So, you boot up your PC, intending to dive into the world of your favorite game, be that Diablo,WoW, Hearthstone, StarCraft, DotA, LoL or anything else. Setting aside "check facebook" and things along the lines of that, what's your first gaming activity?
There's one thing you're wrong at. Run length DOES NOT directly scale with monster health. For two reasons: overkill damage(relevant for trash, not elites); and time you spend moving around, which is static for you throughout all mp levels.
The fun part is that people make too much of a fuss about real money. Whether you buy stuff for gold or for real money - it doesn't matter. Both are, in essence, your time. The key difference is - gold is less convertible, meaning you generally can't buy real stuff for it. All the other things which matter - how much you overcomplicate things, in which currency you earn the same worth of diablo gear faster, and whether you want to take a shortcut to better gear and smoother farming, or not.
Can't really call this a philosophical question.. Most people just tend to value money more than it's worth.
Uhh, so all you are suggesting is to use the move command as DH? I think anyone who played glasscannon @ release knows that, since you would die all the time due to accidentally clicking destructibles while kiting. At least I did a couple times, and since then my "move" is bound to my midle mouse button.
Anyway, I guess it's useful for those who ran into this kiting problem and didn't try to solve it.
Also, don't go bragging about skill and all that stuff. It's Diablo, gear is what matters here. Sure, being smart and skilled helps at all gear levels, but the better gear you have, the less beneficial it is.
Offtopic, but the broadcaster looks pretty miserable when those two legendaries dropped for him. What the hell? I don't remember orgasming for thirty seconds after getting 2x legendaries(one of them was Manticore) and a key from my first keymaster ever, like this guy does. Those screams spoiled the impression of the vid so bad.
Also, the negativity.. Why do you say that "it's shitty" in one way or another after most drops?
First ban ever incoming, I guess.
[intro]
There I was last night, testing different stuff, trying to find a way to stretch my comfort zone from mp3-4 to higher difficulties, to be more specific - I wanted to try killing some elites + keymaster in A1 mp8. I'm using Danetta's hand crossbows set for my weapons, because, well, I like them. Due to hatred generation and different damage per hatred spent, fast weapons work differently for slower and faster weapons. So I got this idea to try and abuse the fast attack speed in the area those are abused best - the on-hit effects.
Now, I don't currently have any gear with nifty on-hit effects, I decided to try a stun bola + fear arrow based build I once used on late-Nightmare.
It was 7 am and I had to wake up in 7 hours, so I figured I'll test it the next day. I woke up 6 hours after that and proceded to test the build. It turned out to be pretty impressive.
Don't know if a build like this has been highlited before, but I hope it hasn't!
[/intro]
[intro_2.0]
Forgive me my style, if it offends any of you. It's only meant to be entertaining.
My vision is, a good build should have a good reason for every skill, in a way it becomes a Build, not a set of good skills on a single action bar. Skills should synergize well, together becoming more effective than stronger "lone" skills.
In an extremely fast-paced game like Diablo, complicated builds with set-up times or high skill requirements are not effective. This build can use some setup, yet that isn't necessary. It also requires good positioning skills, as well as a good aim, in order to maximize your hatred efficiency, otherwise you can get starved.
Nonetheless, my dps and defences are not enough to zerg through higher difficulties without glasscannon DH style kiting(did that on release, killed Diablo Inferno pre-nerfs and quit my DH), so I find it aproppriate to substitute gear and usual ways of kiting for a more skill-based and fun playstyle.
[/intro_2.0]
This build's main idea is using high attack speed weapons in order to maximize Demon Hunter's crowd control capabilities, while maintaining a healthy amount of damage. It wasn't designed to be THE super efficient high mp farming build. It was designed to be fun and effective. And to use fast weapons. Because I don't like my Manticore.
The build favors a hand crossbow(or two) and high critical hit chance. I'm currently running with 2.06 aps and 56% crit chance. Some passives/actives could be adjusted for lower crit rates. Probably.
Let me elaborate the skill choices.
Actives:
1) Bola Shot - Thunder Ball
This beauty has a 35% chance to stun the main target for 1.5 sec, with a mere 1 sec delay. Your best friend for keeping monsters in place, as well as your hatred generator.
2) Elemental Arrow - Screaming Skull
40% chance to make them run AWAY from you! For just 10 hatred. And it pierces! All you need to make the best out of it are some epic lineupping skills. Line them up, shoot 'em all, watch them run. Your main spender, an a great tool to maintain the distance and to keep monsters [Right Where You Want Them].
