Hey everyone - How about a new skill for DH? I've noticed a number of threads on the topic for this (melee DH) as well as melee Wizard, so I thought an exercise in creativity might be in order. I really like a lot of the tools the DH has, but I wouldn't mind seeing them up close and personal instead of always tossing-out pain from afar. A DH using a 2h sword or a 1h & shield might be kinda cool... if not for the fact that there are limits to the hatred generators when you don't have a ranged weapon equipped. So, my thought on a solution for this is as follows:
Shadow Strike - Unlocked at lv 4
Generate: 3 Hatred
Strike your target dealing 130% weapon damage and slowing the target's movement and attack speed by 10%, for 3 seconds.
(works with ranged & melee)
Runes variations:
Night Walk - Increases your movement and attack speed by 15% for 4 seconds when you attack a target.
Hateful Shadows - Increases the damage to 175% and increases the critical damage bonus by 50%.
Unending Darkness - Targets are also blinded for 3 seconds when struck. Cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds on the same target.
Fading Strike - After a successful attack, you have an increased chance (30%) to dodge the next attack against you.
Enveloping Shadows - Rapidly attack three times, dealing 85% weapon damage per hit.
I had also posted this on the Blizzard forums and just thought that I'd spread the word here as well, as the discussions seem a bit more constructive here.
Well since there's no basic attack, and the classes are forced to use their respective weapons, I wouldn't put too much thought into a melee DH. The closest you're probably going to get is just using all the close range knife abilities.
Unfortunately, a lot of the previous build variations have been turned into simply cosmetic changes. Like a "melee" wizard uses spectral blade which is a spell. And a "melee" DH uses the knife abilities which are really just arrows called something different. And a "ranged" barbarian doesn't really exist because you can't get away from having to use melee attacks to generate fury.
I feel the 8 seconds is pretty good for the cool-down between blinds on the same target. In PvP, someone will ultimately use an escape or an AOE of some sort when other (standard) attacks are negated by the blind... but keeping it somewhat competitive is important... unless CC type attacks are halved in duration for PvP. Still not sure on the PvP details yet.
Well since there's no basic attack, and the classes are forced to use their respective weapons, I wouldn't put too much thought into a melee DH. The closest you're probably going to get is just using all the close range knife abilities. Unfortunately, a lot of the previous build variations have been turned into simply cosmetic changes. Like a "melee" wizard uses spectral blade which is a spell. And a "melee" DH uses the knife abilities which are really just arrows called something different. And a "ranged" barbarian doesn't really exist because you can't get away from having to use melee attacks to generate fury.
I sorta feel like you didn't read my post entirely... I'm suggesting a new ability be added, which functions for both melee & ranged, depending on the weapon equipped. The main thing a melee DH is missing is a hatred generated weapon attack that does not require a ranged weapon. Grenades are close, but not a staple go-to skill for face to face confrontation.
I'm not expecting my idea to be added, but I like to think of what it would take to get something viable in place to make that type of build possible.
It might be neat if they'd make a ranged Barbarian possible (utilizing bows... weird)... maybe not... but still, another possibility to toy with might be fun. I was originally intending to go with a bow-wielding Witch Doctor, and it will probably still be possible without much concern, since that class is mostly ranged to begin with. It's just trickier to execute when you go against the grain that the developers have in place to guide the game-play experience.
The point I was making is that with no basic attack, the weapon type is almost meaningless. It determines which skills you can use sometimes, but for the most part it doesn't really matter. Unless you can't use certain DH abilities with a bow equipped, but I'm pretty sure you can use all of them. Maybe some 1H weapons have affixes that are better for a close-range DH, but that's it really.
All I'm saying is that there's kind of no such thing as a melee DH, or a ranged barb, or a melee wizard. Because it's all about the abilities you use. The way D3 itemization works, those terms don't mean the same as they used to. If you made a WD that used a bow, it'd just be you standing there with a bow in your inventory, but you could never use it. It just means you'd have affixes that are probably geared more towards a DH. But who knows, maybe they'll make 2Hs and Xbows that are especially good for casters.
I agree though, DHs should have one melee-range hatred generator besides grenades that doesn't require a ranged weapon. Also, I think Ancient Spear should have a lower cooldown or something that allows you to have a ranged fury generator without a cooldown.
But the only reason to ever use a melee weapon as a DH is if it has affixes that are more appealing to your build vs what you can find on a ranged weapon. Which could definitely be the case, but usually it won't be like that of course.
