Marauder Multishot Demon Hunter Skills and Runes

Last updated on Jan 08, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 14 comments

On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Marauder Multishot Demon Hunter in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.7 and Season 30.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Evasive Fire Icon Evasive Fire Focus Focus Right Mouse Button Multishot Icon Multishot Arsenal Arsenal 1 Vengeance Icon Vengeance Dark Heart Dark Heart 2 Vault Icon Vault Tumble Tumble 3 Companion Icon Companion Wolf Companion Wolf Companion 4 Sentry Icon Sentry Polar Station Polar Station
Passive Skills
1.

Rotation

Sentries are a key part of the build, shooting out your equipped spenders automatically on top of mimicking your own shots. Currently active sentries also directly reflect your damage delivery, adding more damage to your skills per Sentry Sentry dropped. Your basic goal in this playstyle is to lead enemy pulls into your Sentry Sentry "nest": ideally, a semi-open location where all the turrets will be placed alongside a wall and can simultaneously fire their volleys in one direction — directly into the monster packs. While it is still important that you fire Multishot Multishot yourself in order to trigger the Sentry Sentry mimicking shots, your own damage will be negligible; your primary job is to strategically place the turrets, keep them firing, and buff them up with damage multipliers. You will need to weave Evasive Fire Evasive Fire in between your shots to keep up the bonuses of Focus Focus and Restraint Restraint, as well as to pop your Companion Companion cooldown for the Wolf Companion Wolf Companion damage bonus when you have a good pull going. Vault Vault into an Oculus Ring Oculus Ring proc whenever possible, or simply use it to reposition or scout ahead in a Rift level. Protect yourself with Vengeance Vengeance on cooldown.

2.

Skills and Runes

Similarly to all Marauder-based builds, this variant relies heavily on Sentry Sentry, since each turret results in more damage to your chosen Hatred spenders and another autonomous damage dealer on the battlefield. Thus, to extend their maximum number, you will have to use both Custom Engineering Custom Engineering and Bombardier's Rucksack Bombardier's Rucksack. You should use the cold rune Polar Station Polar Station, whose chilling effect will guarantee the procs of both Cull the Weak Cull the Weak and Bane of the Trapped 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 bursting them down with heavy Multishot Multishot spam.

One of the best supported spenders in the Demon Hunter repertoire, Multishot 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 aggroing shots and leading them in towards a choke point to attain the full benefits of Area Damage. Rune-wise, both the Fire rune Arsenal Arsenal (our recommendation) and the Physical rune Full Broadside Full Broadside are considered equally viable options for pushing.

Vengeance 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 Dark Heart rune. You can consider altering this rune to Seethe Seethe when you grow confident in handling the build. Note that this Multishot variant cannot run Dawn Dawn due to item slot constraints, so perma-Vengeance Vengeance is impossible and you will need to treat the skill as a strategic cooldown.

With or without Seethe Seethe on Vengeance Vengeance, you will need to take a strong Hatred-generating skill in your selection. Your own survival is another powerful incentive, as the Wraps of Clarity Wraps of Clarity need frequent Hatred generation in order to function. Convenient with its broad conal reach, Evasive Fire Evasive Fire also offers the high regen option Focus Focus, solidifying it as the preferred generator for the slot.

Ensured by the powerful combination of the 2-piece Marauder bonus (summoning all Companions by your side) and the damage reduction of Zoey's Secret Zoey's Secret, Companion Companion is a mainstay in Marauder-based builds. For the cost of a skill slot, you gain a myriad of utility bonuses on every cooldown: such as the Bat Companion Bat Companion Hatred restoration (both passive and active), the Spider Companion Spider Companion slow (useful for Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped and Cull the Weak Cull the Weak procs), the Boar Companion Boar Companion taunt (offering temporary reprieve from attacks and a boost of survivability), the Ferret Companion Ferret Companion health globe grab and, perhaps most importantly, the Wolf Companion Wolf Companion multiplicative damage increase.

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 Vault, coupled with the more manageable Discipline spending of the Tumble Tumble rune.

3.

Passives

Custom Engineering 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 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 Cull the Weak amplifies your damage against Slowed or Chilled enemies by 20%. This potent multiplicative passive gets triggered by the Sentry Sentry Polar Station Polar Station chill radius and the Spider Companion Spider Companion slows, resulting in a consistent damage increase throughout the run.

Working in unison with your Dead Man's Legacy Dead Man's Legacy, the Ambush 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.

You have multiple viable options for your last passive slot. In the general, Fire-based version of the build, we recommend Ballistics Ballistics — yet another multiplicative increase to Arsenal Arsenal, doubling the effectiveness of the rockets splitting from your main damage dealer. The chance for a free additional rocket is just icing on the cake. If you opt for a Physical version of the build with Full Broadside Full Broadside, you can either augment your toughness with Numbing Traps Numbing Traps, or lean into glass cannon damage dealing with Steady Aim Steady Aim.

As a final note, a cheat death via Awareness Awareness is never a bad choice, especially if you are playing Hardcore. Replace either Ambush Ambush from the Fire version, or Numbing Traps Numbing Traps / Steady Aim Steady Aim from the Physical version of the build. Steps for additional tankiness are described in the Gear page.

4.

Changelog

  • 08 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
  • 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 09 Dec. 2021: Overhauled the guide for Season 25's changes.
  • 18 Nov. 2020: Revised generator skill recommendation to fit the cubed Odyssey's End via the Season 22 cube changes.
  • 30 Jun. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 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.
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