with 2.6.1 live now and the new season coming up, I have been busy with a few updated guides and want to share them with you. They are mostly video-based, but experienced players should get a good idea by skimming through them and taking a look at the d3planner links. DH is looking strong next patch and the solo build diversity is the highest it's ever been, with 5 different builds all performing at almost the same level: Shadow's Impale, UE Multishot, UE Gen, Natalya and Marauder can all be expected to clear up to around Tier 110 this season with a gap of maybe 1-2 tiers between the best and worst build. A 100+ is quite doable for anyone who plays any of these builds well with a somewhat optimized character.
For that purpose, I start out with an overview of all solo builds that you can check out if you are not aware of all of them. This should give you a good idea of what they look like and what you need for them. In that video's description I also have d3planner setups and links to full guides for each of them, like a little build hub (video).
Since Marauder's and Impale didn't really change much besides numbers buffs, I didn't record new guides for them, but the old ones are still valid. I did, however, create updated diablofans + youtube guides for UE Multishot in T13 (with some significant changes) and UE in GRs, since it's the first time that build is actually competitive. Besides pushing, Multishot will also do really well in GR90-95, where optimized characters can expect ~3min average clears. This build will also be my personal preference for solo during S12.
I also made a new Natalya guide, since I figured that a lot of people are probably not very familiar with it after it has been out of the meta for so long. I think that Natalya with Fan of Knives will be a solid choice for anyone who wants to push high in solo, as it is rather tanky and easy to play once you got the basics down. Furthermore, I made a new variation of it running Shi Mizu and I believe this will outperform the other solo builds by a little bit, however it's very difficult and requires optimized gear + high paragon to make it worth. Personally I'm stoked to play this Shi Mizu variant on my nonseason DH and try to get a nice rank with it once the leaderboards will be unlocked again and I reached a good level on my seasonal character.
For new players, people switching to DH for S12 or just those unfamiliar with Natalya's, I also made a S12 Starter Guide for DHs to give you an idea of how to optimize your path of progression to reach the endgame the quickest way possible (video).
I hope you'll enjoy my guides and revel in the fine art of demon slaying in Season 12! Personally, I will go ham on the first weekend and then slowly work towards ~P1200-1500 and clearing a GR108-110 over the course of the season. Feel free to stop by on my stream to follow my progress!
a couple weeks ago on the PTR, I did quite a lot of testing around the reworked Holy Point Shot and the new Shadow's builds it enables, and made some guides for them. I've updated them again a little bit now. I have three builds in total depending on what you are going to do: solo pushing, group play, or torment / low GR farm. I hope you will like them!
I know that especially for groups there will be a lot of people asking how viable DH will be compared to Monk and Wiz. The short answer is: we don't know. The long answer is: Monk is probably out entirely because Wiz and DH are new and slightly stronger, and between Wiz and DH there are some differences in how they are played and how strong they are for killing the RG, but overall they will most likely end up at the exact same level.
As for the torment / low GR build, I think especially when farming in groups, this has more potential that UE Multishot, so it's a top notch farming build. And the solo build, it's a little bit behind the other top builds we have on DH, but still top 10 viable.
OMG! Nice post! I was planning to ask these things but this post was more that I could wish for.
Still I have few questions:
What you think which one is better for Grenades right click or left click?
Only the middle one of Grenade Cache hits the target on left click for sure?
That maybe the reason why Buriza procs so badly?
Other runes always hit on left click?
Can bounces proc Buriza or only the initial hit and (Buriza) hit that follows?
What you think about shadow set grenades? Lower damage but maybe good sage build?
1) Doesn't matter where you put your skills on your bar, as long as you don't have trouble controlling your character.
2) All skills work the same, no matter if you put them on left or right click.
3) Buriza procs so badly because of its internal cooldown and the weird mechanics with grenades.
4) See 2)
5) Only initial hit procs Buriza
6) Shadow set sucks, even for torments
Something that I noticed not sure if its a bug or what. But whenever you have UE and Hellcat Waistguard equipped using Grenades - Tinkerer rune, you will get 7 hatred per bounce of the grenades. So instead of using Evasive Fire - Focus, you swap to Grenades - Tinkerer rune. I believe it has something to do with the 2pc bonus on UE because it doesn't work on any other set. This will give you pretty much permanent hatred for Multishot to spam. In this particular case having a roll of 5 bounces is better for speeds as well. This also buffs your discipline as well on each bounce.
Wow, this sounds pretty insane. I tested this quickly and couldn't replicate it, what else did you have equipped there?
