The Dino Tamer is Trove’s charmingly chaotic paleontologist — equal parts hunter, wrangler, and dinosaur cheerleader. In 2025 the class remains a flexible ranged powerhouse in Trove: you debuff enemies with nets, spit tranquilizer darts, and summon prehistoric buddies to tear through waves. Whether you want to kite as a hard-hitting ranged DPS, macro-manage dinos for sustained pet damage, or farming Flux build, the Dino Tamer has a viable, meta-relevant path.
Dino Tamer Identity: The Saurian Survivor
The Dino Tamer's story is one of brilliant adaptation. Hailing originally from the Desert Frontier, a botched experiment (or a fortunate accident) sent them hurtling through a rift in spacetime. They found themselves not just in a new location, but in a new era—the treacherous and untamed Jurassic Jungle. Here, brute force alone wouldn't save you. Survival required wit, technology, and an understanding of the local fauna.
This is the core of the Dino Tamer fantasy: you are not a brutish warrior, but a clever tactician. You use hunting nets to immobilize, tranquilizer darts to whittle down foes from a distance, and your knowledge of saurian behavior to turn the jungle's greatest threats into your most loyal allies. You didn't conquer this world; you learned to thrive within it, and now you bring that primal power to every corner of Trove.
Playstyle & Role
The Dino Tamer is officially classified as a Magic Damage-based Ranged class that uses Guns, falling under the "Advanced" difficulty tier. This means there's a rewarding learning curve to mastering its kit.
In practice, the Dino Tamer is a flexible powerhouse that can be built for several roles, consistently earning it a spot in the A-Tier of class rankings. Its gameplay is a dynamic dance between three key pillars:
- Strategic Crowd Control: Your Clever Snare isn't just for damage; it's a vital tool for controlling the battlefield, locking down dangerous enemies, and setting up kills.
- Ranged Poke and Sustain: Your Hunting Dart basic attack allows you to kite enemies and deal consistent damage from a safe distance.
- Summoned Chaos: Your Dino Buddies and Dino Mount ultimate bring unpredictable, often overwhelming, additional damage and utility to the fray.
Your feel in combat is tactical and twitchy. You're constantly monitoring positioning, deciding when to root a foe, when to fall back while peppering them with darts, and when to unleash the full might of your prehistoric entourage for a burst of carnage.
Dino Tamer abilities & passive
Understanding your abilities is the first step to mastery. Here’s a breakdown of your core tools and how to wield them effectively.
- Basic Attack: Hunting Dart - "Fire off a long-ranged dart to hit your enemies hard before they even know you’re there". This is your bread-and-butter, your primary source of sustained damage. It's a straightforward projectile, but remember you move at 80% speed while shooting, making positioning key.
- Right-Click: Clever Snare - This is your signature control ability. You throw a net that roots, drains energy, and damages enemies in an area. The genius is in its charge mechanic:
- Tap: Instant throw, small range and area, short duration. Perfect for a quick root on a single target.
- Hold (1-2 seconds): Increases the range, radius, and duration significantly. A fully charged net can control a entire group of mobs, making it invaluable in dense dungeons or Shadow Towers.
- Passive 1: Dino Buddy Food (Meatergy) - This is your core gameplay loop. Killing an enemy with the Clever Snare debuff will yield meat that resets the cooldown of your Dino Buddy ability. This synergy is absolutely critical—proper net application allows for near-constant dino summons.
- Ability 1: Dino Buddy - You throw a piece of meat onto the battlefield, summoning one of three random dinosaurs to fight for you for 22 seconds. You can have up to three active at once.
- Triceratops (40% chance): The tank. It has high health and taunts enemies, drawing aggro away from you.
- Therizinosaurus (30% chance): The DPS. It deals massive, slower-hitting attacks.
- Quetzalcoatlus (30% chance): The controller. Its every third attack stuns an enemy, providing additional crowd control.
- Ability 2: Dino Mount (Ultimate) - You mount a powerful Archeosaurus, entering a empowered state for 12 seconds. This is your major burst window. While mounted:
- Your basic attacks deal increased damage and gain splash Area-of-Effect damage.
- Your Clever Snare is automatically thrown at max charge and becomes "Poisonous," dealing significantly more damage.
- Your Dino Buddy ability is replaced by Dino Stomp, which summons a dino and emits a shockwave that stuns nearby enemies.
The Best Dino Tamer Builds for 2025
This is where theory meets practice. Below are three potent build specializations to suit any playstyle or goal in the current meta.
The Primal Dominator Build (Ranged DPS)
This build focuses on you as the primary damage dealer, maximizing your personal output while your dinos act as valuable distractions.
- When to Use: Ideal for solo bossing, Delves, and any content where you need to be the main source of damage while staying safe.
- Core Stat Priority:
- Magic Damage: Your number one priority. Everything scales from this.
- Critical Hit & Critical Damage: Stack these to make every dart hit like a truck.
- Attack Speed: More darts per second means more damage and faster energy generation.
- Gear & Gem Setup:
- Empowered Gems: Pyrodisc for added AoE clear, Vampirian Vanquisher for sustain, and the class gem Dino Time (which increases mount duration and attack speed) for enhanced burst phases .
