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Sanctuary Sunday Talk

Deadset Gaming started a series of videos, talking about the lore behind some of Sanctuary's more interesting topics. The first is about Set Item Origins, and the second is about the Lords of the Burning Hells. Check them out below!

Jakarro's "Arctic Zoo" Demon Hunter

This week's Play Your Way Thursday is focused on Pets and the Cold element. Check it out below!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The ever-deadly Demon Hunters pride themselves on devastating ranged attacks, pinpoint accuracy, and a cunning use of explosives. At times, they will also call upon the assistance of highly-trained (and extremely lethal) companions to eke their revenge. In this week's Play Your Way Thursday, Jakarro#1521 shares his chilling take on a Demon Hunter elementalist—and brings a few friendly pets along too!

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About the Build:

While pets are not the focus of his build, Jakarro calls upon a brutal portable zoo to support his cold-themed play style. The idea behind the "Arctic Zoo" Demon Hunter is to create defensive buffers in single-player games and supplemental damage in group play, allowing both you and your friends to just hang back and… chill. 

Hang back and... chill... Get it? Because it's cold da... Ah, forget it.

This is a versatile build that's great in any game mode, and you'll find it offers great defensive support while still pulling its weight in damage.  While you won't see huge, individual numbers pouring across your screen with the Arctic Zoo, you'll still make your enemies regret ever messing with you in the first place, kiting them around the battlefield like pawns on a chessboard. Slowed and steady wins this race and, at the end of the day, if the demons are dead and the loot is yours, it makes little difference!

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The Skills:

This build is all about bringing the pain of frostbite to your enemies and letting your item-based pets mop up the rest!  Active Skills:

• Hungering Arrow (Devouring Arrow)
  • Resource generator
  • Deals cold damage, one of this build’s primary focuses
• Elemental Arrow (Frost Arrow)
  • Main damage dealer
  • Huge source of damage, especially in large packs
  • Offers great crowd control as the effect splashes to additional targets
• Caltrops (Hooked Spines)
  • Keeps your enemies at a distance to apply your slowing effects and letting your pets do the dirty work
• Smoke Screen (Displacement)
  • Serves as this build's escape method
• Companion (Wolf Companion)
  • In conjunction with The Cloak of the Garwulf, offers a big group of puppies to help keep you safe
  • Serves as a DPS cooldown, significantly boosting your big boom in Rain of Vengeance
  • Offers always-welcomed group utility
• Rain of Vengeance (Shade)
  • Cooldown based burst of damage for those low Hatred situations
  • Clears out any surviving stragglers slowed from your Caltrops or Elemental Arrow
  • Great way to clear out a large pack in short order

Passive Skills:

• Steady Aim
  • Between your pets and slowing powers, you should be able to capitalize on this DPS boost in almost every situation
• Perfectionist
  • Primarily used for a Toughness boost
  • Allows more frequent use of Caltrops and Smoke Screen
• Archery
  • Regardless of your weapon of choice, offers a great DPS boost
• Night Stalker
  • Helps ensure Caltrops and Smoke Screen are always available for those tricky situations

PTR Cold Demon Hunter

And since we are talking about Cold-focused Demon Hunters, MeatHeadMikhail posted a video showing that a Marauder Cold-focused Demon Hunter is even more viable in the current PTR version, with the changes to some skills like Cluster Arrow (Maelstrom).