Another day, another build. I had to get to this eventually. The advantage to any melee build is the ability to use other weapons besides Hand Crossbows, Bow, and Crossbows. This means you'll run into upgrades for your weapon much more often and this gives you an option to use a shield with a weapon that's going to get you more damage then just a Hand Crossbow. It does limit your build options as you can't use any skills that require a range weapon. Also unlike the Melee Wizard builds you don't get access to any 2 handed weapons.
One last thing before the build, this isn't a true Melee build because you are still never going to swing your weapon into someones face. Unless you use a regular basic attack that will never happen. I feel like you lose too much power to use basic attack over a skill with a rune.
Not many options for Hatred generators for this build as far as the base skill is concerned. Grenades is a fine short to mid range AoE skill. With Impale in the build I wanted the extra hatred generation as it's a Hatred hungry skill.
Impale - Awareness
This is the main attack with Hatred available. This rune seems to be made for builds that get a little closer then your typical build. Seems like a no brainer to take it here.
Chakram - Shuriken Cloud
This turns this skill into a buff. I'm not sure the range of the damage, but it will hurt any mob that is close enough to take a swing at you. Since you will be upclose a lot, this can make for a very Damage / Hatred efficient skill.
Fan of Knifes - Hail of Knives & Numbing Traps
This will get used basically as an burst damage skill as I'm not as interested in slowing monsters in this build. Adding to the radius will ensure I hit as many targets as possible. Along with the Numbing Traps this will used when mobs get close to reduce their damage.
Vault - Rattling Roll
This give the ability to use Vault as an offensive skill to stun the pack while still giving me the option to get away from mobs.
Shadow Power - Gloom
Because I'll be in close I need the Life gain and the damage reduction. Too good not to take it. However I will be Discipline heavy and thus need to make up for that with gear and passives.
Vengeance
As mentioned I need the extra Discipline gain but as a bonus this give me an extra Impale.
Sharpshooter
Since I'm not locking myself into ranged weapons, I won't be at a distance, and I won't have mobs slowed long enough it seems at this is the best option for DPS increase. Could make a Fan of Knives opening extra large.
Weapon of Choice whatever weapon works best at the time. If I need more protection Shield plus One Handed weapon could be good. If I've got enough protection a Crossbow for huge damage seem appropriate. The thing to remember the reason for choosing this build is for weapon flexibility, Don't just stick with a melee weapon just to be a "melee" DH.
Another day, another build. One skill that I've been thinking about is the Wolf Companion. The idea of temporary pets doesn't sit well with me and I have no idea why. So decided to make a build around it and a couple of other "pets" that are temporary just to go a little nuts on the idea.
First the key skill. The cost is not too bad but since I want to summon this for every mob pack I'll need to have a way to gain Discipline.
Sentry - Guardian Turret
"Pet" number 2. I felt like adding to survival was a little better here then the extra damage of spitfire. This will help myself, my wolf, and my follower (I see this more as a solo build)
Rain of Vengeance - Anathema
"Pet" number 3. While this isn't a pet that can take up some space to block a mob pack for me, this will be just some extra damage for the cost of a cooldown (the current build has this at no Hatred cost, just hasn't been updated in the calculator).
Now the idea that all three of these pets will run at the same time. While each one isn't a ton of damage, all three together will stack up nicely. Add the fact I can fire off some shots at the same time and this little zoo I have going could lay down some nice numbers.
Multishot - Suppression Fire
This is my main way of gaining Discipline and adding some cover fire for my "pets".
Entangling Shot - Chain Gain
Slows down a pack to work with one of my passives, Cull the Weak. Also this will help keep some mob control so I can kite when I need to.
Fan of Knives - Cripling Razor
An escape skill, or a skill to polish off a pack. I like any skill that can provide multiple uses. Also this is another source of a slow.
Archery and Cull the Weak
Both DPS increases, simple enough.
Perfection
Making both of my Discipline skills cost 8 reduces my Discpline usage more then you think. Over time this becomes huge, especially with how often I intend to use them. Vengeance is also good here, but I don't need the extra Hatred, and Perfection allows me not to have to depend on a random element (health globe drops) to gain back my Discipline.
Gear stat priority Dex, Vit, Resistances, Crit, everything else. I feel like my survival will rely sololy on my ability to kite and avoid damage as I don't have anything that explictly protects me other then the Sentry. So Vit is very important.
Weapon of Choice is the Bow and Quiver. While I would like to use a Crossbow to ensure my "pets" hit hard, I don't feel like I can use a slow weapon here as I need to be able to shoot fast and move. However I don't need to be as fast where I need Hand Crossbows, which I feel with that weapon setup, pets are not going to work. It's just not going to be enough damage as the pets damage is just based on the mainhand Hand Crossbow damage range which is always going to be less then a Crossbow or Bow.
Another day, another build. Today it's a build for some group play the main goal, deal a lot of damage from far away while your melee crew keeps mobs at bay. Our job is to drop the big targets while someone else mops up the small guys with their AoE. Note that this should only be played when your group makeup allows you to avoid damage, otherwise you're going to need a little more survivability.
While I like the idea of the no generator builds I rather never have a reason to be caught with my pants down and be stuck shooting with a basic attack. A runed skill is just way more powerful then that. Also it gives me an option when my Hatred spenders is just overkill and I can allow my Hatred to fill up so I've got a full globe for the next pack. As far as runes go you can choose this one or Cinder Arrow for this build. I'm using Devouring because I don't like spamming a shot that has a DoT component on the same target. So I feel like I'm getting a little more effiecency out of this rune.
Impale - Overpenetration
This ensures that knife makes it to my main target. Nothing wrong with hitting a few other mobs along the way either.
Cluster Arrow - Loaded for Bear
When my quary is surounded by his friends or there isn't a big guy to take down this will be my attack of choice. It will help clear out the masses while putting a hurt on the main target. However do not spam this attack, it's just too costly for that.
