Demonic Archer Concept, 3rd spec for Demon Hunter

[Rhaxus]

Hello everyone,
i plan on posting this on the official forums and wanted to hear of your opinions separately; i hope you guys like the ideas behind it or have some of your own to add:

Concept: Demonic Archer; 3rd spec for Demon Hunter

In my opinion, the game needs another Ranged Weapon user and Demon Hunter could use a third spec, preferably ranged, because we have too many melees already. Here i want to propose a spec idea in its rough outlines to hopefully spark the implementation for something similar.
Since there has not been any non-caster demonic ranged enemy, here are a few ways to rationalise the concept:

1) the imprisoned Demon type was an Aranasi, a more Fragile demon who ensnares his enemies through barbed webbing and weakens them through poisons or devastating Fel orbs.

2) after the burning legion falls, demon hunters seek to find their place in the world and with the erupting conflict between Horde and Alliance, the melee approach is not very favorable in open scale warfare and they forgo some of their defensive capabilities and mobility in favor of higher throughput from range.



Ressource: combo points = chaos strain - Bow/ Crossbow/ Gun becomes infused with chaotic energy with each shot and needs to release energy before it bursts

Playstyle: Burst Mobility through Fel Rush, otherwise "casting" shots, building chaos strain with Fel themed shots(chaos infused arrow for st and short burst eye-beam style aoe shots) either fury(energy) based or cooldown dependend.

Release accumulated chaos strain through targeted/cone style Fel Barrage (aoe) or Focused eruption, an arrow infused with all the accumulated strain, shot into your enemy to erupt from within.

Keep enemies at bay through barbed webbing and poison spray/ orbs if going with the Aranasi style demon concept



Some idea bulletpoints:

Dps Cooldown could be reinforcing the bow for a short while, making it more resistant to strain and increasing its draw force.

Talents and utility could be based around area denial or slowing enemies in their way, since they don't have companions to tank for them.

Playstyle talents could revolve around changing the type of damage dealt: burst style, dot based or balanced approach.

Death from above style attacks lend themselves very well to ranged weaponry and the overall flair of demon hunters and their wings.

Leech and Soul fragments are still great concepts for survivability as ranged, probably moreso than on havoc.

The concept of a blind archer and spectral sight has a unique flair.

Fel and Dot based playstyle could be fun for those players who miss having the option to go ranged survival hunter.

Vengeful Retreat is perfect as a Retreat-like ability replacement

Hardly any work has to go into making new animations, since a lot of them are based around ranged weaponry or already ingame through existing Demon Hunter abilities.

[Not Againnn]

dislike. demon hunters arent a ranged archetype. where have you seen a DH in game using a bow?

a fel/shadow themed ranged class already exists in the form of a warlock.

[Hoofnmouth]

So another "hunter" spec.

[Rhaxus]

i wonder if you heave read my post, of course there hasn't been a Dh using bows...

they clearly don't have another melee spec in mind for DH and the third spec for us can't be a caster because it would be way too close to warlock, so i thought about going a different route.
with fel magic as a core component of the concept i hoped to avoid the "just another archer spec" conundrum.

the game needs more ranged specs, so Dh would be a great choice for a new style of Ranged weapon user without too much work

[Dazkareith]

a good idea is using the Gaives has ranged weapon DH already have a attack like that and all.
I don´t dislike the idea but the skill need to be well though and in class thematic because they will look like other hunter class

I would not change the weapon, so:
Trowing Gaives liek attacks
Eye beams
Fell bomb like mines (already have, no traps attention just like the mines they already have)
jumping in and out off melee (like hunter i know but Demon hunters are mobile so they should be able to do that)

Hope it helps

[Yorgl]

Honestly if DH ever have a 3rd spec, I'd rather have a healing spec (and the hability to use staves / polearm, following the path of Allari Souleater (the blonde BE with a purple Scythe). It would be convenient, and a nice change to have a healing spec not based on holy or nature, but on unholy (well fel to be precise) magic.
I don't have high hopes though. Just something I would enjoy.

