Natalya Rain of Vengeance Demon Hunter

[Valks 2,373]

On 4/23/2017 at 11:05 AM, Guest Lazy said:

Hey, thanks for the build. =]

I actually run an alternative of the grenade variant using an Ancient Kmar Tenclip as my other one-handed crossbow, freeing up Strafe to use another rune (Demolition). My Dawn is cubed as opposed to in-hand. It's been working extremely well up to GR 65 thus far, but I have yet to put it to the test in GR 70+. Thoughts?

Bit late, but just stopping by to confirm the post above. They make excellent points on the Ballista.

[Guest Cuthalion]

Could author comment on the following idea:

Using Natalya's ring and cubed Ring of Royal Grandeur allows for the following option: 4-piece bonus from Unhallowed Essence.
E.g. Xbow, ring, boots, pants, gloves from Natalya. Chest, Shoulders, Helmet from Essence.
I play HC-only, and having extra 60 damage reduction, 60 damage boost (partially compensates the loss of that 2-ring set),
and a free spot for another ring - and there are many very good ones. Not mentioning, that 2-set Essence bonus is also very handy.

(Ive just returned to Diablo after a 3.5-year absence and so many new things that I am not sure if this was discussed already)

[Guest Question]

Does Rain of Vengeance: Anathema (or any grenade rune on any skill) work with Numbing Traps?

[Valks 2,373]

On 5/14/2017 at 7:18 PM, Guest Cuthalion said:

Could author comment on the following idea:

Using Natalya's ring and cubed Ring of Royal Grandeur allows for the following option: 4-piece bonus from Unhallowed Essence.

For anyone considering this - you lose a huge amount of damage potential by doing this. You will have lost the Bastion bonus and it is nowhere near covered by what you gain with UE.

[Guest Question]

For the lightning variant, why not use Archery instead of Night Stalker? The 5% crit chance really helps with the FoK, while still providing some hatred to maintain Aquila Cuirass.

[Guest Skirnir]

On 3/31/2016 at 8:22 PM, Guest Krapuul said:

Hello,

 

Great guide and thanks to it I have finally been bitten by the D3 bug. I can't stop playing (send help). I have a few remarks / questions concerning the build.

 

My questions:

1) Is there an alternative to "Lord Greenstone's Knife". It took a while to get the hang of it's timing. The damage is quit large when at 15+ stacks during CoV lightning proc. But I feel it kinda breaks the flow for the build. Having to strafe straight into the Elite Pack, if and only if at 15+ stacks and during a 4s cycle.. makes it very unreliable.
Only using it during CoV procs and at a desired number of stacks still means I have to do some elite packs without this skill. And as for the damage, a single RoV (deadcenter, with Crashing Rain) hits just as hard as a 30-stack Fan of Knives.

Is it really worth it to not only use a skill slot, but a cube-slot for this combination?

What are other alternatives you might suggest?

 

I found running "Fulminator" or "Calamatiy" feels like it provides so much more, and then you can run Companion - Wolf instead. This particularly feels better when teaming up, either using Fulminator for the massive AoE damage (I party often with a monk who does insane single-target.) or Calamity (after casting RoV - Shade) it pretty much garantuees uptime on all mobs). You can also pop your wolf for 30% party wide damage increase on longer fights.

 

2) I still haven't found my Focus/Restraint, so I have been running Zodiac instead. This puts my Wolf / Vengeance at ridiculous low cooldowns, and RoV at about 1s, allowing it to be cast in a 1:1 Generator ratio rather than 2:1.

 

I have been theorycrafting of running Zodiac / RoG and combine the Natalya 6-piece bonus with a 2-piece bonus from Marauder. Maybe even switch out "Dawn" for another xbow because you do not need the 65% CD reduction when you run Zodiac. (It's pretty much off-CD constantly)

 

When I gather the gear required to test this out, I'll post back with results. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

On 3/31/2016 at 8:22 PM, Guest Krapuul said:

 

--

My variations:
1) I run "Archery" over "Leech"; it's a lot easier to keep your hatred above 90% in order to continuously benefit from "Aguila's Cuirras". My gear is not entirely optimized so I still have a fair bit of Life on Hit. I also have 'Flavor of Time' and not my Hellfire Pendant yet, so my opinion on this might change as I dive into higher GRs.

