I love the use of Gogok. Gogok means we can use 8% CDR on shoulders, 15% from gogok, 65% on dawn, 12.5% from helm and 10% from paragon and get 100% uptime on Vengeance. This means that in total, we have free slots on gloves and the compass rose to stack attack speed or area damage in addition to crit chance and crit damage. Plus, it gives us great additional attack speed. I really like it as a choice.
Unfortunately, LoN just isn't a good set for this build, at least on live. I have 13/13 ancient gear. I tried DW, Dawn+Satchel (Cube Calamity) and Buriza+Satchel. The best build was the Dawn+Satchel. I used Depth Diggers, Witching Hour, Aquila Cuirass, Leoric's Crown, Frostburn, Wraps of Clarity, Hellfire (Cull the Weak). Then I just used set shoulders and boots (my UE and Shadow's) just cause they were the best ancient I had. I ran 60s, and the damage just wasn't there. DW was an insane toughness boost though. I didn't really take any damage and I had 223k toughness. Absolutely ridiculously high toughness. For shits and giggles I started a 90, and tanked a lot of hits. I did die, and did zero damage, but I did survive a lot of hits.
I'm pretty sure the best set we've discovered is going to be with the Attack Speed focus UE set. The toughness issue is definitely a lot better with the Fortress Ballista. It's really a very good weapon.
I managed to get my APS up to 2.40 on my stats page. I have 6% on my compass rose, 7% on my RoRG, 6% on my lacuni, 10% from paragon, 6% on my Witching Hour and an uncounted 30% from Hunter's Wrath.
With a different x-bow, I was able to get 7% attack speed, bringing my total up to 2.57 APS on my stats page. (the x-bow had 3,516 sheet DPS as well. Which I found amusing. It also had 9% damage)
I think that the last step is to figure out the best gems. I ran one with Zei's and one with BoTS, but both seemed equivalent. Zei's seemed to take down the rift guardian faster (not sure why). but my impression could definitely be wrong. It would be interesting to figure out which ones.
I have ancient pieces that could run LoN with a 11 or 12 piece. I wish we had a good way to measure DPS like just attacking a stationary mob with infinite health. Ah well, more testing must be done. If we feel like taking the attack speed route, it might be worth considering attack speed over Area Damage on x-bows. 20% on a shoulder, 20% on gloves and 50% from paragon. Then we can put 10% damage, dex, 7% attack speed and a socket on our weapons. I feel like that would have a huge effect. Furthermore, a good rolled Compass Rose gives CD, CC, AS, Dex, Socket. One of which I have. Plus I have a well rolled Ancient WH with those 4 good stats. Then a non-ancient lacuni with the right stats. I've got the gear to run this build and a LoN build. I'll give both a test this evening when I get home.
Actually personally, I found it incredibly useful to tank ranged attacks like thunderstorm, mortar, arrows from skeleton archers, poison darts from the goblin type fuckers and then frozen. Frozen ignoring was fantastic cause it was previously very problematic. Also stopped any 1-shot attacks like Cold Snaps dash attack, which previously would instantly pop awareness or kill me.
I would tend to agree with the feedback you've provided. I've got an ancient Fortress Ballista on live (I had it non-season), and I'll give it a test in a duel wield form of the build in a few minutes.
Edit:
I tested a version with the following
UE 5
EW Set
RoRG (Dex, CD, AS, Socket)
Lacuni Prowlers (Cold, Dex, Vit, CC, AS)
Witching Hour
Depth Diggers
Fortress Ballista mainhand.
Cube: ~~~~, Hunters Wrath, CoE.
Gems: Zei's, Trapped, Simplicity's Strength.
I then tried using Dawn offhand and Satchel in the cube. Then swapped Satchel for Dawn in cube/equip.
Skills: HA:DA, Multishot:WC, Companion:Wolf, Vault:Tumble, Vengeance: Dark Heart, Preparation:Invigoration.