Marked for Death - Death Toll
The use of this skill is twofold. First of course is the extra damage, and the other is marking my prey so the group knows and can help out. I always feel this skill works best in groups as everyone that attacks the target gets the bonus. On top of that I've added the heal to help with group survivability.
Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
You've seen this in my builds before, and again this is to help with Hatred Regeneration and as a means of escape. I tend to like this over Preperation / Punishment when I have any other Discipline skills in my build. Punishment just costs too much to use wconsistantly ith any other Discipline skill in my opinion.
Preperation - Invigoration
Since I'm going to be marking targets frequently and using the Hatred generation of Breathe Deep, I need a quick source of Discipline on demand. Invigoration give me a little extra juice to use right away.
Steady Aim, Sharpshooter, and Archery
All three are for DPS increases. Steady Aim should be available all the time with the melee keeping the packs at bay. Sharpshooter when built up can combo with Cluster Arrow to lay down a monsterous opening salvo. Archery is just an increase in DPS no matter which weapon you use.
Gear stat priority is Dex, Crit, resource regen / increases, everything else. You can get away with a reduction in the defensive stats because the melee will be your defense. However don't think you won't get hit, there are still ranged mobs, and there isn't a definitive aggro table so some things will just come after you. A lot is going to depend on your melee skills and what kind of mob control skills your group has.
Weapon of Choice, the Crossbow. You're the heavy hitter for the group so you want to do the biggest hits possible. Placing Crit high up on the stat priority means you'll be seeing that Archery bonus quite often.
Another day, another build. It was bound to happen I would do a rocket build. Rocket builds basically builds itself, but you've got to be careful about not over doing it. You can't just dump every rocket skill / rune into the build, pick the passive, and then off you go. You really shouldn't have more the 2 or 3 as you need the other skills to deal with survival and resource management. This is my first crack at the build with a little twist.
Can't have the rocket build without this, so might as well mention it first.
Rapid Fire - Fire Support
Right now the tooltip says that it shoots out the rockets every second, so you can assume this won't change with attack speed since it is very specific about it's firing rate. Could be wrong, but something to look at when we get ahold of the skill. Beyond that, this is my single target based skill, but the rockets will add some AoE capability.
Multishot - Arsenal
Spaming AoE skill that also adds 3 rockets.
Sentry - Spitfire Turret
Notice this is addition to the regular fire so the Sentry will hit more often and more targets.
Entangling Shot - Chain Gang
I like having a little mob control in my builds. Open up with this to slow down a pack, spam a couple Multishots, then snare them again, spam some more, vault away if needed, rinse repeat.
Companion - Boar
Turns this into the pet build. I like the Boar as it hits multiple targets. Not so much for the damage but the hope is for it to gain mobs attention.
Vault - Acrobatics
No cost means I don't need to worry too much about Discipline regeneration.
Vengeance
Basically a staple in my builds that have Rapid Fire
Archery
Basic DPS increase. Most likely I would go with bows for this build if anything other then the base damage increase you get with this passive.
Gear stat priority Dex, Crit, Vit, Resist, everything else.
My general feeling is that Bow and Quiver is going to be the most well rounded of the options. Slower then hand crossbows but it will pack a bigger punch per shot. Generally this will be my go to if there aren't other considerations like status effects from attacks or burst damage needs.
I looked around to see if I could find a video on Sentry. I can't seem to find any good links to answer those questions definitively.
Chances are it will work one of two ways, either it will have a health bar, thus can be attacked but you can only summon one, or it won't have a health bar, cannot be attacked, and can be summoned as much as you have resources for. My feeling is that the intent is for the skill to be the former (health bar, can be attacked, only one at a time). I based my build around that.
Another day another build. Before going into this one at some point I'll be updating my previous build from Sunday, Long Fuse Control. I missed a big change to this skill, the fact that it now costs 30 Hatred. So I'll need to rework it. In the meantime, on to today's build using the Grenadier passive.
There are a lot of ways to go about building for this passive but for the most part you're going to want both Grenades and Cluster Arrow to reap the full benefits. How you fill it in will be update your tastes, but here's a version I made for today.
My plan is to use Grenades to finish off a pack and to fill up my Hatred for the next one. Since I'm using it as a finisher I feel like increasing it's damage is a good idea. I almost picked Tinkerer instead for the extra Hatred generation, but I have a lot of sources of Hatred gain in this build and it would be a little overkill.
Cluster Arrow - Maelstrom
I choose this rune for the survival aspect. While I have some mobility, I like having a way to regain some health in my builds. This skill / rune combination provides this while dealing good damage.
Evasive Fire - Parting Gift
This is to add mobility, but I like the rune for the build as it adds to the theme. I like all my abilities to feel like that belong together, and leaving a bomb behind when you flip certainly goes with the theme. Of course I made sure that it provides something that actually contributes to my viability as well and the backflip component combined with the Tactical Advantage passive does that as well.
Rapid Fire - Bombardment
It goes with the theme, provides my source of single target damage with a hint of AoE, and provides an overall increase to DPS. What's not to love about this skill.
Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
This is my get out of jail free card and another source of Hatred generation when I need it. This will also trigger Tactical Advantage. Because of that I'm choosing this over Preperation - Punishment
Companion - Bat
I felt like my build was complete with 5 skills. Usually in that case this is my go to skill. I pick Bat because I still feel I needed just a little bit of a boost in Hatred generation. If it starts to look like this is not needed then I would switch to the Boar.
Grenadier
Pretty Obvious
Vengeance
This is my go to passive when I use Rapid Fire or Strafe as it allows me to use those skills for a longer period of time thanks to the extra 25 Hatred. The rest is just a bonus, and a great one at that.
Tactical Advantage
I briefly mentioned this earlier but this helps with survival.
Gear stat priority will be Dex, Crit, Vit, Resists, everything else
Weapon of Choice the Crossbow. I don't feel like I really need speed here, just consistent high damage. I feel like this will give me the most efficency out of a costly skill like Cluster Arrow.
