@Chippydip Yah I see Shatter maintaining the homing ability, but not pierce. Of course, it could definitely go another way too.
Honestly, either version would be nice, but I would like the runes better if it didn't home, just to provide improved incentives for others, specifically Spray, which is stuck being the only aoe-only rune otherwise. Devouring appears to need a nerf though. Reducing it to 50% bonus damage would bring it to a reasonable 242.
i love thorycrafting, but i really need to do the exact math behind it. an close idea is often good enough for me. i usually don't have any problem whit understanding skills because of my profession and previous knowledge and experience :I bet its not really a problem in d3 either.
but its true that the theoretical damage output of scatter shot i mentioned before is insane, but thats only if it can keep it up. (it if works as id like it to work that is, meaning the tool tip doesn't confirm it or deny it.)
35% that one arrow explodes.
35% that is happens again on any of these 3 arrows.
so basically it will happen again on at least 1 arrow (statistically)
and continue from that point onwards repeating.
so, if i was blizzard i would have it explode one time, and basically make it 3 normal hungering arrows that pierce the same way an unrunned version does it.
this means!
35% chance of at least triple your damage output , and as the chance is about 33%, and the damage is +200% the total bonus would be about 67% total damage increase over time.
hungering arrow is probably my favorite ability in diablo 3 at this point. i cant wait to see how each rune functions when the game is released.
if shatter shot pierces and splits into 3 arrows, and your on single target.... can all 3 arrows turn back and hit the same target? sounds too overpowered. maybe the arrows that 'split' dont even home to new targets, but are on a straight path. can the 'split' arrows pierce and split again? again sounds too overpowered. but until release, we have no way of knowing.
personally, i will always view hungering arrow as a single target ability so it narrows my rune choice to either punctering arrow (increases pierce chance to 50%) making each shot have a 50% chance to deal 230% weapon damage or 115% to 2 targets (possibly more if the pierced arrow can split again) or devouring arrow (each pierce increases damage my 70%) which has a 35% chance to increase damage. leaning towards puncturing at the moment, but may change when experimenting.
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(this build was before D3 launched... looking back on it now - i had no idea what i was doing)
1. split into three arrows which have three nearby targets to attack
2. split into three guided arrows
3. split into three regular arrows that hit
4. pierce targets
5. pierce targets and split into additional arrows
are all assumptions without any reasoning. I think it is safe to say the guided arrow will split into 3 regular arrows which in some cases won't even hit 3 targets. The rune would be broken otherwise.
1. Assuming they have homing, this is not an issue. (If they are not guided, it too will be a poor choice obviously.)
2. That is just #1 again
3. #2 said to assume they are guided...Which I said is actually only #1.
4. Yes that is another assumption.
5. This assumption was never made to my knowledge, as it clearly says a split only occurs on the first pierce.
So, what this really boils down to is we have 2 assumptions.
#1 The new arrows are guided.
#2 The new arrows are allowed to pierce.
This means there are 4 possibilities,
(Not #1 & Not#2)
(#1, but not #2)
(#2, but not #1)
(#1 and #2)
(Not #1 & Not#2) We talked about this, and if this is the case then shatter isn't even worth considering.
(#1, but not #2) Is already on the screenshot, 233.75
(#2, but not #1) I actually never considered this one, but it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense and would still make a rather poor choice.
(#1 and #2) On the screenshot at 300% dmg, and is seems too strong, thus not likely the way it works imo.
----------------------------
EDIT: I misread devouring arrow. It stipulates that every consecutive pierce gets a 70% dmg boost. This puts it down to 215% dmg, which given the high probability of overkill makes it by far the worst choice.
Assuming this interpretation is correct that is.
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
Not #1 and not #2 IS a possibility, simply forcing it into and aoe/line situational ability. I see no reason for throwing that option away; its theoretical max damage stays the same at 233.
