Lightning/Death Sentry Assassin (Trapsin) Build (2024)

Last updated on Feb 16, 2023 at 08:00by MrLlamaSC14 comments

The Trapsin Assassin is a crowd controlling expert who utilises a variety ofranged abilities to keep herself safe while her traps attack enemies. Overall,the Trapsin is a competitive build with good survivability, damage, andutility. Trapsins are in fact one of the easiest characters to play in the gameand are highly recommended for newer players.

Possibly one of the most underrated characters for newer players, the TrapsinAssassin truly has it all. High damage, multiple damage types, highsurvivability, good speed, and great crowd control. Highly recommended foranyone looking to get into Diablo 2 PvM.

You can check the viability of this build in PvM by consulting our PvM Tier List.

The following section shows the default skill build for the Trapsin. For a detailedbreakdown of all core and optional skills as well as the recommended order forallocating skill points, refer to theSkills page of this guide.

You can read more details about the Stats and Attribute requirements forthis build on ourSkills page.

The following section shows some of the most important Items for the Trapsin.For a detailed per-slot breakdown of all Trapsin items and alternative builds,refer to the Gear page of this guide.

• Weapon: Heart of the Oak (commonly known as Hoto)
• Weapon Swap: Call to Arms and Spirit Monarch Shield
• Shield: 32%+ Faster Cast Rate Spirit Monarch Shield
• Body Armor: Enigma
• Helm: Harlequin Crest
• Gloves: Trang-Oul's Clawss or Magefist ( Trang-Oul's Clawss preferred for Cold Resistance)
• Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Treks
• Belt: Arachnid Mesh
• Ring 1: The Stone of Jordan or Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, or Raven Frost if you want Cannot Be Frozen
• Ring 2: The Stone of Jordan or Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
• Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
• Charm 1: Assassin Hellfire Torch
• Charm 2: Annihilus
• Charm 3: 8x Trap Skiller Grand Charms with Life or Faster Hit Recovery to reach 86% Faster Hit Recovery
• Charm 4: 1x Lightning Sunder Charm
• Charm 5: 10 Small Charms with Life, Resistances, Mana, or Faster Hit Recovery depending on needs

We also have a video guide that goes over the build, if you prefer thatinstead of or in addition to our written guide.

In Diablo 2, stats that affect action speed (known as frames) forattacking, casting, blocking, and recovering from a hit can almost never betaken literally. For example, gaining 10% Increased Attack Speed from an itemwill not necessarily translate into 10% faster attacks. To achieve fasteractions, certain breakpoints must be reached, which vary for every class. Thetables below list how much of a given stat is required to actually improve theaction speed of the class for the stated action.

Attack speed is used for laying Traps, not cast rate. This only includesIncreased Attack Speed from gear. Burst of Speed will positively affect yourTrap laying speed as well, although slightly differently than what is shownin the table, as it uses more complex calculations.

You can either hire a Defensive ( Holy Freeze) or Offensive ( Might) DesertGuard Mercenary in Act 2, Nightmare difficulty, depending on whether you wantto slow monsters for added safety or improve the overall damage of yourMercenary.

• Weapon: Ethereal Infinity
• Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude
• Helm: Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral Rune

The following section features a generic Fire Trap skill point progressionmeant to make leveling towards becoming a Lightning Trapsin smoother.

1. 4 points to Fire Blast
2. 1 point to Claw Mastery at level 5
3. 5 points to Burst of Speed from level 6 until 10
4. 1 point to Fire Blast at level 11
5. All points to Wake of Fire until ready to switch to Lightning Traps (recommended around level 35)

For more comprehensive leveling advice, please refer to our Assassin Fastest Leveling Build.