Let us remember that all D3 builds have strengths and weaknesses. Diablo 3 is based on the fact builds are focused on being viable rather than optimal. Lastly, remember this is BETA so things are subject to change. With that being said, let the theorycrafting begin!
I present to you Geno’s SC build . SC stands for Survival and Control.
Many pro players would agree that it is not who makes the most damage or who has the most life the winner of a battle. The winner of a duel is whoever gets to control the fight. So one of the big element of this build is being able to control your enemy. This is done by stuns and snares.
2. Survivability
Survivability is another key element of PVP in my opinion. All classes have a way of getting close to you or getting far from you. Some classes will also rely on control to try and get you to the position in which the fight is more favorable for them.
Active Skills
Imaple (Indigo): 2.75 stun every time you land a successful hit on target. Before patch this was a Hatred Spender. Now it’s a Hatred Generator so you can use it as much as you want. Keep in mind the knockback so you’ll have to work on getting close to your opponent every time you stun them. This perma-stun with some skill can result in a stun-lock where the opponent will not be able to get out of the stun. There will be counters to this but that will be stun resisting items and such.
Vault (Alabaster): Yes vault is essential to PVP builds and extremely useful in pretty much every situation. When I first shared this build with one of my friends I got asked about the rune. “This only works if you want to vault near the enemy, why will you want to get closer as a ranged class”. Well, not all classes are melee both WD and Wizard can pack a punch that’s why you would want to get closer to prevent them from doing anything.
Smoke Screen (Indigo): Despite how this ability has been criticized by a lot of people because of its short duration, its utility is enormous. I used this ability in Blizzcon and this pretty much saved me a few unnecessary deaths. The extra seconds can get you a little farther or closer to the enemy. In my opinion these seconds are golden.
Strafe (Obsidian): Whenever you are not stunning you are either getting closer to your enemy or farther. Hence strafe. It’s mobility is key to staying alive and catch fleeing opponents. Since this will be your big damage spell you might want to maximize damage. So go for Obsidian Rune for the missiles and also add Ballistics. Each shot does 192% weapon damage and your shoot at 400% speed.
Shadow Power (Golden): That 400% speed translates into 520% speed. This makes your main damage spell very deadly. You go for golden runestone because you are using 3 Discipline skills in the build. If you had 4 Discipline skills you would definitely had to either get Perfectionist or Preparation which would mean you would have to sacrifice something else. Not worth it in my opinion.
Fan of Knives (Obsidian): Just because the build doesn’t focus on damage doesn’t mean you are limited to survival/control spells. This ability combines burst damage and snare. This was my last ability chosen. Some of my friends suggested Caltrops. The problem with Caltrops is that you would have to get another discipline skill. Now read Shadow Power again. Fan of Knives offers burst damage at high hatred cost which you can afford since your hatred will come by Impale and you’ll be using Impale very frequently. The extra snare is a plus. I go for obsidian to increase the range in those awful close scenarios and the extra damage makes it one of the best burst damage spells of the Demon Hunter.
Passive Skills
Ballistics: Needed for strafe. Archery: This skill is too weapon dependent. It’s useful depending on your need. Experimentation is needed. Vengeance: Extra juice for FoK and a few extra seconds for strafe make this passive worth it.
Again no build is perfect. This is one of the most optimal builds that focuses on Survivability and Control. You can change most of the runes and probably get cool builds. I’m sure people will come up with better stuff. The only one that is imperative is an indigo run for Imaple. You could also go for an even faster weapon speed on Strafe that will scale nicely with Shadow power to approximately to 682% weapon speed. This is an increase of 162.5% speed at the cost of 132% weapon damage. This is something that needs testing and I’m sure will be dependent on your weapon. This change would also free up on passive skill. If this would be the case I’d go for Steady Aim to get a little extra juice I lost on weapon damage. It’s up to you. Let me know if it works for you!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
StarCraft Legacy - Content Staff Hey guys I want you all to know that my team is playing/did great this weekend so I am going to go ahead and make it my status because I know you all care and want to know my opinion on it.