Passives: Cull the Weak, Steady Aim, Archery, Awareness.
My results were a clear conclusion that the dual wielding was better. To play devils advocate. I got a much better rift with dual wielding. So much better in fact it might explain how much better it was (7 minutes in comparison to 11). However, I have a VERY good ancient Satchel, and my ancient dawn only has 54% cooldown, which is like 2 or 3 additional seconds of downtime. Furthermore, I have vitality on both my Dawn and Fortress. If I had 48% area damage instead of 2k vit, I can imagine a significant difference in AoE potential. If I needed more EHP (which was no issue in the 60s I ran) I could switch back to the Wraps of Clarity.
I wanted to try the Witching Hour that I had, which is like 630 dex, 7 AS, 46 CD and 15% HA damage. I also was curious how fast the attacks would get with all the AS modifiers like the RoRG, Lacuni and WH. In case you were wondering, the APS displayed on my character page was 2.3 for both weapons. With the Satchel, my single Fortress Ballista was at 2.33. Not to mention the 30% from Hunters Wrath.
1) What do you mean by AOE dmg modifier? Are you referring to Area Damage? If you are, then yes. It has a 20% chance to proc every single time you deal damage with this skill.
2) Spray of Teeth doesn't give a 70% increased damage when it pierces. That's the only way we are able to dish out the insane damage we are. The skill damage is 100%*1.7 for each pierce. If it pierces 5 times (not unreasonable) it actually does 1419% damage. If it pierces 7, that's 4,103%. 9 is 11,858%. Now, assuming 3 pierces by default, and each pierce has a 60% chance to give another pierce (35% base plus satchel), that means that after one pierce, you have a 40% chance to have 2 pierces left, and a 60% chance to have 3. And so on and so forth. However there are a few things that have to be accounted for. The arrow isn't perfect, it will hit walls, and sometimes the Buriza doesn't flip the arrow back. But statistically, the odds of hitting 60% 8 times is 0.0279%. (3 from buriza plus 8 pierces). This means that its very unlikely that everything works perfectly and you get an almost 12k% damage bonus, but theoretically it's possible.
I would consider running a Hellfire Amulet, a Zei's Stone of Vengeance and Ninth Cirri Satchel instead of what you currently have. Also, since you're running a Lacuni Prowler, and we already discussed the lack of synergy between Attack Speed and Buriza, I would think it might be stronger to run dawn, cube Ninth and stick with the Holy Point Shoot. If you were to stick with Buriza, I would recommend switching to the Wraps of Clarity. Finally, since you've got a ~75% crit chance, I might consider dropping a little bit of crit chance on a few slots. That high isn't getting properly utilized imo. Unless, you were to use Single Out, and get a 100% chance on rift guardians. That would be a little bit crazy, cause every pierce is critting.
1.16 APS for the x-bow, plus 20% from the quiver and 30% from the belt. The actual attack speed "cap" for the Buriza piercing is higher, but for the sake of ease I was only replying with the APS of the weapon. In reality, 1.16*1.2*1.3= ~1.81 APS. Just for the sake of having all the variables. It's technically possible to have a 1 handed x-bow and be below whatever the cap is, simply by not equipping an offhand or the Hunter's Wrath. Now without Hunter's Wrath I fail to see the point, the 60% damage seems very good, so good it seems illogical to try it without it. However, this is going fantastic. I'm loving the feedback and testing everyone is doing to try to optimize this stuff. definitely fun to mess around with. Once the patch goes live, I'll likely test whatever we discover as the best versions of UE, M6 and LoN to attempt to find the best build. If we're looking to use RoRG and such, it might be interesting to equip depth diggers, dual wield Dawn and Fortress Ballista. Then we also get Aquila Curiass, a Hellfire, Frostburn or something. Maybe even cube Hunter's Wrath and equip an ancient Witching Hour. That would put our CD at ~580, possibly even to 600. 130%+130%+45%+45%+45%+45%+50%+90%=580%. Combine that with Single Out and you're looking at some pretty insane single target. Those crits are gonna hit hard and stack. Plus 40% cold, plus super high attack speed, etc. not to mention the added toughness we can equip. For helm we could even use a Mempo or Andarials for additional Attack Speed. I could see a version using LoN being pretty strong as well.