2)  I also prefer "Vault" over "Smokescreen". The movement speed of SS is really good for repositioning, I find it's discipline cost a tad bit high. You can just vault twice (with Tumble Rune) to get out of harms way. And for traversing the rifts, being able to cast vault ~10 times gets you to your destination a lot faster than running with SS. You can also vault over hazards whereas with SS you're running into them. 

 

3) When partying I often switch out my Fan of Knives for Wolf, and using a different cube-slot.

 

How about:

Switch Strafe for Rapid Fire - Bombardment, amplify the damage with Hunter's Wrath, Sin Seekers, Buriza, Wojahn (either one cubed)

cube Zodiac, wear the Natalya ring, and Traveler's Pledge (unless they've been nerfed? They look all right to me)

cube the crashing rain belt (I forget the name)

Once it gets harder, cube Aquila's Cuirass.

Once it gets harder again, cube Fortress Ballista hand crossbow, or if you have like no attack speed gear, use it and cube either the Buriza or the Wojahn,  I like cubing the Buriza since I then have less reason to stand in place and get scragged, but then I'm a sloppy player (it's a little less upper end damage than the Wojahn, but it has no chargeup).

For gems, you can't use the Taeguk to good effect, since the channeling costs no primary resource with sin seekers.

With the Fortress Ballista at least you can cast Rain of Vengeance back to back before the first RoV has run down, you can plunk down a second somewhere else (making it sort of a mobile area denial /champion and boss killer). Of course you can only benefit from one Rain of Vengeance at a time.

I don't use a resource generator, so Wraps of Clarity is a no go for me, leaving bracers open for whatever, there's no obvious choice to me. (Except maybe Krelm or Nemesis)

For gems I use Bane of the Trapped, Gogol and Mirinae. (No, I'm not at all sure about these gems, which is heartening really, since level 65 Grift is dead easy with even a mediocre setup)

Mirinae would probably be shifted to Bane of the Stricken for higher Grifts.

I like it a lot, the gear and stat requirements are less strenous since cooldown reduction and resource reduction gear are not a worry. And Rapid Fire has it's damage boosted, boosted, boosted and.

Otherwise it plays like the Unhallowed Essence grenades build, Except you plunk down Rain of Vengeance pretty much at will, if you're rolling grenades with rapid fire.

 

[Valks 2,373]

2 hours ago, Guest Skirnir said:

How about:

While I appreciate you trying to help, you're replying to a comment that is nearly one and a half years old. The context of it might not really apply anymore. 

[darkdill 4]

I do not understand why you would use Aquila Cuirass in your cube. Using Strafe as a CD cycler for RoV means you are not going to be at full Hatred very often (if ever).

Wouldn't the Hexing Pants of Mister Yan be a better choice? This build is meant to be highly-mobile in combat, after all.

My build: https://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/darkdill-1531/hero/95715664

Edited November 14, 2017 by darkdill

[Endslikecrazy 0]

A couple of possible flaws id like an explanation on to why i should be using it.

Why hellcat waistguard > crashing rain and not the other way around?

Why cube aquilla cuirass when were constantly strafing and thus basicly never above 95% primary resource?

Why entangling shot and not grenade with all the increased grenade dmg in the build?

Why taeguk when were almost never really channeling anything?

Last but not least, what part of convention of elements actually gets used with this build?

Edited November 17, 2017 by Endslikecrazy
Missing info

[Valks 2,373]

On 11/14/2017 at 7:01 AM, darkdill said:

I do not understand why you would use Aquila Cuirass in your cube. Using Strafe as a CD cycler for RoV means you are not going to be at full Hatred very often (if ever).

This is essentially just because you are playing the build wrong. You should not be spamming Strafe constantly. You specifically take Night Stalker so that you are constantly using generators while Strafing to stay above 90% resource. You are also running the Templar because of his resource generation passive. If you never have Cuirass active, you need to use your generator more.

[Valks 2,373]

9 hours ago, Endslikecrazy said:

Why hellcat waistguard > crashing rain and not the other way around?

Simply put, because it deals more damage.

9 hours ago, Endslikecrazy said:

Why cube aquilla cuirass when were constantly strafing and thus basicly never above 95% primary resource?

See my response above to another poster.