I think this was patched with the 64bit update because it no longer works on my end either. It was definitely insane though. I didn't have anything special equipped just normal UE, FnR, DML, Yang's, Hellfire, Hellcat, Wraps and Cube was Dawn, Cindercoat, COE. The only skill that was different than normal was the generator. Wish it still worked though, it was a pretty awesome unique buff.
Too bad, not sure it would have been really great but maybe it would have had some application for speedfarm builds. Sounds pretty cool at least
Went DH for solo this season and the UE general build is beyond fun and awesome for farming. Barely p150 and just completed USE set and I'm one shitting the GR on T10.
Thank you for the time and testing and posting your findings. I will be testing furnace over buriza, however, I'm guessing buriza wins in density especially in higher grs as we start to skip elites.
Glad you like it! Unfortunately, we can't cube Buriza on DH, otherwise it would probably be the best choice.
Something that I noticed not sure if its a bug or what. But whenever you have UE and Hellcat Waistguard equipped using Grenades - Tinkerer rune, you will get 7 hatred per bounce of the grenades. So instead of using Evasive Fire - Focus, you swap to Grenades - Tinkerer rune. I believe it has something to do with the 2pc bonus on UE because it doesn't work on any other set. This will give you pretty much permanent hatred for Multishot to spam. In this particular case having a roll of 5 bounces is better for speeds as well. This also buffs your discipline as well on each bounce.
Wow, this sounds pretty insane. I tested this quickly and couldn't replicate it, what else did you have equipped there?
I recently made a guide on the Hammerdin and now also included a written part in it, so I thought I would share it here. Enjoy and feel free to upvote!
I recently made a guide on the Manald Heal Wiz and now also included a written part in it, so I thought I would share it here. Enjoy and feel free to upvote!
Hey everyone, I made some Dfans builds with the promised written parts here. I also included a new updated guide for both the UE Multishot and the LoN FoK build as well. Enjoy and feel free to upvote!
Hm, for starters, it's usually a good idea to have at least on Monk (for fast leveling with pull + palm) and then multiple Barbs or DHs, because those classes can carry torments very quickly early on with some lootshare. We will probably go with at least two DHs in that case, with only 2 pieces and a Lord Greenstone you can easily oneshot elites in medium torments right away, and you just need to make huge pulls in the beginning, and ignore small pulls or monsters in general. Later with 6pc you can kill stuff more reliable and move up to T9-10, and already farm at an efficient level that will give you a UE set pretty soon.
Heya Wudijo, man u r the greatest, again thanks for testing and laying out math and proc efficiency. btw u know if cold grenade is worth it ??? how r ya keeping slows on the mobs with only fan of knives its only 1 sec
I tried Cold Grenades and it seems like they are not really getting buffed by the belt, so we can only use Cluster Grenades / Grenade Cache effectively. About the slow, I assume you are talking about the UE generator build, because this is the one which has most trouble with it. I was actually considering cubing Thunderfury instead of Buriza, but Buriza is just a really strong dps increase when you get it to proc, so it's not worth giving it up for Thunderfury. Generally you will slow some stuff with the Bane of the Trapped secondary effect, a little bith with Caltrops and the rest should come from your follower with a Thunderfury equipped.
Damn, that is some insane amount of work you put in there. Very impressive - and thanks a lot for sharing! Looking forward to your DFans build guides; I'm actually considering a DH since UE is just so much fun for the paragon 100-600 bracket, and those builds might add some nice flavor to it.
Indeed, I always enjoy early season UE blasting! Even better because the starter set is Shadows, which also has some fun variations for the first couple hours until you get the full set.
in the recent weeks I've been testing the new DH builds made possible by the reworked Hellcat Waistguard and also dived a little bit more into the belt's mechanics as well. I did some tests on the PTR to find out more about how everything works, which is probably worth knowing for everyone who wants to take his grenade builds seriously. Since we are quite late in the PTR cycle and DH seems to be in a okay spot, I doubt we will see many, if any, changes here anymore.
I did a total of 5 different tests. First, nailing down the damage behavior of the procs, second, recording the average hit chances of bouncing grenades on a stationary target, third, validating proc chances by skill, fourth, counting some kill times with different belt rolls, and fifth, exploring the Buriza mechanics with grenades and the belt.
Here is a screenshot of my sheet for the first test:
My base damage is 56 without the belt equipped, using Grenade - Tinkerer. If I equip the belt, my "base" attacks will go up by 50% to 84 already, meaning the initial attack aready counts as a bounce. The following bounces each add 50%, and the last one will deal 800% total, not 100% + 800% = 900% as the wording on the belt could suggest ("... dealing an additional 50% damage on each bounce / This bonus is increased to 800% on the final bounce"). This means the total damage with all grenades hitting are 1700% (5 affix), 1400% (4 affix) and 1150% (3 affix), respectively.