- Lesser Gems: Focus on Magic Damage, Critical Hit, and Critical Damage on your cosmic gems, with Light as a key endgame stat .
- Emblems & Flask:
- Rotation & Playstyle: Engage by throwing a fully charged Clever Snare into a pack. Kite at the edge of the fight, spamming Hunting Darts. For elite mobs or bosses, activate your Dino Mount (Ultimate), drop a Poisonous Snare on them, and unload with your AoE darts. Use Dino Buddy to tank for you, but remember your focus is on your own damage output.
The Saurian Commander Build (Pet Summoner)
This build leans into the class's unique fantasy, making your dinosaur allies the stars of the show. It provides excellent sustained damage and is great for players who prefer a more tactical, minion-managing style.
- When to Use: Perfect for long Delve runs, soloing difficult content where your pets can tank, and for players who enjoy a more relaxed, strategic playstyle.
- Core Stat Priority:
- Cooldown Reduction: The cornerstone of this build. More CDR means more Dino Buddies and more ultimate uptime.
- Magic Damage: Your pets' damage scales with your Magic Damage, so don't neglect it.
- Maximum Health / Stability: You need to be alive to command your army. Investing in survivability lets you stand in the thick of things with your dinos.
- Gear & Gem Setup:
- Emblems & Flask:
- Emblems: Chronomancer Emblem is your best friend. The constant cooldown reduction allows for an endless stream of dinosaurs. Pair it with Martial Emblem for when you're in your mounted burst phase.
- Flask: Death-Defying Vial remains the top choice.
- Rotation & Playstyle: Your goal is to always have 3 dinosaurs active. Open fights by using Clever Snare on a group and focus fire to get kills and reset your Dino Buddy cooldown. Your rotation becomes a loop: Net -> Kill -> Summon Dino. Use your Dino Mount to refresh your dino army with Dino Stomp and to push through tough waves with its empowered attacks.
The Jungle Stalker Build (Speed Farmer)
Built for efficiency, this build maximizes your movement and clear speed to blaze through adventure worlds and farming routes.
- When to Use: When your goal is to farm resources, clear dungeons quickly for Adventurine, or power-level your mastery.
- Core Stat Priority:
- Movement Speed: The most important stat for this role.
- Attack Speed: Allows you to clear packs faster as you move through them.
- Magic Damage: Still necessary to ensure you're one-shotting standard mobs.
- Gear & Gem Setup:
- Empowered Gems: Volatile Velocity is a fantastic choice for the massive movement speed boost it provides. Pyrodisc or Explosive Epilogue-style gems help clear packs you might run past.
- Lesser Gems: Seek out gems with Movement Speed and Attack Speed secondaries.
- Emblems & Flask:
- Emblems: Trailblazing Emblem for a direct speed boost. Pair it with Surestrike or Martial to ensure you're still killing quickly.
- Flask: While Death-Defying is safe, an energy-regeneration flask like Conjurer's Flask can be useful for spamming abilities non-stop.
- Rotation & Playstyle: This is all about momentum. Run through dungeons, using charged Clever Snares on dense packs without stopping. Your Hunting Darts will finish them off as you move to the next objective. Use Dino Buddy to clear side rooms without diverting your path. Your Dino Mount is a fantastic mobility tool—use it to traverse large empty spaces between dungeons.
Gearing Your Dino Tamer
This table provides a quick-reference for the ideal stats on your equipment across the different builds.
| Gear Slot | Primal Dominator (DPS) | Saurian Commander (Summoner) | Jungle Stalker (Speed) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Magic Dmg, Crit Dmg, Atk Spd | Magic Dmg, Cooldown Red., Atk Spd | Magic Dmg, Atk Spd, Movement Spd |
| Hat | Max Health, Crit Hit, Crit Dmg | Max Health, Cooldown Red., Stability | Max Health, Movement Spd, Crit Hit |
| Face | Magic Dmg, Crit Hit, Atk Spd | Max Health, Cooldown Red., Magic Dmg | Magic Dmg, Movement Spd, Energy Regen |
| Ring | Crit Hit, Crit Dmg, Atk Spd | Cooldown Red., Magic Dmg, Energy Regen | Movement Spd, Atk Spd, Crit Hit |
Progression roadmap — early → mid → endgame
- Early Game (Power Rank 0-5,000): Focus on learning the core Clever Snare -> Kill -> Dino Buddy loop. Equip gear with basic Magic Damage and Health stats. Don't worry about perfect rolls; just keep your item level moving up.
- Mid Game (PR 5,000-20,000): This is where you define your path. Choose one of the three builds above and start hunting for gear with the correct stats. Actively work on acquiring and leveling your Empowered Gems, especially the Dino Time class gem. This is where your power truly starts to spike.
- End Game (PR 20,000+): Min-maxing is the name of the game. Your goal is to get perfect stat rolls on your gear and max out your Cosmic Gems with a heavy focus on Light and your core damage stats. Master your rotations and emblem timings to push the limits of what the Dino Tamer can achieve in top-level Shadow Towers and Delves.