Alteena thanks for much for writing back, your input has proven invaluable. I am learning so much, evolving my build every day and feel really good about where things stand now. I just tried out my latest build and was able to clear A2/Inferno to the point of killing Zultan Kulle.
Attacks are guided and thus rarely miss hitting something which then ensures you earn the 3 hatred. This is crucial considering how much hatred it takes (50) in order to cast Cluster Arrow.
Easy to use while kiting which is something we do quite often, again, due to the shots being guided.
Damage is immediate as compared to the delay of Bola Shot.
Attacks can go around corners and do damage while remaining out of line of sight from enemies.
Shatter Shot does some AoE which is otherwise lacking from my build.
When my critical hit chance increases I can switch to Spray of Teeth which offers more damage and AoE.
Question: I changed Sharpshooter to Tactical Advantage because I benefit more from the survival offered by TA while dealing with this challenging content. If I get comfortable and start farming A2 and switch back to SS instead of TA, would that be enough crit chance to change the rune to Spray of Teeth or must I have 22-25 percent without Sharpshooter?
Cluster Arrow / Loaded for Bear
Massive damage (290%) to primary target.
AoE damage to primary target and those nearby.
Passes through enemies to instantly reach targeted enemy, useful against invulnerable minions pack and taking out high priority targets across the battlefield.
Not necessarily a benefit, but with Elemental Arrow I was never out of hatred and now I feel like I'm getting a better return on investment as I am frequently low or out of hatred, putting it to great use with this ability.
Since demon hunters kite frequently and since this build has additional passive hatred generation with a good hatred generator that has guided shots which rarely miss, this time allows hatred to increase so that it can be used when an opening presents itself.
Fun to use as opposed to holding down right-mouse button for Ball Lightning hoping the target dies. When you shoot something with this ability, you can visibly see their health decline.
Smoke Screen / Lingering Fog
Increased duration seems to make enemies change aggro to follower or other whereas at standard 1.0 seconds it seems like they frequently continue to move towards me.
Don't need movement speed benefit at the moment since I'm using Tactical Advantage passive to give 60% for 2 seconds but once I feel comfortable with the content I'm going to switch back to the Displacement rune which I think offers the most benefit otherwise.
A2/Inferno mobs are so fast that without TA they will easily catch you. This combination with TA seems like the only way to truly escape some fast enemies and gain a reprieve. I'm hoping once I make it to A3/Inferno I can switch back and once gain benefit from Sharpshooter.
Preparation / Focused Mind
Smoke Screen and Preparation go together like Root Beer and Ice Cream, you just can't have one without the other.
Focus Mind is the only rune variant that makes it possible to not waste any discipline since the others all add only enough discipline to fill the tank from its current level which may not be empty.
Focused Mind actually gives 45 discipline which is more than my tank can hold when full.
Can be used preemptively once a portion of discipline has been spent. This means the 45 second cooldown will be done sooner and can be used again when you are likely to be running low.
Rain of Vengeance / Stampede
Costs no hatred or discipline.
30 second cooldown is not terribly long considering how much time is spent kiting as a Demon Hunter. I find myself using it multiple times on difficult champion packs and as a result find myself not "saving it" but using it whenever necessary.
Works like a super-caltrops: keeps enemies away for a significant duration (8-10 seconds?) and does 75% weapon damage with each of the 10 Shadow Beast attacks, much more than Jagged Spines 45%.
Companion / Bat Companion
3 hatred per second is huge.
Cluster Arrow needs lots of passive hatred generation to make it viable and this ability does the job.
Acts as an early warning system when it flies off to engage a target you might not see yet off screen.
Miscellaneous
As mentioned earlier, I feel like I need Tactical Advantage during progression and gave up Sharpshooter. I miss the guaranteed critical attacks that initiate combat but I was dying too frequently from fast enemies and the inadequate speed burst and 1.0 second invisibility of Smoke Screen.
I bought a new bow, similar DPS (around 900) and similar Dexterity (100), Vitality (100) and Life on Hit (500). I don't think I have any other LoH items and I need some to handle reflect damage affix. Since this is a bow and not a crossbow I am now getting the flat 15% damage bonus from Archery and when swapping weapons I noticed about a 2K DPS gain!
My Scoundrel dies too frequently but I think it's because he has no resistances so I'm going to find a Cold Damage Bow (not crossbow) with lots of Vitality and then make his jewelry have all resist in this hopes this keeps him alive longer.
Scoundrel with Cold Damage is unbelievably powerful as you said. He keeps many enemies slowed and I miss that when he dies.
I was surprised at just how powerful RoV / Stampede is when compared to caltrops. It is a game-changer for me. It keeps all my pursuers occupied for a long time and now with Cluster Arrow I can get off a highly precise attack or two and make them pay for it. Waiting every 30 seconds to use it is no big deal since we kite so much anyway.
Overall I'm having a great time and I really enjoy my build now. I finally understand what everyone has been talking about with regards to repair bills however. Even if I waited until the "yellow armored man" icon would appear on my screen, it would only take 3-5K to repair everything, but now that I have several items that are level 61 or above I get bills that are 20K or more. Ouch.
As usual, thanks to everyone who is participating in the discussion here, it's fun and educational for me and your input is appreciated. I'd love for others to post a link to their own builds if they are similar so we can compare and contrast and maybe I'll learn something new and my build will evolve yet again.
Thanks again to those who have taken the time to read all this stuff and make valuable contributions to the conversation.
I finally set foot into Act 2/Inferno last night and WOW it is MUCH harder. Things are fast and it is easy to get one-shot if you're not quick with Smoke Screen. Still, since A1/Inferno wasn't super difficult, it's actually good to have this challenge and it will drive me to become a better player and I can begin the "gear quest" in earnest as I don't see myself finishing this act for some time. The good news is that my build worked pretty well, including Marked for Death which was a significant change to my previous build. I was able to get 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor, only skipped one Unique pack and got a few upgrades for my characters in the process (since all my gear is still lacking it's easy to get upgrades).
This is a more subtle change, but an improvement I think. Since I am changing from Impale to Ball Lightning I now have a cheap AoE ability that can take care of "junk" enemies easily and at comparatively low cost. As a result I no longer need my hatred generator to have AoE capabilities and can instead benefit from the increased damage via Devouring which works well against single targets.
Impale -> Elemental Arrow / Ball Lightning
Impale is challenging to use. I have got the point where I'm pretty good at it, but the speed of Act 2 is making me reconsider my usage. I love the ability because it travels so fast and hits so hard, especially with guaranteed crits from Sharpshooter, but when you miss it does nothing and costs a lot of hatred. I am going to change my build so that my primary hatred spender is now Ball Lightning, but I may use Impale (though perhaps with Grevious Wounds) in my one "open" slot for difficult mobs that need a solid single-target attack.
Ball Lightning is good for many reasons and, as a bonus, I find it really fun to use as it has streaks of lightning that reach out to mobs as it moves about. For one thing, it is very cheap to use at only 10 hatred instead of the 25 I was spending on Impale. When you think about it, Ball Lightning does only 155% damage as compared to Impale's 250% but I can cast 2.5 of these for each Impale giving me 387.5% damage for the same hatred. In addition, Ball Lightning has a greater chance to hit things since as it moves along it automatically targets enemies within range whereas Impale is very precise and if you miss a mob only slightly it's still a complete miss and no damage is done. Another thing I like about Ball Lightning is that it has a 100% chance to pierce which I find almost a necessity so that you can damage enemies across the battlefield regardless of what might be in between (though I realize Ball Lightning moves much slower and may miss the intended target once the ball gets there as compared to Impale which is instantaneous).
Another thing I'm curious about, and what could be a significant benefit of Ball Lightning over Impale is how Sharpshooter works. The description of Sharpshooter says that the crit bonus is reset 1 second after you hit. Impale travels so quickly that the 1 second countdown starts quickly after you fire the first Impale. With Ball Lightning, since it travels so slowly, I think it might be possible to get 1 or possibly 2 shots off before you hit anything and only then will the 1 second countdown start. Conceivably you might be able to get 1 or 2 more shots off before the Sharpshooter bonus is reset. Getting 3 or 4 shots off at 100% crit chance for a shot that pierces all enemies, is an AoE and doesn't cost much hatred sounds really appealing!
Mark of Death -> Rain of Vengeance / Stampede
As I switch from a hatred hungry ability like Impale to one that requires much less in Ball Lightning I realize that I may not need as much hatred generation as I did before. With all the kiting necessary in A2/Inferno and beyond and all the passive regeneration I already have it's likely I won't be starved for it as often. Additionally I found myself with very little time to really DPS as everything constantly chased after me and I want a way to buy some time once in a while to more freely attack my pursuers. This ability fits the bill since it costs no hatred and no discipline and buys you several precious seconds where everything attacking you is bombarded, knocked back and otherwise occupied. I hope it works in Inferno as well as it did when I used it last in Hell.
Caltrops, especially with Jagged Spikes, is no longer necessary since Ball Lightning can be used to kill "junk" enemies pretty easily and this was one of the primary reasons for having the ability in my build since the snare effect is fairly useless in A2/Inferno and beyond.
I'm excited about these changes to my build and will be sure to report back with my findings in the near future. Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to the discussion since I have learned a lot and am enjoying my build much more.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my article. You make some very good suggestions and I'd like to expand on each of them with my own thoughts and further questions that I hope you might answer.
