One of the biggest problems a UE demon hunter (or any ranged character) faces is monsters closing the gap into melee range (which will also drop all damage from Steady Aim). Thrill alleviates a lot of that problem... as in 80% additional slowing of monsters from Thrill.
If you are talking about strictly proc'ing extra cold damage then you don't need Thrill, but if you are talking about pushing Grifts without thrill you will be getting your crap pushed in by giant yellow wasps and anything else that flies, teleports, walks quickly, or rapidly fires projectiles at you.
A cold UE build is definitely viable. I don't think it's going to match a fire build in damage or hatred management, but would love to see you prove that wrong. The whole Manald+SOJ discipline build has never amounted to much but would love to see it become more viable than in the past (maybe if discipline rolled as a 2ndary on Elusive Ring or if Compass Rose could be rerolled with Disc as a 2ndary). Manald Heal is just such a crap ring I can't bear to use it anyway. Lots of discussions on the SOJ+Manald discipline aspect of the UE build here on Dfans and on the official D3 forums so dig around a little and you'll find those. Mostly they say that under perfect conditions it can work, but in practical experience it never comes close.
Let's talk about the build and some alternatives that WILL work for you.
In 2.4.1 Frostburns cold damage and freeze ability are lumped into 1 magical... er... cube power so using it in the cube (vs equipping) is the right move from here on out.
From the 2.4.1 patch notes:
Frostburn
Now has Cold skills deal +15-20% increased damage and have a 50% chance to Freeze enemies as a Legendary Power
The build will need to use a different passive than ballistics since Ms->Wind Chill doesn't fire rockets. Would prob do Ambush, Cull, Thrill, Steady, and swap out Tactical (speed runs) with Singled Out/Awareness/whatever you want (for pushing GRs)- Singled Out will help with most RGs and is a viable alternative to using Stricken (I know your build isn't using Stricken- just throwing that out there). I like keeping TA on all the time, but will drop it for more damage when I'm really pushing GRs.
If you don't want to use Focus+Restraint then you could use Compass+Travelers with a good cold SOJ. You lose your 5th passive from the hellfire ammy, but gain 2 gear affixes which makes getting CDR/LOH/AD easier.
A good defensive alternate to SOJ would be Elusive Ring (double your toughness but lose the discipline/damage).
If you are running high paragons with perfect augmented gear then Compass+Travelers+Elusive/SOJ starts making a lot more sense. If you are running low paragons with bad gear then Focus+Restaint+Zodiac (Zodiac cubed) with full UE is going to get you up and running faster than anything else. If you are somewhere in the middle then UE5+Focus+Restraint+Visage with Dawn+Frostburns+RORG in the cube will work for you.
Hatred is going to be more of a problem (without cindercoat/fire), but Reapers Wraps bracers might help mitigate any hatred problems in the build.
If/when hatred is not a problem you can switch to Evasive Fire->Hardened and squeeze a few more GR levels out.
TLDR: I don't think cold is going to match a fire build for damage (at least not when you factor in hatred management), but would encourage you to keep theorycrafting with your DH. Good hunting.
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One of the biggest problems a UE demon hunter (or any ranged character) faces is monsters closing the gap into melee range (which will also drop all damage from Steady Aim). Thrill alleviates a lot of that problem... as in 80% additional slowing of monsters from Thrill.
If you are talking about strictly proc'ing extra cold damage then you don't need Thrill, but if you are talking about pushing Grifts without thrill you will be getting your crap pushed in by giant yellow wasps and anything else that flies, teleports, walks quickly, or rapidly fires projectiles at you.
"My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally."
Last edited by HuckleberryPhlegm: 2 hours from now
A cold UE build is definitely viable. I don't think it's going to match a fire build in damage or hatred management, but would love to see you prove that wrong. The whole Manald+SOJ discipline build has never amounted to much but would love to see it become more viable than in the past (maybe if discipline rolled as a 2ndary on Elusive Ring or if Compass Rose could be rerolled with Disc as a 2ndary). Manald Heal is just such a crap ring I can't bear to use it anyway.
Lots of discussions on the SOJ+Manald discipline aspect of the UE build here on Dfans and on the official D3 forums so dig around a little and you'll find those. Mostly they say that under perfect conditions it can work, but in practical experience it never comes close.
Let's talk about the build and some alternatives that WILL work for you.
In 2.4.1 Frostburns cold damage and freeze ability are lumped into 1 magical... er... cube power so using it in the cube (vs equipping) is the right move from here on out.
From the 2.4.1 patch notes:
Frostburn
Now has Cold skills deal +15-20% increased damage and have a 50% chance to Freeze enemies as a Legendary Power
The build will need to use a different passive than ballistics since Ms->Wind Chill doesn't fire rockets. Would prob do Ambush, Cull, Thrill, Steady, and swap out Tactical (speed runs) with Singled Out/Awareness/whatever you want (for pushing GRs)- Singled Out will help with most RGs and is a viable alternative to using Stricken (I know your build isn't using Stricken- just throwing that out there). I like keeping TA on all the time, but will drop it for more damage when I'm really pushing GRs.
If you don't want to use Focus+Restraint then you could use Compass+Travelers with a good cold SOJ. You lose your 5th passive from the hellfire ammy, but gain 2 gear affixes which makes getting CDR/LOH/AD easier.
A good defensive alternate to SOJ would be Elusive Ring (double your toughness but lose the discipline/damage).
If you are running high paragons with perfect augmented gear then Compass+Travelers+Elusive/SOJ starts making a lot more sense. If you are running low paragons with bad gear then Focus+Restaint+Zodiac (Zodiac cubed) with full UE is going to get you up and running faster than anything else. If you are somewhere in the middle then UE5+Focus+Restraint+Visage with Dawn+Frostburns+RORG in the cube will work for you.
Hatred is going to be more of a problem (without cindercoat/fire), but Reapers Wraps bracers might help mitigate any hatred problems in the build.
If/when hatred is not a problem you can switch to Evasive Fire->Hardened and squeeze a few more GR levels out.
TLDR: I don't think cold is going to match a fire build for damage (at least not when you factor in hatred management), but would encourage you to keep theorycrafting with your DH. Good hunting.
"My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally."
Last edited by HuckleberryPhlegm: 2 hours from now