"And I think it's gonna be a long, long time ‘til touch down brings me round again to find I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone"
Alright, enough of that. . .let's get down to the important stuff. I'll link the build, my character and gear, then breakdown individual skill choices one by one. I don't think I've seen a build quite like this before and it feels super fast, super fun, and definitely high-difficulty viable. Do you like a fast paced, very mobile play style? Do you like big damage numbers? Are you looking for a new build? Then give this a try and see if you can't have some fun being the rocketman!
(This build is going to be semi-item dependent, so keep that in mind when testing and best of luck hunting for similar items!)
My character - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Gibuttersnap-1994/hero/38491763
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Basic build overview - Hungering Arrow - this skill choice is going to boil down to personal preference. I like the auto-homing of Hungering Arrow coupled with the extra hatred generation. Feel free to try out and use any primary skill that you enjoy here.
Cluster Arrow - like other builds (fire DH's come to mind), this is going to be the primary nuke. The difference here is that we're going to use the Shooting Stars rune (rockets). This is going to synergize beautifully with our passive choices and hopefully our gear.
Vengeance - it's new and it's fun but more than that is the rockets fired per attack that are going to be important here. Again, passive choices are going to play a big role. I choose the Seethe rune for a constant supply of hatred for the duration of the skill.
Vault - this is another personal preference skill that I love. Mobility is the name of the game and gear / play style make this one a great choice here. Being able to quickly vault to health globes (we'll understand why this is key when we get to passive selection) is going to be a large component of this build.
Companion - we use the Wolf rune for a surprising solid tank (we'll call him Buck. . .Jack London anyone?) as well as the fantastic 30% dmg boost on use.
Rain of Vengeance - this skill does solid damage and is a great "get things away from me" use with the knockback from the Stampede rune.
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Passives (super important stuff here folks) - Ballistics - vital to this build. All rockets deal 100% more dmg. . .remember, we are shooting a rocket on attack 20% of the time from this rune, Vengeance shoots 4 rockets on each attack, and Cluster Arrow is shooting rockets too. This passive is going to equal a huge dmg boost on our most used attacks!
Blood Vengeance - the other vital rune for this build. Cluster Arrow costs a lot of hatred. . .remember we picked Vault as a skill? After we nuke a group down, Vault is going to help us quickly jump to nearby health globes for an instant shot of 30 hatred. Assuming you can craft the Reaper's Wraps, the combo from this rune and the bracers is going to be insane (keep reading for a gear breakdown)!
Ambush - provides a fantastic extra 40% for that first Cluster Arrow (which is getting 100% additional dmg from Ballistics). This will help destroy things from the first shot. Gotta love the big numbers!
Archery - depending on your weapon at the time, you'll be getting a different boost here. Generally, the 50% crit hit dmg boost is going to be very attractive so try to find a crossbow if you can.
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Gear and play style -
The one piece of gear that I consider absolutely vital here is the Reaper's Wraps. . .a crafted legendary plan dropped by Malthael. The orange affix here is going to make health globes instantly give us about 50 hatred. . .oh, wait! We chose the Blood Vengeance passive! Between the two, each health globe will be giving us about 80 hatred instantly!
Stack that physical dmg affix on necklace, helm, bracers, and gloves as you are able. This is going to further boost the dmg of our Cluster Arrow, which is doing physical type dmg.
Fire a Cluster Arrow into a group for huge physical rocket dmg (which we've stacked through gear, abilities, and passives). Vault around to any health globes for massive instant hatred refills, rinse, repeat, enjoy!
This is a fantastic AOE build and works wonders on elite packs and bosses too. . .pop the Wolf cool down, Vengeance, and Rain of Vengeance all at the same time and you will melt faces! Remember to use that vault to snag a health globe anytime you need hatred!
I was using rapid fire instead of Cluster Arrows, but damn, this build is neat. Got luck with my cloak that synergize even more with Ballisticsso I will try this build today. Seems pretty amazing.
Quick question: ballistics passive. Does it essentially make the rockets from cluster arrow do 800% weapon damage, or only 500%? Not sure how to phrase the question for the answer im seeking. hope thats it.
Edit: okay so its 800%. Next question; Can the rockets from cluster arrow hit the same target multiple times?
Tried out this build yesterday. Won't change it for a good time. Its just too much damage. The only problem is that the rockets are kinda too much random. Sometimes they just go to barrels instead of enemies. And yes, they can hit the same target. It happens all the time in bosses.