Caltrops
To be honest I rarely use this ability. For the most part I find myself evading attacks through the use of Smoke Screen, especially with the Displacement rune I'm now using, and general kiting techniques using the surrounding geography to my advantage. I find that all ranged DPS classes benefit significantly from boots with movement speed increase so mine have +12% and I find that invaluable.
The few times I recall using Caltrops in a state of panic was when a very fast pack of spiderlings attacked me -- this gave me time to retreat and line them up for a single Impale or use the AoE of Bola Shot to take them out en masse. Your suggestion of using Caltrops but with the Jagged Spikes is interesting. While the slowing aspect of Caltrops is mitigated to be almost useless in A2/Inferno and beyond leaving behind something that does damage in your wake is interesting and would easily handle the cases you mention such as spiderling packs, etc. This may be compounded by your other suggestion, that of using the Scoundrel follower with a Cold Damage weapon so that enemies are actually slowed quite often. This combination could mean that enemies spend a longer duration in the trap and are thus affected by the damage for a longer duration.
Your suggestion of using Caltrops for A3 and A4 is a good one, with Jagged Spikes, and I may change my build at that time to explore this option. Thanks very much for the suggestion.
Caltrops Alternatives
As I am getting prepared to enter A2/Inferno for the first time, and knowing about what kind of mobs to expect and how a great many of them circumvent all variants of Caltrops, I started to think about removing this ability and finding something new. I would prefer that this new ability consume no hatred since I prefer to utilize Impale for that resource and if it must consume discipline, it must be a small amount as I don't want to find myself unable to use Smoke Screen as necessary. Taking these requirements in mind I have come up with two options and I'd love to hear your thoughts on these abilities and/or suggestions for alternatives.
Rain of Vengeance / Stampede
I used this rune variant for a time and think it brings much to the table for a Demon Hunter playing solo. This consumes no hatred but comes at a "cost" of a 30 second cooldown. The damage is not the primary consideration for this ability, in fact I don't really know if it could be considered powerful or not in that regard, what I like about the ability is that it keeps things away from me for a fairly lengthy window of time.
What are your thoughts about replacing Caltrops with this ability? What rune would you choose for my build?
Marked for Death / Mortal Enemy
There is much to like about this ability and, in fact, it's one of the alternates you suggested. It costs zero hatred, has no cooldown, can be applied to multiple enemies simultaneously, and costs only 3 discipline. Adding 12% damage and, with this rune variant, an additional 3 hatred per attack is very appealing. I used this ability almost exclusively when fighting bosses while I was progressing to 60 but then swapped it out in favor of something else once the boss fight was concluded. The one consideration here is that it has limited usefulness. There is no point using this ability on anything that will die quickly which is 90+% of what we encounter while playing, but maybe that's okay and this is for special enemies only.
What are your thoughts about this ability? What rune would you choose for my build?
Alternate Hatred Generator
As I think more and more about no longer having Caltrops as part of my build I start to think about situations like you mentioned where it pays dividends. Packs of small spiders, and other "junk" mobs as you call them. I also think about how often I completely miss my target (or any target for that matter) with my recent switch to Bola Shot. As a result, I am considering changing back to my longtime favorite generator which is Hungering Arrow with Shatter Shot. Kiting can be quite frantic and trying to get a shot off that actually hits anything while trying to stay ahead of a bunch of Mortar shots can be quite difficult. It is also true that the two second delay of Bola Shot with Imminent Doom is annoying when you want some damage right now.
Hungering Arrow with Shatter Shot is starting to look like a better alternative. You are pretty much guaranteed to hit something if you shoot in the general direction of a target and thus you will earn the 3 hatred that goes along with doing so. I need my hatred generator to offer some form of AoE so that these packs of "junk" mobs can be dealt with in a few shots. If I decide to go with Marked for Death (which is what I'm leaning towards as my Caltrops replacement) then that increases the importance of hitting the target in order to gain the additional 3 hatred provided by the Mortal Enemy rune.
What are your thoughts on this change of hatred generator? Which one (with which rune) do you prefer and why?
The Scoundrel
Your suggestion has great merit and I am already leveraging this technique with my Wizard. I have two rings, an amulet and a "token" that have lots of vitality and some dexterity so he has about 55K health now. I also purchased a nice 2H crossbow that does Cold Damage in order to apply the Chill effect to his targets.
The abilities I use for the Scoundrel are: Crippling Shot (slow), Dirty Fighting (blind), Multishot (3 shots) and of course Anatomy (3% crit). I think the 3% crit chance provides much greater benefit than the passive hatred generation and the other crowd control abilities are much better than what the Templar has to offer. I will no longer have the luxury of a meat shield that also blocks projectiles but I'm getting better at kiting and avoiding that kind of thing so I should get over that eventually.
You are right about the slow effect he has on mobs. It is much better than Caltrops since it is almost constantly being applied instead of only when I drop at trap (at some cost in discipline whereas this is free) and only for a little time while the trap actually affects anything. I have a few questions about optimally gearing the Scoundrel:
As I said, I purchased a Cold Damage weapon, but it is a 2H crossbow and not a 2H Bow. The attack speed of crossbows is considerably slower than bows I think. If I equip him with a faster Cold Damage weapon I presume the affect will be more frequent application of the slowing effect (notice I didn't say anything about increase or decrease in damage since we both know that his is not the primary concern of followers). Can you confirm this and do you recommend that I get a weapon with a faster attack speed?
Would it be wise to further increase attack speed via IAS on items like rings and amulets?
How important is it to give the follower some resist all? I was thinking that I should purchase jewelry that has Resist All, Vitality and IAS. I don't know what kind of money we're talking about but it seems like more and more of my characters will be using the Scoundrel and I do move the gear around via the stash so it could be a worthwhile investment for multiple characters.
Thanks again for taking the time to both read and reply to my article. My plan is to delve a little further into Inferno and see how viable this build is and if it looks good, post my article on the official DH forums to solicit further feedback and discussion. I will trim it down significantly since I realize nobody cares about all the background and asides I made and I hope more folks will join in the discussion. Thus far it has been educational and I appreciate your input very much.
Warning: This is an extremely long-winded article. There is a link below to the build I'm discussing if you want to quickly see whether or not you'd like to engage yourself in the discussion I hope to provoke with this commentary.
Background
I have 5 characters, one of each class, all level 60 and all situated in Act 1 of Inferno difficulty. I decided that the first character I would use to attempt the highest difficulty would be my Demon Hunter. I realize that the difference between A4/Hell and A1/Inferno is not great and that having defeated this content (I have killed the Butcher once on Inferno) I will be in for a big surprise when I try A2/Inferno. The only reason I mention this is because I want to stipulate that this build works well for A1/Inferno but I don't make any claims for its viability beyond that point. It could be that it will work well, but that remains unknown for the time being.
My reasoning for writing this article are twofold:
If there are Demon Hunters out there like me who are just getting started in Inferno, then you may find this build interesting and want to give it a try.
If there are experienced Demon Hunters out there who have traversed beyond A1/Inferno, then any constructive criticism you might offer would be appreciated.
The vast majority of my gear (on all 5 characters) is stuff I have found while playing. I almost never sell anything on the AH and only rarely purchase items. I dislike how content can be largely trivialized by purchasing the best gear (I have ample funds to buy things I just choose not to) and I also love getting upgrades from the sweat of my brow. This is just me and my play style, I'm not advocating it or admonishing others who choose to leverage the AH and what it has to offer. That being said, when I killed Diablo on Hell difficulty my weapon was a 1-Handed Crossbow that did 499 DPS (I finally hit level 60 in Act 4 and could then equip this item level 61 item I found) and I found it to be more than adequate. It quickly became clear that my DPS was inadequate for A1/Inferno however and, in frustration, I purchased a 900 DPS 2H Crossbow which made a huge difference. My DPS is probably still lower than many folks at this level of progression since some of my items are still level 53-57 but this one item made it possible to eventually defeat Champion Packs. I mention this for those who do not have the best gear -- you don't need it for A1/Inferno -- but getting a suitable weapon can make a huge difference and is likely necessary once you venture into Inferno.
It should also be mentioned that this build is meant for solo-play and I will discuss my follower and his build and gear towards the end.
Opposition
In my opinion, there are three kinds of enemies in Diablo 3:
Trash monsters
These make up 90-95% of the monsters you will encounter. There is nothing special about them and thus nothing in your build should be specialized to deal with them. All builds should have sufficient abilities to deal with whatever combination of mobs the game presents you when they are trash mobs. When I read someone discussing their build and they make mention of how well a certain skill works against large packs of mobs I wonder what is being sacrificed when a different variant could be used during combat with the targets we all seek at level 60.
Bosses
These make up the smallest portion of monsters encountered in the game, much less than 1%. My build is designed to work well against Champion/Unique/Rare packs but I also used it against all the bosses of A1/Inferno. There are times, however, where it may be necessary to alter the build for a particular boss as their mechanics are often very unique and require specific capabilities to overcome. Regrettably when this is the case, I will lose my Nephalem Valor stacks and defeat the boss using a 1-off build, none of which is discussed herein.
Champion/Unique/Rare Packs
These make up the remaining 9% or whatever of what you will encounter and are the targets we desire most at level 60 in order to build/maintain Nephalem Valor stacks and offer the greatest opportunity to find better gear. This build is designed with these enemies in mind as your opposition.
Regardless of which class I'm playing, I think a vital part of any build is synergy. This build has only two offensive skills, one hatred builder and one hatred spender, the rest is utility or defense. It should be noted that a primary objective of any build I use is to avoid death and one of the strengths of this build is that I almost never die. Then again, that could be "because A1/Inferno is super-easy".
