Diablo 3 - Gamepad Edition

[Cyan]

That's just how DH class is. Very high damage, very squishy. ROV is fairly durable though (relatively speaking) if you use stacked taeguk gem and spamming ROV increases your toughness. I can take one or two hits with a fully stacked lvl 46 gem on grift lvl 50

Congrats on the drop! Its always worth gambling for weps (if you're a dh) because the pool is much smaller than for other classes. But I think you will be set for a while so gamble for gear. Also do you need the ROV belt and focus and restraint rings to round out the build.

I would also recommend playing wizard. 2nd highest dps class and much better toughness than DH. There are a bunch of different builds for different playstyles.

I think I have a couple of Restraint rings, never though they would be of much use. The focus ring, I don't have.. What does weps stand for? :smile2:

The wizard is in my "try" list. Every wizard I've found usualy played very well and were strong, plus they seem to have very helpful shileds for allies. I for one, like to shoot from inside them. The big bubble they create around them looks like a shield, maybe it's another thing, but I always go in and shoot from there.

 

[BadTB25]

You better focus on one character that is truly fun for you, items will eventually drop and from there creating other builds is a more feasible option. Plus the Paragon levels from your main character can be used for every new character you create. I am not playing Diablo 3 much as of late because of The Witcher 3, but I miss playing it more often, so I shall be back in the summer.

As for the items, it's nothing. I had quite a few from you too. Gifts mostly -from the Nemesis I guess-, so I decided to sent you a few. A couple of the ones you sent me fit my character well.

The gifts I sent you weren't meant for the late game, but they will be helpful for you to clean areas more quickly in the early paragon levels, and stuff will appear. As I said before, Torment I is your friend if you want some of the best items, and I think you are ready for the challenge now.

Cool. I get bored too easy with just one class and like to jump around. So far, Wizard is still my favorite class.

 

[Cyan]

Cool. I get bored too easy with just one class and like to jump around. So far, Wizard is still my favorite class.

Yes, I remember that wizard in your newbie days. Gotta try it some day, so far it was a great class in Diablo 2, the Sorceress. The use of elements makes for a quite colourful character and lots of fancy.

 

[specwarGP2]

I think I have a couple of Restraint rings, never though they would be of much use. The focus ring, I don't have.. What does weps stand for? :smile2:

The wizard is in my "try" list. Every wizard I've found usualy played very well and were strong, plus they seem to have very helpful shileds for allies. I for one, like to shoot from inside them. The big bubble they create around them looks like a shield, maybe it's another thing, but I always go in and shoot from there.

Weps = weapons.

Focus and Restraint are the most powerful rings in the game. The set will effectively give you a 100% damage buff. Even crappy FnR rings will out dps any other ring combo.

The bubble is slows down enemy movement 60% and missiles 80% when in the bubble. It has a ton of utility (different runes do different things like increase attack speed, reduce incoming damage etc.) and when used with the Delsere's set, does 2000% wep dmg.

Demon Hunter is a better class if you want to push high grifts, but wizard is more rounded and still have good dps.

 

[tabs]

Regarding focus and restraint: they're even better than that as the buffs are multiplicative rather than additive, so you actually end up with +125% damage.

base dmg * f * r
if base dmg = 100 then
100 * 1.5 * 1.5 = 225

There are a few cases where F+R are not the best option, but usually they are. One interesting one for monks (who have until the last couple of weeks been locked into F+R as the best grifting rings) is this build, which makes use of the obsidian ring of the zodiac to get some crazy CDR.

With the old F+R builds your damage buffs would naturally come from the rings, with your gear losing out on damage to get CDR. This new build flips it around and you end up being able to stack more damage on your gear (and activate your main damage dealer so much more often).

Although I don't play seasonal so don't have access to the zodiac ring yet, it makes me happy when the defacto best in slot items lose their place because someone figured out a new combo.

 

[Cyan]

Impressive 2.3.0 patch is going to be released soon. It adds the Kanai's Cube -sounds similar to the legendary Horadric Cube from Diablo 2- among many other things, there will be new difficulty levels in the game, up to Torment 10! A new level, more legendaries and Sets, changes to Adventure mode, etc etc. Blizzard are the best.

