Hehe D yes, we're not quite an actual melee, but the fancy is there and i like it.
I was dwelling with gems/gearing/skills, and i'd probably go with cold rune for chakram and Iceblink (other than standard BotT+Stricken). Crit chance for the grevious wounds rune is incredibly strong, so ideally i'm going to stack as much crit as i can.
Tbh, i don't knwo how Stricken will be effective for this build - it's mostly single target and all the skills involved don't hit multiple times, hence Stricken stacks won't get as high as other builds/classes. Maybe Zei/PE will turn out to be better, or just go with a defensive one like Esoteric.
AAAAAND here's the list of the new items in 2.4 coplete with item type and correct affixes values.
Demon Hunter
Manticore, Crossbow: Reduces the Hatred cost of Cluster Arrow by 50%.
Dawn, Hand Crossbow: Reduce the cooldown of Vengeance by 60%.
Sin Seekers, Quiver: Rapid Fire no longer has a channel cost.
Elusive Ring, Ring: After casting Shadow Power, Smoke Screen, or Vault, take 60% reduced damage for 8 seconds.
Karlei's Point, Dagger: Impale returns 10 - 15 Hatred if it hits an enemy already Impaled.
Lord Greenstone's Fan, Dagger: Every second, gain 300% increased damage for your next Fan of Knives. Stacks up to 30 times.
Sword of Ill Will, Sword: Chakram deals 0.01 - 0.014*100% increased damage for every point of Hatred you have.
Visage of Gunes, Helm: Vengeance gains the effect of the Dark Heart rune.
Chain of Shadows, Belt: After using Impale, Vault costs no resource for 2 seconds.
Zoey's Secret, Belt: You take 0.06 - 0.07*100% less damage for every Companion you have active.
Lianna's Wings, Hand Crossbow: Shadow Power also triggers Smoke Screen.
Fortress Ballista, Hand Crossbow: Attacks grant you an absorb shield for 0.04 - 0.05*100% of your maximum Life. Stacks up to 10 times.
EDIT: so the Rapid Fire item is a quiver. Need to revise my no-set build as i wanted too many items all together
hehe - i think the screen is triggered on cast and still keeps the internal cd. Plus SP costs more than SS.
I want to see the new skins.
Also i think i'll ditch wohjanni assaulter for my rapid fire build. Cubned quiver, dual wield helltrapper and demons demise for automatic spike trap proc and explosions everywhere.
never, mind the PTR patch notes incorrectly list Manticore's buffs
Ah ok XD it would have been way too string for a Marauder setup (permaCA spam? no way).
However being the cost reduced by 60% (as it was datamined) the skill becaome much more efficient and definitely an option.
Well after some playing the shadow set seems really poor. It has most to do with pretty much all the legendaries for it being completely useless. The dagger that returns hatred when impale hits an already impaled target returns only 15 at maximum. In real in-game situations its nigh impossible to make any use of the returning hatred as one can be pretty damn sure that random monsters will always block the path to the target one actually wants to hit. This alone is also easily the biggest problem of the whole set. Sure it is nice to have good single target dmg, but getting to hit the one target that one wants just doesnt happen often enough. One simply ends up wasting all hatred on killing trash this way. (or wastes time killing the trash mobs using really weak chakram or even the fan of kniver or sticky bombs)
It's difficult to do, but it just takes time to learn how the spec plays. It seems damn near impossible at first, but like every thing, it gets easier over time. Check out this old video of Grim Sever(what Shadows set is loosely designed after): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD2HaBhUzbw
The gameplay is slightly different now, but he's using Grievous Wounds and I think this video illustrates that it is definitely possible.This was done with M6 originally because it was our only set that effected Impale during this patch. If Sentries killed the monster it didn't work. You had to be very precise with your throws to kill monsters marked with MFD before your sentries did. Grievous Wound being single target with no pierce or bounces made this even harder to pull off. Considering all of this, I think it shows you can definitely hit the same target over and over with enough practice, even with other monsters getting in the way.
I used to play Grim Sever before it got nerfed, and it took me about 1 month of playing every day before I could play it properly. I could see the same happening with S6 if you aren't used to it. But once your used to it killing monsters takes less concentration, as it becomes more muscle memory, and you can focus on dodging stuff and resource levels.
