Demon Hunter Leveling and Fresh 70 Guide (Patch 2.6.4 / Season 16)

Table of Contents

• 1. About the Author
• 2. Why choose the Demon Hunter?
• +3. Leveling and Fresh 70 Build
  • 3.1. Beginner Build
  • 3.2. Rotation
  • 3.3. Skills, Runes and Passives
  • 3.4. Variations
  • 3.5. Gear and Stats Priorities
• +4. Season 16 Starter Build
  • 4.1. Haedrig's Gift
  • 4.2. Natalya's Vengeance Starter Build
• +5. Other Set Starter Builds
  • 5.1. Unhallowed Essence Starter Build
  • 5.2. Marauder Starter Build
  • 5.3. The Shadow’s Mantle Starter Build
• 6. Gear To Look For
• 7. Stat Priorities
• 8. Paragon Points
• 9. Gems
• 10. Kanai's Cube
• 11. Follower
• 12. Changelog

The purpose of the beginner Demon Hunter guide is to provide you with a build and item recommendations that will reliably carry you from leveling, through the pre-Torment difficulties and get you into low Torment farming, without requiring specific legendary or set bonuses. The guide also includes a section for Season 9 Demon Hunters, explaining how best to take advantage of the free set from Haedrig's Gifts.

1. About the Author

This build is presented to you by Deadset, one of the very few professional Diablo 3 players. Deadset regularly publishes video guides on Youtube and streams on Twitch, where you can see how this and other builds play out in practice.

2. Why choose the Demon Hunter?

Choose the Demon Hunter in Diablo 3 if you enjoy destroying your enemy from afar, alternating piercing arrows with massive explosive barrages. Wonders both mechanical and supernatural stand by your side, as powers of shadow itself envelop and protect you. Mastering your hatred for demons through discipline alone, you are the ultimate sharpshooter of the game.

3. Leveling and Fresh 70 Build

3.1. Beginner Build

Active Skills
Evasive Fire Hardened Chakram Twin Chakrams 1 Sentry Spitfire Turret 2 Vault Tumble 3 Companion Wolf Companion 4 Preparation Punishment
Passive Skills
Steady Aim Blood Vengeance Tactical Advantage Custom Engineering

Note that while the skills and runes recommended in the build are specifically chosen to be available at an early level and remain a solid pick throughout the leveling and early character progression, you will have to temporarily work with other skills as the build gradually unlocks. To familiarize yourself with the class, experimentation is strongly encouraged.

3.2. Rotation

The build revolves around the use of Chakram Twin Chakrams as a resource-efficient spender; an oft-underrated skill with excellent spread and quick projectile. Supplement its damage with your Sentry Spitfire Turret charges, whose automated damage will often turn the tide of battle even if you have to fall back. When engaging elites, activate your Wolf Companion for a temporary damage boost. Maintaining distance will be done through judicious use of Vault, as you will only have your natural Discipline regeneration to rely upon. Preparation will be used strictly for Hatred restoration with the Punishment rune. If you find yourself starved for resources still, you will have a strong Hatred generator at your disposal: Evasive Fire Hardened.

3.3. Skills, Runes and Passives

The basis of every build lies in its chosen damage dealing skills. As they invariably require resource or cooldown management mechanics of some sort, and such are scarce for low level and less geared characters, you will focus on fewer damage dealing abilities early on. The typical early game build will feature a dominant damage dealer, a mobility skill, buffs and/or shields, and resource generators (either active or passive). The recommended split is:

• Slot 1 — Damage dealing ability: Chakram shares the top spot for resource efficiency with Elemental Arrow but unlocks several levels earlier (level 12 vs. level 20). While Chakram takes a little more time getting used to, its curved trajectory is easier to take advantage of with the good spread of Twin Chakrams, and as a Fire rune this skill will synergize with powerful legendaries that you collect over time for endgame builds, such as Spines of Seething Hatred and Cindercoat.
• Slot 2 — Generator: Your damage-dealing resource, Hatred, can be problematic early on; unlike some other classes, the inclusion of a generator is almost necessary for a Demon Hunter. While you can take any primary skill you fancy, you will gain the biggest defensive advantage out of Evasive Fire with the Hardened rune, offering a whopping 25% increase of your Armor as early as level 21. If you notice yourself struggling with resources by using the base 4 Hatred per generator shot, you can take Focus at level 42 — and use the other 7 Hatred generators, Hungering Arrow Serrated Arrow (level 17), Grenade Tinkerer (level 22) or Bolas Thunder Ball (level 24) earlier on.
• Slot 3 — Supplementary damage: Nearly as effective as Witch Doctor pets, you have a mechanical menagerie to set up in battle in the form of Sentry, available at level 25. You can take it a step further with the Spitfire Turret rune almost immediately (level 28), and its homing rockets will provide the biggest supplementary DPS increase out of all the runes, not to mention elemental synergy with your main damage dealer, Twin Chakrams.
• Slot 4 — Mobility: Keeping distance is of utmost importance for the Demon Hunter, the glass cannon of Diablo 3. Vault unlocks at level 9, and will be the mobility tool of choice not only for beginner, but endgame characters as well. Starting from level 33, the Discipline-efficient Tumble rune will allow you to cover good ground before you run into resource issues.
• Slots 5 & 6 — Utility: Early on in your progression, you might end up pushing your rare items to their limits. Do not neglect the value of a Companion at your side, available at level 17. For the early leveling, you can use Companion for resource utility — the Bat Companion rune (level 29) will provide a passive and active Hatred regeneration effect, allowing you to spam Chakram for longer. From level 59 however, Wolf Companion will provide you with a short-term multiplicative damage boost that will noticeably speed up elite or high density fights. Aside from Companion, Preparation (level 13) will be another tool at your side for resource management. Punishment (level 25) flips the traditionally Discipline oriented skill into a Hatred management tool, and lowers its base cooldown by 25 seconds.
• Passives: Leveling and early progression farming go hand in hand with mobility, and Demon Hunters benefit from a powerful speed passive as early as level 10 — Tactical Advantage. Adding Blood Vengeance (level 13) for Hatred and Discipline management through health globes will solidify your role as an agile, battle-aware slayer. At level 16, Steady Aim supplies you with a powerful, 20% multiplicative damage increase as long as you fulfill a modest range requirement — a gameplay range adjustment you will have to learn anyway as a sharpshooter. Finally, at level 40 you can slot Custom Engineering in your setup to have one more Sentry in your roster, adding more autonomous damage to the build.

3.4. Variations

While this guide focuses on the elemental synergy between Twin Chakrams and Spitfire Turret to provide the bulk of the damage, there are several build variations you can deviate into, as dictated by the gear you find. Several skills stand out as strong recommendations:

• While Chakram is the recommended spender for the build, Elemental Arrow remains a viable and efficient spender to start your character out with. Ball Lightning is regarded as one of the most versatile runes in the Demon Hunter arsenal, and you can quadruple its damage if you find a well rolled Augustine's Panacea quiver with low travel speed of the projectile.
• If you find your resource management decent with only Reaper's Wraps, Blood Vengeance and a generator, you can swap out Preparation Punishment for Spike Trap Scatter. The skill takes advantage of your Custom Engineering passive, so you can have double the amount of traps in the battlefield. It also benefits from the Helltrapper, a decent starter weapon you can farm from Act V bounty caches.
• If you do a few Greater Rifts early on, which is highly advisable to get started with Legendary Gems, you can try to fit Bane of the Trapped in a jewelry socket. Skill-wise, swap out Spitfire Turret for Polar Station and Tactical Advantage for Cull the Weak. While it does not fit elementally with your gear, unlocking the powerful multipliers of Bane of the Trapped and Cull the Weak will be a great boost to your overall damage.
• Last but not least, if you play Hardcore or have general Toughness concerns, replace Tactical Advantage or Blood Vengeance for Awareness. A cheat death on a decent 60-second cooldown, this passive will give you a 2-second long Smoke Screen to reposition as well.

3.5. Gear and Stats Priorities

As the leveling process in Diablo 3 is relatively quick, specific legendary recommendations are not necessary. During leveling finding upgrades is frequent, so your gear will be swapped in and out within the span of a few minutes. Following the in-game comparison system and the stat priorities outlined in the tables below will result in a solid character throughout the leveling journey.

