Multishot Marauder Demon Hunter Skills and Runes
On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Multishot Marauder Demon Hunter in Diablo 3. Updated for patch 2.6.7 and Season 19.
Active Skills |
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Passive Skills |
Rotation
Sentries are a key part of the build, mimicking the shots of your selected
Hatred spender when you fire. Sentries also directly reflect your damage
delivery, adding more damage to your skills per Sentry dropped, and tying
to the snapshot mechanic discussed below. Your basic goal in this playstyle is to
lead enemy pulls into your
Sentry cluster proximity and clumping them up
via
The Ess of Johan procs from your attacks, all in range for the sentries'
devastation. With your chosen element (physical in our example, but can be done
with fire as well) in mind, pay attention to the respective cycle of
Convention of Elements as it comes up (see this build's gear page for more information).
Vault
into an
Oculus Ring proc (if available), and be ready to commence your
Multishot barrage — snapshotting your CoE cycle as it comes up.
Use your off-cycle period to build up Hatred with
Evasive Fire, and
protect yourself with
Vengeance on cooldown.
Skills and Runes
Similarly to all Marauder-based builds, this variant relies heavily on
Sentry; since each turret placed on the battlefield results in more
damage by your own spenders (and can be snapshot back to the turrets in turn),
this necessitates the use of both
Custom Engineering and
Bombardier's Rucksack. You should use the cold rune
Polar Station,
whose chilling effect will guarantee the procs of both
Cull the Weak and
Bane of the Trapped. Placement-wise, build up clusters of Sentries in key
open areas around the map, and draw the attention of straggler packs from all
sides prior to the timed CoE-dependent burst.
One of the best supported spenders in the Demon Hunter repertoire,
Multishot, will serve as the main damage dealer of the build — with
shared duties by the Sentries and your own shots. The massive AoE of this spender
makes it deceptively easy to cover the entire battlefield, but you should still
try and clump up enemies as best you can with leading shots and
The Ess of Johan procs to maximize the benefits of Area Damage. Rune-wise,
both the physical
Full Broadside (our recommendation) and the fire
Arsenal are considered viable options for pushing, with the former scaling
slightly better with more masterfully executed pulls.
Vengeance is a near-irreplaceable tool in the Demon Hunter endgame,
due to its base damage multiplier and additional damage reduction properties
coming from the
Dark Heart rune. Note that this Multishot variant cannot
run
Dawn due to item slot constraints, so perma-
Vengeance is
impossible and you will need to treat the skill as a strategic cooldown.
With the notable absence of Seethe on
Vengeance, you will need
to take a strong Hatred-generating skill in your selection. Convenient with its
wide-arc reach,
Evasive Fire also offers the high regen option
Focus, solidifying it as the preferred generator for the slot.
While they do not provide the visible devastation of the turrets, Marauder-based
builds are still considered somewhat pet-centric due to the necessary inclusion
of Companion. The set will provide you with the effect of all the runes,
so you can take advantage of the
Bat Companion Hatred restoration,
Spider Companion slow,
Boar Companion taunt,
Ferret Companion health globe grab and
Wolf Companion multiplicative
damage increase on a regular basis.
Last but not least, you will do well to incorporate a mobility tool during
GR progression attempts; the general recommendation for the purpose is
Vault, coupled with the gentler Discipline spending of the
Tumble
rune.
This concludes the overview of the Active Skills, now let us look through the Passives.
Passives
Custom Engineering is the dream passive of the Marauder playstyle,
doubling the duration of your Sentries and increasing their maximum number and
initial charges to three. While their numbers will swell even further with the
Bombardier's Rucksack, the ability to skyrocket your damage at the start
of every major battle is too good to pass up, especially since
transitioning between Rift levels resets your Sentry count, opening up a
temporary weakness window in the build.
Cull the Weak amplifies your damage against Slowed or Chilled enemies by
20%. This potent multiplicative passive gets triggered by the
Sentry
Polar Station chill radius and the
Spider Companion slows,
resulting in a consistent damage increase throughout the run.
Working in unison with your Dead Man's Legacy, the
Ambush passive
will deliver during the first 25% of the enemy health pool, and the quiver will
pick up the carnage from 60% and below. The 40% damage increase is multiplicative
in nature, emphasizing its superiority over other options.
Finally, Awareness is the cheat death passive of Demon Hunters —
a second shot at the fight on a decent 60-second cooldown, coupled with a brief
window of safety and life regeneration when triggered.
On Sentries and Snapshotting
In order to elevate to its status of a Top Tier pushing build, this Multishot variant relies on a snapshotting mechanic. In Diablo terms, snapshotting is taking a certain buff-dependent value and using it for an extended period of time, well beyond the intended use or duration. In this particular build, M6 Multishot DHs are snapshotting the Marauder 6-piece bonus damage multiplier, and applying it to all current Sentry projectiles. The snapshotting is timed to the Convention of Elements cycles, and can basically be done every other rotation. The snapshot can be replicated by drinking your potion (you must take a hit to be able to), or attaining a Paragon level (and you can purposefully enter a GR close to leveling up in order to do so).
Note that this tactic may be perceived as exploitative by the development team and might not survive future patches. The build remains a High-tier clearing spec even without its abuse.
Changelog
- 21 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
- 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed for Season 18.
- 16 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
- 17 Jan. 2019: Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
- 24 Jun. 2018: Added the guide.
More Demon Hunter Guides
Builds from Other Classes
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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