Biggest gripe for me is that the only actual "usable" chakram rune is the Cold one which has a decent pathing. Other runes really suck compared to it.
However, i'm thinking about another combination of skills - though the fact we cannot put a melee weapon in offhand makes hard to choose between the actual skills.
Ideal build that revolves around physical dmg and it's a really melee spec.
(5th passive from hellfire is obviously awareness, and in general opassive can be juggled based on what you feel better).
I took MfD/Grim reaper, but Vault can be an option if i find i need mobility more than damage. The idea is that if i have enough aoe for packs through FoK/Cloud and generator, Impale will be used only on guardian - Otherwise grim reaper will trump over easily
Gear:
Shadow x6
Chakram Quiver since it's the only viable option and it increases chakram damage
Chakram Sword for better damage (independently from the special)
Hellfire amu for 5th passive
rings: either F/R or new Endlelss Walk depending if i find myself to be more stationary than moving
belt: likely String of Ears, due to being in melee
bracers: the ones that trigger dmg reduction with generators since i use one of them.
Cubed: FoK dagger for more aoe, Elusive ring for dmg reduction - can either be triggered by Vault if use it, or by casting SP. Still armor slot is empty, i'll check after what are the possible candidates since i didn't find anything specific.
I like the looks of this, but don't forget that FoK has no character animation and you can use other skills while using FoK. You could switch it to FoK-Knives Expert and spam FoK while also spamming Bola, might not work out to well with the Dagger's time requirement for the buff, but even still. A constant 250% more damage while spamming both Bola and FoK would be nice.
In regards to chakram, have you tried Razor Disc? It works like Cluster Arrow, it goes directly to where you clicked, damaging enemies along the way and at the location, and then spirals outward hitting others.
I was thinking of a similar build Coldkil, but I really want to find a place for Vault in there, probably with Action Shot, I just don't know where to put it
I see a lot of people including Shuriken Cloud in their S6 specs, but if they haven't increased the Radius and the Tick Rate (its only once per sec atm) of the Cloud, I think it would be kind of useless unfortunately. The skill just doesn't deal enough damage and you have to be way to close for comfort imo, if you had Chak-SC included, you could probably drop it for Action Shot.
Not trying to sound so negative/pretentious about it's uses here, I just think the skill is designed terribly in a lot of ways and doesn't have much of a use for the DH in it's current form. Just my 2 cents on the skill.
If i manage to get into PTR i can try different setups - let's see what can be done.
FoK is not a great spammable skill due to his high cost and no actual reliable way to get hatred back - at least with a melee build. Better to use it as CD and let the dagger stack up a little for better burst.
Likely swapping to Grenades as builder for more uptime of Numbing Traps.
I would like to put Vault too in the build and make use of the belt, but Grim Reaper looks mandatory and very likley we will end choosing between it and shuriken cloud.
Until Razor Disk proves to be good enough as a builder.
Managed to get into PTR last night, didn't have the chance of doing much since i had not much gear available and ended testing new marauder build.
New Aurora xbow is awesome. Nearly 100% Vengeance uptime with old gear (likely stat priority have shifted and i'm still going with gear from the very first Marauder set) which will reach easily 100% with enough CDR.
Tried a TX rift and i got instagibbed multiple times - but ithis is clearly due to old gear which wasn't focusing on survivability at all and i had like 300k hp. Didn't get to drop the companions belt nor Garwulf so no damage reduction from anything. Still, damage was more than fine as elite packs were falling easily - i finished the rift with not that much issues (or better, didmn't expect more with random thrown gear).
I also didn't have Manticore nor new Sentry quiver (so no 100% dmg increase for Sentries) - efficiency was really low.
I ran with Shooting stars, Enforcer/Zei/Trapped. If we're not cubing RoRG, we have to choose between Garwulf and T&T (at least for a pet focused build).
Ok, i absolutely need the full shadow set to try stuff out. I have possibly found another way that looks pretty good but also kinda hard to play.