Note that skill damage and elemental damage recommendations only apply if the majority of your damage is done through that skill or element. For alt characters however, sockets take priority above all other attributes, since you can slot high level gems and benefit massively from their stat increase. For the purposes of an alt character, leveling a Gem of Ease to level 25 and socketing it in a level 70 weapon will be the single biggest boost you can provide to the leveling process.

4. Season 16 Starter Build

4.1. Haedrig's Gift

Completion of chapters II, III and IV of the Seasonal Journey yields Haedrig's Gifts, a cache-like reward that drops two pieces of a fixed class-specific set. With the completion of these chapters, you will have a full 6-piece set bonus available to you, skyrocketing your character power well into the mid-to-high Torments. This makes the early portion of the Seasonal Journey your first priority upon reaching max level. The Season 16 Haedrig's Gift for Demon Hunters is the Natalya's Vengeance set.

4.2. Natalya's Vengeance Starter Build

Active Skills
Rain of Vengeance Shade Strafe Drifting Shadow 1 Entangling Shot Justice is Served 2 Companion Bat Companion 3 Smoke Screen Displacement 4 Vengeance Seethe
Passive Skills
Tactical Advantage Blood Vengeance Cull the Weak Ambush

You will be channeling Strafe as close to permanently as you can, maintaining Hatred with regular punctuating shots of Entangling Shot and activations of Bat Companion and Vengeance Seethe. Through the Natalya 2 piece bonus, the spender and generator will quickly reset the cooldown of your primary damage dealer — Rain of Vengeance. Pop Smoke Screen when expecting bursts of damage coming your way.

The spec is built around the Natalya set bonuses, turning Rain of Vengeance from a medium cooldown skill into a constantly available asset for burst and protection. The recommended split is:

• Slot 1 — Damage: Rain of Vengeance is the centerpiece of the Natalya set build, with its significant cooldown practically nullified as early as the 2-piece set bonus. Note that it will also trigger the Crashing Rain belt, a vital item for the build whose burst is a significant chunk of your damage. This makes Crashing Rain an immediate priority after acquiring the set.
• Slot 2 — Generator: While you can technically run any 7 Hatred generator in this slot, Entangling Shot offers you an easy proc for Cull the Weak and (later on) Bane of the Trapped. You cannot pass these damage multiplication sources lightly, and this generator is the smallest investment you can make towards triggering them.
• Slot 3 & 4 — Mobility: Strafe will serve a twofold purpose: first, it is the most reliable source of Rain of Vengeance resets from the Natalya set; and second, it offers Whirlwind-like mobility by allowing you to freely pass through enemies and ignore collision. Due to the fact that Vault interrupts the channeling of Strafe and slows down your resets, you will do better to shift to the short burst of speed and invulnerability of Smoke Screen Displacement. While more costly, this skill does not interrupt Strafe and can serve to nullify some predictable burst — useful in a mid-to-close range build.
• Slot 5 — Utility: You will keep Companion like a swiss knife at your side, but you will adjust its utility according to your preferences; it is likely you will struggle with Hatred in an early Strafe spec, so you can safely fall to the Bat Companion crutch until you acquire key legendaries to stabilize resources with.
• Slot 6 — Supplementary damage: Vengeance adds its own multiplicative damage buff to the build, but it can also be adjusted to either stabilize your resources (using the Hatred powerhouse Seethe), or build up your Toughness (through the Dark Heart damage reduction). Making this skill permanent by wearing a Dawn will be one of your gearing priorities.
• Passives: For early game Natalya progression, it is advisable to keep most of the leveling setup ( Steady Aim, Blood Vengeance and Tactical Advantage), but abandon Custom Engineering along with its sentries for the multiplicative damage increase of Cull the Weak.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.

• Rain of Vengeance Build — Hellcat Waistguard (belt); Dawn (1h crossbow), Mantle of Channeling (shoulders); Focus, Restraint and Convention of Elements (rings); Wraps of Clarity and Nemesis Bracers (bracers).

5. Other Set Starter Builds

While you get a fixed free set at the start of every Season, it is not unreasonable to assume you will attain other sets in quick succession. If you are interested in switching around your playstyle, take a look at the beginner points for other sets below, and note to which endgame builds they point you after.