Hmm, well that does change the needs of the build significantly. After you've mentioned it, I remember reading something like that when I went through the undocumented changes. I'll give it a reread before I put out the next build. Thanks for the heads up.
Another day another build. I've made a ton of builds for the DH for myself, but one skill I haven't used much is Spiked Trap. So I wanted to try to make a build that uses it. Looking through the runes you can find Long Fuse. Ridiculous damage but the trap needs 2 seconds to arm. So how do get the most out of this? My answer was mob control via stuns, snares, and immobilize effects to keep mobs around long enough for the explosion.
Edit: This has changed slightly as I missed the change to Spiked Trap's change in Patch 14 from a generator to a spender that costs 30 Hatred. However the only thing that's changed is a passive. Since Rain of Vengeance no longer costs Hatred, just the cooldown my Hatred spending is not that bad. However I switched Stead Aim with Vengeance to help with the new cost of Spiked Trap and Hatred generation.
Pretty obvious as this is the star of the build. The idea is to lay this down, bring the mobs to them, or get a mob pack locked down and throw a couple traps in there and it should trigger before the stun, snare, or immobilize drops.
Caltrops - Torturous Ground
This will immobilize an oncoming group and slow any stragglers making them food for my Spiked Traps.
Thrill of the Hunt
I'm mentioning this now as this the the reason for the rest of the attack skill selection as they need to be bow attacks to trigger the immobilization.
Hungering Arrow - Piercing Arrow
While this doesn't do any controlling on it's own, combined with Thrill of the Hunt this can immobilize multiple targets as the single shot can hit multiple targets.
Elemental Arrow - Lightning Bolts
This adds a nice 2 second stun that occurs on crit. This means I'll need a little crit gear to go with this, but when one goes off, I can throw in a trap and watch the carnage when the stun is over.
Rain of Vengeance - Flying Strike
I figure a big blast is in order. I might as well stay with the control theme and add a stun to the skill.
Vault - Acrobatics
I want Vault to help keep distance between me and the hordes so I have maximum time to lock down the packs. This will be my key to survivability in the late game. Depending on how much Discipline I'm using with Caltrops this rune can change.
Archery
Since I need the extra crit rate and I'm thinking Hand Crossbows this is going to work better then Sharpshooter for this build.
Vengeance
With the cost of Spiked Trap I need just a little help with Hatred generation. The extra deep pool will also help with that.
Gear stat priorities here would be Dex, Crit, Vit, Resistances, then everything else.
Weapon of choice here is the dual hand crossbows as I want the fastest rate of fire to ensure I get my control skills off as much as possible.
Another day another build. Today I wanted to build around the Serpentine rune for Chakram. I think the skill itself had a very cool look. As for the runes each one basically changes the function and flight path making some interesting variations for builds that use them.
You can see it take a slower winding path instead of the spiral. I'm thinking to get the most out of it you want a mob pack bunched up and get up close before you fire it off. So to me that means leading the pack into a strong snare and then letting loose with Serpentine, which brings me to the next skill.
Caltrops - Hooked Spines
An 80% snare is very strong and should do nicely in keeping the mob pack grouped up to get maximum hits from each Serpentine throw.
Hungering Arrow - Piercing Arrow
This is used to polish off anything that's left standing after the first couple of Serpentine throws. Hungering Arrow is probably my go to generator when I don't need something specific. It fires fast, it homes, and the pierce is a great bonus to the skill.
Rapid Fire - Withering Fire
Also use to polish off packs and for using on single targets. I like the initial hatred cost drop as it means I'm not as punished for shooting in short bursts and can maintain mobility if need be.
Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
Seeing as I'm going to be close up to mobs I should have an escape plan if it gets a little dicey. I used this skill / rune combination as it also allows me a way to gain back Hatred which I feel is necessary in any build, especially when you have a Hatred hungry skill like Rapid Fire in your build.
Preperation - Battle Scars
Another dual use utility. This time to replenish Discipline and Health.
Cull the Weak
Any build that has snares in them should use this passive if there is room for it.
Numbing Traps
This is to help with the survivability since I'm going to be up close a lot.
Custom Engineering
I want the snare to last as long as possible. While this passive probably won't need to be here pre-Inferno, I have a feeling that I'm going want the extra snare time once I do step into Inferno.
Gear stat priority here is Dex, Vit, Crit, Resists, then anything else.
Weapons choice would be a Crossbow. I want the Serpentines to be consistently be heavy in damage to take out the mob pack ASAP so I don't have to be in harms way for long.
I really like the concept of this, and might try and work into my "Parkour" build. However just having a quick overview, Strafe is rubbish.
Not to create another Strafe sucks thread, I do like the idea behind the skill. Since this is all theorical builds and nothing that can be proven by actually taking it out for a test drive I'm coming from the school of thought that at some point, with tweaks, the skill will be useful for it's designed purpose. So when I create a build I look more at what the skill is supposed to provide rather than the current raw numbers. Once release happens and I'm getting ready to step into Inferno numbers will need to considered. In the case of Strafe, my feeling on the skill is it's a mobile attack skill and should do noticeable damage, but certainly not as much as a skill that is primarily for damage.
I'm using Strafe for it's combined effect of doing damage while I get into place not for the damage itself. I don't plan an using it unless I need to reposition myself. Depending on the situation I have Elemental Arrow, Impale, and Bola as my main damage sources, so I don't need Strafe for that purpose, it's utility that does a little damage as a bonus.
I certainly could've chosen Vault for the mobility and tacked on one of the damage runes, however I didn't feel I had enough Discipline to be able to use the skill often and still have Shadow Power available.
Might as well start with the main attraction of this build. On thing to note before I talk about it is there isn't a lot of vids of the Sentry skill, and I haven't seen one for the rune. Therefore the only thing I have to go on here is the skill description. From that we have the Sentry, a stationary "pet" that is fire and forget. You put it down, it choose a target, and it shoots. The rune adds a line between you and your Sentry that does damage. So in order to get the damage out of it, you need to get the mob packs between yourself and the Sentry. That means mobility is key to get yourself into the right place, and then keeping the mobs where you want them are the keys to getting the most out of this skill.