Active Abilities
Bola Shot / Imminent Doom
Since this build has only two means of doing damage, I want them both to be optimized for that purpose. This variant of Bola Shot does 182% damage to the primary target and an additional 154% to all nearby enemies within 7 yards. Considering this ability has no hatred cost and in fact generates 3 hatred, that's a pretty good return on investment. Both of these values are exactly 40% larger than the baseline Bola Shot. The other variants of this ability offer increased radius (not necessary because smart Demon Hunters use choke points in the environment and other means to group mobs together), chance to stun (which is largely reduced in Inferno) or offer a 15% chance to gain 2 discipline (which is a small percentage, combined with the infrequency that I use this ability and the comparatively high cost of Smoke Screen, I feel it doesn't compare to the 40% higher damage of Imminent Doom). This ability does respectable damage to the primary target and not insignificant damage to all nearby enemies. Considering that our targets are (hopefully) pretty far away, the fact that the AoE damage occurs 2 seconds later in this variant (as opposed to 1) is irrelevant and in fact increases the likelihood that, as all mobs converge to your position, they will get closer and affect more when detonation occurs.
Impale / Overpenetration
If there is one thing I have realized during the time I have played this game (on all classes) is the importance of having a damage dealing ability that pierces, preferably one that pierces 100% of the time (I'm looking at you Hungering Arrow). There is nothing more frustrating that firing a high cost ability and having it intercepted by an unintended target or a mob that was already close to death and all the potential going to waste. Since Impale is very expensive at 25 hatred (20% of your overall pool) and you cannot spam it too much, this rune variant ensures that your intended target will get hit regardless of what might get in the way, and does so at breakneck speed. Strategically this is a very powerful aspect of the rune variant. Many times you will encounter a pack of mobs and you must immediately prioritize your target. It is often the case that the most dangerous mobs are situated far from you with many obstacles in the way (melee mobs). With 100% pierce you can simply target them across the battlefield and remove them quickly while also damaging anything else that happens to be in the way. This ability also makes dealing with Invulnerable Minions much easier to say the least.
Another reason this is my preferred rune variant is because if you crit, all enemies damaged by the attack will also crit. The synergy with the Sharpshooter passive cannot be underestimated in this regard. When combat ends and Sharpshooter starts to build your chance to crit, you will find yourself doing massive damage to everything in your path with that first opening salvo (your first attack should always be Impale to leverage this). I have read so many others talk about how Grevious Wounds is the preferred rune for this ability and I simply disagree. How often do you find yourself in combat against a single adversary? If that is the situation, then I agree this is the best variant, but other than certain boss encounters (which is not the scenario this build attempts to counter) I think it pales by comparison. There are also conflicting reports of how "100% additional damage" is calculated. The most desired result would be: calculate the total damage done by a critical attack of Impale with no rune, then double it (increase it by 100%). This can be a massive number if calculated this way. Regardless of how the calculation is done the simple fact remains that once you critically hit two or more mobs via the pierce mechanism of Overpenetration you have equaled and likely exceeded the overall damage done to your opponents as compared to Grevious Wounds.
I now find myself engaging in combat, assessing my primary target, then positioning myself so that as many targets as possible are between me and that primary target before firing. It is very common to outright kill 4-5 mobs in the opening salvo. I do this even with Champion Packs, etc. and use Smoke Screen if necessary to get this opening shot positioned properly.
Smoke Screen / Displacement
I think this is the most powerful ability in the Demon Hunter kit, hands down. We are not built to take much damage since we do not emphasize armor, use a shield or have much in the way of mitigation. If the situation looks dire, you need to escape and this is your ticket out of jail (literally). Smoke Screen gets you out of all kinds of traps, snares, etc. and is absolutely vital to survival. Now that Lingering Fog adds only 0.5 seconds I find that the increased movement speed of Displacement to offer a much better alternative.
Up until recently, I used a slightly different version of this build. The notable changes were that, like everyone else, I used Lingering Fog for Smoke Screen but I also gave up the powerful passive called Steady Aim in order to have Tactical Advantage. Yes, I do not like dying and when you get 60% movement speed for two seconds every time you use SS (which of course we use liberally) I would find myself getting significant distance from my enemies, running over health globes or completely evading my opponents and in extreme situations using Town Portal to reset. After experimenting I decided that a 35% movement increase (combined with 12% speed boots) for the one second duration of Smoke Screen to be adequate which then allowed me to benefit from Steady Aim again. If Act 2/Inferno increases the frequency I die significantly, I can see going back to Tactical Advantage since it is really awesome to escape a bad situation at that speed for two seconds.
Preparation / Focused Mind
Anyone who has played a Demon Hunter and made use of Smoke Screen will know that discipline is a precious resource and that you can never have enough. Deciding which rune variant to choose for this ability was difficult and honestly I think as long as you have some form of this skill in your build you have made an educated decision. I have 37 discipline when full and as a result I chose Focused Mind. I chose this rune because I think it offers several benefits over the alternatives. Once I have used Smoke Screen twice, I will use this ability to start refilling my discipline pool. I have this luxury because regardless of how much discipline I have at the time, none of it will go to waste when I activate this ability. All the other rune variants ignore any discipline you currently have in your pool when this ability fills it to full. If your maximum discipline is 40 and you've used Smoke Screen twice you will find yourself with 12 discipline and unable to cast Smoke Screen and if the situation then necessitates it, you will use Preparation now in order to Smoke Screen and avoid death but in essence you only gained 28 discipline through its usage whereas Focused Mind is more likely to return the full 45 which is even more than my meager capacity. That is an extreme example but it illustrates the benefit of Focused Mind. In that same scenario, after casting my second Smoke Screen I will immediately use Preparation and within one second will have enough for another Smoke Screen (you gain 3 discipline per second for 15 seconds to earn a total of 45 over the duration). The bottom line is that discipline is a precious resource (I experimented with the passive Night Stalker and various other means to gain discipline but found them all lacking) and wasting it by using Preparation when your pool is not completely empty is a misstep that is avoided by using this rune. I also like getting 45 discipline instead of, optimally with the other runes, only 37 -- it's like free bonus discipline. A final benefit is that I use this ability preemptively and am starting the 45 second cooldown of this ability early so that it may be available again after a little kiting.
Caltrops / Hooked Spines
This is the one ability in the build that you could substitute another as you wish. I tried a bunch of things but seemed to keep the other 5 abilities constant during the evolution of this build. To reiterate, I have only played through A1/Inferno and I do not fully understand how diminishing returns on stuns, snares, slows and things like that are affected in Inferno other than to say "they are reduced significantly". Does Caltrops become less useful in later acts of Inferno? I don't know, but what I do know is that it still works well in Act 1 contrary to much information you might find elsewhere, but only if you use this rune. Perhaps that is why there is such a discrepancy.
It is my belief that it is best to choose runes that emphasize the primary objective of a given ability. If an ability is meant to do damage, choose a rune that makes it do more damage, don't choose one that sometimes stuns or sometimes slows or something like that. If an ability is meant to provide a snare, choose a rune that makes it a better snare, not one that makes it do a little damage or stuns for a short period or even provides 10% chance to crit (I love "Bait the Trap" and used it a lot but eventually came to realize the potency of Caltrops once you use Hooked Spines).
The potency of the snare offered via Caltrops is increased twofold when using this rune. Not only is the movement reduction 80% instead of 60% but because the mobs movement is slower, they will remain under the influence of the trap longer. At 60% reduction a monster might remain within the trap for 2 seconds whereas at 80% it might be 3. I'm just throwing out these numbers and we all realize that everything is reduced in Inferno but the fact remains that monsters are affected by the slow for a longer TIME because of the increased RATE of the slow.
There are many proponents of the Torturous Ground rune and it surprises me. For starters, caltrops is sprung by a single monster, whichever one enters the radius of the trap first, emphasis on single monster. When this single monster activates the trap they will fall prey to the stun. The tooltip for this rune says all enemies "in the area" will also be stunned. It is my experience that you rarely get more than one enemy to be affected by this trap and it is very difficult to time things so that this is not the case. Furthermore, once the trap is sprung it disappears and provides no further benefit. If the trap stunned and then remained in effect for 6 seconds providing a 60% snare that might be something, but it doesn't. Finally, in Inferno stuns are massively reduced in effectiveness and that alone should make this a rune to avoid.
I really enjoyed my time using the Bait the Trap rune but Demon Hunters need to be mobile and while it was the first ability I would use upon engaging the enemy I would find myself having to move (projectiles, mortar affix, vortex pulling me off it, you name it) that I found myself getting less and less benefit from it. Additionally I already have the Sharpshooter passive that makes me a crit-machine so why replicate what I've already got going. This lead to experimentation with Multishot to earn discipline, Rain of Vengeance variants etc. before I finally came back to caltrops with Hooked Spines.
When I play my Demon Hunter and am fighting enemies I am either avoiding damage in order to survive, or dealing damage. I want to maximize the uptime of dealing damage and minimize my time kiting. The simple truth is that this trap with this rune gives you more time to deal damage. There is also a synergy with this trap and both of the damage dealing abilities of this build. Enemies can be spaced laterally as well as longitudinally. In order to maximize the AoE damage of Bola Shot as well as that of Impale, you want to minimize both. When you kite away from mobs, it is natural that the lateral difference among your pursuers will slowly reduce as they all seek the same endpoint which is your current location. The problem then becomes how to get them to group up in a single pack so that they are not in a single-file line longitudinally. The solution is caltrops. As soon as the first enemy enters the trap and start moving slowly, the rest continue at full speed and "catch up" to those before it. Eventually they group together and your Bola Shots will be more effective with their AoE component as well as giving an increased likelihood that Impale will pierce many more mobs than it would otherwise.
