Does anyone else play a tanky demon hunter?

[Deleted]

I'm doing fine now in inferno act I as one with bad gear (40k hp, 300ish phys resist, 200 all resist, 15k damage) and can tank most elites with gloom but Im just wondering how long will it last. I basically just run away, waiting for discipline and hatred, then use gloom, tank them and spam impale with grievous wounds which is usually enough to kill at least one of the elites before my discipline runs out.

Anyway, after the nerfs, is it wise to continue to invest in survival gear or should I start gathering pure damage items already?

[Deleted]

I'd suggest you use something that is cheaper on hatred than impale. It deals a lot of damage but with a survival build good, sustained DPS is more important than fast and bursty. On your question, yes, it still continues to be viable to play with a survival build; it was viable pre-1.0.3 and it continues do so post-1.0.3a.

[Deleted]

A DH is not a tank, you should have way over 15k DPS. If you keep building stats at the current ratio you will never manage Act 3+. That's not to say that tank stats are completely useless (although some DHs would say exactly that) but you're prioritizing tank stats over DPS stats on the most DPS oriented class, the whole thing is kind of backwards.

I think getting enough physical resist to survive the arrows and spears of white mobs could be a good idea, but trying to tank elite packs is a lost cause. Act 1 is not a good place to test stuff like that because the mobs there hit like wet noodles and have as much HP as a tissue paper, not to mention they're usually slow moving melee types with little to no nasty abilities. With your current build and strategy you'll get 1-2 shot by elites in later Acts and with 15k DPS you won't even do 5% of their health.

I've never actually seen a tanky DH work in Act 3+, although there probably are a few. But I'm pretty sure they'd still have more than 15k DPS. If you can keep your current HP and resist while raising DPS I suppose it might work? Like I said, I have little to no experience with tanky DH because the vast majority play pure glass cannon.

[S7orm]

for tanky go with cluster bomb so you can damage mobs while they're not running (doing a shitton of damage) and hungering arrow with devouring rune when you run out of hatred

4xNatalya's set +10 discipline quiver is a must

working to get the ring + quiver ATM, doing act3 with 28k only hp and 600 allres, buy close to 50k dps (without sharpshooter, i'm at 47% crit)

not really tanky but DH is ranged so it's more like surviving at least 4-5 hits

[Deleted]

So far I like it much more than kiting. With shadow power(gloom) I take 65% less damage and heal 20% damage I deal and can keep it on for nearly 15 seconds before I run out of discipline and I have the vengeance passive so don't have to wait long to get it back up since health globes restore it. It works really well with fast jumpy things and mortar elites but shielding and immortal minions ones are still nasty as I cant kite at all with this build.

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 10:45 AM ----------

I'd suggest you use something that is cheaper on hatred than impale. It deals a lot of damage but with a survival build good, sustained DPS is more important than fast and bursty. On your question, yes, it still continues to be viable to play with a survival build; it was viable pre-1.0.3 and it continues do so post-1.0.3a.

Actually fast and bursty is what Im aiming for. I have good hatred regen and when tanking with gloom, I need good burst while its up to heal the damage I take.
When running away and waiting for discipline to recover, I dont really do any damage anyway as I have no kiting skills picked.

[Deleted]

Can survive 2-3 hits from alot of stuff if you build it the way you are building now, however certain champ packs, small areas and whatnot that you would have a harder time against are still exactly identical with your build. It scales off during & after act2 where it is just a zergdown fest. I'm guessing you can get such quality items that you have the dmg required and the lifesteal% that you can tank mobs but certain amount gets you killed anyway.

[Deleted]

Can survive 2-3 hits from alot of stuff if you build it the way you are building now, however certain champ packs, small areas and whatnot that you would have a harder time against are still exactly identical with your build. It scales off during & after act2 where it is just a zergdown fest. I'm guessing you can get such quality items that you have the dmg required and the lifesteal% that you can tank mobs but certain amount gets you killed anyway.

Yea, im not expecting to be able to just stand still though. I die fast now too when surrounded. I'm using this specc now
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...TQj!bTe!ccYZac

(suggestions how to improve it would be welcome too)

[bossmonster]

Yea, im not expecting to be able to just stand still though. I die fast now too when surrounded. I'm using this specc now
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...TQj!bTe!ccYZac

(suggestions how to improve it would be welcome too)

As a 'melee'-DH - wouldnt Fan of Knives be more effective than Multishot?

[Deleted]

As a 'melee'-DH - wouldnt Fan of Knives be more effective than Multishot?

Multishot is spammable and my hatred regen is very good so I use it to kill non-elite packs by just spamming it in their general direction. Fan of knives has a long CD and although it does more damage, waiting for it to come up again is a no go and gets me killed.

It's also great for healing and gets my HP full in 1 shot with shadow power up when there are huge packs and also works great on illusionists.

[Deleted]

Yea, im not expecting to be able to just stand still though. I die fast now too when surrounded. I'm using this specc now
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...TQj!bTe!ccYZac

(suggestions how to improve it would be welcome too)

Not like it would improve, it is just a matter of playstyle I guess. But I myself found trap+imm glyph together with the +100% duration perk and Ball Lighting hatred dump alot more effective.