On my next test, I took a stationary target (Hellbringers in A3) and did 200 casts with each possible belt affix, counting the procs as well as how many times each separate bounce would hit the target. This test was done with the Grenadier passive equipped. Here is a screenshot:
It seems likely that the differences in proc chances are only due to statistical errors, and the real proc chance is probably precisely 50% (also tested more thoroughly below).
It is worth noting that Hellbringers have a rather large hitbox, which rivals that of only the biggest monsters (not counting RGs). Interestingly, the damage share of the initial attack is rather high, around 20-27%. But as you can see on the numbers, especially for the belts with 4 and 5 affix, hitting a target more than twice is rather uncommon. The third, fourth and fifth hits all have average hit chances of below 50%, going as low as 28%. Obviously the numbers go down as the count in bounces increases, as the grenades have a higher chance of jumping somewhere outside of the initial attack area.
Looking at the numbers for only the last and most important bounce for each affix, you can see that the "big" explosion at the end doesn't even do that much for the 5-belt, with only 32% of the total damage done (as opposed to the possible 47% if we had 100% hit chance). Same for the 4-belt, where it is 40% (possible 57%), and only for the 3-belt we have some good numbers here, with 59% of the total damage (69% if we had 100% hit chance).
This result is very interesting because it suggests that the "bad" rolls on the bad are actually not that bad, and might in fact be better than a good roll in some cases. Of course the potential is much higher with a 5-belt, however the average chances of hitting the right targets (or anything at all) are very low for the strong, late explosions, while you get those much more consistently with a low affix. More importantly, bouncing grenades disappear as soon as they hit an obstacle or a wall. This test was done in an open area with no obstacles around, however in a GR, even in good map layouts (excluding most of arreat crater, perhaps), we have walls and obstacles everywhere, and grenades will disappear often before they can fully finish their bounces, favoring a lower affix on the belt. On top of that, you have to consider that for high GR pushing, the ideal playstyle is to surround elites with a lot of trash in order to nuke them down with area damage. With the high-affix belts, the grenades can be expected to do the opposite, i.e. jumping out of the center and killing all the small targets outside, leaving you with nothing but the high hp targets and no area damage to kill them. Based on my limited GR testing on the PTR it seems like there is a chance that people will prioritize lower rolls on their belts for certain builds. For speed farm (torment) builds specifically, you might want to run with a low belt anyway, simply because it takes a long time for all the bounces to happen in the first place.
This incosistent bouncing behavior is generally not so bad for skills like Cluster Arrow - Cluster Bombs or Grenade - Cluster Grenades, because those don't jump so far or just hit a large area in general. However, for Rain of Vengeance - Anathema, Strafe - Demolition or Grenade - Grenade Cache the difference is definitely noticeable and you can see that very often you won't hit your targets with your last explosions. I think overall higher belt affixes will still win out (especially when we consider GR fishing for big density), however probably not by as much as one could think without looking more closely.
My next test was just a confirmation of proc chances by skill. I equipped all the relevant grenade skills and counted how many times I saw a proc. It was rather difficult to do for RoV, so I only did 5 casts, watching them in ultra slow motion a couple times and counting the hits / nonhits until I felt I caught most of them. It seems like the belt has 50% proc chance across the board, independent of skill and belt affix roll:
Based on my findings about the low affix rolls, I went on to a field-test killing a big target in a rather open area (Ghom) and a small target in a very confined area (skinny a1 zombie near Adria's hut), counting the seconds for a kill.
It's only a small sample size, but it indicates that indeed the lower belts might not be so bad, especially on small targets and in areas where grenades tend to bounce against obstacles. Note that this test was done with Grenade - Grenade Cache, which probably has the highest bounciness of all grenades. It's also interesting that despite the highest average kill time, the fastest kill by far was done with the lower belt, too (on zombie target).
Right now I would say that the (5) belt is probably going to be the best on average if you intend to use it for fishing good maps and big density, and a (3) belt is probably best used for fast farm runs (torments and low GRs), where we have to fight in all kinds of small corridors and also want to deal the big damage as fast as possible (however only if you intend to basically oneshot stuff with a proc). Unfortunately it is rather difficult to acquire reliable data on this, so I can only go with my gut feeling here.