Strafe - Drifting Shadow
I like the feeling of dealing damage as I get into place, certainly better then just walking into place. Once I'm in place I can move with the mobs to continue to keep them in the tether while doing damage. Making sure that I don't nerf my movement speed is important so Drifting Shadow seems the fit the bill.
Elemental Arrow - Frost Arrow
This is my slow of choice as if I'm in place it will pierce through and slow a lot of the targets. If I'm not it will keep mobs in place so I can get time to position myself and the Sentry in the right place.
Shadow Power - Shadow Glide
Given that I'm not going to be at a far distance from the mob packs, I'll need some life gain. I can also use this a movement speed boost. This can make a great combo with Strafe.
Bola Shot - Bitter Pill / Perfectionist
This combination will help with my Discipline resource as Shadow Power is expensive. Bola will be used for small little packs that might not be worth setting up the Chain, or as a way to finish off a pack conserving my Hatred. Might as well get some Discipline back while I use it. Perfectionist is the most effective when you have high cost Discipline skills.
Impale - Chemical Burn
I like having a single target skill for Champion and Elites. This fills that roll nicely. The other thing is I won't be spamming this as I will be rotating it with Frost Arrow for the snare or Bola to get back Hatred. This means I won't clip the DoT added by Chemical Burn thus making it a great damage add to the skill.
Cull The Weak
Pretty easy choice here. I think in most builds you will have a least one of the passives that add flat damage bonuses. Since I have the snare up more often then I'll be 10 yards away Cull The Weak fits best.
Custom Engineering
I'd like to keep up Sentry as long as possible. While I think early game you'll be clearing mobs fast enough to not use the whole duration, that will change by Inferno. So conserving the Discipline by not having to cast this more then once per pack is a great benefit.
Gear stat priority would be Dex, Vit, Crit, Resource regen / pool increases, Att Spd, everything else.
Weapon of choice would be either Dual Hand Crossbows or Bow and Quiver. Since I will need to switch between attacks quickly Crossbow's attack speed is just too slow.
With the release date announcement I've decided I'm going to try to come up with a build everyday until release day. I'm not looking for the best, just something viable. While it's difficult to determine what that means until we get into Inferno, I have some basic rules I'm going to follow in all builds.
- 1 - 3 main attack skills (primary damage skills, single, AoE, and / or Hatred Generation)
- 1 Hatred Generator (not necesarily for damage, ie Entangling Shot)
- 1- 2 skills that add survivability (snare, movement enhancement, life gain)
- Ways to manage both resources
Think this covers most average scenarios while you are running around. Some skills will cover multiple requirements for example Evasive Fire is a generator and adds mobility.
Mostly this is just for fun and something to past the time till May 15th.
With that in mind here's my first one for today my Knife Build.
This is more of a themed build where I wanted my DH to be a crazy knife thrower. I've chosen main attacks that throw knives or in one case a bola (no generators that are knife based, so I chose one that didn't look like an arrow).
Bola Shot - Acid Strike
I wanted something that didn't look like I was shooting off arrows to go with the theme, but I also wanted something that was good damage and generated Hatred, so Bola Shot seemed to fit well. I picked Acid Strike because it gives AoE without having to wait for the delay.
Impale - Grevous Wounds & Strafe - Stinging Steel
These to go hand in hand in a sense. First Stinging Steel changes Strafe to be a knife attack, but it also adds bonus damage on criticals. Right away this means criticals are important. Since I was already going to have lots of crit for that rune and decent AoE, the Grevous Wounds rune made sense. It turns Impale into a monster single target burst damage skill.
Fan of Knifes - Crippling Razors
I'll be using this more for the utility since I have a couple of strong attacks already so I don't intend to use this off of cooldown so adding to the utility makes more sense for me. If you've seen any beta footage and some of the 80% snares you can clearly see how effective they can be.
Shadow Power - Night Bane
Since I'm not necessarily trying to keep a huge distance between myself and the mob packs I need something to help with some of the extra damage I'll be taking that comes with that. Night Bane will help with the drain a channeling skill, Strafe, can put on your Hatred as they get expensive with prolonged use.
Preperation - Backup Plan
With the importance of Shadow Power for my survivability and Hatred generation I've decided I need Preperation. Since I want that Discipline immediatly to activate Shadow Power but don't really need the extra life or Discipline, Backup Plan seemed to fit the best.
Archery & Sharpshooter
These are to increase Critcal Hit, or in the case of Archery once I have enough Critical Hit with gear to switch to Crossbows to increase Critcal Damage.
Vengence
This is to help with resource generation and give a deeper Hatred pool to ensure I can use any attack at any time I need it.
Gear priority will be Crit, Dex, Vit, Resistances, then any other bonus. I'll be using Dual Hand Crossbows till I feel I have sufficent crtical hit then switch to Crossbow.
Well I'd be keeping a discipline spell no matter what in any build so it’s not like I'm wasting a slot just to have an improvement over strafe...
I get your point now; I still think it's a poor choice for many situations unless you have a rocket or grenade build.
I do agree that using Discipline is important and that we should not get too Hatred happy in our builds. Vault is definitely an awesome mobility skill. But in some builds I'm going to be using my Discpline in other ways and don't have room for Vault, well then Strafe makes a good alternative, or Evasive Fire if I don't have the Hatred or Discpline (cost half as much). This is why I don't consider it useless. It's may not be the first choice for some builds, but it will have a place in others.
Vault then spam a damage efficient spell... well that just made strafe useless.
You are correct, that does do the same thing, In early game one Vault plus the efficient attack skill may indeed be enough to kill everything before you need to Vault again. But later on that might not be the case. When you start having to Vault multiple times it gets expensive on the Discipline and the Acrobatics rune has a 15 second cooldown. Eventually you are going to run out. Now yes of course you can have skills to gain it back faster, but the point is Vault is going to have it's downside too.