Companion / Bat Companion
I haven't done a systematic analysis of all abilities from all of the 5 classes to know where Impale ranks as far as weapon damage percentage is concerned, but I think it has to be up there at 250%. Impale is how I do the VAST majority of my damage. If I pierce through multiple targets, then that 250% damage gets multiplied, if not, it's still an amazing number for a single target by any account. The issue then becomes: how do I feed this ability with enough Hatred so that I can use it with great frequency? It turns out that the solution is to have increased passive hatred generation and there is no better way to solve this problem than with a bat companion.
I see the bat fly off to attack enemies sometimes but I don't think the 30% weapon damage it does really amounts to much. It's not like it hovers over an enemy and attacks it like a machine gun or something. It's periodic and is a benefit, but a small one I think overall. The true benefit is the hatred generation and I can't see using any other rune variant with this ability if you are trying to feed the hatred consuming Impale. One side effect of having a companion is that they sometimes act as an "early warning system" in that the bat will fly towards an enemy that I might otherwise not have seen and bring it to my attention, especially when being flanked by the AI.
Even though I use the Templar as my follower and I use his ability to generate 1 hatred per second, it is not enough to free up this slot and use some other ability. Impale is what I do most and I feed all my hatred into it (there is no other ability in my build that consumes hatred).
Passive Abilities
Steady Aim
All damage increased by 20% as long as no enemies are within 10 yards. I'm not sure how many "game yards" there are in the height or width of my screen, but I think 10 yards is actually a pretty small radius. Vortex affix can mess this up, but for the most part if you're playing the Demon Hunter correctly you can benefit from this passive with close to 100% uptime and minimal positional effort. Unlike Wizards who choose Glass Cannon which is only 15% and forces them to suffer the downside of reduced armor and resistances or Cold Blooded which almost necessitates constant spamming of Blizzard to enable, all we have to do is play our class correctly, at range from targets, and benefit.
Archery
Critical hit damage increased by 50% when you use a crossbow. No matter which kind of weapon you use, this passive is a must-have for any build in my opinion. I have heard that "the math says" your best bet is to use a standard bow and enjoy the constant 15% increased damage and I don't doubt the math. However, with this build and its use of the Sharpshooter passive, I find my crit rate increased to the point where having a significant bonus to that situation, especially as it carries through all the targets of the piercing Impale, make this the optimal weapon type for this build. I am also an advocate of a "bursty" build since my primary objective when fighting a Champion Pack is to get ONE mob dead as soon as possible, in order to reduce incoming damage, frequency of mob affixes affecting me and to hopefully cause health globes to be generated. I want to focus fire one target as much as possible and turn the tide in my favor as quickly as possible and while getting critical hits does happen regularly with Sharpshooter I need them to hit hard as well.
Sharpshooter
A favorite among many players and for good reason. It's fun to crit and see big numbers and this guarantees that this happens much more frequently. There is also the synergy with piercing Impale as an opener that cannot be argued. Since part of playing a Demon Hunter is kiting, you also benefit during this "down time" as you evade enemies, wait for your Preparation cooldown to be over and look for health globes in that your next shot is likely to crit since that chance has been improving by 3% per second. It is also the case that your hatred will have regenerated greatly during this time simply from all the passive regenration so that your "opening" shot after this kiting period should be Impale multiple times. The description of this passive states that the bonus is reset "1 second AFTER you crit" so it is possible to get multiple critical Impale shots off during this time if you hold your mouse button down and enjoy the very rapid animation for using this ability. Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Follower
My preference is to use the Templar, and to me, there is no comparison for a Demon Hunter. As a ranged DPS class what you want is to avoid having enemies in your face distracting you from the task at hand: laying down massive damage while your targets occupy themselves with your meat shield. I cannot count the number of times (this is including my farming runs through A1/Inferno) that I have either purposely or accidentally had my Templar stand in a doorway or a narrow walkway and completely block anything from getting through. You will not enjoy that kind of blocking (not to mention his blocking projectiles of all kinds).
Many players portray their followers as useless. I've read and heard many say that they don't like the Templar because be runs into battle, takes damage and dies quickly whereas the Scoundrel and Enchantress keep away and survive longer. All I have to say to that is you are not properly equipping your Templar. I will confess that I bought items on the AH for my Templar when I did a bit of research and learned that he can, in fact, survive if given the proper gear. I bought two Magic/Blue rings with 100+ vitality and 75+ strength then a Magic/Blue amulet with 200+ vitality and 100+ strength which didn't cost me very much (these were item level 57 I think). I then gave him a shield my Barbarian has been using which has a high block chance (like 19%) and also has a bunch of vitality and like 5% life as well. The weapon was something I found, I think it has something like 500 DPS which is largely irrelevant but has 100+ vitality and 100+ strength. Finally, the Templar Token item has +7% chance to block and a moderate amount of vitality and strength. I don't remember the exact numbers but he has around 75K health and can take a beating for quite some time unless he stands in a desecrated spot or falls prey to poison since he has no resistances.
Another important thing to consider is consuming health globes in the game even when YOU don't need one. If the Templar is doing a good job of taunting and charging and giving you time to DPS you might consider consuming a health globe for HIS benefit to keep him alive that much longer. The increased movement speed of the Smoke Screen rune makes this strategy much easier.
This is probably not the optimal place to put this but I just thought about it. A general purpose tip when fighting anything is that when you first kite you run back over an area that you have already cleared of all enemies. This is obvious and everyone knows this. What some do not consider, however, is that after doing this a little while, it is often advantageous to kite back to where you originally encountered the enemies as this is where you will often find many health globes which can obviously keep you and your follower alive. In a similar vein, I don't know how well known this is but it was significant when I discovered it, it is a good idea to get your "Gold Pickup / Health Globe Radius" as close to ZERO as possible. When you do this you will find that health globes stay around much more frequently because you don't inadvertently consume them while looting or running near one. Those globes left behind are often the difference between successfully defeating a pack of champions and getting a larger repair bill. Something to consider.
This has a lengthy cooldown but it can give you a breather for 3 seconds which is an eternity when your health drops below 50%. The alternative heal for 4651 is nice but I prefer to use potions for that since they do much more.
Intimidate
This is like a remote caltrops! Anything hitting the Templar is slowed by 60% for 3 seconds. It isn't a lot, especially in Inferno but every second counts in this fast paced game. The alternative of getting 155 Life per second is not going to change the outcome of any fight and is not nearly as useful in my opinion.
Charge
The signature ability of the Templar. I wish the cooldown was smaller, but given its power I can see why it's 30 seconds. When combat begins and he uses this ability to stun everything within 8 yards for 2 seconds it's really nice. Any damage done is insignificant, it's the stun that matters. I can't tell you how many times during lengthy combat that this ability has come off cooldown and he has brought about a stun that allowed me to escape certain death. Very useful. The alternative is a damage dealing ability which, for all followers, is not their primary purpose and thus should be avoided. Followers are all about crowd control and resource generation, increased crit chance, increased armor, etc. which is mostly passive stuff. It's important that they simply stay alive, hence the emphasis on gear with vitality above all else.
Inspire
An additional 1 hatred per second may not seem like a lot, but it also reduces downtime between fights as you hunt for champion packs. I tried using the alternative ability but the heal again is only for 4651 and percentage-wise in Inferno its just too little (I have around 27K health I think). Hatred regeneration is always welcomed and useful to increase the number of Impales I can cast per unit time.
Summary
If anyone made it this far I applaud your determination. I hope something of what I wrote has inspired you to try something new, or causes you to answer this message with your own thoughts about what is good or bad or could be improved about this build and my play style. I don't claim to be an expert but I find this build to be really fun to use, very efficient and resilient in that I don't die very often at all. Again, I've only made it through Act 1/Inferno and I realize that things are significantly more difficult in what comes next but I think this build may work well in that environment as well. You tell me!
I'm actually a little surprised to find myself in the minority here but I agree with the original poster.
I too am married, have two small children, a full-time and demanding job as a software developer and I TOOK THE ENTIRE WEEK OFF. I gave this a great deal of thought and considered taking NEXT week off to avoid any problems with the game launch, but then I figured the problems (if any) would be dealt with quickly. Blizzard is known for quality, they have experience with large-scale game launches, they have the most popular MMO in the world, and they claimed that the recent stress test revealed several issues that had been solved and that the release of this game should go smoothly as planned.
In retrospect, given the current circumstances and how little I have been able to play the game, along with the issues regarding lost achievements and such, I wish I had not given Blizzard the benefit of the doubt and instead been pessimistic about the release and just taken next week off instead.
I totally feel your pain original poster, you are not alone in your feelings of disappointment and surprise and how bad this release has gone thus far. I've gone back to playing the Star Wars MMO when the D3 service is unavailable and making the best of my time of while still gaming. It's life, there's nothing to be done about it, Blizzard are working diligently to resolve all the issues, and I will continue to love this game and play it when I can in the coming months and years. I just wanted you to know that unlike much of what has been poster here, I understand your situation and commiserate.
Frankly, my opinion was that they should have opened the beta to WAY MORE people and had an open beta weekend AGAIN after the one they did to again test the ability to handle a large load on the servers. I'm glad they did it once and learned from it, but obviously there are many things in their infrastructure that cannot handle the current load and it's sad to have them find this out AFTER the game has gone live.
