Hi everyone, I recently came up with an interesting build that i'm pretty excited about. After the nerf to Nether Tentacles, I've been exploring new skills and builds, not unlike most people I'm sure. In the process, I have discovered a build that utilizes the perfect storm of skills, and specific gearing to create a massive nuke of damage to a small group of enemies.
While browsing threads I found a lot of people using Cluster Arrow with Loaded for Bear, and a lot of people also enjoying Spike Trap with Scatter. I've been having so much fun with both of these skills, that I couldn't choose one over the other, so I made a build including both. This is my first post, so the forum won't let me link to the skill calculator, so unfortunately I'll have to list the build like this for now:
Entangling Shot --> Justice is Served
Cluster Arrow --> Loaded for Bear
Spike Trap --> Scatter
Shadow Power --> Gloom
Companion --> Bat Companion
Preparation --> Invigoration
Passives: Grenadier, Vengeance, Sharpshooter
Here is the perfect storm part: using this skill set with the perfect gear, it is possible to nuke a group of enemies with 1 Spike Trap, and 4 Cluster Arrows, all with 100% crit chance. There is one required piece of kit for this, a Dead Man's Legacy quiver with "Reduces resource cost of Cluster Arrow by 4 hatred." You will also need 9 hatred regeneration per second. Bat Companion adds 3 hatred/second, and Dead Man's Legacy will cover you for more than 1 hatred/second. That will generate ~8 hatred/sec depending on your specific quiver. The final point can easily be obtained on a Demon Hunter Cloak, or by using the Templar with the Inspire ability.
The tactic is to allow Sharpshooter to build to 100% crit chance, and then move in for the kill. When you get close, pop Shadow Power (you could use Smoke Screen if you prefer), place the spike trap, and lay into the enemies with 4 Cluster Arrows until you're out of hatred. I'm using a 2h crossbow with 10% IAS from the quiver for 1.21 attacks per second. In my experience so far, all 5 attacks will strike within the 100% crit chance window.
It truly is the perfect storm. If you only have 8 hatred regeneration per second, if your Dead Man's Legacy only reduces the cost of Cluster Arrow by 3 hatred or less, and if you don't use both Grenadier and Vengeance, you aren't going to get the fourth shot of Cluster Arrow.
Now, I'm not 100% sold on this build, and I haven't tested it extensively. My required stats could be off, but I'm not going to invest in another quiver to test it. I'm 100% sure I can't get the fourth Cluster Arrow shot with 8.15 hatred regen/sec, so I'm figuring an additional 1 hatred cost to each Cluster Arrow is also going to break the build. Also, I think stacking crit chance and taking Archery or Steady Aim instead of Sharpshooter is a better idea in general. Yet, I think this build could be a lot of fun if you were to stack a massive amount of crit damage on the cheap and forgo crit chance. Of course, using Impale would increase the single target damage by a lot, but I thought this perfect set of gear and skills to create this one of a kind combo attack was fun, and I wanted to share. I know some people are unhappy with the 1.0.3 nerfs, but I have been having the most fun yet in D3 coming up with crazy builds like this. I hope you enjoyed reading about this build, even if you decide not to try it!
i was also testing this last night and having a blast with it but i was also testing it with different passives:
steady aim, night stalker, archery.
i saw no difference using grendier while using the bat companion beacuse just shooting hungering arrow once or twice and having the bat companion i can essentionally shoot 4 cluster arrows with in 5-8 secs.
i chose night stalker cuz i wanted to see how much more dicipline i gain using it and see how many smoke screen i can get off. With using this method im able to time smoke screen white shooting cluster arrows against reflect damage enemies, i was very successful doing this way.
what i didnt try was sharpshooter, it didnt make sense to me to use it because i was still killing packs within secs of encountering them and im able to spam smoke screen essentionally. i gonna test it tonight, i dont get to play 12 hours a day anymore lol
Athene uses the cluster bombs and i see why the hit the taget 3 consecutive times for large amounts. i like it alot but i dont understand the distance on that shot. it feels weird.
You're right about Sharpshooter, it still isn't worth it, and I use Steady Aim in it's place. I posted this build because I thought the synergy between gear and skills was really cool. I can't come up with a better method of dealing so much damage at once. Three Spike Traps (if you're using the Scatter rune) and four Cluster Arrows hitting a pack of monsters, all with 100% chance to crit? I doubt there is a more powerful combo in the game!
Don't discout Grenadier just yet! I'm at 10 hatred/second right now, and I clocked 6 shots of Cluster Arrow in just over 7.5 seconds, and that didn't include using any shots from my hatred generator. I think that the extra amount of attacks you can get in a fight is going to offset the benefit of using Archery in it's place, especially if you're able to get off a few shots with your primary.
