Tank Guide to Traps

Woah! Wait a minute... TANK guide to traps?

Indeed!

Although traps are the hunter's domains, tanks should be able to understand how they work, what's the cooldown and what's the amount or time they stay active. A bad hunter does bad trapping but a tank that doesn't understand how things work will make a master-trapper seem like a kindergarten kid sticking his hand into a bear trap. So, fellow hunters, show this post to your tank friends from your guild!

First of all, a couple of facts about traps:

1) Only 1 trap can be active at a time. If a hunter drops a trap, any other trap active will vanish.

2) Traps will exist for 60 seconds.

3) The cooldown for traps is 30 seconds.

So, whenever a hunter drops a trap, he can not lay another one for 30 seconds. This means that if a mob runs over the trap and the trap doesn't hold him, the hunter can not try to trap it again for a while. Also, even if the mob is trapped, the amount of time he's held may not be enough for the hunter to get another trap ready to catch it once it sets free. Therefore, timing - as with pretty much anything in World of Warcraft - is important.

When doing a trap-pull (a pull of mobs in which you require a hunter to lay a trap - usually a freeze trap), wait for the hunter to tell you he/she is ready. The hunter will lay the trap, wait a few seconds (usually around 25 seconds) and then tell you to go.

Now, something worth noting: remember traps only last for 60 seconds? Well if the hunter has to wait 25-30 seconds to give you the "go" call, that trap will only hold for another 30-35 seconds. So you now have 30 seconds to do that pull. If you know you are going to lose this window of opportunity for some reason (because a patrol is coming your way, for example), let your party know and ask your hunter to re-deploy the trap on your call.

After this, let the hunter do his job. Don't touch the mob unless the hunter asks for help. If done properly, the hunter will keep that mob under control for a couple of minutes, more than enough time for your party to get rid of 2 or 3 other mobs and then go frenzy on the poor frozen bastard.

So, in a nutshell:

1) Wait for your hunter to give you the go (usually 25-30 seconds after he/she lays the trap)

2) Do the pull within the next 30 seconds or abort the pull and let everyone know you're aborting. Ask the hunter to lay another trap when you think it's ok to retry.

3) LEAVE THAT MOB ALONE. Don't touch it, don't talk to it, don't even look at it unless the hunter cries for help. Your hunter has it. Let it be. Shoo. Go get spanked by the other mobs.