Basically, i want to make use of both the Impale dagger and the Shadow chain that makes Vault free. In conjunction with Cindercoat a fire build looks promising
Basically Impale -> free vault -> repeat while FoKing and Shuriken deals damage. With RCR from Cindercoat Impale should be a "free cast". Still there will be issues with aiming which are tied to the impale skill tiself.
IF i can get a decent setup (eg 50% RCR at least) i could go full physical as i wanted and include Pain Enhancer in the mix
Don't know about Vault rune - action shot is a guaranteed 4 procs of PE, but Cinders have a way bigger aoe - need to test if it can proc PE and crits are actually hidden (iirc cots follow different mechanics).
EDIT: PE will proc easily AoE due to cloud critting a lot (1 aoe attack every second).
EDIT2: the more i tinker around, the more stuff i find that won't use (or is not recommended to) use F/R. Especially for the builds above, where we won't have an actual generator so i cannot proc both bonus buffs. Need to search what i can use instead.
EDIT3: also the more i look at FoK dagger, the more counterintuitive it looks. Skill has a short cd, still the dagger takes so long to stack. Using Stuff like Zodiac which should be a damage increase directly counters the dagger special. This weapon needs to be reworked - also Chakram sword being a sword it's just better.
Ok, dropped the new stuff for Marauder, it's insanely fun Dat 3 billion crits.
I'm still running Enforcer/Zei/Trapped, will likely drop Zei for a more reliable Stricken and Powerful for speed farming.
Garwulf seems the more balanced choice for cube, giving 12%-ish more dmg reduction and damage. The new helm is also really good as 50% dmg reduction baked on Vengeance is nice and uptime is really high with Dawn/Zodiac. Would like to try RoRG+T&T setup for even more pet damage.
Shadow set: a lot of the issues with this could be solved if Blizzard chnages the mechanics of Impale. Instead of colliding with the first monster on path, Impale just need to hit the monster we are currently pointing with the mouse. This way the skill stays a pure ST and doesn't need damage tuning, but we could actually make use of the Impale dagger and in general have more control on our damage.
Ok, dropped the new stuff for Marauder, it's insanely fun Dat 3 billion crits.
I'm still running Enforcer/Zei/Trapped, will likely drop Zei for a more reliable Stricken and Powerful for speed farming.
Garwulf seems the more balanced choice for cube, giving 12%-ish more dmg reduction and damage. The new helm is also really good as 50% dmg reduction baked on Vengeance is nice and uptime is really high with Dawn/Zodiac. Would like to try RoRG+T&T setup for even more pet damage.
Shadow set: a lot of the issues with this could be solved if Blizzard chnages the mechanics of Impale. Instead of colliding with the first monster on path, Impale just need to hit the monster we are currently pointing with the mouse. This way the skill stays a pure ST and doesn't need damage tuning, but we could actually make use of the Impale dagger and in general have more control on our damage.
I got a chance to get on the PTR and play with shadows 6 and personally, I completely disagree, I would be extremely disappointed if they change impales mechanics. For starters having it hit where you mouse is, would make the pierce and ricochet rune very clunky to use, they already go to your mouse cursor. Karlei's Point is actually useless, the damage you deal is so high that you pretty much 1 shot all monsters that you hit first with. I got up to grift 62 with 0 ancient items and a bad 1,8000 dmg dagger and I could never get the hatred return to happen because everything was dying in one shot. The dagger needs to be changed to something else in my opinion, maybe even just "RCR for Impale" would be sufficient, not as cool, but would definitely work.
I couldn't push much higher because of toughness issues, but I want to work on correcting those by swapping gear and try pushing higher again. Also, during these tests, I came across a Bug with Shadows 6 piece set that greatly reduces the Grift potential. Impale - Grievous Wounds does not work with the 6piece bonus of shadows set, it gets cancelled out and you do not gain an extra 330% CHD. Here's a video/bug report I made about it: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/19892439217#1
Cube:
-Demon's Demise
-Garwulf
-Convention of Elements
Basically, the Witching Hour and F&R are used to get the highest DPS possible, the Ess of Johan also helps with crowd control and DPS by allowing very potent procs of Area Damage. I stacked +100% area damage from my Weapon, Shoulders, Gloves and Paragon. Convention of Elements is also added for damage, but more impotantly, it makes Impales crit so absurdly high that when coupled with MFD-Grim Reaper, I was 1 shotting entire packs in Grift 62. CoE also works really well with DD+Sticky Trap, the constant AoE helps but when Fire rolls around, it would start to melt mobs. I took the rift gaurdian down in seconds with all this combined. Also Bola-Bitter Pill is lightening and Lightening comes just before phyiscal damage in CoE's rotation so it works out well. RW's were for more hatred but didn't seem to useful in the long run.