Assuming we use a Hunters Wrath (60% damage is too good to pass up), and a quiver with exactly 20% attack speed (worse case scenario), these are my results.
1.6 APS (1handed x-bow). I miss a pierce every other shot.
1.4 APS (2handed bow). I miss a pierce every third shot.
1.1 APS (2handed x-bow). I never miss a pierce.
1.17 APS (2handed x-bow with 6% attack speed). I get a weird pattern of pierces. I get a few, then miss a few, then get a bunch in a row. Inconsistent.
1.18 APS (2handed x-bow with 7% attack speed). Similar to 1.17, but with a few more misses.
It's probably possible to find an arrangement with the attack speed on the bow and a little bit less on the quiver to get the exact perfect rate. However, I think it's just fine to use a 1.1 APS x-bow, any quiver you want, and get every single buriza pierce. This lead me to the conclusion that with a high attack speed, Ninth Cirri Satchel>Buriza. However with a low attack speed, Buriza>Ninth Cirri Satchel.
I decided to put my theory to the test by running a few rifts with a setup of M6. On both builds, I had Buriza and Rucksack equipped, leaving the Dawn or Ninth Cirri Satchel to the cube. Then between tests, the only thing I changed was that cube slot. I also switched the skills I had from Marked for Death to Vengeance in correspondence.
I ran Ninth Cirri Satchel first, and it performed relatively well. However immediately after switching to Vengeance, I saw a significant increase in power. It is mandatory for this build. In an ideal world, I can run the Satchel, Dawn and Buriza, but one has to be given up, and it CANNOT be the dawn. This means that with M6, where we can equip a slow attack speed buriza, the best combination is Dawn, Rucksack and Buriza. With UE, the best combination is Dawn and Satchel. I don't know if there is going to be a better option than Buriza, but there might be. Especially since we're giving up the Buriza, we can stack an insanely high attack speed.
I ran the same build with different sets. Same F&R, Hellfire, etc. The only changes I made was Preparation/Sentry and Archery/Custom Engineering.
With the M6 Dawn build, I completed a 60 in about 5 minutes. With UE Dawn (no buriza, just dawn equipped and in cube). I took 10 minutes. It is definitely possible to run without a Buriza. I would want to try a few other versions of UE without dawn before giving it up though. It was disappointing running it without the Buriza in the cube. Because of how many options there are for this build, it seems pretty hard to figure out which one is the strongest.
Edit: It's worth noting that I felt a lot more tanky with the M6 set than with the UE set.
I would love to give it a shot but I don't actually have an Ancient Fortress Ballista. Still searching for one on my regular character. As for the ninth cirri and proc rates, I'm gonna do some testing with break points, buriza and the satchel to figure out the most optimal way to maximize pieces. Since each piece increases damage, I want to output the most arrows that piece the most times. That's what really does the insane damage. Not how hard they hit but how many times they pierce. I'll do some testing and see if I can figure out what setup causes the most pierces. However, it is worth noting something about the interaction between the Buriza and Hungering Arrow. Hungering Arrow pierces turn back on themselves to hit the same mob twice. Buriza pierces do not double back. Buriza is stronger for AoE, as they will only double back when HA itself procs. I am not 100% certain on this, but when I do my testing I'll figure out how it works and what is the most optimal setup. Again it sounds like with the catch on attack speed, it might be stronger to look at another set.
The main problem about Buriza with UE builds is; you can't roll max disc on it.
If you believe HA has enough damage boost to carry on to higher levels then the native secondary "7.5–10.0% Chance to Freeze on Hit" is also great addition along with higher base damage compared to Dawn.
