Post your Demon Hunter builds here!

[Drytchnath]

The Wizard page already has a topic like this so I'd figured I'd start one here.

Use this url to get started:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter

Choose skills, rune effects and passives then copy/paste the link on the right hand side here to share. Try coming up with a PVP and PVE build. Critique each others builds constructively.

Here's my two:

PVE: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#iXRfdT!Uge!cacaYb

PVP: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YcaRgd!UVc!caYcbc

[Ohgodagain]

After watching people play on the beta streams and theorycrafting how to play at later levels and what they might be doing good/bad I came up with this for PvE.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bfYUek!WcX!YZcaYb

The idea is to use two one handed crossbows for fast attack speed and high damage on your normal/white attacks as well as faster usage of your special skill shots.

You would Marked for Death a mob, Entangling Shot it, and proceed to own with Impale, Evasive Fire, and normal attacks to regenerate hatred as needed. Marked for Death would spread and you will be cutting down monsters like they were not even there. Everything synergizes with everything else with the passives I selected. The only thing I'm considering is removing Preparation and replacing it with Shadow Power.

I'm envisioning insane single target DPS and big AoE damage with the runed Impale.

Smoke Screen with the speed rune should be more than enough survivability coupled with Evasive Fire and your Entangling Shot.

This is what I would call a highly aggressive build because you'll be right on the fringe of the mobs using Evasive Fire just in time to keep your distance. I have this huge idea in my mind of how everything would work. I almost want to write a full fledged guide, haha.

In order to make it a lethal PvP build I'd take out Impale for Vault and definitely keep the Preparation.

[Grunthex]

Copy/pasted from my post in the beta discussion forum build thread.

Ok, so this one's a bit of a gimmick build that may be totally unviable. Fun though. I call him the Rocket Man. And my first DH will have to be Elton John because of it.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#RdjkeP!gVX!cbYaYc

Skills:
Sentry runed to Spitfire Turret (Autofire + Rockets)
Cluster Arrow runed to Shooting Stars (Rockets)
Strafe runed to Rocket Storm (Yup. Rockets)
Marked for Death runed to Contagion (More damage, hopefully across a crowd)
Preparation runed to Backup Plan (more discipline for MfD and Sentry, 55% of no cooldown)
Vault runed to Tumble (for travelling)

Passives:

Ballistics (Double damage rockets)
Custom Engineering (double duration on Sentry and MfD)
Fundamentals (for restoring Hatred if I run out, so I can shoot more rockets)

Concept:

Well. Hint. ROCKETS. Yeah. Strafe if I need to keep moving, Cluster Arrow otherwise, always sentry, always MfD.

[Raesene]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bVfdTS!UWc!YZaabZ

Skills:
Entangling Shot runed to hit 9 targets
Double Chakram for straight forward group chewing
Impale runed for ridiculous crit damage
Vault to get out of trouble with AoE stun in case I have to vault IN to trouble.
Bat companion for hatred generation
Shadow power with hatred generation for awesome

Passives:
Sharpshooter for more crits on impale
Archery for straight-forward boost (also more crits if I use twin x-bows) <--- I could see myself swapping this slot around a bit
Cull the Weak to kill slowed targets better

Concept:
Slow. Impale the nastier targets. Chakram the fodder.

[NotaBot]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#abgURP!cVe!ZYYaYY

going trapper crippler, using strafe to hammer the mobs while they stand still.

Entangle - chaingang - primary slower
Caltrops - jagged - secondary slower
Spiketrap - bandolier - primary trap damage
Sentry - vigilant - secondary trap damage
Smoke Screen - displacement - escape utility
Strafe OR rapid fire - depending on which one plays better.

cull the weak - slowed damage
Custom engineering - duration on traps
perfectionist - discipline economy

[The Kiezer]

Knife Strafer. Abusing critical hit bonuses left and right. Looks fun.

Not sure about Shadow Power or Rain of Vengeance, will have to mess around with those once the game is out for real. Sentry or some other skill might be more valuable.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aeSkPl!WYU!aYZZaY

[The Kiezer]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bVfdTS!UWc!YZaabZ

Skills:
Entangling Shot runed to hit 9 targets
Double Chakram for straight forward group chewing
Impale runed for ridiculous crit damage
Vault to get out of trouble with AoE stun in case I have to vault IN to trouble.
Bat companion for hatred generation
Shadow power with hatred generation for awesome

Passives:
Sharpshooter for more crits on impale
Archery for straight-forward boost (also more crits if I use twin x-bows) <--- I could see myself swapping this slot around a bit
Cull the Weak to kill slowed targets better

Concept:
Slow. Impale the nastier targets. Chakram the fodder.

If Entangling Shot has a longer slow at higher levels, this seems like it would totally work. As of now it looks like it only lasts a whopping two seconds, so you'd have to be going back and forth between ES and Impale pretty darn fast.

[Raesene]

Can swap the rune to make the slow last longer, but less targets. Hard to decide.

[Akudemi]

Knife Strafer. Abusing critical hit bonuses left and right. Looks fun.

Not sure about Shadow Power or Rain of Vengeance, will have to mess around with those once the game is out for real. Sentry or some other skill might be more valuable.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aeSkPl!WYU!aYZZaY

Decent concept. I have been tinkering with a somewhat similar build, but what you really lack here is utility. With this build you're basically a sitting duck if something quick comes at you, something teleports to you, or you get slowed. Your damage abilities are fairly weak considering their descriptions.

Rain of Vengeance is on a 60s cooldown, so you'll barely use that with the fast pace of Diablo3. Your Strafe (which I am happy to see has synergy with some of your abilities) makes you move at 55% of your normal speed. That's pretty slow. If you don't kill your enemies immediately, you will probably be dead at higher difficulties. Also your Steady Aim passive, great, but as I mentioned, if you can't get out of dodge, then it's a wasted ability.

[The Kiezer]

I never said it'd work :)

I'll just be crossing my fingers that crits proc often enough to kill everything really quickly :D

[narcotix]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bXadfi!WcY!ZaZcZZ

Skills

Caltrops runed to Jagged Spikes for extra dmg within the slow area
Evasive Fire runed to Backup Plan - keep distance when needed for Archery passive and leave a AE Poison bomb
Bola Shot runed to Imminent Doom - AE damage - arcane
Multi Shot runed to Full Broadside - AE damage
Impale runed to Overpenetration - Large single target shot + piercing
Vault runed to Covering Fire - more dmg while getting out of the way

Passives
Archery - % based bonus (depending on what weapons are found could change)
Cull The Weak - + 20% dmg to slowed enemies
Steady Aim - + 10% dmg when no enemies within 10 yards

**EDIT** - I asked in another thread if you could have multiple caltrops down and they said yes so I removed Entangling shot and replaced it with Evasive fire as a few caltrops should cover a large amount of the screen to keep the slow on all targets.

The idea would be drop the caltrops, fire a few bola's, then multishot/impale to finish whats left

[Wolfpaq777]

Here's my build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fibdTe!cWY!aZYYbb

Multishotter

Skills:
Grievous Wounds Impale (220% WD, 500% crit)
Full Broadside Multishot (242% WD)
Chain Gang Entangling shot
Acrobatic vault
Bat Companion
Mortal Enemy Marked for Death (40% chance for +35 hatred which is basically a free multishot)

Passives
Sharpshooter (3% extra chance to crit / second) -> hope this applies to all multishot targets =D
Cull of the Weak (20% more damage on snared)
Archery (10% more damage with bow, 100% more xbow crit damage, 5% chance to crit with dw xbows)

Stats
Gear prioritizes weapon damage (base damage on weapon, raw damage boosts on gear... will include elemental damage if elemental damage is factored into the weapon damage calculation) > precision > attack > defenses (dodge, life leech, etc. Counting on my vault, snare, and high damage output to protect me.

Play style should be pretty simple. Get everything snared. Mark the highest health target, spam multishot, hatred permitting.

Bosses & champions, mark of death + impale, counting on the 500% extra crit damage to pull me through. I don't think demon hunters have a higher single target damaging ability than impale, but of course i could be wrong. Plus the 500% extra crit damage makes me hopeful for some big numbers =)

In both cases use 70 yard tumble to keep them away. Should be dealing some pretty hefty damage.

I"m REALLY hoping I can get a weapon with cold damage or a legendary that will proc slow on hit so that I don't have to use entangling shot very often, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to.

[Kalara]

I've got two different PvE builds I am looking at.

1)http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#jfdekQ!fWg!YccYZc

The first is for a female DH with a bow.

Skills:
Shooting Stars Cluster Arrow (120%WD splash damage + 9 rockets @220%WD each)
Liquid Flame Impale (220%WD + 275%WD/2s)
Fire Support Rapid Fire (6x speed@30%WD=180%WD + 7 missles @50%WD)
*Plus it looks awesome, I think lots of people are confusing rapid fire for strafe in the skills videos. Strafe shoots at random enemies instead of a stream of arrows.
Covering Fire Vault (escape skill with added damage)
Contagnation Marked for Death (viral spread of MoD will work best with single target or small splash instead of large AoE where everything is dying at the same rate)
Punishment Preparation (Dicipline to Hatred conversion)

Passives:
Grenadier (-15 Hatred for Cluster Arrow)
Archery (10% inc bow damage)
Ballistics (+100% rocket damage)

Life shouldn't be a problem with this char since I envision her playing more like a D2 Amazon, firing from range, but if it does pose a problem I would replace the Indigo rune in Cluster Arrow for a Golden one for 51% life leech. (Come to think of it I might have to tweek this build for HC :scratchchin: )

[Kalara]

2)http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ifdeSl!UWX!Yaabab

Second would be a male DH with dual hand x-bows focusing mostly on multishot.

Skills:
Burst Fire Multishot (110%WD cone AoE + 110%WD sphere shockwave)
Grievous Wounds Impale (220%WD + additional 500% crits)
Flying Strike Rain of Vengeance (12x 270%WD + stun)
Rattling Roll Vault (stun and knockback)
Mortal Enemy Marked for Death (40% chance for +35 Hatred)
Blood Moon Shadow Power (50% ias, 45% life leech)

Passives:
Sharpshooter (inc crits)
Archery (5% inc crits)
Fundamentals (+100% basic dmg, +15 Hatred/basic attack)

The Fundamentals should work best here with fast hand x-bows since the added Hatred is per attack. Increased crits will make for a very hard hitting Impale.

I see this character as being much more in the thick of things than the previous build. He would vault in close to enemies and mow them down. I think the shockwave in combination with the multishot will make for a powerful feeling build. Life leech will definitely come in handy for this play style.

Rain would be situational and let him stun groups of casters in the back.

[Frantic]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#QbidTk!cUg!cbabbZ

*Use Entangling Shot to keep them at bay when my hatred is low (I have Entangled Shot runed to cost 1 hatred).

*When hatred is up I mow them down with Rapid Fire and then rinse and repeat.

*I use Vault / Tumble to kite.

*Companion and Preparation (runed to refill Hatred) for hatred generation to help fuel Rapid Fire.

*I use Multi-Shot (runed to generate Discipline) to replenish my Discipline so I can use Preparation.

[asc]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bXfeSR!UWc!YaaYac

it's realy hard to say right now, cause I'de have to see what my friends youd pick, but it would be important no only to have good single targed dps but also aoe to kill those suckers more rapidly.

Indigo Entangling shot + alabaster runed bola + indigo marked for death + passive cull fo the weak would let me kill groups very quickly i think.

Alabaster impale plus all the crit from passive would let me get tons of crit dmg,

The obsidian shadow power would let me get HP and more dmg when facing elites or bosses.

the only one i'm not sure is the sentry, would have to see just how good it is

[Amarules]

The Bladed Disciple

Just a fun build I'm excited to try out. Its name comes from the fact it revolves around hurting stuff with sharp pointy things and its discipline heavy focus.

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#acReVS!ceV!Zcacac

Concept:

The build is designed for a completely non-ranged Demon Hunter with the intent of dealing a lot of passive damage to the enemies. for this build a good 1 handed weapon plus shield hopefully with some nice block and defensive mods/resists will be well sought after.

Battle Plan:

The passive aoe component of this build comes from two sources.

i) Crimson runed Caltrops giving a nice pulse damage each second.
ii) Alabaster runed Chakram granting me an awesome blade shield...woo yeah!

Both of these abilities will be amplified through Obsidian runed Marked for Death boosting all damage within the area.

My main attack will be Fan of Knives runed Obsidian to provide a bit of stun to limit the amount of incoming damage taken.

As there isn't really any life leech built into this build by default a bit of defense is called for, especially given most of the time I will be surrounded by lots of monsters.

To that end I chose Obsidian runed Shadow Power for the giant dodge bonus and I will seek to keep that up as much as possible.

In the event that I do take some inevitable hits an Alabaster runed Sentry will reduce that damage by a third while also adding a bit of passive damage to the build.

I deliberately avoided skills like vault and smoke screen because I need to be surrounded by monsters to do some killing so vaulting away contradicts that and also because retreating is for cowards!

Passives:

This was tricky as most are catered to the typical ranged demon hunter.

Firstly I selected Cull the Weak as it synergizes well with the snare component of Caltrops.
Next up is Perfectionist as this is a very discipline heavy build, and I will need to keep Shadow Power up with as close to 100% up-time as possible to survive.
Finally Custom Engineering as it provides a nice boost to several of my chosen skills.


Equipment and other considerations:

Obviously a great 1h weapon and shield will be very important to this build, but I don't think I will be able to skimp on defensive stats elsewhere, particularly armor/vitality.
Vitality will no doubt be the most valued stat on any item (hi there D2!)
Life leech and +life per kill will be very important affixes on gear to provide durability.

As mentioned the build is rather Discipline hungry. Thanks to my passive selection I shouldn't need to recast Caltops or Marked for Death too often but I will be maintaining as much Shadow Power uptime for the dodge and attack speed as possible. To that end I will look out for any items that might provide a boost to discipline regen either passively or on action.

While my main spammable skill is Fan of Knives I am less concerned about fury generation as its main purpose is to proc stuns. The focus of the build is ultimately the passive damage and being able to survive long enough for it to do that. Of interest; FoK will be hotkeyed to the action bar rather than on the mouse so that I can use it on the run while I run about with the mouse to dodge incoming projectiles without losing DPS time.

To help things along a bit I will also look out for the "reflect damage back at attackers mod" for small damage boosts.

All in all I think this will provide a rather challenging but interesting experience, especially once I start hitting later difficulties.

[cacophony]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WcgVdU!cUa!aZbYbY

Ranged Ninja build. Still do damage at range, but you're throwing stuff, flipping out, and turning invisible. Throw knives (slow, culling debuff), you've got three different damage types (fire, lightning, physical), you've got good AoE (traps), you've got control (stun grenades), you've got style (lightning chakram), you're pure sex. Of course, all of this is freaking AWFUL if they don't do the smart thing and make the base damage of all these skills scale w/ weapon damage (like they do for bow skills). If they fix that, then this build is the first build I'll make. I'd totally go for a two handed katana, just to really make it bad ***.