[Deleted]

Not like it would improve, it is just a matter of playstyle I guess. But I myself found trap+imm glyph together with the +100% duration perk and Ball Lighting hatred dump alot more effective.

Yea, might try it. The biggest issue with multishot is that it doesnt go through enemies so shielded champions and immortal minions are close to impossible to kill for me as I cant regen health from them and cant shoot through them with this specc.

[Deleted]

A DH is not a tank, you should have way over 15k DPS. If you keep building stats at the current ratio you will never manage Act 3+. That's not to say that tank stats are completely useless (although some DHs would say exactly that) but you're prioritizing tank stats over DPS stats on the most DPS oriented class, the whole thing is kind of backwards.

I think getting enough physical resist to survive the arrows and spears of white mobs could be a good idea, but trying to tank elite packs is a lost cause. Act 1 is not a good place to test stuff like that because the mobs there hit like wet noodles and have as much HP as a tissue paper, not to mention they're usually slow moving melee types with little to no nasty abilities. With your current build and strategy you'll get 1-2 shot by elites in later Acts and with 15k DPS you won't even do 5% of their health.

I've never actually seen a tanky DH work in Act 3+, although there probably are a few. But I'm pretty sure they'd still have more than 15k DPS. If you can keep your current HP and resist while raising DPS I suppose it might work? Like I said, I have little to no experience with tanky DH because the vast majority play pure glass cannon.

These are generally good advices, but the tank spec is possible and is being done (i cleared inferno with 1h+shield). There are 2 ways of doing this:

#1- get as much IAS (dual wield) and crit chance as you can. Then tank with Gloom and get your Discipline back via crits. This is even easier now, with Natalyas set 4 pieces "bug". This method makes up for fast kills (due to high dps) and doesnt even require much defensive stats. However, it will be quiet expensive, mostly due to the dual wielding needs.

Example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFReYy51pVY

#2- get as much defensive stats as you can. Go full tank and forget about dps. Get a high block shield, as much "resistance to all" as you can, 2k "Life on Hit", Vitality and dex as defensive stats. Everything else is secondary. You CAN kill everything with 10k dps and wont take as long as people think. Its ultimately safer than the first method, but does take longer. Its also expensive as hell, nostly because Demon Hunters share stats with monks, which increases demand (and price) on gear.

Example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfTVIlx4DLI

Its possible to go demon hunter tanking. Possibly not ideal, but its very possible and interestingly different.

[Deleted]

Yea, might try it. The biggest issue with multishot is that it doesnt go through enemies so shielded champions and immortal minions are close to impossible to kill for me as I cant regen health from them and cant shoot through them with this specc.

Yeah exactly, kind of what I meant earlier. You can take hits from mobs you will know you can take hits from and that is nice, but the difficult ones remain difficult no matter what. I farmed hell on hardcore a few times with a full tank build to try and I needed traps for certain mobs in act 4 or I wouldn't survive with act 2 inferno gear. Same for inferno, I had defensive talents (the trap and glyph + vault escaper) but spiderlings with fast & invun/molten still caught me twice and killed me. The second time I had 500 allresist and 30khp. Had roughly 20-25k dps the two attempts.

That is in act 1 which I can take 1 hit from mobs after patch on my glass cannon DH softcore char with 13khp. When you progress with the build I would keep being build to survive 2 or 3 hits no more and invest rest in damage as it scales off immensly when mobs hit for more. Probably need the trap reduction perk to be able to survive 3 hits but not to sure. But I have to agree it is fun to play tanky/lifesteal build as far as you can consider calling it that way since you still kite 95% of the time ^^

[Deleted]

cluster bombs is ftw. easily the best hatred spender DHs have, bar the old NT which was fractionally better over a longer time. a perfectly placed set of cluster bombs can literally one shot elite packs. xD

[Deleted]

So far I like it much more than kiting. With shadow power(gloom) I take 65% less damage and heal 20% damage I deal and can keep it on for nearly 15 seconds before I run out of discipline and I have the vengeance passive so don't have to wait long to get it back up since health globes restore it. It works really well with fast jumpy things and mortar elites but shielding and immortal minions ones are still nasty as I cant kite at all with this build.

With shielding, yeah, there is little to do except wait for the shield to drop. The good news is that all the elites rarely shield at the same time, and I can usually keep up my healing just by selectively shooting at the pack, as they shield and un-shield. If you want to use Impale, I'd maybe suggest switching to the Overpenetration rune, as it lets you shoot through mobs and hit the ones at the pack. You'll never have an issue with invulnerable minions after that, and even shielded mobs get a lot easier.

Personally I go with ball lightning; it is equally good at wiping out an armada of white mobs, as well against the mentioned affixes.

Actually fast and bursty is what Im aiming for. I have good hatred regen and when tanking with gloom, I need good burst while its up to heal the damage I take. When running away and waiting for discipline to recover, I dont really do any damage anyway as I have no kiting skills picked.