Edit: scratch that on devouring, your equation is wrong. When n = 1, that's one pierce, aka the 2nd hit should have the 70% bonus, which you've now removed.
Edit2: I now see what you were getting at with the 'consecutive' but I believe that to be a mistake in wording. Having only the 3rd and higher hits get the bonus is not very intuitive.
Not #1 and not #2 IS a possibility, simply forcing it into and aoe/line situational ability. I see no reason for throwing that option away; its theoretical max damage stays the same at 233.
Edit: scratch that on devouring, your equation is wrong. When n = 1, that's one pierce, aka the 2nd hit should have the 70% bonus, which you've now removed.
Edit2: I now see what you were getting at with the 'consecutive' but I believe that to be a mistake in wording. Having only the 3rd and higher hits get the bonus is not very intuitive.
Yah its still a possibility, but the dmg becomes rather pathetic in say a single target situation, imo the niche of the ability, is only 115% dmg. There would have to be a pretty big clump of mobs to ensure you get that potential 233% dmg. Idk, the other choices just seem better if that is the case, which is what I meant by saying it wasn't worth considering.
I started the sum at 1 on that particular one, because I had to subtract the 1st pierce from being able to gain the 70% dmg bonus. Of course, I am assuming that the 1st pierce doesn't get the dmg bonus, given the wording "consecutive pierces". However, by doing this you end up with a rather small #, 215%, that doesn't particularly make a lot of sense if you ask me. I think the other # was more fitting, though potentially maybe too strong against bosses.
Actually now that I look at it, they recently just nerfed puncturing arrow from 55% to 50% didnt they? That means they nerfed the dmg from 255% to the 230%.
Now, if shatter arrow doesn't allow piercing its at 230% range with the other 3. Then that would only leave devouring as an outlier. However, seeing as it drastically increases in dmg per pierce it has a high chance to overkill, thus lowering the overall effective dmg.
Therefore, I think its safe to assume that shatter arrow's won't be allowed to pierce. However, if that is not the case then shatter becomes the only choice, as it will be the best in pretty much any situation.
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
You could say the same about *many* runes for abilities that start more focused and end up spread out. Meteor shower is the first one to come to mind, along with ray of frost or one of fists of thunder. Cinder is in a similar place, where its benefit drops drastically in single target or higher aps situations. Not as drastic as what is possible for shatter, but still worth consideration.
I'm not sure overkill damage is enough of a reason to discount devouring being overpowered either. It just makes it stronger in groups or inferno where the hit may not still be enough, or where the % of overkill it is is low enough to be negligible.
Of course blizzard is always so damn vague, that even that could be interpreted different ways.
I don't remember the poison dart debuff stacking when I played the WD. So, maybe he means different sources.
Vasadan
Bola Shot isn't a DoT. The only thing that is "stacking" is the 1 second cast time/animation of the bola wrapping around the enemy.
Poison Dart does not, and is currently intended to not, have a stacking debuff. It does not say anywhere in the tooltip that it stacks. Casting a second Poison Dart simply refreshes the spell, and that is intended.
Well, can test with rend possibly. I don't believe you got more damage per tick though. My immediate thought is how dots worked for wow, and possibly whatever that fire crit dot talent was called... /brain fart. Ill note that neither was perfect, and the first was for quality of life for keeping uptime only, not for increasing damage.
Unless I'm mistaken...Wouldn't you have a 72.5% chance of one of the three arrows piercing on scatter?
(1.0-0.35)*(1.0-0.35)*(1.0-0.35)
I'm not saying one roll with a 72.5/100 chance...Just statistically, that you have a 72.5% chance for one of those three to pierce?
Its much easier to just look at the dmg of each individual arrow in that situation.
Each arrow is merely the unruned version of the hungering arrow at 176% wpn dmg.
There is a 35% chance to spam the 3 arrows, so 115+0.35*3*176
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
I posted a reply to a similar reddit thread earlier today with details on how to calculate these infinite sums as well if anyone is interested: http://www.reddit.co...ungering_arrow/
Thank you for that reddit post/link. I couldn't really follow what was going on until I read that, now I understand the math much better.