[LucianDK]

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#VagkRd!XVc!ZYbabY

A trapper build, keeping foes snared within the caltrops zone, using chakram as main attack, with dual handxbows recharging hatred through fundamentals. and dealing extra damage to slowed targets. As I see it, the harder you can slow foes, the longer they stay in the debuff zone. and with 2x fast handcrossbows you will recharge hatred fast to keep up firing chakrams.

Spike trap is there to help with mobs getting too close before you vault away.

The sentry turret helps gunning down foes, healing you and the group for a quite considerable and scaling heal when nearby it. With preparation to help recovering discipline for it and caltops. Having the passive to extend the duration of your traps.


Edit:
A grenadier build
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WjeakT!fcV!bZcYbb
This build uses rune and passive to make grenades cost 0 hatred and allowing you to go crazy using it as your backup attack. With cluster arrow being your main hatred spender.

Then using the aoe runed Marked for death to throw into the zone where you are going to blow things to kingdom come, with super slow caltrops stacked on top to keep foes there. Taking the passives to lenghten the duration of caltrops and mfd, as well making slowed targets take extra damage.

Finally preparation to recover discipline and providing a heal, and the bat pet to increase hatred recovery to give you more time to spam cluster arrow before you have to resort to free grenades.
If the bat turns out to be uneeded, since you merely could go grenades when out of hatred, vault might be a good substitute.

[Rokel]

My build is a grenadier / aoe rockets build. Ideally to be grouped with 1x Barb, 2 x Monks for synergy buffs.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WjiaeR!Vfg!bYcYYb

The aim is to be group friendly and fire from the back :P

I'll aim to do massive aoe rockets attacks as the main hatred dump, hatred free grenades as the spam attack.

Caltrops with the 79% slow is really to limit mobs reaching me too quick at the back of the action. For a group friendly bonus i'll aslo have extended duration caltrops 24 secs and sentry 40 secs. The sentry will be runed golden which gives a max health 8% a sec heal to all allies nearby (I think this will be a massive heal based on the hp numbers people are talking about).

[LucianDK]

My build is a grenadier / aoe rockets build. Ideally to be grouped with 1x Barb, 2 x Monks for synergy buffs.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WjiaeR!Vfg!bYcYYb

The aim is to be group friendly and fire from the back :P

I'll aim to do massive aoe rockets attacks as the main hatred dump, hatred free grenades as the spam attack.

Caltrops with the 79% slow is really to limit mobs reaching me too quick at the back of the action. For a group friendly bonus i'll aslo have extended duration caltrops 24 secs and sentry 40 secs. The sentry will be runed golden which gives a max health 8% a sec heal to all allies nearby (I think this will be a massive heal based on the hp numbers people are talking about).

Hmm, interesting. Did not realize that cluster arrow could fire rockets, making it benefit from both grenadier and ballistics.

[LucianDK]

Disciplined Turreteer build
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#iRXkTd!VgX!acbabY

Basically the aim is to build up Discipline to spamcast rocket turrets to gun down the opposition.

Multishot is a considerable discipline gain when against hordes, to allow you fill it up fast.

Bola shot is your discipline regainer against single targets.

You plop down as many rocket turrets as your discipline allows.

The bat pet helps regaining hatred faster for more multishots.

Preparation for a spike in discipline reclamation to be able to lay another load of turrets.

With finally vault being the escape skill.

I choose custom engineering to make the turrets last longer and ballistics to improve their damage. Finally fundamentals is there to act as a hatred regainer to allow more spamcast of the discipline builders.

[Hyliangod]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#gQiRbd!cVX!bcacYc

i'm thinkin' rapid fire for my single target dps, entangling shot + the rune allows me to slow whole groups at a time along with the spike traps and multishot i can bring em down. plus sentry for added dps and vault for escaping if i get trapped.

i'm actually more interested in the DH since i've played around with the talents.

[thevixen]

ok here's my latest creation for end game:

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aTSQkl!WeU!abZcbZ

Equipment:
dual wielding 1h x-bows, equipment with life leach

Actives:
Catrops / Bait the Trap................ +11% criticals
Companion / Bat Companion.......... 4 hatred per second
Shadow Power / Night Bane.......... 7 hatred per second
Preparation / Backup Plan............. restore all discipline w/o cooldown 55% of time
Rapid Fire / Fire Support............... 6x attack speed w/ 30% weapon dmg per shot, 7x homing missiles per second 50% weapon dmg each
Rain of Vengeance / Beastly Bombs. 20 shadow beasts dealing 330% damage each (60 second cooldown)

Passives:
Archery.....................................+5% critical hit
Perfectionist............................... 20% reduction in discipline cost
Sharpshooter..............................+3% critical hit per second

Playstyle:
Always run with the bat companion summoned.
When encountering a group, immediately drop down a caltrops and cast shadow power. Rapid fire your nearest enemies until they are all dead - you'll be doing about 1095% weapon damage per second if you can get your crit rate to 40%. Rapid Fire will cost 16 hate per second with this build, but you will be generating 21 hate per second. You will be able to Rapid Fire infinitely if you remember to keep re-casting shadow power every 10 seconds. Without Shadow Power cast, you can Rapid Fire continuously for 50 seconds. If you run into a particularly bad pack of monsters, cast your beastly bombs for a quick 6600% weapon damage attack.

If you run into a physical immune, swap Rapid Fire for Bola Shot / Imminent Doom to do Arcane damage.

Any suggestions to make it better?

[Cevilo]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...eRT!YcW!bZcZcZ

of all the builds I've created this is by far my favorite, and the one I'll probably be using the most, reminiscence of the 1.09 amazon. as such I call this build 1.09

[thevixen]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...eRT!YcW!bZcZcZ

of all the builds I've created this is by far my favorite, and the one I'll probably be using the most, reminiscence of the 1.09 amazon. as such I call this build 1.09

That link 404's. I think you meant http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ZideRT!YcW!bZcZcZ

[Kalara]

If you run into a physical immune, swap Rapid Fire for Bola Shot / Imminent Doom to do Arcane damage.

Any suggestions to make it better?

You mention swapping Rapid Fire for Bola Shot but did not include Bola in your build. I don't think we have seen the final mechanics for skill swapping yet and I for one am hoping for it being difficult to do. I don't want punishment for changing a few things around but I want a build to mean something. Even the most lenient possibility will require something like a gold-sink to have the Jeweler remove runes. I would be very surprised if we are allowed to swap things around on the fly when we are faced with a new mob; surprised and disappointed.

[Cevilo]

also would like to mention that they said there would be no "immune" monsters just high resistance.

[thevixen]

You mention swapping Rapid Fire for Bola Shot but did not include Bola in your build. I don't think we have seen the final mechanics for skill swapping yet and I for one am hoping for it being difficult to do. I don't want punishment for changing a few things around but I want a build to mean something. Even the most lenient possibility will require something like a gold-sink to have the Jeweler remove runes. I would be very surprised if we are allowed to swap things around on the fly when we are faced with a new mob; surprised and disappointed.

From what I've seen in the youtube videos, you can definitely swap things around on the fly.

[Guaizz]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#TYSlQk!cWX!bcZbab

Disclaimer: PVE focused, but most likely not a build with highest DPS. It is a build to minimize offensive skill slots which i find redundant. 3 years WoW raider, but i dont think 15 hotkeys of skills for Diablo is what i call fun. Primary killing skill is Rapid fire, the alabaster rune means i can (hopefully) save on slow mechanisms which would have meant another key. This build lacks alittle on the AOE side and hopefully someone can share some ideas.



1) Companion with Golden rune - straight forward for the hatred regen

2) Evasive Fire with Obsidian rune - for times when groups of fast moving mobs come in too fast or extra damage on boss.

3) Shadow Power with Crimson Rune - synergize with rapid fire and the increased hatred regen to decrease rapid fire down time throughout its duration

4) Rain of Vengence with golden Rune - although strong, possibly the skill most likely to get changed. Cooldown stops it from being used too often.

5) Rapid Fire with Alabaster Rune - Main killing skill with slow for more effective boss/mob control

6) Preparation with Golden Rune - The instant heal for security and a utility to fund Shadow Power when needed.


Passive
1) Cull the Weak - constant 20% damage with runed Rapid Fire
2) Archery - increased damage output
3) Fundamentals - synergize with rapid fire. When hatred runs out, auto switch from rapid fire to autoshot, which will give me enough hatred (plus regen) for another 2-3 seconds of rapid fire

One Button Killer~

[eMPii]

Wich "slow down effect" would be the best? :scratchchin:

Vault + Alabaster rune = all enemies knock backed and stunned for 4.5 sec.

Entangling shoot + Crimson rune = two enemies slowdown 70% for 8 sec

Entangling shoot + Indigo rune nine enemies slowdown 70% for 2 sec

(will 2 sec be enough?)

Rapid fire + Alabaster rune = effective target slowdown 40% for 5 sec

[tomhyde]

I didn't actually intend on playing a demon hunter but when I got to thinking about it if I were to fight against the burning hells myself I'd take a rocket launcher or at the very least alot of high explosives. So although it's not original here's my proposed build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#chSdQj!Veg!Zbccbc

The idea is to build up hatred with Bola shot, traps in corridors and narrow spaces and to dump hatred with rockets from multishot.

Vault is an escape mechanism and a potential DPS ability.

Sentry fires more rockets. The more the merrier.

Marked For Death is the boss killer damage boost ability.

Passives are Ballistics, Custome Engineering and and Perfectionist. More disipline, rocket damage and more trap duration all sound useful to me.


Time will tell.

[vileguy]

Too tired atm to read everyone else's posts, maybe later.

Generic AoE Combo:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#hYRaZT!acW!bcZZZa

Rocket Rapid Firing:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#RXQUkT!Weg!ccbZZb

Actually I can't come up with anything cool atm. Things are clearly going to be changed a lot, mainly the passives, due to the new power system. For instance, Grenadier needs to be reworked.

[Sulle]

This is my take on a trapper/bounty hunter build. Which actually looks very fun indeed

So he has 3 skills, which generate hatred:

1: Hungering arrow(golden runestone) which has 95% pierce. This guy loves to penetrate.

2: Evasive fire(obsidian runestone) which uses 4 discipline when you use backflip, and leaves a poison bomb behind that damages for 510% wd after 0,4 secs in a 18 yard radius. I am the bomb!

3: Spike trap(crimson runestone) It arms after 1,9 secs, but the dmg is increased to 390% wd. It takes that long to detonate it because he uses a mobile phone ;)

The disciple required skills are the following:

4: Caltrops(crimson runestone) which makes the trap, besides slowing them do 110% wd pr sec.

5: Sentry(golden runestone) which also heals you for 8% of your total life pr. sec. I chose this for survivability, since you don´t always get health globes, when you need them.

6: last and not least I have Marked for death(crimson runestone) which adds another 40% dmg to the target but is also divided among enemies within 20 yeards of the target. This is rather nice, especially when you have a lot of aoe dmg skills.

The passives:

1: Perfectionist for more disciple utilization

2: Custom engineering, which increases the duration of your traps and marked for death abilities with 100% (this is a must for any trapper)

3: For the last one I chose hot persuit, which permanently gives you 10% faster run speed, since your hatred will always be full, but an option if you don´t feel you need the extra mobility, is to take cull of the weak or archery/steady aim.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bYhZjQ!eVd!bcZZbZ

[demasked]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#hWRSjd!UgW!baccca

This is my rocket / trapper build.

Here are my steps in a combination offensive attack:

-While approaching target activate the Chakram/Shuriken Cloud as you will be in close quarters.

-Approach your target using strafe, homing rockets will help if the enemy npc or player tries to flee.

-Use vault to smash into the enemy ranks causing knockback / stun for a precious 3 seconds.

-Drop your rocket sentry so that it will start doing damage as well as being a distraction.

-Plant your three spike traps around your sentry, yourself or both if you stay near your sentry.

-Alternate between multishot (mobs) and strafe while replenishing your spike traps and shuriken cloud once they deactivate.

-Use vault to either retreat or to stop any retreat with the knockback stun combination.

*Against ranged enemies use strafe to avoid being hit while periodically using vault to get in to closer combat for your sentry/shuriken cloud to be more effective.*

In retreating, use vault, spike traps and strafe to do damage while moving away.

Passives help with rocket damage, critical % and weapon choice (more crits are probably better so xbows most likely).

Should be a fun build imo.

[alienb]

I like to create an effective CC (crowd control) build with survivability. I mashed this up in a few seconds, I admit I haven't taken much interest in the builds until now, so any suggestions and improvements welcomed for a newbie!

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bfVZjl!XfV!bcZYbZ

Hungering Arrows with piercing chance.
Grenades with stun grenades.
Elemental arrow with frost arrow.
Caltrops with hooked spines.
Sentry with aid station.
Rain of Vengeance with flying strike.

Passives - Fundamentals, Grenadier, Custom Engineer

[demasked]

I like to create an effective CC (crowd control) build with survivability. I mashed this up in a few seconds, I admit I haven't taken much interest in the builds until now, so any suggestions and improvements welcomed for a newbie!

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bfVZjl!XfV!bcZYbZ

Hungering Arrows with piercing chance.
Grenades with stun grenades.
Elemental arrow with frost arrow.
Caltrops with hooked spines.
Sentry with aid station.
Rain of Vengeance with flying strike.

Passives - Fundamentals, Grenadier, Custom Engineer

Okay, interesting build.

I'll start with your passives.
I would change fundamentals with archery as your hungering arrow and grenades already generate hatred and do more damage.

With Archery either use crossbows for more crit damage or the dual xbows for higher crit % chance.

Fundamentals would only be useful if you had like... 1 hatred regeneration skill.
Your other two choices are fine.

Main Skills

Hungering arrow with the extra pierce is good ONLY if it continues to hit the same target, or once that target is dead, hits another (boss or pvp makes this more useful).

Stun Grenades is an okay choice as it adds fire damage which may help against the immunes later on. Also keeps monsters away from you and sentry = win.

Elemental Frost Arrow, depends if it pierces or not and chill effect, if so a good choice.

Caltrops, instead of increased slow I would either go for Bait the Trap for extra crit %, Jagged spikes for more damage, or NYI Torturous Ground for a 4 second immobilization. Extra slow isn't that great if they are already being slowed... So I'd change the skill rune on this.

Sentry Aid station is a good choice if you're going in a group (demon hunter ranges, shouldn't be too close to melee monsters - less damage, less need for heal).

Rain of vengeance with flying strike is good for an aoe stun skill but the damage isn't that great. So not too sure on this one. If in a group this will help your teammates survivability a lot.

[alienb]

Okay, interesting build.

I'll start with your passives.
I would change fundamentals with archery as your hungering arrow and grenades already generate hatred and do more damage.

With Archery either use crossbows for more crit damage or the dual xbows for higher crit % chance.