For defense I was using the 3 wolves from Garwulf much like M2 uses the Wolf, Spider and Boar as a pet wall. This helped hold monsters in place a bit, but more importantly it allowed me to forgo using Vault/smokescreen by using the pet wall and constant movement to stay alive. The enchantress also help with her own Ess of Johan and all of her CC skills.
In the end I found my toughness was far to low and that the impale dagger's returns were next to useless as I was 1 shotting everything. I want to try this all again, but with: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WZTShj!acXi!ZabcZb
-Shadows 6 piece
-Not sure which weapon maybe Doombringer
-Lidless Wall
-Witching Hour/Zoey's Secret if Lidless and WoC aren't enough
-Wraps of Clarity
-F&R
-Ess of Johan
Cube:
-Demon's Demise
-Garwulf
-Convention of Elements
Since kerlei's is pointless I want to switch my weapon, not sure what yet. Lidless/WoC will add a lot more toughness and Zoey's secret might be a better choice than lidless wall, if so i can use HPS again. Also, since I found out impale-greivous wounds doesn't work, I'll switch to Implae - Impact for now. I also noticed that without Vault/Smokescreen, I had a ton of discipline available, so I switched to Bola - Thunder ball for extra hatred returns.
Like I said, the only issues I'm having when it comes to progress in Grifts is toughness. Impale is not easy to use, but it can be done with enough practice. I think you gave up to early. Add me in PTR, maybe we can mess around and theorycraft for a bit
Need to tool a little with the cube and offset pieces.
Running PE/Trapped/Iceblink for stacking crit and reliable slow - don't have a Stricken at hand to test.
Don't know how it will turn out - sure better than my previous try.
As for Impale: in fact the only two runes which are not cluncky to use are the two you losted. The other ones need better tuning, and as you said the hatred return from the dagger kinda sucks.
EDIT: i'll be kinda mad if the stronger shadow builds end to be another standard generator + Impale + pet setup like the other two sets we have (well, natalya is a bit different). They have designed different new legendaries tailored for the melee build, and they're at best mediocre options.
Not liking how it's turning out.
EDIT2: i've added you. If you're on you'll receive my request
Hehe D yes, we're not quite an actual melee, but the fancy is there and i like it.
I was dwelling with gems/gearing/skills, and i'd probably go with cold rune for chakram and Iceblink (other than standard BotT+Stricken). Crit chance for the grevious wounds rune is incredibly strong, so ideally i'm going to stack as much crit as i can.
Tbh, i don't knwo how Stricken will be effective for this build - it's mostly single target and all the skills involved don't hit multiple times, hence Stricken stacks won't get as high as other builds/classes. Maybe Zei/PE will turn out to be better, or just go with a defensive one like Esoteric.
AAAAAND here's the list of the new items in 2.4 coplete with item type and correct affixes values.
EDIT: so the Rapid Fire item is a quiver. Need to revise my no-set build as i wanted too many items all togetherSo perma SS with S4+ this hand crossbow?!.. (cubed)
btw this affix is awkward on a weapon
hehe - i think the screen is triggered on cast and still keeps the internal cd. Plus SP costs more than SS.
I want to see the new skins.
Also i think i'll ditch wohjanni assaulter for my rapid fire build. Cubned quiver, dual wield helltrapper and demons demise for automatic spike trap proc and explosions everywhere.
Because WHY NOT.
Hm, official patch notes set the Impale dagger at a maximum of 20 hatred returned - which makes basically Impale free on single target.
I'm still undecided if to cube this or the FoK one; Chakram Sword equipped because of higher base damage.
never mind, the PTR patch notes incorrectly list Manticore's buffs
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/TastySouP-1157/career
However being the cost reduced by 60% (as it was datamined) the skill becaome much more efficient and definitely an option.
