This is also why I love this game. Even with a couple of the same skills, here are two demon hunters that are built for entirely different play styles.
I used a fairly similar build at the start of Hell, but found that while slowing enemies was still key to my build, getting that base 20% damage increase to everything from the Steady Aim passive usually trumped the 15% to slowed enemies, primarily because Elemental Arrow will happily hit things that have not even reached your Caltrops yet. It does, however, mean that you will take a pretty decent hit to your damage if you get real fast mobs that can still close on you through your Caltrops.
Admittedly, I used Smoke Screen pre-nerf, but even after it was nerfed I stuck with it. Even at 1.5 seconds it is a nice get out of jail free card. It also means that when you come up against elite/champ packs with damage reflection, you can get a bit of time where you are doing damage without any being reflected. Might not seem like much, but 3-5 seconds over the length of the fight when you are hitting all 5 mobs with every Elemental Arrow...thats a fair bit of damage to be avoiding.
Additionally, I find Vault with the Tumble rune invaluable. 2 quick vaults for 12 Discipline instead of 16 really shows, especially in movement heavy fights and is possibly our best escape tool now that Smoke Screen has been nerfed to a maximum 1.5 seconds.
I didn't pick up Preparation until Hell where pre-nerf it made the tough elite/champ packs easier since it gave so much Smoke Screen , but even after the nerf that was its primary use, along with the exceptionally awesome heal from Battle Scars rune.
All that said, I never played my DH from a critical hit place (and, honestly, it never even came to mind to play one in this way). I have always found that while crits are nice, the damage ends up being too spikey and unreliable for my personal liking. It makes it hard to assess how quickly you can take down any individual pack or mob which in turn can make it difficult to assess how much of your resources you will need (as running out is bad). I guess I am just someone who prefers a lesser, more consistent and more reliable damage output than others.
For Hell solo when I started A1 i had a similar build to Siaer's. When coming to A2 I gave my build some thought and tried to get more damage output but still be able to kite as well.
Mouse
Hungering Arrow (Shatter Shot) - Just so you can get up some hatred if you get down to 0 before they're dead.
Elemental Arrow (Frost Arrow) - For the slow to kite and 15% more damage thanks to Cull the Weak.
Keyboard
Preparation (Backup Plan) - Just great.
Smoke Screen (Lingering Fog) - Even after the nerf it's awesome.
Rain of Vengeance (Anathema) - Drop it, start slowing and kite them in it. (if im not mistaken the 15%+ damage from Cull the Weak is from all sources of damage when they are slowed)
Companion (Bat) - More hatred regen, more Frost Arrows.
Passives
Cull the Weak - Gives you 15% more damage as you will use Frost Arrows as main damage.
Archery - Gives you a nice amount of damage boost. (I'm useing a 2H Crossbow)
Steady Aim - They won't get near you if you do it right. Unless they are wallers/fast or vortex. (You can break out of jail with SS)
Hope it works as good for you as it did for me.
EDIT: If you don't like Rain of Vengeance you can drop it for Caltrops (Torturous Ground).
Ooo my build! Im level 58 I am wondering if the last rune for rain of vengeance with the stun will be helpful 2 seconds to an entire group for the DH is an enternity. Also I want to use nether tentacles, but I have to get a high Dps bow with cold damage before I lose cull of the weaks slow.
Ooo my build! Im level 58 I am wondering if the last rune for rain of vengeance with the stun will be helpful 2 seconds to an entire group for the DH is an enternity. Also I want to use nether tentacles, but I have to get a high Dps bow with cold damage before I lose cull of the weaks slow.
The last rune of Rain of Vengeance is extremely effective once you learn how to aim it, I currently run it in my set up. ALTHOUGH stampede is close in usefulness, the knock back / duration of the spell is something to be considered making it a strong choice as well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
i curently use http://us.battle.net...YXTS!ceT!caaYZc
and what kinda of gearing stats should i be doing?
w/o sharp shooter i am 4.8k dps with it im 12k
http://us.battle.net...YXdV!beY!baaZbb
This is also why I love this game. Even with a couple of the same skills, here are two demon hunters that are built for entirely different play styles.
I used a fairly similar build at the start of Hell, but found that while slowing enemies was still key to my build, getting that base 20% damage increase to everything from the Steady Aim passive usually trumped the 15% to slowed enemies, primarily because Elemental Arrow will happily hit things that have not even reached your Caltrops yet. It does, however, mean that you will take a pretty decent hit to your damage if you get real fast mobs that can still close on you through your Caltrops.
Admittedly, I used Smoke Screen pre-nerf, but even after it was nerfed I stuck with it. Even at 1.5 seconds it is a nice get out of jail free card. It also means that when you come up against elite/champ packs with damage reflection, you can get a bit of time where you are doing damage without any being reflected. Might not seem like much, but 3-5 seconds over the length of the fight when you are hitting all 5 mobs with every Elemental Arrow...thats a fair bit of damage to be avoiding.
Additionally, I find Vault with the Tumble rune invaluable. 2 quick vaults for 12 Discipline instead of 16 really shows, especially in movement heavy fights and is possibly our best escape tool now that Smoke Screen has been nerfed to a maximum 1.5 seconds.
I didn't pick up Preparation until Hell where pre-nerf it made the tough elite/champ packs easier since it gave so much Smoke Screen , but even after the nerf that was its primary use, along with the exceptionally awesome heal from Battle Scars rune.
All that said, I never played my DH from a critical hit place (and, honestly, it never even came to mind to play one in this way). I have always found that while crits are nice, the damage ends up being too spikey and unreliable for my personal liking. It makes it hard to assess how quickly you can take down any individual pack or mob which in turn can make it difficult to assess how much of your resources you will need (as running out is bad). I guess I am just someone who prefers a lesser, more consistent and more reliable damage output than others.
The last rune of Rain of Vengeance is extremely effective once you learn how to aim it, I currently run it in my set up. ALTHOUGH stampede is close in usefulness, the knock back / duration of the spell is something to be considered making it a strong choice as well.