Full details here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...iablo-3-patch-introduces-a-very-powerful-item

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Strange contrast between the constant free updates to D3 and the ridiculously overpriced Destiny DLC and collectors edition incoming. I guess that shows it isn't the publisher deciding Destiny's prices.

 

[BadTB25]

It would be cool if we also got new classes. I think I've only played at Torment 3, so I guess I need to up my game.

Strangely addicted to this game even though I keep wanting to drop it for something else. I've almost got every class to lvl 70. Working on Monk know with only the Barbarian class to go.

My paragon level is high 60s. Once I get all my classes to 70, maybe I'll finally focus on getting some of the really rare items.

 

[BadTB25]

Strange contrast between the constant free updates to D3 and the ridiculously overpriced Destiny DLC and collectors edition incoming. I guess that shows it isn't the publisher deciding Destiny's prices.

My biggest disappointment of this gen/last gen is the paid DLC/Season Pass crap. I'm boycotting by not buying any game that is not a must buy unto the inevitable game of the year edition, holiday price drop or I find them used.

Good thing for me is there are only a few must haves that I can't wait for.

 

[Cyan]

Strange contrast between the constant free updates to D3 and the ridiculously overpriced Destiny DLC and collectors edition incoming. I guess that shows it isn't the publisher deciding Destiny's prices.

There goes the creative freedom Bungie wanted. If you don't like something you end up with more of it, the grass is not always greener on the other side. I don't miss them, all they know to do is quite clear.

Regarding focus and restraint: they're even better than that as the buffs are multiplicative rather than additive, so you actually end up with +125% damage.

base dmg * f * r
if base dmg = 100 then
100 * 1.5 * 1.5 = 225

There are a few cases where F+R are not the best option, but usually they are. One interesting one for monks (who have until the last couple of weeks been locked into F+R as the best grifting rings) is this build, which makes use of the obsidian ring of the zodiac to get some crazy CDR.

With the old F+R builds your damage buffs would naturally come from the rings, with your gear losing out on damage to get CDR. This new build flips it around and you end up being able to stack more damage on your gear (and activate your main damage dealer so much more often).

Although I don't play seasonal so don't have access to the zodiac ring yet, it makes me happy when the defacto best in slot items lose their place because someone figured out a new combo.

Very interesting... Restraint sounds familiar.., it is a set ring sitting somewhere in the stash. Focus doesn't seem to be there, but for now I prefer to use the RoRG ring, 'cos my Natalya's gloves are far from being ideal.

The Witcher 3 literally consumed almost all my gaming time as of late, save for some Diablo 3 gaming goodness here and there in between. So I am back into Diablo 3 which is one of my favourite games ever and of this generation.

I shall be searching to find the rest of Natalya's sets and have lots of fun with my Demon Hunter meanwhile and increasing Paragon levels.

Work on building Nats set. Currently the most powerful DH build and it has very good cc ability using Rain of Vengeance Stampede and (relatively) decent toughness. Its the least squishy DH build. Dont use the ring and get cooldown on as many slots as possible since the vast majority of your DPS is from ROV. Use 2x handbows w/ 10% cooldown. Nats slayer handbow is mandatory. You only need to worry about the dps on your main hand, the other handbow is just a stat stick since ROV damage is calculated from your main hand wep. You also need focus and restraint rings (bastion set) to maximize damage. Even crappy FnR will out dps any other ring set. Highly recommend lvl 25+ gogok for legendary gem if you dont have enough CD.

This summary is amazing. Too bad I can't use two Natalya's handbows.

For the secondary handbow, should I go with a fast rate of fire one or a slow one with reduced cooldown will do the trick?

 

[specwarGP2]

This summary is amazing. Too bad I can't use two Natalya's handbows.

For the secondary handbow, should I go with a fast rate of fire one or a slow one with reduced cooldown will do the trick?

You always want 10% cooldown on both handbows, its mandatory. Weps can roll 10% CD all other slots 8%. Since ROV damage is calculated with only your main hand, your off hand is just a stat stick. So you could roll off the damage roll to something useful.

Say you find a handbow with these stats

740 - 1151 cold damage (almost max rolls for non ancient)
10% dmg
700 dex
8% elite damage

Instead of rolling elite damage to cooldown you can reroll the damage roll to cooldown with minimal DPS loss. However, if you found a hand bow with these rolls:

740 - 1151 cold damage
700 dex
650 vitality
20% area damage

I'd roll the area damage to cooldown. The best offhand would be balefire caster (20% fire damage) or calamity (marked for death) for groups.

