The Trapper hunter probably has the biggest responsibility out of all the hunters in Evolve. It is also, in my opinion, the hardest class to master. As the Trapper, your job is to track down the monster, restrict its movement, and throw up that iconic mobile arena to prevent it from escaping.
The Trapper hunters’ shared ability is the mobile arena, which is essentially a large dome that stops the monster from leaving the area. It’s especially useful when you’ve got the monster down to its last sliver of health and it’s trying to make a quick escape. The key is knowing when to set up the arena; using it carelessly could trap your teammates in a prison as the monster happily leaps away from you and your party.
That isn’t even the hardest part of the Trapper’s job, though. As the Trapper, you’re also tasked with determining which direction the monster’s headed in, and getting your party close enough to start dealing damage to it.
By now, you can probably gather that the Trapper class plays an extremely vital role in Evolve, perhaps more so than the other classes. Without a good Trapper, your party could spend the first 10 minutes of Hunt mode wandering around, never engaging the monster. And while you’re wandering in circles, the monster could continue feeding and evolve to stage 3 before proceeding to decimate your entire party.
If you’re playing on the side of the hunters, you’ll probably want to avoid that scenario. So let’s take a closer look at the three different Trapper characters.
As the first Trapper you unlock in Evolve, Maggie has an indispensable tool for tracking the monster: her pet Trapjaw, Daisy. All you have to do is follow Daisy as she leads you straight to the monster itself. The only downside of tracking the monster in such a manner is that Daisy only follows the monster’s tracks. Considering that the monster moves much faster than the hunters, this means that it’ll take you quite some time before you finally catch up with it. During that time, the monster will have plenty of opportunities to feed and stage up. Still, the trapjaw is definitely useful for any novice Trapper with little experience in hunting the monster.
Daisy isn’t only useful for tracking down the monster; she can help to revive incapacitated hunters. You’ll find that this comes in especially handy when your medic is too preoccupied to get to downed hunters.
Maggie is also equipped with Harpoon Mines that can be laid around the field to hamper the monster’s movement. Ideally, you should set them up right after you’ve released the mobile arena. Once the monster has been trapped within the dome, Maggie can set up five Harpoon Mines near the monster to limit its mobility. Sure, the monster can free itself from the harpoons with a quick swipe, but the couple of seconds it takes to break the trap could create a window of opportunity for your hunters to attack. Be sure to pay attention to how many traps the monster has broken so you can proceed to set them up again.
For her own self-defense, Maggie has a Machine Pistol that deals pretty decent damage to the monster. However, as a Trapper, your focus should be more on setting up those traps and staying alive because the mobile arena goes the down the second you’ve been incapacitated by the monster.
As the second Trapper you unlock in Evolve, you’ll find that the burden of locating the monster falls heavily on Griffin’s shoulders. As you no longer have Daisy the Trapjaw, you’ll need to rely on the rest of Griffin’s arsenal to track that beast down.
The first piece of equipment you should get acquainted with as Griffin is the Sound Spike. Once the dropship has landed, open up the area map and start placing your Sound Spikes all around the place. Try to cover as much area as possible with the Spikes so that you have a higher chance of detecting the monster as it passes through. The Spikes will stay active for the duration of the match as long as it isn’t destroyed. The oldest Spike will also be deactivated if you set up more than five.
Next, Griffin has a Harpoon Gun to help restrict the monster’s mobility. Much like the Harpoon Traps that Maggie carries around, the Harpoon Gun tethers the monster directly to Griffin. By aiming at the monster, pressing and holding the trigger button, Griffin will be able to slow the monster down until it breaks the tether. The Harpoon Gun is best used when you’re positioned behind or at the side of the monster. Breaking the tether takes only a split-second, but if you shoot it from behind, the monster will have to waste more time turning around to break it.
One drawback to using the Harpoon Gun is that it holds only one shot at a time, and it takes a short while to reload. Accuracy and precision is key to using the Harpoon Gun.
Griffin also comes equipped with a Gauss SMG for self-defense. The fire rate seems to be a tad slower than Maggie’s Machine Pistol, but it’s a little more accurate. Again, dealing damage to the monster isn’t the Trapper’s priority; you should focus on trapping the monster first before thinking about doing any extra damage to it.