5.1. Unhallowed Essence Starter Build

Active Skills
Evasive Fire Focus Multishot Wind Chill 1 Vengeance Seethe 2 Vault Tumble 3 Companion Bat Companion 4 Preparation Invigoration
Passive Skills
Steady Aim Blood Vengeance Tactical Advantage Cull the Weak

You will alternate generating Hatred through Evasive Fire Focus and spending it in powerful Multishot volleys. You can activate Preparation when low on Discipline, but the skill is taken mostly for the Unhallowed Essence 6-piece benefits from Invigoration. With its significant downtimes in early character progression, Vengeance should be used only for significant fights (high density, elites and Rift Guardians). The rest of your Hatred management will come from Companion Bat Companion, which you can swap to Wolf Companion once you are confident with resources. As usual, Vault will take you in, out and from fight to fight.

The majority of the build will be assembled to Unhallowed Essence's translation of Discipline into damage, as well as its obvious Multishot focus. The recommended split is:

• Slot 1 — Damage: Multishot is the obvious choice for a damage dealing hatred spender in an Unhallowed Essence build; you have two viable runes to choose from, Arsenal and Wind Chill. While Arsenal deals higher damage overall, it is more GR-progression oriented, requiring swaps in your passives into Thrill of the Hunt and Arsenal — both of which significantly deviate from your main goal, utility and speedfarm. Wind Chill applies a chilling effect prior to dealing damage, proccing Cull the Weak (and later on, Bane of the Trapped) automatically. Allowing you better speedrun passives and offering a party-wide Crit Chance increase makes Wind Chill the recommendation. Note that you acquire Multishot damage bonuses from the Unhallowed Essence as late as the 6-piece, so you can run any spender to your liking prior to that point.
• Slot 2 — Generator: While you can technically run any 7 Hatred generator in this slot, Evasive Fire fires in a wide ark, helpfully reminiscent of Multishot and with a high chance of hitting a target without the need of much aim.
• Slot 3 — Mobility: Unchanged from the leveling build, Vault Tumble gives you the best ground covered to Discipline spent ratio, making it the preferable skill for the purpose.
• Slots 4 & 5 — Utility: You will keep Companion like a swiss knife at your side, but you will adjust its utility according to your preferences; it is likely you will struggle with Hatred in an early Multishot spec, so you can safely fall to the Bat Companion crutch until you acquire key legendaries to stabilize resources with. Preparation will also remain in the build, but needs to be changed into Invigoration as soon as you acquire the 6-piece Unhallowed Essence bonus, as it extends your Discipline pool.
• Slot 6 — Supplementary damage: Similarly to Multishot, Vengeance draws damage benefits from the Unhallowed Essence set, and brings a multiplicative damage buff of its own. Its major role in the build comes from the Seethe rune however, and obtaining its amazing Hatred regeneration permanently through cooldown reduction stacking and cubing Dawn will be one of your gearing priorities.
• Passives: For early game Unhallowed Essence progression, it is advisable to keep most of the leveling setup ( Steady Aim, Blood Vengeance and Tactical Advantage), but abandon Custom Engineering along with its sentries for the multiplicative damage increase of Cull the Weak.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.

• Multishot Build — Yang's Recurve (bow), Dead Man's Legacy (quiver), Dawn (1h crossbow), Focus, Restraint and Convention of Elements (rings); Wraps of Clarity and Nemesis Bracers (bracers); The Witching Hour and Goldwrap (belts).

5.2. Marauder Starter Build

Active Skills
Evasive Fire Focus Multishot Arsenal 1 Vengeance Seethe 2 Vault Tumble 3 Companion No rune chosen 4 Sentry Polar Station
Passive Skills
Steady Aim Custom Engineering Cull the Weak Ballistics

The Marauder set starting build shares many skills with the leveling and fresh 70 setup, differing mostly in your chosen spender, the greater importance of Sentry, and the inclusion of Vengeance.

Evasive Fire should be kept in your build, but with the tendency of Marauder builds to focus on heavy Hatred spenders, the rune should be switched to the higher generator Focus. Vault Tumble remains the best mobility tool at your disposal. Companion also stays in the build, and gains the utility of all its runes as early as the 2-piece Marauder bonus — a huge, all-around buff that affects damage ( Wolf Companion), resources ( Bat Companion), movement ( Ferret Companion) and safety ( Boar Companion and Spider Companion).

