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Quote from boz0

Quote from Icki

In my case, an xbow at 2.84 beats any bow at 2.84 by a good margin, as it should since the average damage is just that much higher. The cold damage on Etrayu is both subject to diminishing returns since it's additive stacking with enforcer and other +%cold, as well as only 45-55% of your damage being cold in the frostfire build.

Unsurprising. A (rough) rule of thumb is that if your bow and xbow have similar dps, and all other things being equal (ie no +cold dmg, ...), you'll do more or less equivalent damage with the xbow at 2.16 and the bow at 2.84.

This is exactly why I'm at this crossroads. I haven't seen much theorycrafting (ok, none aside from the question posited a couple times without followup). It makes sense that it would do more damage but "sense" isn't math. I've spent a few gifts getting better and better bows and who knows when the next one will drop.

I suppose once I get another gift I'll be able to test it out and compare for myself.

Aside from my RoRG at 5% everything else is capped (outside of some strange oddity legendary somewhere) outside of either Unity or SoJ. I'll need to be at 60.6% and I'm at 53% so 36 points in IAS Paragon...after a month or two it'll be maxed anyway.

The Cold Damage missing is my concern and since I haven't seen a full gear spreadsheet (like Dretar used to make, among others) it's not as visible on how small changes (or larger) affect me.

I agree that the numbers are greater for the Manticore, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the extra 17% Cold and how the synergy is affected.

So even if you can get to it (needing some IAS from a few Paragon points) is it worth swapping out an Etrayu? I've got a Manticore waiting on another gift to socket it (used my first 3 on a Windforce and 2 Etrayus). I'm not certain that the 17% Cold/1967.5 avg dmg on the bow outweighing the truck-hitting 2398.5 on the Manticore, with the sentries breakpoint being the same at 2.842 (reaching BP8 isn't available).

Opinions? I haven't seen much on this.

I haven't found a Kridershot yet (although most everything else) so I'm using Entangling/ShockCollaras a main and ElemArrow/FrostArrow as a secondary. My primary finisher (and used as a main hatred spender except in a line of mobs) is Cluster/LoadedforBear and it works very well. I've rarely played Entangling(or Shock Collar)but it is very powerful as it refreshes itself regardless of how many mobs are chained. I can turn 180 degrees and Entangle more mobs and the ones behind me are still snared/taking damage. Works well in groups (T5/6) and the +Lightning items (Thundergods, etc.) make the damage ticks way up there.

I have the chest that allows 3 Wolves (Cloak of the Garwulf) and I've never enjoyed a pet more. They do 350k+ damage hits normal and crit much higher (x 3 wolves, million damage combined minimum/tick); as a bonus the 3 wolves tank most anything and (for the time being) have no health hence never die. Steady Aim, Cull of the Weak, and Night Stalker are my Passives although I may try Blood Vengeance (some confusion if you are at full health if you get the hatred/disc but Ishould test it out)and since I don't really need more damaging skills I took Lingering Fog and Gloom. Lingering drops my aggro and the wolves pick up the boss/elite right away.

I will miss my Calamity when I find Kridershot but I won't hesitate to use it. My Frost Arrow crits for well over a million so spamming it will be devastating.

Clockwork Angels by Rush is in heavy rotation- just amazing!

UPDATED 5 AM PST D3 is downloading 1.0.8.16416

Blue Post translated below.

1.0.8 Demon Hunter's buffs/fixes (copied from Diablofans' News):

Demon Hunter

• Active Skills
• Companion
• Skill Rune – Boar Companion
• Now regenerates 310 life per second (up from 155)
• Rapid Fire
• Base weapon damage increased from 276% to 438%
• Hatred cost while channeling has been reduced from to 6 (down from 10)
• Skill Rune - Bombardment
• Weapon damage increased from 345% to 414%
• Explosion radius increased to 8 yards (up from 4)
• Skill Rune - Fire Support
• Weapon damage of Homing Rockets increased from 35% to 145%
• Skill Rune - Withering Fire
• Now reduces the initial Hatred cost to 10 (up from 5)
• Sentry
• Skill Rune – Aid Station
• Now heals nearby allies for 2% of max life per second (up from 1%)
• Passive Skills
• Brooding
• Now regenerates 2% of maximum life per second (up from 1%)

Rapid Fire? A whopping 310 life/sec on a boar pet? 2% Life on sentries and Brooding is good if you use those.

We need a resist fix (a la Monk's "One With Everything", et al) and they're overdue to look at Disc regen again (Nat's legacy RIP- they said they would "revisit" disc regen after Paragon came out).

Like everyone I'll give RF a good looking over (the version that makes Live).

As promised:

From Korean battle.net forums:

■ 점검 시간: 5월 9일 목요일 오전 5시 ~ 오후 1시 (약 8시간 소요 예정)
■ 점검 내용: 아시아 서버 정기 점검 및 1.0.8 패치
■ 전체 서버 정상화 완료 시간: 5월 9일 목요일 오후 1시
■ 작업 영향: 점검 시간 동안 게임 이용 불가

Translated (via Bing translator, pretty slick btw):
■ Check time: Thursday, May 9 at 5: 00 am-1: 00 pm (approximately 8 hours)
■ Check the contents: Asian server maintenance and patch 1.0.8
■ Full server normalizes completion time: Thursday, May 9 at 1: 00 pm
■ Check the hours of operation: game not available

Someone simply asking for help gets thrown under a fleet of buses for doing so.

Help or don't- but don't be an idiot about it.

Grats, very nice.

I anticipate a buff in the next DH review-it's difficult to believe they wouldn't.

In addition to the above, you can look at diabloprogress or one of the other ranking sites to see what some of the top DPS DH's use.

Unless you plan to focus on a Calamity-only build, attack speed is necessary. Even with Calamity I know high-DPS DH's that don't avoid IAS. With Manticore you want more IAS. The argument that it wastes Hatred is flawed-only shoot the same number of Skill "X" and you'll be using the exact same Hatred as with less IAS. The question about Run Speed is beyond belief; of course you want high Run Speed.

Quote from StoneTheRock

+ disc items will make this run a breeze, allowing you to pop gloom while vaulting past packs that have any kind of danger of killing you. I hardly even use prep, but keep it anyway for emergencies, just like the OP said.

The unfortunate thing is that +Disc items tend to lose more valuable DPS-related stats/modifiers.

For PvP the DH is hands down the easiest to win with. For PvE it's not as fast as other classes but in uber groups we do the most damage (sentries/spike traps). With a Scoundrel with Windforce you can farm anything- just not as fast.

I'm gonna play around with it, at 60+% crit and 550+% CD I don't anticipate changing my Manticore's Emeralds into Rubies. I like sentries and I use a bat so it's worth checking into. At least now it's worth even considering vs. just "Nope".