Oh yes, I understand now what you meant about weapon "choice," and I agree.
I feel very strongly that the inclusion of at least 1 ability like this (suggested in OP) would promote some crazy diversity in the game... and even more so if each class had something like this that would promote slightly different (and perhaps off-the-wall) builds.
I would disagree about the last statement though, because with the crafting of items, the affixes are completely random, and that appears to be where a lot of the best gear is (at least early on). I watched a Barbarian make a bunch of armor that popped with INT on it... the reactions were kinda funny.
I kind of forgot about Spike Trap. Spike Trap and Grenades are the abilities you're supposed to use if you don't have a bow I think. And then you just combine the knife abilities with Spike Trap/Grenade and that's how you play.
They could add a knife ability that generates hatred though, just to stay with that theme. But also I think they should change cluster arrow so that it's not a bow ability. Because then you could have a grenade build without using a bow.
One thing I wonder about is if you can use Chakram without a bow?
***Nevermind I guess you can..
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Shadow Strike - Unlocked at lv 4
Generate: 3 Hatred
Strike your target dealing 130% weapon damage and slowing the target's movement and attack speed by 10%, for 3 seconds.
(works with ranged & melee)
Runes variations:
Night Walk - Increases your movement and attack speed by 15% for 4 seconds when you attack a target.
Hateful Shadows - Increases the damage to 175% and increases the critical damage bonus by 50%.
Unending Darkness - Targets are also blinded for 3 seconds when struck. Cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds on the same target.
Fading Strike - After a successful attack, you have an increased chance (30%) to dodge the next attack against you.
Enveloping Shadows - Rapidly attack three times, dealing 85% weapon damage per hit.
Possible "Ninja" build (replacing Hungering Arrow with Shadow Strike): http://us.battle.net...eVfY!cVa!aaYaZZ
I had also posted this on the Blizzard forums and just thought that I'd spread the word here as well, as the discussions seem a bit more constructive here.
Unfortunately, a lot of the previous build variations have been turned into simply cosmetic changes. Like a "melee" wizard uses spectral blade which is a spell. And a "melee" DH uses the knife abilities which are really just arrows called something different. And a "ranged" barbarian doesn't really exist because you can't get away from having to use melee attacks to generate fury.
I sorta feel like you didn't read my post entirely... I'm suggesting a new ability be added, which functions for both melee & ranged, depending on the weapon equipped. The main thing a melee DH is missing is a hatred generated weapon attack that does not require a ranged weapon. Grenades are close, but not a staple go-to skill for face to face confrontation.
I'm not expecting my idea to be added, but I like to think of what it would take to get something viable in place to make that type of build possible.
It might be neat if they'd make a ranged Barbarian possible (utilizing bows... weird)... maybe not... but still, another possibility to toy with might be fun. I was originally intending to go with a bow-wielding Witch Doctor, and it will probably still be possible without much concern, since that class is mostly ranged to begin with. It's just trickier to execute when you go against the grain that the developers have in place to guide the game-play experience.
All I'm saying is that there's kind of no such thing as a melee DH, or a ranged barb, or a melee wizard. Because it's all about the abilities you use. The way D3 itemization works, those terms don't mean the same as they used to. If you made a WD that used a bow, it'd just be you standing there with a bow in your inventory, but you could never use it. It just means you'd have affixes that are probably geared more towards a DH. But who knows, maybe they'll make 2Hs and Xbows that are especially good for casters.
I agree though, DHs should have one melee-range hatred generator besides grenades that doesn't require a ranged weapon. Also, I think Ancient Spear should have a lower cooldown or something that allows you to have a ranged fury generator without a cooldown.
But the only reason to ever use a melee weapon as a DH is if it has affixes that are more appealing to your build vs what you can find on a ranged weapon. Which could definitely be the case, but usually it won't be like that of course.
I feel very strongly that the inclusion of at least 1 ability like this (suggested in OP) would promote some crazy diversity in the game... and even more so if each class had something like this that would promote slightly different (and perhaps off-the-wall) builds.
I would disagree about the last statement though, because with the crafting of items, the affixes are completely random, and that appears to be where a lot of the best gear is (at least early on). I watched a Barbarian make a bunch of armor that popped with INT on it... the reactions were kinda funny.
They could add a knife ability that generates hatred though, just to stay with that theme. But also I think they should change cluster arrow so that it's not a bow ability. Because then you could have a grenade build without using a bow.
One thing I wonder about is if you can use Chakram without a bow?
***Nevermind I guess you can..