PTR is out... we will probably get 2.3 in a month. Blizz has done an excellent job of putting out free content that keeps the game feeling fresh. I honestly wouldnt have minded paying $5 for each of these updates.

 

[Cyan]

You always want 10% cooldown on both handbows, its mandatory. Weps can roll 10% CD all other slots 8%. Since ROV damage is calculated with only your main hand, your off hand is just a stat stick. So you could roll off the damage roll to something useful.

Say you find a handbow with these stats

740 - 1151 cold damage (almost max rolls for non ancient)
10% dmg
700 dex
8% elite damage

Instead of rolling elite damage to cooldown you can reroll the damage roll to cooldown with minimal DPS loss. However, if you found a hand bow with these rolls:

740 - 1151 cold damage
700 dex
650 vitality
20% area damage

I'd roll the area damage to cooldown. The best offhand would be balefire caster (20% fire damage) or calamity (marked for death) for groups.

PTR is out... we will probably get 2.3 in a month. Blizz has done an excellent job of putting out free content that keeps the game feeling fresh. I honestly wouldnt have minded paying $5 for each of these updates.

You gave me an excellent idea... I think I have a couple of spare Danetta's, and maybe even the legendary Buriza Do Kanyon can do the trick, among others. I don't have Balefire, although wish I had a crossbow that improved my cold damage, it's the thing I am going to miss the most of my quiver, which adds a 19% cold damage bonus, not to mention the 9,5%+ of critical hit chance...among others. (just 5% cooldown reduction though)

 

[Cyan]

You always want 10% cooldown on both handbows, its mandatory. Weps can roll 10% CD all other slots 8%. Since ROV damage is calculated with only your main hand, your off hand is just a stat stick. So you could roll off the damage roll to something useful.

Say you find a handbow with these stats

740 - 1151 cold damage (almost max rolls for non ancient)
10% dmg
700 dex
8% elite damage

Instead of rolling elite damage to cooldown you can reroll the damage roll to cooldown with minimal DPS loss. However, if you found a hand bow with these rolls:

740 - 1151 cold damage
700 dex
650 vitality
20% area damage

I'd roll the area damage to cooldown. The best offhand would be balefire caster (20% fire damage) or calamity (marked for death) for groups.

PTR is out... we will probably get 2.3 in a month. Blizz has done an excellent job of putting out free content that keeps the game feeling fresh. I honestly wouldnt have minded paying $5 for each of these updates.

This is totally crazy. I found a pair of decent Natalya's gloves from Kadala and... decided to give some use to the Natalya's helm I had. I was about to give the helm away, silly me, but I didn't want to at the last minute. A great decision, indeed.

My DH wore the gloves, I added the helm and it had a socket -the stats aren't impressive, but the socket..., how could I miss it?-. That socket allowed me to reduce the cooldown an extra 12,5% using a flawless royal diamond. The RoRG did the rest --I am only missing the ring of Natalya's set, although some pieces can be improved too.

Thing is, I was all about Elemental Arrow and didn't use Strafe. But after seeing the bonuses I said, why not? My DH made up to 250,000.000 damage at level 235 Paragon using Rain of Vengeance.

Also it was cool to see how for about 5 seconds, Elemental Arrow -which I used before finally switching to Strafe (with the cold damage rune Icy Trail because I have Cool the Weak and plus my Rain of Vengeance chills enemies and they don't attack while it is active)- did 60,000.000 damage. Natalya's Set is amazing.

In fact I can now clear alone Greater Rift Trials waves of enemies that give me a level 28 stone to play a Greater Rift. Problem is that it is counter productive for my DH, becasue in the actual level 28 Greater Rift, it's a one hit kill for me, and I can't complete it. So when I reach certain wave of enemies in the trials, I give up.

I managed to complete a level 27 Greater Rift with 5 minutes to go though, just because I switched my skills to more defensive ones --I miss Ambush now.

My 4 passive skills are: Cull the Weak, Awareness, Archery, Perfectionist.

