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I've been making a lot of Demon Hunter builds (I'll link a few when I get home from work) and there are a few things I've noticed, and was wondering if anyone else has.
1) It seems hard to make REALLY synergistic builds. I've been messing around with monk and barbarian builds, and it seems like you can get 4-5 active and 2-3 passive skills all working together in some way. This seems REALLY hard to do with the DH, as I've only come up with 1 build that sort matches that. It is also a bit hard to tell how some of their abilities are going to work exactly.
2) Is there any reason NOT to take archery? I only made one build (a grenadier/ballistics build) that didn't use archery, and you could probably still take it as a 3rd passive. It just seems head-and-shoulders better than all the other passives for raw damage output, regardless of what weapon type you'll be using. I'm sure you COULD make a build without it, but it seems like taking it is almost always a better choice over something else.
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For me, there's no doubt that Archery is the strongest DPS passive, but there are certainly builds that just don't take any DPS passives to focus on utility instead. In general though, you just have to be aware that if you're including a damage passive, unless you have some synergy in mind, you should choose Archery before the others.
In terms of synergies, I'd say the key thing is to balance Hatred and Discipline spenders. Any two hatred spenders are naturally going to be "competitive" in the sense that you'll constantly be choosing one at the expense of the other, which makes it hard to make them work together.
That said, I think you can find good combinations of generator + spender + discipline + passive. Off the top of my head, you could take something like Grenades, Cluster Arrow, Caltrops, Grenadier for an AoE build, or Entangling Shot, Strafe, Vault, Steady Aim to focus on kiting.
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Well don't forget about the Preperation skill. I forgot how to spell it but I know what it does lol. You can switch it out to replace hatred or have zero cooldown. It really allows you to just pretty much spend as much of either hatred or discipline in any extreme that you want. Downside is that it takes up a skill slot which I would rather have a discipline spell to counteract my hatred use.
So all in all, you get a benefit for actually balancing out the H/D use but there are ways around it for you less patient people :D
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Ehhhhh, that's not pacifist at all, but whatever.
I don't get why you want so much extra Arcane regeneration (+4 per second) when you made half your spells have reduced costs, and the other half are either on cooldowns or have no mana cost. You could probably get rid of the pet spell since it doesn't add much, and take something like Ice Armor+Jagged Ice or +Chilling Aura.
You could also take Slow Time+Time Warp because it adds a lot more of what your build seems to be going for: AOE slow and % damage boost. Here's a link to the modified build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#ZlYQgm!XYW!bbZZZa
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Updated my Vision Quest WD build by swapping out Spirit Walk for Zombie Dogs.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#iSTRZY!UWZ!ccYZaY
Gargantuan, Zombie Dogs and Hex will be on cooldown pretty much all the time. I'll be casting Grasp every battle as well which will trigger Vision Quest. I think the 468% weapon damage/8s from Pestilence should provide enough single target dps and together with Acid Bomb will hopefully be sufficient AoE.
I may swap out Pierce the Veil for Bad Medicine if I find the pets are dying too quickly. Or if mana proves to be abundant, I'll be swapping out Acid Bomb for Firebats (with Dire Bats rune).
Thoughts?
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On May 10 2012 22:35 Whalecore wrote:Kung Fu Monk / Mantra Monk http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#UVhSQk!cYb!acaabaAll Mantras, wewt! Play like a Kung Fu master, switch stance according to the situation you're in. Monk Passives are so boring compared to the other classes, so defensive! Took 3 that works well together: High maximum spirit allows for 5 consecutive Exploding Palm. Spirit generation to help support the high spirit pool, and spending spirit = heal seems like a nice bonus. They should really redo his passives though, makes him so dull T_T
Oh man, I would die of boredom playing this build. It seems like it could be unusually strong though. As long as exploding palm does enough damage throughout the game you're fine I guess..
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Here is a terror WD that you can get by a low level,
It basically pivots around using sacrifice as much as possible, and means you can deal huge amounts of damage as a result.
The two mouse skills are basically down to preference. What you feel like at the time. Its the dog skills and passives that really matter
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aeYVdj!aZd!abbZaZ
What I love about the build. Is you also have the option of using the dogs to tank. But can go on a sacrificing spree when needed. Also note. By using as many runes as possible to give a chance to rez dogs, your main damage is being done by a costless spell (sacrifice). Leaving large amounts of mana to be dumped if further damage is required.
This build will REALLY come into its own, when the boogie man rune comes available on the big bad voodoo spell. (level 60 build)
Giving a 50 percent chance of rezing a dog when anyone dies for 20 seconds???
This is ridiculous. A continuous zombie dog explosion chain. Especially when combined with the other skills.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cQYVdj!aZd!acbZaZ
Incorporating this in, you have two main options in my eyes. Get rid of soul harvest. Or get rid of one of the mouse skills. I would probably try getting rid of a mouse skill. And just choosing the highest mana dump skill possible. Maybe firebats.
