In-Game Hydro Traps
Net Cannon 3,000 power, 0% power bonus, 3% attraction bonus, 5 luck, Stale
Harpoon Gun
3,000 power, 7% power bonus, 0% attraction bonus, 0 luck, Stale
These two traps are mentioned together because both are the earliest Hydro traps you can buy, and both are only nominally effective, but unless you’re lucky enough to have access to LE Hydro traps, one of these two will be required. The Net Cannon offers more luck and attraction but sacrifices power to the Harpoon Gun. Both traps cost about the same. Usually I recommend hunters to go for the Net Cannon because of the additional luck, however slim that may be. In the end, you won’t be using either of these traps very long.
Ancient Spear Gun3,600 power, 5% power bonus, 10% attraction bonus, 12 luck, Fresh cheese effect
The result of smashing one of the previous traps and crafting it with the ancient spear, this is a much more effective trap for dealing with the Elub tribe in the Tribal Isles. Good (if not great) power, it has a good attraction bonus and a decent luck factor too. While it isn't perfect, it will do the job until you can get your hands on some of the stronger traps later on.
Heat Bath4,000 power, 5% power bonus, 0% attraction bonus, 14 luck, Stale cheese effect
An interesting hydro trap, by the time you can build it, you might not care about building it. While using the ASG in the Winter Seasonal Garden sucks, the Heat Bath is hard to obtain: you must get lucky and get the blue prints from the Dragon Mouse, and that’s only about 10% of the time. It will cost you two launcher parts to build, and as luck would have it, you can’t smash your ASG. It is a great trap from a statistical standpoint, but very difficult to obtain. One of the ingredients is 36 pieces of coal, and while you can get these as gifts, it’s difficult to get them as loot drops. Again, a nice trap to have, IF you can manage to obtain it easily. Don’t hurt yourself trying to get it however.
Steam Laser Mk. 1
A new hydro trap added to the game May 2012, the Steam Laser Mk.1 is a better trap than the Heat Bath, and is easier to get. Whereas hunters had to rely on luck to even get the Heat Bath blueprints, the Steam Laser Mk.1 is available to hunters who have 25.5 million points. You have to hunt in the Slushy Shoreline to get loot drops from various mice there, and that will take some effort, but the payoff is tremendous: at only 370,000 gold, this trap is an out-and-out STEAL. Considering it also adds +3 luck and +33% power bonus when hunting in the Slushy Shoreline and the Iceberg, this trap is a must-have for Lord-level hunters. In fact, I would advise not even trying to build the Heat Bath, considering the cost of this trap. It will make your time much easier when hunting in the Winter Seasonal Garden as well.
Steam Laser Mk. 2
4,800 power, 12% power bonus, 10% attraction bonus, 18 luck, Fresh cheese effect
Steam Laser Mk. 2
The upgraded version of the MK1, the MK2 adds more power, attraction, luck and freshness, as well as maintaining the +3 luck and +33% power bonus in the Shoreline and Iceberg. You MUST have crafted the MK2 to even attract Icewing upon entering her lair, however, the MK2 will be broken once you catch her. You then take Steam Nine (loot from Icewing) and craft it with the broken trap to make....
Steam Laser Mk. 3
4,800 power, 12% power bonus, 10% attraction bonus, 18 luck, Fresh cheese effect
Steam Laser Mk. 3
Statistically, it's identical to the MK2. The only difference being it cannot be broken by Icewing. Hooray!
Oasis Water Node Trap5,200 power, 12% power bonus, 10% attraction bonus, 20 luck, No cheese effect
An absolute must-have trap, upon finishing a few runs on the Fiery Warpath, this trap will serve hunters much better in the Living Garden than the Steam Laser MK3. To craft this trap, hunters will need to loot an Oasis Bead from the Warmonger Mouse at the end of the Fiery Warpath. If you don't manage to do this, one can be purchased in the marketplace. This trap can be smashed and built into an even stronger version...
Phantasmic Oasis Trap
5,850 power, 15% power bonus, 20% attraction bonus, 26 luck, No cheese effect
A very expensive upgrade to the Oasis Water Node Trap, the POT is an essential upgrade when making continual hunts in the Living Garden. With a minimum cost of 3.8 million gold, it's not cheap by any means, but as you can see from its stats, it is (as of November 2012) the best Hydro trap in the game, and it's not even close. It's power, bonuses, and luck make it a very viable option when hunting in any location where mice are susceptible to hydro weapons.
It should be noted that the POT requires blueprints which are only constructed with an E, F, and I essence. In other words, it's not easy to craft them and will take you some time.
Limited Edition Hydro Traps
There aren’t a whole lot of LE Hydro traps, but they are all decent to great traps.
