Build Guide
Patch 2.6.1 buffs the 6p of Unhollowed Essence from 40% to 100% damage per point of Discipline that you have. This buff increases the power of UE by approximately 2.5x. With the buff to UE, this build should be able to clear approximately 6 tiers higher than before this patch. This build is made possible by the Hellcat Waistguard. The belt give's roughly a 50% chance to bounce up to 5 times, gaining damage on each bounce. I tested and can confirm that the damage bonus of 50% on each bounce and final bonus of 800% is indeed MULTIPLICATIVE with the original grenade damage of skill. The location of where the grenades bounce is random, but the resulting damage is huge.
This build uses Danetta's instead of Fortress Ballista with offhand. As a result you will have nearly permanent vault for extreme mobility. Also Danetta's leaves clones, stuns and knocks back mobs as you vault through them. This provides a great defensive benefit. Also since vaults will now cost hatred instead of discipline it will be possible to have max discipline at all times for more damage from the UE 6p bonus. As another benefit, vault will proc Focus/Restraint because it consumes hatred and the action shot rune deals damage. Just make sure to vault enough to keep up the F/R buff.
Gearing/Game Play - (The How)
Make sure to have at least 36.7% cdr for permanent Vengeance. Tactical Advantage passive is desirable to use for speed runs. If there is a reliable source of slowing then cull the weak can be a better choice than ambush in higher GR's. A hellfire amulet is preferred but a well rolled immunity amulet (especially arcane) is a fine choice too. For speed rifting Nemesis bracers are recommended if toughness allows. For pushing GR's use Wraps of Clarity. For bounties there is no better choice than the Warzechian Armguards. As with all UE builds, more discipline means more damage, therefore strive for maximum discipline on both weapons and cloak. There are break points for grenades, which can be found here: Grenade Break Points. Adjust gear/paragon/enchantress skills to make sure your attack speed is just on the high side of a Break Point. The 21 frame Break Point means the grenades will attack at a rate of 60/21 (In this game there are 60 frames a sec for actions) or 2.86 attacks per sec.
An alternative for pushing higher tier GR's would be to use a Traveler's Pledge, Compass Rose and Convention of Elements instead of Focus, Restraint and Hellfire Amulet. The advantage of using Endless Walk & CoE over F/R & HF would be potentially more damage while staying in place, more damage reduction while moving and not having to vault to proc F/R. I have found that using F/R & HF is superior for speed runs due to more consistent damage from the always up F/R buffs and to there being very little time spent stationary in these runs, which would lower the damage output of Endless Walk.
It goes w/o saying that it is imperative to keep up UE's 4p bonus thereby maintaining 2.5x toughness and 60% more damage (which is multiplicative with 6p bonus).
Make sure to spam Vengeance, bladed armor and wolf when off cooldown. The constant activation of these skills can be achieved by num locking them. Beyond that, all that is required is to vault for mobility and fire grenades to attack and regenerate hatred for more vaults. Its really that simple. You do need to be aware of your position relative to mobs and place yourself at least 10 yd away from mobs every 8 sec to keep up UE 4p. I personally use vault actively to stun elites and RG's to interrupt their special attacks. This can be be extremely helpful in surviving nasty fights. Note that while vaulting you enter into a smoke screen like state that renders you invulnerable to incoming damage for the brief time you're traveling from point to point.
Summary/Wrap Up - (The Results)
The build is very simple to play and a hell of a lot of fun. It gives insane mobility, good damage and high survivability. This build will not be used to compete for pushing the highest GR's, but its more than capable of clearing well into the 90's with no problem. For speed farming it is superb. GR 80's are taking 3-4 min to clear. Normal rifts are fast and fun. Split farming 4man T13 bounties is very efficient. In short, outside of bleeding edge GR pushing, this build can and will do everything you need and want within Diablo 3.
I have thoroughly enjoyed playing and testing out this build and I hope you will find as much enjoyment with it as I have. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions. Please Upvote if you find this guide useful. Thanks.
it is for the increase in Discipline. If you read the passive it gives you more disc. Which makes you do more damage.
