[crAzerk]

+ [The old post] +

Decided to turn this post into a guide of sorts

After playing in a few PuGs and seeing some differing builds, I was just wondering what skill build all my fellow Demon Hunter players are using.

This is my current build (level 51), Act 1 Hell:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XRQ!aTe!baZbaa

Left Click - Hungering Arrow - Devouring Arrow
It seems to be the skill with the highest DPS for a Hatred-generating ability compared to the others

Right Click - Rapid Fire -Withering Fire
I put this back even for normal mobs, because it seems some rare/elite packs it's quite important to focus fire them one at a time Rapid Fire does this best.

Skill 1 - Caltrops - Tortorous Ground
I don't see how you can go without it especially if you play alone. Even if you play in a group, it's useful to have this snare available. I alternate my rune between the one that increases slow by 80% and stuns for 2 seconds

Skill 2 - Smoke Screen - Breathe Deep
I don't know how I missed this before but thanks neko for pointing this out. This is far superior to Vault.

Skill 3 - Elemental Arrow - Ball Lightning
Skill 4 - Multi Shot - Fire at Will
I'm running these two AOEs and both have its niche - multishot clears big groups of mobs at a distance better, but Elemental Arrow clears small packs of mobs at a closer range easier.


Passives -
Tactical Advantage : Awesome with smokescreen
Sharpshooter and Archery : These are more of a preference kinda thing, can be swapped with any other of the passives I feel.

For Boss Fights
Replace Elemental with Marked for Death (Mortal Enemy) and replace Multi Shot (or Fan of Knives) with Bat Companion (generage 3 Hatred/s). You can spam Rapid Fire almost non-stop. This is for a group - in a solo boss fight when I need more survivability I may swap out Bat for something else, because I won't be able to just sit there and Rapid Fire spam non-stop.

What skill build do you use, and why?


Random Tips
Just some stuff some people may not know, feel free to contribute any!

• You don't have to spam click to keep casting your skills. Just hold on to the mouse button!
• You are not bound to having one spell from each category, you can have 2 spells (or more) from one category on your action bar. Go to Options > Gameplay > Interface > Elective Mode
• Don't know whether ' ' is better than ' '? Turn on Show Advanced Tooltips! (same place as Elective Mode) This will display precise damages for each of your skills (e.g. 150% weapon damage) and you can compare better

crAzerk's Demon Hunter Guide

How to clear Normal:

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Everything is still pretty much easy point and click, apart from some odd mobs which you have to kite. Just enjoy the storyline for now and train up your kiting skills.

Stats-wise: +damage = +dex > +vitality > +int = +str > everything else
+damage gives a greater DPS increase than +dex in general, but you're sacrificing dodge. It's not that crucial now, and I like having big numbers so I usually pick +damage over dex.
This doesn't really have to be strictly followed. For instance, me and my friend were running high MF(magic find) gear (30-70%) for whole of normal for the fun of it.

Skills-wise: No real requirement, and you won't have access to everything anyway so just explore and experiment with which skills you prefer.This is the time to try out the cool skills you'll never get to use in harder difficulties because they suck (cough cough Sentry cough )

If you really want a guideline, have one snare (Caltrops), one get-out-shit skill (Vault/Smokescreen), one AOE (e.g. Chakram/Elemental Arrow), and have Rapid Fire for bosses.

How to clear Nightmare:

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Mobs are harder now, and you will have to kite abit on elites if you're playing solo. Otherwise, you should still be able to smash everything with your group, but do try to run w one melee class in your group

Stats-wise: +dex >= +damage > +vitality > +int = +str > everything else
Start to favor dex over damage because dodge becomes more and more important. The values on dex on those items you're considering against +dam are getting higher (e.g. +60 dex instead of +20) so it inevitably contributes more dodge %.

Skills wise:
Same as before, you want a Snare, an Escape, an AOE, and Rapidfire for boss fights.

How to clear Hell:

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+ [Disclaimer] +

I am only level 55 at Act II Hell at the point of writing this guide, and what I'm saying is what I have derived after thought and experiment. Perhaps a better way is available once you hit 60 or something, please do share that below if so

Shit gets real now. Many mobs take only 2 hits to kill you, and elite packs cannot be face rolled. Be prepared to burn pots just downing elite packs (blue mobs)

Kiting becomes extremely important - I find myself kiting for 5 minutes just to kill an elite pack.

