GoD Hungering Arrow Demon Hunter BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points
Below, we detail the items and gems that you should use for your GoD Hungering Arrow Demon Hunter in Diablo 3 and why. We also list your paragon points and Kanai's Cube items. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 35.
Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives
The build takes advantage of the full Gears of Dreadlands set bonuses,
taking all six available pieces and opening up the jewelry for the damage
multiplication bonuses of the Bastions of Will set. You will be obtaining as
much tankiness on pieces like the Dystopian Goggles (along with Crit
Chance), the
Galvanized Vest and
Antique Vintage Boots. This
allows you to focus on CDR and offense stats on pieces like the
Mechanical Pauldrons (with both Area Damage and CDR as desirable
rolls), the
Gas Powered Automail Forearm (with double Crit stats, CDR and
Area Damage), and even the
Cold Cathode Trousers (where Hungering Arrow
skill damage is a possible roll).
Taking all six available set pieces allows you to run purely offense-based
jewelry, and you will be filling the ring slots with none other than the
Bastions of Will set — Focus and
Restraint. This
ring set multiplies your damage as long as you alternate between a resource
generating and resource spending attacks, which is a requirement you fulfill
by interweaving a manual
Hungering Arrow shot at least once every 5
seconds as you channel
Strafe. You will finish off your jewelry
selection with
Squirt's Necklace, which nets you an additional damage
multiplier. The former favorite
The Flavor of Time should now be slotted
on your follower, and its power will be transferred to your character via the
Emanate mechanics.
You will be wearing Hunter's Wrath as your belt; this is a natural
inclusion in a primary skill damage-based build, as it not only increases the
rate of your primary attacks with a baked-in attack speed bonus, but also has
a varying damage increase to primary skills. Naturally, try to obtain as high
of a damage bonus as you can. Stats-wise, you are looking for Dexterity,
Vitality, All Resistance and Hungering Arrow % bonus — this is your
other armor piece besides the pants that can boost your skill damage.
A staple of Demon Hunter builds — especially as far as progression is
concerned — you will be taking Wraps of Clarity as your bracers.
Their effect is simple yet potent, halving your incoming damage as long as you
regularly use a hatred-generating attack. Note the bracers' synchronization
with the Bastions of Will set, which solidifies the rotation into a primary
skill shot at least once every 5 seconds to keep both bonuses up.
One of the ideal weapons for the build is the one-handed crossbow
Dawn — with
Vengeance being a universally desired buff,
reducing its cooldown up to 65% and achieving permanent uptime through gear is
an opportunity you cannot pass lightly. Its companion will be the dedicated
Strafe one-handed crossbow
Valla's Bequest.
Valla's Bequest allows you to proc your 4-piece bonus more frequently by
allowing the same
Strafe projectile to create multiple hits. While
this is not a direct skill damage buff, it does scale with monster density in
rifts, and in ideal circumstances and good positioning will outshine the
alternatives for this slot.
Another option you can viably alternate the second slot to a is the
Fortress Ballista. A third, all-out on damage option is to wield
Odyssey's End (slotting
Entangling Shot over
Shadow Power
and applying the damage buff on freshly engaged enemies), equipping
The Ninth Cirri Satchel in your offhand, and cubing the ever-useful
Dawn.
Desired Stats, Breakpoints and Other Notes
For Offense stats, try to obtain Hungering Arrow % bonus on both the belt and
the pants. Get Cold elemental damage on both the amulet and wrists (maximum of
40%), Crit Chance and Crit Damage within a 1:10 ratio (ideally over 50% and 500%,
respectively), and Area Damage of 150%+. This is generally a cooldown
reduction-reliant build; you be striving to reach at least the 37% CDR breakpoint
for permanent uptime of Vengeance, but ideally over 50% by spreading a
CDR roll on most pieces you can (shoulders, gloves, both weapons, amulet, helm
gem, Paragons).
For Defense stats, aim for a life pool of about 500-600k; dropping as much as
you can for offense as you grow accustomed to the build. You will mostly sustain
through Simplicity's Strength secondary effect and
Shadow Power, so
dedicated sustain rolls on gear will not be necessary.
All augmentations on gear should be done with your main stat, Dexterity.
Note that the stat suggestions below portray an ideally rolled item with stats listed in relative order of importance. The first four of them are main stats, and the latter two — secondary stats. If your item lacks and is unable to be rerolled into the primary stats outlined below, especially for a stat higher on the list, strongly consider its replacement. Perfecting Secondary stats is mostly a case of hyper-optimization and is not a case for discarding an item, except where noted.