Sentry will no longer be the minor damage addition of the leveling spec, turning into a centerpiece of Marauder builds. Not only do the turrets mimic your Hatred spender shots as early as the 4-piece bonus, but they will also multiply your damage for every turret in the field at the 6-piece bonus. This necessitates the inclusion of the Custom Engineering passive, as well as the priority on obtaining Bombardier's Rucksack early on. As far as runes are concerned, you can stay with the leveling Spitfire Turret until you level your Bane of the Trapped a bit, at which point a swap to Polar Station would provide an easy proc for that powerful legendary gem.

Vengeance is a staple Demon Hunter buff that provides a 40% damage multiplier and CC immunity as a baseline, as well as a massive Hatred regeneration bonus from the Seethe rune. Obtaining permanent uptime of this skill is via a cubed Dawn and a 37% sheet CDR breakpoint is another high priority.

Your spender can vary between all listed skill under the Marauder bonuses, but Multishot (wide AoE for normal Rift speed farming) and Cluster Arrow (far-reaching nuke for Greater Rift progression) come with the highest recommendation.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.

• Marauder Endgame Build — Manticore (2h crossbow); Yang's Recurve (bow); Bombardier's Rucksack (quiver); Zoey's Secret and Hellcat Waistguard (belts); Nemesis Bracers and Wraps of Clarity (bracers); Focus and Restraint (rings).

5.3. The Shadow’s Mantle Starter Build

Active Skills
Bolas Thunder Ball Impale Ricochet 1 Fan of Knives Pinpoint Accuracy 2 Vault Tumble 3 Companion Bat Companion 4 Shadow Power No rune chosen
Passive Skills
Cull the Weak Ambush Blood Vengeance Tactical Advantage

The Shadow playstyle is quite different from other Demon Hunter builds, almost exclusively pursuing Elite enemies to take advantage of its massive single target potential, and skipping many disadvantageous trash fights. Big single targets is where the Shadow set shines, especially once the 6-piece bonus is acquired — the massive bonus to Impale damage will decimate any imposing, but singular threat. Companion Bat Companion will passively mitigate your resource spending, but Hatred will inevitably go low from Impale spam — when that happens, pop the active component of Bat Companion for an emergency refill. You will also have a generator at your disposal, so use Bolas liberally. When you pull bigger fights you will still have to single out enemies with Impale, but will also augment your AoE clear with Fan of Knives. To reposition to safety or get a better angle on an engage, you will use Vault. Finally, you will have permanent Shadow Power with all its runes from the 4-piece bonus — just do not forget to activate it at least once per game.

The spec focuses on The Shadow's Mantle set's unique single target capabilities, as well as its focus on melee weapons. The recommended split is:

• Slot 1 — Damage: The role of a primary damage dealer in a beginner Shadow set build is best left to Impale, due to the massive bonus inherent from the 6-piece. The rune Ricochet is preferred simply for its consistency (bouncing daggers vs narrow lined shots). This rune also offers elemental synergy with Fan of Knives, your supplementary damage dealer, taken with the lightning rune Pinpoint Accuracy in an early game spec. As an added bonus on top, the additional hits of Ricochet proc the unique property of Karlei's Point dagger, which is a priority item to obtain (discussed below).
• Slot 2 — Generator: While you can technically run several Hatred generators in this slot, Bolas offer you convenient elemental damage synergy with Ricochet and can be used with a melee weapon, which the Shadow set focuses on.
• Slot 3 — Supplementary damage: Early on, the spec will struggle to break out of its single target niche. Your closest shortcut to reliable AoE damage prior to obtaining Holy Point Shot is found in Fan of Knives, taken with the strongest damage rune — Pinpoint Accuracy Once you acquire a Holy Point Shot (your most sought after, and highest gamble priority item), you can repurpose this skill with the defensive Bladed Armor.
• Slot 4 — Mobility: Unchanged from the leveling build, Vault Tumble gives you the best ground covered to Discipline spent ratio, making it the preferable skill for the purpose.
• Slots 5 & 6 — Utility: You will keep Companion like a swiss knife at your side, but you will adjust its utility according to your preferences; it is likely you will struggle with Hatred in an early Impale spec, so you can safely fall to the Bat Companion crutch until you acquire key legendaries to stabilize resources with. The Shadow set will also lend you an indefinite Shadow Power with all its runes for the mere cost of a skill slot. You should activate it immediately upon entering the game to passively enjoy its damage reduction bonuses, movement speed increase, and increased Life per Hit.
• Passives: For early game Shadow progression, it is advisable to keep part of the leveling setup ( Blood Vengeance and Tactical Advantage), but abandon Custom Engineering and Steady Aim for Cull the Weak and Ambush, as they better reflect the close range, burst orientation of Shadow set builds.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.

