Rating
+77

[2.4.1] GR80+ LoN Fan of Knives & Strafe (HC/SC viable)

by last updated May 31, 2016 ( Patch 2.4.1 )
Seasonal
Solo
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Skills

  • Evasive Fire Hardened
  • Strafe Drifting Shadow
  • Vengeance Seethe
  • Smoke Screen Lingering Fog
  • Fan of Knives Pinpoint Accuracy
  • Caltrops Bait the Trap
  • Ambush
  • Awareness
  • Archery
  • Cull the Weak

Items

More Details

  • Legendary Gems

    • Bane of the Stricken
    • Bane of the Trapped
    • Taeguk

Kanai's Cube

  • Lord Greenstone's Fan
  • Aquila Cuirass
  • Convention of Elements

Paragon Priorities

Core

Movement Speed
Maximum Resource
Primary Stat
Vitality

Offense

Cooldown Reduction
Critical Hit Chance
Critical Hit Damage
Attack Speed

Defense

Resist All
Armor
Life
Life Regeneration

Utility

Area Damage
Life on Hit
Resource Cost Reduction
Gold Find

Paragon Point Priority:
- Core: Cap Movementspeed (at 25%) > Maximum Hatred > Dexterity
- Offense: Cooldown Reduction > CritChance > CritDamage > Attackspeed
- Defense: Allres > Armor > %Life > Life Regeneration
- Utility: Area Damage > Life per Hit > Resource cost reduction > Gold Find

Build Guide

-------------------------------------------------------------
02/01/2016 - Prototype of the LoN FoK build created
02/03/2016 - Added a lot of informations on how to play & itemization/skills/everything
02/03/2016 - Added GR77-80 HC clear videos
02/05/2016 - Added a Softcore setup with Death's Bargain, Shi Mizu's Haori & Fortress Ballista (Highly recommend for Softcore mode). It was played on the PTR from a guy on the asian servers.
Added "Adequate" items in the list above. It's very powerful to use them on Softcore, unfortunately it's too dangerous on Hardcore.
02/09/2016 - Added Stats priority in the item section above ; Added GR81 clear video
05/12/2016 - Updated to Patch 2.4.1 - Changed "Companion (Wolf Companion)" to "Caltrops (Bait the Trap)" - Thanks to oogieboogie.
Changed belt "String of Ears" to "Thundergods Vigor" - Changed "Shadow Power (Gloom)" to "Smoke Screen (Lingering Fog)".
Also some small changes to itemization.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Patch 2.4.1
Legacy of NIghtmares - Fan of Knives & Strafe (Greater Rift 80+/Viable for Softcore & Hardcore)

Video guide: (coming soon, maybe?)

GR86 clear video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmyhZNpKePY

Details on the Build:
Hey everyone, this is the Legacy of Nightmares (Fan of Knives/Strafe) Demon Hunter build.

What's Legacy of Nightmares (LoN) ?
Legacy of Nightmares is a 2-piece Ring-Set.
The set-bonus increases your damage for every Ancient item you have equipped by 100%, as long as you don't have another set-bonus equipped.

This build is only viable for pushing high Greater Rifts (solo) and definitly NOT efficient for farming in any way!
This LoN-build is based on the dagger affix "Lord Greenstone's Fan", which increases your Fan of Knives damage by 100% every second (maximum of 30 stacks). That means, your main damage source is your Fan of Knives.
The most reasonable rune is the lightning rune, which increases the damage of Fan of Knives to 1500% weapon damage but increases the cooldown to 15 seconds.

What you want to do is, you want to get as much value out of your Fan of Knives as possible.
Before using your Fan of Knives, you have to check following things:
- only use Fan of Knives when your lightning damage on your Convention of Elements is active
- use Caltrops (Bait the Trap) for 10% increased critical hit chance
- keep Vengeance active all the time (40% damage increase)
- keep using Strafe (25% damage increase from Hexing Pants & 20-25% damage increase from Mantle of Channeling)
You should also try to stack as much enemies as possible before using Fan of Knives to get a lot of value for each usage.
Also try to focus to hit elite packs all the time, they will die after a few FoK waves, trust me.

The playstyle is based on kiting an insane amount of monsters the whole rift.
After using your Fan of Knives on the first monster pack, you have around 26-30 seconds to pull more monsters & elites for your next Fan of Knives wave.
Why 26-30 seconds ? Because your cubed "Lord Greenstone's Fan" weapon increases your FoK damage by 100% per second (maximum of 30 stacks) and you want to combine it with the lightning proc of your Convention of Elements (which is active every 12 seconds for 4 seconds).
You can also use your FoK every 12-16 seconds with every CoE lightning proc. But keep in mind, you get a 40% damage increase on enemies with more than 75% hitpoints from your Ambush passive skill.
You can use your FoK every 12-16 seconds on the Rift Guardian for example (if he has less than 75% hitpoints).
(Remember: NEVER use your Fan of Knives when your lightning (Convention of Elements) proc & Caltrops (Bait the Trap) are not activated!)

