like the look and the str req isn't too high, it's good.

Mind Blast and Fire Blast serve totally different functions. Mind Blast is useful for tough situations and is used as a crowd control skill, while Fire Blast is dmg. If you think you'll have very good gear (including Infinity!), you don't have to max it. I would aim for ~8-12 hard points in that case. If you don't think you'll be able to get an Infinity, you shall max it. It's very good damage in either case and I personally use it a lot more than Shock Web as spammable skill.

If you go for Enigma, you'll need some FCR. Hoto and Spirit are good choices (good thing here is the Spirit doesn't need to be 35fcr, saves quite a few hrs for you :)), along with Arach and Magefist. You'll get 102%fcr bp this way without wasting ring and ammy slots, which allow you to use sojs/bks and Mara's. Along with Torch, Anni and maybe ~3 skillers, that's pretty much the standard end game setup for PvM.

Don't forget to get some sort of Cannot Be Frozen. A Ravenfrost, Cham in the Shako, or a Kira's Guardian all do the trick.

Trappers should use claws only for PvP. Unless you really love your claws and have to use them.
Thanks again.

Are you surea bout the claws? I read for pure trappers, dual claws are the best because of the higher +skill potential (Because I don't think any shields have +1) and because we get our block skill with dual claws that easily hits 40-60% /w enough +skill gear, which kind of negates a shield. not quite though. Can you explain the cons to dual clawing a pure trapper?

[Scudstorm]

Let's see the beneficts of both setups:

2x Claws:

+6 to traps
+6 to LS and/or DS (if you're really lucky)
free claw block
up to 4x empty sockets

Hoto + Spirit:

+5 all skills
65-75% fcr
30-40% res all
35% extra res cold, light and poison
55% fhr
66 life
mass mana

Both setups reach PvP-level trap laying speed with BoS.

Thing is, it's very hard to get a fast tele when you use dual claws, whereas with Hoto/Spirit it's a walk in the park to get to 102% breakpoint.

Also, the difference in damage isn't anything you should worry about: the Hoto/Spirit setup along with the stuff I mentioned previously will easily yield you 8-9k LS, which is more than enough for PvM purposes.

As for claw block... in PvM, most of the time, block isn't valued at all unless you play HC. Spirit is the most popular caster shield in the current patch (for good reason), but there is hardly anyone who blocks with it due to its low inherent block rate. As a char with Enigma, Teleport + enough fcr and fhr should be your defense.