So what's the discrepancy between yours and the OP's Devouring rune calculation? or are you doing a different type of calculation (perhaps I am still lost after all lol)?
Unless I'm mistaken...Wouldn't you have a 72.5% chance of one of the three arrows piercing on scatter?
(1.0-0.35)*(1.0-0.35)*(1.0-0.35)
I'm not saying one roll with a 72.5/100 chance...Just statistically, that you have a 72.5% chance for one of those three to pierce?
Its much easier to just look at the dmg of each individual arrow in that situation.
Each arrow is merely the unruned version of the hungering arrow at 176% wpn dmg.
There is a 35% chance to spam the 3 arrows, so 115+0.35*3*176
Why are they at 176% wpn dmg? They don't add any damage - they're at 115%..
And logically, those arrows have a 35% chance to split - but the first pierce is the one that creates said arrows. I'm not so sure that equation factors in everything...
You only have a 35% chance to crit at least once with your first arrow....
Knowing that you have to calculate that every shot is guaranteed 115% wpn dmg. Due to chance it's an extremely bursty skill - it's not really an easily calculated skill without a calculator / parser.
Let me add that the damage range is EXTREMELY LARGE.
IT DOESNT MEAN YOU WILL do 353% EVERY SHOT.
That means IT WILL AVERAGE out to that IF the scatter shots can pierce.
If not - you can disregard this post.
IE:
Let's assume we fire the shot 100 times.
11500% Weapon Damage just from the shot
4025% Weapon Damage from the first shot piercing once
1380% Weapon Damage from the first shot piercing twice
460% Weapon Damage from the first shot piercing three times (not going any further due to such a low chance)
17426.9% Weapon Damage over the course of 100 shots.
Adding in the scatter rune:
12075% Weapon Damage (11500*0.35)*(3)
1380% Weapon Damage if first arrow pierces once
460% Weapon Damage if first arrow pierces twice
115% Weapon Damage if first arrow pierces thrice
1380% Weapon Damage if second arrow pierces once
460% Weapon Damage if second arrow pierces twice
115% Weapon Damage if second arrow pierces thrice
1380% Weapon Damage if third arrow pierces once
460% Weapon Damage if third arrow pierces twice
115% Weapon Damage if third arrow pierces thrice
Using a sample of 100 shots with the math provided:
We get 100 shots.
100/100 Normal Damage
11500% Weapon Damage
35/100 Pierce Once
4025% Weapon Damage
12/100 Pierce Twice
1380% Weapon Damage
4/100 Pierce Thrice
460% Weapon Damage
35/100 Scatter Shot
12075% Weapon Damage
12/35 First Arrow Pierces Once
1380% Weapon Damage
4/35 First Arrow Pierces Twice
460% Weapon Damage
1.5/35 First Arrow Pierces Thrice
115% Weapon Damage
12/35 Second Arrow Pierces Once
1380% Weapon Damage
4/35 Second Arrow Pierces Twice
460% Weapon Damage
1.5/35 Second Arrow Pierces Thrice
115% Weapon Damage
12/35 Third Arrow Pierces once
1380% Weapon Damage
4/35 Third Arrow Pierces Twice
460% Weapon Damage
1.5/35 Third Arrow Pierces Thrice
115% Weapon Damage
It's 176% damage because they are factoring in the chance for multiple hits/piercings. It's the average damage.
Also, it seems to be the consensus for now that the arrows most likely don't pierce after they split into 3 with Shatter Shot. The reasoning has been explained on the first page.
A real question is how one would use each of the 5 runes in terms of gear / build setup.
Obviously Spray of Teeth is for a crit build, but what about the other 4? Cinder Arrow gives you elemental damage which I guess is alright, but I'm not really sure how you could use the other 3 runes. Having 50% chance to pierce allows for more hits but less damage and 70% increased damage per pierce gives you more damage but less hits. And then Shatter Shot spreads the damage more evenly I would guess with a 3-arrow spread.
