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Jayce, if you think you have an internal issue with you hardware, you might want to look at your sound settings. Try lowering your settings to 32. See if that helps. That setting is how many sounds game will play over your speaker. So if you are in a big battle every monster and weapon will make a separate noise. If you are using on-board sound, this may be pushing the load to your CPU. Lowering the number can take some load off the CPU. Solutions to this are to add a Sound Card or just leave the sound settings at the lower level.

You need to look at formulas in a much simpler way. All categories are multiplied together to give a final damage value. Within the categories they are added. Your goal is increase the final damage value. So if you just compare the increase in the category to the other you will get your answer. I state this because while there is a lot of information presented by the OP, it is insufficient to answer the question.

I'm going to have to use some values to make an example. So 81 is the max you can get with Discipline (assuming F/R). So at +9 to +12 on the bow the increase is 81/78=1.038 or 3.8% overall increase.

For the actual Damage on the Weapon, I'm guessing that is the Max 10%. This is a straight up multiplier to damage. So 10% is better than 2.5%. This one is easy. Go Damage. But what you should realize is that increasing a stat will be significantly less than introducing a new multiplier. In this case it's about 3 times a much.

In the case of the quiver, we are at +10 to +12, so using 81 again as our max. The increase is 81/79 = 1.025 or a 2.5% increase.

For the Elemental, you can only have it in 3 places, bracers, neck and quiver. So assuming both neck and bracers maxed 1.60/1.40 = 1.143. or a 14.3% increase. So add the elemental. Let's say there is only the bracers 1.40/1.20 = 1.167 or 16.7% increase, still add the elemental damage.

Why does this work? Well, we are calculating multipliers. And it doesn't matter as long as we compare multipliers. Assuming (a+b)*(c+d)=e, it doesn't matter where you put the multiplier. We'll double the values, so 2(a+b)*(c+d) = (a+b)*2(c+d) = 2e. I stated double so I used 2 here. Above, rather than stating "double", the number is calculated. The point of the math is calculate the multiplier, then you don't have to insane calculations.

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Holy Point Shot would work better since it can roll elemental damage. Without the Seasonal Affix, DML is pointless. I would also use a bow since you need to switch between generators and spenders with your ring set. There are 2 craftable ones. Really not sure which one is better than the other . But they have better affixes that Arcane Barb. Arcane Barb rolls with Arcane damage which is useless. The 2 Bows add either Elite Damage or CHD. You are lacking CHD so I would go that route.

Your restraint is should be rerolled for 6% CHC. 6% CHC is better than 50% CHD. This will help balance damage with the CHC from the bow.

Also when you are crafting, you should be crafting for Ancient. If you have the mats you should spend them. That being said, Arcane Dust will be your bane as Bracers currently cost 72 Dust. So don't pick up Yellow Items. Enough stackable Veiled Crystals drop from Rift Guardiants. Only pick up Blue Items. If you run out of White Mats, you can switch to a lower difficulty and hit the Battlefield of Eternity in act 5. My rule on Forgetten Souls is that if my stack is ever above 100, I need to upgrade something. I have a ring with 48% CHD and an Amulet with 99%. I will spend them on that if there is nothing else to upgrade. If you are playing correctly, you will use your resources until they are depleted. The only reason not to spend them is because you are lacking the required other mats. In my opinion you have a lot of work to do in crafting. In my experience, a stack of 5000 Dust will not last long to get a really good set of Reaper's Wraps. You will spend that entire stack and have Souls leftover from a 100 stack. Reaper's wraps actually only cost 1 soul because you get Salvage returns there, but the dust is depleted with no returns. So collect blues, hit every chest as this is the only reliable place to farm them. If you play in groups ask your teammates to drop them for you. Arcane Dust is account bound, but the actual blue items before salvage are not. My clanmates will drop a pile of them for me when I request it. Perfectly rolled Bracers have Elemental, CHC, Dex and RCR and 30% hatred from globes. Unless you have this, you always have something to craft.

I don't think a single class is harder than another. There are builds within classes that will require specific skills. Others not so much. Progression has little to do with how much damage you do either. Look at the support builds, they progress very far into grifts without doing much damage.

That being said, WD has some very tough builds. The nerf to Spirit Walk has ruined some of their builds. The Jade was always very squishy, but did a lot of damage if you could get the keystrokes down. But most feel it isn't worth doing if you die. I tried the Jade build, didn't like it much. But the Karnevil build was a lot of fun. I haven't tried since the Zuni set went 6 piece. Plus you can get the little man's finger for extra damage.

