In light of the increased attention being paid to SV these days, this post offers tips on how to launch Explosive Traps quickly and effectively.
Why should SV hunters care about Explosive Traps? Well, as Frostheim describes, Explosive trap is a good way to proc Lock and Load, but it is not a simple choice to use it. It is better than Black Arrow on single targets if you can simply drop it at your feet and have it take effect. If the time it takes you to launch it is around 1.5 seconds, it should be about equal to Black Arrow. If it takes you longer, it just gets worse and worse. On multiple targets it is generally always preferable to Black Arrow.
Regardless of when you use Explosive Trap, on those times that you do use it you want to get it in place as quickly as possible. Toward this end, the first thing you want is a good macro. I prefer a /castsequence macro because it has given me the fewest problems with fake globals and misplaced traps. If you prefer an alternative macro, I encourage you to suggest it in a comment below.
/castsequence reset=14 Trap Launcher, Explosive Trap
The reset condition exists just to make sure that you do not lay a trap at your feet unintentionally after activating but not using the Trap Launcher. For that reason, you do not want the reset time to be too long. You also do not want it to be too short, either, because if the macro resets before you have hit it a second time, you are stuck with with the predicament of trying to activate Trap Launcher while it is already active (which the game no longer allows).
The second thing you want for quick and effective launches is a keybind for your macro. This is true even if you prefer to use a mouse for the rest of your abilities. Usually you can queue up a rotation just fine with a mouse, but abilities with targeting reticles (like launched traps) are an exception. This is because by only using a mouse you are adding your cursor’s travel time from your action bar to the trap’s intended landing point onto every single trap you launch. That time adds up, and if Zeherah’s estimation on Femaledwarf is any gauge, repeated delays of mere seconds can cost thousands of dps over the course of a fight.
With a keybind you can position your mouse at the same time that a keystroke activates the macro, allowing you to fire off the trap as soon as the reticle appears and increasing your dps. I think similar recommendations can be made for binding other abilities that benefit from the player being able to perform two actions simultaneously, such as with off-global abilities like Silencing Shot and with abilities that improve with the use of mouse turns such as Disengage. It is physically impossible for clicking to perform as well with these sorts of abilities since clicking only allows for sequential rather than simultaneous actions.
A third thing you want to keep in mind is that the trap launcher does not trigger the global, and you can get it ready before Explosive Trap and Black Arrow come off cooldown. By getting the Trap Launcher ready ahead of time, or at least during the global before you use the trap cooldown, you save a bit of delay.
Thanks for this. I’ve found in practice that in the heat of an encounter it sometimes happens that the launcher stays active and heeds launching traps. I’d advise having a /cancelaura trap launcher available. (To save macro space I include it in kill shot macro)
An alternative way to launch traps, if your setup allows, is to use a hardware macro. I have a Naga and have bound trap launcher with such a macro to the scrollwheel click so its very easy and intuitive to launch/position/set in well under 1s.
I know that this may be contrary, strictly speaking, to terms of use. However imo it just offsets, to a very small degree, the extreme clunkiness of our CCs compared to everyone else’s, making it work basically the same as any other ability of this type (e.g. mage blizzard) where its one button to position a reticule on the ground and mouse click to set.
A scrollwheel bind does sound pretty intuitive.
Scrollwheel is great for trap launching. I use shift-up and down for Freezing and Ice, and CTRL-up and down for Explosive and Snake.
Thanks for the /cancelaura trap launcher tip, Bahzob. I’ll have to add that into my Kill Shot macro as well.
I don’t know what’s wrong with a simple keybind. I have all of my traps keybound in -2: (frost trap -2,5, explosive trap -2, 6, etc.) I also have the trap launcher keybound to -2,=. Here’s what I do just before a pull:
1. Target tank’s target, Hunter’s Mark
2. Misdirect to tank (-1,=)
3. Load the Trap Launcher with Explosive Shot (-2,= & <shift-2, 6) and mouse over the optimal area (sometimes, in the case of a DK tank, there's the big rune on the ground– I put it in the center.)
4. As soon as my target targets the tank, let fly & multi-shot spam until L&L.
The only problem I've had with this is that sometimes Misdirect has expired, but I don't seem to pull aggro so much anymore anyway.