I can't see how you can manage a balance between discipline and hatred, while using Impale. Even with ball lightning, an ability that costs 2.5 the hatred of Impale, and a bat companion, I run out of hatred after my third gloom. Using Impale, I run out of hatred after my first gloom. Considering your stats, I'd say your biggest problem is simply that you have low damage. Tanking (if you can call it that) as a DH, our survivability is dependent on maintaining damage during gloom, and keeping it high enough to survive the hits.

We aren't like monks and barbs who can go with 10-15k damage. 15k for a DH is too low imo, and might be the source of your problems, and why you need the high output of Impale to sustain yourself. Your other stats look good enough to me, that what you now need more then anything else, is simply a bit more damage.

[Pool of the Dead]

No, why build a tanky build DH? seems useless, when you can just build a glass cannon and faceroll 10x easier.

DH sits on 137k dps, but only has 12k HP yet can kill inferno Diablo quite easily, and currently drops elite/champ packs in about 5 secs using Elemental (Frost) Arrow.

Tanky DH's are for people too terrible to use them properly I would say.

[Deleted]

With shielding, yeah, there is little to do except wait for the shield to drop. The good news is that all the elites rarely shield at the same time, and I can usually keep up my healing just by selectively shooting at the pack, as they shield and un-shield. If you want to use Impale, I'd maybe suggest switching to the Overpenetration rune, as it lets you shoot through mobs and hit the ones at the pack. You'll never have an issue with invulnerable minions after that, and even shielded mobs get a lot easier.

Personally I go with ball lightning; it is equally good at wiping out an armada of white mobs, as well against the mentioned affixes.


I can't see how you can manage a balance between discipline and hatred, while using Impale. Even with ball lightning, an ability that costs 2.5 the hatred of Impale, and a bat companion, I run out of hatred after my third gloom. Using Impale, I run out of hatred after my first gloom. Considering your stats, I'd say your biggest problem is simply that you have low damage. Tanking (if you can call it that) as a DH, our survivability is dependent on maintaining damage during gloom, and keeping it high enough to survive the hits.

We aren't like monks and barbs who can go with 10-15k damage. 15k for a DH is too low imo, and might be the source of your problems, and why you need the high output of Impale to sustain yourself. Your other stats look good enough to me, that what you now need more then anything else, is simply a bit more damage.

Exactly why I myself used the trap part to gain a momentum to regain. Never had the disc/hatred regain or gear (was doing it on HC) to be able to stay in melee range as the DH above linked video.

[Deleted]

With shielding, yeah, there is little to do except wait for the shield to drop. The good news is that all the elites rarely shield at the same time, and I can usually keep up my healing just by selectively shooting at the pack, as they shield and un-shield. If you want to use Impale, I'd maybe suggest switching to the Overpenetration rune, as it lets you shoot through mobs and hit the ones at the pack. You'll never have an issue with invulnerable minions after that, and even shielded mobs get a lot easier.

Personally I go with ball lightning; it is equally good at wiping out an armada of white mobs, as well against the mentioned affixes.


I can't see how you can manage a balance between discipline and hatred, while using Impale. Even with ball lightning, an ability that costs 2.5 the hatred of Impale, and a bat companion, I run out of hatred after my third gloom. Using Impale, I run out of hatred after my first gloom. Considering your stats, I'd say your biggest problem is simply that you have low damage. Tanking (if you can call it that) as a DH, our survivability is dependent on maintaining damage during gloom, and keeping it high enough to survive the hits.

We aren't like monks and barbs who can go with 10-15k damage. 15k for a DH is too low imo, and might be the source of your problems, and why you need the high output of Impale to sustain yourself. Your other stats look good enough to me, that what you now need more then anything else, is simply a bit more damage.

Health globes, they restore 20 with vengeance and I also have around 3 hatred/sec from gear too.

---------- Post added 2012-06-27 at 01:26 PM ----------

No, why build a tanky build DH? seems useless, when you can just build a glass cannon and faceroll 10x easier.

DH sits on 137k dps, but only has 12k HP yet can kill inferno Diablo quite easily, and currently drops elite/champ packs in about 5 secs using Elemental (Frost) Arrow.

Tanky DH's are for people too terrible to use them properly I would say.

Because it's fun? I already have a glass cannon wizard and I dont like melee(hate chasing stuff) or pets much so DH was the only other option for an alt and tanking with it has been really fun so far. There is no "proper" use for anything. If it works, its proper and Ive seen plenty of videos with DHs tanking inferno.

[Pool of the Dead]

Because it's fun? I already have a glass cannon wizard and I dont like melee(hate chasing stuff) or pets much so DH was the only other option for an alt and tanking with it has been really fun so far. There is no "proper" use for anything. If it works, its proper and Ive seen plenty of videos with DHs tanking inferno.

That highlighted part. So you don't like melee but base your DH ENTIRELY around being in Melee Range, and being unable to kite.

What the fuck am I reading.

[bossmonster]

That highlighted part. So you don't like melee but base your DH ENTIRELY around being in Melee Range, and being unable to kite.

What the fuck am I reading.

Tank-DH doesn't mean walking up to mobs into melee range and then start shooting. Tank-DH means taking hits and not running away (so much).