Hey Floor Spike Spammers, Kyle here again – Game Director on Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap. It's time to talk about traps. There is A LOT to cover on that topic because as the name implies: traps are more important than ever. But I decided to skip the basics and just jump straight into the fun stuff. Let’s go over some reworked traps and then, of course, the new ones we’ve added to Deathtrap.
Reworked Traps
Poison Flower
(formerly the Confusion Flower)
Poison Gas Emitter (formerly the Dart Spitter)
These first two might not immediately seem very different, but they both offer something totally new to OMD!: “Poison.” We’ve decided to make some elemental magic and status effect changes in Deathtrap for a few reasons, including reducing the types of crowd control and making our magic types easier to understand. For now, this means that both “confusion” and “arcane” are gone.
“But Kyle, why do we need poison when we’ve already got fire?” Well, poison is another damage-over-time status effect, however, it deals lower damage over a longer amount of time than the burning effect. This means you can choose to trade some quick damage for an easier time getting combo points.
You’re also going to see a few enemies capable of poisoning the player as well.
Wall Blades
(formerly Wall Blades, but like, bigger)
While the Grinder, Wall Blades, Wall Charger, and Arrow Walls do have differences, we wanted to take the least popular of the bunch and give players a better reason to take it instead of or with the others. To make this happen, we took the Wall Blades and sliced them in half to make them more versatile.
Cursed Ground
(formerly Cursed Ground, but like, smaller)
Some of you aren’t going to recognize the name of this one, but that’s okay because it’s basically only similar in name to our old Unchained friend. The old Cursed Ground kind of worked like the Arcane Brimstone trap upgrade in OMD!3. This iteration of Cursed Ground collects the souls of the Orcs that die on top of it. As it collects souls, it becomes more powerful. This increases its damage, which is dealt out by a burst attack that triggers after a cooldown. It’s also a big boy, giving you more surface area to collect those souls.
Ice Vent
Morning Star Shooter
(formerly Bowling Boulder)
These two were War Machines in OMD!3 that we’ve reworked to be normal traps but also to achieve one of our design goals to have more trap size variety. The Ice Vent is the size of two floor traps. It freezes the enemies on top of it when it triggers.
The Morning Star shooter is a bit more of a rework. First, it’s only ¼ the size of a normal wall trap. You also no longer need to manually trigger it. And finally, it does not simply shoot out and roll in a straight line. It fires at a slightly random angle and then bounces off everything it hits for x seconds. This one is super fun to watch.
Bomb Dispenser
(formerly Boom Barrel Dispenser)
The Bomb Dispenser drops bombs that act as physics objects and explode on a timer. We changed this from the static Boom Barrel the player shot to blow up for a couple of reasons. First, the larger maps meant the previous iteration wasn’t as effective if you weren’t near the trap to shoot the barrels when they arrived. And second, it’s more fun to see these round bombs bounce around, fall down the stairs, etc.
Wall Scorcher
(formerly Floor Scorcher and Deep Freeze)
The Wall Scorcher is a rework of two traps: the Floor Scorcher and the Deep Freeze – almost making it a new trap. It’s a wall trap that blasts fire over multiple trap spaces for x seconds. It’s beautiful to see in action. The change fulfills two goals for us: it gives us a fire trap that doesn’t go on the floor, and it helps us keep our number of CC traps in check. Don’t worry – there are still multiple ice traps.
Totally New Traps
Minecart Dispenser and Track
Here it is! You’ve probably seen this one in the reveal trailer. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. The levels in OMD!2 featured tracks and minecarts in many of the maps, but in Deathtrap, you get to build them yourself.
It also introduces two other ideas that I’d like to keep exploring as we continue adding content to Deathtrap: a trap that requires two loadout slots and traps that offer the player a chance to be a bit more creative with their setup. This is made up of two separate but equally important traps: the Minecart Dispenser that releases the minecarts on a timer and the Track that the minecart follows. Dun dun. You’re free to just place the Dispenser and launch carts down some stairs into Orcs, but if you connect to the track, it’ll follow it until its end and deal more damage as it travels.
You switch between straight and turn pieces by rotating the trap. We’re discussing adding more types of track pieces in the future.
Acid Shower
Acid didn’t get enough love in OMD!3, so to make up for that we’re introducing the Acid Shower. This is a ceiling trap the same size as the Ceiling Lasers. As Orcs walk underneath, acid rains down for x seconds, applying the “Melting” status effect. Instead of increasing “physical” damage like in OMD!3, acid now causes enemies to take more damage from War Mage abilities, including primary attacks.