Slot | Pieces | Stat Priority |
---|---|---|
Head |
|
|
Shoulders |
|
|
Torso |
|
|
Wrists |
|
|
Hands |
|
|
Waist |
|
|
Legs |
|
|
Feet |
|
|
Amulet |
|
|
Ring #1 |
|
|
Ring #2 |
|
|
Weapon #1 |
|
|
Weapon #2 |
|
To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.
Altar of Rites
The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.
Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.
Paragon Points
In the Core section, max out Movement Speed to the 25% cap. Normally this is done by dumping the first 50 Core Paragon points into Movement Speed, but if your boots have an imperfect roll with Movement Speed as a stat that you cannot replace, adjust the necessary point investment accordingly by simply subtracting your roll from the 25% max. After that dump as much as you comfortably can into Dexterity, but feel free to invest into Vitality if you feel yourself lacking in toughness, or Maximum Hatred if you want to play around with a bigger resource pool.
In the Offense section, max out Cooldown Reduction (priority in order to
hit the CDR breakpoint for permanent Vengeance), Crit Damage, Crit
Chance, and Attack Speed in that order. In Defense, prioritize All
Resistance, then Life %, then Armor, and finish off with Life Regeneration. In
Utility, build up Area Damage and Life on Hit first, then finish off with
Resource Cost Reduction and Globe Radius.
Slot | Paragon Points |
---|---|
Core |
|
Offense |
|
Defense |
|
Utility |
|
Gems
Taeguk is the best hybrid of defense and offense among the
legendary gem options, and continued
Strafe channeling will ensure
that your stacks remain capped. Note that there is a viable alteration in this
slot to the pure damage multiplication of
Bane of the Trapped.
Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies a firm spot in
your jewelry sockets during highest end progression. Building up your damage
multiplicatively in prolonged fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically
targeting Rift Guardians, this gem is designed to assist AoE heavy builds in
whittling down the massive RG health pools.
Simplicity's Strength is one of the best DPS gems you can take for
the build, as it was changed into a separate damage multiplication source to
primary skills in Patch 2.4.1. Upgrading with a steady pace of half a percent
per gem level, it quickly becomes a priority and a fixture in your gem
choices. Its buffed healing secondary effect is also a great boon to the
build, as it is one of its few steady sources of health sustain.
When it comes to gear gems, you will start out progression by slotting the
highest available level of Emeralds in the chest and pants sockets. Ideally,
these will all be Flawless Royal Emeralds as soon as possible. As you
grow in Paragon (bulking up Dexterity in the Core section) and aim for higher
tier and more dangerous GRs, you will transition those gems into the defensive
Flawless Royal Diamond. There is no specific breakpoint where you do
that; the rule of thumb is to make the change as soon as you feel the lack of
toughness impede your progress. Since you are chasing a specific CDR
breakpoint, slot a
Flawless Royal Diamond in your helm. In your weapons,
use a
Flawless Royal Emerald for the Crit Damage boost.
Slot | Gems |
---|---|
Jewelry | |
Helm |
|
Torso and Pants |
|
Weapon |
For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.
Kanai's Cube
The Ninth Cirri Satchel provides a cornerstone power to the build, as
it turns the
Hungering Arrow piercing from a chance-based effect to a
guaranteed one. It also adds a healthy helping of damage multiplication to
cement its place in your loadout. In case you are playing this build in a
Season with Ethereal weapons active, this slot needs to be taken by either
Dawn or your chosen power between
Valla's Bequest and
Fortress Ballista, depending on your preferred playstyle.
Depth Diggers are a natural inclusion in this generator build, since
by cubing them you gain the maximized 100% damage increase to your generator
(multiplicative damage source as of Patch 2.4.1).
Tucked away in the Cube, Convention of Elements will provide you with
a significant damage increase during the appropriate elemental damage cycle
— making it necessary that you keep a watchful eye on its rotation, and
preparing fights by drawing enemy clusters closer together during the off
cycles.
The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.
Follower
The recommended follower for this build during solo GR progression is the Scoundrel due to his powerful crit buff, allowing you brief windows of extra damage that are well suited to the strengths of this build.
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.
Legendary Potion
The preferred potion for this build is Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid,
which will allow you to break through movement-impeding Elite affixes —
generally a problem for builds that move based on channeling effects.