Fundamentals would only be useful if you had like... 1 hatred regeneration skill.
Your other two choices are fine.

Main Skills

Hungering arrow with the extra pierce is good ONLY if it continues to hit the same target, or once that target is dead, hits another (boss or pvp makes this more useful).

Stun Grenades is an okay choice as it adds fire damage which may help against the immunes later on. Also keeps monsters away from you and sentry = win.

Elemental Frost Arrow, depends if it pierces or not and chill effect, if so a good choice.

Caltrops, instead of increased slow I would either go for Bait the Trap for extra crit %, Jagged spikes for more damage, or NYI Torturous Ground for a 4 second immobilization. Extra slow isn't that great if they are already being slowed... So I'd change the skill rune on this.

Sentry Aid station is a good choice if you're going in a group (demon hunter ranges, shouldn't be too close to melee monsters - less damage, less need for heal).

Rain of vengeance with flying strike is good for an aoe stun skill but the damage isn't that great. So not too sure on this one. If in a group this will help your teammates survivability a lot.

Thanks for the feed back. :thumbup: Since starting playing Diablo2:LOD again recently I think my main problem is that I've focused too much on DPS/Damage and forgotten about survivability/defence/CC talents so I die too much! I think you are right about caltrops, plus too much CC can definitely hinder DPS output.

[demasked]

Thanks for the feed back. :thumbup: Since starting playing Diablo2:LOD again recently I think my main problem is that I've focused too much on DPS/Damage and forgotten about survivability/defence/CC talents so I die too much! I think you are right about caltrops, plus too much CC can definitely hinder DPS output.

No problem, I always enjoy looking over the different builds and what might or might not be "better".

Another thing I forgot to add is this:

Stun Grenade vs. Rain of Vengeance (stun)

Keep the stun grenades because it generates hatred and therefore can be spammed for the aoe 55% stun chance.

Change the RoV skill rune to either Beastly Bombs for more damage, Dark Cloud IF the homing arrows are you hungering arrows with the added pierce, or Anathema IF the grenades dropped are your stun grenades (way better to stun multiple times, plus more damage).

The last two skill runes also depend if the effect is only in the area or if it follows you for the 12 second duration.

Or you could scrap Rain of Vengeance for a different hatred spender. Something aoe like multi shot, or cluster arrow (which goes with grenadier).

If Cluster Arrow I would suggest Loaded for Bear which deals more damage at the first explosion spot, or Maelstrom for the decent damage but great health steal.

Then you could change the skill rune for sentry to guardian turret for the better damage absorption.

So... my version of your initial build would be this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bfVZjP!WfV!baZcab

or if going critical...

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bfVZjP!WfV!aaZaab

Personally I like the second build more, here's why:

Turret with Caltrops = damage absorption + critical %
Cluster Arrow = health regen + decent aoe damage
Elemental Frost Arrow = immunities + aoe (maybe slow?)
Stun Grenades = crowd control
Hungering Arrow SoT = Huge damage w crit (pierce adds?)

Passives are all good in this. Dual xbows is key.

[Questo]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#hYSjZQ!gVc!bccaYc

This guy is designed for group play where the group is attacking large packs of enemies with multiple other characters.

Caltrops is laid in front of the group to greatly slow incoming enemies. Sentry is also placed towards the front to give melee characters extra survivability. Multishot is the main damage dealer. Spike trap is used to deal damage and regenerate hatred, although their might be a better choice if the golden rune still only restores 10 hatred. Evasive Fire is used to quickly get out of fray when relaying Caltrops, while still adding damage. Marked for Death provides more damage for the whole group, but considering it doesn't add much it could be replaced.

This build could do some soloing, but it's probably not ideal for it.

[demasked]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#hYSjZQ!gVc!bccaYc

This guy is designed for group play where the group is attacking large packs of enemies with multiple other characters.

Caltrops is laid in front of the group to greatly slow incoming enemies. Sentry is also placed towards the front to give melee characters extra survivability. Multishot is the main damage dealer. Spike trap is used to deal damage and regenerate hatred, although their might be a better choice if the golden rune still only restores 10 hatred. Evasive Fire is used to quickly get out of fray when relaying Caltrops, while still adding damage. Marked for Death provides more damage for the whole group, but considering it doesn't add much it could be replaced.

This build could do some soloing, but it's probably not ideal for it.

Either you go for survivability or damage.
You're build is leaning more towards survivability but not so much damage as it could be.

Here's a different take on your build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#heSRjQ!gVW!bZcccc

Since rockets will do so much damage I figured, why delay the inevitable damage with the sentry's damage absorption when it can merely stop enemies from getting near you with homing rockets that deal 250% damage/ 1.5 seconds?

Instead of caltrops (3 discipline skills is a bit much imo) I would use entangling shot which not only regens hatred, but also deals 100% damage, 70% slow (more then initial caltrops slow) and with the skill rune lasts to 6 seconds.

Now sure it would only hit up to two enemies, but you could totally spam it when you need to and for bosses you only need to be able to hit the one target.

Spike trap with your skill rune choice is good for around you or the sentry -- good choice there.

Multishot is definitely a good mob destroying skill so that is also a great choice.

I added strafe for a lower cost (not sure if it will regen hatred or not...) for usage against bosses. The homing arrow might come in handy as well if the boss is good at evasion.

Marked for death... not sure on this as I might've chosen vault for more maneuverability (rattling roll, tumble, or covering fire), but the 20% aoe for 32 seconds is decent so I'm not sure.

Otherwise chose for passives archery rather then cull the weak because critical damage is so much better then just a 20% increase ONLY if the unit is slowed (sometimes the enemy isn't worth the time to slow then kill).

Nice build with interesting concepts.

[demasked]

Another build based solely on hatred regeneration and two discipline skills:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bceRQU!aWd!YaZbaY

Hungering arrow would be good against mobs or bosses (since the pierce can hit the same enemy twice in a row), however I really hope that with each initial pierce, the % drops by 5 so that your arrows wouldn't hit like... 20 times in a row lol... Any of the skill runes are worth it depending on if you're going critical or not (spray of teeth) or what the effects do in game.

Bola Shot Imminent Doom Is awesome, use that then weaken the enemy with a different skill during the 2 second duration and BOOM, monster is gone (great for pvp imo).

Entangling Shot Heavy burden can be spammed and the increase slow is good for crowd control and pvp.

Strafe Drifting Shadow means increase strafe running/walking speed, this will go with some other skills so that your character can strafe while easily dodging or making a hasty strafe retreat (depends on if it will regen hate as well).

Marked for Death Death Toll used for bosses/mini bosses/ pvp and mob champions to get that extra health steal and extra damage. This is party friendly I believe so other players will thank you for using this.

Shadow Power Shadow Glide This increase in attack speed and run speed will make strafe amazing, and of course your other skills like hungering arrow/bola shot (stack up on 2 second detonations anyone) and entangling shot in case of a tons of enemies. Will be awesome for pvp either chasing your enemy or retreating.

Passives:

Brooding for in and out of combat health regen... this or cull the weak, thrill of the hunt, or sharp shooter (works with dual xbows and hungering arrow spray of teeth). Not steady aim since the slow then attack is better.

Archery For obvious reasons, any of the kind of weapons used should be fine but dual xbow or even crossbow should then go sharpshooter and hungering arrow spray of teeth with the critical.

Hot Pursuit With pretty much all hate regeneration skills 10% movement speed with 40% from shadow glide with Strafe would make you really agile in moving around in the battlefield. Though it seems strafe does take away hate regen, it is only 2 so hopefully with items you can go above that to stay at full hate.

I didn't choose spike trap because this builds is all about moving around, not sitting somewhere hoping the enemy will fall for your trap. Also pvp might be hard to set up perfectly laid out traps in the right spot at the right time.

Evasive fire isn't great as it will just take away your discipline which you'll need for shadow power and mark of death (since mark of death only effects one target).

Didn't choose grenades because I felt the damage wasn't that great (or skill runes) and bola is already kind of like a big grenade but way better.

So yeah, I'll probably try this build out and my rocket/trapper build that I poster somewhere above in this thread.

[Elfik]

I liked the builds focussing on rockets or critical hits.

Here's a build that focussing on critical hits, and is heavy on resource use:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#hSaUdT!XUW!bbabbb

PASSIVES

sharpshooter: get more critical hits

archery: dual xbows -> more critical hits

fundamentals: normal attack as my main hatred generator, which will hopefully be viable due to increased critical hits and increased attack speed (shadow power). With other skills and runes I will try to minimize the reliance on normal attacks somewhat.

ACTIVES

spike trap with golden rune

I like this skill because it's AOE, generates hatred, I prefer this to grenades or bola, and I intend to stay more or less on the spot.

multishot with golden rune

This is my main AOE attack but it costs a lot of hatred, so golden rune reduces that cost, allowing me more multishots and more critical hits (granted the golden rune effect is not at all balanced right now, but I trust blizzard to fix it).

impale with alabaster

This is my main single target attack, and with alabaster rune it has really high damage from critical hits.

Shadow Power with golden

This is to make my attacks and my hatred regen happen faster, making using normal attacks with fundamentals viable. Golden allows it to be constantly active, I hope.

Vault with golden

A really cool movement skill, and golden gives me more options for movement.

Companion with golden

The least interesting skill in the build, but I thought it would be necessary to cut down on the amount of normal attacks and allow me to spend more hatred using multishot or impale.

What do you think of the build? It's largely a flavour decision which cuts down on a lot of the visual effects, which I'm not particularly partial to. But I'm hoping something like this could be viable as well. It uses a lot of golden runes, and it doesn't feature any snares or stuns. Because of the latter, I would need to keep my merc alive at all costs, or play co-op.

[demasked]

This is my variation on your build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#SaiUQZ!XUW!aaccba

Interesting that this kind of build is a fine line between hatred and discipline.

There are three combat skills, basic attack with more damage and 15 hatred gained per shot. Multishot for crowds and discipline regeneration. Impale is the sniper boss/player killer.

Smoke screen is the get away/hatred regeneration skill, Marked for Death increases the damage rate and a chance for hatred regeneration (great for impale, not so much multishot). Caltrops helps with the critical chance (40% dodge allows you to stay in the same place while using impale before smoke screening outta there if overwhelmed for the extra hate).

Passives are good.

[Elfik]

This is my variation on your build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#SaiUQZ!XUW!aaccba

Interesting that this kind of build is a fine line between hatred and discipline.

There are three combat skills, basic attack with more damage and 15 hatred gained per shot. Multishot for crowds and discipline regeneration. Impale is the sniper boss/player killer.

Smoke screen is the get away/hatred regeneration skill, Marked for Death increases the damage rate and a chance for hatred regeneration (great for impale, not so much multishot). Caltrops helps with the critical chance (40% dodge allows you to stay in the same place while using impale before smoke screening outta there if overwhelmed for the extra hate).

Passives are good.

I like this build. Four discipline skills seems like a lot but multishot generates discipline, and normal attacks, plus attacks against the marked target generate hatred. Additionally, smoke screen generates hatred and is a good escape skill. The dodge and caltrops help with survivability.

I wish I knew the max resource and recource regeneration rates so I could calculate how viable this build is. It also depends on IAS as you want really fast normal attacks to generate hatred quickly, as multishot must be used to generate discipline on a regular basis.

[demasked]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#hYXdij!Sab!Ybcbcc

And yet another build I've been messing around with. It has a few rocket skills (rapid fire and sentry), spike trap for hatred regeneration, evasive fire for more hatred regeneration and a low discipline cost for escape. The other two skills vault and smokescreen are mainly used for escape.

Passives: Obviously ballistics for rocket power, Tactical Advantage for better escape tactics or chasing down an enemy and smoke screen for escape and hatred regeneration. And vengeance for better hatred / discipline usage.

Might be fun with all the maneuvering one can do with this build and tactics you can use.

[GoldenredDragon]

This build started out with Hungering arrow, and it's indigo rune, that I liked. Then things got out of hand, and here comes a variation on a... blue DH ?

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aeURdQ!WUY!YYYYYY

Indigo Hungering Arrow (Shatter Shot)
Successful pierce makes lots of arrows flying around the screen. We don't know the mechanics of the skill yet, and how those extra 5 arrows will behave. Also, I'm not sure if the "second arrow" (after pierce) can still pierce. Would make quite the cascade if it remains the case with Shatter Shot : shoot once, and out of the five arrows, between one and two pierce, generating five arrows, etc... I highly doubt this. Oh well, Hungering Arrow remains nice. I liked Guided in D2, well this is similar.

Indigo Entangling Shot (Chain Gang)
Slow whole groups of monsters. Kite them. Slow them. Kite them. Slow them. You get the picture.

Indigo Shadow Power (Shadow Glide)
Faster attack speed, and faster run speed. With slowed monsters. This means matrix mode is enabled ! :D

Indigo Strafe (Equilibrium)
More because I wanted to stay with the indigo theme. Anyway, VERY fast attack speed. (Shadow Power combo ? Yikes !)

Indigo Vault (Acrobatics)
Movement is key. Escape. Keep far from monsters. Move fast. They are slow. Also vault is the coolest skill in the game...

Indigo Marked for Death (Contagion)
Well... In spreads like the plague after the first kill ? Fits well in the "slow monster group, kill them all" idea. Me thinks.

Now for passives. As this is quite an intensive Discipline oriented build, here they are.

Night Stalker
+1 Discipline upon critical hits. Free resources are always appreciated.

Perfectionist
-20% Discipline costs. This means 8 (Vault), 4.8 (Marked for Death) and 16 (Shadow Power).

Steady Aim
+10% Damage if there are no enemies within 10 yards. With the slow monsters, and speed boosts, it should be always up.

I guess I might like this build, except for the part where you want all indigo runes. Unless of course, they are totally random, which doesn't change much from a "multicolored" rune build. There's just as much chance to get a mix than all of the same color. Oh well...

Anyway, I think the evasive slowing fast DH might be fun to play around with.

[Hellzbeth]

Thinking this could be an interesting build, my only worry is that it's pretty disc heavy.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ebZSdQ!Vcg!aZYbZY


Entangling Shot with alabaster rune : Hate gen, minor cc, life regen

Caltrops with Crimson rune : ae cc, with minor ae damage

Impale with Indigo rune : Single target ( boss ) heavy hitter with knock back and stun for mobs with pb ae ( electrified? )

Multishot with Golden rune: AE attacks, Hatred cost reduced, elemental ( alternate damage )

Vault with Crimson rune : Escape with elemental damage component ( fire )

Marked for Death with Indigo rune: Boss and hard target buff with chance to spread to secondary targets

Passives:

Archery : all round good bonuses

Cull the weak : central to this build to take advantage of Entangle and Caltrops

Custom Engineering : Take advantage of Caltrops ( longer lasting = more slow and more damage from crimson rune ) and longer MoD

What it is lacking is a nice ae hate gen skill like grenades, bola or spike trap.


