I was able to obtain all the pieces for Unhallowed Essence last night and took it to GRs to test it out. While I was pleased with the damage output (800 million crits with Devouring Arrow sometimes), I kept dying on GR 38. I wasn't even using Smokescreen or Vault, instead sticking with Shadow Power. You really do get hit more without all the pets and sentries stopping things in place.
Obviously this build has the potential for lots of diversity, but what have people tried to help them survive? Would the Freezing Bolas be a possibly to help freeze things in place? Any defensive passives that have worked well?
Part of the problem is your build is inconsistent. You have cull the weak, but no reliable way to slow targets. Your best bet is to drop marked for death for Polar Sentry, and use that to proc cull the weak + bane of the trapped. The 4 set bonus, like steady aim, relies on keeping enemies away from you to maintain your buff, so I'd also recommend dropping smoke screen for vault. Finally, I'd recommend a focus/restraint combo instead of your current rings, and use the set pants. If you don't have them, maybe using a pair of frostburns instead will greatly help your surivability (mass freezing everything sounds pretty good) in combination with maybe iceblink?
Unfortunately, unless you have a kridershot, you really need a Dead Man's Legacy in S3 to make UE shine. Going the hungering arrow build doesn't really strike me as viable for clearing GR's solo (and honestly, I still don't see it being worthwhile to have a build based around PURELY single target damage in group GRs, even CA builds had some AOE).
Yeah Bastions of Will is definitely worth trying - I just need a better Focus for sure. Mine only has IAS and nothing else. Also my Kridershot is not an ancient weapon.
I'm going to give the slow ball lightning a try with UE later today.
Well Bezerdine, what can I say? I had tried to create a discussion about the very subject a while ago and guess what happened? No interest..
Now the issue is alive and in front of us, I truly wonder if somebody will be able to come up with a sensible method which does not require ridiclously exceptional skills to make it work in solo.
Otherwise UE will be preferred mostly in group play just for its damage potential, getting rezzed by the sup every two steps..
Well, the survival of this set is exactly the same as the marauders. There is no possible way for a DH to survive without Vault/Smokescreen and exceptional skill, using a lot of stutterstep and kite. The closest thing you can do to survival comes from Natalyas set.
i just did a grift 47 with UE with 5 deaths ( thorndmg hurts) besides that run was pretty smooth. was using SS and Awareness as defensive skills.
As a DH u should always avoid taking dmg, its not like playing crusader where u can go around and facetank mobs/elites. make use of ur range and attack from safe distance.
Well, the survival of this set is exactly the same as the marauders. There is no possible way for a DH to survive without Vault/Smokescreen and exceptional skill, using a lot of stutterstep and kite. The closest thing you can do to survival comes from Natalyas set.
in Marauder set you are "rewarded" for spamming sentries here and there in several ways because it is the essence of it. Besides existence of "all pets" makes a big difference. So we can't say exactly the same. Using same tools included in Marauder Set with their stripped down versions, just hoping to get the same result indicates how clueless we are. Ofc it is our duty to try to maintain a certain range and benefit from the only passive survival bonus from the set, but that is the main problem. The melee management is where we have difficulties and the new set is not offering anything to address that. I concur new Natalya set is much much better than UE in terms of survival for solo, and when you look at it from this perspective, NV is on the right path, because all you need to figure out is to increase RoV uptime, and for doing that you are rewarded by both your damage and cc/survival getting a boost.
I got a good one in stash, definitely will try out as soon as I acquire all the set pieces. spike trap/caltrop combo could also worth a try. Backards kiting might become tedious sometimes though..
I got a good one in stash, definitely will try out as soon as I acquire all the set pieces. spike trap/caltrop combo could also worth a try. Backards kiting might become tedious sometimes though..
It was the only way I could get the multishot build into GR50 on PTR. The lures stop everything dead in their tracks and the only dudes it won't work on (yellows) you'll probably be trying to skip anyways. I was running Odyssey's End with Entangling Shot + Cull the Weak + Mark for Death for some seriously stupid numbers (3b+ crits on RG's with suboptimal gear), but Chanon eventually took over simply for consistencies sake. Calamity or Balefire are also solid options but both require the Nightstalker passive and neither help the survivability issue.
The caltrop belt is pretty nifty too, but I kept going back to TWH. It's a very nice placeholder though.
I am having the exact same troubles as OP. I can kill better in UE then my M6 set but forget about living solo. I am going to test some different skills with it tonight and see if I can live more. It seems I have to kite everything constantly, where in m6, I never had to.
I was able to get to the point I was with M6, using GR level as a gauge, as I made it to GR 44. With better gear, UE can potentially be better than M6. Just have to slot in some defensive passives (Perfectionist) and a Molten Wilderbeast Gizzard.
I was able to get to the point I was with M6, using GR level as a gauge, as I made it to GR 44. With better gear, UE can potentially be better than M6. Just have to slot in some defensive passives (Perfectionist) and a Molten Wilderbeast Gizzard.
Defense is certainly never the answer for solo greater rifts. At 50+ your getting 1 shot by everything anyways. Use iceblink gem to proc your slow in conjunction with evasive fire focus, focus/restraint because even a having those rings roll terrible they are a better damage increase than anything else. The only defensive skill you should use is awareness. These things aside glass cannon all the way, you get a rift with shitty mobs leave the game and try again!
Well, the survival of this set is exactly the same as the marauders. There is no possible way for a DH to survive without Vault/Smokescreen and exceptional skill, using a lot of stutterstep and kite. The closest thing you can do to survival comes from Natalyas set.
Excuse me, but exceptional skills my arse. With marauder you dont even have damage until you have 5 sentries down, and when winged assasins with jailer thunderstorm wait you iright in th door you are fckd.