Perhaps with a slow weapon you would want the 50% pierce chance because it essentially gives you free attacks, which is useful when you have a slow attack speed. And maybe if you have a fast attack speed you would want the added 70% damage because you don't need extra attacks and get an added damage boost to a weaker weapon. Of course you could also, stack the 50% pierce chance with a fast weapon and take advantage of something like life on hit.
Overall it's kind of confusing. I'm not sure why you would take any one of these 3 runes over the other 2. Most skill runes are pretty easy to fit into a build, but Hungering Arrow is a bit more difficult.
It's 176% damage because they are factoring in the chance for multiple hits/piercings. It's the average damage.
Also, it seems to be the consensus for now that the arrows most likely don't pierce after they split into 3 with Shatter Shot. The reasoning has been explained on the first page.
But yeah...I don't think they're allowed to pierce...but it could be an oversight. You never know =/
Overall it's kind of confusing. I'm not sure why you would take any one of these 3 runes over the other 2. Most skill runes are pretty easy to fit into a build, but Hungering Arrow is a bit more difficult.
Hungering is unique in this regard; all of its runes don't change its functionality much, only the damage. Additionally, they're typically limited in the number of hits, not area, resulting in something extremely comparable and not situational. Spray is the only 'typical' rune here and you'll note that it's the one rune without a number attached to it.
I'm honestly surprised not one of these runes says: piercing an enemy provides X additional hatred, piercing an enemy snares the enemy for 2 seconds, or removes the homing ability and increases the damage, etc. The only synergy with Hungering is possibly Night Stalker and Sharpshooter, where Puncturing, Shatter, and Spray are best for providing the higher number of hits.
When making assumptions about Scatter, please consider that there are not always 4 mobs (1 mob and 3 nearby mobs to receive the split arrows). In many cases you might find your arrow split into 3 arrows with nothing to hit.
The chances of the other runes piercing and hitting an additional target is higher because:
1. they just need 1 additional target
2. they can hit the same target they pierced (which scatter PROBABLY can't. Would be really OP if it could)
Scatter will therefore blow more damage into thin air, instead of mobs, more on average than the other runes.
Its only OP if the 3 arrows are guided and can pierce.
Its merely on par with the others if the 3 arrows are guided, but can't pierce. If the 3 arrows from scatter are not guided, then scatter becomes crap. You would need to hit 1.5/3 mobs just to beat out the unruned version of hungering arrow. Hungering arrow is a great single target ability, so I can't see taking that niche away to make it a mediocre aoe ability.
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
When making assumptions about Scatter, please consider that there are not always 4 mobs (1 mob and 3 nearby mobs to receive the split arrows). In many cases you might find your arrow split into 3 arrows with nothing to hit.
The chances of the other runes piercing and hitting an additional target is higher because:
1. they just need 1 additional target
2. they can hit the same target they pierced (which scatter PROBABLY can't. Would be really OP if it could)
Scatter will therefore blow more damage into thin air, instead of mobs, more on average than the other runes.
That's the tradeoff though. Shatter can do the most (when they all hit) but that's only going to happen against larger packs. The other runes can do similar damage in larger packs but since they can also do so against smaller packs and single target, the damage is usually a little lower (even though their potential is higher, just not as likely to get enough piercings, and even if they do hit 4 targets, it all happens "slower" than Shatter's damage).
Having the numbers to look at is great, but one must also look at HOW the damage is delivered. Shatter is all at once, but due to it's mechanics it's potential is limited to hordes of monsters. The others can do really well against single targets but their pack damage is usually a little lower and slower (Shatter is bursty since it's practically 4 hits simultaneously).
That's just how I look at it of course. I'm not the math wiz like the other guys in this thread so I'm trying to look at it more from a mechanics and circumstance standpoint. Maybe I'm completely wrong and not making any sense, lol.
