Might as well start with the main attraction of this build. On thing to note before I talk about it is there isn't a lot of vids of the Sentry skill, and I haven't seen one for the rune. Therefore the only thing I have to go on here is the skill description. From that we have the Sentry, a stationary "pet" that is fire and forget. You put it down, it choose a target, and it shoots. The rune adds a line between you and your Sentry that does damage. So in order to get the damage out of it, you need to get the mob packs between yourself and the Sentry. That means mobility is key to get yourself into the right place, and then keeping the mobs where you want them are the keys to getting the most out of this skill.
Strafe - Drifting Shadow
I like the feeling of dealing damage as I get into place, certainly better then just walking into place. Once I'm in place I can move with the mobs to continue to keep them in the tether while doing damage. Making sure that I don't nerf my movement speed is important so Drifting Shadow seems the fit the bill.
Elemental Arrow - Frost Arrow
This is my slow of choice as if I'm in place it will pierce through and slow a lot of the targets. If I'm not it will keep mobs in place so I can get time to position myself and the Sentry in the right place.
Shadow Power - Shadow Glide
Given that I'm not going to be at a far distance from the mob packs, I'll need some life gain. I can also use this a movement speed boost. This can make a great combo with Strafe.
Bola Shot - Bitter Pill / Perfectionist
This combination will help with my Discipline resource as Shadow Power is expensive. Bola will be used for small little packs that might not be worth setting up the Chain, or as a way to finish off a pack conserving my Hatred. Might as well get some Discipline back while I use it. Perfectionist is the most effective when you have high cost Discipline skills.
Impale - Chemical Burn
I like having a single target skill for Champion and Elites. This fills that roll nicely. The other thing is I won't be spamming this as I will be rotating it with Frost Arrow for the snare or Bola to get back Hatred. This means I won't clip the DoT added by Chemical Burn thus making it a great damage add to the skill.
Cull The Weak
Pretty easy choice here. I think in most builds you will have a least one of the passives that add flat damage bonuses. Since I have the snare up more often then I'll be 10 yards away Cull The Weak fits best.
Custom Engineering
I'd like to keep up Sentry as long as possible. While I think early game you'll be clearing mobs fast enough to not use the whole duration, that will change by Inferno. So conserving the Discipline by not having to cast this more then once per pack is a great benefit.
Gear stat priority would be Dex, Vit, Crit, Resource regen / pool increases, Att Spd, everything else.
Weapon of choice would be either Dual Hand Crossbows or Bow and Quiver. Since I will need to switch between attacks quickly Crossbow's attack speed is just too slow.
I really like the concept of this, and might try and work into my "Parkour" build. However just having a quick overview, Strafe is rubbish.
Not to create another Strafe sucks thread, I do like the idea behind the skill. Since this is all theorical builds and nothing that can be proven by actually taking it out for a test drive I'm coming from the school of thought that at some point, with tweaks, the skill will be useful for it's designed purpose. So when I create a build I look more at what the skill is supposed to provide rather than the current raw numbers. Once release happens and I'm getting ready to step into Inferno numbers will need to considered. In the case of Strafe, my feeling on the skill is it's a mobile attack skill and should do noticeable damage, but certainly not as much as a skill that is primarily for damage.
I'm using Strafe for it's combined effect of doing damage while I get into place not for the damage itself. I don't plan an using it unless I need to reposition myself. Depending on the situation I have Elemental Arrow, Impale, and Bola as my main damage sources, so I don't need Strafe for that purpose, it's utility that does a little damage as a bonus.
I certainly could've chosen Vault for the mobility and tacked on one of the damage runes, however I didn't feel I had enough Discipline to be able to use the skill often and still have Shadow Power available.
I looked around to see if I could find a video on Sentry. I can't seem to find any good links to answer those questions definitively.
Chances are it will work one of two ways, either it will have a health bar, thus can be attacked but you can only summon one, or it won't have a health bar, cannot be attacked, and can be summoned as much as you have resources for. My feeling is that the intent is for the skill to be the former (health bar, can be attacked, only one at a time). I based my build around that.