Nightstalker has a chance to give you 1 discipline for each critical hit, but I don't think it's worth it. My thought is that this slow attacking build isn't going to get enough critical hits to recoup enough discipline to justify it's place. If you're using Vengeance you get 2 discipline, and 20 hatred per health globe. Couple that with it's +25 max hatred and suddenly Cluster Arrow becomes much more affordable. I have 54 max discipline, and I can get almost 5 casts of Shadow Power off consecutively anyway. With no other Discipline spender, I've even been considering dropping Preparation from my build, but it still saves me once every couple of hours when I run into a difficult elite pack.
i wished i switched to shadow gloom ealier i would saved a lot of money on repair. there are 2 things I've done that are different. 1. i kept archery as a passive and 2. I'm using battle scars rune with prep as my "oh shit" button.
i think more or less use convinced on everything else.
thanks for the post
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While browsing threads I found a lot of people using Cluster Arrow with Loaded for Bear, and a lot of people also enjoying Spike Trap with Scatter. I've been having so much fun with both of these skills, that I couldn't choose one over the other, so I made a build including both. This is my first post, so the forum won't let me link to the skill calculator, so unfortunately I'll have to list the build like this for now:
Entangling Shot --> Justice is Served
Cluster Arrow --> Loaded for Bear
Spike Trap --> Scatter
Shadow Power --> Gloom
Companion --> Bat Companion
Preparation --> Invigoration
Passives: Grenadier, Vengeance, Sharpshooter
Here is the perfect storm part: using this skill set with the perfect gear, it is possible to nuke a group of enemies with 1 Spike Trap, and 4 Cluster Arrows, all with 100% crit chance. There is one required piece of kit for this, a Dead Man's Legacy quiver with "Reduces resource cost of Cluster Arrow by 4 hatred." You will also need 9 hatred regeneration per second. Bat Companion adds 3 hatred/second, and Dead Man's Legacy will cover you for more than 1 hatred/second. That will generate ~8 hatred/sec depending on your specific quiver. The final point can easily be obtained on a Demon Hunter Cloak, or by using the Templar with the Inspire ability.
The tactic is to allow Sharpshooter to build to 100% crit chance, and then move in for the kill. When you get close, pop Shadow Power (you could use Smoke Screen if you prefer), place the spike trap, and lay into the enemies with 4 Cluster Arrows until you're out of hatred. I'm using a 2h crossbow with 10% IAS from the quiver for 1.21 attacks per second. In my experience so far, all 5 attacks will strike within the 100% crit chance window.
It truly is the perfect storm. If you only have 8 hatred regeneration per second, if your Dead Man's Legacy only reduces the cost of Cluster Arrow by 3 hatred or less, and if you don't use both Grenadier and Vengeance, you aren't going to get the fourth shot of Cluster Arrow.
Now, I'm not 100% sold on this build, and I haven't tested it extensively. My required stats could be off, but I'm not going to invest in another quiver to test it. I'm 100% sure I can't get the fourth Cluster Arrow shot with 8.15 hatred regen/sec, so I'm figuring an additional 1 hatred cost to each Cluster Arrow is also going to break the build. Also, I think stacking crit chance and taking Archery or Steady Aim instead of Sharpshooter is a better idea in general. Yet, I think this build could be a lot of fun if you were to stack a massive amount of crit damage on the cheap and forgo crit chance. Of course, using Impale would increase the single target damage by a lot, but I thought this perfect set of gear and skills to create this one of a kind combo attack was fun, and I wanted to share. I know some people are unhappy with the 1.0.3 nerfs, but I have been having the most fun yet in D3 coming up with crazy builds like this. I hope you enjoyed reading about this build, even if you decide not to try it!
Any suggestions or corrections welcome!
steady aim, night stalker, archery.
i saw no difference using grendier while using the bat companion beacuse just shooting hungering arrow once or twice and having the bat companion i can essentionally shoot 4 cluster arrows with in 5-8 secs.
i chose night stalker cuz i wanted to see how much more dicipline i gain using it and see how many smoke screen i can get off. With using this method im able to time smoke screen white shooting cluster arrows against reflect damage enemies, i was very successful doing this way.
what i didnt try was sharpshooter, it didnt make sense to me to use it because i was still killing packs within secs of encountering them and im able to spam smoke screen essentionally. i gonna test it tonight, i dont get to play 12 hours a day anymore lol
Athene uses the cluster bombs and i see why the hit the taget 3 consecutive times for large amounts. i like it alot but i dont understand the distance on that shot. it feels weird.
Don't discout Grenadier just yet! I'm at 10 hatred/second right now, and I clocked 6 shots of Cluster Arrow in just over 7.5 seconds, and that didn't include using any shots from my hatred generator. I think that the extra amount of attacks you can get in a fight is going to offset the benefit of using Archery in it's place, especially if you're able to get off a few shots with your primary.
Nightstalker has a chance to give you 1 discipline for each critical hit, but I don't think it's worth it. My thought is that this slow attacking build isn't going to get enough critical hits to recoup enough discipline to justify it's place. If you're using Vengeance you get 2 discipline, and 20 hatred per health globe. Couple that with it's +25 max hatred and suddenly Cluster Arrow becomes much more affordable. I have 54 max discipline, and I can get almost 5 casts of Shadow Power off consecutively anyway. With no other Discipline spender, I've even been considering dropping Preparation from my build, but it still saves me once every couple of hours when I run into a difficult elite pack.
i think more or less use convinced on everything else.
thanks for the post