When making assumptions about Scatter, please consider that there are not always 4 mobs (1 mob and 3 nearby mobs to receive the split arrows). In many cases you might find your arrow split into 3 arrows with nothing to hit.
The chances of the other runes piercing and hitting an additional target is higher because:
1. they just need 1 additional target
2. they can hit the same target they pierced (which scatter PROBABLY can't. Would be really OP if it could)
Scatter will therefore blow more damage into thin air, instead of mobs, more on average than the other runes.
Sure - but you don't have to use said rune in any situation where there is less than three mobs.
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i love thorycrafting, but i really need to do the exact math behind it. an close idea is often good enough for me. i usually don't have any problem whit understanding skills because of my profession and previous knowledge and experience :I bet its not really a problem in d3 either.
but its true that the theoretical damage output of scatter shot i mentioned before is insane, but thats only if it can keep it up. (it if works as id like it to work that is, meaning the tool tip doesn't confirm it or deny it.)
35% that one arrow explodes.
35% that is happens again on any of these 3 arrows.
so basically it will happen again on at least 1 arrow (statistically)
and continue from that point onwards repeating.
so, if i was blizzard i would have it explode one time, and basically make it 3 normal hungering arrows that pierce the same way an unrunned version does it.
this means!
35% chance of at least triple your damage output , and as the chance is about 33%, and the damage is +200% the total bonus would be about 67% total damage increase over time.
if shatter shot pierces and splits into 3 arrows, and your on single target.... can all 3 arrows turn back and hit the same target? sounds too overpowered. maybe the arrows that 'split' dont even home to new targets, but are on a straight path. can the 'split' arrows pierce and split again? again sounds too overpowered. but until release, we have no way of knowing.
personally, i will always view hungering arrow as a single target ability so it narrows my rune choice to either punctering arrow (increases pierce chance to 50%) making each shot have a 50% chance to deal 230% weapon damage or 115% to 2 targets (possibly more if the pierced arrow can split again) or devouring arrow (each pierce increases damage my 70%) which has a 35% chance to increase damage. leaning towards puncturing at the moment, but may change when experimenting.
2. That is just #1 again
3. #2 said to assume they are guided...Which I said is actually only #1.
4. Yes that is another assumption.
5. This assumption was never made to my knowledge, as it clearly says a split only occurs on the first pierce.
So, what this really boils down to is we have 2 assumptions.
#1 The new arrows are guided.
#2 The new arrows are allowed to pierce.
This means there are 4 possibilities,
(Not #1 & Not#2)
(#1, but not #2)
(#2, but not #1)
(#1 and #2)
(Not #1 & Not#2) We talked about this, and if this is the case then shatter isn't even worth considering.
(#1, but not #2) Is already on the screenshot, 233.75
(#2, but not #1) I actually never considered this one, but it doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense and would still make a rather poor choice.
(#1 and #2) On the screenshot at 300% dmg, and is seems too strong, thus not likely the way it works imo.
----------------------------
EDIT: I misread devouring arrow. It stipulates that every consecutive pierce gets a 70% dmg boost. This puts it down to 215% dmg, which given the high probability of overkill makes it by far the worst choice.
Assuming this interpretation is correct that is.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
Edit: scratch that on devouring, your equation is wrong. When n = 1, that's one pierce, aka the 2nd hit should have the 70% bonus, which you've now removed.
Edit2: I now see what you were getting at with the 'consecutive' but I believe that to be a mistake in wording. Having only the 3rd and higher hits get the bonus is not very intuitive.
Yah its still a possibility, but the dmg becomes rather pathetic in say a single target situation, imo the niche of the ability, is only 115% dmg. There would have to be a pretty big clump of mobs to ensure you get that potential 233% dmg. Idk, the other choices just seem better if that is the case, which is what I meant by saying it wasn't worth considering.
