What are Killer Traps, and what are they used for?
Ready to take your trapping game to the next level in Green Hell? As its name suggests, the Killer Trap is a deadly snare that uses tension force to whip a spiked hammer down onto whatever creature crosses its tripwire, killing it instantly. This trap is perfect if you want to start trapping larger and more nutritious animals.
This guide will walk you through building and utilizing Killer Traps and offer advice on the best places to set them.
How to build Killer Traps in Green Hell
Killer Traps are powerful, capable of piercing an armadillo’s shell and taking down a jaguar in a single hit. Because of this, they are a bit more resource intensive and will take time to construct. Before you can build your own, you’ll need to locate the prototype in the cocaine field outside the drug camp located at coordinates 51W and 28S.
Once you’ve done this, you can build a Killer Trap from the following resources:
- 4 Logs
- 1 Long Stick
- 7 Rope
- 3 Sticks
- 4 Small Sticks
How to use Killer Traps in Green Hell
Killer Traps will only target medium to large-sized animals, so it’s important to know where those animals can be found before deciding where to set up your traps. Here are some tips to help make sure your killers produce a steady yield:
1. Narrow Paths
While the tripwire of this snare is somewhat long, it can be difficult to ensure an animal crosses into the trap’s center and is affected by the spikes. Placing the tripwire over a narrow river crossing or gap between boulders helps ensure that animals must walk through the trap to pass, thus increasing your chance of catching dinner.
2. Animal Trails
Knowing where animals will be walking is half the battle. Study the animals in an area and watch the paths they take. Animals don’t often deviate from their daily routine, so finding a path, they take daily can simplify deciding where to place your traps. If a capybara crosses the stream at the same place every day, you can probably catch at least one capybara every day by setting a Killer Trap there.
3. Watering Holes
Watering holes such as river crossings, ponds, and small streams are excellent places to look for potential prey. Medium animals like capybaras and peccaries often frequent these locations to drink. This frequency of sighting animals at watering holes also means predators like jaguars will follow, looking for an easy meal.
What can the trap catch?
| Animal | Uses | Rarity |
| Capybara | Protein Source, Fat Source, Bones | Common |
| Armadillo | Protein Source, Armadillo Shells | Common |
| Peccary | Protein Source, Fat Source, Bones | Common |
| Tapir | Protein Source, Fat Source, Bones | Common-Uncommon (location dependent) |
| Jaguar | Protein Source, Bones, Cat Fangs | Uncommon-Rare (location dependent) |
| Puma | Protein Source, Bones, Cat Fangs | Rare (location dependent) |
| Black Caiman | Protein Source, Bones | Very Rare (location dependant) |
Pros and cons of Killer Traps
Cons
- These traps can be triggered without capturing an animal
- Despite their name, they will not affect human targets
- Animals killed by this trap will decay if not harvested
- These traps take a fair amount of resources to construct
Pros
- Animals killed by this trap often produce very nutritious meat
- Additional resources, such as bones, can often be harvested from these traps
- Killer Traps can be used to defend yourself from predators
- These snares can be baited with any manner of food to increase their capture speed
Tips and tricks for using Killer Traps
- What you bait a trap with will not affect what it catches, so you can bait this trap with nearly anything edible
- Animal AI will recognize the trap’s post structure as an obstacle and may walk around it. Make sure they do so into the tripwire by blocking adjacent space.
- Small choke points between trees, logs, and other obstacles can be utilized, as animals will walk around them
- As of the building update, some players often report finding their traps triggered but empty. While Creepy Jar has not confirmed this, we assume this is a change to balance this powerful snare rather than a bug.
Final thoughts on Killer Traps
Even if this trap doesn’t always hit its mark, the ability to reliably take down large animals gives it a serious edge over the game’s other traps. It may take some fine-tuning to catch big game, but we can’t complain about having peccary bacon every morning.
Looking for some other pointers to help you survive the rainforest? Check out our 10 Tips for Getting Started or walkthrough of How to Survive your First Day.