Season 35 Theme — Eternal Conflict
This Season revives the Pandemonium Kill Streak buff from Season 19. Each stack grants a bonus to movement speed and damage, capping at +50% movement speed and +100% damage at 1000 kills. Hitting specific kill thresholds unleashes powerful effects. Read more in our dedicated Season of the Eternal Conflict Mechanics Guide!
While speedfarming sees limited use from this theme, Greater Rift
pushing benefits significantly. Effects like Geysers (150),
Meteors (400), and Angels (500) can clear elites and Rift
Guardians instantly. Players may reset streaks after 150 kills to repeatedly
trigger Geysers or push for 500+ kills near boss fights, often using
Nemesis Bracers to spawn extra enemies.
Because the most potent effects (Geysers, Meteors, Angels) can obliterate Rift Guardians instantly up to GR150, players can retool builds for efficiency and comfort. Here’s how:
Legendary Gem Considerations
Since you can rely on killstreak procs to clear the Rift Guardian,
Bane of the Stricken can be safely omitted in favor of:
- Another generic damage-scaling legendary gem (
Bane of the Trapped for builds with any form of crowd control and/or melee range,
Zei's Stone of Vengeance for far ranged builds,
Taeguk for channeling builds,
Simplicity's Strength for primary attack-focused builds,
Enforcer for pet-oriented builds, etc.)
- A survivability-oriented legendary gem (
Esoteric Alteration,
Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard), or additional utility (
Gogok of Swiftness for CDR-reliant builds,
Pain Enhancer for attack speed-heavy builds, or
Wreath of Lightning for extra movement speed).
Equipment and Skill Flexibility
Adjust your equipment to items that favor durability, health sustain, and ease of movement. Consider adjusting non-essential skills for the build to ones that pull, reposition, or otherwise displace enemies to facilitate large pulls of enemy packs. In more concrete terms, this means:
- For general Demon Hunter survivability, staple cross-class options
like
Unity (combined with the same ring on the follower plus a follower immortality token), and the Endless Walk set (
The Traveler's Pledge and
The Compass Rose) offer a valuable balance between extra toughness and damage.
Elusive Ring is also a strong class-specific contender, granting up to 60% damage reduction after using a mobility skill — something Demon Hunters do constantly.
- For additional defense, cross-class standouts like
Unity (used with follower and immortality relic for them), and the Endless Walk set (
The Traveler's Pledge and
The Compass Rose) are top picks, balancing damage reduction during movement with stationary damage scaling.
- Situational items that can bolster your defenses include
Wraps of Clarity (providing a significant damage reduction after casting a primary, resource-generating skill),
Aquila Cuirass (perfect for builds with minimal resource spending like LoD Rapid Fire), or
Stone Gauntlets (their downside mitigated by wearing
Ice Climbers, or Altar of Rites CC-immunity node), and even niche inclusions like
Zoey's Secret (pet-based mitigation).
- Utility items like
Nemesis Bracers are essential as more elites mean more killstreak maintenance and faster progression. When soloing, they should be equipped by your follower; in groups, at least one party member should commit to wearing them. Edge cases will see the inclusion of
Warzechian Armguards or
Krelm's Buff Belt (more speed for easier scouting and pulls),
Strongarm Bracers (extra damage vs. displaced enemies), and even
Lacuni Prowlers for straight attack speed. To facilitate large pulls, consider using a Follower equipped with
The Ess of Johan, a proc-based analogue to an enemy-pulling skill (albeit outside your control).
- From a skill and passive perspective, always slot at least one movement
tool:
Vault
Tumble or
Smoke Screen
Displacement are popular options, and Shadow set-based builds get
Shadow Power
Shadow Glide for free. Passive-wise, prioritize
Ambush — against low total HP trash enemies, the extra damage to healthy targets can result in some quick killstreak stacks right at the start of a fight. A cheat death coming from
Awareness can also be very handy for killstreak upkeep during risky, daring pulls.
Changelog
- 03 Jun. 2025: Added Season 35 Eternal Conflict killstreak recommendations.
- 19 Jan. 2025: Added Season 34 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 22 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
- 09 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
- 10 Apr. 2024: Added Season 31 advice for the unbound Kanai's Cube slots.
- 08 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
- 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
- 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
- 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
- 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
- 09 Dec. 2021: Added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
- 21 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
- 01 Apr. 2021: Added follower recommendation.
- 18 Nov. 2020: Added S22 Cube recommendation.
- 30 Jun. 2020: Guide added.
More Demon Hunter Guides
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Farming Guides
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.
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