Diablo 3 build discussion

[irishda]

Discuss D3 builds (skill calculator here). Any thoughts on others', tips to make some better, or sharing your own. Let's see what people are running with

Running a dual-wielding DPS barb with some self-healing myself. I play solo, so the damage-as-healing helps the survivability, but it keeps me from runing some of the skills for extra damage. Rend and Revenge help with the groups, along with whenever Frenzy's sidearm procs. And stomp's CC is pretty invaluable.

Build brings good dps for both single and group, but it has issues with ranged attackers and my defensive strategy is "hope stomp or potions aren't on cooldown". I've considered switching revenge to ancient spear, so I'm not chasing after people. The rune on stomp helps bring in the ranged a little bit, but with spear i could free it up for something like extra damage.

 

[The_Lost_King]

This is my Demon Hunter Until I got twin chakrams I would use rapid fire. He was centered around being able to fight groups. Rapid fire worked well against groups but once I got twin Chakrams I never looked back. It was amazing for groups and big bosses alike. I would use smoke screen and vault to get out of tight spots. Then I would run away using the speed boost then turn around and thrown chakrams until they blotted out the sun. Sentry and the other ability barely saw any use. I usually ran with a friend who had a demon hunter with the same skill set. We would blot out the sky with Chakrams. It was a lot of fun.

 

[NightHawk21]

What difficulty are you in? That's really gonna be the deciding factor for your build in Diablo 3. Normal and NM you can get away with just about anything. Hell you can somewhat get away with anything, and you can if you're properly geared. Inferno act 1 you have a little leeway, but from Act 2 onwards there really is only 1 build and a couple very small variations on it (short of completely outgearing the act).

My current Inf act 1 build build (a very small variation on the standard one) is:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WVRkiP!ebV!ccbaaZ

And for act 2 I usually change it to either:
For running away and not killing stuff:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WVRkXP!ebV!ccbaaZ
To actually kill stuff:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WVRkTP!ebV!ccbabZ

That is essentially going to be you're build when you get to INF too lol.

 

[Ruzinus]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#aRYdTZ!eTd!YZZZZc

Haven't played since... shortly after the Nether Tentacles nerf patch. Got $60 for a hammer on the RMAH and after giggling for a day about how someone had paid me for an imaginary item I found that it had kind of killed the game. Or maybe I just happened to get tired of it then and I'm arbitrarily placing blame, but I recently read some stuff about extrinsic motivators decreasing intrinsic enjoyment so... whatever.

Before the NT nerf I used that instead of Frost Arrow, and I was using the hatred generating Mark of Death instead of Impale (could shoot NT at Belial infinitely, it was amazing).

No smoke screen is a bit weird but I never played glass cannon... and I just never liked it.

Torturous ground is amazing because the immobilize still works perfectly in Inferno. Besides being generally useful, it can save you if you're trapped by wallers. Inch forward, drop a caltrop, inch back.

Brooding is another weird (well not weird but uncommon) choice. I use it because, if you know what you're doing it, it makes Reflect Damage into not that big a deal, whereas most DHs just cry and run away at the sight of that modifier.

 

[Chunga the Great]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#Wcdjhl!dYc!aacYba

That's the build I've been using lately for my Demon Hunter. I'll sometimes substitute Rain of Vengeance for Cluster Arrow with the Maelstrom rune. I've used that for most of Nightmare and I am still using it (just started Hell).

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

This [http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WPRYVT!bae!aZbZcb] is my build for my Barbarian. It's what I've been using for Hell mode and I'll probably use it for Inferno as well. It focuses on balance between survival and damage. The massive burst DPS I get from activating Wrath of the Berserker and Earthquake is great for nuking down elites, champions and bosses alike. Combine those together with Ignore Pain with the Ignorance is Bliss rune activated and I'm pretty much temporarily invincible, while at the same time, dealing insane damage.

 

[Joos]

I'm currently playing a Demon Hunter on Hell difficulty. My build is typically based on mobility and slowing the enemy so I can outmanoeuvre and outlast mobs.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/demon-hunter#bRXdfi!ace!cbYYbY

I use Entangling Shot primarily. For runes I usually swap between Chain Gang and Heavy burden.

As secondary, I use Elemental Arrow. At lower levels, I use Ball Lightning which is great for dealing lots of damage to groups. However, at the higher levels I use Screaming Skull. If I can keep the mobs far away from me I will survive longer.

The most valuable skill for survivability is smoke screen. It's the only way to get out of Prison's, being frozen etc or just run straight through mobs if you get cornered. The Rune I use is Special Recipe so I can use it more often.

Another getaway skill is Vault. I use it with the Acrobatics rune. This means, I still have one last means of surviving when I've used up my discipline on smoke screen.

Evasive Fire with Covering Fire is great for crowd control. It is also a long distance direct hit power. Great for taking out those pesky bugs in Act 2.

As a single mob take down skill, I use Strafe with whatever rune I find interesting at the time. It almost works like Rapid Fire with movement which is great for dealing a lot of damage to a single mob.

Passive skills:
Tactical Advantage: More speed is always good. Excellent together with boots that increases movement.
Cull the Weak: Since my main tactic is to slow the enemies, this will automatically do more damage to them.
Archery: Critical hit chance is increased by a whopping 10% with a hand crossbow. Also gives me the opportunity of equipping a shield which increases my survivability further thanks to the block chance you get when dodges fail.

I haven't really compared my build to others, but in the public games I join, I tend to die less than most.

 

[The Heik]

Discuss D3 builds (skill calculator here). Any thoughts on others', tips to make some better, or sharing your own. Let's see what people are running with

Running a dual-wielding DPS barb with some self-healing myself. I play solo, so the damage-as-healing helps the survivability, but it keeps me from runing some of the skills for extra damage. Rend and Revenge help with the groups, along with whenever Frenzy's sidearm procs. And stomp's CC is pretty invaluable.

Build brings good dps for both single and group, but it has issues with ranged attackers and my defensive strategy is "hope stomp or potions aren't on cooldown". I've considered switching revenge to ancient spear, so I'm not chasing after people. The rune on stomp helps bring in the ranged a little bit, but with spear i could free it up for something like extra damage.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#bZYViT!ZXd!YacZYZ

I started out with a witch doctor. It's a very indirect fighter, using his creations to do most of the damage for him. The Corpse Spiders can cover a wide amount of area, killing anything by sheers numbers and by slowing them to a crawl. Acid Rain adds to that by dousing the enemy with corrosive green goo (usually aimed at packs of little guys because it nukes them so fast). For those enemies that do get through the landslide of spiders and acid, Grasp of the Dead further slows damages the enemy and a Gargantuan intercepts what's left. But the real firepower of this build is the Zombie Dogs, which combined combined with the Sacrifice ability amounts to a wallop that I believe Yahtzee said best as "groin-focused carpet-bombing". The carpet bombing gets more ridiculous by the zombie handler perk (which lets me spawn 1 more Dog) and the Next of Kin rune on Sacrifice (35% to spawn another dog when sacrificed) makes the whole thing akin to multiple carpet-bombings followed by the bomber squadron all going kamikaze on what's left of the target. My best record for the spawn-a-thon was 4-4-2-1-1, after which every last single enemy on the screen was a charred corpse.

The additional joy of my build is that the only two stats that I focused on were Intelligence and Health. As a result not only did I and all my creations hit like dump trucks but if you did somehow managed to get past the jungle rainforest that I'd spawned to face me directly I had so much health that regenerated so fast (thanks to the Blood Ritual perk) that no enemy could realistically kill me before I'd glued their butts in place and spawned more undead buddies so I could run away and do it all over again.

Fun times.....