• Impale Build — Karlei's Point (dagger); Holy Point Shot (quiver); Aquila Cuirass (chest); Chain of Shadows (belt); Strongarm Bracers (bracers); The Compass Rose and Convention of Elements (rings); The Traveler's Pledge (amulet).

6. Gear To Look For

To learn how to gear up quickly and approach a character's progression in general, check out our Beginner Seasonal Guide. It includes advice and tactics related to gambling Blood Shards, doing Bounties, Regular, Greater and Challenge Rifts, and using Kanai's Cube for easy upgrades.

Certain items can be targeted through the completion of bounties or boss kills. The following is a list of such items, in order of importance for the class.

• This point does not apply in Season 16. Ring of Royal Grandeur is a legendary from Act I caches that reduces the number of set items required for set bonuses by one. While it might not be immediately useful, obtaining powerful bonuses (such as the 4- and 6-piece set bonuses of the Unhallowed Essence set) as early as possible for a huge spike in character power is an opportunity you should not pass up. Doing bounties will be inevitable for crafting materials anyway, so optimize your farming time and get this ring as soon as possible.
• Avarice Band is an Act III cache legendary ring that extends your pickup radius by up to 30 yards as you pick up gold. This unassuming bonus has the potential to turn in the strongest source of defense during normal rifts due to its synergy with Boon of the Hoarder and Goldwrap. Their powers combined, they can render your character practically invulnerable even in the highest of Torment difficulties.
• Reaper's Wraps are meant to assist classes and builds with resource management problems — and Hatred is often something fledgling Demon Hunters struggle with. These bracers restore up to 30% of your Hatred reserves when you get healed by a health globe — an easy trigger if you keep an eye on the battlefield, especially if you are used to Blood Vengeance. Note that these bracers are craftable, and the plan for their creation drops when you kill the Act V boss Malthael on any difficulty.
• Pride's Fall is a helm obtained through Act III cache bounties, whose legendary effect reduces resource costs by 30% after not taking damage for 5 seconds. Demon Hunters fight at a high range most of the time, making Pride's Fall an attractive bounty item.
• Illusory Boots are an Act II cache legendary item that removes enemy collision — a staple of support builds in Greater Rifts, as their precise positioning for party-wide buffs and enemy disables dictates the course of Greater Rift progress. Demon Hunters have decent support character potential, with several party-wide damage buffs and plenty of damage reduction to add to the group, making Illusory Boots reasonably attractive to the class.
• Gloves of Worship are an Act II cache legendary that extends the duration of Shrines to 10 minutes, a very decent farming effect that is usually stored in Kanai's Cube. The combined power of Empowered Shrines (doubled resource gain, halved cooldowns), Frenzied Shrines (25% Attack Speed) and Fleeting Shrines (25% increase to Movement Speed and 20 yard pickup radius), often refreshing before their 10-minute duration, is a huge buff during normal rifts. Demon Hunters are among the classes that can benefit from Gloves of Worship, as the armor Cube slots of their preferred farming specs are flexible enough to fit the item in.
• Envious Blade is an Act II cache dagger with one of the most powerful speedfarming bonuses in the game — a guaranteed Critical Hit against enemies at full health. A well equipped character using this dagger can oneshot entire screens of enemies in a suitable farming difficulty. Since Demon Hunters can not dual wield melee weapons and their weapon slots are frequently taken by more important legendaries, Envious Blade is not considered a cache priority.