3) Shadow Power - Gloom
Now, this is as popular nowadays, as Smoke Screen - Lingering Fog used to be. Extra defense, nice healing. Yet this build is capable of utilizing the skill in a fairly tricky way. Later on that.
Optional runes: all of them. Well of Darkness - for easier Discipline management, Night Bane - for easier hatred management. Blood Moon - kind of a substitute for Gloom if you have a lot of resistances, letting you choose when to heal, rather than having to use it in order to take less damage. Shadow Glide.. Well, it doesn't integrate well into the build, but you can use it if you generally like running fast.
4) Caltrops - Jagged Spikes
This thing hurts. I never tested this, but increasing the duration to 12 seconds turns 270% weapon damage over 6 sec into 540% over 12, right? Anyway, it can be stacked, it does damage, it snares. Your main widespread AOE damage source. THIS is where you want them.
5) Sentry - Spitfire Turret
These things do damage. 175% weapon damage per shot. 3x of them do 525% per shot, combined. Sadly, these cannot crit. Still they augment your damage nicely and can neatly clean up some low-health monsters for you.
They also shoot rockets!
But cannot crit.
Optional runes: Guardian Turret - for those who enjoy tanking hard hits!
6) This one is optional.
Vault - Acrobatics is the one I listed because I generally like mobility. That A1 keyguy kept jailing me in place, and then proceeded to shoot a deadly combo of spear and fireball at me all the time. Anyway, Vault helps you stay there doing damage a little bit longer before escaping, and gets you out of nasty wall-boxes, lazorz and all the other deadly stuff. Tumble can be used for more rolls if you'e cool with your discipline, Rattling Roll could be used to roll in and drop some Caltrops right under your enemies, but I wouldn't use it when running under ~45 discipline. Anyway, you have to be very careful in smaller spaces if you are taking any other skill.
Companion - Bat Companion can help your hatred management if you feel starved too often.
Companion - Boar Companion. For those who enjoy tanking hard hits!
Preparation - Backup Plan is great for those with low crit who can't make a good use of the Night Stalker passive.
From the top of the head:
Marked for Death - Valley of Death could be pretty cool, laying it right over all your Caltrops for some extra hurt.
Impale - Grievous Wounds can be used for some single-target hurt. Although it doesn't integrate with the build at all. I wouldn't pick it. Ever. You shouldn't either.
Rain of Vengeance - Flying strike is, too, a nice way to keep them in your Caltrops! Pretty much does the same as Companion - Bat Companion(which helps you with hatred for more Screaming Skulls).
Passives:
1) Night Stalker
This is the discipline generator for those with high crit rates. Optional if you pick Preparation as your last skill. If that is the case, instead you can take:
Cull the Weak - extra damage against those unlucky enough to have been snared by you!
Steady Aim - pretty much the same, does not require your targets to be snared, but won't work if you let them close. Probably a better choice than Cull the Weak. Definitely. Unless you like tanking hard hits.
Numbing Traps - if you actually do.
Thrill of the Hunt - fits well into the theme. Can be used nicely for keeping them in Caltrops. A nice option.
2) Archery/Steady Aim
This is a tough one. Archery increases critical hit chance, thus increasing your own damage(scales with crititical hit damage) and Discipline , but does not affect your Sentries. Steady Aim increases all the damage, Sentries included, by 20%, but won't be useful if you like.. well, you know. I've said that too many times already.
3) Custom Engineering
Double Caltrops duration, double Sentry duration. Which, in a long run, halves their respective hatred and discipline costs, letting you Shadow Power, Screaming Skull and Deep Breath more.
If you have read up to this point, you're awesome.
I probably should've provided a video which shows how this works. But I don't have any recording or editing tools, and my internet is too slow to stream and record =( And I'm lazy, too.
Anyway, I've provided a bunch of options for actives and passives, which support different playstyles, and it would be pretty hard to show how each of them works in a single video. Things are up for you to try out.
The main idea is to drop a Sentry, spread(or stack, depends on how fast you plan to kill 'em) Caltrops and pull the pack. This sounds like quite a long preparation, but in reality doesn't even require you to stop running. Try keeping enemies lined up, dropping Sentries whenever you don't have 3 up, when monsters get past the middle of your Caltrops(line) - feel free to start spamming your Screaming Skull. In the best-case scenario, when the fear procs(the animation will be bigger than the non-fearing shots) you hit all the monsters you are fighting, and you can start spamming your Thunder Ball for AOE damage and stuns to keep them in place.
Naturally, not all monsters can be kited that easily. Some are ranged - just keep the sentries up, stun them and dodge the projectiles. Against teleporters and generally mobile monsters feel free to drop Caltrops as you are moving away from them - you probably won't be able to keep them in the same spot all the time. Just stay close to your Sentries.
