Is it just me or does using traps straight up suck???

[Dre G Writer]

I LOVE using traps in a variety of video games and wanted to use them and straight up abuse traps in this game like I do in other games, like outward, underrail, fallout, ect. and man, they just straight up suck for me in this game.

Or maybe im using them wrong or something.

The traps can straight up one-shot my entire team, but when I use them, they barely put a dent in enemies health and often does no damage.

Trap stats, have -25 accuracy??? -40 accuracy??? wut??? So they miss alot when I use them, why dont they miss me when I walk over them???

The damage is low on most of the traps, like 11-20 damage, huh??? Why are they doing so much damage to 100 HP team mates???

Then i found out you can only set one trap at a time.

and the trap radius to spring them is mad small. enemies often walk right pass them. This wouldnt be a problem if I was able to set more of them. But no

And cant even use them in the middle of combat

I did some searching and people say just sell the traps. Now I see why.

Can yall prove me wrong or what???

The trapper in me is disappointed.

[Gilmoy]

Yes, most traps suck for you.
They do inflict tiny damage.
Each party member is limited to 1 at a time.
You must set all of them before combat, using a Quick Slot.

In contrast, hostile traps do 6-12x more damage against you,
and have an extra +20 to +40 Accuracy.
https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Pillars_of_Eternity_traps

+ Poisonous Cloud Trap can be useful vs. lesser spirits like Shade (70 Health) and Shadow.
The 15-20 Corrode damage (* your bonuses) can drop it below 50 Health,
and then the Destroyed effect hits it for 30.0 Raw damage (* your bonuses?).
This can one-shot multiple annoying spirits, or any other monsters with low starting Health.

+ A few other high-end traps have decent damage, and could 1-shot a weak monster.

I tend to hoard all traps, and not bother using any of them.
I don't even sell them. They have 0 weight in your Stash, so I collect them like trophies.

There is 1 Steam badge for setting 5 traps:
Trappy: Place 5 or more trap items.

Other than that, traps are kind of a toy.
I actually enjoy not having to worry about them to swing hard fights.

[Dre G Writer]

DAAAMMNNN, no wonder my team is getting obliterated by these traps. What the hell kind of balancing is that!?

[SmellofNapalm]

It makes sense balance-wise (a little damage/debuff on top of everything else) I think, but being so weak and being an additional thing you have to do and then draw enemies into the trap... It's too complicated for so little unneeded benefit. Perhaps on PotD (?)

[Gilmoy]

Hostile traps are mostly harmless, because you find them.
Always designate 1 follower as your Mechanics guy, and spend all skill points on Mechanics.
Always search in Stealth to detect traps at your Mechanics level (else it's at Mechanics - 4).

So most hostile traps are just free loot for you.
Then their extra damage doesn't matter a bit, because you'll never let them trigger.

Your weak traps probably ensure that traps don't dominate gameplay.
Think of the alternative: traps are so strong that they wipe out entire set pieces.
Then you'd feel a pressure to always set traps.
And every time you lose a fight and reload, you'd complain:
I would have won if I set the traps better.
Then you'd reload, put the trap here, lose again, reload, put the traps there ... etc. etc.
I think it would bog the game down.

Also, it would make the dev's fight-balancing task almost impossible.
No matter what fight the devs dream up, players would screw them all with strong traps.

It follows that traps almost have to be weak.
Most traps are roughly equal to 1 free attack with 1 guy's weapon.
When you need 20-40 hits to kill 1 strong enemy, 1 free hit doesn't sound like much.
But it's 1 free hit, and you got that trap for free, anyways.

Rule #0: Never get hit by a hostile trap you can see.
Always search in Stealth, with your Mechanics guy.

Beware of traps that are too high-level for you to detect.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by Dre G Writer:

What the hell kind of balancing is that!?

Clearly the result of listening to the most vocal fans while developing the game and trying to add traps to it - which is a Herculean task to get it right. Traps have been much powerful in 2015 during the version 1 series of the game. And then people exploit it in various ways and in conflict with the original balancing attempts. The devs react and "nerf" traps. People complain, and the bigger the fuss they make, the more attention an implementation detail gets while devs try to fix the mess.

Traps can be entertaining on the lesser difficulty modes - and also as to contribute a few status effects to enemies. But I would rather set up a priest's Seal in front of the party.