I can't say that I hate your idea, but not very much fond of it. :/

[Rhaxus]

a good idea is using the Gaives has ranged weapon DH already have a attack like that and all.
I don´t dislike the idea but the skill need to be well though and in class thematic because they will look like other hunter class

I would not change the weapon, so:
Trowing Gaives liek attacks
Eye beams
Fell bomb like mines (already have, no traps attention just like the mines they already have)
jumping in and out off melee (like hunter i know but Demon hunters are mobile so they should be able to do that)

Hope it helps

thank you, i thought about that too, because i like the concept of using melee weapons to strike at range through magical beams/ energy waves, but i used archer to incorporate another user of ranged weaponry and to make it visually distinct from havoc

- - - Updated - - -

Honestly if DH ever have a 3rd spec, I'd rather have a healing spec (and the hability to use staves / polearm, following the path of Allari Souleater (the blonde BE with a purple Scythe). It would be convenient, and a nice change to have a healing spec not based on holy or nature, but on unholy (well fel to be precise) magic.
I don't have high hopes though. Just something I would enjoy.

I can't say that I hate your idea, but not very much fond of it. :/

a healer would be welcome too, i chose ranged because so far there is only one ranged/ tank combination in the game: druid

[Deleted]

I srsly have to point out, that I agree on demonhunter needing a range spec.
But i dislike the idea off using bows or well known ranged weapons

what i personally would prefer and totally love would be the following tool:

Mainidea came from the known NPC Alari Souleater

-give us a scythe and let us harvest the enemies souls from range
-let us use this souls (same as combopoints) to unleash chaos magic
-we can now throw glaives, why shouldn´t we even be able to throw a scythe, i mean ... hello? ^^

when i draw this picture in my mind, i somehow get stuck on Hidan (from Naruto) xD

[Aigilas]

no /10chars

[Waldor666]

I like it. I like the fel healer idea too. Basically, im all for demon hunter getting a bit more depth

[MetalMusicMan]

I'd be much more interested in a Melee Fel Healer

[Kvistor]

I like the idea of a ranged class. And yea it would be great for us to be a caster, but remind us to much of warlocks, but the idea of a Shadow/ fel hunter class, its interresting. But lore wise I find it hard to see how. Since it Washington Magic that infused them with Demon souls. And many of the Demon’s were spellcasters. But it would be awesome to see something with a 3 spec.
Really interesting idea. Keep em coming =)

[Morae]

Like someone already said. Perhaps a better one would be the unusual thought of dh having a healer spec.

It could go around with the idea that healer dh would tear life force out of enemies and then use that to heal allies.

Blizz also likes to copy things from their other games. Overwatch already has this. I dont play OW, but there is the healer who attacks enemies and then gets power to heal allies, yes?

Do I expect it to happen? Nah... probably not. Blizz has no reason to add another spec to dh.

[Deleted]

i wonder if you heave read my post, of course there hasn't been a Dh using bows...

they clearly don't have another melee spec in mind for DH and the third spec for us can't be a caster because it would be way too close to warlock, so i thought about going a different route.
with fel magic as a core component of the concept i hoped to avoid the "just another archer spec" conundrum.

the game needs more ranged specs, so Dh would be a great choice for a new style of Ranged weapon user without too much work

There won't be a 3rd spec and there is no need to add a 3rd spec.

[tru]

Meh just another leather spec to the mix. Doesn't fit anything in game? Next new thing needs to be mail. They should have added a third with legion but what they got really seems to be it imo.

[Rhaxus]

Meh just another leather spec to the mix. Doesn't fit anything in game? Next new thing needs to be mail. They should have added a third with legion but what they got really seems to be it imo.

i agree, i'd appreciate a full mail class with tank, ranged and heal more ( and i posted some ideas on the eu forums, anyone can feel free to post these ideas on the us forums as well), but i remember vividly that their argument for why DH didn't get a third spec was only that they didn't have a clear, working concept for it ( likely because they tried to give havoc 3 playstyle options and focused on melee).

[GamerDH]

OP players like you should lose their license to play DH for the LIFE of the game. Just remove any Dh in your character inventory and remove the button to create one. That should be sufficient.

Should also be a illidari symbol over your head in open world that only DH players can see so we know we should be killing you first.

[tyfavre04]

dislike. demon hunters arent a ranged archetype. where have you seen a DH in game using a bow?

a fel/shadow themed ranged class already exists in the form of a warlock.

Oh that would not stop them. Look at their being Night Elf Mages.

[Zigrifid]

dislike. demon hunters arent a ranged archetype. where have you seen a DH in game using a bow?

a fel/shadow themed ranged class already exists in the form of a warlock.

https://us.diablo3.com/en/class/demon-hunter/

[Uglytoes]

Can we just stick to the two specs we already have? Please, stop beating the 3rd spec horse... It is already buried.