| Overall: ? | Early: ? |
| Late: ? | NMM: ? |
| Adventure: ? | Arena: ? |
| Clash: ? | Boss Brawl: ? |
Quick: A new adventure in Heroes vs. Hordes is about to begin, and Trapper's locked in a cage.
Break him out fast!
Why?
Because this Man-Bear-Pig hybrid might just be the most exciting, most finely-tuned hero we've seen in a long time.
He looks like a literal masterclass in hero design. But that's not even the most impressive part.
At first glance, he combines all the best parts of the top-tier heroes we've seen in the past few months.
However, what truly sets him apart are the details: he lays claim to one of the rarest globals in the game and a forge path that could turn him into a full-blown animal in the fight against the Horde.
So, is Trapper just another cool concept or a true game-changer?
Let's dig into his skills, globals, and forge to find out just how dangerous this master of traps really is.
Welcome to Kolz's first look at Trapper, the crossbow-wielding, bear-trap-laying menace with a mustache that may or may not be attached to his face.
The first thing I do with any new hero is look at their globals because, at the very least, they can make your roster stronger.
But boy, I was pumped when I scrolled down. This guy has the 2nd best set of globals in the game, based on my recent scoring system.
I like what they are doing, putting two really bottom-of-the-barrel globals at 50 and 70. +12.5% physical damage is about the worst you can get, and +5 Evasion is nice for the end game, but not much else.
But then it starts getting really, really good as you star him up.
+1 physical projectile for his faction bonus is one of the better globals in the game. Anything that increases projectile count is great and usually comes out to something like a x1.05 to x1.1 increase in damage. That's a big buff to heroes like Barbarian, Druid, and Big Game Hunter, especially for modes like Boss Brawl.
Unfortunately, his faction camp bonus is straight physical damage, which isn't as strong.
But take a look at this. His 120-level global is +1 to ALL projectiles. That makes him only the second hero after Bombardier to hold this legendary global. That's a top tier ~x1.1 multiplier to damage.
And the icing on top is a straight x1.05 damage from his 3* forge.
Add it all up, and your roster could get anywhere from a x1.1 to x1.2 boost to damage, depending on their faction.
Chef's Kiss.
Next, let's take a look at his skills.
The Trapper's Trapshot evolves off the Duplicator Tome, one of the best tomes in the game because it already evolves so many other weapons.
A lot of the better heroes have early forges that boost their skills, not their weapons. Think Warlord, Necromancer, and Artificer.
Trapper fits right in. But with seemingly meaningful decisions! The best part of video games!
His level 1 forge either lets you buff his level 40 skill by letting it get to more uses or his level 80 with five more uses. Without playing him, my gut says 5 > 2, and you'll take the additional slows and net % increase, but who knows! You're gonna need to decide!
At forge level 2, you're looking to improve Bear Trap again or improve the ultimate area. MORE MEANINGFUL CHOICES! I'm thinking with the insane scaling of Bear Trap, throwing one more is probably worth it, particularly in modes where you can proc the ultimate.
I mentioned it already, but his level three forge adds a 1.05x damage multiplier—one of the better three-star forges available.
At 4 star forge, you get a new weapon, Spike Trap, on top of your base Trapshot. His spike trap skill is deadly: it bursts from the ground and skewers enemies with precision. At five stars, you'll have to decide between poison or bleeding! MEANINGFUL DECISION! Bleeding is generally harder to get from a status perspective, but you can customize it based on your build.
At level 40, he gets Bear Trap. Every four seconds, the hero throws two bear traps. When enemies move over them, they receive 1600 damage and are stunned for two seconds.
Bear traps rearm every second and can trigger four times. So, if you stay still, you'll have multiple traps on the battlefield, retriggering constantly.
And because he's a new hero, this skill has insane scaling: 5x per level. So, over 10,000% damage at level, wtf?!
And it stuns! Disruption #1!
At level 80, he gets a skill that drops caltrops every four seconds. When enemies step on them, they take 400 damage and are slowed for two seconds. That scales up to 3000% at level 3, but did you catch the mention of slow?
That's Disruption #2!
His ultimate, Explosive Trappist, triggers on weapon kill. When full, it releases an explosive trap that deals 210 damage when triggered. This also scales well, and the charge time is fast based on the try level, giving me a sense of Warlord-esque ultimate. Importantly, it seems to stay on the ground until triggered, so that frees up a jewel slot instead of needing ultimate duration.
Everything you could want in a kit. So now let's see how the forge interacts.
And lastly, let's circle back around to his base stats and weapon.
His weapon, Trapshot, is a ranged weapon with auto-aim that shoots in a nice front-facing cone of AoE. Auto aiming and ranged are both generally great, but particularly for Boss Brawl and doing damage as you kite in Hard Mode Arena and Nightmare mode.
It's just everything you could want in a hero nowadays.
However, the weakest part of his kit is his base-level progressions.
With his armor and movement bonuses at base, he's viable in early Nightmare mode, even without healing.
Whoa, that was a lot to take in, so let me summarize:
Dudes, if his traps hit literally anything, this has the makings of one of the best heroes in the game. But note he's gonna take a lot of investment to hit his ceiling, much like the big green guy we've all come to know and love.
So for the next 30 days, you really need to remember to always do your adventures!
