by JR Cook - 10 years ago     show comments

One of the most epic parts of being a nephalem in Sanctuary is that there are so many of us! On a daily basis, players are wracking their brains, stashes, and forums for new ideas on how to build a better demon slaying machine. The Hellforge is an iconic location steeped in lore and visited briefly in Diablo II – it is a place for getting dangerous deeds done. We wanted to bottle that same ethos and create a compendium of possible builds for players new and old to research, test, and iterate upon. We will scour the community’s offerings to bring you some of the more intriguing entries in celebration of innovation and inspiration for new creations.

Welcome back to the Hellforge! My name is Dannie “I” Ray, and today I’ll be showing you an interesting build idea that is bound to get better when 2.1 hits.

This build centers around the [d3item name = “Shard of Hate”], but the interesting thing is that this build is for the Demon Hunter. While Demon Hunters usually specialize in Crossbows and Bows, they also have the option to sword and board. We will take full advantage of this option to create a Demon Hunter that isn’t afraid to get into the thick of things and blast its enemies with thrown weapons, traps, and the like.

The 2.1 buffs to Life on Hit and the Dexterity to Armor change are going to make this type of Demon Hunter much more appealing and effective.

The Build

Actives:

Grenade – Gas Grenades: Your basic generator, you should try to keep the gas cloud active for that lingering damage.

Chakram – Serpentine: Your main spender, Chakram is a very efficient spender with pretty decent damage for its low cost. You should be able to spam it a lot.

Marked for Death – Mortal Enemy: This will help a lot against bosses, you will be able to use a lot more Chakram thanks to this. The increase in damage doesn’t hurt a bit.

Smoke Screen – Choking Gas: Your get out of jail free card now also packs some damage, you might not think it is much but with this build the key is to stack all sources of damage.

Vengeance – From the Shadows: Too bad this might be changing elements to cold on 2.1, it is a great skill so use it while you still can. As for 2.1, you can try the Echoing Blast rune on Spike Traps.

Companion – Boar Companion: Just plain survability for a melee oriented character, it would be interesting to see how the new Shadow Set is going to interact with the Shadow Power Runes, maybe you could use one of those here instead.

Passives: Perfectionist, Brooding, Nightstalker, Awareness, Numbing Traps

Yes, I listed 5. Perparing for 2.1 and Hellfire Amulets, for now choose based on personal preference.

How to Play

Basically, you want to get in the thick of things and start spamming your attacks. Being in close will make sure that your Shard of Hate procs do their job. Smokescreen out of bad situations and only move out when you really don’t have a choice.

The Stats

Dexterity >Critical > Poison Damage > Chakram Damage > Life Per Hit > Attack Speed >  All Resist

This build doesn’t intuitively prefer CDR or RCR, you would have to run the math in more detail to see how good each would be for you.

The Items

[d3item name =”Shard of Hate”]: Your main proc and the reason we are using this build on the first place.

[d3item name =”Andariel’s Visage”]: More Poison Novas and More Poison Damage.

[d3item name =”Swamp Land Waders”]: Yet more poison damage.

[d3item name =”Stone of Jordan”]: Because SoJ.

[d3item name =”Defender of Westmarch”]: A great shield overall, fits with the damage procs idea. Stormshield or a Poison Lidless Wall are also in heavy consideration

You can compliment this core with RoRG and the sets you see fit. Aughild’s is always a strong option as is Blackthorne’s or Captain Crimson’s. If you are going to run companion, Marauder 4-piece is a great choice. Shadow 2-piece and Natalya’s 3-piece are also things to keep in mind.

2.1 and PTR

Some of the elemental types on skills are changing for 2.1, this affects our little build here. You could simply switch around Vengeance for Spike Traps, but I’ve been toying around with a lightning version of the build on the PTR.

I’m using Bolas, Spike Traps, Shadow Power, Sentry, Vengeance and Fan of Knives. Sadly, I feel as that build might perform better with a slow crossbow and a quiver. That lightning version would likely prefer CDR to Attack Speed, maybe Odyn’s son could be a good option if you wanted to go with one-hander+shield.

But since that is PTR, everything could end up changing and being massively different. Still, give a try. There’s a lot of options to play around with and you might find something that keeps you entertained.