Surprised by its utility, versatility, and that it’s animation is scaled by your attack speed bonuses.
Not only I can basically spam Caltrop and deal CC (slow, chill both) + cold damage + increase damage + it move me away from danger a lot of times and make bosses not able to even touch me as when I’m in jumping animation I’m invincible.
Caltrop does damage that scale with your crit and vuln as well, combined with concealment, you can do AOE vuln immediately. A lot of times, elites just get massacred by me dropping Caltrop.
The most important thing about Caltrop is that it has AOE slow, slowing enemies AOE is insane as they not only attack slower, they also move slower that helps a ton in higher tier NMD when they are all attack insanely fast.
Paired with ultimate exposure, caltrop cooldown is like 3 seconds on average during heated battle. it is insane!! A lot of times I have 3 caltrop all on the field stacking on mobs and elites that they are all frozen almost instantly.
I would even say this Caltrop setup is better than the class unique boots!!
Caltrop is better than death trap, and poison trap because caltrop works instantly, it has good visual look that doesn’t interrupt your focus on the surrounding and it helps you so much without you realizing it. Most important thing is that it does 5+ things all at once. That helps a ton.
I recommend trying out Caltrop (I also recommend maxing its level as it increases its slow percentage like a ton)
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I used caltrops my entire playthrough with barrage until level 92 (switched to Flurry/RF). I found it’s perfectly suited for the shotgun distance you need to be with barrage. They’re not always easy to use but when you become good at it, the damage and freeze is pretty crazy.
As far as I know the methodical caltrops that chills does not produce the slow effect though. The chill will slow the mobs over time, but will not give the “slow” effect and not instantly slow them down like caltrops without the methodical skill.
Caltrop skill itself does slow
I love Caltrops too OP! With Trickster’s + Frostbitten = instant AOE Freeze 
Even as melee, I jump back with Caltrops, Freeze them, then Dash right back in.
If this is true it needs to be fixed! Damage vs Slowed and Damage Reduction vs Slowed Enemies are even more benefits that Caltrops should give even with the Cold version
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I actually respec to cal traps from poison trap last night and im liking the results. Im also using Exposure key passive to lower my CD. Poison trap damage is low, I only had it for the knockdown and to “enemies affected by traps”. What is interesting about the Exposure tooltip it that is says enemies affected by traps, but that is only for enemies that are CC by the trap. For example, if an enemy is unstoppable but it poisoned by the trap, that enemy is not considered being affected by a trap. So ive switched to cal traps, so that I can drop more traps and have more enemies affected by traps. My next test is see if a boss sitting in a cal trap, who is not CC’d will consider this boss being affected by a trap. I think blizz needs to fix the wording on this tooltip because its not exactly clear
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ohh, didn’t know about the poison trap thing, if it is just poison it doesn’t considered that as affected, wow.
Yeah it’s crazy. So good news is I confirmed that a boss standing in a cal trap, that is not crowd controlled, is considered being affected by a trap :))
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For me, its the jump back part of the skill that reduces its desirability. I am most often facing away from mobs when kiting (obviously), which makes using caltrops clunky. Would be much more desireable if it was simply an AOE cast a few feet in front of you, without the jump back.
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Ive been using Caltrops as soon as I could. I am very diligently staying away from meta builds, as I just want to play and have a good time the way I want too. lvl 75 WT4 ancestral gear.
That being said, i use that skill to freeze enemies and then blow them up with shadow Imbued Barrage. Single target DPS gets poison trap and poison imbue. I like to think of it as a shotgun style build. Very close quarters, evade and caltrops to escape the mobs. Having a good time, and as long as i can keep my gear updated, im doing pretty good.
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How are you able to spam caltrops? Exposure and trap cooldown stats?
It would be highly underrated if Enhanced Caltrop passive to be allowed to stacked.
+18% is the max multiplier on the sixth second (+3% per sec)
If you could drop caltrop every second,
- First caltrop : 18% damage
- Second caltrop : 15% damage
- Third caltrop : 12% damage
- Fourth caltraop : 9% damage
… and so on
100 Damage * (1+.18) * (1+.15) * (1+.12) * (1+.09) * (1+.06) * (1+.03) = 180
That’s +80% damage increase without any other multipliers.
You’ll probably need flurry’s 3 combo attack speed boost to speed up the casting animation.
Maybe you can try that for experiment.
If you do, check if the disciplined caltrops critical strike chance stack as well.
5 caltrops on vulnerable boss gives you 50% critical strike chance. With gear stats, and passives from other skills you can achieve 100% critical strike chance.
The only thing I don’t like about it is that it throws you backwards as a melee rogue.
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yea, exposure, and insane high lucky hit chance
Having 3-4 caltrops on the ground is easy when fighting against a big mob.
I don’t know if it stack, I didn’t really see the numbers because I am busy focusing on the mobs and their CC, but if it does yea you can have a lot of damage.
The throwing backwards is not too bad if you have high attack speed, the animation is sped up.
That’s the part I love, you’re just not trigerring it soon enough, it keeps you facing the enemy, and then doubles the distance between you and them. If they somehow survive that, or i need to use it for escape i just whip my mouse over quick and let it rip. Lag messes with that a lot, its why i dropped it, but tge lag seems a lot less severe lately so i might bring it back. Ive gotten used to concealment for unstoppable, but my ult has it too, maybe one is enough.
I’ve been using it since beta and one of the most fun rogue skills. I use it to mix with dash and concealment. It is also a good method of escape and creating distance with bow builds. I still don’t know the best way I want to use it or if methodical or discipline is best…I always lean to methodical because I love freezing and it is much easier to see the traps.
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Caltrops is seriously underrated. I haven’t seen much usage from streamers. It is very effective when you get the chill perk and combine it with Penitent greaves. Elites freeze quickly . I use it on by Barrage rogue and the slow and freeze really helps with mob control especially since Barrage is a pseudo melee build
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Did they shadow buff this or something?! I stopped using caltrops the day I started using it because I was dying during the jumping animation
Best for ranged builds imo
To the people saying its bad for melee. The caltrops is always centered on your feet. Aim away from the enemy and the movement takes you behind them without losing placement. I do this all the time to great effect.
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Caltrops doesn’t prevent CC effects. It does look funny when you get frozen mid jump however.
I can see the caltrops is better for range as that’s exactly why I used it in the beta on my bow rogue using barrage penetrating and rapid fire. Puncture and dash as the rest of my skills.
For Kiting, you should if you havent found it yet, check out the aspect that drops stun grenades when you evade or shadow step. Get the evade charges on your boots and you can use it to actually put some distance between you and a mob when your not ready for a fight. Half second stun is still long enough to take an advantage either running away or starting a fight.
it is the most underrated rogue abilities…it is because it takes elegance and skill and isn’t focused solely on SPEED. it is an exceptional skill….i’ve made it a feature skill. try it as a poison trap rogue build with rapid fire as utility rather than feature… so many possibilities/sequences to choose…
death trap, caltrop, caltrop is incredibly effective…
conceal, poison trap set (x4), caltrop out, re caltrop, death trap, repeat.
it also is efficient in cleaning up stragglers/remaining enemies….
buff it via trap damage in paragon, the chill effect + damage to trapped enemies…
it is endlessly useful if you actually want to PLAY the game and not just run thru dungeons.
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