Diablo II: Trapsin Skill Layout

A Trapsin is an Assassin that uses the Traps abilities as her main skills. This particular variant uses Lightning Sentry (LS), Death Sentry (DS) as stationary weapons and Fireblast as her backup skill. This build can deal with most monsters encountered, and those she can't the mercenary should be able to handle with Cloak of Shadows (CoS) support to keep packs of monsters at bay. The skill setup is as follows:

Claw Mastery - 1
Fireblast - 1
Psychic Hammer - 1
Shock Web - 1
Burst of Speed - 1

At level 6 quite a few skills become available to the Trapsin. At this point the character isn't really using the skills all that much and just using her claws to melee monsters to death. For very dangerous foes she can however use either Shock Web or Fireblast to deal with them from a distance. Burst of Speed is used from here onward, active all of the time. Not only does it increase the movement speed of the character, but the trap laying speed is also increased.

Cloak of Shadows - 1
Charged Bolt Sentry - 1

At level twelve one of the characters most utilized skills becomes available, Cloak of Shadows. CoS will be used constantly for the rest of the game. When cast normal monsters will not realize the character is nearby and stand idly by while they are eliminated by the traps. The only exception to this is if the monsters have "seen" the character already and are trying to engage. They will continue to follow the character around until they either reach her or are distracted by something else. Still, a quick CoS cast followed by lots of long range attacks keeps the character very safe, as well as the mercenary. One thing to note is that CoS can crash the game if used in the vicinity of stationary objects like the towers in the beginning of Act V, the chained mummies in Act IV or the Arreat Summit.

Charged Bolt Sentry - 13
Lightning Sentry - 1

Up until level twenty-four the synergy for Lightning Sentry, CB Sentry, is increased. CB Sentry is somewhat useful for massed monsters, but against single targets is very lacking. As such once Lightning Sentry becomes available, CB Sentry will no longer be used. That and LS is far more powerful per stat points assigned to it. From here onward the character shouldn't have many problems for the rest of Normal difficulty with the combination of LS and CoS.

Lightning Sentry - 7
Death Sentry - 1

At level thirty Death Sentry becomes available. It's main use is for exploding corpses, both to keep summoning monsters from resurrecting them and for dealing physical/fire damage to other monsters. However at lower levels it really isn't necessary to use as LS clears out the packs quite nicely. One thing to note is that it is not possible to choose when DS explodes corpses and when it shoots lightning, which can be quite annoying when faced with Lightning Immune monsters.

Lightning Sentry - 20
Charged Bolt Sentry - 20
Weapon Block - 1

At level forty-six both Lightning Sentry and it's main synergy are maxed and monsters drop like flies. In fact progress should be so quick at this point that casting CoS is only necessary against really nasty boss packs. Otherwise monsters don't last long enough to threaten the mercenary with harm. Weapon Block is also added to the characters arsenal as by this point duel wielding claws is preferable to gain the most +skill mods possible for her traps. Weapon Block allows the character to still avoid damage as much as possible, with the added bonus of perhaps blocking magical attacks as well.

Death Sentry - 10
Fireblast - 20

At level seventy Lightning Sentry is further synergizes with extra points to Death Sentry, allowing it to continue wreaking havoc even against the higher Hit Point monsters in Acts IV and V of Nightmare. However the main focus is on developing a backup attack for LI monsters, Fireblast. As long as the monster remains stationary, which is the mercenary's job along with CoS, Fireblast is very effective against LIs. However due to the lobbing motion of the attack if the monster is moving then it is tough to target until the monster is almost right next to the character. This can be negated somewhat by targeting the ground where the monster should be when the Fireblast arrives, but this isn't the easiest thing to time properly.

Death Sentry - 20

At level seventy-eight Death Sentry, the second major synergy for Lightning Sentry is complete and LS packs quite the punch. Along with this DS can now be used in conjunction with LS in perhaps a 2:3 or 1:4 DS:LS ratio for added carnage and an increase in progress speed. From here on out all extra points can either go into Shadow Warrior for an added tank or Shock Web for added synergy damage for LS and Fireblast. Personally I recommend Shock Web as the combination of CoS and a melee mercenary doesn't require additional assistance in keeping the character from being mobbed.

Final Skill Distribution:

Charged Bolt Sentry - 20
Lightning Sentry - 20
Death Sentry - 20
Fireblast - 20
Burst of Speed - 1