This build is meant for group gameplay outside of Normal difficulty. It's too early to tell, but based on what we know most builds for Normal are just going to be heavy damage without too much utility and that will work fine to blast through it ASAP. However, if the claims hold true that higher levels will need more tactics to survive then we are going to need builds that are something more then that. This build is ment to keep mobs under control by stunning them, locking them in place so Wizards can blast them, Melee can get up to them to smash their face, and keep them at bay so the other range classes can keep out of harms way.
Rain of Vengence (RoV), Cluster Arrow, and Grenades all have their stun based runes as this is a stun build. But why did I pick these over the other choices?
RoV is one of the only two skils that can always stun on hit, Impale being the other one. However the Impale stun rune also has a knockback, which if the melee aren't doing themselves on purpose can be annoying to them. Also it's a ridiculious heavy damage attack, but it's cooldown means I need another skill to help out and that's where Cluster Arrow comes in.
Cluster Arrow has a wide AoE and a high % chance to stun (relative to the other skills we have) and it's again very high in damage. Mostly it's the AoE size I care about here. Since we already have two Hatred hogs for skills I needed to ease the burden on my pool. The obvious choice here since I have Cluster Arrow is the Grenadier passive.
This made the inclusion of Grenades obvious as a Hatred Generator. It has a stun rune, it's AoE, and combined with the passive it's a decent amount of Hatred gain. While I like the builds that don't use Generators, this build is just going to eat too much Hatred for me to get by without one.
To help boost my Hatred as much as possible we have Preperation runed to provide Hatred instead, the Bat Companion for a passive Hatred regen boost, and Vengence which gives us a bigger pool and Hatred / Discipline gain with Health Globes.
Next we have Bola Shot. I wanted a way to build up Discipline so Preperation is available as much as possible. Bola Shot can be used after I've done a Prep and used up my Hatred to lock down mobs or for clean up duties when stun isn't needed any more and I'm missing Discipline. If mobs are not on lockdown and it's needed, then throw Grenades instead.
Archery is just for a flat DPS bounus. There really isn't much left to take that will add to the ultility of this build, thus a DPS boost is the next best thing. Most of the time I'll be using Dual Crossbows as I want the fastest firing weapons to proc my Stun / Discipline gain more often. Combine the fast firing with lots of AoE means I'm going to crit fairly often. It's because of that I picked the flat 5% crit bonus over the over time 3% stacking bonus Sharpshooter provides. I would reset that stack far too often, making the flat 5% crit bonus better.
This build is meant for group gameplay outside of Normal difficulty. It's too early to tell, but based on what we know most builds for Normal are just going to be heavy damage without too much utility and that will work fine to blast through it ASAP. However, if the claims hold true that higher levels will need more tactics to survive then we are going to need builds that are something more then that. This build is ment to keep mobs under control by stunning them, locking them in place so Wizards can blast them, Melee can get up to them to smash their face, and keep them at bay so the other range classes can keep out of harms way.
Rain of Vengence (RoV), Cluster Arrow, and Grenades all have their stun based runes as this is a stun build. But why did I pick these over the other choices?
RoV is one of the only two skils that can always stun on hit, Impale being the other one. However the Impale stun rune also has a knockback, which if the melee aren't doing themselves on purpose can be annoying to them. Also it's a ridiculious heavy damage attack, but it's cooldown means I need another skill to help out and that's where Cluster Arrow comes in.
Cluster Arrow has a wide AoE and a high % chance to stun (relative to the other skills we have) and it's again very high in damage. Mostly it's the AoE size I care about here. Since we already have two Hatred hogs for skills I needed to ease the burden on my pool. The obvious choice here since I have Cluster Arrow is the Grenadier passive.
This made the inclusion of Grenades obvious as a Hatred Generator. It has a stun rune, it's AoE, and combined with the passive it's a decent amount of Hatred gain. While I like the builds that don't use Generators, this build is just going to eat too much Hatred for me to get by without one.