-sports fan/douchebag
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Let us remember that all D3 builds have strengths and weaknesses. Diablo 3 is based on the fact builds are focused on being viable rather than optimal. Lastly, remember this is BETA so things are subject to change. With that being said, let the theorycrafting begin!
I present to you Geno’s SC build . SC stands for Survival and Control.
hhttp://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bgRdUi!bVS!YZcabY
Goals of the build:
Survivability
Control
1. Control
Many pro players would agree that it is not who makes the most damage or who has the most life the winner of a battle. The winner of a duel is whoever gets to control the fight. So one of the big element of this build is being able to control your enemy. This is done by stuns and snares.
2. Survivability
Survivability is another key element of PVP in my opinion. All classes have a way of getting close to you or getting far from you. Some classes will also rely on control to try and get you to the position in which the fight is more favorable for them.
Active Skills
Imaple (Indigo): 2.75 stun every time you land a successful hit on target. Before patch this was a Hatred Spender. Now it’s a Hatred Generator so you can use it as much as you want. Keep in mind the knockback so you’ll have to work on getting close to your opponent every time you stun them. This perma-stun with some skill can result in a stun-lock where the opponent will not be able to get out of the stun. There will be counters to this but that will be stun resisting items and such.
Vault (Alabaster): Yes vault is essential to PVP builds and extremely useful in pretty much every situation. When I first shared this build with one of my friends I got asked about the rune. “This only works if you want to vault near the enemy, why will you want to get closer as a ranged class”. Well, not all classes are melee both WD and Wizard can pack a punch that’s why you would want to get closer to prevent them from doing anything.
Smoke Screen (Indigo): Despite how this ability has been criticized by a lot of people because of its short duration, its utility is enormous. I used this ability in Blizzcon and this pretty much saved me a few unnecessary deaths. The extra seconds can get you a little farther or closer to the enemy. In my opinion these seconds are golden.
Strafe (Obsidian): Whenever you are not stunning you are either getting closer to your enemy or farther. Hence strafe. It’s mobility is key to staying alive and catch fleeing opponents. Since this will be your big damage spell you might want to maximize damage. So go for Obsidian Rune for the missiles and also add Ballistics. Each shot does 192% weapon damage and your shoot at 400% speed.
Shadow Power (Golden): That 400% speed translates into 520% speed. This makes your main damage spell very deadly. You go for golden runestone because you are using 3 Discipline skills in the build. If you had 4 Discipline skills you would definitely had to either get Perfectionist or Preparation which would mean you would have to sacrifice something else. Not worth it in my opinion.
Fan of Knives (Obsidian): Just because the build doesn’t focus on damage doesn’t mean you are limited to survival/control spells. This ability combines burst damage and snare. This was my last ability chosen. Some of my friends suggested Caltrops. The problem with Caltrops is that you would have to get another discipline skill. Now read Shadow Power again. Fan of Knives offers burst damage at high hatred cost which you can afford since your hatred will come by Impale and you’ll be using Impale very frequently. The extra snare is a plus. I go for obsidian to increase the range in those awful close scenarios and the extra damage makes it one of the best burst damage spells of the Demon Hunter.
Passive Skills
Ballistics: Needed for strafe.
Archery: This skill is too weapon dependent. It’s useful depending on your need. Experimentation is needed.
Vengeance: Extra juice for FoK and a few extra seconds for strafe make this passive worth it.
Again no build is perfect. This is one of the most optimal builds that focuses on Survivability and Control. You can change most of the runes and probably get cool builds. I’m sure people will come up with better stuff. The only one that is imperative is an indigo run for Imaple. You could also go for an even faster weapon speed on Strafe that will scale nicely with Shadow power to approximately to 682% weapon speed. This is an increase of 162.5% speed at the cost of 132% weapon damage. This is something that needs testing and I’m sure will be dependent on your weapon. This change would also free up on passive skill. If this would be the case I’d go for Steady Aim to get a little extra juice I lost on weapon damage. It’s up to you. Let me know if it works for you!
Hey guys I want you all to know that my team is playing/did great this weekend so I am going to go ahead and make it my status because I know you all care and want to know my opinion on it.
-sports fan/douchebag