Shadow Prison Vs. Hidden Caltrops

if im not mistaking, hidden caltrops end when u land ur first attack, which makes it useless for a hex spike assa, like shadow prison spike. As u mentioned it haven't got a shadow step option, which makes it a bad choice for quick spikes.

Unless you Hex, shadow step then lead-offhand-dual.

Can't rely on Caltrops as a hex for skipping leads, but it could be put to use in a Deadly Arts build, since many of the dagger spells are half range, the cripple plus spike damage might actually work better than Blinding Surge.

Lets compare the two skills:
[skill]Shadow Prison[/skill]

Advantages:
Its a shadowstep
Its a hex, which allows for the famous [skill=text]Black Spider Strike[/skill] combo.
66% speed reduction, which is greater than Cripple.
1/4 second cast time, makes it a fast activation and hard to interrupt.

Disadvantages:
Its a hex, and easy to remove and disrupt your combo.
20 second recharge.
In Deadly Arts, a line in which few Assassins step into.

[skill]Hidden Caltrops[/skill]

Advantages:
Eight scond recharge makes it less of a concern and lets it come into play more often.
Adds up to 83 damage (17 Shadow Arts) when target takes damage while moving.
Is in Shadow Arts, which is more common than Deadly Arts.

Disadvantages:
Is a hex, and easily removed.
1 second cast time makes for easy interruption.
Target MUST be moving to take damage. Might want to look at [skill=text]Shameful Fear[/skill] which is, unfortunatly, in Deadly Arts.
Is NOT a shadowstep, and requires you to move to target, which puts you in an odd posistion, because the target can see you coming.

My personal opinion is [skill=text]Shadow Prison[/skill] because the target usually dies in the 6+ seconds it takes for me to get my combo off.

But thats just some information to help you decide.

Well, here's my question: Are you just looking for a hex that works so that you can use BLS/BSS, or are you looking for something that'll do some real damage?

If you're just looking for any old hex, I'm looking with serious interest at [skill=text]Parasitic Bond[/skill]. Like all hexes, it can be stripped. However, this one will give you some health when it's stripped and is spammable as all hell. You could even cast it on multiple people to hide which guy you're going to attack right up until you hit him.

It also frees up your elite slot, so you could use something crazy like [skill=text]Moebius Strike[/skill] (my fave of the minute) or whatever else strikes your fancy.

If the target die, you get the health from parasitic bond aswell?

Yes Hyunsai.

Siphon Speed I find more useful than Parasitic Bond, because it actually helps you if you're in the position of not being able to shadow step all of the time.
If you find yourself not needing it too much, you can always try Expose Defenses.