Certain affixes, such as Arcane Enchanted and Plagued, will require you to reposition your Sentries. Keep that in mind when kiting, drop new Sentries towards the direction you're planning to move to when the current spot becomes too dangerous.
Reflect Damage affix is tricky. Sentries don't proc neither lifesteal nor life on hit. Unless you've got plenty of resistances, they might end up killing you So versus RD you should consider not using turrets, or only use one or two of them.
Reflect Damage + Fast + mobile enemy(read: Phase Beast) is deadly. I don't wanna meet those, ever. Not with my current resistances. Although, if you position properly, it might be fine. It's just that it's really hard to keep them in Caltrops.
Now, a reward for the most patient and awesome.
The Lifesteal Trick
Okay, this might be widely-known, but I only figured that out yesterday.
I love Bola Shot - Impending Doom. Despite the 2 second delay. It crits so hard. It does awesome burst when an enemy with stacked bolas dies early.
But sometimes, you meet Reflect Damage elites. You shoot some bolas, and some other stuff, you keep fighting, and, eventually, you might drop to low hp. You shoot some more bolas, and you think "Ok, time to lifesteal!" and pop Shadow Power. And then you die.
Because lifesteal % on skills is calculated when you USE it, not when it HITS. Thus, shooting bolas and then using Shadow Power awards you no lifesteal. Bolas shot during Shadow Power heal you even if they blow up after Shadow Power fades off. (Hint: A way to heal when Frozen!)
The same is true for Caltrops. You can pop Shadow Power, drop 5 Caltrops(if you have enough discipline for that), and keep getting healed while those Caltrops are dealing damage. Scales with damage, naturally. Keep in mind damage passives!
I think this is all I had to say, for now. I will edit if there will be a necessity. Hope you like the idea, and hope you will give this build a try. Have fun, and good luck with drops!
I've switched to Bola Shot - Imminent Doom recently, since it seems to be the highest dps generator, without accounting for the lack of auto-aim.
Imminent Doom has an increased delay of 2 seconds, and sometimes monsters die faster than all the bolas attached explode. Though I noticed that, when a monsters dies with several stacks of bola still not exploded, the animation seems brighter, "stronger".
The question is.. Do the non-detonated bolas explode for aoe damage when the monster dies? Or do they simply "disappear"? Anyone tested for that?
I got 2 legendaries out of 3 runs, 40 and below. First 1.0.4 legendaries. My friend got 1 legendary in 1 40 run. First 1.0.4 legendary as well. Sure, might be rng. But, as long as just my own exp is considered, it's either a pretty damn rare coincidence, or it actually works. What I'm more interested in right now - whether it is bannable or not. Because, whatever we say, be it "I'm not exploiting, I'm just checking IP's", if it actually works and harms the economy enough, Blizzard can easily go "Nope, it's an exploit" and ban, ban, ban.
Blizz might have considered something like that in the future. At least that space to the right of the hidden camp waypoint begs to house another artisan.
What's the point of this video?.. I mean, "pop smoke and nuke" is natural for a dh, I mean, if a dh doesn't do that and complains that clones kill him, he's probably just bad?
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Title: Ellone
Info: farming on my DH, mp6 ubers/bounties and Grifts!
Steam says hi to the latter =)
Can't really call this a philosophical question.. Most people just tend to value money more than it's worth.
Anyway, I guess it's useful for those who ran into this kiting problem and didn't try to solve it.
Also, don't go bragging about skill and all that stuff. It's Diablo, gear is what matters here. Sure, being smart and skilled helps at all gear levels, but the better gear you have, the less beneficial it is.
Also, the negativity.. Why do you say that "it's shitty" in one way or another after most drops?
First ban ever incoming, I guess.
[intro]
There I was last night, testing different stuff, trying to find a way to stretch my comfort zone from mp3-4 to higher difficulties, to be more specific - I wanted to try killing some elites + keymaster in A1 mp8. I'm using Danetta's hand crossbows set for my weapons, because, well, I like them. Due to hatred generation and different damage per hatred spent, fast weapons work differently for slower and faster weapons. So I got this idea to try and abuse the fast attack speed in the area those are abused best - the on-hit effects.
Now, I don't currently have any gear with nifty on-hit effects, I decided to try a stun bola + fear arrow based build I once used on late-Nightmare.
It was 7 am and I had to wake up in 7 hours, so I figured I'll test it the next day. I woke up 6 hours after that and proceded to test the build. It turned out to be pretty impressive.