Abe is the third and final Trapper you can unlock in Evolve, and his method of tracking down the monster is completely different than that of Maggie’s and Griffin’s. With Abe, you get a Custom Shotgun, a Tracking Dart Pistol, and some handy Stasis Grenades.
Let’s start by tracking the monster. With the Tracking Dart Pistol, Abe can tag the wildlife around the map. This means that the monster itself will also be tagged if it happens to eat the marked wildlife. Needless to say, the Pistol should be the first thing you whip out once the dropship lands. Try to cover as much ground as you can, and tag every animal you see.
The Pistol also comes in extremely handy just as the mobile arena begins to wear off. Before the mobile arena disappears, take out the Tracking Dart Pistol and quickly tag the monster so that your party can pursue it more easily.
After you’ve trapped the monster within the arena, you’ll want to quickly switch over to Abe’s Stasis Grenades. When thrown, the Stasis Grenades emit a cloud that slows down the monster’s movement. The Grenades are most effectively used when you chain your tosses, giving the monster no opportunity to regain its speed. These will also help to reduce the speed of the monster’s attacks and can serve as a form of protection for any of your fellow hunters who are under heat.
Lastly, Abe has a Custom Shotgun for both offensive and defensive purposes. The important thing to note about the Custom Shotgun is that its spread varies according to the speed with which you fire the weapon. If you rapidly fire round after round, the Shotgun’s spread will get worse and its rounds will only do good damage at close range. However, if you fire slowly and methodically, you’ll be able to deal damage with the Shotgun at a longer range.
Considering how much faster and how much more mobile all three monsters are compared to the hunters, choosing a Trapper to play in Evolve really comes down to what your preferred play style is.
If you’re not a fan of relying on the old-school methods of looking at a monster’s tracks and locating it that way, I’d suggest going for either Maggie or Griffin. Maggie’s Trapjaw will follow the tracks and lead you straight to the monster itself, while Griffin’s Sound Spikes will automatically alert you when the monster has wandered into the spiked area.
When playing as Maggie, a good strategy to adopt would be to place the Harpoon Mines a little ways away from the monster once you’ve trapped it with the mobile arena. Once the Mines are set up and ready to go, communicate with your team and get them to lure the monster into the area with the traps. With five different harpoons sticking into the monster, you’ll give your team ample time to deal some serious damage to it.
If you’re playing as Griffin, however, make sure that your feet are planted firmly on the ground before using the Harpoon Gun. You can only slow down the monster’s speed with the Harpoon Gun when Griffin is on the ground. The Harpoon Gun is useful especially against the Kraken and the Wraith, both of which are much more agile than the tanky Goliath. With the Harpoon Gun, Griffin can pull these agile monsters closer to him and make them easy targets for the rest of the party.
If you’re more interested in tracking the monster down yourself, however, then Abe is the ideal Trapper for you. When playing as Abe, you should always have the Tracking Dart Pistol at the ready and tag all the wildlife you see. The Pistol has infinite range so if you see the monster, don’t think, just shoot. Since you don’t have a pet Trapjaw or a bunch of Sound Spikes at your disposal, you’ll have to pay closer attention to the monster tracks and try to predict where it’s going.
Lastly, be mindful of when the best time is to use the mobile arena. A monster with full armor won’t be so quick to flee from your party, so hold on to the arena until you’re certain that the monster’s about to make a break for it. By fighting the monster without the arena, you’ll be giving your party more space to work with and they’ll be less likely to be trapped in a corner. When you see that the monster’s armor is beginning to deplete, throw up the arena so that your party will have one extra minute to deal massive damage to the monster.
If you’re playing as Abe, always remember to tag the monster with your Tracking Dart Pistol just before the arena runs out. This will allow your party to pursue the monster more efficiently.
The Trapper has the biggest responsibility in Evolve, and it’ll definitely take most players some time before they get completely used to hunting down the monster. If you have any tips for playing the Trapper class, feel free to share them in the comments down below.