Kraken Chaos3,400 power, 0% power bonus, 0% attraction bonus, 18 luck, Very Stale cheese effect
A completely mis-understood trap when it was released in October 2009, the community as a whole still hadn't figured out the importance of luck yet, and as a result, many hunters ignored this trap. It was hailed as the best trap to catch the elusive Hydra Mouse in the Lagoon, but if you had already caught the Hydra, many thought you could skip this, because the ASG had more power. Oh how ignorant and silly we used to be! Still, while a good trap to hunt in Elub, the lack of attraction and power limits its effectiveness outside that location, making other traps more suited for the Seasonal Garden.
Explosive Toboggan Ride2,700 power, 14% power bonus, 3% attraction bonus, 16 luck, Extremely Fresh cheese effect
The first trap that hunters could “obtain” during the 2010 Great Winter Hunt, this hydro trap had all the makings of a fantastic hydro trap, with decent power but even better bonuses. A great trap, it became even better with a little more hunting…
Double Diamond Advantage3,500 power, 0% power bonus, 5% attraction bonus, 18 luck, Insanely Fresh Cheese effect
This LE trap made the Kraken completely useless, with more power and attraction. Combined with a great base, the DDA trumps the ETR obviously, with more power and luck. The lack of a power bonus is slightly troublesome, but the DDA was the gold standard for LE Hydro traps in MouseHunt for many years. Those lucky enough to participate in the Great Winter Hunt of 2010 were not disappointed with this trap. While it's use today is almost non-existent, it still holds fond memories for many hunters.
Isle Idol Hydroplane Trap
3,500 power, 5% power bonus, 15% attraction bonus, 10 luck, Stale Cheese effect
Like the other Idol traps, this one will double the drop rate of seashells in the Elub Shore. With stats just barely worse than the Ancient Spear Gun, hunters with this trap should use it primarily for farming shells, but switch to the ASG (or another more powerful trap) to hunt the Big 3 in Elub.
Ice Blaster3,800 power, 5% power bonus, 5% attraction bonus, 12 luck, Fresh Cheese effect
Upon completing the first run through the Snow Fort for the Great Winter Hunt of 2013, hunters could purchase this trap for 189,000 gold, plus 40 ice coins. It has a very unique property of being able to potentially loot a snowball charm when it catches a mouse. Snowball Charms add an additional 931 power to the Ice Blaster. While a cheap trap relatively speaking, the Ice Blaster's core stats were less than those of other traps, but the one redeeming thing about it is that some younger hunters will undoubtedly use this trap extensively in Elub Shore, considering it is available at only 1,000,000 points, while the ASG isn't available until 12 million. If this is your best hydro trap and you've not yet a Lord, you can skip all other hydro traps, and honestly, not even worry about the upgrade to this trap either....I'll explain below....
Glacier Gatler4,800 power, 10% power bonus, 10% attraction bonus, 20 luck, Very Fresh Cheese effect
Look at the stats. Looks good, right? Oh, you have to smash the Ice Blaster? Sure, no problem! 600 Living Shards to craft it? Ok, that's only 720k, not too bad. 7 Frosty Metal? Well now you're getting into my Iceberg Base loot, but sure, ok...wait, an OASIS BEAD IS REQUIRED?!? ARE YOU NUTS?
That's right, the trap loot you get from the Warmonger (if you're lucky, and that'll be around 70 million points, give or take a few million) is required to build a Limited Edition trap. And the kicker is, that same Oasis Bead is used to make the Oasis Water Node Trap listed above, which is a BETTER TRAP. Why Devs, why? Before the Great Winter Hunt 2013, Oasis Beads were holding at a consistent price on the marketplace of around 750,000 gold. Upon the realization that this inferior trap needed a bead? They shot up in price to the neighborhood of 6 to 6.5 million gold. What in the world are people thinking? And they're still buying them?
I get the whole "I like to collect traps." I do too, I'm only missing a handful of them, and most of the ones I'm missing are of the Trap Skin variety (back when you needed to have a different trap to build the skin). But getting back on point, requiring an Oasis Bead to craft this trap is downright ridiculous. Warmonger loot is hard enough to come by, why waste it on this? If you have an extra, go ahead, but do NOT use your only Oasis Bead on this trap! It is just a complete waste! Folks, look at the stats of the Steam Laser MK3. They are just barely worse than this trap, and that's only the Luck rating. In the Iceberg, the MK3 is still the better trap. And that trap is available at 25 million points. Glacier Gatler? 30 million! Seriously, there is NO NEED to get this trap unless you are a collector.
And the people price gouging other hunters on the marketplace (and buyers falling for the gouging) is simply disgusting. Yech.