I have a question... What is better for the set? Esmerald or Diamond ? Thanks and great build!
It depends on what is your weakness if dmg use emeralds if survialibiliy use diamonds. In general for soft core i would prefer emeralds for HC diamonds. For pushing higher GR with enough dmg for progressing threw it diamonds.
While its possible to get by with less defense in SC than in HC, it will make pushing GR's a lot more smooth and allow for more aggressive play even in SC. Bear in mind that AR is pure damage mitigation that works to enhance the heath recovery that you get from loh and the simplicity's strength gem. As a result I would favor having at least 2-3 diamonds even in SC, in HC 5 diamonds. I'm glad you are enjoying the build, Good Luck!
The other thing is I've rolled 400 hellfire ammys so far and none of them are worth a thing. I tried rerolling for elemental damage, but it was far, far worse. I couldn't hardly manage 73 when I did that. Make it to 76 as is. At least the archery passive gives me +10% chc and I got rid of the Awareness passive and went with cull the weak.
Until I can get a better Hellfire ammy, I'm just screwed.
long time lurker.... just had to post and say how amazing this build is for playing a dh in HC
fun and stress free build that just needs you to have good internet to enjoy it
Just to give you a heads up I am on PTR as I write this and working on a new build using Shadow Impale. So far with limited testing, I would say that if its not nerfed, the build will be amazing next patch. It has the mobility of Danettas with way more toughness and probably even more damage. For instance I ran 80's with all dps gems and nemesis bracers and it felt smooth as silk. Clearing those 80's were done in 6 min. Ofc, I had 2.9 mil elemental dmg, but the potential is there. Once I work on it a bit more, will post a new guide here on Diablofans with gameplay video to showcase it. I wish you continued success in season 9. Have Fun!
Had to pop in and say I have been having a blast this season using this build. I've only played D3 for 2 seasons, and I've easily cleared a GR 76 and achieved Guardian status. Great mobility, damage, toughness -- and all around just a helluva lot of fun to play. Looking foward to trying out the Impale build next season. Keep up the great work!
hey, if you use jordan stone with max dicipline you have more damage from you 6 piece set bonus than focus and restrain bonus, or i missing something?
Nice built btw, so fast for start season.
Whether it's best to roll vitality or %life depends on your current vitality and total %life bonus. You can calculate the increase to hp when added vitality by dividing the final vitality by the previous (Vit current + Vit added)/(Vit current). In order to calculate the increase to hp when rolling %life use the following formulae: (1+current %life (in decimal form)+ added %life (in decimal form)/(1+current %life (in decimal form)).
Here is an example, lets say your current %life bonus is 35% and current vitality is 5,000 and you are trying to decide which is better, a 500 vit or 15% life roll. Lets run the numbers for the vit roll: (5000+500)/5000 = 1.1 or 10% increase to hp. Now for %life: (1+0.35+0.15)/(1+0.35) = 1.111 or 11.1% increase to hp. So in this example a %life roll will result in higher hp than a vitality roll. Do note that this result was dependent on your current stats, the results would have been different if those base stats had not been the same.
As for AR vs raw HP, I have a particular liking to pure damage mitigation such as AR or armor because it effectively boosts all forms of health recovery. That being said there has to be balance. I play HC and prefer to have a minimum of 1k resists, but I also prefer to have north of 850k hp. Trade offs will inevitably have to be made, try to balance out your stats to achieve as close to those targets as you can. I hope this helps to clarify the reasoning and methodology of deciding which of these 3 stats to stack and where. Good Luck!
@df987,
Good summary, I agree with your statements.
@candyman6666,
I agree that using Traveler's Pledge, Compass Rose and CoE is a viable alternative to Focus, Restraint and Hellfire amulet. Ultimately which one you use boils down to personal preference. I'm glad you're enjoying the build. If you get a chance check out my latest guide, Shadow Assassin 90+. In patch 2.5.0 this will be imo, an even better build, tankier, more damage and with similar mobility. Good luck in Season10!