Strafe will also get you into a more favorible position just like Vault, but it does it differently. It's slower, but it comes with built in damage (not a lot but some) and it uses Hatred which you have a lot more of thus takes longer to drain.
I feel like both skills have their uses, but you probably are not going to use both in a build. They both do somethings well, and have some downsides. This means we have to choose which one we like better, and that's the point of the skill design.
My point to the OP was that Strafe isn't a main damage skill so its damage can't be compared to other main damage skills. By doing so you miss the good part of the skill. In no way am I saying am I defending it to the point of saying you must have it in your build. Just that if you going to analyze a skill make sure you are looking at all parts of it, not just the damage.
As a main attack skill you are absolutely correct, Strafe is not good...
However you've got to understand not every skill is just for damage, there is a lot mobility that comes with Strafe. All the other attack skills stop when you activate it, this does not. This is made to do some damage while you move, kind of like a ranged Whirlwind. The uncontrolled targeting obviously means that it's not going to be a primary Hatred spending skill for your build. As with all skills some runes might change that but it really depends what you are trying to use the skill for in your build, and that's the important thing to think about.
Remember your not going to have 5 main attack skills in your build. You minimumly need 1, and some builds may have up to 3 (1 single target Hatred Spender, 1 AoE Hatred Spender, and 1 Hatred Generator). The rest of the skills will be there to be used occationally, for example, Rain of Vengence for burst damage, Smoke Screen for escaping, and Caltrops for snare. Not every skill in your build needs to do the best damage at all times and if it does in later difficulties you will die because you will be overwhelmed by the Hordes.
Long story short (too late I know), you need to think about what a skill actual does and not just the damage it puts out before you say it sucks.
Edits: For Grammer
One more Edit: Looking at the vid, you can see Hungering Arrow was used as the main attack, and Strafe was used to get in a better position by not allowing the DH to get surrounded. The damage was just a bonus to the mobility. In all a pretty good example of how to use the base rune of the skill.
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Here's the build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WRikQg!efc!abcYca
Companion - Wolf
First the key skill. The cost is not too bad but since I want to summon this for every mob pack I'll need to have a way to gain Discipline.
Sentry - Guardian Turret
"Pet" number 2. I felt like adding to survival was a little better here then the extra damage of spitfire. This will help myself, my wolf, and my follower (I see this more as a solo build)
Rain of Vengeance - Anathema
"Pet" number 3. While this isn't a pet that can take up some space to block a mob pack for me, this will be just some extra damage for the cost of a cooldown (the current build has this at no Hatred cost, just hasn't been updated in the calculator).
Now the idea that all three of these pets will run at the same time. While each one isn't a ton of damage, all three together will stack up nicely. Add the fact I can fire off some shots at the same time and this little zoo I have going could lay down some nice numbers.
Multishot - Suppression Fire
This is my main way of gaining Discipline and adding some cover fire for my "pets".
Entangling Shot - Chain Gain
Slows down a pack to work with one of my passives, Cull the Weak. Also this will help keep some mob control so I can kite when I need to.
Fan of Knives - Cripling Razor
An escape skill, or a skill to polish off a pack. I like any skill that can provide multiple uses. Also this is another source of a slow.
Archery and Cull the Weak
Both DPS increases, simple enough.
Perfection
Making both of my Discipline skills cost 8 reduces my Discpline usage more then you think. Over time this becomes huge, especially with how often I intend to use them. Vengeance is also good here, but I don't need the extra Hatred, and Perfection allows me not to have to depend on a random element (health globe drops) to gain back my Discipline.
Gear stat priority Dex, Vit, Resistances, Crit, everything else. I feel like my survival will rely sololy on my ability to kite and avoid damage as I don't have anything that explictly protects me other then the Sentry. So Vit is very important.
Weapon of Choice is the Bow and Quiver. While I would like to use a Crossbow to ensure my "pets" hit hard, I don't feel like I can use a slow weapon here as I need to be able to shoot fast and move. However I don't need to be as fast where I need Hand Crossbows, which I feel with that weapon setup, pets are not going to work. It's just not going to be enough damage as the pets damage is just based on the mainhand Hand Crossbow damage range which is always going to be less then a Crossbow or Bow.
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Here's the build: http://us.battle.net...PUhj!YeT!YYccab
Hungering Arrow - Devouring Arrow
While I like the idea of the no generator builds I rather never have a reason to be caught with my pants down and be stuck shooting with a basic attack. A runed skill is just way more powerful then that. Also it gives me an option when my Hatred spenders is just overkill and I can allow my Hatred to fill up so I've got a full globe for the next pack. As far as runes go you can choose this one or Cinder Arrow for this build. I'm using Devouring because I don't like spamming a shot that has a DoT component on the same target. So I feel like I'm getting a little more effiecency out of this rune.
Impale - Overpenetration
This ensures that knife makes it to my main target. Nothing wrong with hitting a few other mobs along the way either.
Cluster Arrow - Loaded for Bear
When my quary is surounded by his friends or there isn't a big guy to take down this will be my attack of choice. It will help clear out the masses while putting a hurt on the main target. However do not spam this attack, it's just too costly for that.
Marked for Death - Death Toll
The use of this skill is twofold. First of course is the extra damage, and the other is marking my prey so the group knows and can help out. I always feel this skill works best in groups as everyone that attacks the target gets the bonus. On top of that I've added the heal to help with group survivability.
Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
You've seen this in my builds before, and again this is to help with Hatred Regeneration and as a means of escape. I tend to like this over Preperation / Punishment when I have any other Discipline skills in my build. Punishment just costs too much to use wconsistantly ith any other Discipline skill in my opinion.
Preperation - Invigoration
Since I'm going to be marking targets frequently and using the Hatred generation of Breathe Deep, I need a quick source of Discipline on demand. Invigoration give me a little extra juice to use right away.