It's difficult to do, but it just takes time to learn how the spec plays. It seems damn near impossible at first, but like every thing, it gets easier over time. Check out this old video of Grim Sever(what Shadows set is loosely designed after):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD2HaBhUzbw
The gameplay is slightly different now, but he's using Grievous Wounds and I think this video illustrates that it is definitely possible.This was done with M6 originally because it was our only set that effected Impale during this patch. If Sentries killed the monster it didn't work. You had to be very precise with your throws to kill monsters marked with MFD before your sentries did. Grievous Wound being single target with no pierce or bounces made this even harder to pull off. Considering all of this, I think it shows you can definitely hit the same target over and over with enough practice, even with other monsters getting in the way.
I used to play Grim Sever before it got nerfed, and it took me about 1 month of playing every day before I could play it properly. I could see the same happening with S6 if you aren't used to it. But once your used to it killing monsters takes less concentration, as it becomes more muscle memory, and you can focus on dodging stuff and resource levels.
Here are more videos of Grim Sever:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lZUWKqceHw <-- Lightening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1j0BDyydHE <-- Cold
https://www.youtube.com/user/bladezero25/videos <-- lots more Grim Sever game play videos.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/TastySouP-1157/career
Biggest gripe for me is that the only actual "usable" chakram rune is the Cold one which has a decent pathing. Other runes really suck compared to it.
However, i'm thinking about another combination of skills - though the fact we cannot put a melee weapon in offhand makes hard to choose between the actual skills.
Ideal build that revolves around physical dmg and it's a really melee spec.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WZTjfe!Vcij!ZcYbcc
(5th passive from hellfire is obviously awareness, and in general opassive can be juggled based on what you feel better).
I took MfD/Grim reaper, but Vault can be an option if i find i need mobility more than damage. The idea is that if i have enough aoe for packs through FoK/Cloud and generator, Impale will be used only on guardian - Otherwise grim reaper will trump over easily
Gear:
Shadow x6
Chakram Quiver since it's the only viable option and it increases chakram damage
Chakram Sword for better damage (independently from the special)
Hellfire amu for 5th passive
rings: either F/R or new Endlelss Walk depending if i find myself to be more stationary than moving
belt: likely String of Ears, due to being in melee
bracers: the ones that trigger dmg reduction with generators since i use one of them.
Cubed: FoK dagger for more aoe, Elusive ring for dmg reduction - can either be triggered by Vault if use it, or by casting SP. Still armor slot is empty, i'll check after what are the possible candidates since i didn't find anything specific.
I like the looks of this, but don't forget that FoK has no character animation and you can use other skills while using FoK. You could switch it to FoK-Knives Expert and spam FoK while also spamming Bola, might not work out to well with the Dagger's time requirement for the buff, but even still. A constant 250% more damage while spamming both Bola and FoK would be nice.
In regards to chakram, have you tried Razor Disc? It works like Cluster Arrow, it goes directly to where you clicked, damaging enemies along the way and at the location, and then spirals outward hitting others.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/TastySouP-1157/career
I was thinking of a similar build Coldkil, but I really want to find a place for Vault in there, probably with Action Shot, I just don't know where to put it
I see a lot of people including Shuriken Cloud in their S6 specs, but if they haven't increased the Radius and the Tick Rate (its only once per sec atm) of the Cloud, I think it would be kind of useless unfortunately. The skill just doesn't deal enough damage and you have to be way to close for comfort imo, if you had Chak-SC included, you could probably drop it for Action Shot.
Not trying to sound so negative/pretentious about it's uses here, I just think the skill is designed terribly in a lot of ways and doesn't have much of a use for the DH in it's current form. Just my 2 cents on the skill.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/TastySouP-1157/career
If i manage to get into PTR i can try different setups - let's see what can be done.
FoK is not a great spammable skill due to his high cost and no actual reliable way to get hatred back - at least with a melee build. Better to use it as CD and let the dagger stack up a little for better burst.
Likely swapping to Grenades as builder for more uptime of Numbing Traps.
