My 1st char is a DH who is stuck playing pub games @ lower mp. Tried to play higher mp cannot survive bcos too glassy. Buying gear to improve ehp will cost me an arm & a leg, so just depend on lucky drops (recent one was a Nat Embrace with +max discpline). Switched from Manticore + DML to Calamity + DML & luvin it (faster hatred regen due to hcbow speed, higher CC from archery passive n Caltrops/Bait the Trap which in turn gives better discpline regen from Night Stalker passive) the % chance of Marked for Death is also sweeeet.

p/s: anybody got an affordable Nat Slayer with open socket for sale/trade? Wanna try switch to 2 hcbow n compare against using dml.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 8 2012, 01:29 PM

Agree! but until i drop a 2 socket manti @ can afford to buy 1, i will stick to Calamity just for fast farming mp1. I myself farm keys using my WD who hv higher survivability on mp5-6. Truthfully i enjoy playing my DH more plus its less stress on the fingers too compared to my WD Back during D2 days Amazon was my fav, did all the builds from Bowazon, Javazon n Tankazon.

@dante1989

I got 1 unused andariel's helm with 164 dex, 9% ias, 4.5% cc (unfortunately no socket tho), if u want just add/whisper me in-game @ Hulkie#6526. Should help boost your AS a bit.

Actually most of the gear on my DH are drops obtained from my WD runs (pre 105 my DH was stuck,having no drops and cant really farm well). Now hv better gears thanks to my WD
As far as Unity goes, it was also a drop (my WD seems to hv a knack for getting jewellry ... so far got 3 Unity drops dex,str,intel).
I wish the ice climber drop this morning was a dex climber, unfortunately it was Str It seems my DH now keeps getting owned by Frozen affix elites.

Anyways, i am toying with the idea of switching my pet bear to spike trap/echoing blast for more option in dealing damage. Is it a good idea? However i need to beef up my Resist n EHP overall 1st it seems. I just realised that traps laid during Gloom is on will proc LS even when Gloom is no longer active when the trap is activated by mobs. Since i am using Caltrops/Bait for the xtra 10%CC, it might be a good idea to: activate Gloom, lay 3 traps close together, stand on it, lay Caltrops .. when mobs come close, vault back (Caltrops snare will ensure maximum echoing 3 blasts on the mobs).

Wish List:
1- 1.3k dps Calamity with open socket.
2- Ice climber with high Dex
3- Nat ring with CC & avg dmg.
4- DML with max disc & %dmg to HA

I get what u mean by traps being slow. I am looking into them as another utility to deal damage in certain situations such as tough (xtra health) elites @ Uber Bosses.
1hxbows not having a high base damage ruled out using huge damage dealer such as Cluster Bomb. Currently i use EA/BL to clear white mobs and also as a disc generator via Nightstalker Passive, HA/CA for hatred generator and main damage dealer to single targets, so maybe utilising Traps would add some xtra damage and another dimension to my playstyle. My hatred pool rarely go lower than 2/3 as compared to my disc pool.. using traps will maximise my hatred usage.

Ive seen the effectiveness of Bola (the stun rune) when paired up with Cluster, however i feel its better suited for xbows/manti users. The main reason i prefer HA bcos when on-the-run (times when i'm out of disc to vault) i can shoot HA without facing the target yet still hit. Previously i used SoT rune as it deals the most damage but after i read some findings by another forumer in Diablofans regarding hidden procs coefficients i switched to Cinder Arrows. Why? CA has the highest proc coef (1.3) therefore triggers more frequently any LoH gears i have on me (yeay! Unity ). Together with LS on my Calamity, most of the time i dont need Gloom unless facing !@#$% RDs haha. U can have a look at the proc coef findings here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key...ZJcHdkN0E#gid=1
(Credit goes to ZzEzZ of Premiere from Diablofans forum)

Before i found the inna pants i used diggers but after switching to inna i feel the ias from inna gives me more benefit.. make me feel like shooting a machine gun haha (tested using my WD witching).. i did lose a lot of AR. MS on pants give me more flexibility in choosing boots/bracers combo.

Climber vs Nat Boots:
The 3 random properties roll of climbers opens up so many possibilities. If one does not go for full Nat set (for me xtra disc from cloak, DML n SoJ coupled with fast disc regen from NS makes the 20 xtra disc from full set a bit excessive thus unnecessary). 3 Nat items (Helm will probably be left out as Mempo with CC is far superior) gives an xtra 130 dex (OS on climber can provide almost half of that). The plus side of Nat Boot is the high armor & reduce % from melee (climber can to an extent a lesser mitigation from a high Physical resist roll). However climber is the only boots that gives less % from cold dmg (i been wondering does this lessen the frozen time?)