9 hours ago, Endslikecrazy said:

Why entangling shot and not grenade with all the increased grenade dmg in the build?

Because you aren't using your generator for damage. You are using it to build Hatred faster (Entangling has a far longer range, travels faster and slows enemies it hits).

9 hours ago, Endslikecrazy said:

Why taeguk when were almost never really channeling anything?

If you cannot maintain Taeguk at maximum stacks, you are playing the build incorrectly. You should be channeling Strafe enough to maintain Taeguk constantly.

9 hours ago, Endslikecrazy said:

Last but not least, what part of convention of elements actually gets used with this build?

Fire.

[Endslikecrazy 0]

2 hours ago, Blainie said:

Simply put, because it deals more damage.

See my response above to another poster.

Because you aren't using your generator for damage. You are using it to build Hatred faster (Entangling has a far longer range, travels faster and slows enemies it hits).

If you cannot maintain Taeguk at maximum stacks, you are playing the build incorrectly. You should be channeling Strafe enough to maintain Taeguk constantly.

Fire.

 

So the 800% increase on the last bounce of the grenade is better then summoning another beast for 3000-4000% dmg? That seems questionable but i dont want to do the math, ive seen how bad the maths is with WW barb

Strafe is the main way of moving around, or is that incorrect? And to add on that with the taeguk part, dont the taeguk stacks automaticly reset if you cant maintain it?

I know im not using the generator for dmg but since I can't strafe on a constant basis my mobility is actually really low, or atleast really slow, I honestly dont see how i should use entangling shot when my mobility is low AF and ill probably have enemies surround me on a constant basis.

And since the mobility is garbage like this, why use smoke screen? Why not just use vault to increase the mobility and hatred generation which also makes it easier to maintain aquilla and taeguk.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Endslikecrazy

[Valks 2,373]

20 minutes ago, Endslikecrazy said:

So the 800% increase on the last bounce of the grenade is better then summoning another beast for 3000-4000% dmg? That seems questionable but i dont want to do the math, ive seen how bad the maths is with WW barb

Remember that you don't fire just one grenade with Anathema. You actually fire like 10+ of them. They all benefit from the bonus and they can all cleave with their explosion.

20 minutes ago, Endslikecrazy said:

Strafe is the main way of moving around, or is that incorrect? And to add on that with the taeguk part, dont the taeguk stacks automaticly reset if you cant maintain it?

Yeah, but only if there are mobs that you are hitting. If not, it's a waste of resources. You should also be constantly weaving in generators. Take a look at this gameplay from Wudijo, it's a perfect example of how to play it. There will always be a point where Taeguk drops because of moving between packs or so, but you just rebuild it.

27 minutes ago, Endslikecrazy said:

And since the mobility is garbage like this, why use smoke screen? Why not just use vault to increase the mobility and hatred generation which also makes it easier to maintain aquilla and taeguk.

Because you won't be skipping packs enough to use Vault. You should be grouping up large packs and letting your grenades cleave. Check the gameplay above to see what I mean.

[Endslikecrazy 0]

8 minutes ago, Blainie said:

Remember that you don't fire just one grenade with Anathema. You actually fire like 10+ of them. They all benefit from the bonus and they can all cleave with their explosion.

Yeah, but only if there are mobs that you are hitting. If not, it's a waste of resources. You should also be constantly weaving in generators. Take a look at this gameplay from Wudijo, it's a perfect example of how to play it. There will always be a point where Taeguk drops because of moving between packs or so, but you just rebuild it.

Because you won't be skipping packs enough to use Vault. You should be grouping up large packs and letting your grenades cleave. Check the gameplay above to see what I mean.

So having seen pretty much the entire video, i havent seen him maintain his aquillas for a single second in combat xD

So might be time to find a replacement for that i think.

[Valks 2,373]

53 minutes ago, Endslikecrazy said:

So having seen pretty much the entire video, i havent seen him maintain his aquillas for a single second in combat xD

So might be time to find a replacement for that i think.

Ah, in that video he doesn't run Aquila, sorry! But the playstyle is very much the same. He says in a comment that he was testing another cubed item: 

Quote

I actually didn't have Aquila cubed for those clips, it was Hexing Pants. That was mostly for personal preference and I wouldn't recommend it though

It's very much the same playstyle though. Weave generators like he does.