My last test was done with Buriza cubed, to see its behavior with grenades:
This screenshot doesn't show much more than that the extra grenades are also working with the belt, as expected. What it doesn't show is that the Buriza is actually quite difficult to proc, and it has something to do with how many targets are present and how they are distributed locally. It seems you need at least two targets and get the best results if you have a second (or more) target in a straight line right behind the first mob you hit with your grenades, which will make Buriza proc for additional damage.
Here is a little indication of what I mean:
This is only really relevant for the UE generator build, though, and keep in mind that Buriza still has an ICD of ~33 frames (so you can only get a proc on every second attack).
----
TL;DR: Hellcat Waistguard gives us many new builds, especially for solo DH. The proc chance seems to be 50% across the board. Some of the grenade skills we have are quite bouncy, making the juicy late bounces more difficult to unfold their potential when they jump out of a pull or against an obstacle and disappear. A low roll on the belt does not necessarily mean it's bad, especially for RoV - Anathema, Strafe - Demolition or Grenade - Grenade Cache and speedfarm builds in general. Buriza works for grenades but is difficult to proc, because it depends on your and your target's positioning.
----
Now that we're through with all of this, I also want to present you my guides for next patch. They are all aimed at pushing solo, and with this new belt we actually have a couple very competitive builds now. Personally, I will probably play Marauder's for pushing next season. *I will add some numbers to each build to give you an idea of what I would expect this to clear with ~1000-1400 paragon, good item rolls, augments and maybe 100-300 keys.*
in S7 we have seen a revival of the support wizard, and since no one really seems to talk about it and I played it for a bit this season, I decided to make a little guide for it. I tried to keep it short and concise, both the written and recorded parts. I recommend watching the video (9min) to see how it works in action, the main aspect (Ranslor's Folly pull) has a very unique mechanic that is easier to understand when you see it.
Support Wizard is generally used as the second (with Monk) or third (with Monk + Barb or DH) support in groups and can have a big impact especially in open, dense or dangerous rifts if played correctly, however you need to cooperate with your group a little bit more than with other support classes.
Energy Twister - Wicked Wind (Ranslor's Folly trigger, Gale Force's 15% additive boost not really worth for its inconsistency with pulls)
Slow Time - Any Rune (we have all with Crown of the Primus)
Frost Nova - Bone Chill (33% additive for 2sec)
Explosive Blast - Chain Reaction (damage red with Orb of Infinite Depth and for proccing Conflagration)
Black Hole - Event Horizon (remove elite affixes, can be swapped to Wave of Force - Debilitating Force for damage red and globe spawn with Solanium)
Teleport - Safe Passage (or Wormhole without Cosmic Strand)
Evocation, Conflagration, Unstable Anomaly I would consider as mandatory passives. The last two slots go to Cold Blooded, Blur, Galvanizing Ward or Illusionist.
Item setup:
3pc DMO + RoRG, Crown of the Primus, Illusory Boots, Ranslor's Folly + Strongarm or Nemesis (cube one, equip other), Aether Walker, Orb of Infinite Depth + Cosmic Strand (cube one, equip other), Obsidian Ring, Oculus Ring, Aquila Cuirass, String of Ears or Vigilante Belt if you feel tanky enough.
Hellfire Amulet is recommended but not a requirement.
Stack CDR on every piece, after that RCR. A little bit of IAS, CHC and ApoC help but is not really required, stacking defense is viable too.
Legendary gems are Toxin, Gogok and then either Iceblink, Esoteric or Moratorium.
Playstyle:
The playstyle is fairly simple, keep up your Orb of Infinite Depth buff and then, most importantly, you are there for pulling monsters together with Twister + Ranslor's Folly, and after that you stay in the fight, buff/debuff and remove dangerous elite affixes with Black Hole. Make sure you always have a Slow Time bubble up, especially after entering a new floor, otherwise you lose the DMO 4pc bonus and risk getting oneshot on some pulls. If you don't have a Barb in group, you should also try to pull monsters either via body pull or by using Ranslor to get them closer to the fight or through corridors, doors, etc. Consider watching the videos to see a bit more of the gameplay.
Hi everyone,
I know that there are still some people who enjoy the old lightning gameplay and are unhappy about the changes made by Blizzard, and since everyone is talking about how dead the lightning build apparently is, I just wanted to share with you this clip of how it is still working after patch 2.1.2. --> Video (Tier 47 - 11:37).
Given that the highest clear on PTR and live 2.1.2 was Tier 50 so far, I still think that lightning can be a viable alternative to the Cluster Arrow and Multishot builds right now. No ancient items were used in this run.