A great cloak. I find the 3 wolves form a nice wall to help keep enemies back/contained. If you have this, you may be able to swap out Stampede with something else.
Your build is very similar to mine except that my hatred generator comes from ES to slow enemies and with Cull the Weak passive, I get a 20% more burst damage mixed into my Ambush passive.
I used to be a big fan of Stampede too with it's life saving knockback and huge damage burst. The downside of this ability is the small area is covers, knockback only works for champions and minions, doesn't work well on elites who move a lot and you tend to save this ability for elites because you'll feel a little dependent on it's damage. Also, while playing in groups, it's the one ability that pisses players off when you start kb-ing mobs from the melee's or during cursed chest events
I'm now using RoV with Shade. It covers a huge area, guaranteed hits on any mob within the area, works great in Rifts with high mob density, don't feel the need to save it for elites and works great if you're using a Wyrdward.
This is also an amazing build for group play with anyone who has aoe-pull abilities (Barb's ground stomp, Monk's cyclone strike, Wizard's black hole). If one player helps group all the enemies together, a couple cluster arrows will melt down huge packs all at once!
I backed into a very similar build when I got a legendary amulet that dropped with +physical damage. I was trying to find how to maximize physical damage dealt, and while testing, I noticed the cluster arrow rockets critting for 8+ million. I now have cluster arrow damage on helm and boots, and physical damage on bracers and amulet, and regularly crit for 10+ million. In groups, I can pretty much play up to T4 pretty easily and effectively.
The difference is, I run Entangling (and have bonuses to it on legs/belt) with Cull the Weak for bonus damage.
My question to you, and to any other DHs, how has it been solo'ing on higher torments? I find that with about ~10k healing (90% of which comes from ~124 paragon levels worth of points into LoH), I'm starting to feel like I can drop Smoke Screen - healing vapors, but I still worry that I don't have enough healing / defense to deal with higher torment elites yet. Trash mobs I laugh at, but then an elite pack spawns and I die a bunch.
@ Taiwet - thanks for the input. You can definitely play with various RoV runes to find the one that suits you no problem! If you're dead set on pure physical dmg, you're definitely right about flying strike! The same goes for Hungering Arrow runes. Personally, I use the serrated arrow rune just for simple, additional hatred generation. Spray of Teeth is also very viable if you like a bit extra aoe.
@ raider3 - Thanks for the comment, personally, I rely very heavily on vault for personal play style. I like to be very mobile, zipping around to the health globes for hatred refills as well as getting away from aoe champion packs / better positioning. Vault is one skill I doubt I will ever replace haha! : P
@JustTee - As far as higher torment levels, I think they will become progressively more manageable solo with gear. As you find new and better legendary and crafted items. I'm in a similar situation right now where the higher torments (4+ for me) are still quite difficult.
@Erlang - Thanks, glad you're enjoying it! As far as paragon points my current set up is as follows - Core- move speed to 10%, the rest in dex. Offense - all cool down reduction. I want to be able to use Vengeance as much and as often as possible. Defense - all resist. Utility - 1 point in area dmg, the rest in resource cost reduction (to make cluster arrows cost as little hatred as I can). The follower I use is Enchantress, her Mass Control skill is very good. It works on elites which lets me just rain dmg without having to worry about getting hit.
I'm thinking of lvling my DH to 70 and this seems like a cool build to try out!
I'm wondering though, does this work with both 2h and dw 1h weps? And what stats are good to have? Since I found a 1h crossbow with like 2.7k dps, AS, %dmg, dex and I want to roll something into a socket and I'm not sure if it should be the AS or the & dmg? :x
Hi, thanks for the comment, glad you're thinking about giving this a try!
The build is not weapon dependent! Feel free to use any bow type, whatever you find with the best dps basically. The Archery passive will just benefit you slightly differently depending on weapon type.
Hi, thanks for the comment, glad you're thinking about giving this a try!
The build is not weapon dependent! Feel free to use any bow type, whatever you find with the best dps basically. The Archery passive will just benefit you slightly differently depending on weapon type.
Thanks for the reply, I've started running around blowing stuff to pieces and it's quite fun ;D
I'm wondering though, I rolled phys dmg on those bracers you recommended, but noticed that cluster arrow does fire dmg first and then phys dmg with the rockets. And since HA also does fire dmg I'm just curious if phys really is that much better than fire dmg? It seems a bit weird to me, but then again I've no idea about DHs, so it could just be me :x
Hi, thanks for the comment, glad you're thinking about giving this a try!