Yes I am aware. That's why I was talking about using it with M6 seeing as discipline isn't a factor with M6.
The gameplay seems to have similarities with SM6. I believe it's worth trying impale as a spender to utilize F&R and equip Chain of Shadows to cope with the inferior AoE and skip trash with free vaults (which will also indirectly contribute to your dps via disc management) Not to mention impale has 100% proc coef. and works with Buriza as well. Nemesis Bracers would also be quite handy to spawn more elites. The extra attack speed from the Hunter's Wrath or a Lacuni Prowlers would complicate the Buriza internal cooldown issue anyway.
I did some testing and yes, it does have an internal cooldown. This makes me think that if we could cube the Dawn and use the Buriza mainhand would make a big difference. This could lend an edge to an M6 version of the build as we can keep the attack speed low and below that ICD.
I don't know how you cleared level 70. I tried this build, and it took almost 14 minutes to clear level 55. The build I'm using did it in 7 minutes. And you're giving up a lot of damage by not using dead mans legacy. I also don't know why you're using etrayu instead of Yangs.recurve. I question the use of some of your passives too. I'm also wondering how you survived without unity. Just my opinion.
The build is about maxing DA damage - so both Yang and DML are useless because they increase MS damage.
Also another thing: with UE damage x Disc bonus being doubled next patch, are SoJ/Manald becoming viable options? Worth trying them, but afaik they're additive while F/R and EW are multiplicative.
I took your advice and did some pretty extensive testing. My first test was to exchange EW and a CoE into place of the Bastions of Will and Hellfire. I also switched my Etrayu into a Dawn. My first choice to swap was gloves into Frostburns, for the additional cold damage.
My first results were very promising. I cleared a 70 with ease, leaving over 2 minutes remaining. Next I swapped the gloves and turned them back to regular gloves, and I tried using a SoJ. I also had the idea to test it out and I was curious how it would perform. It did similarly, and I realized after this run I should probably stop using the Multishot.
I swapped it around so I was using Marked for Death, and swapped passives so I was using Ambush instead of Numbing Traps. I was concerned I might have survival issues, but I didn't have any and the level 70 rift I ran seemed to be the strongest. I thought it would be a good idea to try to see how this build would perform at a higher rift. I took it and in one try I completed a 73 in exactly 12 minutes, putting me at spot 843 on the PTR leaderboards. I then ran a 73 with the same build, except with BoW and Hellfire instead of EW and SoJ, and it disappointed me. I had only 1 minute remaining instead of three by the time I killed the boss.
I think that for this build, a cold SoJ is actually very, very strong. I did a couple more runs messing around with skills and every single one of them was quite easy to clear (all on 70), I usually had over 4 minutes remaining, and my record was actually 9 minutes and 20 seconds for a solo 70. Very promising results for such an odd build. The exact items and skills I used I put into a D3Planner build right here:
Unfortunately, I have a low roll on my cooldown on my dawn, so I don't have 100% uptime on vengeance. Furthermore, I unfortunately lose a lot of area damage seeking out more CDR for the build.
The other thing worth noting is that elite packs and the rift guardian just drop against this build. If I could fight only elite packs, this build could probably clear an 80. It's absolutely nuts how quickly elites and the rift boss die.
It is worth noting that between my runs yesterday and today, I have augmented my gear giving me about 1.5k additional dexterity, which probably helped me get these results.
All in all, your suggestions made a pretty significant difference. I honestly believe this version is the strongest that has been developed. I'm curious if a M6 build could be stronger if using the EW set and CoE ring, then using RoRG and something else. I'd have to test that out. However as it currently stands, I'm very proud of completing a 73 with the build.
I forgot to record some of the 73 I completed, but I'm uploading the remaining 8 minutes I did get after I remembered to hit record. I'll post that here when it's finished uploading.
