Skylanders Trap Team Beginner’s Tips: Say Hello to the Bad Guy

Over the years, Activision’s Skylanders games have really taken off in terms of creativity and interaction, with new characters introduced and collectible elements providing plenty of value, as you seek hidden treasures to complete each level 100 percent.

For Skylanders: Trap Team, players have the ability to ensnare and utilize villains through traps. The Starter Pack comes with two traps, although each trap can only store one evildoer at a time. You’ll want to choose wisely, then set out to put the diabolical Kaos in his place.

Here are some beginners’ tips that will help you get into the game.

Know Your Elements

As with previous Skylanders games, Trap Team features a variety of characters, each belonging to a certain element. The eight general categories are Air, Earth, Fire, Life, Magic, Tech, Undead and Water. You can see which type of Skylanders you’re playing as, since the insignia is noted once you place the new character on the interactive portal.

It’s vital to have the right character for the job, as some character’s abilities have greater effect over certain enemies. In addition, these characters can unlock special areas if you have the right character class, indicated by the emblems imprinted on doorways. If you want to completely finish a level, make sure you have a character that can get the job done. Keep in mind this may require a separate purchase of another Skylanders character.

With that in mind, the game supports Skylanders toys from previous games, so if you already have a leveled up warrior from your Giants or Swap Force pack, you can easily put them in and pick up right where you left off.

Enter the Villains

One key aspect to Trap Team is being able to capture and use villains as playable characters. You’ll need a trap to be plugged into the portal to do this, and in the game, Traptanium will need to be activated. In order to execute this, your character has to be the same class as the villain you’re trying to capture. Otherwise you won’t be able to fully capture them. Keep in mind, though, that you can swap characters at any time. 

Once you have your villain, you can switch out and also check on characters you previously captured by paying a visit to the prison in the main hub. Here, you’ll be able to select which villain character you want to download to your trap, and then switch to them when you want to use their abilities.

With 47 villains to capture with special abilities, you’ll want to see what each one brings to the game – even if that means a little trial-and-error. Hey, if all else fails, you can switch back to a normal Skylanders character.

Upgrades, Upgrades, Upgrades

As with previous Skylanders games, Trap Team gives you the opportunity to upgrade your abilities using points earned over the course of the game. Simply pay Persophone a visit and you can unlock new abilities for your chosen characters. This goes for villains as well, and some of them have some really cool movies. So be sure to stop by and see what she can offer in the shop. 

A Little Kaos Goes a Long Way

Finally, the new Kaos Mode will put your fighting skills to the test. This is a new horde-based mode where you fend off against waves of enemies, each one growing tougher than the last across a number of arenas. If you successfully defeat each wave, you’ll earn gold orbs that will enable you to level up your character. 

You’ll start in the So It Begins Temple before eventually leveling up to bigger ones, with waves that range in count from four to 100, depending where you end up. You can also build towers to help defend you, but there are a couple of things to watch out for.

Enemies will multiply greatly as you go on, and once your Skylander runs out of energy, you’ll need to switch to the next. If you’re not careful when taking damage, you’ll run out of Skylanders and have to start over again, so make sure you keep an eye open for enemies about to hit you.

The second thing is to watch out for the Mystery Box of Doom. These drop randomly in stages, and enemies will stop at nothing to break them open. If they do, a larger foe will attack, making it more likely that your Skylander will lose the round. Your best bet is to defeat the enemies before they can break open the box, although a new one will more than likely pop up with the next coming wave. Good luck!

Skylanders: Trap Team is available now for Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Nintendo 3DS, iPad and Android tablets.