I started the sum at 1 on that particular one, because I had to subtract the 1st pierce from being able to gain the 70% dmg bonus. Of course, I am assuming that the 1st pierce doesn't get the dmg bonus, given the wording "consecutive pierces". However, by doing this you end up with a rather small #, 215%, that doesn't particularly make a lot of sense if you ask me. I think the other # was more fitting, though potentially maybe too strong against bosses.
This is a good analysis of the dmg ranges,
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
I'm not sure overkill damage is enough of a reason to discount devouring being overpowered either. It just makes it stronger in groups or inferno where the hit may not still be enough, or where the % of overkill it is is low enough to be negligible.
Q. Will poison damage stack?
DoTs can stack, and the DoT can be poison based, but poison is not inherently a DoT.
http://diablo.incgam...-iii-fansite-qa
Of course blizzard is always so damn vague, that even that could be interpreted different ways.
I don't remember the poison dart debuff stacking when I played the WD. So, maybe he means different sources.
Vasadan
Bola Shot isn't a DoT. The only thing that is "stacking" is the 1 second cast time/animation of the bola wrapping around the enemy.
Poison Dart does not, and is currently intended to not, have a stacking debuff. It does not say anywhere in the tooltip that it stacks. Casting a second Poison Dart simply refreshes the spell, and that is intended.
https://us.battle.ne...c/4063007851#10
I just found this, I guess that kind of confirms that dots from the same source wont stack.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
(1.0-0.35)*(1.0-0.35)*(1.0-0.35)
I'm not saying one roll with a 72.5/100 chance...Just statistically, that you have a 72.5% chance for one of those three to pierce?
Each arrow is merely the unruned version of the hungering arrow at 176% wpn dmg.
There is a 35% chance to spam the 3 arrows, so 115+0.35*3*176
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
Thank you for that reddit post/link. I couldn't really follow what was going on until I read that, now I understand the math much better.
So what's the discrepancy between yours and the OP's Devouring rune calculation? or are you doing a different type of calculation (perhaps I am still lost after all lol)?
Why are they at 176% wpn dmg? They don't add any damage - they're at 115%..
And logically, those arrows have a 35% chance to split - but the first pierce is the one that creates said arrows. I'm not so sure that equation factors in everything...
You only have a 35% chance to crit at least once with your first arrow....
Knowing that you have to calculate that every shot is guaranteed 115% wpn dmg. Due to chance it's an extremely bursty skill - it's not really an easily calculated skill without a calculator / parser.
Let me add that the damage range is EXTREMELY LARGE.
IT DOESNT MEAN YOU WILL do 353% EVERY SHOT.
That means IT WILL AVERAGE out to that IF the scatter shots can pierce.
If not - you can disregard this post.
IE:
Let's assume we fire the shot 100 times.
11500% Weapon Damage just from the shot
4025% Weapon Damage from the first shot piercing once
1380% Weapon Damage from the first shot piercing twice
460% Weapon Damage from the first shot piercing three times (not going any further due to such a low chance)
17426.9% Weapon Damage over the course of 100 shots.
Adding in the scatter rune:
12075% Weapon Damage (11500*0.35)*(3)
1380% Weapon Damage if first arrow pierces once
460% Weapon Damage if first arrow pierces twice
115% Weapon Damage if first arrow pierces thrice
1380% Weapon Damage if second arrow pierces once
460% Weapon Damage if second arrow pierces twice
115% Weapon Damage if second arrow pierces thrice
1380% Weapon Damage if third arrow pierces once
460% Weapon Damage if third arrow pierces twice
115% Weapon Damage if third arrow pierces thrice
Using a sample of 100 shots with the math provided:
We get 100 shots.