Don't know if a build like this has been highlited before, but I hope it hasn't!
[/intro]
The "Trust me, I'm an engineer!" build.
[intro_2.0]
Forgive me my style, if it offends any of you. It's only meant to be entertaining.
My vision is, a good build should have a good reason for every skill, in a way it becomes a Build, not a set of good skills on a single action bar. Skills should synergize well, together becoming more effective than stronger "lone" skills.
In an extremely fast-paced game like Diablo, complicated builds with set-up times or high skill requirements are not effective. This build can use some setup, yet that isn't necessary. It also requires good positioning skills, as well as a good aim, in order to maximize your hatred efficiency, otherwise you can get starved.
Nonetheless, my dps and defences are not enough to zerg through higher difficulties without glasscannon DH style kiting(did that on release, killed Diablo Inferno pre-nerfs and quit my DH), so I find it aproppriate to substitute gear and usual ways of kiting for a more skill-based and fun playstyle.
[/intro_2.0]
This build's main idea is using high attack speed weapons in order to maximize Demon Hunter's crowd control capabilities, while maintaining a healthy amount of damage. It wasn't designed to be THE super efficient high mp farming build. It was designed to be fun and effective. And to use fast weapons. Because I don't like my Manticore.
The build favors a hand crossbow(or two) and high critical hit chance. I'm currently running with 2.06 aps and 56% crit chance. Some passives/actives could be adjusted for lower crit rates. Probably.
Let me elaborate the skill choices.
Actives:
1) Bola Shot - Thunder Ball
This beauty has a 35% chance to stun the main target for 1.5 sec, with a mere 1 sec delay. Your best friend for keeping monsters in place, as well as your hatred generator.
2) Elemental Arrow - Screaming Skull
40% chance to make them run AWAY from you! For just 10 hatred. And it pierces! All you need to make the best out of it are some epic lineupping skills. Line them up, shoot 'em all, watch them run. Your main spender, an a great tool to maintain the distance and to keep monsters [Right Where You Want Them].
3) Shadow Power - Gloom
Now, this is as popular nowadays, as Smoke Screen - Lingering Fog used to be. Extra defense, nice healing. Yet this build is capable of utilizing the skill in a fairly tricky way. Later on that.
Optional runes: all of them. Well of Darkness - for easier Discipline management, Night Bane - for easier hatred management. Blood Moon - kind of a substitute for Gloom if you have a lot of resistances, letting you choose when to heal, rather than having to use it in order to take less damage. Shadow Glide.. Well, it doesn't integrate well into the build, but you can use it if you generally like running fast.
4) Caltrops - Jagged Spikes
This thing hurts. I never tested this, but increasing the duration to 12 seconds turns 270% weapon damage over 6 sec into 540% over 12, right? Anyway, it can be stacked, it does damage, it snares. Your main widespread AOE damage source. THIS is where you want them.
5) Sentry - Spitfire Turret
These things do damage. 175% weapon damage per shot. 3x of them do 525% per shot, combined. Sadly, these cannot crit. Still they augment your damage nicely and can neatly clean up some low-health monsters for you.
They also shoot rockets!
But cannot crit.
Optional runes: Guardian Turret - for those who enjoy tanking hard hits!
6) This one is optional.
Vault - Acrobatics is the one I listed because I generally like mobility. That A1 keyguy kept jailing me in place, and then proceeded to shoot a deadly combo of spear and fireball at me all the time. Anyway, Vault helps you stay there doing damage a little bit longer before escaping, and gets you out of nasty wall-boxes, lazorz and all the other deadly stuff. Tumble can be used for more rolls if you'e cool with your discipline, Rattling Roll could be used to roll in and drop some Caltrops right under your enemies, but I wouldn't use it when running under ~45 discipline. Anyway, you have to be very careful in smaller spaces if you are taking any other skill.
Companion - Bat Companion can help your hatred management if you feel starved too often.
Companion - Boar Companion. For those who enjoy tanking hard hits!
Preparation - Backup Plan is great for those with low crit who can't make a good use of the Night Stalker passive.
From the top of the head:
Marked for Death - Valley of Death could be pretty cool, laying it right over all your Caltrops for some extra hurt.
Impale - Grievous Wounds can be used for some single-target hurt. Although it doesn't integrate with the build at all. I wouldn't pick it. Ever. You shouldn't either.
Rain of Vengeance - Flying strike is, too, a nice way to keep them in your Caltrops! Pretty much does the same as Companion - Bat Companion(which helps you with hatred for more Screaming Skulls).