@BadTB25 played a couple of Diablo 3 runs with me tonight, and he told me that my DH is pretty powerful. Actually, it was powerful then, but this was before I equipped 5 pieces of Natalya's set and did all those changes.

As of currently, more than powerful, my DH is very difficult to stop. Offensively wise there is no problem so I get high level trials riftstones. Defensively though it's an entirely different matter. High level Greater Rifts, from 28 up, are a one hit kill fest for me, I can't complete them for the live of me.

Level 27 Greater Rifts are doable, if I play defensively, but I miss some skills..

 

[Cyan]

I feel quite powerful for my Paragon level (244 at the moment of writing this message), save for the amount of live --anything past Greater Rift 25 is one hit kill most of the time.

It's impressive, really. Now that I have the entire Natalya set -I use the RRoG ring to achieve that- damage is through the roof! I played a few coop games with the same party of 4 and there was a guy in the party with a 538 Paragon level wizard, but I was the main pillar of the team at confronting demons -the other guys were level 90 and level 120 respectively-

My build is:

Evasive Fire with Focus (Focus adds +7 hatred)
Strafe with Icy Trail (the trail freezes enemies, always useful and a life safer)
Companion with Wolf Companion (+30% damage to you and your allies is always useful)
Vault with Tumble (plus my Danetta's secondary crossbow adds the Rattling Roll rune for free to the build, so I get 2 benefits from Vault)
Rain of Vengeance with Flying Strike (Flying Strike freezes enemies, always a life saver, sometimes Rain of Vengeance deals 250,000.000 damage for me, crazy)
Vengeance with From the Shadows (I don't mind the rune here, I just chose it 'cos of the cold damage and freeze)

I got a Balefire with a perfect seed 20% bonus to Fire damage, but I am using Danetta's with 10% cooldown reduction (from a transmog).

Any suggestions? Should I continue with Cold damage or find the equivalent crossbow to Balefire but with a bonus to Cold damage if it exists to use as secondary, or go solely with fire damage?

 

[specwarGP2]

I feel quite powerful for my Paragon level (244 at the moment of writing this message), save for the amount of live --anything past Greater Rift 25 is one hit kill most of the time.

It's impressive, really. Now that I have the entire Natalya set -I use the RRoG ring to achieve that- damage is through the roof! I played a few coop games with the same party of 4 and there was a guy in the party with a 538 Paragon level wizard, but I was the main pillar of the team at confronting demons -the other guys were level 90 and level 120 respectively-

My build is:

Evasive Fire with Focus (Focus adds +7 hatred)
Strafe with Icy Trail (the trail freezes enemies, always useful and a life safer)
Companion with Wolf Companion (+30% damage to you and your allies is always useful)
Vault with Tumble (plus my Danetta's secondary crossbow adds the Rattling Roll rune for free to the build, so I get 2 benefits from Vault)
Rain of Vengeance with Flying Strike (Flying Strike freezes enemies, always a life saver, sometimes Rain of Vengeance deals 250,000.000 damage for me, crazy)
Vengeance with From the Shadows (I don't mind the rune here, I just chose it 'cos of the cold damage and freeze)

I got a Balefire with a perfect seed 20% bonus to Fire damage, but I am using Danetta's with 10% cooldown reduction (from a transmog).

Any suggestions? Should I continue with Cold damage or find the equivalent crossbow to Balefire but with a bonus to Cold damage if it exists to use as secondary, or go solely with fire damage?

Balefire only rolls fire damage. If you switch to ROV stampede and use balefire you will do a lot more damage... stampede is 4600% dmg * 20% fire dmg, flying strike is 3800 dmg. DPS vs utility.... (Stampede does knock back tho)

 

[tabs]

Just to note @Cyan: Stampede is great for solo, but consider changing to something else for group play as it pretty much negates any CC or pulls. If you do play with others at all, stampede is likely to piss them off.

 

[Cyan]

Balefire only rolls fire damage. If you switch to ROV stampede and use balefire you will do a lot more damage... stampede is 4600% dmg * 20% fire dmg, flying strike is 3800 dmg. DPS vs utility.... (Stampede does knock back tho)

I switch between both Stampede and Flying Strike at will, but lately I am favouring Flying Strike because of my items, some of them favour cold damage.