So picking a class probably isn't what you should be looking to do. I prefer looking at builds to see if I like the playstyle. That being said, I keep going back to DH. It's just fun for me. I like bashing monsters in the face. Crusader is my next favorite probably because you can vary your style a lot by swapping out gear. While sets do play a role with crusader, having a couple of items equipped will change the playstyle from using shields or hammer.

Just play something you like. Don't worry about Hard or Easy. You'll be happiest doing what you like.

Since your Strong Arm Bracers don't have Knockback and aren't Ancient I would consider this. You could try for a better focus with CHD. As they roll with Sockets, they aren't that hard to re-roll. But considering the prices for Jewelry from Kadala, I thing the Bracers would be easier to get.

Shoulders could be something as well. There aren't much you can do with Nat's. Might consider a Death Watch Mantle. Act 1 cache has Pauldrons of the Skeleton King for a 2nd Awareness. Death Watch Mantle has a decent chance of being useful and Pauldrons of the Skeleton King seem useful, but I think they have about a 10% proc coefficient.

Your stuff is pretty good. So I would say the easiest thing to get is the Act 1 Shoulders. If you aren't going to pair up bracers, your Augilds aren't doing anything but adding stats. Might as well add some value. 10% proc coefficent sounds bad, but, if it works once in a greater rift, it might save you from an additional 30 second time out.

Ok, the rune that most use with Evasive Fire is the one that generates 7 Hatred per cast and it doesn't have much of an animation since the evasion skill is lost with the gain of the increased hatred. It just hits 3 targets, that's it.

I don't expect you to be playing end game so I'm not going to discuss that, you can learn that later. But, grenades as a primary skill aren't that good. Bolas are much better. Contrary to what what might have been understood from a previous post IceBlink isn't that good at crowd control. It only hits 3 enemies. So if you are in a hoard, you are not going to chill all of them. Where it is good is that because of EV's Focus generation balanced with IceBlink's ability to add a chilling effect to all cold spells is where it balances. Before IceBlink EV Focus was only used to generate Hatredl. It doesn't do much damage and it didn't chill. Chill is important because the Passive skill Cull the Weak along with the Legendary Gem Bane of the Trapped to proc the bonus damage. Before IceBlink, DH had to rely on using Sentries to "zone" areas where they would be chilled. Like EV Focus, it didn't do much damage either. But, that tandem of the passive and gem more than make up for those 2 skills weaknesses. The polar station also took up a skill bar slot, so it was pretty much a waste from a damage perspective.

The only 2 gems DH should always use is Bane of the Trapped and Zei's Stone of Vengeance. All classes use Bane of the Trapped, because the damage increase is ridiculous. It is by far the best gem out there. It is a straight up multiplier to damage. Zei's is particularly good for DH because it improves with range. DH is a ranged class is is very "squishy" so being far away from the enemy synergizes well. You can equip 3 Legendary Gems and the third one was always decided by each player. Bane of the Powerful is good, but in Greater Rift Fights that last more than 2 minutes, it isn't that good. Other gems provided damage by adding speed or more hits per second or by increasing damage by building up "stacks" in the case of Taeguk. There are other gems, but, these are the ones that a lot used. They aren't that good, but, you might as well equip something.

Before the changes to Natalya's or the addition of Unhallowed Essence the only viable Set to use was Marauders. Since Sentries are required skill for that set, Polar Station didn't hurt too much since they will also cast your Hatred Spenders. But, the first Sentry rune (Spitfire Turrets) that you unlock is easily the best. It's not apparent at first. Mostly because you need the Passive skill Ballistics that doesn't unlock until much later. Spitfire shoots 3 Rockets all by itself for a lot of damage. But Ballistics double that damage. So there is considerably more damage than Polar Station that only shoots a single bolt. Now that most people are using the other sets, adding the Sentry skill is a big waste if you only need it to proc the chilling effect. So, with a choice of a third gem being IceBlink, it opens that slot in the skill bar for something that actually does damage. With Marauders, you have companion Bat so it helps generate Hatred quickly. A lot of people were adding Preparation with the Rune Punishment to add another skill to quickly generate Hatred. With UE, you will use Preparation but, Punishment is replaced with the rune Invigoration to get Discipline rather than Hatred. Discipline fuels the damage with UE so, the more you have the more damage you do. If you had Sentries just to chill, you probably wouldn't have enough Hatred to deal damage efficiently. So, most are replacing that with the only skill left to generate Hatred quickly which is Vengeance with the Seethe Rune. So IceBlink works well, because you don't want to waste any Skill Slots and there is a 3rd Gem socket that is pretty much open.