Alternative would be losing entangle and picking up bola with Golden rune for some "free" ae and a chance to regen disc to use caltrops more often since that would be the only slow. This change would also lose the life regen aspect of the build but I am thinking of combining with the templar companion anyway so maybe that is not a big loss?





Thoughts?

[Fedora]

what do you guys think of this PvE build?

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#eRcdQZ!Vhc!YacaYa

Reasoning behind it:

Entangling shot with Indigo Rune to chain 6 targets.

Bola shot with obsidian for extra dmg and stun.

Strafe as main hatred spender: Got alabaster Rune, going to make the most of crits.

Vault with alabaster rune stun to get out of sticky situations

Marked for death with indigo rune, so the effect spreads as main disp spender.

Impale: mainly for bosses, got alabaster to take advantage of crits.

Passives:

Archery: going to go for dual hand crossbows, 5% extra chance to crit

Cull of the weak, since my entangling will slow 6 at once, going to take advantage of the slow. Thinking of this or steady aim? suggestions?

Got sharpshooter for even more crits.

[Inarius]

Hatred-Demon Hunter
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#eaSZjd!Vcb!YcZcbb


Playstyle:

1. Place sentry (maybe alabaster rune, maybe obsidian rune)
1. Slow a group of enemies with Entangling Shot
2. Hit with hungering arrow (maybe golden rune instead of obisidian) to generate hatred and weaken boss monsters
3a. Finish groups with multishot (maybe obsidian rune, maybe golden rune instead of crimson)
3b. Finish boss monsters with Impale (maybe indigo rune)
4. Vault (tumble) if in danger

I am not sold on sentry yet. Maybe I find a better replacement?

The Passives seem solid
- Multishot and Impale are hatred-expensive, so Vengeance could be needed
- Archery is always good
- I slow every enemy, so 20% damage increase through Cull the Weak is a nice bonus

[Perseverance]

Normal - Hell Difficulty DH in group (4) play speed run.

The basis of this build is to get as much DPS as possible while still having the survivability to make it through NM/Hell. I'll be running with a WD, Barb, and Monk and I have created builds for these characters that will synergize with mine.


Skills:

1. Evasive Fire (Obsidian Rune) - High single/multi target hate generating DPS combined with a bit of survivability as well.

2. Impale (Obsidian Rune) - Seems like the best Single Target DPS at the moment. I know a lot of people have been trying to disprove this but it just seems like this one's the best for Hatred/DPS/Attack Time ratio. Especially if the Bleed effect stacks.

3. Fan of Knives (Crimson Rune) - 526% Weapon Damage to all enemies within 18 yards + 65% movement speed reduction, huge damage with a touch of survivability, just how I like it.

4. Multishot (Crimson Rune) - 182% weapon dmg to essentially the whole screen of mobs (I haven't seen the skill yet but I imagine it'll work similar to the Amazons). Good multi-target DPS skill.

5. Marked for Death (Alabaster Rune) - +20% Dmg for everyone in the group with +1.6% Life Steal, great for boss fights.

6. Vault (Alabaster Rune) - 100% for Survivability.

Passives

1. Sharpshooter - I plan on having my build be all about attack/vitality. Thus, this skill will be insane for me if I'm running around with only 10-15% crit.

2. Vengeance - Great resource generator and will allow me to stack hatred before boss fights.

3. Fundamentals - There are times where Evasive Fire is just not the skill you want to be using, having this Passive allows me to use my regular attack as a Hatred Generator. Plus, it actually makes my regular attack the highest DPS Hatred Generator that the DH can have.


Stats: Order of Importance

+Attack Speed
+Damage
+Attack
+Vitality
+Defense
+Precision

[galzohar]

You might want to at least have an AOE generator option. In fact it probably won't be a bad idea to only have an AOE generator. This looks more like a build for killing purely bosses and bad against crowds, and so far it seems like killing crowds is very important - even when fighting the bosses!

[Perseverance]

You might want to at least have an AOE generator option. In fact it probably won't be a bad idea to only have an AOE generator. This looks more like a build for killing purely bosses and bad against crowds, and so far it seems like killing crowds is very important - even when fighting the bosses!

You think I should do Ent Shot with Indigo rune Instead of Evasive? I don't really feel like I need an AOE Generator simply because I have FoK and Multi and will be in a Party of 4.

[galzohar]

Since most fighting is AOE-based, I think AOE skills are the priority. Though of course this may be fixed eventually with single target spells becoming more useful...

[Arcanae]

Well, DH won´t be my first class but it is the only class where I have decided on a build, so here it is:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YePRbQ!YcW!aYZYZZ

Like I said, this is the only build I have decided on so far, and as long as Inferno isn´t drastically different from what I imagine and doesn´t expose some weaknesses, this is going to be my final build. Specific skills in the build and their runes:

Evasive Fire with Alabaster rune.
- Shoots for 115% weapon damage, backflips 27 yards.

Entangling Shot with Indigo.
- Slows 6 enemies for 2 seconds for 70% slow, and deals 100% weapon damage.

Cluster Arrow with Crimson
- Deals 350% weapon damage to target it hits and launches additonal projectiles that also damage.

Strafe with Indigo
- Shoot at 520% normal attack speed. Each shot deals 35% weapon damage.

Caltrops with Crimson
- Slows enemies for 65% and damages them for 52% weapon damage per second for 6 seconds.

Marked for Death with Crimson
- Marked target takes 20% more damage and 30% of the damage dealt to the target is distributed to nearby enemies.

PASSIVES:
- Steady Aim
- Cull the Weak
- Brooding

This is a fairly CC heavy build. It is primarily Hatred (4 hatred skills vs 2 discipline). Primary tactic and concern when engaging enemies would be to slow down all the enemies. There are two spells for that, Chain Gang (Entangling Shot + Indigo) which, with level 4 runestone, can slow up to 6 targets, I am guessing that with rank 7 it would slow up to 10 enemies which is great. And Caltrops which in this runed version asides from slowing enemies down also serves as AoE damage, along with Marked for Death. Both of them when serving their primary purpose, slowing down baddies, synergise extremly well with Cull the Weak which gives me +20% damage against slowed targets, which should mean all enemies, once I combine both of them, especially taking into consideration that Chain Gang is made to be spammed. Secondary purpose of Chain Gang as well as primary purpose of Evasive Fire is to generate Hatred for my, perhaps too expansive Strafe and Cluster Arrow. Evasive Fire should replace my auto attack completly, considering the advantages. It deals 15% more damage then auto attack and it also has built-in Vault component which should hopefully make up for lack of Vault in the build. Basically every attack where I am not using some other skill, I should be shooting Evasive Fire. Spamming Evasive Fire as well as Chain Gang at every encounter as well as high base regen rate of Hatred should allow me to shoot my two other skills on a fairly regular basis. Now, when I encounter "elite" enemies, as Blizzard calls them, thats what Cluster Arrow is for. Now, I am not quite sure what is better single target skill, Cluster Arrow or Impale, I personally lean more towards Cluster Arrow however if Impale is proven as a superior ST damage skill, I will put it into my build. Anyway, right now I, Cluster Arrow is definatly in the build. It has highest damage out of any DH skills, 350% with rank four Crimson which should go up to 400% or higher with rank 7 runestone. Idea is, after slowing down champion/unique pack with Chain Gang and Caltrops, I Mark for Death the unique/champion, and then fire Cluster Arrow. AoE damage components of Marked for Death and Caltrops should provide fairly significant additional damage, while main damage would come from Cluster Arrow, which should do nice damage to elite and then that would be spread to nearby enemies with Marked for Death.

All skills in my build could be divaded into several groups, which overlap with each other. Hatred generators would be Evasive Fire and Entangling Shot, slowing/CC skills would be Entangling Shot and Caltrops, AoE damage would be Caltrops, Strafe, Cluster Arrow and Marked for Death, major nuke would Cluster Arrow, and finally Equilibrium would be my awesome AoE/major nuke/crits galore. I acutally plan on gathering alot of +crit chance and +crit damage gear on my DH, with enough Attack to make it viable. Strafe has 520% attack speed increase which, along with some fast hand-crossbows with enchantments for extra attack speed, and Equilibrium that would mean increadibly high attack speed, 20+ attacks/sec, for few seconds, and with extremly high hatred cost. I actually calculated 2.5 second before I spend all my hatred, however I assumed alot of things, and I fairly certain that it would be incorrect, so let´s just say that cost will be very high.
Regarding potential changes, there aren´t too many I´d make. If it turns out that I Chain Gang is enough for slowing down enemies, or if it turns out that I need more damage, I would replace Caltoprs with Spike Traps, and then rune the spike traps with Indigo for up to 10 spike traps at Rlvl. 7. That would change build dynamic a bit. Also, previously mentioned Impale/Cluster Arrow debate, I probably won´t be able to decide before I am able to play the full version of the game, but if Impale turns out to be better option, I will obviously go with that.

Regarding passives, this build is fairly traditional DH glass-cannon build. So, I generally intend to be more then 10 yards away from monsters, and Steady Aim gives me 10% extra damage as long as that condition is met. Like I previously said, this build relays heavily on slowing, so Cull of the Weak is a natural choice for its 20% damage buff. And, because of all the CC, I don´t intend to be hit very often, and while I will try to maximaze my defense and resistances as long as it doesn´t hurt my build, it still fairly vulnerable which is my biggest concern for this build, so I chose brooding as my last passive, as long as I can keep enemies away, Brooding will heal me for nice amount. Another possiblity for alternative build is to replace Steady Aim with Fundamentals because of Strafe. If Strafe only allows shooting of normal attacks, and doesn´t allow you to shoot skills at 520% normal speed but only normal attacks, then Fundamantelas is great. Because it doubles the damage of normal attacks, Strafe would deal 70% per shot, and would restore 4 hatred per shot. Which would allow Strafe to refund itself and should still leave me with enough hatred to lauch Cluster Arrow.

Other versions of my build would be:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YeZRbQ!WcY!aYaYZZ

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YeZRhQ!YcW!aYaYYZ

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YePRbQ!Wcd!aYZYZZ

[miracle]

This is my Ninja build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#Rkifbj!XaU!aYccaZ

Smoke(lvl7 rune +80 hatred per use) + movespeed passive + sentry tether ward to position / escape

Smoke + strafe .. main DPS im a throwing knife ninja

Caltrops .. CC but mostly for the +10% (lvl7 rune) crit to match Strafe

Grenades .. form of CC and secondary back up damage when running extremely low on resources or trying to conserve depends on how decent the knockback is can find much uses for it

Preparation .. wih lvl7 rune will have very nice pool of displine to get ton of smokes off

You basically strafe around and during harder fights/bosses set up tether ward with smoke/talent and caltrops/grenade for CC

talent night stalker will work very well with strafe/tether to further help upkeeping smoke screen/caltrops

[plagueundying]

Hey guys, I'm kind of new to the whole Diablo thing, but I'm definitely playing DH when D3 is released. I was hoping someone could look over my build and tell me what could be done better or differently.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ZSadQe!bdV!aZbbYY

Impale-Alabaster Rune for ridiculous crit dmg on bosses
Multishot-Crimson Rune for groups
Hungering Arrow-Golden Rune for ridiculous pierce effect chance for groups
Vault-Golden Rune for escape with greater movement capability
Marked for Death-Indigo Rune for chain killing large groups
Entangling Shot-Indigo Rune for slowing large groups

Thanks all

[reflexii]

Demon Hunter has really been the most interesting champion for me to spectate so far from gameplay videos and such.

Got this idea of Mass discipline-build that uses massive discipline regeneration skills and spams sentries(hopefully you can have more than one up at a time!) and other useful discipline-skills: LINK (http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ScibQj!cUV!abcZYa)

Actives:

Multishot w/ Alabaster Rune -- My primary discipline regenerator for masses of monsters. 6 discipline per shot should be enough for sentry/caltrops/MFD spam and an occasional Smoke Screen as well. The best part about this is that we can only see that it regenerates 6 discipline with level 4 runestones. It would be ridiculous if it gives like 10 discipline at max level of rune :). Also this skill deals good-ish multi target damage, so thats great!

Bola Shot w/ Golden Rune -- My second discipline regenerator thats designed primarily for single targets or very small groups, when my Multishot would only get like 1-2 discipline a shot. Bonus is that when i'm low on both hatred AND discipline, spamming this will ultimately boost both pools.

Sentry w/ Alabaster Rune -- The core skill of my build. Getting tons of these up in a bossfight SHOULD kill the boss pretty quickly. I still wonder if the sentries are targetable by monsters or do they just run past them. Rune is there just to bring some survivability to myself, my follower and possible partners playing.

Caltrops w/ Crimson Rune -- Just there to add some crowd control with slow and minor damage with rune. Also my passives give 20% more damage to slowed targets. Also really spammable with massive discipline regen.

Marked For Death w/ Indigo Rune -- Great ability for mob killing and bosskilling alike. Imo a must have for all Demon Hunters, but thats just me! :)

Smoke Screen w/ Obsidian Rune -- My primary Hatred generator and escape mechanism. Basically i can spam this and Multishot and neither my discipline or my hatred globe should be empty when there is bunch of monsters around.

Possible Changes?:

I have a variation to this build with changing Smoke Screen to Preparation with Crimson rune. It's better at regenerating all hatred, but then you dont have great escape mechanism when things get dicy. So if you want to do this change you should in my opinion change Caltrops to Vault with any runestone and change your Cull Of The Weak passive to something else i considered below (probably Vengeance?). Changing the passive isn't really a MUST, given that enemies will be slowed by 50% for 3 seconds when they attack your Follower (lvl10 skill for Templar)

Passives:

Cull Of The Weak -- Basically adds more damage to my build when monsters are slowed by caltrops. Replaceable if you want something else.

Perfectionist -- A must have for this build in my opinion. 20% off of discipline costs is HUGE!

Archery -- I think I'm gonna be just a Bow-guy, and 10% damage increase seems helpful. This slot is certainly replaceable by either of the passives below.

Custom Engineering -- 100% Duration increase for Caltrops, Sentry and MFD. Didn't feel like i need those given that Sentry and MFD last 20s/30s respectively and 6 seconds is enough for caltrops imo. Could be useful though.

Vengeance -- 50 Maximum hatred seems pretty huge to me. Thats 3 more multishots for example. Didn't feel like I'd need this though, I have good regen on both resources. My mind might change after actual gameplay :).

Oh and btw. Will be using a templar follower with his 1hatred/1discipline aura as well, so that helps a bit! LINK (http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/follower#0011)

Tell me what you think?

Cheers!