I finally have a Restraint ring, and a Focus ring -both with a socket and the Focus one dropped with 7% cooldown reduction- . Restraint doesn't have very interesting stats. I also got a Natalya's Reflection, with a socket too!

In fact I found the leggings -Kadala- with two sockets and the ring -random drop- tonight. They were the only items missing. Bonuses and stats are fine in most of them but I am kinda stuck with the Natalya's set helm, it has bonuses that don't do much for Rain of Vengeance....and it was a gift from another player, and he rerolled dexterity, I think.

Just to note @Cyan: Stampede is great for solo, but consider changing to something else for group play as it pretty much negates any CC or pulls. If you do play with others at all, stampede is likely to piss them off.

Well, I had never thought of that, but also Flying Strike seems to be underrated, and it is very useful for you and for your allies. I use it a lot when playing with low levelled Paragon characters in parties, it keeps the enemies from attacking for 2 seconds and with other cold skills and Cull the Weak it is tremendously powerful.

I combine it with the Iceblink rune, which slows enemies -perfect for Cull the Weak-. Plus tonight I found -lucky me- Krem’s buff bracers set item with 2 perfect seeds - +20% cold damage, 6% critical chance ( and it has two cools bonuses; Immune to Knockback and Stun effects). I had Custodian bracers before, that added 19% enhanced cold damage, but these new ones are better.

 

[tabs]

Sounds like a fun combo, however I won't pretend to know much about the skills of non monk classes. Anything that has synergy is better than random picks though, particularly if it works with a legendary gem.

Focus and Restraint always drop with a socket by the way. From what I gather the new and (in this case) reworked jewellery all does. Can't wait til the next patch drops and I can start farming Hellfire amulets again. They'll be getting a guaranteed socket which should help immensely with enchanting. I'd made about 30 before I got a decent one. Even with the passive it's not clearly better than my old Traveller's Pledge that had great crit rolls on it.

What is your character sheet elemental damage like (as in the total +% for your character for the elemental type of the rune of your main damage dealing skill)? It's a separate multiplier so increasing this is a key way to up your DPS. For monks at least, typical item slots that have the ability to roll this are bracers and amulet. It is often worth it to forego mainstat (dex) on your amulet to get elemental damage instead.

 

[Cyan]

Btw, these are are the gems of my DH build:

I followed @specwarGP2 advice and added a Gogok because of the cooldown reduction (level 28 now, I don't think I will improve it anymore). Stats are different than in the image, it's 1% cooldown reduction now, afaik.

Additionally, I have Iceblink which slows down chilled enemies by a 7%, iirc, but it's true usefulness to me is using it with Cull the Weak.

Iceblink gem:
Your Cold skills now apply Chill effects and your Chill effects now Slow enemy movement by an additional 5.0%.
Gain 10% increased Critical Hit Chance against Chilled and Frozen enemies. (Requires Rank 25)

Then I have which increase damage at a distance even more.

By the way, seeing that you are going to be able to add a passive bonus from a legendary in patch 2.3, for you... what will it be?

I am thinking about the Puzzle Ring bonus

, I love that treasure goblin picking up things for you, it's really cool.

 

[tabs]

Hey, I have a bad habit of tweaking my posts after I post them, so please take a look again. I added some stuff about elemental damage you might find interesting.

The puzzle ring is a cool effect, but the end results of that affix are pretty weak and you probably won't notice a difference in collecting mats or useful loot. I'm sure you'll be able to find better alternatives. Any slight bonus you get in item collection, you almost surely would lose in farming speed if you had a more powerful affix.

One to seriously consider is the Ring of Royal Grandeur, as that will let you remove a weak set item and replace it with something that has it's own affix. Possibly the best though would be Unity. In case you don't know how this works, if you equip Unity on yourself and your follower, then give your follower the item that renders them unkillable, you take 50% damage... on everything. You've literally just halved all incoming damage, with no side-effects. Being able to have that and a focus and restraint is going to be very powerful indeed compared to where we're at now.

Oh and it's not just one passive bonus from a legendary. It's three. One from a jewellery item, one from an armor item and one from a weapon / offhand item. The theorycrafting and build variety is going to be nuts. I love it.

For me I've tried to get on the PTR to test a few things out, but the wait times to get on the server are 12 hours or so and ain't nobody got time for that. So, D3 is on the back burner for me until the patch hits.