I also think it's interesting to note that I have VERY good copies of the EW set. They're in my non-season stash and I've had them for as long as I can remember. Very old items.
Hey guys, I did a 70 with Hungering Arrow as the primary source of damage. The way the build works is it uses the skill Hungering Arrow: Devouring Arrow to deal increasing amounts of damage with every hit. I use the Buriza Do-Kyannon and the Ninth Cirri Satchel to increase my pieces, thus increasing my damage. After extensive testing, I found that this was the strongest version of the build.
I hope this proves that you can play however you want and still be successful if you come up with a good idea on how to play a build. Many people said it couldn't be done but I proved them wrong.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I love the use of Gogok. Gogok means we can use 8% CDR on shoulders, 15% from gogok, 65% on dawn, 12.5% from helm and 10% from paragon and get 100% uptime on Vengeance. This means that in total, we have free slots on gloves and the compass rose to stack attack speed or area damage in addition to crit chance and crit damage. Plus, it gives us great additional attack speed. I really like it as a choice.
Unfortunately, LoN just isn't a good set for this build, at least on live. I have 13/13 ancient gear. I tried DW, Dawn+Satchel (Cube Calamity) and Buriza+Satchel. The best build was the Dawn+Satchel. I used Depth Diggers, Witching Hour, Aquila Cuirass, Leoric's Crown, Frostburn, Wraps of Clarity, Hellfire (Cull the Weak). Then I just used set shoulders and boots (my UE and Shadow's) just cause they were the best ancient I had. I ran 60s, and the damage just wasn't there. DW was an insane toughness boost though. I didn't really take any damage and I had 223k toughness. Absolutely ridiculously high toughness. For shits and giggles I started a 90, and tanked a lot of hits. I did die, and did zero damage, but I did survive a lot of hits.
I'm pretty sure the best set we've discovered is going to be with the Attack Speed focus UE set. The toughness issue is definitely a lot better with the Fortress Ballista. It's really a very good weapon.
I managed to get my APS up to 2.40 on my stats page. I have 6% on my compass rose, 7% on my RoRG, 6% on my lacuni, 10% from paragon, 6% on my Witching Hour and an uncounted 30% from Hunter's Wrath.
With a different x-bow, I was able to get 7% attack speed, bringing my total up to 2.57 APS on my stats page. (the x-bow had 3,516 sheet DPS as well. Which I found amusing. It also had 9% damage)
I think that the last step is to figure out the best gems. I ran one with Zei's and one with BoTS, but both seemed equivalent. Zei's seemed to take down the rift guardian faster (not sure why). but my impression could definitely be wrong. It would be interesting to figure out which ones.
I have ancient pieces that could run LoN with a 11 or 12 piece. I wish we had a good way to measure DPS like just attacking a stationary mob with infinite health. Ah well, more testing must be done. If we feel like taking the attack speed route, it might be worth considering attack speed over Area Damage on x-bows. 20% on a shoulder, 20% on gloves and 50% from paragon. Then we can put 10% damage, dex, 7% attack speed and a socket on our weapons. I feel like that would have a huge effect. Furthermore, a good rolled Compass Rose gives CD, CC, AS, Dex, Socket. One of which I have. Plus I have a well rolled Ancient WH with those 4 good stats. Then a non-ancient lacuni with the right stats. I've got the gear to run this build and a LoN build. I'll give both a test this evening when I get home.
Actually personally, I found it incredibly useful to tank ranged attacks like thunderstorm, mortar, arrows from skeleton archers, poison darts from the goblin type fuckers and then frozen. Frozen ignoring was fantastic cause it was previously very problematic. Also stopped any 1-shot attacks like Cold Snaps dash attack, which previously would instantly pop awareness or kill me.
I would tend to agree with the feedback you've provided. I've got an ancient Fortress Ballista on live (I had it non-season), and I'll give it a test in a duel wield form of the build in a few minutes.