100/100 Normal Damage
11500% Weapon Damage
35/100 Pierce Once
4025% Weapon Damage
12/100 Pierce Twice
1380% Weapon Damage
4/100 Pierce Thrice
460% Weapon Damage
35/100 Scatter Shot
12075% Weapon Damage
12/35 First Arrow Pierces Once
1380% Weapon Damage
4/35 First Arrow Pierces Twice
460% Weapon Damage
1.5/35 First Arrow Pierces Thrice
115% Weapon Damage
12/35 Second Arrow Pierces Once
1380% Weapon Damage
4/35 Second Arrow Pierces Twice
460% Weapon Damage
1.5/35 Second Arrow Pierces Thrice
115% Weapon Damage
12/35 Third Arrow Pierces once
1380% Weapon Damage
4/35 Third Arrow Pierces Twice
460% Weapon Damage
1.5/35 Third Arrow Pierces Thrice
115% Weapon Damage
Knowing that:
2 Arrows Piercing Once: 11.76% Chance
3 Arrows Piercing Once: 4% Chance
2 Arrows Piercing Twice: 1.3% Chance
I don't really need to go any further..
Let's adds everything together...
35305% Weapon Damage every 100 shots (this is an average)
353% Weapon Damage every shot
Correct me if that's wrong.
Edit: I'm not claiming to be a genius or mathematician...I'm just dropping in to give what I observed...
Also, it seems to be the consensus for now that the arrows most likely don't pierce after they split into 3 with Shatter Shot. The reasoning has been explained on the first page.
Obviously Spray of Teeth is for a crit build, but what about the other 4? Cinder Arrow gives you elemental damage which I guess is alright, but I'm not really sure how you could use the other 3 runes. Having 50% chance to pierce allows for more hits but less damage and 70% increased damage per pierce gives you more damage but less hits. And then Shatter Shot spreads the damage more evenly I would guess with a 3-arrow spread.
Perhaps with a slow weapon you would want the 50% pierce chance because it essentially gives you free attacks, which is useful when you have a slow attack speed. And maybe if you have a fast attack speed you would want the added 70% damage because you don't need extra attacks and get an added damage boost to a weaker weapon. Of course you could also, stack the 50% pierce chance with a fast weapon and take advantage of something like life on hit.
Overall it's kind of confusing. I'm not sure why you would take any one of these 3 runes over the other 2. Most skill runes are pretty easy to fit into a build, but Hungering Arrow is a bit more difficult.
But yeah...I don't think they're allowed to pierce...but it could be an oversight. You never know =/
I'm honestly surprised not one of these runes says: piercing an enemy provides X additional hatred, piercing an enemy snares the enemy for 2 seconds, or removes the homing ability and increases the damage, etc. The only synergy with Hungering is possibly Night Stalker and Sharpshooter, where Puncturing, Shatter, and Spray are best for providing the higher number of hits.
Its only OP if the 3 arrows are guided and can pierce.
Its merely on par with the others if the 3 arrows are guided, but can't pierce. If the 3 arrows from scatter are not guided, then scatter becomes crap. You would need to hit 1.5/3 mobs just to beat out the unruned version of hungering arrow. Hungering arrow is a great single target ability, so I can't see taking that niche away to make it a mediocre aoe ability.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
That's the tradeoff though. Shatter can do the most (when they all hit) but that's only going to happen against larger packs. The other runes can do similar damage in larger packs but since they can also do so against smaller packs and single target, the damage is usually a little lower (even though their potential is higher, just not as likely to get enough piercings, and even if they do hit 4 targets, it all happens "slower" than Shatter's damage).
Having the numbers to look at is great, but one must also look at HOW the damage is delivered. Shatter is all at once, but due to it's mechanics it's potential is limited to hordes of monsters. The others can do really well against single targets but their pack damage is usually a little lower and slower (Shatter is bursty since it's practically 4 hits simultaneously).
That's just how I look at it of course. I'm not the math wiz like the other guys in this thread so I'm trying to look at it more from a mechanics and circumstance standpoint. Maybe I'm completely wrong and not making any sense, lol.
Sure - but you don't have to use said rune in any situation where there is less than three mobs.