[plagueundying]

Hey guys, I was wondering if this is a viable build and if you could give suggestions and comments
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ZPSeQd!bVh!aZbYYb
Impale: Alabaster Rune: Big hit for bosses
Cluster Arrow: Crimson Rune: HUGE hit with some elemental dmg added in
Multishot: Crimson/Golden Rune: For groups, Golden Rune possibly if lacking elemental dmg
Entangling Shot: Indigo Rune: Snare for groups, with Indigo Rune for increased targets
Marked for Death: Indigo Rune: Debuff, Indigo Rune for chain effect
Vault: Golden Rune/Indigo Rune: Escape/OH **** button, Golden Rune for spam possibility/Indigo for increased distance

Vengeance: Increased Hatred capacity. Enough said.
Archery: Increased Bow dmg, 2H Xbow with 100% for bosses?
Sharpshooter: Increased Crit for bosses?

Any suggestions and tips would be extremely appreciated.
Thanks

[reflexii]

plagueundying: I'm going to suggest some things that first came to my head. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong with these ones, just giving some ideas! :)

First thing is Cluster Arrow & Multishot. Do you have a different usage for these skills? As far as I'm concerned, both skills are used for the same thing - killing a bunch of monsters at once. I would remove either of them (probably Multishot with that setup. Dunno really, Multishot with crimson could be really strong too).

Second thing I noticed is that your build requires a LOT of hatred! Cluster Arrow and Impale take quite a lot of it. We need some kind of skill that regens it quicky-quick imo. What I would suggest is changing the rune on Entagling Shot from Indigo to Golden. We can't slow that many enemies with one shot (not that big of a problem imo, see third section!) but we get whopping 8 hatred per cast! That should keep us spamming our main abilities.

Third thingy: Given that you are using a Critical Hit -idea on your build, I'd suggest you to add Caltrops with Alabaster runestone for even more critting action. This would help also against melee mobs that would get slowed as well when they come close to you. I'd change the Archery passive though for Night Stalker. You have plenty of crit with this build and with now three discipline abilities your discipline pool might run dry pretty quickly (not sure though).

The end build with these changes would look like this: LINK! (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#ZPbeQd!bXh!aZabYb)


These are just minor modifications for your build. If you like them, change them :). Overall I think your build is pretty thought out and should work pretty well.

[plagueundying]

Thanks so much reflexii, I hadn't really thought out the whole resource management thing, and I guess i probably could have considered that.
Also, since you say my build will run low on Hatred very fast, I was wondering whether I should use the Night Stalker passive for Discipline regen or possibly Fundamentals for the extra Hatred Regen (or is this covered by the Golden Runed Entangling Shot?). Also, when I was planning out the Multishot and Cluster Arrow idea, I was under the impression that the Crimson Rune for the Cluster arrow made it more of a single target ability, I guess that wasn't really the right reasoning.
Anyway, thanks so much for your help with my build, I really appreciate the advice.
Totally can't wait until D3
See you around

[reflexii]

I think Golden Runed Entagling Shot should be enough for all your hatred needs (I could be wrong here). Also, as far as I know Fundamentals passive works only with your normal attack (no skills, just regular attack), so I'm not that thrilled by that choice at all :).

[plagueundying]

Thanks, I just needed that stuff clarified. So you do you think if I take the Golden Rune with Entangling Shot, do you think I will still have adequate slowing capabilities without the Indigo Rune bonus? I think I probably will with the addition of Caltrops, not to mention the crit bonus from standing inside them.

[reflexii]

Dont know really. Would need some actual gameplay experience from the game to answer those :P. There are plenty of choices to be honest. You could put Entangling Shot back to mass-slow rune and change Caltrops to Grenades and use those to get a lot of Hatred (with the passive that reduces Cluster Arrows hatred cost and adds more hatred per cast to grenades as well). It's all about preference.

[galzohar]

Obviously, a hatred generator is enough to make sure you're never stuck just staring at the enemy waiting for regen. Whether there will be ways to generate more hatred in a way that will benefit your total damage over other alternatives or not is much more difficult to say :)

[plagueundying]

I guess you're right, we can really be sure of anything until we get actual gameplay time. However, if I switch to the grenade option, then I lose the crit bonus from caltrops, not exactly something I want to give up with my impale choice. I guess I'll just have to wait until it comes out to see.
Thanks

[somedudecrush]

I may have gone a bit overboard with the rockets, but I am crazy about them.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YXSRPd!USa!acccYb

Hopefully, my strategy of:
1)Blast the living **** out of everything that moves with rockets.
2)Reload on hatred with Evasive fire
3)Blast with rockets
4)Vault away if they get too close
is viable in Inferno mode. Can't think that it would though.

Alternatively, strafe does not look like a very powerful offensive skill and pure offense is what I was going for, so Preparation would take strafe's place so that I don't run out of discipline so quickly.

[galzohar]

That's a lot of hatred spenders. Remember you'll only really be able to use one of them at a time. I don't think the ability to choose which skill to spend hatred on is worth hefty skill slot cost.

Additionally, I find the mix of vault and evasive fire a bit weird. If you wanna vault before evasive fire backflips you, pick a more damaging hatred generator! If you want to use the backflips, find something better to spend your extra discipline on (if you'll even have extra discipline, we'll have to wait and see about that).

So in short: Pick 1-2 hatred spenders and use the rest of the slots for more SITUATIONAL skills (there are plenty, such as preperation, fan of knives, rain of vengeance). Either pick a more damaging hatred generator or a better way to spend your extra discipline. Passives might also need re-consideration, but gameplay experience is needed to truly tell.

[Karpalo]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fPURQT!VTS!bYZcbb

This is the one i'm planning to use. Companion and Shadow Power runestone are kind a question marks at this stage, but that's pretty much the core. Cluster arrow for packs and Strafe for single/dual target dps. Fill the hatred pool with grenades extremely quickly.

[galzohar]

Sounds like a discipline-starved build to me... Taking discipline regeneration rates into account, you will not have enough to keep using both marked for death and shadow power. I'd replace one of them with preparation (with golden, alabaster, or maybe obsidian, though I personally like the golden since the build has no other healing sources).

[Karpalo]

Marked for death is purely reserved for big fights like bosses and elites. I think that generally speaking you need to choose with shadow power and marked for death. There are not many builds that can handle using both with basic rotation.

With 3 discipline from the armor you can do marked for death and double shadow power if you have templar out. In co-op you need to be bit more conservative with shadow power usage because there is 5 second cap before you can activate the second shadow power.

[snurrfint]

The melee demon hunter.

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WgbUdk!dcf!acZcZY

What makes this DH unique is that she is melee and doesn't use any bow/x-bow attack what so ever.

Core skills+runes and passives:

Fundamentals - Passive

Increases the damage of your Basic Attack by 100%. Your Basic Attack restores 4 Hatred.

This is a must for the melee DH. There are no melee hatred generators for the DH what so ever, So therefor this passive is a bless. 100% increased dmg for basic attacks means 200% weapon dmg and 4 hatred per attack. This can be compared to some of the other hatred generators like:

Hungering arrow - 85% dmg and 3 hatred.
Evasive fire - 115% dmg and 4 hatred.
Bola Shot - 100% dmg + 75% spash and 3 hatred.

These are unruned versions but Fundamentals is still pretty impressive in comparison I think.



Chakram - Shuriken Cloud


Sorround yourself in spinning shakrams for 40 sec dealing 105% weapon dmg per second as physical to nearby enemies.

Awesome melee skill, reminds me of blades from the d2 assasin. This skill only cost 10 hatred and last for 40 seconds so the effective cost is 0,25 hatred per second.



Fan of knives - Fan of daggers


450% weapon dmg to every thing within 10 yards, slows movement speed by 65% for 4 sec + 20% chance to stun for 3 seconds. 20 hatred. Cooldown 10 sec.

The skill is extreamly important to this build, and that is explained by the next two passives.



Cull the weak - Passive


Damage against slowed enemies increased by 20%.



Numbing traps - Passive



Enemies hit by Fan of Knives, Spike Trap and Caltrops have their damage reduced by 30% for 3 seconds.

Toghether with Cull the weak this means 30% less dmg taken and 20% more dmg given after a Fan Of Knives or a Caltrops. This ofc leads us on to our next skill choice.



Caltrops - Jagged spikes


Lay a trap of caltrops on the ground that activates when an enemy approaches. Once sprung, the caltrops slow the movement of enemies within 12 yards by 65%. + 60% dmg/s. This trap lasts 6 seconds.

Since FoK only slows for 4 seconds, this build needs something to slow down enemies for the next 6 seconds while FoK is on CD. This is needed to maintain both prevoius passives.



Complimentary skills:

The rest of the skill choises are really up in the air you but I would choose:


Shodow Power - Gloom = 30% increased attack speed and 40% dodge for 8 seconds. 20 dicipline. Insane!
Vault - Trail of Cinders = Toumble 35 yards acrobaticly. + 150% weapon dmg to everything along you path.
Preparation - Invigoration = Instantly restore all dicipline + increased maximum dicipline by 15.



Other good choises are:




Smoke screen
Sentry
Companion
Impale - Awareness



Weapons: Sword and shield style for extra defence.

Stats:



Attack: Alot
Precision: Nothing/Minimum
Defence: Alot
Vitality: Alot

Since we want to have Shadow Power up as much as possible I think that a lot of +dicipline will be very useful for this build.

[kar]

Hey, I made this pvp demon hunter build for the other thread about strafe. See what you think!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YRUijk!aXV!bbYcab

Hatred Gen:
Evasive Fire (G): reduce backflip cost

Hatred Spender:
Strafe (G): movement speed increased while strafing

Discipline:
Shadow Power (I): movement speed increase
Smokescreen (O): gain hatred while invisible
Sentry (A): also creates a shield for allies
Preparation (G): also gain health on use

Passive:
Tactical Advantage: increase movement speed after using smokesreen, evasive fire
Night Stalker: crits can restore 1 discipline
Archery: +crit% or crit dmg

Basic plan is to annoy the hell out of people by keeping distance, setting sentries, and generally strafing around like a bastard. The advantage of this build is high movement speed and high attack speed while moving. Another advantage is quick emergency access to health, hatred, and discipline.

Here's a similar build, but with rockets. I don't think it's quite as focused, but it could pack more of a punch:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YRUijk!aXS!bcYccb

[galzohar]

Melee DH: Seems like too many disc spenders, and with the rune you put in chakaram, you don't really have hatred spenders.

Don't know if there's really any point discussing PvP builds, as they are extremely sensitive to tiny nuances in combat mechanics.

[snurrfint]

Melee DH: Seems like too many disc spenders, and with the rune you put in chakaram, you don't really have hatred spenders.


Yeah I think you are right, that was one of my concerns too. That's why I suggested taking Impale - Awareness as a possible swap-out. With that, you deal 275% weapon dmg to a single target, and about 115% weapon dmg to all surrounding enemies within 10 yards. This makes it a pretty awesome fury spender for a melee build even though it's a ranged skill.

The problem is that I don't know what to swap out. Shadow power with 30% increased attack speed and 50% dodge seems like too good to pass up for a melee build. And Shadow Power without Preparation will cost too much to keep going when you need it.

Then the only option is to swap out vault, and that will harm movement ability severely. But with 50% dodge and 2 slows I think you will survive most encounters. To pass up vault in PvP is a no-no, but this is a PVM build, so I guess it will be ok?

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WgbUZk!dcf!acZcbc

Oh, yes, I changed the rune for Preparation also. With obsidian you will get more dicipline but over a longer period. I think that's worth it to be honest. With the instant restore you must wait until you are completely out of dicipline to get the most out of it, but with obsidian you can pretty much use it whenever you want.

Suggestions?

[narcotix]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#VYebSQ!cYV!ZcYZZc



Discipline Skills
Marked for Death(Valley of Death, 15 yard wide for 16/sec +20% dmg)
Caltrops(Jagged Spikes, 52/sec Weapon Dmg)
I plan to keep large areas slowed along with taking extra dmg - 40% total from passive and mark, as well as the 52/s Weapon Dmg from the Spikes as well.

Hatred Generators
Entangling Shot(Chain Gang, up to 6 targets chained)
Evasive Fire (Parting Gift,poison dmg and 85% dmg Poison bomb 7 yards wide when backflip activated)
Use Entangling Shot to also keep things slowed and far away to take advantage of Steady Aim passive for extra 10% dmg. Evasive fire when needed for dmg, to create distance or to drop poison bomb.

Hatred Spenders
Multishot(Full Broadside, 182% damage)
Impale (Overpenetration, 268% dmg but will pierce in a straight line)
Use multishot on the large amount of marked/slowed mobs. Impale for stronger single targets, narrow hallways etc.



Passives
Cull the Weak (slowed targets take 20%)
Archery(+ dmg, + crit depending on what I find)
Steady Aim (+10% dmg when no targets in 10 yards)

[Elfik]

I've come up with a new build, a variant on one of my older builds: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#SZglik!bUd!aYZbZZ

It uses the fundamentals passive to generate hatred in a pinch, but the main source of hatred is from the skill preparation, runed to replenish all hatred. All passives are focused on resource generation/conservation. Multishot is there as the main aoe attack, and runed to generate discipline. This allows the preparation skill to be renewable energy, like tidal power plants. Impale is there as a single target stunning attack. Fan of knives is there to obliterate ennemies who get too close, and rain of vengeance is there to obliterate enemies. figure between all my resource generation I should be able to defend myself in a pinch with either cooldown skill, but if all else fails, I have smoke screen, runed for damage.

In all likelihood come release this thing won't exist but it looks good in my imagination at least.

[Inarius]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#YeZXQk!Vbc!ZYYYYZ

Active Skills
Evasive Fire (Shrapnel, slight AoE, fire damage)
Entangling Shot (Chain Gang, slow up to 6 targets)
Impale (Liquid Flame, +90% weapon damage in 2 seconds)
Rapid Fire (High Velocity, poison damage and 55% chance to pierce)
Marked for Death (Contagion, mark spreads after marked target is killed)
Preparation (Punishment, no cooldown/21 discipline cost/restores all hatred)

Passive Skills
Archery
Vengeance
Cull the Weak

Playstyle
This build should be a beast in PvE and not too shabby for PvP, though the focus is clearly PvE. First "Mark for Death" an enemy, kill it with evasive fire or rapid fire. After the mark spreads, kill the infected monsters, thus further spreading the mark. Rapid Fire acts as the main damage skill which should be used most of time. Because it is heavy on the hatred reserve, Preparation is used to replenish all hatred. This build doesnt have much Discipline cost, only the occasional backflip and the marked for death. With Preparation runed to Punishment I shouldnt have hatred problems, enabling me to use Rapid Fire constantly. Entangling Shot runed to Chain Gang helps keeping your distance, same goes for Evasive Shots backflip. Impale is the go to bosskiller.

Vengeance allows further use of rapid fire, cull the weak is a good choice because of Chaing Gang. The third passive skill, here Archery, can be changed to your liking. For PvP I'd swap it for Thrill of the Hunt for example.