I would like to put Vault too in the build and make use of the belt, but Grim Reaper looks mandatory and very likley we will end choosing between it and shuriken cloud.
Until Razor Disk proves to be good enough as a builder.
You think it would be viable to stack AD and drop Grim Reaper?
Managed to get into PTR last night, didn't have the chance of doing much since i had not much gear available and ended testing new marauder build.
New Aurora xbow is awesome. Nearly 100% Vengeance uptime with old gear (likely stat priority have shifted and i'm still going with gear from the very first Marauder set) which will reach easily 100% with enough CDR.
Tried a TX rift and i got instagibbed multiple times - but ithis is clearly due to old gear which wasn't focusing on survivability at all and i had like 300k hp. Didn't get to drop the companions belt nor Garwulf so no damage reduction from anything. Still, damage was more than fine as elite packs were falling easily - i finished the rift with not that much issues (or better, didmn't expect more with random thrown gear).
I also didn't have Manticore nor new Sentry quiver (so no 100% dmg increase for Sentries) - efficiency was really low.
I ran with Shooting stars, Enforcer/Zei/Trapped. If we're not cubing RoRG, we have to choose between Garwulf and T&T (at least for a pet focused build).
Ok, i absolutely need the full shadow set to try stuff out. I have possibly found another way that looks pretty good but also kinda hard to play.
Basically, i want to make use of both the Impale dagger and the Shadow chain that makes Vault free. In conjunction with Cindercoat a fire build looks promising
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ZfTdej!Vcjf!ZYaccb
Basically Impale -> free vault -> repeat while FoKing and Shuriken deals damage. With RCR from Cindercoat Impale should be a "free cast". Still there will be issues with aiming which are tied to the impale skill tiself.
IF i can get a decent setup (eg 50% RCR at least) i could go full physical as i wanted and include Pain Enhancer in the mix
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ZfTdej!Vcjf!ccaccb
Don't know about Vault rune - action shot is a guaranteed 4 procs of PE, but Cinders have a way bigger aoe - need to test if it can proc PE and crits are actually hidden (iirc cots follow different mechanics).
EDIT: PE will proc easily AoE due to cloud critting a lot (1 aoe attack every second).
EDIT2: the more i tinker around, the more stuff i find that won't use (or is not recommended to) use F/R. Especially for the builds above, where we won't have an actual generator so i cannot proc both bonus buffs. Need to search what i can use instead.
EDIT3: also the more i look at FoK dagger, the more counterintuitive it looks. Skill has a short cd, still the dagger takes so long to stack. Using Stuff like Zodiac which should be a damage increase directly counters the dagger special. This weapon needs to be reworked - also Chakram sword being a sword it's just better.
Ok, dropped the new stuff for Marauder, it's insanely fun Dat 3 billion crits.
I'm still running Enforcer/Zei/Trapped, will likely drop Zei for a more reliable Stricken and Powerful for speed farming.
Garwulf seems the more balanced choice for cube, giving 12%-ish more dmg reduction and damage. The new helm is also really good as 50% dmg reduction baked on Vengeance is nice and uptime is really high with Dawn/Zodiac. Would like to try RoRG+T&T setup for even more pet damage.
Shadow set: a lot of the issues with this could be solved if Blizzard chnages the mechanics of Impale. Instead of colliding with the first monster on path, Impale just need to hit the monster we are currently pointing with the mouse. This way the skill stays a pure ST and doesn't need damage tuning, but we could actually make use of the Impale dagger and in general have more control on our damage.
I got a chance to get on the PTR and play with shadows 6 and personally, I completely disagree, I would be extremely disappointed if they change impales mechanics. For starters having it hit where you mouse is, would make the pierce and ricochet rune very clunky to use, they already go to your mouse cursor. Karlei's Point is actually useless, the damage you deal is so high that you pretty much 1 shot all monsters that you hit first with. I got up to grift 62 with 0 ancient items and a bad 1,8000 dmg dagger and I could never get the hatred return to happen because everything was dying in one shot. The dagger needs to be changed to something else in my opinion, maybe even just "RCR for Impale" would be sufficient, not as cool, but would definitely work.