Take care, chin up, and it will be stable soon enough.
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Current Build
My Build
Hungering Arrow / Shatter Shot
- Attacks are guided and thus rarely miss hitting something which then ensures you earn the 3 hatred. This is crucial considering how much hatred it takes (50) in order to cast Cluster Arrow.
- Easy to use while kiting which is something we do quite often, again, due to the shots being guided.
- Damage is immediate as compared to the delay of Bola Shot.
- Attacks can go around corners and do damage while remaining out of line of sight from enemies.
- Shatter Shot does some AoE which is otherwise lacking from my build.
- When my critical hit chance increases I can switch to Spray of Teeth which offers more damage and AoE.
Question: I changed Sharpshooter to Tactical Advantage because I benefit more from the survival offered by TA while dealing with this challenging content. If I get comfortable and start farming A2 and switch back to SS instead of TA, would that be enough crit chance to change the rune to Spray of Teeth or must I have 22-25 percent without Sharpshooter?Cluster Arrow / Loaded for Bear
- Massive damage (290%) to primary target.
- AoE damage to primary target and those nearby.
- Passes through enemies to instantly reach targeted enemy, useful against invulnerable minions pack and taking out high priority targets across the battlefield.
- Not necessarily a benefit, but with Elemental Arrow I was never out of hatred and now I feel like I'm getting a better return on investment as I am frequently low or out of hatred, putting it to great use with this ability.
- Since demon hunters kite frequently and since this build has additional passive hatred generation with a good hatred generator that has guided shots which rarely miss, this time allows hatred to increase so that it can be used when an opening presents itself.
- Fun to use as opposed to holding down right-mouse button for Ball Lightning hoping the target dies. When you shoot something with this ability, you can visibly see their health decline.
Smoke Screen / Lingering Fog- Increased duration seems to make enemies change aggro to follower or other whereas at standard 1.0 seconds it seems like they frequently continue to move towards me.
- Don't need movement speed benefit at the moment since I'm using Tactical Advantage passive to give 60% for 2 seconds but once I feel comfortable with the content I'm going to switch back to the Displacement rune which I think offers the most benefit otherwise.
- A2/Inferno mobs are so fast that without TA they will easily catch you. This combination with TA seems like the only way to truly escape some fast enemies and gain a reprieve. I'm hoping once I make it to A3/Inferno I can switch back and once gain benefit from Sharpshooter.
Preparation / Focused Mind- Smoke Screen and Preparation go together like Root Beer and Ice Cream, you just can't have one without the other.
- Focus Mind is the only rune variant that makes it possible to not waste any discipline since the others all add only enough discipline to fill the tank from its current level which may not be empty.
- Focused Mind actually gives 45 discipline which is more than my tank can hold when full.
- Can be used preemptively once a portion of discipline has been spent. This means the 45 second cooldown will be done sooner and can be used again when you are likely to be running low.
Rain of Vengeance / Stampede- Costs no hatred or discipline.
- 30 second cooldown is not terribly long considering how much time is spent kiting as a Demon Hunter. I find myself using it multiple times on difficult champion packs and as a result find myself not "saving it" but using it whenever necessary.
- Works like a super-caltrops: keeps enemies away for a significant duration (8-10 seconds?) and does 75% weapon damage with each of the 10 Shadow Beast attacks, much more than Jagged Spines 45%.
Companion / Bat Companion- 3 hatred per second is huge.
- Cluster Arrow needs lots of passive hatred generation to make it viable and this ability does the job.
- Acts as an early warning system when it flies off to engage a target you might not see yet off screen.
Miscellaneous- As mentioned earlier, I feel like I need Tactical Advantage during progression and gave up Sharpshooter. I miss the guaranteed critical attacks that initiate combat but I was dying too frequently from fast enemies and the inadequate speed burst and 1.0 second invisibility of Smoke Screen.
- I bought a new bow, similar DPS (around 900) and similar Dexterity (100), Vitality (100) and Life on Hit (500). I don't think I have any other LoH items and I need some to handle reflect damage affix. Since this is a bow and not a crossbow I am now getting the flat 15% damage bonus from Archery and when swapping weapons I noticed about a 2K DPS gain!
- My Scoundrel dies too frequently but I think it's because he has no resistances so I'm going to find a Cold Damage Bow (not crossbow) with lots of Vitality and then make his jewelry have all resist in this hopes this keeps him alive longer.
- Scoundrel with Cold Damage is unbelievably powerful as you said. He keeps many enemies slowed and I miss that when he dies.
- I was surprised at just how powerful RoV / Stampede is when compared to caltrops. It is a game-changer for me. It keeps all my pursuers occupied for a long time and now with Cluster Arrow I can get off a highly precise attack or two and make them pay for it. Waiting every 30 seconds to use it is no big deal since we kite so much anyway.
Overall I'm having a great time and I really enjoy my build now. I finally understand what everyone has been talking about with regards to repair bills however. Even if I waited until the "yellow armored man" icon would appear on my screen, it would only take 3-5K to repair everything, but now that I have several items that are level 61 or above I get bills that are 20K or more. Ouch.As usual, thanks to everyone who is participating in the discussion here, it's fun and educational for me and your input is appreciated. I'd love for others to post a link to their own builds if they are similar so we can compare and contrast and maybe I'll learn something new and my build will evolve yet again.
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I finally set foot into Act 2/Inferno last night and WOW it is MUCH harder. Things are fast and it is easy to get one-shot if you're not quick with Smoke Screen. Still, since A1/Inferno wasn't super difficult, it's actually good to have this challenge and it will drive me to become a better player and I can begin the "gear quest" in earnest as I don't see myself finishing this act for some time. The good news is that my build worked pretty well, including Marked for Death which was a significant change to my previous build. I was able to get 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor, only skipped one Unique pack and got a few upgrades for my characters in the process (since all my gear is still lacking it's easy to get upgrades).
Revised Build - Again
My Build
Hungering Arrow: Shatter Shot -> Devouring
This is a more subtle change, but an improvement I think. Since I am changing from Impale to Ball Lightning I now have a cheap AoE ability that can take care of "junk" enemies easily and at comparatively low cost. As a result I no longer need my hatred generator to have AoE capabilities and can instead benefit from the increased damage via Devouring which works well against single targets.
Impale -> Elemental Arrow / Ball Lightning
Impale is challenging to use. I have got the point where I'm pretty good at it, but the speed of Act 2 is making me reconsider my usage. I love the ability because it travels so fast and hits so hard, especially with guaranteed crits from Sharpshooter, but when you miss it does nothing and costs a lot of hatred. I am going to change my build so that my primary hatred spender is now Ball Lightning, but I may use Impale (though perhaps with Grevious Wounds) in my one "open" slot for difficult mobs that need a solid single-target attack.
Ball Lightning is good for many reasons and, as a bonus, I find it really fun to use as it has streaks of lightning that reach out to mobs as it moves about. For one thing, it is very cheap to use at only 10 hatred instead of the 25 I was spending on Impale. When you think about it, Ball Lightning does only 155% damage as compared to Impale's 250% but I can cast 2.5 of these for each Impale giving me 387.5% damage for the same hatred. In addition, Ball Lightning has a greater chance to hit things since as it moves along it automatically targets enemies within range whereas Impale is very precise and if you miss a mob only slightly it's still a complete miss and no damage is done. Another thing I like about Ball Lightning is that it has a 100% chance to pierce which I find almost a necessity so that you can damage enemies across the battlefield regardless of what might be in between (though I realize Ball Lightning moves much slower and may miss the intended target once the ball gets there as compared to Impale which is instantaneous).
Another thing I'm curious about, and what could be a significant benefit of Ball Lightning over Impale is how Sharpshooter works. The description of Sharpshooter says that the crit bonus is reset 1 second after you hit. Impale travels so quickly that the 1 second countdown starts quickly after you fire the first Impale. With Ball Lightning, since it travels so slowly, I think it might be possible to get 1 or possibly 2 shots off before you hit anything and only then will the 1 second countdown start. Conceivably you might be able to get 1 or 2 more shots off before the Sharpshooter bonus is reset. Getting 3 or 4 shots off at 100% crit chance for a shot that pierces all enemies, is an AoE and doesn't cost much hatred sounds really appealing!
Mark of Death -> Rain of Vengeance / Stampede
As I switch from a hatred hungry ability like Impale to one that requires much less in Ball Lightning I realize that I may not need as much hatred generation as I did before. With all the kiting necessary in A2/Inferno and beyond and all the passive regeneration I already have it's likely I won't be starved for it as often. Additionally I found myself with very little time to really DPS as everything constantly chased after me and I want a way to buy some time once in a while to more freely attack my pursuers. This ability fits the bill since it costs no hatred and no discipline and buys you several precious seconds where everything attacking you is bombarded, knocked back and otherwise occupied. I hope it works in Inferno as well as it did when I used it last in Hell.
Caltrops, especially with Jagged Spikes, is no longer necessary since Ball Lightning can be used to kill "junk" enemies pretty easily and this was one of the primary reasons for having the ability in my build since the snare effect is fairly useless in A2/Inferno and beyond.
I'm excited about these changes to my build and will be sure to report back with my findings in the near future. Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to the discussion since I have learned a lot and am enjoying my build much more.
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Caltrops
To be honest I rarely use this ability. For the most part I find myself evading attacks through the use of Smoke Screen, especially with the Displacement rune I'm now using, and general kiting techniques using the surrounding geography to my advantage. I find that all ranged DPS classes benefit significantly from boots with movement speed increase so mine have +12% and I find that invaluable.
