Natalya Rain of Vengeance Demon Hunter Skills and Runes

Active Skills
Entangling Shot Justice is Served Strafe Drifting Shadow 1 Rain of Vengeance Anathema 2 Fan of Knives Pinpoint Accuracy 3 Smoke Screen Special Recipe 4 Vengeance Dark Heart
Passive Skills
Single Out Ambush Cull the Weak Night Stalker

The build begins runs with an activation of Vengeance, a major survivability and damage buff that should be kept up permanently with the assistance of Dawn. The primary dynamic of the spec alternates short channeling of Strafe and punctuating it with generator shots, in order to maintain your Hatred reserves high and keep the Wraps of Clarity and Bastions of Will set buffs going. The spender and generator skills will interact with the Natalya set and reset your Rain of Vengeance cooldown, one of the two major damage dealers in the build. Finally, use Smoke Screen sparingly when expecting bursts of damage coming your way.

Rain of Vengeance is one of the major damage dealers of the build; the Natalya set 2-piece bonus lowers the significant cooldown of the skill by 4 seconds when you hit an enemy with a Hatred-generating or Hatred-spending attack, allowing you to chain cast Rain of Vengeance in the thick of battle. Using it will also trigger the damage effect of the Hellcat Waistguard (see this build's gear page for more information), producing part of the signature burst of the build. By default, we recommend the fire rune Anathema, as it produces higher damage even when not focused on through gear rolls. It is, however, harder to play due to its lower AoE and grenade-bouncing mechanics than a Shade variation — consider the latter if you want an easier time playing.

To reset the centerpiece of the build, you will be using Strafe; a skill that long struggled for viability, it fits snugly into the Natalya mechanics by allowing you mobility and fast resets, coming from the constant damage ticks inherent to its channeled nature. The preferred rune is Drifting Shadow, as unimpeded movement speed is a crucial part of the agile combat style of Demon Hunters.

Fan of Knives Pinpoint Accuracy is the second major damage dealer of the build. The increased cooldown of the rune is of little consequence, as you will be waiting on the stacks of Lord Greenstone's Fan, building up at 1 stack per second, and synchronize with the Lightning proc of Convention of Elements (you will reach 15 stacks for one full cycle of CoE and the full 30 stacks at two cycles). Considering its significant buildup time and burst potential, judicious use of Fan of Knives in GRs is strongly advised.

With the rebalancing in Patch 2.4, you have a degree of freedom when choosing your generator. Entangling Shot emerges as a viable option, as its slow helps control combat and proc Bane of the Trapped, and resources remain steady with the 7 Hatred generating Justice is Served. The classic choice of Evasive Fire with its strongest rune for Hatred restoration, Focus, remains a viable choice. Regardless of your preferred skill, alternating a few seconds of channeling with a generator shot is the best way to keep Hatred high and maintain the Focus and Restraint set bonus.

The very embodiment of glass cannon, the Demon Hunter usually adopts at least one protective mobility skill. The Natalya build is no exception, incorporating the disappearance mechanic of Smoke Screen to synergize with Strafe — as it does not interrupt channeling. The preferred rune for GR progression is the cheaper Special Recipe, making Discipline management significantly easier.

Using the skill and item reworks surrounding Vengeance to their advantage, Natalya Demon Hunters take the skill into the build and strive for its permanent uptime through Dawn. This potent 40% damage buff will also reduce incoming damage in half from the Dark Heart rune, assisting the survival of this mid-range DH setup.

Cull the Weak amplifies your damage against Slowed or Chilled enemies by 20%. This potent multiplicative passive gets triggered by Entangling Shot (if you chose it as your generator), by the Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker and Intimidate slows from your Templar companion, and by secondary stats on your gear.

Augmenting the other half of your damage, you will do well to bring up your initial burst with Ambush. The multiplicative nature of the passive sweetens the 40% damage increase offered, and leads to the unrivaled performance of Fan of Knives against trash packs.

Night Stalker is included in the build to significantly smooth out your resource management. The 4 additional Hatred per primary attack, adding up with the sizable 7 from Justice is Served, make the constant channeling of Strafe a breeze.

Rounding your passives out, you have a choice between the well-rounded damage increase of Archery (bringing 5% Crit Chance to this 1h Crossbow-wielding build) and Single Out, adding to your single target burst. Our general recommendation is Single Out, as it balances out the spec's AoE strengths in the predominantly one-on-one Greater Rift Guardian fights.