Ideally using Inna pants the combo for bracers/boots (in my case):
- Climber with physcl res, pickup radius & vita + Lacuni with CC @
- Climber with MS, pickup radius & vita + rare bracers with CC

I know those setup can be only the stuff of dreams for me but hey i'm a king of wishful thinking

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 13 2012, 08:02 PM

During 1.04 my DH used a strafe build to farm gold in Act 3 Hell to fund for some upgrades. Patch 1.05 brought some more viable options for a strafe build. Ideally for a strafe build u need a high crit chance (to fuel your disc regen via NS passive.. disc in turn fuels your hatred via Prep/Punishment). A slow/high based dmg xbow is more preferable than a fast/lower based dmg bow/1hxbow bcos the faster u attack = u lose hatred at a speedier rate. U can try out this build i tweaked from my the strafe build i used during 1.04:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demo...;Xbg!aaZbbZ

Primary: Grenades/Tinkerer > for faster hatred regen (better with Grenadier passive) when ure out of disc to use Prep.. most mobs will be close to u so Grenade should work just fine.
Secondary: Strafe/Emberstrafe > Ember gives xtra dmg from the trail u leave behind while strafing... my previous build used Demolition (try out both and see what works for u)
Slot 1: Vault/Rattling Roll > u initiate ur strafe using this .. knockback n stun helps u from getting swarmed b4 u start strafing
Slot 2: Fan of Knives/Hail of Knives > i chose Hail as it increase AoE since enemeis will already be knocked back by your initial Vault... u can also try out other runes such as Crippling (80% slower enemy ms) @ Daggers (for stun). FoK makes the enemy slow so they cant get close to u as u strafe around them.
Slot 3: Sentry/Chain of Torment > Chain provide xtra damage as enemy move around u get caught in the chain.. however if u find u r dying too much u can change to Guardian Turret rune.
Slot 4: Preparation/Punishment > insta hatred to continue strafing.

Passives: Nightstalker (crit gives disc for Prep), Vengeance (bigger hatred pool n globes replenish both ur hatred n disc), Grenadier (for faster hatred regen when using grenades .. if u dont have problem with hatred regen ... feel free to change it to any passive u want ... eg if u r using 1hxbow .. Archery will provide xtra 10% cc which is beneficial for disc regen via NS)

Playstyle: See a pack of mob, Vault into middle (enemy will be knockback n stunned), FoK to slow down enemies, plant Sentry and start strafing around them (going in circles works best during my own experience but depending on situation such as arcane, molten, plague .. adapt accordingly)

Happy Strafing~!!!

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 13 2012, 09:26 PM

nice find D looks like u dont need to wear the fugly andy helm anymore haha

I started playing my barb again to give WWT build a try. It made me realized why this build is so popular and successful. Reasons being:
- Crazy dps from dual wield (max 400%CHD from 2 weapons)
- High Lifesteal% (max 6% from weapons, 3% from belt & 3% from passive Bloodthirst.
- Fast attack speed (whirlwind) which grants faster health regen from LS
- Good mobility via Sprint
- Skill set synergy that grants resource,damage,mitigation

Can a DH achieve all this i asked myself. Solo play at higher mp has always been a problem with monster having enormous health (worse when faced with RD elites). To answer my earlier question i did some quick search on US GAH to look for some viable options to somewhat replicate the features of a WWT barb.

As we all know a dual socket manti with LS is not within the reach of average players. I saw one with 1086 dps 2.5% LS 2 OS @ 0.5b BIN. Even with this we are still capped at 3% LS max which i think is not sufficient to counter RD. An alternative is to go DW. In theory by going DW a DH can achieve 6% LS max & 400% CHD (equipping 2 rare hxbows that has 100% CHD & OS). After doing some browsing on US GAH, a reasonable setup with a budget of below 10m (not including high tier emeralds) will give u 2 x 9xx dps hxbows that grants 100-150% CHD with OS (not including the xtra CHD% from gems) and 5-6% LS.

My own DH is now at 120+k dps (Calamity + DML) and waiting for a bid on a 9xx dps rare hxbow with 75% CHD, OS, 2.3% LS (also hv +9 max disc). The 6 affix on rares provide a variety of possibilities to complement your build (can go for high dex, vita @ hatred regen, max disc etc). Once i get my hand on the rare hxbow i will do some testing to see how much increase in dps i will get, is the increase in %LS & %CHD (my Calamity has 2.4% LS & 92% CHD) will make up for the loss in dex,vita & CC from my DML I plan to try out Sentry/GT in conjuction with Gloom to get that 50% dmg reduction and see if i can survive while leeching from LS.