The few times I recall using Caltrops in a state of panic was when a very fast pack of spiderlings attacked me -- this gave me time to retreat and line them up for a single Impale or use the AoE of Bola Shot to take them out en masse. Your suggestion of using Caltrops but with the Jagged Spikes is interesting. While the slowing aspect of Caltrops is mitigated to be almost useless in A2/Inferno and beyond leaving behind something that does damage in your wake is interesting and would easily handle the cases you mention such as spiderling packs, etc. This may be compounded by your other suggestion, that of using the Scoundrel follower with a Cold Damage weapon so that enemies are actually slowed quite often. This combination could mean that enemies spend a longer duration in the trap and are thus affected by the damage for a longer duration.
Your suggestion of using Caltrops for A3 and A4 is a good one, with Jagged Spikes, and I may change my build at that time to explore this option. Thanks very much for the suggestion.
Caltrops Alternatives
As I am getting prepared to enter A2/Inferno for the first time, and knowing about what kind of mobs to expect and how a great many of them circumvent all variants of Caltrops, I started to think about removing this ability and finding something new. I would prefer that this new ability consume no hatred since I prefer to utilize Impale for that resource and if it must consume discipline, it must be a small amount as I don't want to find myself unable to use Smoke Screen as necessary. Taking these requirements in mind I have come up with two options and I'd love to hear your thoughts on these abilities and/or suggestions for alternatives.
Rain of Vengeance / Stampede
I used this rune variant for a time and think it brings much to the table for a Demon Hunter playing solo. This consumes no hatred but comes at a "cost" of a 30 second cooldown. The damage is not the primary consideration for this ability, in fact I don't really know if it could be considered powerful or not in that regard, what I like about the ability is that it keeps things away from me for a fairly lengthy window of time.
What are your thoughts about replacing Caltrops with this ability? What rune would you choose for my build?
Marked for Death / Mortal Enemy
There is much to like about this ability and, in fact, it's one of the alternates you suggested. It costs zero hatred, has no cooldown, can be applied to multiple enemies simultaneously, and costs only 3 discipline. Adding 12% damage and, with this rune variant, an additional 3 hatred per attack is very appealing. I used this ability almost exclusively when fighting bosses while I was progressing to 60 but then swapped it out in favor of something else once the boss fight was concluded. The one consideration here is that it has limited usefulness. There is no point using this ability on anything that will die quickly which is 90+% of what we encounter while playing, but maybe that's okay and this is for special enemies only.
What are your thoughts about this ability? What rune would you choose for my build?
Alternate Hatred Generator
As I think more and more about no longer having Caltrops as part of my build I start to think about situations like you mentioned where it pays dividends. Packs of small spiders, and other "junk" mobs as you call them. I also think about how often I completely miss my target (or any target for that matter) with my recent switch to Bola Shot. As a result, I am considering changing back to my longtime favorite generator which is Hungering Arrow with Shatter Shot. Kiting can be quite frantic and trying to get a shot off that actually hits anything while trying to stay ahead of a bunch of Mortar shots can be quite difficult. It is also true that the two second delay of Bola Shot with Imminent Doom is annoying when you want some damage right now.
Hungering Arrow with Shatter Shot is starting to look like a better alternative. You are pretty much guaranteed to hit something if you shoot in the general direction of a target and thus you will earn the 3 hatred that goes along with doing so. I need my hatred generator to offer some form of AoE so that these packs of "junk" mobs can be dealt with in a few shots. If I decide to go with Marked for Death (which is what I'm leaning towards as my Caltrops replacement) then that increases the importance of hitting the target in order to gain the additional 3 hatred provided by the Mortal Enemy rune.
What are your thoughts on this change of hatred generator? Which one (with which rune) do you prefer and why?
The Scoundrel
Your suggestion has great merit and I am already leveraging this technique with my Wizard. I have two rings, an amulet and a "token" that have lots of vitality and some dexterity so he has about 55K health now. I also purchased a nice 2H crossbow that does Cold Damage in order to apply the Chill effect to his targets.
The abilities I use for the Scoundrel are: Crippling Shot (slow), Dirty Fighting (blind), Multishot (3 shots) and of course Anatomy (3% crit). I think the 3% crit chance provides much greater benefit than the passive hatred generation and the other crowd control abilities are much better than what the Templar has to offer. I will no longer have the luxury of a meat shield that also blocks projectiles but I'm getting better at kiting and avoiding that kind of thing so I should get over that eventually.
You are right about the slow effect he has on mobs. It is much better than Caltrops since it is almost constantly being applied instead of only when I drop at trap (at some cost in discipline whereas this is free) and only for a little time while the trap actually affects anything. I have a few questions about optimally gearing the Scoundrel:
As I said, I purchased a Cold Damage weapon, but it is a 2H crossbow and not a 2H Bow. The attack speed of crossbows is considerably slower than bows I think. If I equip him with a faster Cold Damage weapon I presume the affect will be more frequent application of the slowing effect (notice I didn't say anything about increase or decrease in damage since we both know that his is not the primary concern of followers). Can you confirm this and do you recommend that I get a weapon with a faster attack speed?
Would it be wise to further increase attack speed via IAS on items like rings and amulets?
How important is it to give the follower some resist all? I was thinking that I should purchase jewelry that has Resist All, Vitality and IAS. I don't know what kind of money we're talking about but it seems like more and more of my characters will be using the Scoundrel and I do move the gear around via the stash so it could be a worthwhile investment for multiple characters.
Please let me know what you think in this regard.
Revised Build
My Build
Salutations
Thanks again for taking the time to both read and reply to my article. My plan is to delve a little further into Inferno and see how viable this build is and if it looks good, post my article on the official DH forums to solicit further feedback and discussion. I will trim it down significantly since I realize nobody cares about all the background and asides I made and I hope more folks will join in the discussion. Thus far it has been educational and I appreciate your input very much.
Thanks for reading!
1
Background
I have 5 characters, one of each class, all level 60 and all situated in Act 1 of Inferno difficulty. I decided that the first character I would use to attempt the highest difficulty would be my Demon Hunter. I realize that the difference between A4/Hell and A1/Inferno is not great and that having defeated this content (I have killed the Butcher once on Inferno) I will be in for a big surprise when I try A2/Inferno. The only reason I mention this is because I want to stipulate that this build works well for A1/Inferno but I don't make any claims for its viability beyond that point. It could be that it will work well, but that remains unknown for the time being.
My reasoning for writing this article are twofold:
If there are Demon Hunters out there like me who are just getting started in Inferno, then you may find this build interesting and want to give it a try.
If there are experienced Demon Hunters out there who have traversed beyond A1/Inferno, then any constructive criticism you might offer would be appreciated.
The vast majority of my gear (on all 5 characters) is stuff I have found while playing. I almost never sell anything on the AH and only rarely purchase items. I dislike how content can be largely trivialized by purchasing the best gear (I have ample funds to buy things I just choose not to) and I also love getting upgrades from the sweat of my brow. This is just me and my play style, I'm not advocating it or admonishing others who choose to leverage the AH and what it has to offer. That being said, when I killed Diablo on Hell difficulty my weapon was a 1-Handed Crossbow that did 499 DPS (I finally hit level 60 in Act 4 and could then equip this item level 61 item I found) and I found it to be more than adequate. It quickly became clear that my DPS was inadequate for A1/Inferno however and, in frustration, I purchased a 900 DPS 2H Crossbow which made a huge difference. My DPS is probably still lower than many folks at this level of progression since some of my items are still level 53-57 but this one item made it possible to eventually defeat Champion Packs. I mention this for those who do not have the best gear -- you don't need it for A1/Inferno -- but getting a suitable weapon can make a huge difference and is likely necessary once you venture into Inferno.
It should also be mentioned that this build is meant for solo-play and I will discuss my follower and his build and gear towards the end.
Opposition
In my opinion, there are three kinds of enemies in Diablo 3:
Trash monsters
These make up 90-95% of the monsters you will encounter. There is nothing special about them and thus nothing in your build should be specialized to deal with them. All builds should have sufficient abilities to deal with whatever combination of mobs the game presents you when they are trash mobs. When I read someone discussing their build and they make mention of how well a certain skill works against large packs of mobs I wonder what is being sacrificed when a different variant could be used during combat with the targets we all seek at level 60.
Bosses
These make up the smallest portion of monsters encountered in the game, much less than 1%. My build is designed to work well against Champion/Unique/Rare packs but I also used it against all the bosses of A1/Inferno. There are times, however, where it may be necessary to alter the build for a particular boss as their mechanics are often very unique and require specific capabilities to overcome. Regrettably when this is the case, I will lose my Nephalem Valor stacks and defeat the boss using a 1-off build, none of which is discussed herein.
Champion/Unique/Rare Packs
These make up the remaining 9% or whatever of what you will encounter and are the targets we desire most at level 60 in order to build/maintain Nephalem Valor stacks and offer the greatest opportunity to find better gear. This build is designed with these enemies in mind as your opposition.
The Build
http://us.battle.net...XVYT!eTY!cbaYaZ
Regardless of which class I'm playing, I think a vital part of any build is synergy. This build has only two offensive skills, one hatred builder and one hatred spender, the rest is utility or defense. It should be noted that a primary objective of any build I use is to avoid death and one of the strengths of this build is that I almost never die. Then again, that could be "because A1/Inferno is super-easy".