Anyway. Seems ridiculously fun. Blowing up dogs all over the show. Yet. You also have the option to use them as tanks while waiting on some cool downs.
Realising this combo, and diversity has made me select the old WD over the monk in the end.
My main concern would be survivability. But then again. With mass confusion, a relatively constant supply of pets, and some good defensive passives. I think even then. This build holds well.
Any suggestions?
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Main problem I see is that both BBV and Mass Confusion have long cooldowns (120s and 60s). After you've sacrificed your dogs you're basically stuck with 1 or 2 dogs and Firebats until BBV comes up again
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But you also have summon. Which gives you another 4. So as long as its staggered. The downtime would not be too extreme.
Another reason why at 60, soul harvest may get replaced. Just so I can have another direct damage spell.
So yeah. I guess it would depend on the ability to balance between tanking with the dogs between cooldowns, and blowing them sky high
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On May 10 2012 18:05 eluv wrote:This is the last thing I'll say on the topic, but I'll be honest, it's sort of frustrating defending Diablo 3 from people nostalgic for D2, some of whom are angry they don't have to make any choices about their character, while others are angry they're forced to make choices about their character. To me all it really says is "It's not that other game I liked, it must be bad!" Making an RPG where you don't have to make any decisions, and are allowed to have every single tool at your disposal is bad design, which is why Diablo 2 made you spend points on your skills to make them effective - so you couldn't have everything - and why Diablo 3 makes you choose 6 active skills. Making an RPG though, where the punishment for making a wrong decision is that your character becomes useless and you have to start over from scratch - is still bad design! Anyway like I said, that's it from me on the subject. Here's a Demon Hunter Build focused on using the hardest hitting Single Target and AoE abilities the DH has, and using your other skills to make them hit as hard as possible. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bPZYdj!Tec!Ycccba
I didn't know you could get all skills. You're assuming that I knew that....if you had to spend skill points the way you did in D2, then it wouldn't really make sense to lock a player to six skills.
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On May 11 2012 07:18 Vod.kaholic wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 22:35 Whalecore wrote:Kung Fu Monk / Mantra Monk http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#UVhSQk!cYb!acaabaAll Mantras, wewt! Play like a Kung Fu master, switch stance according to the situation you're in. Monk Passives are so boring compared to the other classes, so defensive! Took 3 that works well together: High maximum spirit allows for 5 consecutive Exploding Palm. Spirit generation to help support the high spirit pool, and spending spirit = heal seems like a nice bonus. They should really redo his passives though, makes him so dull T_T Oh man, I would die of boredom playing this build. It seems like it could be unusually strong though. As long as exploding palm does enough damage throughout the game you're fine I guess..
Yeah it's a very gimmicky build, not meant to be optimal at all. :D Just wanted to make a stance only build since it is a pretty cool concept. Could work, but probably not very viable.
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I would have thought you can only use one at a time at a fixed attack speed as well.
A lot of people don't like lashing tail kick but I imagine if you get it with the huge slow the monks going to be good at knocking back aoes and generating spirit off the guys in the front and knocking a whole bunch back again.
Also does anyone know stuff about base stats/armour? Will monk be using same armour (like can he use plate and stuff) and similar defensive base stats to the barb? Ive heard monks are supposed to be squishy but if anything on paper they are the tankiest with all the dodge stuff they get.
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On May 11 2012 15:51 probob wrote:http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/monk#UZXdTk!YUZ!cYYbca
Can someone explain to me why so many monk builds prefer two spirit generating abilities instead of just one?
In the beta I never thought that my spirit would be too low.
It's not for increased spirit regen (you could just spam one and get the same regen), but it might be useful if the two skills are runed for different roles. For example, Deadly Reach could be runed as Foresight, which turns it into a damage buff skill. Then you use it just thrice every 30 seconds for the 18% damage boost, and switch to the other generator as the main spirit generating skill. Another example - you could build a monk around spamming Way of the Hundred Fists, but use Fists of Thunder runed as Thunderclap as a mobility skill. And for one final example - you could use Way of the Hundred Fists runed as Blazing Fists for the attack and move speed buff, and then switch to some other generator.
A lot of people don't like lashing tail kick but I imagine if you get it with the huge slow the monks going to be good at knocking back aoes and generating spirit off the guys in the front and knocking a whole bunch back again.
LTK probably has the best designed runes of any D3 skill I've seen. Every one of them has a nice use - PBAoE damage, AoE slow, AoE stun, ranged AoE and a ranged AoE slow.
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Or you could, you know, take dashing strike instead for mobility?
I think any movement speed buffs arent all that important on monk because dashing strike is just so ridiculously spammable.
Chuck that 20% dodge rune on it and it's probably the best defensive skill in the game because you can't get surrounded ever just dash out and lashing tail kick.
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Sure, but Dashing Strike isn't a generator like Thunderclap is, meaning you can't use if you run out of spirit for some reason.
But you're right, DS is the better mobility skill.
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EPT