I also updated the guide in the Diablofans builds section (previously: Meticulous Punishment), and renamed it Blue Tides (for the constant ups and downs of the discipline bar and the feeling of drowning your enemies in a surge of blue lightning), since the Preparation - Punishment rune is no longer involved in the build.
For anyone curious about how it works, you can find all the necessary information here
GG WP Blizzard, let's see how far we can push it =)
Yes, pure single target seems like the best option if you want to play for rankings (excluding conduits here). The problem with fire is that you have no one to apply the slow, so you will have to do it yourself, leaving you only with a frostfire build, which in turn is really suboptimal on single target if you use a Helltrapper and have to use Gogok to reach the last breakpoint. My idea was to try out a physical build involving Cluster / Impale / EA using a bow or xbow, however even then you will probably get screwed on RGs that spawn a lot of adds, which are not that many fortunately.
I know about the barbs being popular in other regions, it seems like there are just none around on EU nonseason, which is really sad actually. Possibly we will even see full barb parties at the top at the end of the season, hunting for the conduits on tier 53-55. Empyrian indeed is working pretty hard and playing well from what I can tell, but we got some more seasonal barbs around as well.
About the Wreath of Lightning proccing Night Stalker: I have no clue, never tested it specifically, but there is reason to assume it does, as this is the case with Conduit pylons.
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Hey everyone,
with 2.6.1 live now and the new season coming up, I have been busy with a few updated guides and want to share them with you. They are mostly video-based, but experienced players should get a good idea by skimming through them and taking a look at the d3planner links. DH is looking strong next patch and the solo build diversity is the highest it's ever been, with 5 different builds all performing at almost the same level: Shadow's Impale, UE Multishot, UE Gen, Natalya and Marauder can all be expected to clear up to around Tier 110 this season with a gap of maybe 1-2 tiers between the best and worst build. A 100+ is quite doable for anyone who plays any of these builds well with a somewhat optimized character.
For that purpose, I start out with an overview of all solo builds that you can check out if you are not aware of all of them. This should give you a good idea of what they look like and what you need for them. In that video's description I also have d3planner setups and links to full guides for each of them, like a little build hub (video).
Since Marauder's and Impale didn't really change much besides numbers buffs, I didn't record new guides for them, but the old ones are still valid. I did, however, create updated diablofans + youtube guides for UE Multishot in T13 (with some significant changes) and UE in GRs, since it's the first time that build is actually competitive. Besides pushing, Multishot will also do really well in GR90-95, where optimized characters can expect ~3min average clears. This build will also be my personal preference for solo during S12.
I also made a new Natalya guide, since I figured that a lot of people are probably not very familiar with it after it has been out of the meta for so long. I think that Natalya with Fan of Knives will be a solid choice for anyone who wants to push high in solo, as it is rather tanky and easy to play once you got the basics down. Furthermore, I made a new variation of it running Shi Mizu and I believe this will outperform the other solo builds by a little bit, however it's very difficult and requires optimized gear + high paragon to make it worth. Personally I'm stoked to play this Shi Mizu variant on my nonseason DH and try to get a nice rank with it once the leaderboards will be unlocked again and I reached a good level on my seasonal character.
For new players, people switching to DH for S12 or just those unfamiliar with Natalya's, I also made a S12 Starter Guide for DHs to give you an idea of how to optimize your path of progression to reach the endgame the quickest way possible (video).
I hope you'll enjoy my guides and revel in the fine art of demon slaying in Season 12! Personally, I will go ham on the first weekend and then slowly work towards ~P1200-1500 and clearing a GR108-110 over the course of the season. Feel free to stop by on my stream to follow my progress!
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Hey everyone,
a couple weeks ago on the PTR, I did quite a lot of testing around the reworked Holy Point Shot and the new Shadow's builds it enables, and made some guides for them. I've updated them again a little bit now. I have three builds in total depending on what you are going to do: solo pushing, group play, or torment / low GR farm. I hope you will like them!
[S10] Impale Solo GR 90-95+
[S10] Impale DH for groups (RG-Killer)
[S10] Impale DH T13 / GR70+ Speedfarm
I know that especially for groups there will be a lot of people asking how viable DH will be compared to Monk and Wiz. The short answer is: we don't know. The long answer is: Monk is probably out entirely because Wiz and DH are new and slightly stronger, and between Wiz and DH there are some differences in how they are played and how strong they are for killing the RG, but overall they will most likely end up at the exact same level.
As for the torment / low GR build, I think especially when farming in groups, this has more potential that UE Multishot, so it's a top notch farming build. And the solo build, it's a little bit behind the other top builds we have on DH, but still top 10 viable.
Happy season everyone!
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2) All skills work the same, no matter if you put them on left or right click.