Edit:
I tested a version with the following
UE 5
EW Set
RoRG (Dex, CD, AS, Socket)
Lacuni Prowlers (Cold, Dex, Vit, CC, AS)
Witching Hour
Depth Diggers
Fortress Ballista mainhand.
Cube: ~~~~, Hunters Wrath, CoE.
Gems: Zei's, Trapped, Simplicity's Strength.
I then tried using Dawn offhand and Satchel in the cube. Then swapped Satchel for Dawn in cube/equip.
Skills: HA:DA, Multishot:WC, Companion:Wolf, Vault:Tumble, Vengeance: Dark Heart, Preparation:Invigoration.
Passives: Cull the Weak, Steady Aim, Archery, Awareness.
My results were a clear conclusion that the dual wielding was better. To play devils advocate. I got a much better rift with dual wielding. So much better in fact it might explain how much better it was (7 minutes in comparison to 11). However, I have a VERY good ancient Satchel, and my ancient dawn only has 54% cooldown, which is like 2 or 3 additional seconds of downtime. Furthermore, I have vitality on both my Dawn and Fortress. If I had 48% area damage instead of 2k vit, I can imagine a significant difference in AoE potential. If I needed more EHP (which was no issue in the 60s I ran) I could switch back to the Wraps of Clarity.
I wanted to try the Witching Hour that I had, which is like 630 dex, 7 AS, 46 CD and 15% HA damage. I also was curious how fast the attacks would get with all the AS modifiers like the RoRG, Lacuni and WH. In case you were wondering, the APS displayed on my character page was 2.3 for both weapons. With the Satchel, my single Fortress Ballista was at 2.33. Not to mention the 30% from Hunters Wrath.
1) What do you mean by AOE dmg modifier? Are you referring to Area Damage? If you are, then yes. It has a 20% chance to proc every single time you deal damage with this skill.
2) Spray of Teeth doesn't give a 70% increased damage when it pierces. That's the only way we are able to dish out the insane damage we are. The skill damage is 100%*1.7 for each pierce. If it pierces 5 times (not unreasonable) it actually does 1419% damage. If it pierces 7, that's 4,103%. 9 is 11,858%. Now, assuming 3 pierces by default, and each pierce has a 60% chance to give another pierce (35% base plus satchel), that means that after one pierce, you have a 40% chance to have 2 pierces left, and a 60% chance to have 3. And so on and so forth. However there are a few things that have to be accounted for. The arrow isn't perfect, it will hit walls, and sometimes the Buriza doesn't flip the arrow back. But statistically, the odds of hitting 60% 8 times is 0.0279%. (3 from buriza plus 8 pierces). This means that its very unlikely that everything works perfectly and you get an almost 12k% damage bonus, but theoretically it's possible.
I would consider running a Hellfire Amulet, a Zei's Stone of Vengeance and Ninth Cirri Satchel instead of what you currently have. Also, since you're running a Lacuni Prowler, and we already discussed the lack of synergy between Attack Speed and Buriza, I would think it might be stronger to run dawn, cube Ninth and stick with the Holy Point Shoot. If you were to stick with Buriza, I would recommend switching to the Wraps of Clarity. Finally, since you've got a ~75% crit chance, I might consider dropping a little bit of crit chance on a few slots. That high isn't getting properly utilized imo. Unless, you were to use Single Out, and get a 100% chance on rift guardians. That would be a little bit crazy, cause every pierce is critting.