Additional information:
- This build is extremly tanky, because of the amount of items & skills we can use which increase our thoughness.
- With the item-setup you can see above, you should have around 500 million to 1 billion thoughness (or more) while having every skill active.
- If you are playing Hardcore I also recommend to use the Beckon Sail equiped or cubed which gives you an additional on-death-proc.
- Check the itemization below for more detailed information which items you should use and which can be an alternative.
- You should have a 100% uptime on Vengeance (stack cooldown reduction on 1-2 weapons, gloves, shoulders & diamond in helmet (~36,7-40% CDR), also you should get a Dawn weapon with atleast 60-65% cooldown reduction. It's not a big deal if you have like 1-2 second downtime on Vengeance. Just use your Smoke Screen between this gap.
- Try to stay at 90-95% hatred all the time, because we use Aquilas Cuirass which decreases our damage taken by 50% while above 90-95% hatred.
You can rotate using Evasive Fire & Strafe (same rotation as the Natalyas Strafe build) to stay at almost maximum hatred.



Skill-Explanation:
Active Skills:
Evasive Fire (Hardened):
This is your Hatred-generating attack. With the Rune: Hardened we also have additional 25% increased armor if an enemy is in front of you in close range (which happens all the time)

Strafe (Drifting Shadow):
This is your Hatred-spending attack. While using Strafe, Mantle of Channeling increases our damage by 20-25% and reduced our damage taken by 25%. Also Hexing Pants is active all the time while moving. The Drifting Shadow rune lets us move 100% of our normal movement speed, which is really important to dodge attacks and skills/projectiles.

Fan of Knives (Pinpoint Accuracy):
This is our main-damage skill. With the Lord Greenstone's Fan this skill is insane at killing mass of monsters.
Above at the Build Guide section you can see how to perfectly use this skill and how you can maximize the damage.

Caltrops (Bait the Trap):
While standing in your own Caltrops (Bait the Trap), your critical hit chance is increased by 10%, which is really important to combine it with Fan of Knives. It's all about the crits!

Vengeance (Seethe):
Vengeance with the Seethe rune is a must have with this build, because we do 40% increased damage, we have 50% damage reduction when Visage of Gunes is equipped and we get an additonal 10 hatred regeneration per second with the Seethe rune while Vengeance is active.

Smoke Screen (Lingering Fog):
Smoke Screen makes us invincible for 1,5 seconds, which is extremly helpful in tough situations. Also if you don't have 100% uptime on Vengeance, use this skill while your Vengeance is not active.
You can use Shadow Power (Gloom) as alternative, if you don't like Smoke Screen.



Passive Skills:
Awareness:
- This Passive is recommended using in HC, because every now and then you get into a bad spot where you want to have this up.

Cull the Weak:
- 20% damage increase against slowed enemies is self-explaining (You automatically slow when in melee range when you have Bane of the Trapped equipped) and your Caltrops slow aswell.

Ambush:
- 40% damage increase against enemies with more than 75% hitpoints is insane with this build!

Archery:
- Archery and Single Out should be almost identicaly powerful. Archery is an consistent 5% increased Critical Hit Chance.
Single Out is only useful against the Rift Guardian (as long as the Rift Guardian doesnt spawn minions), which is really fishy.
I prefer Archery though, because its more consistent. Try to get one of them as the 5th passive skill on a Hellfire Amulet!

Hellfire Amulet (5th passive)
If you are using a Hellfire Amulet, you can use the following passives as the 5th passive. All of them are good in their way:
Best 5th passive:
- Single Out: More damage: Insane damage boost against Rift Guardians that doesnt spawn minions.
Alternatives:
- Leech: More survivabilty, the life per hit can be very powerful.
- Numbing Traps: More survivabilty. 25% damage reduce can help you to survive.
- Perfectionist: More survivability: Less discipline cost on your Shadow Power and 10% more armor & all resistance.
- Hot Pursuit/Tactical Adventage: More mobility: Decreases the time investment to pull monsters



Item-Explanation
Helm - Visage of Gunes:
Since you want to have a 100% uptime on Vengeance, it decreases your damage taken by 50% while Vengeance is active.
- Alternative: Leoric's Crown (cube Visage of Gunes)
- Stat priorities: Socket > CritChance > Dexterity > Vitality > All resistance

Shoulders - Mantle of Channeling:
Since you use Strafe almost 100% of the time, Mantle of Channeling is the very best option here.
- Stat priorities: %Fan of Knives damage > %Area damage > Dexterity > Cooldown Reduction > Vitality > All resistance

Amulet - Hellfire Amulet:
The Hellfire Amulet gives you an additional passive skill. Above in the "Passive Skill" section I listed the passives that can be useful as the 5th passive.
- Alternative: Flavor of Time > Eye of Etlich > The Star of Azkaranth > Mara's Kaleidoscope > Any amulet
- Stat priorities: CritChance = Socket = CritDamage > %Lightning damage > Dexterity