3) Buriza procs so badly because of its internal cooldown and the weird mechanics with grenades.
4) See 2)
5) Only initial hit procs Buriza
6) Shadow set sucks, even for torments
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Wow, this sounds pretty insane. I tested this quickly and couldn't replicate it, what else did you have equipped there?
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Hey everyone,
I recently made a guide on the Hammerdin and now also included a written part in it, so I thought I would share it here. Enjoy and feel free to upvote!
[S9] Hammerdin - Solo 85-95+
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Hey everyone,
I recently made a guide on the Manald Heal Wiz and now also included a written part in it, so I thought I would share it here. Enjoy and feel free to upvote!
[S9] Manald Heal Wiz - Solo 90-100+ [Updated 13 Feb 2017]
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Hey everyone, I made some Dfans builds with the promised written parts here. I also included a new updated guide for both the UE Multishot and the LoN FoK build as well. Enjoy and feel free to upvote!
[S9] Cluster Bomb Marauder's GR90-95+ (Updated 28 Jan)
[S9] UE Grenade - Solo 85-90+
[S9] Fire Natalya + Shi Mizu - Solo 85-90+
[S9] UE Multishot - Fastest T10-13
[S9] LoN FoK + Shi Mizu - Solo 90+
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Hm, for starters, it's usually a good idea to have at least on Monk (for fast leveling with pull + palm) and then multiple Barbs or DHs, because those classes can carry torments very quickly early on with some lootshare. We will probably go with at least two DHs in that case, with only 2 pieces and a Lord Greenstone you can easily oneshot elites in medium torments right away, and you just need to make huge pulls in the beginning, and ignore small pulls or monsters in general. Later with 6pc you can kill stuff more reliable and move up to T9-10, and already farm at an efficient level that will give you a UE set pretty soon.
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Indeed, I always enjoy early season UE blasting! Even better because the starter set is Shadows, which also has some fun variations for the first couple hours until you get the full set.
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Hey everyone,
in the recent weeks I've been testing the new DH builds made possible by the reworked Hellcat Waistguard and also dived a little bit more into the belt's mechanics as well. I did some tests on the PTR to find out more about how everything works, which is probably worth knowing for everyone who wants to take his grenade builds seriously. Since we are quite late in the PTR cycle and DH seems to be in a okay spot, I doubt we will see many, if any, changes here anymore.
I did a total of 5 different tests. First, nailing down the damage behavior of the procs, second, recording the average hit chances of bouncing grenades on a stationary target, third, validating proc chances by skill, fourth, counting some kill times with different belt rolls, and fifth, exploring the Buriza mechanics with grenades and the belt.
Here is a screenshot of my sheet for the first test:
My base damage is 56 without the belt equipped, using Grenade - Tinkerer. If I equip the belt, my "base" attacks will go up by 50% to 84 already, meaning the initial attack aready counts as a bounce. The following bounces each add 50%, and the last one will deal 800% total, not 100% + 800% = 900% as the wording on the belt could suggest ("... dealing an additional 50% damage on each bounce / This bonus is increased to 800% on the final bounce"). This means the total damage with all grenades hitting are 1700% (5 affix), 1400% (4 affix) and 1150% (3 affix), respectively.
On my next test, I took a stationary target (Hellbringers in A3) and did 200 casts with each possible belt affix, counting the procs as well as how many times each separate bounce would hit the target. This test was done with the Grenadier passive equipped. Here is a screenshot:
It seems likely that the differences in proc chances are only due to statistical errors, and the real proc chance is probably precisely 50% (also tested more thoroughly below).
It is worth noting that Hellbringers have a rather large hitbox, which rivals that of only the biggest monsters (not counting RGs). Interestingly, the damage share of the initial attack is rather high, around 20-27%. But as you can see on the numbers, especially for the belts with 4 and 5 affix, hitting a target more than twice is rather uncommon. The third, fourth and fifth hits all have average hit chances of below 50%, going as low as 28%. Obviously the numbers go down as the count in bounces increases, as the grenades have a higher chance of jumping somewhere outside of the initial attack area.
Looking at the numbers for only the last and most important bounce for each affix, you can see that the "big" explosion at the end doesn't even do that much for the 5-belt, with only 32% of the total damage done (as opposed to the possible 47% if we had 100% hit chance). Same for the 4-belt, where it is 40% (possible 57%), and only for the 3-belt we have some good numbers here, with 59% of the total damage (69% if we had 100% hit chance).