Any feedbacks, constructive criticisms & opinions are most welcomed

True bro ... i am not rolling a barb ... the barb toon is already in this account when i bought it from a fellow LYN forumer. B4 this i nvr really played it much due to sucky eqs n i prefer to play toons i created myself (DH n WD).
I know dat DH can nvr do what Barb currently does solo in high lvl mp games. I am merely highlighting an option to get a higher LS% (and maybe some higher %CHD) on a DH but within reasonable budget (if i do win the bid for the rare hxbow ... my calamity n that didnt cost me more than 5 mil). Dont tell me 2 x 1-h weapons with socket/CHD/LS for barb can be bought with similar budget.. lolz. I am pretty sure with arnd 5% LS most DH can face RD without Glooming our disc away. Again just an idea ... i might be wrong but i am the type of player who explore every possibilities a game has to offer (thru eqs n skill sets).. going cookie cutter build is pretty much zzzz to me.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 17 2012, 06:31 PM

Only by Dual Wielding a DH can get more than 3% LS (6% LS max). Too bad Cala get only 1 random roll (so if hv LS no OS). Imo it is the best leg 1hxbow (bcos of its %m4d & a black weapon dat benefits most from +% to elemental dmg for example inna belt). In theory to get the most LS & CHD from DW is to use 2 x rare 1hxbow (from looking at US GAH: 1k dps upwards 1hxbows with CHD+OS+LS is quite expensive but for 9xx dps there's few choices with reasonable/cheap price).

I recently upgraded my shoulder to a ward with 200 dex + 80 vita which boost my ehp considerably (4k armor now) so i tried out using Gloom + Sentry/Guardian Turret combo against RD elites in a coop mp6 game. I find that even with 2.4 LS from my Cala + Guardian Turret 15% dmg reduction, i am able to shoot @ RDs using HA without my health going down.. only when the mobs get close n swarm me do i pop Gloom (50% dmg reduction from gloom + GT) and start spamming EA/BL which fills up my health/disc quite fast that i dont run out of disc. However i do have to vault away n kite when there are are other factors such as arcane, molten etc.


My current setup:
Primary: HA/CA (i choose CA to get highest LoH proc from few items on my gear .. ring n ammy)
Secondary: EA/BL (i find it is the fastest attack to proc crit to fill up my disc n also health from LS)
Skill 1: Caltrops/Bait the Trap (for the 10% CC & also helpful to buy me time to vault away when too many hard hitting mobs get too close)
Skill 2: Vault/Tumble (i choose tumble to minimise disc usage in dicey situation i hv to get far .. nice also for farming)
Skill 3: Shadow Power/Gloom (survivability)
Skill 4: Sentry/Guardian Turret (b4 dis i used bear companion to tank for me in solo game n dat xtra AR, then tried Spike Trap/Echoing Blast n found it more useful when there is a good tank in the game esp in ubers ... i think GT is the perfect skill to accompany Gloom for a total of 50% dmg reduction + a little xtra dmg from the turret itself)
Passives: Archery (for xtra 10% CC), Nightstalker (for disc regen) & Perfectionist (boost in EHP n reduce cost for disc skills)

My current gear setup doesnt hv a large disc pool (only +9 from Embrace) but i rarely run out of disc. Only on certain occasion where i vault unnecessarily (i could hv just run ... panic being main reason most of the time haha) do i run out of disc. Using Gloom doesnt drain my disc so much bcos when i pop gloom, i stand n shoot (which gives me back disc from crits). Another few hrs b4 the auction on the rare hxbows ends and i will be testing it out to see if increased LS (shud be increase DPS too from 75%CHD + OS .. not sure if dat will counter the 200ish lost in Dex from DML) can benefit me in the long run. Btw the hxbow also has +9 max disc so it'll help me with more Gloom time.

I had to buy the acc (the lyn forumer did give me the cd n package as well) bcos i live in a place that is impossible to buy D3 retail ... most of the forum/online seller oso out of stock dat time and since i just bought a new laptop solely for the purpose of gaming (playing D3 was top of the list) a 2nd hand D3 account was the solution (got it for cheaper too hehe .. + 1 lvl60 barb with only rare eqs haha). I might buy a brand new collectors edition soon for a new acc (maybe wait for the expansion).

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 17 2012, 10:21 PM

My current setup details:



Nope i'm not getting a Danetta, its just a cheap rare 1hxbow (hopefully nobody snipe/outbid me after i post the screenshot haha)



I choose this bcos its very cheap (i think i am the only bidder atm) since i am just only testing the DW setup (increase LS). There are few more with better DPS, CHD & LS but this will do for now (the +9 disc also made it a good choice).