Active Abilities
Bola Shot / Imminent Doom
Since this build has only two means of doing damage, I want them both to be optimized for that purpose. This variant of Bola Shot does 182% damage to the primary target and an additional 154% to all nearby enemies within 7 yards. Considering this ability has no hatred cost and in fact generates 3 hatred, that's a pretty good return on investment. Both of these values are exactly 40% larger than the baseline Bola Shot. The other variants of this ability offer increased radius (not necessary because smart Demon Hunters use choke points in the environment and other means to group mobs together), chance to stun (which is largely reduced in Inferno) or offer a 15% chance to gain 2 discipline (which is a small percentage, combined with the infrequency that I use this ability and the comparatively high cost of Smoke Screen, I feel it doesn't compare to the 40% higher damage of Imminent Doom). This ability does respectable damage to the primary target and not insignificant damage to all nearby enemies. Considering that our targets are (hopefully) pretty far away, the fact that the AoE damage occurs 2 seconds later in this variant (as opposed to 1) is irrelevant and in fact increases the likelihood that, as all mobs converge to your position, they will get closer and affect more when detonation occurs.
Impale / Overpenetration
If there is one thing I have realized during the time I have played this game (on all classes) is the importance of having a damage dealing ability that pierces, preferably one that pierces 100% of the time (I'm looking at you Hungering Arrow). There is nothing more frustrating that firing a high cost ability and having it intercepted by an unintended target or a mob that was already close to death and all the potential going to waste. Since Impale is very expensive at 25 hatred (20% of your overall pool) and you cannot spam it too much, this rune variant ensures that your intended target will get hit regardless of what might get in the way, and does so at breakneck speed. Strategically this is a very powerful aspect of the rune variant. Many times you will encounter a pack of mobs and you must immediately prioritize your target. It is often the case that the most dangerous mobs are situated far from you with many obstacles in the way (melee mobs). With 100% pierce you can simply target them across the battlefield and remove them quickly while also damaging anything else that happens to be in the way. This ability also makes dealing with Invulnerable Minions much easier to say the least.
Another reason this is my preferred rune variant is because if you crit, all enemies damaged by the attack will also crit. The synergy with the Sharpshooter passive cannot be underestimated in this regard. When combat ends and Sharpshooter starts to build your chance to crit, you will find yourself doing massive damage to everything in your path with that first opening salvo (your first attack should always be Impale to leverage this). I have read so many others talk about how Grevious Wounds is the preferred rune for this ability and I simply disagree. How often do you find yourself in combat against a single adversary? If that is the situation, then I agree this is the best variant, but other than certain boss encounters (which is not the scenario this build attempts to counter) I think it pales by comparison. There are also conflicting reports of how "100% additional damage" is calculated. The most desired result would be: calculate the total damage done by a critical attack of Impale with no rune, then double it (increase it by 100%). This can be a massive number if calculated this way. Regardless of how the calculation is done the simple fact remains that once you critically hit two or more mobs via the pierce mechanism of Overpenetration you have equaled and likely exceeded the overall damage done to your opponents as compared to Grevious Wounds.
I now find myself engaging in combat, assessing my primary target, then positioning myself so that as many targets as possible are between me and that primary target before firing. It is very common to outright kill 4-5 mobs in the opening salvo. I do this even with Champion Packs, etc. and use Smoke Screen if necessary to get this opening shot positioned properly.
Smoke Screen / Displacement
I think this is the most powerful ability in the Demon Hunter kit, hands down. We are not built to take much damage since we do not emphasize armor, use a shield or have much in the way of mitigation. If the situation looks dire, you need to escape and this is your ticket out of jail (literally). Smoke Screen gets you out of all kinds of traps, snares, etc. and is absolutely vital to survival. Now that Lingering Fog adds only 0.5 seconds I find that the increased movement speed of Displacement to offer a much better alternative.
Up until recently, I used a slightly different version of this build. The notable changes were that, like everyone else, I used Lingering Fog for Smoke Screen but I also gave up the powerful passive called Steady Aim in order to have Tactical Advantage. Yes, I do not like dying and when you get 60% movement speed for two seconds every time you use SS (which of course we use liberally) I would find myself getting significant distance from my enemies, running over health globes or completely evading my opponents and in extreme situations using Town Portal to reset. After experimenting I decided that a 35% movement increase (combined with 12% speed boots) for the one second duration of Smoke Screen to be adequate which then allowed me to benefit from Steady Aim again. If Act 2/Inferno increases the frequency I die significantly, I can see going back to Tactical Advantage since it is really awesome to escape a bad situation at that speed for two seconds.
Preparation / Focused Mind
Anyone who has played a Demon Hunter and made use of Smoke Screen will know that discipline is a precious resource and that you can never have enough. Deciding which rune variant to choose for this ability was difficult and honestly I think as long as you have some form of this skill in your build you have made an educated decision. I have 37 discipline when full and as a result I chose Focused Mind. I chose this rune because I think it offers several benefits over the alternatives. Once I have used Smoke Screen twice, I will use this ability to start refilling my discipline pool. I have this luxury because regardless of how much discipline I have at the time, none of it will go to waste when I activate this ability. All the other rune variants ignore any discipline you currently have in your pool when this ability fills it to full. If your maximum discipline is 40 and you've used Smoke Screen twice you will find yourself with 12 discipline and unable to cast Smoke Screen and if the situation then necessitates it, you will use Preparation now in order to Smoke Screen and avoid death but in essence you only gained 28 discipline through its usage whereas Focused Mind is more likely to return the full 45 which is even more than my meager capacity. That is an extreme example but it illustrates the benefit of Focused Mind. In that same scenario, after casting my second Smoke Screen I will immediately use Preparation and within one second will have enough for another Smoke Screen (you gain 3 discipline per second for 15 seconds to earn a total of 45 over the duration). The bottom line is that discipline is a precious resource (I experimented with the passive Night Stalker and various other means to gain discipline but found them all lacking) and wasting it by using Preparation when your pool is not completely empty is a misstep that is avoided by using this rune. I also like getting 45 discipline instead of, optimally with the other runes, only 37 -- it's like free bonus discipline. A final benefit is that I use this ability preemptively and am starting the 45 second cooldown of this ability early so that it may be available again after a little kiting.
Caltrops / Hooked Spines
This is the one ability in the build that you could substitute another as you wish. I tried a bunch of things but seemed to keep the other 5 abilities constant during the evolution of this build. To reiterate, I have only played through A1/Inferno and I do not fully understand how diminishing returns on stuns, snares, slows and things like that are affected in Inferno other than to say "they are reduced significantly". Does Caltrops become less useful in later acts of Inferno? I don't know, but what I do know is that it still works well in Act 1 contrary to much information you might find elsewhere, but only if you use this rune. Perhaps that is why there is such a discrepancy.
It is my belief that it is best to choose runes that emphasize the primary objective of a given ability. If an ability is meant to do damage, choose a rune that makes it do more damage, don't choose one that sometimes stuns or sometimes slows or something like that. If an ability is meant to provide a snare, choose a rune that makes it a better snare, not one that makes it do a little damage or stuns for a short period or even provides 10% chance to crit (I love "Bait the Trap" and used it a lot but eventually came to realize the potency of Caltrops once you use Hooked Spines).
The potency of the snare offered via Caltrops is increased twofold when using this rune. Not only is the movement reduction 80% instead of 60% but because the mobs movement is slower, they will remain under the influence of the trap longer. At 60% reduction a monster might remain within the trap for 2 seconds whereas at 80% it might be 3. I'm just throwing out these numbers and we all realize that everything is reduced in Inferno but the fact remains that monsters are affected by the slow for a longer TIME because of the increased RATE of the slow.
There are many proponents of the Torturous Ground rune and it surprises me. For starters, caltrops is sprung by a single monster, whichever one enters the radius of the trap first, emphasis on single monster. When this single monster activates the trap they will fall prey to the stun. The tooltip for this rune says all enemies "in the area" will also be stunned. It is my experience that you rarely get more than one enemy to be affected by this trap and it is very difficult to time things so that this is not the case. Furthermore, once the trap is sprung it disappears and provides no further benefit. If the trap stunned and then remained in effect for 6 seconds providing a 60% snare that might be something, but it doesn't. Finally, in Inferno stuns are massively reduced in effectiveness and that alone should make this a rune to avoid.
I really enjoyed my time using the Bait the Trap rune but Demon Hunters need to be mobile and while it was the first ability I would use upon engaging the enemy I would find myself having to move (projectiles, mortar affix, vortex pulling me off it, you name it) that I found myself getting less and less benefit from it. Additionally I already have the Sharpshooter passive that makes me a crit-machine so why replicate what I've already got going. This lead to experimentation with Multishot to earn discipline, Rain of Vengeance variants etc. before I finally came back to caltrops with Hooked Spines.
When I play my Demon Hunter and am fighting enemies I am either avoiding damage in order to survive, or dealing damage. I want to maximize the uptime of dealing damage and minimize my time kiting. The simple truth is that this trap with this rune gives you more time to deal damage. There is also a synergy with this trap and both of the damage dealing abilities of this build. Enemies can be spaced laterally as well as longitudinally. In order to maximize the AoE damage of Bola Shot as well as that of Impale, you want to minimize both. When you kite away from mobs, it is natural that the lateral difference among your pursuers will slowly reduce as they all seek the same endpoint which is your current location. The problem then becomes how to get them to group up in a single pack so that they are not in a single-file line longitudinally. The solution is caltrops. As soon as the first enemy enters the trap and start moving slowly, the rest continue at full speed and "catch up" to those before it. Eventually they group together and your Bola Shots will be more effective with their AoE component as well as giving an increased likelihood that Impale will pierce many more mobs than it would otherwise.
