1. Combination of Bola Shot and EB Spike Trap > Rapid Fire. Why?
1.1. It does more DPS to packs and elite enemies over time. RF may give you the illusion that it deals more damage because you see the target's health bar going down fast at a regular pace. The thing with Bola Shot + EB Spike Trap is that the damage is dealt in bursts. Mean bursts.
1.2. It generates more discipline. RF has a poor proc rate, i.e. it doesn't trigger Night Stalker as often as Bola Shot + EB Spike Trap. As a result, with RF you will either use significantly less discipline skills, and often run out of discipline in the middle of the action, or use the Preparation skill which is a complete waste. Skill slots are precious when you want to create a build that can face any bloody situation. Bola Shot + EB Spike Trap generates a lot more discipline with Night Stalker.
1.3. Serious synergy of Bola Shot w/ Thunder Ball (Stun Bola) and EB Spike Trap. The Bola stuns elites long enough for the spike traps to activate and shred them. You just keep shooting the bolas, stun, and see your traps activating multiple times.
1.4. Great area damage.
2. Smoke Screen w/ Chocking Gas > Vault w/ Trail of Cinders. Both deal damage over time, both get you out of jail, so why?
2.1. When you use Vault, you kind of stop improving your basic movement skills such has rolls, and anticipated, well oriented controlled runs.
2.2. During Smoke Screen, you are invincible.
2.3. Smoke Screen breaks most (all?) status effects.
2.4. You can change direction during Smoke Screen. If you are vaulting to a spot that has suddenly become fatal, you will have to vault again thus spending a lot more discipline.
2.5. Chocking Gas is damage-wise similar to the famous "runeless" Rain of Vengeance (700 damage over 5 seconds), with the difference that the damage is dealt in a small, concentrated area. I love face tanking a couple large enemies for a moment (with Shadow Power on), shooting my bolas and launching my traps under them, and then dropping a deadly chocking gas cloud on my way to change position.
3. Shadow Power w/ Night Bane + Guardian Turret combo > Gloom + Bat combo. Why?
3.1. When Night Bane is active, it's like having a bat for 5 seconds, i.e. you generate 3 hatred/sec. During these 5 seconds, you can generate enough discipline to use it again when needed.
3.2. Gloom has a 5-second 25% incoming damage reduction. You compensate this loss with the 30-second 15% damage reduction from the Guardian Turret.
3.3. The Guardian Turret deals a lot more damage than the Bat!
3.4. You can use the Boar companion instead of the Bat. Excellent skill for survivability. You don't like dying in one shot from an unexpected bull charge, do you? Just use the Boar companion with the Perfectionist passive, that combo + the basic life regen of Shadow Power and you can adopt a satisfying Panzer-like play style.
Let me know how it goes. For this build I use a high damage bow (the Raven's Wing -- there are some great ones on PS3) and the Archery passive for the 15% increased damage.
One-handed crossbows would deal significantly less damage but it would work; with one-handers, provided that your critical hit chance is already above 70%, I'd use Custom Engineering instead of Archery since the increased attack speed means more discipline, and thus the ability to drop more spike traps, and at a higher pace. If your critical hit chance is at 65% or below though, go with Archery.
You could also play it with the Manticore. Although the attack speed is quite slower than with the bow, it's still works fine. Instead of Archery, in that case I'd go with either:
(a) Numbing Trap Since the attack speed is reduced, you stun a bit less often, and get hit a bit more, so the 20% damage reduction from enemies hit by the turret and traps (meaning all enemies) gives you a tad more survivability so you can still blow them to pieces, or
(b) Vengeance For the extra discipline from globes, as well as the great boost in hatred, since you'd generate less discipline over time with a two-handed crossbow.
1.1. It does more DPS to packs and elite enemies over time.
RF may give you the illusion that it deals more damage because you see the target's health bar going down fast at a regular pace. The thing with Bola Shot + EB Spike Trap is that the damage is dealt in bursts. Mean bursts.
1.2. It generates more discipline.
RF has a poor proc rate, i.e. it doesn't trigger Night Stalker as often as Bola Shot + EB Spike Trap. As a result, with RF you will either use significantly less discipline skills, and often run out of discipline in the middle of the action, or use the Preparation skill which is a complete waste. Skill slots are precious when you want to create a build that can face any bloody situation. Bola Shot + EB Spike Trap generates a lot more discipline with Night Stalker. 1.3. Serious synergy of Bola Shot w/ Thunder Ball (Stun Bola) and EB Spike Trap.
The Bola stuns elites long enough for the spike traps to activate and shred them. You just keep shooting the bolas, stun, and see your traps activating multiple times. 1.4. Great area damage. 2. Smoke Screen w/ Chocking Gas > Vault w/ Trail of Cinders. Both deal damage over time, both get you out of jail, so why? 2.1. When you use Vault, you kind of stop improving your basic movement skills such has rolls, and anticipated, well oriented controlled runs. 2.2. During Smoke Screen, you are invincible. 2.3. Smoke Screen breaks most (all?) status effects. 2.4. You can change direction during Smoke Screen. If you are vaulting to a spot that has suddenly become fatal, you will have to vault again thus spending a lot more discipline. 2.5. Chocking Gas is damage-wise similar to the famous "runeless" Rain of Vengeance (700 damage over 5 seconds), with the difference that the damage is dealt in a small, concentrated area. I love face tanking a couple large enemies for a moment (with Shadow Power on), shooting my bolas and launching my traps under them, and then dropping a deadly chocking gas cloud on my way to change position. 3. Shadow Power w/ Night Bane + Guardian Turret combo > Gloom + Bat combo. Why? 3.1. When Night Bane is active, it's like having a bat for 5 seconds, i.e. you generate 3 hatred/sec. During these 5 seconds, you can generate enough discipline to use it again when needed. 3.2. Gloom has a 5-second 25% incoming damage reduction. You compensate this loss with the 30-second 15% damage reduction from the Guardian Turret. 3.3. The Guardian Turret deals a lot more damage than the Bat! 3.4. You can use the Boar companion instead of the Bat. Excellent skill for survivability. You don't like dying in one shot from an unexpected bull charge, do you? Just use the Boar companion with the Perfectionist passive, that combo + the basic life regen of Shadow Power and you can adopt a satisfying Panzer-like play style.
Edited.
Thanks for posting this. I'll be doing some testing on my dh that's for sure.
Let me know how it goes. For this build I use a high damage bow (the Raven's Wing -- there are some great ones on PS3) and the Archery passive for the 15% increased damage.
One-handed crossbows would deal significantly less damage but it would work; with one-handers, provided that your critical hit chance is already above 70%, I'd use Custom Engineering instead of Archery since the increased attack speed means more discipline, and thus the ability to drop more spike traps, and at a higher pace. If your critical hit chance is at 65% or below though, go with Archery.
You could also play it with the Manticore. Although the attack speed is quite slower than with the bow, it's still works fine. Instead of Archery, in that case I'd go with either:
(a) Numbing Trap
Since the attack speed is reduced, you stun a bit less often, and get hit a bit more, so the 20% damage reduction from enemies hit by the turret and traps (meaning all enemies) gives you a tad more survivability so you can still blow them to pieces, or
(b) Vengeance
For the extra discipline from globes, as well as the great boost in hatred, since you'd generate less discipline over time with a two-handed crossbow.
Cheers!