[Endslikecrazy 0]

52 minutes ago, Blainie said:

Ah, in that video he doesn't run Aquila, sorry! But the playstyle is very much the same. He says in a comment that he was testing another cubed item: 

It's very much the same playstyle though. Weave generators like he does.

aah ok didnt notice that, but still its gonna be very hard keeping 95% primary resource even with a templar running with me.

Guess i just have to practice this more, i've almost always only played barbarian so its a new playstyle to begin with.
Thanks for the info and effort anyways ;)

[Guest Ricardo]

Hey Deadset, first of all, thank you for this build.
I have a question related to Stat Priority. Why do you use LIGHT damage on the amulet and wrist instead of FIRE damage?
Considering we are using Anathema, isn't it the best choice? Or the light dmg is to boost the Fan of Knives?

[darkdill 4]

16 hours ago, Blainie said:

This is essentially just because you are playing the build wrong. You should not be spamming Strafe constantly. You specifically take Night Stalker so that you are constantly using generators while Strafing to stay above 90% resource. You are also running the Templar because of his resource generation passive. If you never have Cuirass active, you need to use your generator more.

Well, sorry if I can't cycle that perfectly due to latency issues, but I think I'm gonna stick with Hexing Pants as my cube armor.

[Valks 2,373]

On 11/17/2017 at 6:57 PM, Guest Ricardo said:

Hey Deadset, first of all, thank you for this build.
I have a question related to Stat Priority. Why do you use LIGHT damage on the amulet and wrist instead of FIRE damage?
Considering we are using Anathema, isn't it the best choice? Or the light dmg is to boost the Fan of Knives?

I believe it's because you run Greenstone to stack FoK damage, so Lightning buffs that after you have grouped mobs.

[Valks 2,373]

On 11/18/2017 at 4:06 AM, darkdill said:

Well, sorry if I can't cycle that perfectly due to latency issues, but I think I'm gonna stick with Hexing Pants as my cube armor.

That's fine and if it works for you, go ahead. I was simply stating why Aquila is listed.

[Guest Ktmk]

On 26/10/2016 at 10:47 PM, Guest RPO said:

 

Cubing the Aquila and using seethe transforms this build. One can strafe pretty much all day long, taking full advantage of the 10 stacks of the Taeguk.

 

How do u constantly hold Strafe while clicking generator? I tried on my mouse but it seems doesnt work. If i have to let go strafe my Taeguk cannot be on 10 stacks and 1.5s is too short. Any suggestions? Thx

[Guest HueHueHue]

Crashing Rain for belt instead of the grenades is actually better.

[Guest BlackHole]

You don't constantly sit on Strafe and Vengeance with Seethe generates hatred so it's possible to keep it up long enough, in addition if you forsake items with hatred regeneration rates up then you are doing it wrong, in addition you could think about having a gem in your headgear to lower resource cost quite a bit and with your paragons as well.

 

[Guest Woodja]

Currently running a slight variation on this build (mainly because I have not found a Restraint this season, plus the hellfire amulet rolls were not as good as the Squirt I already have).

With the Ess of Johan cubed instead of CoE, I am able to pull mobs in for tighter packing to RoV, which helps lots.  With my current build, I am able to maintain Strafe with RoV refreshing quickly.  Also using Gunes in the cube as my hatred is rarely high enough to take advantage of Aguilas.

Obviously not able to hit the higher GRs yet, comfortably farming the low-mid level whilst searching for that Restraint (GR50 fairly comfortably, will be pushing higher this week)

Linky to Raarg - https://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Woodja-2341/hero/84896746 - using Lianna's Wings until I get Restraint as it has higher damage than the Natalyas I have

[Valks 2,373]

On 11/20/2017 at 6:15 AM, Guest Ktmk said:

How do u constantly hold Strafe while clicking generator? I tried on my mouse but it seems doesnt work. If i have to let go strafe my Taeguk cannot be on 10 stacks and 1.5s is too short. Any suggestions? Thx

You have to weave in generators, meaning you use them every couple of steps. It's similar to stutter stepping on other builds. Using your generator triggers no cooldown, so it should be simple enough to swap between the two. Try practice clearing a GR45 or so while having 100% uptime on Aquila. It's a good way to learn.