Companion / Bat Companion
I haven't done a systematic analysis of all abilities from all of the 5 classes to know where Impale ranks as far as weapon damage percentage is concerned, but I think it has to be up there at 250%. Impale is how I do the VAST majority of my damage. If I pierce through multiple targets, then that 250% damage gets multiplied, if not, it's still an amazing number for a single target by any account. The issue then becomes: how do I feed this ability with enough Hatred so that I can use it with great frequency? It turns out that the solution is to have increased passive hatred generation and there is no better way to solve this problem than with a bat companion.
I see the bat fly off to attack enemies sometimes but I don't think the 30% weapon damage it does really amounts to much. It's not like it hovers over an enemy and attacks it like a machine gun or something. It's periodic and is a benefit, but a small one I think overall. The true benefit is the hatred generation and I can't see using any other rune variant with this ability if you are trying to feed the hatred consuming Impale. One side effect of having a companion is that they sometimes act as an "early warning system" in that the bat will fly towards an enemy that I might otherwise not have seen and bring it to my attention, especially when being flanked by the AI.
Even though I use the Templar as my follower and I use his ability to generate 1 hatred per second, it is not enough to free up this slot and use some other ability. Impale is what I do most and I feed all my hatred into it (there is no other ability in my build that consumes hatred).
Passive Abilities
Steady Aim
All damage increased by 20% as long as no enemies are within 10 yards. I'm not sure how many "game yards" there are in the height or width of my screen, but I think 10 yards is actually a pretty small radius. Vortex affix can mess this up, but for the most part if you're playing the Demon Hunter correctly you can benefit from this passive with close to 100% uptime and minimal positional effort. Unlike Wizards who choose Glass Cannon which is only 15% and forces them to suffer the downside of reduced armor and resistances or Cold Blooded which almost necessitates constant spamming of Blizzard to enable, all we have to do is play our class correctly, at range from targets, and benefit.
Archery
Critical hit damage increased by 50% when you use a crossbow. No matter which kind of weapon you use, this passive is a must-have for any build in my opinion. I have heard that "the math says" your best bet is to use a standard bow and enjoy the constant 15% increased damage and I don't doubt the math. However, with this build and its use of the Sharpshooter passive, I find my crit rate increased to the point where having a significant bonus to that situation, especially as it carries through all the targets of the piercing Impale, make this the optimal weapon type for this build. I am also an advocate of a "bursty" build since my primary objective when fighting a Champion Pack is to get ONE mob dead as soon as possible, in order to reduce incoming damage, frequency of mob affixes affecting me and to hopefully cause health globes to be generated. I want to focus fire one target as much as possible and turn the tide in my favor as quickly as possible and while getting critical hits does happen regularly with Sharpshooter I need them to hit hard as well.
Sharpshooter
A favorite among many players and for good reason. It's fun to crit and see big numbers and this guarantees that this happens much more frequently. There is also the synergy with piercing Impale as an opener that cannot be argued. Since part of playing a Demon Hunter is kiting, you also benefit during this "down time" as you evade enemies, wait for your Preparation cooldown to be over and look for health globes in that your next shot is likely to crit since that chance has been improving by 3% per second. It is also the case that your hatred will have regenerated greatly during this time simply from all the passive regenration so that your "opening" shot after this kiting period should be Impale multiple times. The description of this passive states that the bonus is reset "1 second AFTER you crit" so it is possible to get multiple critical Impale shots off during this time if you hold your mouse button down and enjoy the very rapid animation for using this ability. Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Follower
My preference is to use the Templar, and to me, there is no comparison for a Demon Hunter. As a ranged DPS class what you want is to avoid having enemies in your face distracting you from the task at hand: laying down massive damage while your targets occupy themselves with your meat shield. I cannot count the number of times (this is including my farming runs through A1/Inferno) that I have either purposely or accidentally had my Templar stand in a doorway or a narrow walkway and completely block anything from getting through. You will not enjoy that kind of blocking (not to mention his blocking projectiles of all kinds).
Many players portray their followers as useless. I've read and heard many say that they don't like the Templar because be runs into battle, takes damage and dies quickly whereas the Scoundrel and Enchantress keep away and survive longer. All I have to say to that is you are not properly equipping your Templar. I will confess that I bought items on the AH for my Templar when I did a bit of research and learned that he can, in fact, survive if given the proper gear. I bought two Magic/Blue rings with 100+ vitality and 75+ strength then a Magic/Blue amulet with 200+ vitality and 100+ strength which didn't cost me very much (these were item level 57 I think). I then gave him a shield my Barbarian has been using which has a high block chance (like 19%) and also has a bunch of vitality and like 5% life as well. The weapon was something I found, I think it has something like 500 DPS which is largely irrelevant but has 100+ vitality and 100+ strength. Finally, the Templar Token item has +7% chance to block and a moderate amount of vitality and strength. I don't remember the exact numbers but he has around 75K health and can take a beating for quite some time unless he stands in a desecrated spot or falls prey to poison since he has no resistances.
Another important thing to consider is consuming health globes in the game even when YOU don't need one. If the Templar is doing a good job of taunting and charging and giving you time to DPS you might consider consuming a health globe for HIS benefit to keep him alive that much longer. The increased movement speed of the Smoke Screen rune makes this strategy much easier.
This is probably not the optimal place to put this but I just thought about it. A general purpose tip when fighting anything is that when you first kite you run back over an area that you have already cleared of all enemies. This is obvious and everyone knows this. What some do not consider, however, is that after doing this a little while, it is often advantageous to kite back to where you originally encountered the enemies as this is where you will often find many health globes which can obviously keep you and your follower alive. In a similar vein, I don't know how well known this is but it was significant when I discovered it, it is a good idea to get your "Gold Pickup / Health Globe Radius" as close to ZERO as possible. When you do this you will find that health globes stay around much more frequently because you don't inadvertently consume them while looting or running near one. Those globes left behind are often the difference between successfully defeating a pack of champions and getting a larger repair bill. Something to consider.
The Follower Build
http://us.battle.net...r/follower#1001
Intervene
This has a lengthy cooldown but it can give you a breather for 3 seconds which is an eternity when your health drops below 50%. The alternative heal for 4651 is nice but I prefer to use potions for that since they do much more.
Intimidate
This is like a remote caltrops! Anything hitting the Templar is slowed by 60% for 3 seconds. It isn't a lot, especially in Inferno but every second counts in this fast paced game. The alternative of getting 155 Life per second is not going to change the outcome of any fight and is not nearly as useful in my opinion.
Charge
The signature ability of the Templar. I wish the cooldown was smaller, but given its power I can see why it's 30 seconds. When combat begins and he uses this ability to stun everything within 8 yards for 2 seconds it's really nice. Any damage done is insignificant, it's the stun that matters. I can't tell you how many times during lengthy combat that this ability has come off cooldown and he has brought about a stun that allowed me to escape certain death. Very useful. The alternative is a damage dealing ability which, for all followers, is not their primary purpose and thus should be avoided. Followers are all about crowd control and resource generation, increased crit chance, increased armor, etc. which is mostly passive stuff. It's important that they simply stay alive, hence the emphasis on gear with vitality above all else.
Inspire
An additional 1 hatred per second may not seem like a lot, but it also reduces downtime between fights as you hunt for champion packs. I tried using the alternative ability but the heal again is only for 4651 and percentage-wise in Inferno its just too little (I have around 27K health I think). Hatred regeneration is always welcomed and useful to increase the number of Impales I can cast per unit time.
Summary
If anyone made it this far I applaud your determination. I hope something of what I wrote has inspired you to try something new, or causes you to answer this message with your own thoughts about what is good or bad or could be improved about this build and my play style. I don't claim to be an expert but I find this build to be really fun to use, very efficient and resilient in that I don't die very often at all. Again, I've only made it through Act 1/Inferno and I realize that things are significantly more difficult in what comes next but I think this build may work well in that environment as well. You tell me!
Thanks!
0
I too am married, have two small children, a full-time and demanding job as a software developer and I TOOK THE ENTIRE WEEK OFF. I gave this a great deal of thought and considered taking NEXT week off to avoid any problems with the game launch, but then I figured the problems (if any) would be dealt with quickly. Blizzard is known for quality, they have experience with large-scale game launches, they have the most popular MMO in the world, and they claimed that the recent stress test revealed several issues that had been solved and that the release of this game should go smoothly as planned.
In retrospect, given the current circumstances and how little I have been able to play the game, along with the issues regarding lost achievements and such, I wish I had not given Blizzard the benefit of the doubt and instead been pessimistic about the release and just taken next week off instead.
I totally feel your pain original poster, you are not alone in your feelings of disappointment and surprise and how bad this release has gone thus far. I've gone back to playing the Star Wars MMO when the D3 service is unavailable and making the best of my time of while still gaming. It's life, there's nothing to be done about it, Blizzard are working diligently to resolve all the issues, and I will continue to love this game and play it when I can in the coming months and years. I just wanted you to know that unlike much of what has been poster here, I understand your situation and commiserate.
Frankly, my opinion was that they should have opened the beta to WAY MORE people and had an open beta weekend AGAIN after the one they did to again test the ability to handle a large load on the servers. I'm glad they did it once and learned from it, but obviously there are many things in their infrastructure that cannot handle the current load and it's sad to have them find this out AFTER the game has gone live.
Take care, chin up, and it will be stable soon enough.