1.16 APS for the x-bow, plus 20% from the quiver and 30% from the belt. The actual attack speed "cap" for the Buriza piercing is higher, but for the sake of ease I was only replying with the APS of the weapon. In reality, 1.16*1.2*1.3= ~1.81 APS. Just for the sake of having all the variables. It's technically possible to have a 1 handed x-bow and be below whatever the cap is, simply by not equipping an offhand or the Hunter's Wrath. Now without Hunter's Wrath I fail to see the point, the 60% damage seems very good, so good it seems illogical to try it without it. However, this is going fantastic. I'm loving the feedback and testing everyone is doing to try to optimize this stuff. definitely fun to mess around with. Once the patch goes live, I'll likely test whatever we discover as the best versions of UE, M6 and LoN to attempt to find the best build. If we're looking to use RoRG and such, it might be interesting to equip depth diggers, dual wield Dawn and Fortress Ballista. Then we also get Aquila Curiass, a Hellfire, Frostburn or something. Maybe even cube Hunter's Wrath and equip an ancient Witching Hour. That would put our CD at ~580, possibly even to 600. 130%+130%+45%+45%+45%+45%+50%+90%=580%. Combine that with Single Out and you're looking at some pretty insane single target. Those crits are gonna hit hard and stack. Plus 40% cold, plus super high attack speed, etc. not to mention the added toughness we can equip. For helm we could even use a Mempo or Andarials for additional Attack Speed. I could see a version using LoN being pretty strong as well.
Thoughs?
It would probably be good to note my most recent runs were done on live. I realize I forgot to mention that.
The results of my test:
Assuming we use a Hunters Wrath (60% damage is too good to pass up), and a quiver with exactly 20% attack speed (worse case scenario), these are my results.
1.6 APS (1handed x-bow). I miss a pierce every other shot.
1.4 APS (2handed bow). I miss a pierce every third shot.
1.1 APS (2handed x-bow). I never miss a pierce.
1.17 APS (2handed x-bow with 6% attack speed). I get a weird pattern of pierces. I get a few, then miss a few, then get a bunch in a row. Inconsistent.
1.18 APS (2handed x-bow with 7% attack speed). Similar to 1.17, but with a few more misses.
It's probably possible to find an arrangement with the attack speed on the bow and a little bit less on the quiver to get the exact perfect rate. However, I think it's just fine to use a 1.1 APS x-bow, any quiver you want, and get every single buriza pierce. This lead me to the conclusion that with a high attack speed, Ninth Cirri Satchel>Buriza. However with a low attack speed, Buriza>Ninth Cirri Satchel.
I decided to put my theory to the test by running a few rifts with a setup of M6. On both builds, I had Buriza and Rucksack equipped, leaving the Dawn or Ninth Cirri Satchel to the cube. Then between tests, the only thing I changed was that cube slot. I also switched the skills I had from Marked for Death to Vengeance in correspondence.
I ran Ninth Cirri Satchel first, and it performed relatively well. However immediately after switching to Vengeance, I saw a significant increase in power. It is mandatory for this build. In an ideal world, I can run the Satchel, Dawn and Buriza, but one has to be given up, and it CANNOT be the dawn. This means that with M6, where we can equip a slow attack speed buriza, the best combination is Dawn, Rucksack and Buriza. With UE, the best combination is Dawn and Satchel. I don't know if there is going to be a better option than Buriza, but there might be. Especially since we're giving up the Buriza, we can stack an insanely high attack speed.
I ran the same build with different sets. Same F&R, Hellfire, etc. The only changes I made was Preparation/Sentry and Archery/Custom Engineering.
With the M6 Dawn build, I completed a 60 in about 5 minutes. With UE Dawn (no buriza, just dawn equipped and in cube). I took 10 minutes. It is definitely possible to run without a Buriza. I would want to try a few other versions of UE without dawn before giving it up though. It was disappointing running it without the Buriza in the cube. Because of how many options there are for this build, it seems pretty hard to figure out which one is the strongest.
Edit: It's worth noting that I felt a lot more tanky with the M6 set than with the UE set.