Chest - Aquilas Cuirass:
Aquilas Cuirass gives you a permanent 50% damage reduction while above 90-95% hatred.
- Alternative: Beckon Sail (cube Aquilas Cuirass)
- Added 02/05/2016: Alternative 2: Shi Mizu's Haori (cube Aquilas Cuirass) - Check Wudijo's guide for the Shi Mizu's Haori version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om5ysLr66sw
- Stat priorities: %Fan of Knives damage > 3 Sockets > Dexterity > Vitality > All resistance

Bracers - Wraps of Clarity:
Wraps of Clarity reduces your damage taken by 30-35% after using a Hatred-generating skill, which is really powerful for survivablity.
- Alternative: Nemesis Bracer
- Stat priorities: CritChance > %Lightning damage > Dexterity > Vitality

Gloves - St. Archew's Gage:
St. Archews Gage's affix is just for more survivability, but is also the best option for this build, because there are no other gloves that gives you any adventage with this playstyle.
- Alternative: Any gloves
- Stat priorities: CritChance > CritDamage > Dexterity = Cooldown Reduction = %Area damage > Vitality

Belt - Thundergod's Vigor:
Since you are in melee range very often, I highly recommend to use this belt if you are having problems with survivabilty
- Alternative: The Witching Hour
- Stat priorities: Dexterity > Vitality > Allres> %Life
If using The Witching Hour: CritDamage > Dexterity > Vitality > Allres

Pants - Hexing Pants:
Hexing Pants are a must-have in my opinion, because you get 25% increased damage and resource regeneration, which you need to stay on 90-95% hatred all the time (which is needed to have Aquilas Cuiras affix active)
- Stat priorities: 2 Sockets > Dexterity > Vitality > All resistance

Boots - Illusory Boots:
Illusory Boots let you walk through the Waller affix of Elite packs. It's common to fight against 3-5 different Elite Packs at the same time. It can happen that there are more than 1 Elite pack with the Waller skill. With Illusory Boots you can just walk through the walls.
Alternative: Fire Walkers > Ice Climbers
- Stat priorities: Dexterity > Vit > All resistance > Armor

Rings - Litany of the Undaunted + The Wailing Host:
These 2 rings are the core Items and are required to play this build.

Alternative: none
- Stat priorities: CritChance = Socket = CritDamage > Average damage > Dexterity

Weapons - Dawn + Fortress Ballista:
Dawn is a must-have to play this build, because we need the cooldown reduction on Vengeance.
Fortress Ballista gives you an insane amount of survivabilty because of the shield you gain per attack. Its worth much more than a lot of Life on Hit, which is why I highly recommend to use this weapon. But there are alternatives:
- Alternative: Calamity > Helltrapper > Valla's Bequest = K'mar Tenclip > Any other 1handed-crossbow
- Stat priorities (Main-hand): Socket > High average damage > Cooldown reduction > Dexterity > 10% damage
- Stat priorities (Off-hand): Socket > Cooldown reduction > %Area damage > Dexterity > Vitality > Life on Hit


Q&A:
Q: Why not a quiver or a shield as Off-Hand item ?
A: You want the 130% increased critical hit damage from the emerald in the weapon.

Q: Why Valla's Bequest ?
A: Strafe does a siginficant amount of damage in long term, because of the increased Strafe damage and that our Strafe projectile pierce.
Also we can hit more enemies which does stack the Bane of the Stricken (Legendary Gem) on enemies.



Gem’s on Gear:
- You want to put 3 Diamonds gems in your Chest and 2 Diamond gems in your Pants, because you want the All resistance for survivability.
- At one point, you can switch Diamonds in Chest & Pants to Emeralds to have more damage output.
- You also want to put a Diamond gem in your Helmet for the Cooldown reduction to keep your Vengeance on 100% uptime.



Legendary Gem’s:
- Bane of the Trapped
Bane of the Trapped (BotT) increases your damage against slowed enemies.
Since we do the most damage while in melee range (Fan of Knives), we slow enemies automatically because of the rank 25 bonus of the gem.
(Rank 25 bonus: Gain an Aura that reduces the movementspeed of enemies within 15 yards by 30%)

- Bane of the Stricken:
Bane of the Stricken is extremly powerful and is a must have, especially for the Rift Guardian.
Even with Bane of the Stricken it took me around 2,5-3 minutes to kill the Rift Guardian on a GR86.

- Taeguk:
Taeguk gives you 2 things you want in this build: Damage and Armor.
This is why this gem is perfect for this build



Kanai Cube:
- Weapon: Lord Greenstone's Fan - The core affix to play this build
- Armor: It depends on what items you've already equipped: Check in the item-section which item you can cube. I recommend to cube either "Beckon Sail" or "Aquilas Cuirass" and equip the other one (if you play hardcore)
Added 02/05/2016: For Softcore, use either Aquila's Cuirass or Shi Mizu's Haori and equip the other one. If you use this version, use Death's Bargain in the pants slot and the Fortress Ballista 1-handed crossbow
- Jewelry: Convention of Elements - must have because of the damage boost for Fan of Knives



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