This result is very interesting because it suggests that the "bad" rolls on the bad are actually not that bad, and might in fact be better than a good roll in some cases. Of course the potential is much higher with a 5-belt, however the average chances of hitting the right targets (or anything at all) are very low for the strong, late explosions, while you get those much more consistently with a low affix. More importantly, bouncing grenades disappear as soon as they hit an obstacle or a wall. This test was done in an open area with no obstacles around, however in a GR, even in good map layouts (excluding most of arreat crater, perhaps), we have walls and obstacles everywhere, and grenades will disappear often before they can fully finish their bounces, favoring a lower affix on the belt. On top of that, you have to consider that for high GR pushing, the ideal playstyle is to surround elites with a lot of trash in order to nuke them down with area damage. With the high-affix belts, the grenades can be expected to do the opposite, i.e. jumping out of the center and killing all the small targets outside, leaving you with nothing but the high hp targets and no area damage to kill them. Based on my limited GR testing on the PTR it seems like there is a chance that people will prioritize lower rolls on their belts for certain builds. For speed farm (torment) builds specifically, you might want to run with a low belt anyway, simply because it takes a long time for all the bounces to happen in the first place.
This incosistent bouncing behavior is generally not so bad for skills like Cluster Arrow - Cluster Bombs or Grenade - Cluster Grenades, because those don't jump so far or just hit a large area in general. However, for Rain of Vengeance - Anathema, Strafe - Demolition or Grenade - Grenade Cache the difference is definitely noticeable and you can see that very often you won't hit your targets with your last explosions. I think overall higher belt affixes will still win out (especially when we consider GR fishing for big density), however probably not by as much as one could think without looking more closely.
My next test was just a confirmation of proc chances by skill. I equipped all the relevant grenade skills and counted how many times I saw a proc. It was rather difficult to do for RoV, so I only did 5 casts, watching them in ultra slow motion a couple times and counting the hits / nonhits until I felt I caught most of them. It seems like the belt has 50% proc chance across the board, independent of skill and belt affix roll:
Based on my findings about the low affix rolls, I went on to a field-test killing a big target in a rather open area (Ghom) and a small target in a very confined area (skinny a1 zombie near Adria's hut), counting the seconds for a kill.
It's only a small sample size, but it indicates that indeed the lower belts might not be so bad, especially on small targets and in areas where grenades tend to bounce against obstacles. Note that this test was done with Grenade - Grenade Cache, which probably has the highest bounciness of all grenades. It's also interesting that despite the highest average kill time, the fastest kill by far was done with the lower belt, too (on zombie target).
Right now I would say that the (5) belt is probably going to be the best on average if you intend to use it for fishing good maps and big density, and a (3) belt is probably best used for fast farm runs (torments and low GRs), where we have to fight in all kinds of small corridors and also want to deal the big damage as fast as possible (however only if you intend to basically oneshot stuff with a proc). Unfortunately it is rather difficult to acquire reliable data on this, so I can only go with my gut feeling here.
My last test was done with Buriza cubed, to see its behavior with grenades:
This screenshot doesn't show much more than that the extra grenades are also working with the belt, as expected. What it doesn't show is that the Buriza is actually quite difficult to proc, and it has something to do with how many targets are present and how they are distributed locally. It seems you need at least two targets and get the best results if you have a second (or more) target in a straight line right behind the first mob you hit with your grenades, which will make Buriza proc for additional damage.
Here is a little indication of what I mean:
This is only really relevant for the UE generator build, though, and keep in mind that Buriza still has an ICD of ~33 frames (so you can only get a proc on every second attack).
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TL;DR: Hellcat Waistguard gives us many new builds, especially for solo DH. The proc chance seems to be 50% across the board. Some of the grenade skills we have are quite bouncy, making the juicy late bounces more difficult to unfold their potential when they jump out of a pull or against an obstacle and disappear. A low roll on the belt does not necessarily mean it's bad, especially for RoV - Anathema, Strafe - Demolition or Grenade - Grenade Cache and speedfarm builds in general. Buriza works for grenades but is difficult to proc, because it depends on your and your target's positioning.
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Now that we're through with all of this, I also want to present you my guides for next patch. They are all aimed at pushing solo, and with this new belt we actually have a couple very competitive builds now. Personally, I will probably play Marauder's for pushing next season. *I will add some numbers to each build to give you an idea of what I would expect this to clear with ~1000-1400 paragon, good item rolls, augments and maybe 100-300 keys.*
UE generator (video / D3planner / D3planner torment version) [GR 92-95]
Fire Natalya with Shi Mizu (video / D3planner) [GR 95-97, builds without Shi Mizu or including FoK are also 90+]
Cluster Bombs Marauder (video / D3planner) [GR 96-97]
New concise version of my LoN FoK + Shi Mizu guide (video / D3planner) [GR 96-98]
LoN Strafe for T11-13 (video / D3planner)
I also plan on adding short written versions when Diablofans resets its build section with the new patch.