I would love to give it a shot but I don't actually have an Ancient Fortress Ballista. Still searching for one on my regular character. As for the ninth cirri and proc rates, I'm gonna do some testing with break points, buriza and the satchel to figure out the most optimal way to maximize pieces. Since each piece increases damage, I want to output the most arrows that piece the most times. That's what really does the insane damage. Not how hard they hit but how many times they pierce. I'll do some testing and see if I can figure out what setup causes the most pierces. However, it is worth noting something about the interaction between the Buriza and Hungering Arrow. Hungering Arrow pierces turn back on themselves to hit the same mob twice. Buriza pierces do not double back. Buriza is stronger for AoE, as they will only double back when HA itself procs. I am not 100% certain on this, but when I do my testing I'll figure out how it works and what is the most optimal setup. Again it sounds like with the catch on attack speed, it might be stronger to look at another set.
I took your advice and did some pretty extensive testing. My first test was to exchange EW and a CoE into place of the Bastions of Will and Hellfire. I also switched my Etrayu into a Dawn. My first choice to swap was gloves into Frostburns, for the additional cold damage.
My first results were very promising. I cleared a 70 with ease, leaving over 2 minutes remaining. Next I swapped the gloves and turned them back to regular gloves, and I tried using a SoJ. I also had the idea to test it out and I was curious how it would perform. It did similarly, and I realized after this run I should probably stop using the Multishot.
I swapped it around so I was using Marked for Death, and swapped passives so I was using Ambush instead of Numbing Traps. I was concerned I might have survival issues, but I didn't have any and the level 70 rift I ran seemed to be the strongest. I thought it would be a good idea to try to see how this build would perform at a higher rift. I took it and in one try I completed a 73 in exactly 12 minutes, putting me at spot 843 on the PTR leaderboards. I then ran a 73 with the same build, except with BoW and Hellfire instead of EW and SoJ, and it disappointed me. I had only 1 minute remaining instead of three by the time I killed the boss.
I think that for this build, a cold SoJ is actually very, very strong. I did a couple more runs messing around with skills and every single one of them was quite easy to clear (all on 70), I usually had over 4 minutes remaining, and my record was actually 9 minutes and 20 seconds for a solo 70. Very promising results for such an odd build. The exact items and skills I used I put into a D3Planner build right here:
http://ptr.d3planner.com/996357266
Unfortunately, I have a low roll on my cooldown on my dawn, so I don't have 100% uptime on vengeance. Furthermore, I unfortunately lose a lot of area damage seeking out more CDR for the build.
The other thing worth noting is that elite packs and the rift guardian just drop against this build. If I could fight only elite packs, this build could probably clear an 80. It's absolutely nuts how quickly elites and the rift boss die.
It is worth noting that between my runs yesterday and today, I have augmented my gear giving me about 1.5k additional dexterity, which probably helped me get these results.
All in all, your suggestions made a pretty significant difference. I honestly believe this version is the strongest that has been developed. I'm curious if a M6 build could be stronger if using the EW set and CoE ring, then using RoRG and something else. I'd have to test that out. However as it currently stands, I'm very proud of completing a 73 with the build.
I forgot to record some of the 73 I completed, but I'm uploading the remaining 8 minutes I did get after I remembered to hit record. I'll post that here when it's finished uploading.
I also think it's interesting to note that I have VERY good copies of the EW set. They're in my non-season stash and I've had them for as long as I can remember. Very old items.
Edit: Video finished upload. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuitT7_lniU&feature=youtu.be
Hey guys, I did a 70 with Hungering Arrow as the primary source of damage. The way the build works is it uses the skill Hungering Arrow: Devouring Arrow to deal increasing amounts of damage with every hit. I use the Buriza Do-Kyannon and the Ninth Cirri Satchel to increase my pieces, thus increasing my damage. After extensive testing, I found that this was the strongest version of the build.
I put together a build guide here:
http://www.diablofans.com/builds/78352-hungering-arrow-2-4-1
A video of the rift here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsSXzGPXWwA
The exact build I used here:
http://ptr.d3planner.com/308491243
I hope this proves that you can play however you want and still be successful if you come up with a good idea on how to play a build. Many people said it couldn't be done but I proved them wrong.