Steady Aim, Sharpshooter, and Archery
All three are for DPS increases. Steady Aim should be available all the time with the melee keeping the packs at bay. Sharpshooter when built up can combo with Cluster Arrow to lay down a monsterous opening salvo. Archery is just an increase in DPS no matter which weapon you use.
Gear stat priority is Dex, Crit, resource regen / increases, everything else. You can get away with a reduction in the defensive stats because the melee will be your defense. However don't think you won't get hit, there are still ranged mobs, and there isn't a definitive aggro table so some things will just come after you. A lot is going to depend on your melee skills and what kind of mob control skills your group has.
Weapon of Choice, the Crossbow. You're the heavy hitter for the group so you want to do the biggest hits possible. Placing Crit high up on the stat priority means you'll be seeing that Archery bonus quite often.
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Here it is: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#WcViRQ!hbe!abaacb
Ballistics
Can't have the rocket build without this, so might as well mention it first.
Rapid Fire - Fire Support
Right now the tooltip says that it shoots out the rockets every second, so you can assume this won't change with attack speed since it is very specific about it's firing rate. Could be wrong, but something to look at when we get ahold of the skill. Beyond that, this is my single target based skill, but the rockets will add some AoE capability.
Multishot - Arsenal
Spaming AoE skill that also adds 3 rockets.
Sentry - Spitfire Turret
Notice this is addition to the regular fire so the Sentry will hit more often and more targets.
Entangling Shot - Chain Gang
I like having a little mob control in my builds. Open up with this to slow down a pack, spam a couple Multishots, then snare them again, spam some more, vault away if needed, rinse repeat.
Companion - Boar
Turns this into the pet build. I like the Boar as it hits multiple targets. Not so much for the damage but the hope is for it to gain mobs attention.
Vault - Acrobatics
No cost means I don't need to worry too much about Discipline regeneration.
Vengeance
Basically a staple in my builds that have Rapid Fire
Archery
Basic DPS increase. Most likely I would go with bows for this build if anything other then the base damage increase you get with this passive.
Gear stat priority Dex, Crit, Vit, Resist, everything else.
My general feeling is that Bow and Quiver is going to be the most well rounded of the options. Slower then hand crossbows but it will pack a bigger punch per shot. Generally this will be my go to if there aren't other considerations like status effects from attacks or burst damage needs.
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Chances are it will work one of two ways, either it will have a health bar, thus can be attacked but you can only summon one, or it won't have a health bar, cannot be attacked, and can be summoned as much as you have resources for. My feeling is that the intent is for the skill to be the former (health bar, can be attacked, only one at a time). I based my build around that.
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There are a lot of ways to go about building for this passive but for the most part you're going to want both Grenades and Cluster Arrow to reap the full benefits. How you fill it in will be update your tastes, but here's a version I made for today.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#fcXjPQ!gba!ZcZbbZ
Grenades - Cluster Grenades
My plan is to use Grenades to finish off a pack and to fill up my Hatred for the next one. Since I'm using it as a finisher I feel like increasing it's damage is a good idea. I almost picked Tinkerer instead for the extra Hatred generation, but I have a lot of sources of Hatred gain in this build and it would be a little overkill.
Cluster Arrow - Maelstrom
I choose this rune for the survival aspect. While I have some mobility, I like having a way to regain some health in my builds. This skill / rune combination provides this while dealing good damage.
Evasive Fire - Parting Gift
This is to add mobility, but I like the rune for the build as it adds to the theme. I like all my abilities to feel like that belong together, and leaving a bomb behind when you flip certainly goes with the theme. Of course I made sure that it provides something that actually contributes to my viability as well and the backflip component combined with the Tactical Advantage passive does that as well.
Rapid Fire - Bombardment
It goes with the theme, provides my source of single target damage with a hint of AoE, and provides an overall increase to DPS. What's not to love about this skill.
Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
This is my get out of jail free card and another source of Hatred generation when I need it. This will also trigger Tactical Advantage. Because of that I'm choosing this over Preperation - Punishment
Companion - Bat
I felt like my build was complete with 5 skills. Usually in that case this is my go to skill. I pick Bat because I still feel I needed just a little bit of a boost in Hatred generation. If it starts to look like this is not needed then I would switch to the Boar.
Grenadier
Pretty Obvious
Vengeance
This is my go to passive when I use Rapid Fire or Strafe as it allows me to use those skills for a longer period of time thanks to the extra 25 Hatred. The rest is just a bonus, and a great one at that.
Tactical Advantage
I briefly mentioned this earlier but this helps with survival.
Gear stat priority will be Dex, Crit, Vit, Resists, everything else
Weapon of Choice the Crossbow. I don't feel like I really need speed here, just consistent high damage. I feel like this will give me the most efficency out of a costly skill like Cluster Arrow.
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Edit: This has changed slightly as I missed the change to Spiked Trap's change in Patch 14 from a generator to a spender that costs 30 Hatred. However the only thing that's changed is a passive. Since Rain of Vengeance no longer costs Hatred, just the cooldown my Hatred spending is not that bad. However I switched Stead Aim with Vengeance to help with the new cost of Spiked Trap and Hatred generation.
So here's the new build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aSYVTk!Zeb!aYZabc
Here's the old build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aSYVTk!ZeY!aYZabc
Spiked Trap - Long Fuse
Pretty obvious as this is the star of the build. The idea is to lay this down, bring the mobs to them, or get a mob pack locked down and throw a couple traps in there and it should trigger before the stun, snare, or immobilize drops.
Caltrops - Torturous Ground
This will immobilize an oncoming group and slow any stragglers making them food for my Spiked Traps.
Thrill of the Hunt
I'm mentioning this now as this the the reason for the rest of the attack skill selection as they need to be bow attacks to trigger the immobilization.
Hungering Arrow - Piercing Arrow
While this doesn't do any controlling on it's own, combined with Thrill of the Hunt this can immobilize multiple targets as the single shot can hit multiple targets.