The build is not weapon dependent! Feel free to use any bow type, whatever you find with the best dps basically. The Archery passive will just benefit you slightly differently depending on weapon type.
Thanks for the reply, I've started running around blowing stuff to pieces and it's quite fun ;D
I'm wondering though, I rolled phys dmg on those bracers you recommended, but noticed that cluster arrow does fire dmg first and then phys dmg with the rockets. And since HA also does fire dmg I'm just curious if phys really is that much better than fire dmg? It seems a bit weird to me, but then again I've no idea about DHs, so it could just be me :x
The key to using +physical over fire is the Ballistics passive. It makes rockets fly out during normal firing (of any skill). It also makes the rockets during vengeance crit really strong. And I'm pretty sure Cluster Arrow - Shooting Star is 100% physical damage.
Ultimately, I think fire is going to be the end-game goal of DH, however, until you get Magefist + Cindercoat, I feel like physical is easier to gear for (you can roll ~30% elemental damage of your choice without having to wait for any particular legendaries).
I've been using this build too for days now absolutely love the style of it ! Zipping around and 4 shotting mob packs in a moment.
Also I'd like to mention I literally got cloak of garwulf like an hour after switching to this build and my goodness is it ever helpful.
the 3 wolves tank so damn effectively I've basically been ignoring all forms of toughness up to this point with no problems in t 1-3
Oh no, no, no, I'm a rocket man
Rocket man, burning out his fuse up here alone"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alright, enough of that. . .let's get down to the important stuff. I'll link the build, my character and gear, then breakdown individual skill choices one by one. I don't think I've seen a build quite like this before and it feels super fast, super fun, and definitely high-difficulty viable. Do you like a fast paced, very mobile play style? Do you like big damage numbers? Are you looking for a new build? Then give this a try and see if you can't have some fun being the rocketman!
The actual build - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aPOdSl!beSh!ZZYbcb
(This build is going to be semi-item dependent, so keep that in mind when testing and best of luck hunting for similar items!)
My character - http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Gibuttersnap-1994/hero/38491763
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Basic build overview -
Hungering Arrow - this skill choice is going to boil down to personal preference. I like the auto-homing of Hungering Arrow coupled with the extra hatred generation. Feel free to try out and use any primary skill that you enjoy here.
Cluster Arrow - like other builds (fire DH's come to mind), this is going to be the primary nuke. The difference here is that we're going to use the Shooting Stars rune (rockets). This is going to synergize beautifully with our passive choices and hopefully our gear.
Vengeance - it's new and it's fun but more than that is the rockets fired per attack that are going to be important here. Again, passive choices are going to play a big role. I choose the Seethe rune for a constant supply of hatred for the duration of the skill.
Vault - this is another personal preference skill that I love. Mobility is the name of the game and gear / play style make this one a great choice here. Being able to quickly vault to health globes (we'll understand why this is key when we get to passive selection) is going to be a large component of this build.
Companion - we use the Wolf rune for a surprising solid tank (we'll call him Buck. . .Jack London anyone?) as well as the fantastic 30% dmg boost on use.
Rain of Vengeance - this skill does solid damage and is a great "get things away from me" use with the knockback from the Stampede rune.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Passives (super important stuff here folks) -
Ballistics - vital to this build. All rockets deal 100% more dmg. . .remember, we are shooting a rocket on attack 20% of the time from this rune, Vengeance shoots 4 rockets on each attack, and Cluster Arrow is shooting rockets too. This passive is going to equal a huge dmg boost on our most used attacks!
Blood Vengeance - the other vital rune for this build. Cluster Arrow costs a lot of hatred. . .remember we picked Vault as a skill? After we nuke a group down, Vault is going to help us quickly jump to nearby health globes for an instant shot of 30 hatred. Assuming you can craft the Reaper's Wraps, the combo from this rune and the bracers is going to be insane (keep reading for a gear breakdown)!
Ambush - provides a fantastic extra 40% for that first Cluster Arrow (which is getting 100% additional dmg from Ballistics). This will help destroy things from the first shot. Gotta love the big numbers!
Archery - depending on your weapon at the time, you'll be getting a different boost here. Generally, the 50% crit hit dmg boost is going to be very attractive so try to find a crossbow if you can.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gear and play style -
- The one piece of gear that I consider absolutely vital here is the Reaper's Wraps. . .a crafted legendary plan dropped by Malthael. The orange affix here is going to make health globes instantly give us about 50 hatred. . .oh, wait! We chose the Blood Vengeance passive! Between the two, each health globe will be giving us about 80 hatred instantly!