Exceptional rifts, not exceptional skill. :D:D:D:D:D
Unhallowed can have much more toughness, it has damage reduction, it deals its damage insantly unkile marauder setup. You get a much easier resource management, much more focus on actual gamplay.
Unhallowed beats marauder on at last 5 different levels surviveability wise, Plus it deals more damage.
Completly agree with you in everyting. Exceptional rifts are way more important indeed.
I was able to obtain all the pieces for Unhallowed Essence last night and took it to GRs to test it out. While I was pleased with the damage output (800 million crits with Devouring Arrow sometimes), I kept dying on GR 38. I wasn't even using Smokescreen or Vault, instead sticking with Shadow Power. You really do get hit more without all the pets and sentries stopping things in place.
Obviously this build has the potential for lots of diversity, but what have people tried to help them survive? Would the Freezing Bolas be a possibly to help freeze things in place? Any defensive passives that have worked well?
Current setup with UE: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/GreenRanger-1258/hero/10783640
Part of the problem is your build is inconsistent. You have cull the weak, but no reliable way to slow targets. Your best bet is to drop marked for death for Polar Sentry, and use that to proc cull the weak + bane of the trapped. The 4 set bonus, like steady aim, relies on keeping enemies away from you to maintain your buff, so I'd also recommend dropping smoke screen for vault. Finally, I'd recommend a focus/restraint combo instead of your current rings, and use the set pants. If you don't have them, maybe using a pair of frostburns instead will greatly help your surivability (mass freezing everything sounds pretty good) in combination with maybe iceblink?
Unfortunately, unless you have a kridershot, you really need a Dead Man's Legacy in S3 to make UE shine. Going the hungering arrow build doesn't really strike me as viable for clearing GR's solo (and honestly, I still don't see it being worthwhile to have a build based around PURELY single target damage in group GRs, even CA builds had some AOE).
Thanks for the input.
Yeah Bastions of Will is definitely worth trying - I just need a better Focus for sure. Mine only has IAS and nothing else. Also my Kridershot is not an ancient weapon.
I'm going to give the slow ball lightning a try with UE later today.
Well Bezerdine, what can I say? I had tried to create a discussion about the very subject a while ago and guess what happened? No interest..
Now the issue is alive and in front of us, I truly wonder if somebody will be able to come up with a sensible method which does not require ridiclously exceptional skills to make it work in solo.
Otherwise UE will be preferred mostly in group play just for its damage potential, getting rezzed by the sup every two steps..
Well, the survival of this set is exactly the same as the marauders. There is no possible way for a DH to survive without Vault/Smokescreen and exceptional skill, using a lot of stutterstep and kite. The closest thing you can do to survival comes from Natalyas set.
i just did a grift 47 with UE with 5 deaths ( thorndmg hurts) besides that run was pretty smooth. was using SS and Awareness as defensive skills.
As a DH u should always avoid taking dmg, its not like playing crusader where u can go around and facetank mobs/elites. make use of ur range and attack from safe distance.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/china-1733/hero/41371496
here a link to my DH setup/build, managed to clear 47 in time and still have a lot of room for improvements on gear.
in Marauder set you are "rewarded" for spamming sentries here and there in several ways because it is the essence of it. Besides existence of "all pets" makes a big difference. So we can't say exactly the same. Using same tools included in Marauder Set with their stripped down versions, just hoping to get the same result indicates how clueless we are. Ofc it is our duty to try to maintain a certain range and benefit from the only passive survival bonus from the set, but that is the main problem. The melee management is where we have difficulties and the new set is not offering anything to address that. I concur new Natalya set is much much better than UE in terms of survival for solo, and when you look at it from this perspective, NV is on the right path, because all you need to figure out is to increase RoV uptime, and for doing that you are rewarded by both your damage and cc/survival getting a boost.
Chanon Bolter.
I got a good one in stash, definitely will try out as soon as I acquire all the set pieces. spike trap/caltrop combo could also worth a try. Backards kiting might become tedious sometimes though..
It was the only way I could get the multishot build into GR50 on PTR. The lures stop everything dead in their tracks and the only dudes it won't work on (yellows) you'll probably be trying to skip anyways. I was running Odyssey's End with Entangling Shot + Cull the Weak + Mark for Death for some seriously stupid numbers (3b+ crits on RG's with suboptimal gear), but Chanon eventually took over simply for consistencies sake. Calamity or Balefire are also solid options but both require the Nightstalker passive and neither help the survivability issue.
The caltrop belt is pretty nifty too, but I kept going back to TWH. It's a very nice placeholder though.
I am having the exact same troubles as OP. I can kill better in UE then my M6 set but forget about living solo. I am going to test some different skills with it tonight and see if I can live more. It seems I have to kite everything constantly, where in m6, I never had to.
I was able to get to the point I was with M6, using GR level as a gauge, as I made it to GR 44. With better gear, UE can potentially be better than M6. Just have to slot in some defensive passives (Perfectionist) and a Molten Wilderbeast Gizzard.
Defense is certainly never the answer for solo greater rifts. At 50+ your getting 1 shot by everything anyways. Use iceblink gem to proc your slow in conjunction with evasive fire focus, focus/restraint because even a having those rings roll terrible they are a better damage increase than anything else. The only defensive skill you should use is awareness. These things aside glass cannon all the way, you get a rift with shitty mobs leave the game and try again!
Whoa! Does evasive fire/focus proc the iceblink, really???
Completly agree with you in everyting. Exceptional rifts are way more important indeed.
@GlobbyBoy, yes, Focus procs Iceblink. It works great actually.