Softcore Trap Build (0.11) - Worth it?

New to the game, but been somewhat absorbed by the whole theory-crafting aspect of the passive tree. Unfortunately, I can really only stand the Ranger/Shadow and to a lesser extent Dualist/Witch in terms of voice acting (to each their own and all that), so I'm a little self-limited on which character class to start out with...

Still, I've now played around a bit with the lower levels and skills and found that Fire Trap and other trap skills seemed to fit my play-style best. So I made a build focused on gaining the trap/AoE nodes along with freezing and skill duration increases (for control as well as longer conversion trap duration, etc.):

Passive skill tree build

EDIT:

Version 2: Passive skill tree build

The new passive tree removed some of the unnecessary +spell damage nodes, added a little base health (with plenty of room to add more life nodes), removed the +cold damage nodes in favor of utility alone.

Still goes through the middle of the tree for the combination of skill duration, trap passives, and AoE extension... Missing a little of the logic on why AoE extension would be bad. As talented it's an additional 46% AoE area and +20% damage. I can see why the damage portion might not be all that spectacular, but a 46% increase in AoE if I use a Firestorm trap instead of Arc (in which case the shock point in the shadow tree moves to burn) would far exceed the Increased AoE support gem by default.

I could be convinced if I had something else other than just life to spec into... perhaps there's an argument for tossing the whole left side of the tree and spec'ing into movement speed/evasion nodes? (And maybe starting as a Ranger in that case...)

END EDIT

Since I'm planning to play in softcore, I'm really only trying to figure out if I missed any obvious nodes that would help or otherwise make better the build focused around:

1. Frost Wall
2. Cold Snap + Trap (OLD: Ice Nova + Trap (or Freeze Mine))
3. Fire Trap (to take advantage of trapped/frozen targets) or other suggested trap combo?
4. Conversion Trap (used situationally)
5. Bear Trap (Added single target boss killed as suggested below)
6. Applicable curses (Elemental Weakness, etc.).

Didn't think much about gear since I'll be starting from square one, so I wanted to make it as gear independent as possible (i.e. I'll use whatever I find rather than try to squeeze in passives for a single weapon type).

Kill speed isn't too much of an issue for me as long as it's fun to play and I have a few points left over intended for spec'ing into defensive/life passives... Can also take out some cold damage for + defensive if need be.

Thoughts or suggestions for a new player to the game focused on soloing/light group play?
(Also any "+ Trap" combinations recommended by veteran players?)

Much appreciate the help!

I'm playing around with arc-traps and tested a lot of other trap skills to get them running.

Imo the Ice-Nova Dmg is just too low to be effective with traps, even if u throw 3 of them. I would recommend u to use cold snap instead. The DMG was higher and the freezing was awesome, especially if u throw three of them into a group with Elemental Proliferation.

Shock Nova didn't work out well too, that was especially because of the centered deadzone, even with Concentraded Effect it just didn't seem to work.

I'm playing an Arc-Trapper and it works quite well. I'm Level 70 and will check my current build for survivability because i respected a lot of points before the patch for testing purpose.

Another thing to notice is that u're using too few traps, it could be a problem for u killingwise because of the Cooldown.

If you want to try out some setups especially for leveling. You can try to use an Arc-Trap (Shocks), Fire Trap (DMG is pretty good, even without Spellbuffs) and i carried with me a Cold-Snap Trap (Freezing, decent dmg and surviveability)

And u should maybe think about a Trap or gem for Boss killing (Bear Trap maybe)


*EDIT*
Checked your Skilltree. You don't have any Points in HP so you won't get far without some more nodes. I wouldn't use *Can lay 1 more Trap* but that is just a personal preference, i started with it and changed it after a while, cause it was just not necessary. The only thing which is worth getting from trap passives is the laying speed and even that is arguable. I wouldn't go down the middle of the tree to get it. I'm just using the one at the shadow starting area. I would rethink some more nodes like that much increased Area Radius or Chill-Duration too.

Really appreciate the feedback, pantheron!

Those are all great suggestions. I had already crossed off the idea of using shock nova for the very reasons you mentioned, but hadn't considered arc as a good damage trap before. That seems like a fantastic idea and I'll definitely try it out.

I'm perfectly fine with throwing Ice Nova away in favor of Cold Snap. The intent there wasn't for damage, but for the freezing chance to keep things in place for other traps... which now that I think about it does make Cold Snap the go-to.

Seems like these changes might make it less useful to spec into any cold specific damage passives other than the freezing chance ones. So that'll save a couple more points for survivability/utility down the line!

As for the boss killer, Bear Trap does seem to be the logical choice. I was considering something along the lines of Ice Spear + Trap at first... but that's a non-starter considering it pierces at ranges close enough to trigger a trap instead of critting.

Elemental Hit + Trap wouldn't provided enough damage to make it worthwhile and I don't know if Arctic Breath or Incinerate would do much good either. Definitely something I'll have to experiment with at later levels.