- Stack that physical dmg affix on necklace, helm, bracers, and gloves as you are able. This is going to further boost the dmg of our Cluster Arrow, which is doing physical type dmg.
- Fire a Cluster Arrow into a group for huge physical rocket dmg (which we've stacked through gear, abilities, and passives). Vault around to any health globes for massive instant hatred refills, rinse, repeat, enjoy!
- This is a fantastic AOE build and works wonders on elite packs and bosses too. . .pop the Wolf cool down, Vengeance, and Rain of Vengeance all at the same time and you will melt faces! Remember to use that vault to snag a health globe anytime you need hatred!
Enjoy and happy hunting!Edit: okay so its 800%. Next question; Can the rockets from cluster arrow hit the same target multiple times?
@ Morfien - I'll try to figure out an answer to your question in regards to hitting the same target multiple times
Enjoy!
A great cloak. I find the 3 wolves form a nice wall to help keep enemies back/contained. If you have this, you may be able to swap out Stampede with something else.
I used to be a big fan of Stampede too with it's life saving knockback and huge damage burst. The downside of this ability is the small area is covers, knockback only works for champions and minions, doesn't work well on elites who move a lot and you tend to save this ability for elites because you'll feel a little dependent on it's damage. Also, while playing in groups, it's the one ability that pisses players off when you start kb-ing mobs from the melee's or during cursed chest events
I'm now using RoV with Shade. It covers a huge area, guaranteed hits on any mob within the area, works great in Rifts with high mob density, don't feel the need to save it for elites and works great if you're using a Wyrdward.
The difference is, I run Entangling (and have bonuses to it on legs/belt) with Cull the Weak for bonus damage.
My question to you, and to any other DHs, how has it been solo'ing on higher torments? I find that with about ~10k healing (90% of which comes from ~124 paragon levels worth of points into LoH), I'm starting to feel like I can drop Smoke Screen - healing vapors, but I still worry that I don't have enough healing / defense to deal with higher torment elites yet. Trash mobs I laugh at, but then an elite pack spawns and I die a bunch.
@ raider3 - Thanks for the comment, personally, I rely very heavily on vault for personal play style. I like to be very mobile, zipping around to the health globes for hatred refills as well as getting away from aoe champion packs / better positioning. Vault is one skill I doubt I will ever replace haha! : P
@JustTee - As far as higher torment levels, I think they will become progressively more manageable solo with gear. As you find new and better legendary and crafted items. I'm in a similar situation right now where the higher torments (4+ for me) are still quite difficult.
@Erlang - Thanks, glad you're enjoying it! As far as paragon points my current set up is as follows - Core- move speed to 10%, the rest in dex. Offense - all cool down reduction. I want to be able to use Vengeance as much and as often as possible. Defense - all resist. Utility - 1 point in area dmg, the rest in resource cost reduction (to make cluster arrows cost as little hatred as I can). The follower I use is Enchantress, her Mass Control skill is very good. It works on elites which lets me just rain dmg without having to worry about getting hit.
I'm wondering though, does this work with both 2h and dw 1h weps? And what stats are good to have? Since I found a 1h crossbow with like 2.7k dps, AS, %dmg, dex and I want to roll something into a socket and I'm not sure if it should be the AS or the & dmg? :x
The build is not weapon dependent! Feel free to use any bow type, whatever you find with the best dps basically. The Archery passive will just benefit you slightly differently depending on weapon type.
I'm wondering though, I rolled phys dmg on those bracers you recommended, but noticed that cluster arrow does fire dmg first and then phys dmg with the rockets. And since HA also does fire dmg I'm just curious if phys really is that much better than fire dmg? It seems a bit weird to me, but then again I've no idea about DHs, so it could just be me :x
Ultimately, I think fire is going to be the end-game goal of DH, however, until you get Magefist + Cindercoat, I feel like physical is easier to gear for (you can roll ~30% elemental damage of your choice without having to wait for any particular legendaries).
Also I'd like to mention I literally got cloak of garwulf like an hour after switching to this build and my goodness is it ever helpful.
the 3 wolves tank so damn effectively I've basically been ignoring all forms of toughness up to this point with no problems in t 1-3
I'm jealous you've found the garwulf cloak haha! I would totally use that if I found one : P
The wolf is amazingly hardy when it comes to tanking! Great job to the skill re-design by blizzard. . .companions actually feel pretty useful now!