Passives:
1) Night Stalker
This is the discipline generator for those with high crit rates. Optional if you pick Preparation as your last skill. If that is the case, instead you can take:
Cull the Weak - extra damage against those unlucky enough to have been snared by you!
Steady Aim - pretty much the same, does not require your targets to be snared, but won't work if you let them close. Probably a better choice than Cull the Weak. Definitely. Unless you like tanking hard hits.
Numbing Traps - if you actually do.
Thrill of the Hunt - fits well into the theme. Can be used nicely for keeping them in Caltrops. A nice option.
2) Archery/Steady Aim
This is a tough one. Archery increases critical hit chance, thus increasing your own damage(scales with crititical hit damage) and Discipline , but does not affect your Sentries. Steady Aim increases all the damage, Sentries included, by 20%, but won't be useful if you like.. well, you know. I've said that too many times already.
3) Custom Engineering
Double Caltrops duration, double Sentry duration. Which, in a long run, halves their respective hatred and discipline costs, letting you Shadow Power, Screaming Skull and Deep Breath more.
Never mind the Deep Breath.
Yeah. Trust me, I'm an engineer!*
"Trust me, I'm an engineer!": Special Tactics ©
If you have read up to this point, you're awesome.
I probably should've provided a video which shows how this works. But I don't have any recording or editing tools, and my internet is too slow to stream and record =( And I'm lazy, too.
Anyway, I've provided a bunch of options for actives and passives, which support different playstyles, and it would be pretty hard to show how each of them works in a single video. Things are up for you to try out.
The main idea is to drop a Sentry, spread(or stack, depends on how fast you plan to kill 'em) Caltrops and pull the pack. This sounds like quite a long preparation, but in reality doesn't even require you to stop running. Try keeping enemies lined up, dropping Sentries whenever you don't have 3 up, when monsters get past the middle of your Caltrops(line) - feel free to start spamming your Screaming Skull. In the best-case scenario, when the fear procs(the animation will be bigger than the non-fearing shots) you hit all the monsters you are fighting, and you can start spamming your Thunder Ball for AOE damage and stuns to keep them in place.
Naturally, not all monsters can be kited that easily. Some are ranged - just keep the sentries up, stun them and dodge the projectiles. Against teleporters and generally mobile monsters feel free to drop Caltrops as you are moving away from them - you probably won't be able to keep them in the same spot all the time. Just stay close to your Sentries.
Certain affixes, such as Arcane Enchanted and Plagued, will require you to reposition your Sentries. Keep that in mind when kiting, drop new Sentries towards the direction you're planning to move to when the current spot becomes too dangerous.
Reflect Damage affix is tricky. Sentries don't proc neither lifesteal nor life on hit. Unless you've got plenty of resistances, they might end up killing you
Reflect Damage + Fast + mobile enemy(read: Phase Beast) is deadly. I don't wanna meet those, ever. Not with my current resistances. Although, if you position properly, it might be fine. It's just that it's really hard to keep them in Caltrops.
Now, a reward for the most patient and awesome.
The Lifesteal Trick
Okay, this might be widely-known, but I only figured that out yesterday.
I love Bola Shot - Impending Doom. Despite the 2 second delay. It crits so hard. It does awesome burst when an enemy with stacked bolas dies early.
But sometimes, you meet Reflect Damage elites. You shoot some bolas, and some other stuff, you keep fighting, and, eventually, you might drop to low hp. You shoot some more bolas, and you think "Ok, time to lifesteal!" and pop Shadow Power. And then you die.
Because lifesteal % on skills is calculated when you USE it, not when it HITS. Thus, shooting bolas and then using Shadow Power awards you no lifesteal. Bolas shot during Shadow Power heal you even if they blow up after Shadow Power fades off. (Hint: A way to heal when Frozen!)
The same is true for Caltrops. You can pop Shadow Power, drop 5 Caltrops(if you have enough discipline for that), and keep getting healed while those Caltrops are dealing damage. Scales with damage, naturally. Keep in mind damage passives!
I think this is all I had to say, for now. I will edit if there will be a necessity. Hope you like the idea, and hope you will give this build a try. Have fun, and good luck with drops!
____________________
*In fact, I'm not =(
I've switched to Bola Shot - Imminent Doom recently, since it seems to be the highest dps generator, without accounting for the lack of auto-aim.
Imminent Doom has an increased delay of 2 seconds, and sometimes monsters die faster than all the bolas attached explode. Though I noticed that, when a monsters dies with several stacks of bola still not exploded, the animation seems brighter, "stronger".
The question is.. Do the non-detonated bolas explode for aoe damage when the monster dies? Or do they simply "disappear"? Anyone tested for that?