[reflexii]

Have to post this, as I think it's pretty interesting. Will use this most likely with my first demon hunter (who is going to gold find like a madman): http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aRVjQh!afW!abYYYc

Massive discipline regeneration from different stuff, AMAZING movement speed buffs. Fully geared with gold find within first week of the d3 (I hope) and selling gold in RMAH. We'll see how this will turn out. Hopefully the damage of Hungering Arrow and Multishot will be enough alone in inferno (doubt it), otherwise I have to run Hell only =/

[basekick]

The Ultimate Critical Hunter:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#acdQhk!bTe!aYbZZZ (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#acdQhk%21bTe%21aYbZZZ)

Editors Note: This build is very much dependent on the equipped gear of the demon-hunter, specifically xbows and lots of critical bonus gear (% chance to crit and % critical damage increase).

Introduction:

This build centers around the constant use of both Rapid Fire and Strafe to maximize attacks per second, granting the highest possible chances of critical hits to occur.

Actives:

Hungering Arrow - Piercing Arrow: It was a tough choice between Piercing Arrow and Spray of Teeth, but ultimately, more pierce = more opportunities to connect with a critical hit, which is a larger benefit than a 50% WD AOE. Not to mention, we need a good generator of Hatred, and at 3 per shot, it will easily be a large benefactor.

Rapid Fire - High Velocity: The bread-and-butter of this build. Spam this frequently and it should be a barrage of critical hit awesomeness. Piercing chance simply makes a larger opportunity for enemies to be hit per shot, and obviously get smacked with a critical blow. Almost went with Rockets (cause they are ****ing ROCKETS), but this makes more sense for crowd control.

Strafe - Stinging Steel: The Secondary choice when fighting a large mob. In any situation where I'm surrounded and need a larger effect than Rapid Fire can give me, strafe can handle it. I considered replacing this with multi-shot, but the Skill Rune that DOUBLES my damage output on critical hits is simply phenomenal in this build.

Rain Of Vengeance - Beastly Bombs: The most replaceable skill in this build, and I'll have to experiment a bit when the game is released. Nevertheless, there isn't a single AOE skill in this build, and Beastly Bombs would help tremendously during those times when you simply have way too many dudes to pick off in a short amount of time.

Companion - Bat Companion: Obviously this build is a Hatred hog, focusing around 2 active skills that suck the hatred out of you. The extra 3 Hatred regeneration a second is an absolute must. Essentially lowers rapid fire's channeling to only 7 per second.

Preparation - Punishment: Since I will only be using a bat companion as my discipline skill, and is not a spammable one at that, it makes perfect sense to devote this skill to doubling the possible channeling time of Rapid Fire. Very necessary.

PASSIVES:

Sharpshooter: Psssh duh. In a critical hit build, you want to add how many times you crit on enemies anyway you can. This adds 3% every second until you land a blow. Hell yes.

Archery: This adds a 10% Critical hit chance when I use hand crossbows. Sign me up!

Vengeance: Since we are a Hatred hog, having that extra 25 is huge, not to mention gaining hatred from health globes during and after fights is a great way to keep up the pace.

Conclusion:

I think I've made my point clear here. The main idea to focus on here is that critical hits can do wonders on your damage output. You can focus on the little elements to slowly put up your damage, or you can remove those in place of critical hit chances and blow all of it out of the water. I'm very curious to find out what items are released that can be put into this build to take it to the next level. Let me know what you guys think!

[Elfik]

^Nice build. I would consider caltrops "bait the trap" for this build as it increases your crit chance by 10%. Also, consider shadow power "night bane" as an alternate to preparation "punishment". It regens only 45 hatred, but it grants 20% lifesteal which may be needed in higher difficulties. Spray of teeth looks weak now, but hopefully Blizzard will buff that skill. Also, fan of knives is a good aoe skill with a much shorter cooldown than rain of vengeance, so it might work better in this build. Then again, strafe hits things all around you already, making fan of knives a bit redundant.

[reflexii]

Nice build there. I'm probably trying something like that too at some point, but I'm still going to give you "advice" on this, even though they are only my opinions!

What I would change?

Rapid fire -> Multishot(discipline regen rune)
Rain of vengeance -> Vault(any rune) OR Caltrops(any rune)

why?

I feel like you already have a ton of single-target damage with Hungering arrow and Strafe, and your aoe skills are bit lacking. Thats why I thought of Multishot. I believe 100% hit to every enemy in a huge arc is better than 40% piercing rapid fire that can only focus on small area of the battle. Multishot is also less hatred-intensive and with discipline regeneration you can spam anything as long as you want if there are plenty of enemies, as you can just spam multishot and then use preparation to get it back.

I also noted that you don't have an escape mechanism at all. Or any crowd control for that matter. No slow, no movement skills, no invisibility, no stuns etc, you get the point. I believe that there is nothing you can do against some (or most?) inferno bosspacks around. Mobs do come with freeze, teleport, extra fast and such that you just can't avoid by running away. I would get Vault but anything escape-related will probably suffice.

But all in all, great idea of using critical hits to your advantage. I just checked the affix section, and the maximum possible number of increased %chance to crit is 54%. Although one slot is only for offhand (quiver), and you are using double hand crosbows, so the number for you is 44%. Should be enough though, thats a lot of crit already.

Hopefully I helped :)

[kar]

Smoke Screen DH

This build spends a lot of discipline on Smoke Screen, exploiting the +40 hatred gen from the 'Breath Deep' rune. Other skills complement the basic goals of discipline generation, critical hits, and strong varied attacks.

Bola Shot 'Bitter Pill' - fallback hatred + discipline gen
Multishot 'Supression Fire' - Primary attack ... lots of crits, high discipline gen, key skill of the build
Impale 'Grievous Wound' - for more single target offensive punch, takes advantage of +crit% build
Smoke Screen 'Breathe Deep' - Invisibility + hatred gen. Synergy with Multishot. Used often
Vault - Mobility, set up for multishot
Preparation - Fuel to keep the multishot + smoke screen engine running

Night Stalker - Crits restore discipline
Archery - more crits
Perfectionist - reduce discipline costs

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bRZjVh!Xef!YbbbYa

[reflexii]

kar: Well rounded build there in my opinion, only question I must ask is why choose Invigoration rune for Preparation instead of Focused Mind? I'm just curious, as that +10 discipline for 5 seconds seems kinda lackluster for my eyes with 45 second cooldown :P

[kar]

Yeah, who knows what the best rune for preparation will be? I think the life-gain one looks appealing too. I'm not in beta so I don't even know how much discipline a DH has at full tank.

IMO Focused mind is there to make preparation a more regular cast skill instead of emergency-use only... which doesn't sound bad, I agree.

If Invigoration fills discipline to max and then gives +10 on top of that, I see the extra +10 as a nearly free 2-second invisibility and +40 hatred.

[reflexii]

Yeah, there are quite a few opinions about Preparation rune effects and which is the best, we can truly see what is best after the release I'm afraid :P. DH has 30 discipline at all levels, it doesn't increase at all with levels. Although I have 38 discipline right now with my class. Crossbows, offhands, hoods and things like that give +maximum discipline as one of the affixes, so it's quite possible we could see discipline grow to around 70-80 with items on full gear.

It's true that it fills in all the discipline with the skill + gives the bonus, say with invogorate preparation you get instantly filled up to 40 discipline, and five seconds after if it doesn't get used, it goes back to 30 (presumably?) All in all it's about people's preferences on this case, I prefer Focused Mind because it gives more discipline overall than any other rune available.

[Elfik]

Yeah, there are quite a few opinions about Preparation rune effects and which is the best, we can truly see what is best after the release I'm afraid :P. DH has 30 discipline at all levels, it doesn't increase at all with levels. Although I have 38 discipline right now with my class. Crossbows, offhands, hoods and things like that give +maximum discipline as one of the affixes, so it's quite possible we could see discipline grow to around 70-80 with items on full gear.

It's true that it fills in all the discipline with the skill + gives the bonus, say with invogorate preparation you get instantly filled up to 40 discipline, and five seconds after if it doesn't get used, it goes back to 30 (presumably?) All in all it's about people's preferences on this case, I prefer Focused Mind because it gives more discipline overall than any other rune available.

Hold on a minute...If you can get 80 discipline with the right gear, then wouldn't invigoration be better in that case? I read it as it replenishes all discipline as per the vanilla skill, plus it increases max discipline by 10. That means for a DH with 80 discipline max, but zero at the time he uses invigoration, the skill restores 90 discipline! It seems possible that invigoration may regenerate more than focused mind after a certain point in the game (when the DH gets above 35 max discipline: 36+10 > 45) unless I'm reading the skill wrong?

Regardless the two seem to have different purposes. Invigoration is about having as much discipline as possible right away, while focused mind is about having more discipline in the long run, but it comes in gradually. I try not to worry too much about how they are currently balanced, but rather how they were intended to work is more important, given that Blizzard will sort out the balancing issues (a tall order, I know).

[primEvil]

This is my classic multishot/guided arrow build with spike trap support. This build is centered around having a large, fast recovering hatred pool so that I can spam multishot while having spike trap add extra damage. Hungering arrow is used for hatred recovery and single targets (while it does less weapon damage than multishot, the same arrow can pierce a single target multiple times, just like in pre-1.10 d2, so I think it will be a very good skill to use against single targets and bosses). I think that the combination of bat companion, vengeance and the mortal enemy rune on Marked for Death will allow me to spam multishot continuously. D2 style! XD

The battle sequence would be as follows: create some distance between me and the mob (vault makes this easy). Cast spike trap (only one click needed because of scatter rune) and marked for death, and spam multi shot until I either run out of hatred or until the mob is mostly dead. Finish the remaining monsters off with hungering arrow.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aRVUTQ!bYe!aYcYcZ

[basekick]

^Nice build. I would consider caltrops "bait the trap" for this build as it increases your crit chance by 10%. Also, consider shadow power "night bane" as an alternate to preparation "punishment". It regens only 45 hatred, but it grants 20% lifesteal which may be needed in higher difficulties. Spray of teeth looks weak now, but hopefully Blizzard will buff that skill. Also, fan of knives is a good aoe skill with a much shorter cooldown than rain of vengeance, so it might work better in this build. Then again, strafe hits things all around you already, making fan of knives a bit redundant.

I didn't even notice that Caltrops Skill Rune! I think I'd swap it in place of rain of vengeance. Interesting idea of going with fan of knives, but I love my strafe, and it should handle the CC well. I certainly will consider "night bane", since I should have a decent amount of hatred regen as it is, and preperation might be too much. Thanks a lot for the input!


Nice build there. I'm probably trying something like that too at some point, but I'm still going to give you "advice" on this, even though they are only my opinions!

What I would change?

Rapid fire -> Multishot(discipline regen rune)
Rain of vengeance -> Vault(any rune) OR Caltrops(any rune)

why?

I feel like you already have a ton of single-target damage with Hungering arrow and Strafe, and your aoe skills are bit lacking. Thats why I thought of Multishot. I believe 100% hit to every enemy in a huge arc is better than 40% piercing rapid fire that can only focus on small area of the battle. Multishot is also less hatred-intensive and with discipline regeneration you can spam anything as long as you want if there are plenty of enemies, as you can just spam multishot and then use preparation to get it back.

I also noted that you don't have an escape mechanism at all. Or any crowd control for that matter. No slow, no movement skills, no invisibility, no stuns etc, you get the point. I believe that there is nothing you can do against some (or most?) inferno bosspacks around. Mobs do come with freeze, teleport, extra fast and such that you just can't avoid by running away. I would get Vault but anything escape-related will probably suffice.

But all in all, great idea of using critical hits to your advantage. I just checked the affix section, and the maximum possible number of increased %chance to crit is 54%. Although one slot is only for offhand (quiver), and you are using double hand crosbows, so the number for you is 44%. Should be enough though, thats a lot of crit already.

Hopefully I helped :)

You know, I was strongly considering adding multi-shot into this build somehow, but at the end of the day, I figured that having a solid crit-ready rapid fire with pierce would prove to be more valuable than a multi-shot, simply given the fact that mobs are not also in a perfect circle around the hero, but rather clustered in a group, making pierce an incredibly asset. However, I will definitely be testing the two out quite a bit come release.

Good point about have little CC and a heavy reliance on kiting. I might swap Punishment for vault if need be, but I would like to think that I can deal enough damage quick enough to grant myself a safe passage out of any tight situation.

I'm not 100% what you're getting at in terms of checking the affix section, but I assume you're indicating that given the current affixes, if every single piece of equipment I wore had the modifier, the max about of crit % I could have would be 54% or 44%. Well, I am banking on the idea that Blizzard has some unique items that will focus on Crit% as well, and I expect to do my best to get a hold of those ASAP. We'll see what I can come up with come release.

Thanks for your input a lot, this gives me quite a bit to think about before (and after) release!

[reflexii]

Yes the affix -part of my post is about %crit chance spawning on items. This affix can't spawn on all items and the maximum number to get from items is 54%. I don't think blizzard will add any items focusing on crit percentage, as all items are based on random properties. You'll just have to have a lot of luck to get a legendary to spawn with maximum %crit chance (wont still get higher than 54 though).

[basekick]

Yes the affix -part of my post is about %crit chance spawning on items. This affix can't spawn on all items and the maximum number to get from items is 54%. I don't think blizzard will add any items focusing on crit percentage, as all items are based on random properties. You'll just have to have a lot of luck to get a legendary to spawn with maximum %crit chance (wont still get higher than 54 though).

Whaaaaa? Legenendary items will not have specific stats? I think you're misinformed there. That's just a rare with a name then!

They had those '+4 to random stat' labels when the item guide was originally released just because it was still a work in progress.

I would super disappointed if they dropped the ball on uniq--I mean legendary Items that badly.

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure where 54% is coming from. We have 13 items (Head, shoulders, bracers, torso, belt, boots, pants, gloves 2x weapons, 2x rings, and an amulet), and if it is a consistent modifier, we can't get 54%. Maybe you're including the passive that would grant an extra 10% if I use duel x-bows, but the 44%/13 doesn't cut it either.

Regardless, I expect there to be legenedary items that are geared toward a crit build. And I plan to take advantage of it!

[reflexii]

Ah yes, I was wrong with the legendary items there, had to google some (because I'm stubborn) to find out that there are set stats for legendary items plus SOME random affixes! Sorry about that :)

And no, I'm not taking the dual x-bow passive in the calculations. As far as I remember, %chance critical can spawn on shoulders, bows/xbows, offhand(quiver), helm and rings. Max for the armor pieces/weapons was 10% and for rings it was 7% (or so). Can't be sure of the items though, as diablonut's affix page is broken at the moment, so I'm just writing these through memory (could be wrong). But the sure thing was that it totaled maximum of 54% from all items that can spawn %chance critical affix.

There are different affixes for legendary items and magic/rare items. Some affixes will appear on all types, when some will appear on legendaries only. %critical chance still doesn't go over 54% mark, even with legendaries (as of patch 13 stuff, so it might not appear on the game like this when shipped). Of course there can be legendaries that cross the boundaries of affix selection and spawn %critical chance on items that it wouldn't normally spawn on, but as of now, we don't know that, so it's impossible to speculate.