To help boost my Hatred as much as possible we have Preperation runed to provide Hatred instead, the Bat Companion for a passive Hatred regen boost, and Vengence which gives us a bigger pool and Hatred / Discipline gain with Health Globes.
Next we have Bola Shot. I wanted a way to build up Discipline so Preperation is available as much as possible. Bola Shot can be used after I've done a Prep and used up my Hatred to lock down mobs or for clean up duties when stun isn't needed any more and I'm missing Discipline. If mobs are not on lockdown and it's needed, then throw Grenades instead.
Archery is just for a flat DPS bounus. There really isn't much left to take that will add to the ultility of this build, thus a DPS boost is the next best thing. Most of the time I'll be using Dual Crossbows as I want the fastest firing weapons to proc my Stun / Discipline gain more often. Combine the fast firing with lots of AoE means I'm going to crit fairly often. It's because of that I picked the flat 5% crit bonus over the over time 3% stacking bonus Sharpshooter provides. I would reset that stack far too often, making the flat 5% crit bonus better.
So that's the build, what do you all think?
I like the concept, its good. I just don't like the idea of builds based around lowish percentages even if they will be hitting a few mobs.
The stuns I really like that I think are worth taking would be Rain of Vengence which you have and Seismic Slam for Barbarian, which has a 70% chance.
Edit: Since your playing with friends, if they are taking abilties/spells that have a "slow" effect Cull the Weak would be a nice passive choice and might give you more DPS than Archery and not making you bound to certain weapon types.
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First take a look at the build: http://us.battle.net...lckT!TbV!aabbZb
Now an explanation:
Rain of Vengence (RoV), Cluster Arrow, and Grenades all have their stun based runes as this is a stun build. But why did I pick these over the other choices?
RoV is one of the only two skils that can always stun on hit, Impale being the other one. However the Impale stun rune also has a knockback, which if the melee aren't doing themselves on purpose can be annoying to them. Also it's a ridiculious heavy damage attack, but it's cooldown means I need another skill to help out and that's where Cluster Arrow comes in.
Cluster Arrow has a wide AoE and a high % chance to stun (relative to the other skills we have) and it's again very high in damage. Mostly it's the AoE size I care about here. Since we already have two Hatred hogs for skills I needed to ease the burden on my pool. The obvious choice here since I have Cluster Arrow is the Grenadier passive.
This made the inclusion of Grenades obvious as a Hatred Generator. It has a stun rune, it's AoE, and combined with the passive it's a decent amount of Hatred gain. While I like the builds that don't use Generators, this build is just going to eat too much Hatred for me to get by without one.
To help boost my Hatred as much as possible we have Preperation runed to provide Hatred instead, the Bat Companion for a passive Hatred regen boost, and Vengence which gives us a bigger pool and Hatred / Discipline gain with Health Globes.
Next we have Bola Shot. I wanted a way to build up Discipline so Preperation is available as much as possible. Bola Shot can be used after I've done a Prep and used up my Hatred to lock down mobs or for clean up duties when stun isn't needed any more and I'm missing Discipline. If mobs are not on lockdown and it's needed, then throw Grenades instead.
Archery is just for a flat DPS bounus. There really isn't much left to take that will add to the ultility of this build, thus a DPS boost is the next best thing. Most of the time I'll be using Dual Crossbows as I want the fastest firing weapons to proc my Stun / Discipline gain more often. Combine the fast firing with lots of AoE means I'm going to crit fairly often. It's because of that I picked the flat 5% crit bonus over the over time 3% stacking bonus Sharpshooter provides. I would reset that stack far too often, making the flat 5% crit bonus better.
So that's the build, what do you all think?
I like the concept, its good. I just don't like the idea of builds based around lowish percentages even if they will be hitting a few mobs.
The stuns I really like that I think are worth taking would be Rain of Vengence which you have and Seismic Slam for Barbarian, which has a 70% chance.
Edit: Since your playing with friends, if they are taking abilties/spells that have a "slow" effect Cull the Weak would be a nice passive choice and might give you more DPS than Archery and not making you bound to certain weapon types.