I couldn't push much higher because of toughness issues, but I want to work on correcting those by swapping gear and try pushing higher again. Also, during these tests, I came across a Bug with Shadows 6 piece set that greatly reduces the Grift potential. Impale - Grievous Wounds does not work with the 6piece bonus of shadows set, it gets cancelled out and you do not gain an extra 330% CHD. Here's a video/bug report I made about it:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/19892439217#1
my spec while pushing was:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WZTShj!acYi!YcbcZb
-Shadows 6 piece
-Kerlei's Point
-Holy Point Shot
-Witching Hour
-Reapers Wraps
-F&R
-Ess of Johan
Cube:
-Demon's Demise
-Garwulf
-Convention of Elements
Basically, the Witching Hour and F&R are used to get the highest DPS possible, the Ess of Johan also helps with crowd control and DPS by allowing very potent procs of Area Damage. I stacked +100% area damage from my Weapon, Shoulders, Gloves and Paragon. Convention of Elements is also added for damage, but more impotantly, it makes Impales crit so absurdly high that when coupled with MFD-Grim Reaper, I was 1 shotting entire packs in Grift 62. CoE also works really well with DD+Sticky Trap, the constant AoE helps but when Fire rolls around, it would start to melt mobs. I took the rift gaurdian down in seconds with all this combined. Also Bola-Bitter Pill is lightening and Lightening comes just before phyiscal damage in CoE's rotation so it works out well. RW's were for more hatred but didn't seem to useful in the long run.
For defense I was using the 3 wolves from Garwulf much like M2 uses the Wolf, Spider and Boar as a pet wall. This helped hold monsters in place a bit, but more importantly it allowed me to forgo using Vault/smokescreen by using the pet wall and constant movement to stay alive. The enchantress also help with her own Ess of Johan and all of her CC skills.
In the end I found my toughness was far to low and that the impale dagger's returns were next to useless as I was 1 shotting everything. I want to try this all again, but with:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WZTShj!acXi!ZabcZb
-Shadows 6 piece
-Not sure which weapon maybe Doombringer
-Lidless Wall
-Witching Hour/Zoey's Secret if Lidless and WoC aren't enough
-Wraps of Clarity
-F&R
-Ess of Johan
Cube:
-Demon's Demise
-Garwulf
-Convention of Elements
Since kerlei's is pointless I want to switch my weapon, not sure what yet. Lidless/WoC will add a lot more toughness and Zoey's secret might be a better choice than lidless wall, if so i can use HPS again. Also, since I found out impale-greivous wounds doesn't work, I'll switch to Implae - Impact for now. I also noticed that without Vault/Smokescreen, I had a ton of discipline available, so I switched to Bola - Thunder ball for extra hatred returns.
Like I said, the only issues I'm having when it comes to progress in Grifts is toughness. Impale is not easy to use, but it can be done with enough practice. I think you gave up to early. Add me in PTR, maybe we can mess around and theorycraft for a bit
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/TastySouP-1157/career
Thanks for the pointers, i just started to use it.
For your toughness issues: Hunters wrap and Chain of Shadows + Ring of Elusiveness are a godsend. Vault free + 60% dmg reduction is really insane.
I tested a pure vault build but it turned out pretty bad. Now i'm going to try this one
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#eZTdfj!Vcji!Zcbacb
6 shadows
seething hatred quiver
chakram sword
Need to tool a little with the cube and offset pieces.
Running PE/Trapped/Iceblink for stacking crit and reliable slow - don't have a Stricken at hand to test.
Don't know how it will turn out - sure better than my previous try.
As for Impale: in fact the only two runes which are not cluncky to use are the two you losted. The other ones need better tuning, and as you said the hatred return from the dagger kinda sucks.
EDIT: i'll be kinda mad if the stronger shadow builds end to be another standard generator + Impale + pet setup like the other two sets we have (well, natalya is a bit different). They have designed different new legendaries tailored for the melee build, and they're at best mediocre options.
Not liking how it's turning out.
EDIT2: i've added you. If you're on you'll receive my request
I agree that the impale dagger design is extremely uninteresting and unuseful..
Indeed, it's one of those ideas that seems great on paper, but is pretty worthless in execution.
Now is the time to spam suggestions for new items, before this design goes live.