[Raesene]

I decided to try to create a build with a level restriction of level 30. I wanted to get some sense of how a demon hunter might play once you have reached the end of normal and are starting to play the "real game", but don't necessarily have all the rune options and passives available.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aZYTkQ!ecY!abaZaa

[Harlow]

http://www.infoocean.info/avatar3.jpgI have been tinkering with a somewhat similar build, but what you really lack here is utility.

[Raesene]

What type of utility were you thinking?

[Strills]

This is the build I figure I'll end up with for Inferno;

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fcdTiQ!aeY!YZaZab (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fcdTiQ%21aeY%21YZaZab)

Im a sucker for bows, and thus I focus heavily on skills fitting for a bow wielding toon.

Might as well go through the skills to clarify why I picked them, and their purpose in the build.

Evasive Fire is used as my primary skill. This allows me to blast away while still feeling safe, considering the backflip which will trigger if the enemy get too close. It's runed for an even longer backflip, for safety reasons.
Rapid Fire will come to use when I need to focus down some strong, nasty demon. Therefore it is runed with a slow, so that I can focus that one pesky enemy, while keeping him constantly slowed far away from myself.
Vault is my main defensive skill, used in emergencies if I happen to get caught in the midst of some mobs. Runed so that I do some DPS while vaulting, for the reason that it was too cool to pass up on. If it isn't as cool as it sound I might consider changing the rune.
Bat Companion is essential to this build because of how many skills I have that require hatred. 3 hatred a second will be really welcome. On another note, does anybody know wether the bat will deal some damage itself? The crow does, but the calculator doesn't say anything about it when runed.
Strafe is a skill I just had to pick, as it is so awesome. I guess it will be used as my main source of damage when I am far away from the enemy, blasting away on them. When they get closer, or I run out of hatred, I'll just swap over to Evasive Fire. Runed for more damage.
Multishot, my last skill, will be used to clear out any swarm of weak mobs fast, so that I can focus on the stronger ones. If the enemy decides to group up tight, it can also be used very effectively. Runed to grant me discipline for each enemy hit. This will ensure that I do not run out of discipline from all those backflips too fast.

To top all these skills of I chose Tactical Advantage to ensure that I stay in decent range of my targets, Archery to bump up my damage and Steady Aim to make use of the mobility I have - allowing me to deal even more damage from afar.

I don't really have any reliable crowd control, which could prove to be a problem. I am not sure which skill to replace for Entangling Shot as of now, however. If it turns out I really need that slow I guess I will have to sacrifice one of my chosen skills. :/

What do you think? Any ideas/doubts about my build? Any comment is appreciated. :)

[Karpalo]

Ah yes, I was wrong with the legendary items there, had to google some (because I'm stubborn) to find out that there are set stats for legendary items plus SOME random affixes! Sorry about that :)

And no, I'm not taking the dual x-bow passive in the calculations. As far as I remember, %chance critical can spawn on shoulders, bows/xbows, offhand(quiver), helm and rings. Max for the armor pieces/weapons was 10% and for rings it was 7% (or so). Can't be sure of the items though, as diablonut's affix page is broken at the moment, so I'm just writing these through memory (could be wrong). But the sure thing was that it totaled maximum of 54% from all items that can spawn %chance critical affix.

There are different affixes for legendary items and magic/rare items. Some affixes will appear on all types, when some will appear on legendaries only. %critical chance still doesn't go over 54% mark, even with legendaries (as of patch 13 stuff, so it might not appear on the game like this when shipped). Of course there can be legendaries that cross the boundaries of affix selection and spawn %critical chance on items that it wouldn't normally spawn on, but as of now, we don't know that, so it's impossible to speculate.

Legendaries seem to have lower quality affixes in general than their rare counterparts. For the moment it's also unclear how the primary and secodnary affix system works. Maybe it's possible that you could double dip with primary and secondary affixes if you get 2 differently named affixes which both still give the same attribute.

[Parexton]

Hi guys. I've never been that great diablo II player, and I've never used my own build.
This time I would like to try, but I need the opinion of much more experienced player.
I dunno if this builds are viable for later difficulties. Let's begin.

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bZgjfl!cae!aZYZcZ

1) Entangling Shot - Chain Gang Think it's great to hit and slow 4 mob at a time. I can avoid caltrops this way.
2) Impale - Chemical Burn For sturdy single targets.
3) Evasive fire - Surge For mobility. With surge is very disc - friendly. Has decent single target damage.
4) Marked for death - Valley of death More aoe damage. Thinh that with ES, I can hit at least two time before they go out the valley.
5) Rain of vengeance - Beastly bombs Well, that's some amazing aoe damage, but i'm not so sure about this skill because of the cooldown.
6) Shadow power - Gloom I don't like the idea of certain death every time I make a mistake. This could save me a lot of times. With cull the weak, Archery and maybe Steady aim instead of Tactical Advantage, I could do amazing damage for great lifesteal.

Passive

1) Cull the weak Think it's good with my ES.
2) Tactical advantage Not so sure about this one. It could be useful, bur maybe i could use Steady aim for more damage.
3) Archery Damage.


Think it's good enough?

I've thought of another build i want to show you.

http://eu.battle.net/d3/it/calculator/demon-hunter#bZVjfQ!cbe!aZbZYa

1) Entangling Shot - Chain Gang Same as above
2) Impale - Chemical Burn Same as above
3) Preparation - Battle Scar I choose this skill not for disc problems, but for the 60% health bonus. It can save my life. Of course it has a long cooldown, so maybe ater all shadow power is better.
4) Marked for death - Valley of death With preparation, I can spam it all the time to make the valley advance along the mobs. I don't know if Grim Reaper is better, i simply haven't understood what it does.
5) Evasive Fire - Displace Now I haven't discipline problems anymore, so: "Welcome 30y backflip!"
6) Multishot - Fire at Will As above, i don't know what to use for great aoe damage. Maybe this could do. Only 20 Hatred and no cooldown like RoV.

Passive

1) Cull the weak Same as above
2) Archery Same as above
3) Vengenace Not so sure about this. Of course that's more Impale or Multi shot, But maybe Steady aim is better.

This build has little level requirement. If I use Covering Fire istead of Displace, it requires only level 35.

Thank you for your patience.

[StuffFace]

After reviewing all of the options I had for effective Demon Hunter builds, I decided I wanted to be less of a Hunter and more of a Rogue. Therefore, I needed to create a build that felt "Up close and personal" rather than the standard "Pew-Pew from safety". First I looked at [Fan of Knives], carried over from World of Warcraft, this was one of the few skills that people remembered (If they didn't play a rogue themselves). Its awesome animation and sexy synergy with Tricks of the Trade made it very popular. At first glance the skill had retained all of its awesome and then some when moved into Diablo III, but a closer look stripped it of its potential. A ten second cooldown. Originally going to be my primary AoE, [Fan of Knives] now told me that I had to wait ten seconds at a time to kill things.

So I turned to [Strafe], with the [Stinging Steel] Rune this skill turned into a literal "Dance of Knives". I needed to be able to say, "My weapon of choice... is dance" and actually mean it. Now, how could I make it work? Well, lets think it through. I need Hatred Generation, thus [Companion - Bat Companion] and [Marked for Death - Mortal Enemy]. Even in the worst case scenario, [Strafe] should attack at least five times a second from what I had seen in videos, so that's fifteen Hatred per second, which should equal out with the Hatred usage and keep me dancing forever. Now there is survivability to consider. Since I'm going to be dancing up close to the enemy often, I need something that can heal me without making me break dance. I then realized that [Shadow Power - Well of Darkness] can do exactly that. Hmm, whats the catch? Well it only lasts for three seconds and costs twelve Discipline. I also wanted to have it up all the time for survivability and cool-points, so I needed something to regenerate my Discipline. I discovered that the Passive Skill [Night Stalker] was my best option (Assuming that the chance to proc is not awful), I would need some frequent Critical Strikes to pull it off though.

At first [Sharpshooter] seems like a viable choice, but it is no good for this type of build. Strafe is attacking too fast for the Critical Strike Rating gained to matter, seeing as the internal cooldown is one second and it needs to have a second to get even three percent Critical Strike Rating. Even as low as six percent Critical Strike Rating would take three seconds, roughly twelve attacks. This in mind, I started looking for other options, the two I found were [Caltrops - Bait the Trap] and the Passive Skill [Archery]. With the Passive Skill [Custom Engineering], [Caltrops] and [Marked for Death] will last twice as long. This means that while I am standing in the twelve meter diameter of [Caltrops] I gain ten percent Critical Strike Rating for the twelve second duration of the skill. On top of that, while using Dual Haxbows I gain an additional ten percent Critical Strike Rating due to [Archery]. With good gear and the Scoundrel I should peak somewhere around 35 percent Critical Strike Rating, maybe more.

So, if I'm using [Shadow Power] every five seconds at twelve Discipline per use and I'm doing five attacks a second, then atleast twelve of those 25 attacks need to Critically Strike and restore Discipline. Now the odds of that happening are sorta bad, but keep in mind this is all worst case scenario. Attack Speed boosts from gear and the Enchantress haven't been accounted for yet, and with those in mind this build should work. This build is pretty ineffective against groups of mobs and I plan to use it strictly for boss fights.

This build assumes a few details:

1) The chance for [Night Stalker] to proc doesn't suck.

2) Bosses can be slowed.

3) [Strafe] attacks atleast five times a second

If any of these turn out to be untrue, then the build will need to be revised drastically.

Thanks for reading and I hope you like this build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#igaVYj!XeU!bbbYcY (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#igaVYj%21XeU%21bbbYcY)

[Qvardz]

2) Bosses can be slowed.

if i recall correctly Leoric was immune to slows.

[Gothamson]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WRYThi!bcV!aZbaaZ

PVE - CC/Slows, Support Build.

First of all This build is best suited for playing with others in the advanced levels of the game.

Hate Generator
Bola Shot: Rune-Volatile Explosives: Right from the start your slowing up 1 enemy and laying down a 14 yard Radius AOE as a fast Hate Gen dealing 130%WD to the target and 110%WD to everything else caught in the explosion.

Hate Spender
Elemental Arrow-Frost Arrow: After initial hit, the arrow splits into many arrows for another AOE effect that deals 170%WD as cold and slows creatures hit 60% for 1sec. This is a cheap Hatred Attack at cost of 10 and can be used almost constantly.

Discipline Spender
Caltrops-Hooked spines: These can be spent liberally to impede enemies that move within its 12 yard area for 6 seconds by 80% at a cost of 6 Discipline.

Discipline Spender
Companion-Spider Companion: 30% Weapon damage and each hit slows an enemy by 60% for 2 Seconds at a cost of 10 Discipline.

Hatred Spender
Fan of Knives-Crippling Razors: When things get close and harry for you and your party, keep slowing them up with 320%WD at 10 yards and slow them 80% for 2 seconds at a cost of 20 Hatred.

Hatred Spender (Key ability)
Strafe-Drifting Shadow: Keep at 100% running speed and 120% weapon damage while active at a hate cost of 15. This alone allows you to keep control of choke points and your own proximity to groups of enemies.

Passives
Vengeance: Keep that Hate and Discipline rolling in.

Cull the Weak: Take advantage of all your slowing ability to get in a bit more damage.

Numbing Traps: Enemies that move past your slows will lose the damage potential by 25%.

In use: Summon Companion, Activate Strafe and Lay down Bola shots while quickly moving up to lay down Caltrops. Step back and activate Fan of Knives if your group is primarily ranged or Elemental Arrow if primarily melee. At same time your passives allow you to generate Hate and Discipline while doing more damage and taking less by those that make it up to you. This build allows many of your fellows to focus on Damage output, especially if they deal out alot of AOE and ranged attacks.

[jamesL]

worst possible build ?

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WeXdfi!gab!YZbbYa

[Zelas]

PvM build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fcXVTR!Yec!YZcbZZ (http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fcXVTR%21Yec%21YZcbZZ)

Main idea is to grab the biggest baddest crossbow and then abuse Cull The Weak with your cheap and powerful snarefest spenders, while additionally maximize the Steady Aim uptime with both snares and automatic kiting from Evasive Fire. Bat is entirely optional.


Evasive Fire acts as the Hatred generator and a poor's man Vault. it is also very good at keeping your distance from stuff for more Steady Aim abuse.

Smoke Screen is the emergency button, I expect Evasive Fire to often stick you in some corner, so you can use Smoke Screen to reposition. Also it grants you immunity to damage while it is up and breaks CC. Choking Gas rune is kinda insane, IMO, especially considering all the snares you have to make things stay in it longer.

Preparation is used to replenish Discipline, since you will probably have quite a lot of discipline occasionally waster with Evasive Shot. Heal rune adds is as another powerful emergency button to use.

Rapid Fire is your main single target nuke and it is pretty much automatically boosted by 15% with Cull the Weak, thanks to Web Shot rune.

Elemental Arrow with Frost Arrow rune is actually a very powerful AoE ability, dirt cheap and both applies and benefits from Cull the Weak.

Bat Companion is optional. I feel it benefits the build, since I intend to use it with a heavy crossbow, which is slow and thus benefits the most from a static hatred regeneration bonus. Alternatively, I feel that Rain of Vengeance could be a good option here.


Passives are standard, except for Cull the Weak, which will be consistently up with this build. Basically it makes Elemental Arrow even more powerful than runed Arcane Orb (Orb will do a bit more damage, but can's pierce and is much slower too, besides, you will be able to blast off like 15 Elemental Arrows in a row, all things considered) and Rapid Shot into one of the more powerful single target abilities there is.


The only downside I see here is that swarms of frost resistant enemies may become a problem, but if it ends up being too problematic in a long run, there is a Bat Companion slot that can easily be replaced with something to deal with it, for example Rain of Vengeance with Smoke Screen's Choking Gas, should be enough to take care of most AoE situations with frost resistant stuff. I guess another point for Rain of Vengeance in this build.

[Telzen]

Two builds I just made:
Slowing build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#acYkjT!bcU!bbacZZ

A keep moving build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bcdTVl!Yde!aabZYZ

Really like the second one. Companion doesn't seem to have a duration and I'm not sure if it can be killed. But if you only need to cast it one then that means I'll be able to use all my discipline on vault. Can't wait to try it.

[Hellpyre]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#iUVcPl!gfb!caZcYY

A purely thematic build, it doesn't have the utility to be of use solo (outside of Normal), but I like that the DH can get these really coherent themes going.

[Hellpyre]

worst possible build ?

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WeXdfi!gab!YZbbYa

Depends...Do you mean worst possible build that still maintains viability?

I want to see a naked run using: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#jXdYgV!ZTh!YbZcaZ
All hatred generation, no use for hatred. For the masochists among us.