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I hope you enjoyed the read and / or one of my guides, and maybe you're also looking forward to pushing solo with a different build next season.
wudijo
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Hey everyone,
in S7 we have seen a revival of the support wizard, and since no one really seems to talk about it and I played it for a bit this season, I decided to make a little guide for it. I tried to keep it short and concise, both the written and recorded parts. I recommend watching the video (9min) to see how it works in action, the main aspect (Ranslor's Folly pull) has a very unique mechanic that is easier to understand when you see it.
Support Wizard is generally used as the second (with Monk) or third (with Monk + Barb or DH) support in groups and can have a big impact especially in open, dense or dangerous rifts if played correctly, however you need to cooperate with your group a little bit more than with other support classes.
[2.4.2] GR100+ Group Support Wizard
Skills:
Energy Twister - Wicked Wind (Ranslor's Folly trigger, Gale Force's 15% additive boost not really worth for its inconsistency with pulls)
Slow Time - Any Rune (we have all with Crown of the Primus)
Frost Nova - Bone Chill (33% additive for 2sec)
Explosive Blast - Chain Reaction (damage red with Orb of Infinite Depth and for proccing Conflagration)
Black Hole - Event Horizon (remove elite affixes, can be swapped to Wave of Force - Debilitating Force for damage red and globe spawn with Solanium)
Teleport - Safe Passage (or Wormhole without Cosmic Strand)
Evocation, Conflagration, Unstable Anomaly I would consider as mandatory passives. The last two slots go to Cold Blooded, Blur, Galvanizing Ward or Illusionist.
Item setup:
3pc DMO + RoRG, Crown of the Primus, Illusory Boots, Ranslor's Folly + Strongarm or Nemesis (cube one, equip other), Aether Walker, Orb of Infinite Depth + Cosmic Strand (cube one, equip other), Obsidian Ring, Oculus Ring, Aquila Cuirass, String of Ears or Vigilante Belt if you feel tanky enough.
Hellfire Amulet is recommended but not a requirement.
Stack CDR on every piece, after that RCR. A little bit of IAS, CHC and ApoC help but is not really required, stacking defense is viable too.
Legendary gems are Toxin, Gogok and then either Iceblink, Esoteric or Moratorium.
Playstyle:
The playstyle is fairly simple, keep up your Orb of Infinite Depth buff and then, most importantly, you are there for pulling monsters together with Twister + Ranslor's Folly, and after that you stay in the fight, buff/debuff and remove dangerous elite affixes with Black Hole. Make sure you always have a Slow Time bubble up, especially after entering a new floor, otherwise you lose the DMO 4pc bonus and risk getting oneshot on some pulls. If you don't have a Barb in group, you should also try to pull monsters either via body pull or by using Ranslor to get them closer to the fight or through corridors, doors, etc. Consider watching the videos to see a bit more of the gameplay.
D3planner link: http://www.d3planner.com/324732520
Here's also a GR101 3man clear in 12min I did with this a couple days ago: GR101
Enjoy!
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I know that there are still some people who enjoy the old lightning gameplay and are unhappy about the changes made by Blizzard, and since everyone is talking about how dead the lightning build apparently is, I just wanted to share with you this clip of how it is still working after patch 2.1.2. --> Video (Tier 47 - 11:37).
Given that the highest clear on PTR and live 2.1.2 was Tier 50 so far, I still think that lightning can be a viable alternative to the Cluster Arrow and Multishot builds right now. No ancient items were used in this run.
I also updated the guide in the Diablofans builds section (previously: Meticulous Punishment), and renamed it Blue Tides (for the constant ups and downs of the discipline bar and the feeling of drowning your enemies in a surge of blue lightning), since the Preparation - Punishment rune is no longer involved in the build.
For anyone curious about how it works, you can find all the necessary information here
GG WP Blizzard, let's see how far we can push it =)
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I know about the barbs being popular in other regions, it seems like there are just none around on EU nonseason, which is really sad actually. Possibly we will even see full barb parties at the top at the end of the season, hunting for the conduits on tier 53-55. Empyrian indeed is working pretty hard and playing well from what I can tell, but we got some more seasonal barbs around as well.
About the Wreath of Lightning proccing Night Stalker: I have no clue, never tested it specifically, but there is reason to assume it does, as this is the case with Conduit pylons.
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