The majority of the gear will be found by random chance as you farm normally, by killing monsters, opening chests, gambling at Kadala and upgrading rare items at the Cube. While the list below is not exhaustive, these are some of the pieces to seek, spend blood shards on, or upgrade yellows for — in order of priority:

• Sets: While the seasonal journey will reward you with a complete set through Haedrig's Gifts, gambling for armor set pieces still makes sense — to improve lackluster pieces, or complete class sets other than the gifted one. The Demon Hunter sets are:
  • Unhallowed Essence: Accursed Visage, Unsanctified Shoulders, Fiendish Grips, Cage of the Hellborn, Unholy Plates and Hell Walkers;
  • Embodiment of the Marauder: Marauder's Visage, Marauder's Spines, Marauder's Gloves, Marauder's Carapace, Marauder's Encasement and Marauder's Treads;
  • The Shadow's Mantle: The Shadow's Mask, The Shadow's Burden, The Shadow's Grasp, The Shadow's Bane, The Shadow's Coil and The Shadow's Heels;
  • Natalya's Vengeance: Natalya's Sight, Natalya's Touch, Natalya's Embrace, Natalya's Leggings, Natalya's Bloody Footprints, Natalya's Reflection and Natalya's Slayer;
  • Danetta's Hatred: Danetta's Revenge and Danetta's Spite.
• The weapon is by far the most impactful item on your damage output, putting a priority on the weapon slot as the first to obtain an ancient item for. Due to its higher bloodshard cost (75 for weapons vs. 25 for armor pieces and offhands), you should delay weapon gambling — avoiding it at the start of character progression and only considering it when you start perfecting your gear. If you simply need a specific weapon, you will get a much better deal with the Upgrade Rare recipe in Kanai's Cube. The Hope of Cain recipe (1 rare item, 25 Death's Breaths, 50 of white, blue and yellow crafting materials) will only produce the type of item you put in (i.e. hand crossbows), cutting out all other weapons from the RNG pool that you would have to deal with through regular gambling at Kadala. Bows, One- and Two-Handed Crossbows are the Demon Hunter-specific weapons you can easily target through upgrading rares, with valuable and build-defining pieces such as Yang's Recurve, Kridershot, Manticore, Dawn and Fortress Ballista. Demon Hunters also have two dedicated daggers, Lord Greenstone's Fan and Karlei's Point, and can benefit from the cooldown-resetting In-geom.
• Jewelry has a huge influence on your DPS, but similarly to weapons it is expensive to gamble (50 shards for rings, 100 for amulets). When searching for specific jewelry rolls, you should consider upgrading rares instead. All three jewelry sets can be utilized by Demon Hunters, in order of importance: the Legacy of Nightmares set, Litany of the Undaunted and The Wailing Host, the Bastions of Will set, Focus and Restraint, and the Endless Walk set, The Compass Rose and The Traveler's Pledge. Other build-specific Demon Hunter jewelry includes Elusive Ring, Convention of Elements and Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac.
• Quivers are almost equally important to their weapon companions, and it is recommended to gamble for them even early on due to their low bloodshard price. Powerful and build altering offhands include Dead Man's Legacy, Bombardier's Rucksack, Holy Point Shot and Augustine's Panacea.
• Demon Hunters pursue several legendary belts, each adding considerable protection or damage to its respective build. Some are dedicated Demon Hunter legendaries like Zoey's Secret, Hunter's Wrath, Chain of Shadows and Crashing Rain. Others are cross-class legendaries that get picked up either for endgame or speedfarming, like Thundergod's Vigor, The Witching Hour and Goldwrap. Being another cheap gamble slot, you can invest a reasonable amount of bloodshards into belts early on.
• There are two Demon Hunter-specific bracers Wraps of Clarity and Trag'Oul Coils, but only the former is sought after in the current metagame. You can also gain significant value from speedrun staples like Nemesis Bracers and Warzechian Armguards, so the slot can be gambled on with moderation.
• Most remaining armor slots only have one or two desirable items for Demon Hunters, and it is preferable to leave them to drop from normal farming instead of wasting shards and materials on the numerous possible duds for the slot. In the long run, you will want to find Aquila Cuirass, Shi Mizu's Haori and Cindercoat (chest pieces); Leoric's Crown (helm); Hexing Pants of Mr. Yan (pants); Irontoe Mudsputters (boots); Mantle of Channeling (shoulders); St. Archew's Gage (gloves).