Tried out the DW setup with 4.7% LS on mp6 uber 4-player game and my health went down slowly when shooting SB (only use Gloom when my health is 50% and got back up vry fast). My guess is with 6% LS , RD on SB can mitigated w/out using Gloom at all.
Now i need to get a Reflection with CC roll to boost my DPS back up. I didnt realise when i ditched DML i lost 20% ias (i thought im only losing dex/vita/cc). My dps went down from 128k to 110k. Lost of ias really affected my disc regen so i hope to get my hands on a Reflection ASAP.
Once i obtain a Reflection my nxt move is switching my Calamity to a rare hxbow with LS/CHD/OS to get highest possible CHD from DW (Calamity caps my CHD on main hand to a max of 100% only)
Other future upgrades i have in mind:
- Switching my Embrace to a high vita roll inna chest so that i can use witching and still get 130 dex inna set bonus.
- Get Nat Bloody footprint so that i still get 7%CC bonus from losing Embrace.
- Replace lacuni with a rare bracers that gives me Dex/Vita/AR/CC (since alrdy get 24% MS from boots n pants)
Hopefully the end result will give me me higher dps & also ehp so i can tank more n kite less.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 19 2012, 01:07 PM

I totally agree that losing DML is very painful indeed haha thats why i am trying to counter that by getting a Reflection (for the ias + CC + bonus 7% CC). Unfortunately my current fund always made me lose bids lolz. Dex/Vita loss i have made up slightly with the rare hxbow i am currently using (got 1 with dex/vita roll). Losing Disc on Embrace wont hurt me so much bcos i plan to get a 2nd rare hxbow with +max disc roll. The main reason i am switching to Inna chest is bcos it give the best vita + %life and also i can ditch Inna belt (while still getting the 130 dex bonus) so i could use Witching Hour (more ias n chd). Its a goal i am working on to achieve .. i am also giving some thought into how such build (fast attack, high ehp, high LS) will fare in PvP when it is released (whadya think bro? wont a hard hitting, high ehp ranged hero with high leeching capabilities be a PvP beast? )

Extra 12% dmg to marked target 44% of the time is always a good thing and it also benefits the whole party in coop games

@Moba

Your Cala so yummy wan I am more interested to know how much for that "black" rare hxbow (perfect LS & near perfect CD .. 1k dps some more) With only 1440 dex alrdy at 144k dps .. fuyooo! (after upgrading all slotted gem & maybe a dex roll mempo with cc .. must be way higher .. lolz).
Have u ever consider going Tal's Armor (for the ias) + Tal's ammy (with CC)? the bonus %to elemental dmg surely will give quite a dps boost considering u r using "black weapon" on both hands (not forgetting the default intel roll on both items are not wasted as intel = AR). Higher ias also will benefit disc regen thru more attacks per sec (more crits = more disc from NS passive). Gaining ias from Tal's armor also mean u can lose ias from witching & replace it with Inna Favor (1% cc + more %elemental dmg + 130 dex bonus). For 7% CC bonus of nat set maybe from boots & rings. So basically you're getting 3 partial set bonus which i personally think is quite good. Regarding disc regen, have u tried using Ball Lightning? From my own setup and play experience i find that BL passes thru mobs and crits a lot .. a few BL can replenish my disc pool quite fast. For more CC maybe Caltrops/Bait would help.

p/s: Before dis i saw u r using a diff rare hxbow.. sold alrdy aa? if still got can "pinjam" to test DW 2 rare hxbow (to get max CD n LS). Thinking of changing my Cala with LS to another rare hxbow (want to make sure that extra CD can increase my overall dps or not).

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 21 2012, 05:37 PM

Enchantress + Grand Wizier = 45% MF
Enchantress + Blade of Prophecy = 35% MF
Templar + Sun Keeper + 20% MF Stormshield = 65% MF

Sun Keeper give max 10% xtra dmg to elites while Stormshield give max of 7% reduced dmg from elites.
Templar get hit all the time .. on low mp paragon run i give him Puzzle Ring for that xtra few gobs.

Star of Ak + Azurewrath on Templar plus the block% of Stormshield makes him a super tank ... u see blue mobs most of the time.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 27 2012, 10:59 PM

The Star of Azkaranth

with max 5.1% chance to Freeze on Hit

pair it with Azurewrath

max of 15% chance to Freeze on Hit (for Templar)

@

Buriza do kyanon

get the 15% chance to Freeze & 80% chance to pierce and u see many manyyyy blue mobs (for Scoundrel)


However the gear setup for Templar is way cheaper.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Nov 27 2012, 11:13 PM

I use a +% cold dmg SoJ on my scoundrel ... haha xtra 30% dmg to elites ... but then to leech max xp from him better use HF Ring + Signet

no lah .. leech xp @ mf/gf only can ... SoJ for the follower own xtra dmg to elites lor haha

yes .. 20% of total % xp on follower
35% HF = 7% xp for u
30% signet = 6% xp for u
Total xtra 13% xp gained