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bSidZl!cfU!YZbZZc
Sentry - Chain of Torment
Might as well start with the main attraction of this build. On thing to note before I talk about it is there isn't a lot of vids of the Sentry skill, and I haven't seen one for the rune. Therefore the only thing I have to go on here is the skill description. From that we have the Sentry, a stationary "pet" that is fire and forget. You put it down, it choose a target, and it shoots. The rune adds a line between you and your Sentry that does damage. So in order to get the damage out of it, you need to get the mob packs between yourself and the Sentry. That means mobility is key to get yourself into the right place, and then keeping the mobs where you want them are the keys to getting the most out of this skill.
Strafe - Drifting Shadow
I like the feeling of dealing damage as I get into place, certainly better then just walking into place. Once I'm in place I can move with the mobs to continue to keep them in the tether while doing damage. Making sure that I don't nerf my movement speed is important so Drifting Shadow seems the fit the bill.
Elemental Arrow - Frost Arrow
This is my slow of choice as if I'm in place it will pierce through and slow a lot of the targets. If I'm not it will keep mobs in place so I can get time to position myself and the Sentry in the right place.
Shadow Power - Shadow Glide
Given that I'm not going to be at a far distance from the mob packs, I'll need some life gain. I can also use this a movement speed boost. This can make a great combo with Strafe.
Bola Shot - Bitter Pill / Perfectionist
This combination will help with my Discipline resource as Shadow Power is expensive. Bola will be used for small little packs that might not be worth setting up the Chain, or as a way to finish off a pack conserving my Hatred. Might as well get some Discipline back while I use it. Perfectionist is the most effective when you have high cost Discipline skills.
Impale - Chemical Burn
I like having a single target skill for Champion and Elites. This fills that roll nicely. The other thing is I won't be spamming this as I will be rotating it with Frost Arrow for the snare or Bola to get back Hatred. This means I won't clip the DoT added by Chemical Burn thus making it a great damage add to the skill.
Cull The Weak
Pretty easy choice here. I think in most builds you will have a least one of the passives that add flat damage bonuses. Since I have the snare up more often then I'll be 10 yards away Cull The Weak fits best.
Custom Engineering
I'd like to keep up Sentry as long as possible. While I think early game you'll be clearing mobs fast enough to not use the whole duration, that will change by Inferno. So conserving the Discipline by not having to cast this more then once per pack is a great benefit.
Gear stat priority would be Dex, Vit, Crit, Resource regen / pool increases, Att Spd, everything else.
Weapon of choice would be either Dual Hand Crossbows or Bow and Quiver. Since I will need to switch between attacks quickly Crossbow's attack speed is just too slow.
Not to create another Strafe sucks thread, I do like the idea behind the skill. Since this is all theorical builds and nothing that can be proven by actually taking it out for a test drive I'm coming from the school of thought that at some point, with tweaks, the skill will be useful for it's designed purpose. So when I create a build I look more at what the skill is supposed to provide rather than the current raw numbers. Once release happens and I'm getting ready to step into Inferno numbers will need to considered. In the case of Strafe, my feeling on the skill is it's a mobile attack skill and should do noticeable damage, but certainly not as much as a skill that is primarily for damage.
I'm using Strafe for it's combined effect of doing damage while I get into place not for the damage itself. I don't plan an using it unless I need to reposition myself. Depending on the situation I have Elemental Arrow, Impale, and Bola as my main damage sources, so I don't need Strafe for that purpose, it's utility that does a little damage as a bonus.
I certainly could've chosen Vault for the mobility and tacked on one of the damage runes, however I didn't feel I had enough Discipline to be able to use the skill often and still have Shadow Power available.
Chances are it will work one of two ways, either it will have a health bar, thus can be attacked but you can only summon one, or it won't have a health bar, cannot be attacked, and can be summoned as much as you have resources for. My feeling is that the intent is for the skill to be the former (health bar, can be attacked, only one at a time). I based my build around that.