7. Stat Priorities

Slot	Stat Priority
Head	Dexterity Socket Critical Hit Chance Vitality
Shoulders	Dexterity Vitality All Resistance Area Damage
Torso	Dexterity 3 Sockets Vitality All Resistance
Wrists	Dexterity Critical Hit Chance Elemental Damage Vitality
Hands	Dexterity Critical Hit Chance Critical Hit Damage Vitality
Waist	Dexterity Vitality All Resistance Life %
Legs	Dexterity 2 Sockets Vitality All Resistance
Feet	Dexterity Movement Speed Vitality Skill Damage if applicable
Amulet	Socket Critical Hit Chance Critical Hit Damage Elemental Damage Dexterity
Rings	Socket Critical Hit Chance Critical Hit Damage Dexterity
Weapon	High Damage Range Dexterity Socket % Damage
Off-hand	Dexterity Critical Hit Chance Attack Speed Skill Damage Vitality

8. Paragon Points

Slot	Paragon Points
Core	Movement Speed up to 25% cap Dexterity Maximum Hatred (personal preference) Vitality
Offense	Critical Hit Damage Critical Hit Chance Cooldown Reduction Attack Speed
Defense	All Resistance Armor Life % Life Regeneration
Utility	Resource Cost Reduction Area Damage Life on Hit Gold Find

9. Gems

Your armor and weapon sockets should be taken up by the highest tier Emerald gems you can afford at the time, while the helm is best filled by a Diamond gem for a boost to Cooldown Reduction. When you stumble upon jewelry with good primary stats and a socket, you should start dabbling into Legendary Gems. The Legendary Gems to consider for Demon Hunters are, in order of importance:

• Bane of the Trapped — staple multiplicative damage increase. You will be proccing this gem either through its own level 25 ability, a slow (for melee builds), or by skill effects such as Thrill of the Hunt or Sentry Polar Station.
• Bane of the Stricken — almost mandatory gem for Greater Rift progression, as it is designed to whittle down the scaling health numbers of monsters with a percentage-based increase on successive attacks.
• Boon of the Hoarder — synergizing with other farming mainstays like Avarice Band and Goldwrap, this gem will not only keep you rich, but also sped up and safe during normal rift farming.
• Bane of the Powerful — the speedfarm counterpart to Bane of the Stricken, Bane of the Powerful offers a solid overall damage and survivability increase as long as your killing speed does not fall behind the timer of the gem.
• Situational gems — Zei's Stone of Vengeance is a multiplicative damage increase to long range builds. Taeguk is a great addition to a channeler Demon Hunter, which you will be by using anything Strafe-related.

Slot	Gems
Helm	Flawless Royal Diamond (or highest available)
Torso and Pants	Flawless Royal Emerald (or highest available)
Weapon	Flawless Royal Emerald (or highest available)

10. Kanai's Cube

Kanai's Cube choices are highly build- and content-specific, making them hard to summarize. Generally speaking, Demon Hunters should store the powers of the following items in the Cube as soon as they have the materials available: Dawn, Lord Greenstone's Fan, In-geom, Aquila Cuirass, Cindercoat, Visage of Gunes, The Cloak of the Garwulf, Zoey's Secret, Convention of Elements, Avarice Band and Ring of Royal Grandeur (outside of Season 16).

11. Follower

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

12. Changelog

• 18 Jan. 2019: Updated for Season 16.
• 20 Sep. 2018: Updated for Season 15.
• 14 Jun. 2018: Updated the guide for Season 14.
• 23 Feb. 2018: Updated the guide for Season 13.
• 08 Nov. 2017: Updated the guide for Season 12.
• 01 Jul. 2017: Updated the guide for Season 11.
• 31 Mar. 2017: Updated the guide with a starter build for the Season 10 free set, Embodiment of the Marauder.
• 20 Jan. 2017: Fixed the suggested generator to be usable with melee weapons.
• 05 Jan. 2017: Updated the guide for Season 9.
• 19 Oct. 2016: Updated the guide with a starter build for the Season 8 free set, Natalya's Vengeance.
• 04 Aug. 2016: Updated the guide to include leveling, a better fresh 70 setup and Haedrig's Gift use tips.

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