Elemental Arrow - Lightning Bolts
This adds a nice 2 second stun that occurs on crit. This means I'll need a little crit gear to go with this, but when one goes off, I can throw in a trap and watch the carnage when the stun is over.
Rain of Vengeance - Flying Strike
I figure a big blast is in order. I might as well stay with the control theme and add a stun to the skill.
Vault - Acrobatics
I want Vault to help keep distance between me and the hordes so I have maximum time to lock down the packs. This will be my key to survivability in the late game. Depending on how much Discipline I'm using with Caltrops this rune can change.
Archery
Since I need the extra crit rate and I'm thinking Hand Crossbows this is going to work better then Sharpshooter for this build.
Vengeance
With the cost of Spiked Trap I need just a little help with Hatred generation. The extra deep pool will also help with that.
Gear stat priorities here would be Dex, Crit, Vit, Resistances, then everything else.
Weapon of choice here is the dual hand crossbows as I want the fastest rate of fire to ensure I get my control skills off as much as possible.
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Here's the build for today: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aeYcjh!cVU!aZaabb
Chakram - Serpentine
First take a look at the skill 0:48 into the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcMbMQVfLwM
You can see it take a slower winding path instead of the spiral. I'm thinking to get the most out of it you want a mob pack bunched up and get up close before you fire it off. So to me that means leading the pack into a strong snare and then letting loose with Serpentine, which brings me to the next skill.
Caltrops - Hooked Spines
An 80% snare is very strong and should do nicely in keeping the mob pack grouped up to get maximum hits from each Serpentine throw.
Hungering Arrow - Piercing Arrow
This is used to polish off anything that's left standing after the first couple of Serpentine throws. Hungering Arrow is probably my go to generator when I don't need something specific. It fires fast, it homes, and the pierce is a great bonus to the skill.
Rapid Fire - Withering Fire
Also use to polish off packs and for using on single targets. I like the initial hatred cost drop as it means I'm not as punished for shooting in short bursts and can maintain mobility if need be.
Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
Seeing as I'm going to be close up to mobs I should have an escape plan if it gets a little dicey. I used this skill / rune combination as it also allows me a way to gain back Hatred which I feel is necessary in any build, especially when you have a Hatred hungry skill like Rapid Fire in your build.
Preperation - Battle Scars
Another dual use utility. This time to replenish Discipline and Health.
Cull the Weak
Any build that has snares in them should use this passive if there is room for it.
Numbing Traps
This is to help with the survivability since I'm going to be up close a lot.
Custom Engineering
I want the snare to last as long as possible. While this passive probably won't need to be here pre-Inferno, I have a feeling that I'm going want the extra snare time once I do step into Inferno.
Gear stat priority here is Dex, Vit, Crit, Resists, then anything else.
Weapons choice would be a Crossbow. I want the Serpentines to be consistently be heavy in damage to take out the mob pack ASAP so I don't have to be in harms way for long.
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Not to create another Strafe sucks thread, I do like the idea behind the skill. Since this is all theorical builds and nothing that can be proven by actually taking it out for a test drive I'm coming from the school of thought that at some point, with tweaks, the skill will be useful for it's designed purpose. So when I create a build I look more at what the skill is supposed to provide rather than the current raw numbers. Once release happens and I'm getting ready to step into Inferno numbers will need to considered. In the case of Strafe, my feeling on the skill is it's a mobile attack skill and should do noticeable damage, but certainly not as much as a skill that is primarily for damage.
I'm using Strafe for it's combined effect of doing damage while I get into place not for the damage itself. I don't plan an using it unless I need to reposition myself. Depending on the situation I have Elemental Arrow, Impale, and Bola as my main damage sources, so I don't need Strafe for that purpose, it's utility that does a little damage as a bonus.
I certainly could've chosen Vault for the mobility and tacked on one of the damage runes, however I didn't feel I had enough Discipline to be able to use the skill often and still have Shadow Power available.
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bSidZl!cfU!YZbZZc
Sentry - Chain of Torment
Might as well start with the main attraction of this build. On thing to note before I talk about it is there isn't a lot of vids of the Sentry skill, and I haven't seen one for the rune. Therefore the only thing I have to go on here is the skill description. From that we have the Sentry, a stationary "pet" that is fire and forget. You put it down, it choose a target, and it shoots. The rune adds a line between you and your Sentry that does damage. So in order to get the damage out of it, you need to get the mob packs between yourself and the Sentry. That means mobility is key to get yourself into the right place, and then keeping the mobs where you want them are the keys to getting the most out of this skill.
Strafe - Drifting Shadow
I like the feeling of dealing damage as I get into place, certainly better then just walking into place. Once I'm in place I can move with the mobs to continue to keep them in the tether while doing damage. Making sure that I don't nerf my movement speed is important so Drifting Shadow seems the fit the bill.
Elemental Arrow - Frost Arrow
This is my slow of choice as if I'm in place it will pierce through and slow a lot of the targets. If I'm not it will keep mobs in place so I can get time to position myself and the Sentry in the right place.
Shadow Power - Shadow Glide
Given that I'm not going to be at a far distance from the mob packs, I'll need some life gain. I can also use this a movement speed boost. This can make a great combo with Strafe.
Bola Shot - Bitter Pill / Perfectionist
This combination will help with my Discipline resource as Shadow Power is expensive. Bola will be used for small little packs that might not be worth setting up the Chain, or as a way to finish off a pack conserving my Hatred. Might as well get some Discipline back while I use it. Perfectionist is the most effective when you have high cost Discipline skills.
Impale - Chemical Burn
I like having a single target skill for Champion and Elites. This fills that roll nicely. The other thing is I won't be spamming this as I will be rotating it with Frost Arrow for the snare or Bola to get back Hatred. This means I won't clip the DoT added by Chemical Burn thus making it a great damage add to the skill.