[Perijoli]

Im thinking about this, please leave a comment if its good or bad :)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#icdTQY!beg!aZZZYa

Strafe - Main attack for mobs
Rapid Fire - For those hard bosses and other single targets.
Bat - For more hartred (no ****?)
Vault - Good defence skills so you can bounce away if need.
Caltrops - After vault just lay a trap to slow the targets too, also a good defence skill.
Multishot - Can be used as main attack if its alot of mobs.

Good or bad ?

[reflexii]

Goldfinding like a baws: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aeSdVT!aYe!aacbYY

[Kintara]

Im thinking about this, please leave a comment if its good or bad :)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#icdTQY!beg!aZZZYa

Strafe - Main attack for mobs
Rapid Fire - For those hard bosses and other single targets.
Bat - For more hartred (no ****?)
Vault - Good defence skills so you can bounce away if need.
Caltrops - After vault just lay a trap to slow the targets too, also a good defence skill.
Multishot - Can be used as main attack if its alot of mobs.

Good or bad ?
It's UNSTOPPABLE!

[Qvardz]

Im thinking about this, please leave a comment if its good or bad :)
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#icdTQY!beg!aZZZYa

Strafe - Main attack for mobs
Rapid Fire - For those hard bosses and other single targets.
Bat - For more hartred (no ****?)
Vault - Good defence skills so you can bounce away if need.
Caltrops - After vault just lay a trap to slow the targets too, also a good defence skill.
Multishot - Can be used as main attack if its alot of mobs.

Good or bad ?
you have no hatred generators (passive generation won't cut it), and grenadier passive is useless in your build.

[Perijoli]

you have no hatred generators (passive generation won't cut it), and grenadier passive is useless in your build.

What DH skill generate more hatred then ? And yes, grenadier is useless, did not read it fully:crazyeyes: That i will change

[SRPang]

Really like the themed Grenade/Rocket builds. Came up with this...what do you guys think?

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...kYT!fgh!abZaaZ (http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#UcPkYT!fgh!abZaaZ)

Going to use Cluster Arrow and Grenades to thin the packs out...Rapid Fire for focusing down single targets/bosses.

Will probably also get rid of Sentry in favor of Vault in Inferno for the added mobility. Still haven't decided if I want to use Perfectionist, Vengeance, Steady Aim, or Archery as my first passive skill. Will just have to see how the game plays out and what works best.

[Kintara]

Really like the themed Grenade/Rocket builds. Came up with this...what do you guys think?

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...kYT!fgh!abZaaZ (http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#UcPkYT!fgh!abZaaZ)

Going to use Cluster Arrow and Grenades to thin the packs out...Rapid Fire for focusing down single targets/bosses.

Will probably also get rid of Sentry in favor of Vault in Inferno for the added mobility. Still haven't decided if I want to use Perfectionist, Vengeance, Steady Aim, or Archery as my first passive skill. Will just have to see how the game plays out and what works best.
I'd go for Archery over Perfectionist. If you took Vault, Perfectionist makes a tiny bit more sense, but you're better off with Tactical Advantage. I don't think Steady Aim will play well with Grenades.

Also, Bat Companions aren't bad, but I don't really see the big deal with them. Wouldn't you rather have...say...Preparation-Punishment?

[domus]

Playing with lots of build ideas and this is one of the goofier ones I've built.

Non-Ranged Build, designed to pick a spot and tank it.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#beYXSg!XcV!accZcY

Chain em up then drop
Caltrops, drop traps & Shuriken Chakram Smokescreen as they get close, Shadow Power for oh noes...

Not ideal but sounds fun!

[SRPang]

I'd go for Archery over Perfectionist. If you took Vault, Perfectionist makes a tiny bit more sense, but you're better off with Tactical Advantage. I don't think Steady Aim will play well with Grenades.

Also, Bat Companions aren't bad, but I don't really see the big deal with them. Wouldn't you rather have...say...Preparation-Punishment?

After looking back through my passives, I would agree with you that if I stuck with this build I would probably go with Archery. Steady Aim really wouldn't make much sense. And if I did add vault I would have to see how fast I'm burning through my Discipline. If I was always low on Discipline I would probably go with Perfectionist but if I was wasn't have problems managing it I would agree that Tactical Advantage seems like a good choice.

As far as Bat Companion...again, we'll have to see how it plays out. I already have a lot of Hatred regen with Grenades + Grenadier (8 total). Like with Perfectionist and Discipline, if I am having a hard time managing my Hatred, I could definitely see myself going with Preparation/Punishment. If I'm doing okay with Grenades and the Bat alone, I might just stick with that. I guess it really depends on how much damage the Bat is putting out and if he's actually useful in skirmishes.

[Karpalo]

Perfectionist is always weak. Skill don't cost enough disc to justify taking it before night stalker. You can take it after night stalker with some builds, but between those 2 choice seems pretty clear.

[SRPang]

Perfectionist is always weak. Skill don't cost enough disc to justify taking it before night stalker. You can take it after night stalker with some builds, but between those 2 choice seems pretty clear.

Cool...good to know. Thanks guys. Besides the passives, what do you guys think of my build? I feel like I have solid CC, good AoE (Grenades and Cluster Arrow) and good single-target damage (Rapid Fire). Overall fairly well-rounded in my opinion. I will also be playing with a group 99% of the time so mobility isn't a top priority for me; I will have Barbs tankin it up for me. If I do solo, I would most likely drop Sentry for Vault for some added mobility.

[Perijoli]

How about this?
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#icdYVT!bde!aaZacZ
PVE Strafer with Rapid fire for boss/strong mobs

[Kintara]

Cool...good to know. Thanks guys. Besides the passives, what do you guys think of my build? I feel like I have solid CC, good AoE (Grenades and Cluster Arrow) and good single-target damage (Rapid Fire). Overall fairly well-rounded in my opinion. I will also be playing with a group 99% of the time so mobility isn't a top priority for me; I will have Barbs tankin it up for me. If I do solo, I would most likely drop Sentry for Vault for some added mobility.
I do like the build overall. I also want to try a Grenades/Cluster Arrow build. :)

[Karpalo]

This thread seems more active so might as post the latest generation of my grenadier build here.

http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...jgl!Ygh!abZYYY (http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#UcPjgl!Ygh!abZYYY)

This is my latest after some fine tuning.

Choice of weapon: crossbow due the highest dps and slowest attack speed. Stat focus should be DEX > Crit (chance and damage in correct mixture) > AS. Lacks a bit of mobility, but then again build barely uses discipline outside shadow power. Defensive plan is to roll shadow powers and stack them with Anathema and just tank what you have to.

Definitely co-op focused build. Wouldn't recommend using this in the single player mode.

Evolution is that i swapped strafe to rapid fire after i noticed that RF has the fixed rate rocket fire. RF should be fairly easy on the hatred if you use slow hard hitting weapon. If you use crossbow then it's better to use steady aim instead of archery as long your crit chance % doesn't become ridiculously high.

Why Anathema some might ask? Well seeing the runed versions in Youtube it seemed like the firing rate is fixed. Youtube vids had old version with 20 sec duration, but i think it drops around 15 or 20 bombs in the release version. If it's not totally random and doesn't throw the bombs off when there are targets or single target available it triumphs companion and sentry both by a clear margin.

If it doesn't target enemies and just carpet bombs the battlefield randomly then it might be wise to pass on it and take something else like companion or sentry.

[Kintara]

How about this?
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#icdYVT!bde!aaZacZ
PVE Strafer with Rapid fire for boss/strong mobs
Yes, you still didn't add a hatred generator. They're labeled under the Primary tab, except for Evasive fire. Evasive Fire, Grenades, Entangling Shot, Bola Shot, Hungering Arrow. Picking one of them will help.
--
I like your build Karpalo. I don't know if I'd take Shadow Power, but mostly for taste reasons. Also, Steady Aim and Grenades makes me feel funny.

[domus]

Also, Steady Aim and Grenades makes me feel funny.Agreed - I think archery would be a better choice.

[Karpalo]

Grenades got the range. Most of the videos just show it being cast right in front of the character and that makes it look like much worse ability than it really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsZ6fvzsWfI

That's one clip where it's portrayed better.

If you have played league of legends it's very similar system that Ziggs uses there. Aim it far and it travels faster and further.

[Kintara]

Grenades got the range. Most of the videos just show it being cast right in front of the character and that makes it look like much worse ability than it really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsZ6fvzsWfI

That's one clip where it's portrayed better.

If you have played league of legends it's very similar system that Ziggs uses there. Aim it far and it travels faster and further.Hmm, that's an interesting clip. That may be a property of Fire Bomb, though, correct?

[Karpalo]

Hmm, that's an interesting clip. That may be a property of Fire Bomb, though, correct?

Nah i watched some early beta streams and seems to universal thing for grenades. Grenades even have an arc and people threw them over the ledges insane ranges when they used to have lower level skill req.

Trigger time between throwing the grenade and it exploding seems to be fixed so when you attack a target that's close to you it makes them look bad.

[Kintara]

Nah i watched some early beta streams and seems to universal thing for grenades. Grenades even have an arc and people threw them over the ledges insane ranges when they used to have lower level skill req.

Trigger time between throwing the grenade and it exploding seems to be fixed so when you attack a target that's close to you it makes them look bad.
Oh, the time is fixed, huh? That's even better.

[Karpalo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLdjOyoUr5U

There is old video where you see normal grenades in action. ~0:30 in.

[Kintara]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLdjOyoUr5U

There is old video where you see normal grenades in action. ~0:30 in.
Ah, neat. So armed with a bit of new knowledge about Grenades, Steady Aim still may be a problem. Sure, you can aim Grenades out past 10 yards, but how do you control the area around you? Steady Aim would seem to need snares to back it up, or it'll be negated all the time.

[Karpalo]

That's where the group play comes into play. The point of playing in a group is that you don't need to do everything yourself. As i said i wouldn't use that build in single player.

[Kintara]

That's where the group play comes into play. The point of playing in a group is that you don't need to do everything yourself. As i said i wouldn't use that build in single player.
Ah, of course. I should have re-read the post as well as the build. :)

Edit: I'm still having trouble with this. Now it has to do with Shadow Power. It can certainly be helpful when taking ranged attacks, but presumably your defensive strategy against anything that breaks through the line will be to stand there and blast it while you try to recover with Shadow Power. I suppose if you only lose it in "Oh *darn*" moments that's fine, but I suspect that you'll be using Shadow Power regularly. And if you're not, shouldn't you take a defensive power with some mobility utility so that you can reposition for better offense if your Disc. pool is sitting there full? Edit: You do have Marked for Death to use as well, so that's something. If you're going team anyway, why not pick a MfD rune that has more group utility? Death Toll and Grim Reaper both seem more helpful in group play than personal Hatred generation.

[Karpalo]

Mortal enemy just seem such a superb rune with rapid fire. To be honest i don't think that every hit will give you a 3 hatred, since that would make rapid fire pretty much self sustainable, but it's still probably has good synergy with it.

[Kintara]

Mortal enemy just seem such a superb rune with rapid fire. To be honest i don't think that every hit will give you a 3 hatred, since that would make rapid fire pretty much self sustainable, but it's still probably has good synergy with it.
Yeah, I really like MfD, in general, and Mortal Enemy, too.

[reflexii]

Just a btw note, people seem to make a huge deal about Steady Aim's 10 yard radius thingy. Radius isn't nearly the same in this game than it was in D2. Say, in D2 you get +10 yards to your Corpse Explosion (lvl1 -> ~lvl30), it made HUGE difference on how the skill works given that it easily reached enemies that are out of screen. On D3 however, the 10 radius is REALLY tiny, the Steady Aim -dangerzone isn't even 1/4th of the screen. Steady Aim buff should be up always with basic kiting skills and clever usage of Vault imo :)

[Ghardum]

Still can't decide for sure, but I'm playing with the below idea:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#abjcdP!Yec!YaZcaa

[Perijoli]

Yes, you still didn't add a hatred generator. They're labeled under the Primary tab, except for Evasive fire. Evasive Fire, Grenades, Entangling Shot, Bola Shot, Hungering Arrow. Picking one of them will help.
--
I like your build Karpalo. I don't know if I'd take Shadow Power, but mostly for taste reasons. Also, Steady Aim and Grenades makes me feel funny.

Ahhh i see it know, missed the whole thing you talked about. I'm such a retard.

I give it a last try now
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aidTVc!bTe!.aZZcZ
Maby Strafe can be replaced bye Multishot but i dont know.
What would be best for PVE, Strafe or MS ?

[galzohar]

10 yards seems to be just a bit more than melee range, no?

[reflexii]

Yep, it's not much more than melee range.

[Karpalo]

I think melee range is around 8 yards so yeah. There was good screenshot where there were circles drawn that indicated different ranges.

[Cerzi]

Something a bit different I just threw together quickly, a hybrid crit build and disc generation build.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aRYdQW!bXe!cYccbY

+Crit from hbows (archery) and bait the trap, standard stuff. Making the most out of that crit with spray of teeth and lighting bolts, as well as the Nightstalker passive.

On top of nightstalker, there is a bunch of additional resource gens:

1)Bola Shot's bitter pill is what you spam when you're low on hate AND disc
2)Hungering Arrow's Spray of Teeth is what you spam when you're low on hate but high on disc
3)Multishot Suprression fire is what you spam when you're high on hate but low on disc

There is also an emphasis on getting health globes (gear with +chance of globes dropping). Elemental Arrow's lighting bolts are used on packs of mobs surrounding health globes (to stun a bunch of them), making it safer to vault in and out, doing damage on the way (trail of cinders), and getting extra hatred to drop a multishot. Ideally you want to vault so that you pick up the globe half way along the vault, and come out on the other side of the mobs in safety, rather than having to use multiple vaults. In this way you can imaging having a big mass of mobs that youre mowing down and vaulting through constantly to heal and regen hate/disc (although in practice mobs wont be all packed together in a nice ball like that).

The overall idea is to have maximum control over your hatred/disc pools, and to be able to keep them both high while dishing out respectable damage and CC.

[Eminor]

Only just started playing around with builds so I would appreciate some constructive feedback on the one I have been using (this is strictly for solo play). Having read some other threads on this site, I think I need to replace at least Bola Shot, but probably some others.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WZgdTQ!efb!ZaaZZa

I am at level 48, on Nightmare mode Act 2 and having no problems at the moment with this build so it's just about optimising really.

The idea behind the build is to generate a lot of hatred via the Bat Companion and the Night Bane rune and then use Impale to keep things stunned and kill them quickly. Multi-shot with hatred cost reduction is my AoE, although I have read some good things about EA-Ball Lightning so will try that too. I have stacked a lot of Vitality (almost 1:1 ratio with Dexterity) and use Shadow Power to regenerate additional life - this is to avoid the need to keep my distance from mobs (hence no Caltrops... I just stand and fire, using Vault to escape if needed). So it's almost a tanking-hunter build.

Vault with Rattling Roll is probably the only skill + rune that I refuse to change as it is simply fun. Thanks for any ideas! :)