There are a lot of high ceilings in OMDD; and this baby will work from any height. This is also true for the Shock Zapper and the Ceiling Lasers.
Ice Lance
Besides just the high ceilings, you’ve probably noticed we have quite a few outdoor areas in Deathtrap. While we still made sure there are some great spots for your Ceiling Pounders and Swinging Maces, we also wanted to make sure we designed some ceiling traps that could work from a distance. This led to us creating a couple more ballista-style traps. The Ice Lance is a large ballista trap that fires a giant ice arrow at a target from a long distance. It deals massive damage to its target and then freezes other nearby enemies in an AoE blast.
Hookshot
Our other new ballista-style trap might be my new favorite Orc-slaying toy. The Hookshot is a ceiling trap that launches a hook attached to a chain at a small target. It then reels that target back in to its base and dangles them in the air for x seconds before dropping them down.
This one is fun to put over water, and we made sure to give you plenty of spots for exactly that. But even when you use it elsewhere, it’s great because those dangling targets count as “Launched” and take double damage.
Hero Traps
(yes...more new traps!)
Each War Mage in OMDD has a unique trap they bring with them into battle. These are free to place, but you only have a certain number of them. Six of seven of these are new traps and one is a returning classic. You might notice that a number of these fit more into the “support” category rather than straight damage-dealing. This is something we really like about the Hero Trap system. It allows us to give players different kinds of traps without them having to sacrifice Combo potential. It also allows us to make these as powerful as we want by limiting the number that can be placed.
Vaan’s Rift Teleport
Vaan’s Rift Teleport is a floor trap that allows him or his teammates to instantly return to the Rift when things get hairy. This is especially useful on Deathtrap’s larger maps. He starts with one available.
Wren’s Time Crystals
Wren’s Time Crystals lower the retrigger time on adjacent traps. You’ll know which are affected by the glowing effect. Each time a trip triggers, a crystal is consumed. The crystals reset with each wave or by a specific Wren ability. She starts with two available.
Harlow’s Boom Barrel
Ah, the Boom Barrel. It’s a classic, but I always had a hard time as a player justifying bringing a trap that was costing me precious Rune Coin but going away after triggering once. Enter Harlow (and Henry). Harlow gets three free Boom Barrels to place around and on top of traps. She or her teammates can attack them to blow them up. Any exploded Boom Barrels go back into inventory after completing the current wave.
Mac’s Gravity Lift
Mac brings with him OMD’s first sniper weapon; and to make the most of it, he really needs some good vantage points. Mac or his teammates can use his Gravity Lift to gain height. This is great for finding shortcuts to better angles or just getting to another part of the map. You can also use it to simply float in the air for a few seconds. And when coming out of the Gravity Lift, you’re granted feather fall – making this another great mobility option. He starts with one available.
Kalos’s Healing Berries
Did you know we’ve brought back losing Rift Points when you die? Oh! And you also no longer heal at the Rift by default. Pretty cruel, I know. But Kalos is here with his magic berry bush to save the day. Kalos can place his Healing Berries on the floor anywhere on the map for him and his teammates to snack on and regain some HP. He starts with one available, but it comes with multiple uses that recharge over time.
Sophie’s Vampiric Jaws
There’s another new status effect coming to OMD called “Rend.” While affected by Rend, all War Mage damage dealt to that enemy has a 100% Critical Hit chance. Oh yeah, we have Critical Hits in Deathtrap. Anyone can deal Critical Hits, but melee War Mages have a higher chance due to range War Mages’ headshot advantage (yes, there are Critical Headshots).
Our dagger-wielding Sophie brings with her three Vampiric Jaws traps that each stun a single enemy and inflict Rend. Like Harlow’s Boom Barrels, these can be placed on top of other traps and triggered traps return when the wave is completed. Rending is especially important for Sophie, but I’ll get into that another time...or you can figure it out by the name of the trap.
Maximilian’s Friendly Flip Trap
I don’t want to show off everything Max has to offer just yet, but I thought we could at least share his trap. This one’s for you, Discord. Max brings with him one Friendly Flip Trap that allows him or his teammates to quickly flip themselves to another part of the level. He’s still customizing his trap’s look, but we can see the ability in action.
Phew, thanks for making it to the end. There is one more type of trap, but I’ll wait to dig into that when I do the map blog. Enemies are up next. In the meantime, join the Discord. I’m always in there leaving little tidbits about Deathtrap in between blogs. And don’t forget to Wishlist Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap on Steam.
Kyle – Game Director