Cull The Weak
Pretty easy choice here. I think in most builds you will have a least one of the passives that add flat damage bonuses. Since I have the snare up more often then I'll be 10 yards away Cull The Weak fits best.
Custom Engineering
I'd like to keep up Sentry as long as possible. While I think early game you'll be clearing mobs fast enough to not use the whole duration, that will change by Inferno. So conserving the Discipline by not having to cast this more then once per pack is a great benefit.
Gear stat priority would be Dex, Vit, Crit, Resource regen / pool increases, Att Spd, everything else.
Weapon of choice would be either Dual Hand Crossbows or Bow and Quiver. Since I will need to switch between attacks quickly Crossbow's attack speed is just too slow.
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- 1 - 3 main attack skills (primary damage skills, single, AoE, and / or Hatred Generation)
- 1 Hatred Generator (not necesarily for damage, ie Entangling Shot)
- 1- 2 skills that add survivability (snare, movement enhancement, life gain)
- Ways to manage both resources
Think this covers most average scenarios while you are running around. Some skills will cover multiple requirements for example Evasive Fire is a generator and adds mobility.
Mostly this is just for fun and something to past the time till May 15th.
With that in mind here's my first one for today my Knife Build.
http://us.battle.net...gdlh!bTe!bbabac
This is more of a themed build where I wanted my DH to be a crazy knife thrower. I've chosen main attacks that throw knives or in one case a bola (no generators that are knife based, so I chose one that didn't look like an arrow).
Bola Shot - Acid Strike
I wanted something that didn't look like I was shooting off arrows to go with the theme, but I also wanted something that was good damage and generated Hatred, so Bola Shot seemed to fit well. I picked Acid Strike because it gives AoE without having to wait for the delay.
Impale - Grevous Wounds & Strafe - Stinging Steel
These to go hand in hand in a sense. First Stinging Steel changes Strafe to be a knife attack, but it also adds bonus damage on criticals. Right away this means criticals are important. Since I was already going to have lots of crit for that rune and decent AoE, the Grevous Wounds rune made sense. It turns Impale into a monster single target burst damage skill.
Fan of Knifes - Crippling Razors
I'll be using this more for the utility since I have a couple of strong attacks already so I don't intend to use this off of cooldown so adding to the utility makes more sense for me. If you've seen any beta footage and some of the 80% snares you can clearly see how effective they can be.
Shadow Power - Night Bane
Since I'm not necessarily trying to keep a huge distance between myself and the mob packs I need something to help with some of the extra damage I'll be taking that comes with that. Night Bane will help with the drain a channeling skill, Strafe, can put on your Hatred as they get expensive with prolonged use.
Preperation - Backup Plan
With the importance of Shadow Power for my survivability and Hatred generation I've decided I need Preperation. Since I want that Discipline immediatly to activate Shadow Power but don't really need the extra life or Discipline, Backup Plan seemed to fit the best.
Archery & Sharpshooter
These are to increase Critcal Hit, or in the case of Archery once I have enough Critical Hit with gear to switch to Crossbows to increase Critcal Damage.
Vengence
This is to help with resource generation and give a deeper Hatred pool to ensure I can use any attack at any time I need it.
Gear priority will be Crit, Dex, Vit, Resistances, then any other bonus. I'll be using Dual Hand Crossbows till I feel I have sufficent crtical hit then switch to Crossbow.
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I do agree that using Discipline is important and that we should not get too Hatred happy in our builds. Vault is definitely an awesome mobility skill. But in some builds I'm going to be using my Discpline in other ways and don't have room for Vault, well then Strafe makes a good alternative, or Evasive Fire if I don't have the Hatred or Discpline (cost half as much). This is why I don't consider it useless. It's may not be the first choice for some builds, but it will have a place in others.
/agree
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You are correct, that does do the same thing, In early game one Vault plus the efficient attack skill may indeed be enough to kill everything before you need to Vault again. But later on that might not be the case. When you start having to Vault multiple times it gets expensive on the Discipline and the Acrobatics rune has a 15 second cooldown. Eventually you are going to run out. Now yes of course you can have skills to gain it back faster, but the point is Vault is going to have it's downside too.
Strafe will also get you into a more favorible position just like Vault, but it does it differently. It's slower, but it comes with built in damage (not a lot but some) and it uses Hatred which you have a lot more of thus takes longer to drain.
I feel like both skills have their uses, but you probably are not going to use both in a build. They both do somethings well, and have some downsides. This means we have to choose which one we like better, and that's the point of the skill design.
My point to the OP was that Strafe isn't a main damage skill so its damage can't be compared to other main damage skills. By doing so you miss the good part of the skill. In no way am I saying am I defending it to the point of saying you must have it in your build. Just that if you going to analyze a skill make sure you are looking at all parts of it, not just the damage.
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However you've got to understand not every skill is just for damage, there is a lot mobility that comes with Strafe. All the other attack skills stop when you activate it, this does not. This is made to do some damage while you move, kind of like a ranged Whirlwind. The uncontrolled targeting obviously means that it's not going to be a primary Hatred spending skill for your build. As with all skills some runes might change that but it really depends what you are trying to use the skill for in your build, and that's the important thing to think about.
Remember your not going to have 5 main attack skills in your build. You minimumly need 1, and some builds may have up to 3 (1 single target Hatred Spender, 1 AoE Hatred Spender, and 1 Hatred Generator). The rest of the skills will be there to be used occationally, for example, Rain of Vengence for burst damage, Smoke Screen for escaping, and Caltrops for snare. Not every skill in your build needs to do the best damage at all times and if it does in later difficulties you will die because you will be overwhelmed by the Hordes.
Long story short (too late I know), you need to think about what a skill actual does and not just the damage it puts out before you say it sucks.
Edits: For Grammer
One more Edit: Looking at the vid, you can see Hungering Arrow was used as the main attack, and Strafe was used to get in a better position by not allowing the DH to get surrounded. The damage was just a bonus to the mobility. In all a pretty good example of how to use the base rune of the skill.