Spike Trap

Spike Trap is a Demon Hunter skill unlocked at level 14. It is sphere thrown onto the ground that, when triggered by movement, erupts into a whirling device of spinning blades that damage nearby targets.

Background

Diablo III Active Skill [e]
Spike Trap
Used by:	Demon Hunter
Enabled at:	Clvl 14
Skill Description
A bladed trap that cuts targets.
Type:	Direct Damage/DoT
Resource Use:	Costs Discipline
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Unknown
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Unknown
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

The Demon Hunter throws a sphere onto the ground that, when walked over, springs up into a whorl of blades and shadow, cutting any enemies in the vacinity.

Skill Design

Spikes once sprung.

The skill works similarly to those found in the Assassin's set in Diablo II. It is a trap that, when thrown onto the ground, can be triggered by enemies who walk over or near it. It is best used in tight quarters to help control or "herd" the movement of the enemy. Much like the Wizard's Hydra, you can only have a set number of traps active at any time.

Skill Rank Table

• Rank 1: Lay a trap that arms after X seconds and triggers when an enemy approaches. The explosion does X-X damage per second to all enemies within X feet for X seconds.

The Demon Hunter can have a maximum for X traps active at one time.

Synergies

It goes up to 11.

• No synergies with any of the passive skills are yet known.

Skill Rune Effects

• No rune effects for Spike Trap are known.

Development

Spike Trap was first shown at BlizzCon 2010 as one of the originals when the Demon Hunter was unveiled. Wyatt Cheng had this to say about it[1]:

One of her themes is going to be traps and gadgets. This is not unlike some of the Assassin gameplay you might have seen in Diablo 2. In this case we want to sell again the shadow theme and the gadgets theme. We just take an ordinary trap spell, weave in some Shadow themes and the art kind of brings out the flavour, differentiates her from the other characters. Another thing I really like about Spike Trap is it has that sense of preparation. We want the player to know that the Demon Hunter is somebody that goes to sleep at night and dreams about killing demons. She wakes up in the middle of the night and goes "Oh, I have this great idea for a trap that will be awesome for killing demons", goes back to sleep, wakes up and kills a lot of demons. That's her thing.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Spike Trap became a level 14 skill.

Media

Spike Trap can be seen in action on video here:

• Gameplay: Blizzcon 2010

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Spike Trap specific gallery contents

• 

  The trap lying in wait.

• 

  The spike trap after activation.

• 

  That can't feel very nice.

• 

  The trap opening up.

References

• BlizzCon 2010 Gameplay Panel Transcript
• BlizzCon 2010 Demon Hunter PvM Hands-on Report
• JudgeHype.com July 2011 Press Event Coverage - The Demon Hunter (Translated by Zediono)