Anyway, getting back on topic, if you want to use Bolas, you need the quiver Emmeil's Duffel. It removes the delay on the explosion. It makes Bolas a lot better. Also if you use the Fire rune, they will spread to nearby enemies in a chain reaction. There is also a bow that will bunch your targets together. This is very useful because you can use Cluster Arrows to damage all enemies in within it's radius of effect.

Grenades are pretty useless as Primary skill. They are slow and you have to wait. While you are waiting for the explosion, you will probably die. So don't use this skill in higher difficulties. Grenades aren't bad, just the primary skill is. If you use Cluster Arrows with the Rune Loaded for Bear, it use Grenades, in fact most Cluster Arrows have grenades. There are a couple of exception that use Rocket, but LfB uses really powerful Grenades.

To tell you the Truth, I really like Bolas, but, past T4 they lose their effectiveness. But they are really fun with that quiver and the fire rune. There is an achievement were have to kill something like 150 scarabs in act 5 with a single blow. This combination will do it if you have a Buriza that penetrates 2 times. If you actually have a Buriza as your weapon, you can use the Cold rune with IceBlink. You lose out on some Hatred generation, but Crowd Control is much improved over Evasive Fire Focus so, you will gain some survivablity.

Anyway learn the skills. Read all the details about the Runes. The game is always changing as they add items and fix set bonuses. The more you understand, the better you will be to adapt to these changes. Maybe if you learn them well, you can come up with new build. This is the fun. Anybody can copy a build, this is the meta-game. But when you can change the meta-game because your creation is better, then you really did something.

Good luck and mostly have fun.

You're spells don't care what weapon you use as long as you can equip it. The exception is DH where bows are specified in the skill requirement.

The fastest to T6 is probably wizard. There are a lot of set that overlap until you can piece together a more complete set. Monk is probably the next easiest. I tend to think wizard because the new blizzcon ring convention of elements is well suited to wiz. As well you only have to craft augilts set for quick bonuses against elites. Monks can craft sets but this leans more toward XP builds. They might be able to farm T6 faster than wizards but this more because they can reach survivability while wizards will get there because they can balance damage to their survivability.

What drops are you looking for if you can do greater rift 40+? Maybe a single ancient item. Enchanting is faster if you do Lesser Rifts because the Legendary Drop rate is throughout game play. You get way more souls and other materials.

If you are pushing 40+ your incentive is reaching the leader board and laddering higher.

Agreed there is no change. If your DH dies the he will lose the buff until another pool is found. If you switch characters to your WD and he had the buff then he will still have it after your DH has died. Each character maintains their own pool bonuses.

OK so I have a question about this. How is wearing a 45% xp bonus HF ring being supportive?

It isn't neither is wearing an RRoG just to get the 3 piece bonus so they can stack 2 sets with more XP set bonuses. I know they are getting skills like CDR that is helpful. This is all right but these bonuses have existed since the beginning When Paragon was limited to 100. These XP bonuses need to be either removed and nerfed. Some are also stacking gem of ease on top of the ring and sets. Followers are limited to 150 CHD. So can we do this with XP bonuses. There is a place for these bonuses. HC players need it after their characters die. But there should be a max. I would say a gemmed Helm and a HF ring would be the max. This would allow you to wear a gemmed crown but lose most of the advantage of adding HF bonuses.

I picked one up in the PTR. Hasn't dropped in seasons. It was surprisingly strong. The animation of the chicken was hilarious, then it blows things up. I like it better than the really annoying lunutics that come with the Nagelrings on my followers.

I'll stick with my Ancient Kridershot but, if I get one on the live Realm, I might take out on some rifts for a few laughs. I do think that weapon is strong, but, I hate to rely on proc co-efficient to kill stuff.

I think it's a bug. I don't think he ever dropped anything.

Is it possible that the yellow dropped from a monster standing next to him?

Read the forums on BNet. He has no health, spawns in the cemetary and the monsters on that level are named after development teams. Supposed to be a thrall. I only saw a shadow for a brief second. Everyone complains that the Game Director monster is stingy. They should at least give you an automatic level. Something. I've killed him by bumping into him with thorns.

I've gotten seriously lucky. I'm humbled a bit by this.

I actually wish I wasn't playing solo when the 2nd one dropped.

I would have just shared it with somebody else.

What should I do with the 2nd Kridershot? Do I even use it?

They are both excellent weapons. But each has there advantage.

What should I do?