You need to figure out a skill build that has an effective snare (slow) and survivability - because in Hell, you really have to play Demon Hunter the way it's designed to be played - from a distance.

Stats wise:
+dex > +damage = +vitality = +int > +str > everything else

It is clear that +dex is now superior to +damage because of the dodge it gives. With the high damage that mobs now do, you want to avoid as much of it as possible. I have saved a great deal of potions and lasted encounters I shouldn't have survived thanks to dodge.

It's hard to place +damage in the equation as while you need to be dealing big DPS, you need to survive. You have to weigh trade offs on a case by case basis (e.g. Should I trade 200 DPS for 700 HP?)

Intelligence is for the magic resist that becomes important as well to mitigate damage. Don't sacrifice your priority stats for it if you find them insufficient, but if you think your DPS/HP is at a comfortable level some Intelligence won't hurt.

Vitality wise, get your HP up above 8k at least before favoring +dex. You can't deal damage if you're dead.
Strength is last as +armor directly is more efficient than getting strength for it.

Some misc stats that become useful : life leech (on hit, not on kill), chance to fear/freeze/stun (love these),

Skills-wise:
You NEED one Snare (Caltrops, Elemental Arrow with Frost Rune, etc), one Escape (Smoke Screen with Breathe Deep/Whatever you want), one AOE.

My current setup is what I dub the "Arma Build" because I learnt it off him. I use it for solo-ing in Hell and it's working wonders. I'll explain the playstyle together with the build:

+ [The Arma Build] +

Active Skills Preparation (Battle Scars), Smoke Screen (Breathe Deep), Rain of Vengeance (Stampede), Companion (Bat), Hungering Arrow (Devouring Arrow), Elemental Arrow (Frost).
Passives: Tactical Advantage, Cull the Weak, Steady Aim.

You play it this way - pull mobs with Elemental Arrow, and most normal mobs won't be able to reach you before they die. For those that barely reach you, just hit Smoke Screen and continue shooting Elemental Arrow.

For packs that seem pretty strong and don't die fast, hit Stampede together with Smoke Screen as above and spam Elemental Arrow. For elite packs you'll have to kite (scoot and shoot!). Just do the same thing with Smoke Screen and Elemental Arrow, and when your Discipline falls low hit Preparation. (or use it as a health pot if you wish, though I rather save it for low Disc moments)

The Hatred Regen from Bat is amazing, and together with the boosted regen during Smoke Screen, you have great sustainability and as along as you're wise with your kiting you should have good survivability too. My passives, apart from Tactical Advantage, are for maximum DPS. I'm currently using a Bow.

Of course, there will be some mobs that give you problems such as Fast/Mortar/Invulnerable Minions etc but those give problems no matter what build you use, so you just have to develop a tactic for them (e.g. Figure out a rotation for Mortar - time your shots the moment immediately after you duck their mortars, and start running again before they start lobbing, etc)

Follower: This is for those soloing. Maverick wrote it quite well in his post so I'll just quote him:
"The Templar is the best option because it offers a solution to a very specific problem that Demon Hunters have – being trapped in melee range with no method of escape and rapidly depleting healthy pool.

Templars are good for Demon Hunters because of three specific skills:
Intervene
Intimidate
Guardian

The fourth skill is a damage skill which is still useful, but not the main reason we like the Templar so much. Intervene is a bubble of sorts – turning your follower into a tank for 5 seconds if your health drops below 50%, which pretty much guarantees a bail out if you get caught in melee. Intimidate slows your enemies for 3 seconds, giving you time to escape and Guardian is a combo attack that deals heavy damage, stuns the enemy for 5 seconds and heals you for a good chunk."

Gemming : Im always putting Ruby in my weapon and Emeralds in everything else. Always put the highest tier gem you have since they're recoverable anyway.

Bossfights:
Arma Build still works decently in boss fights, especially those with adds. Play it the same way as you kill elite mobs.

How to clear Inferno

+ Show +

+ Show +

Coming for you Inferno Diablo!

Pretty much play it the same way as you play Hell Act IV, with kiting and playing safe from a distance. Gear becomes extremely important so do play around with the Auction House to upgrade your gear. MF runs will help!
And you pretty much NEED a good weapon at this point. You should be looking at 600DPS and above bows here. Anything below doesn't quite cut it. (my current bow is 900 DPS)

Don't be worried about trading damage for stats on weapons (e.g blues over rares), you can get your stats from your other gear. The DPS increase from having a good weapon is HUGE.

Stats Priority
This is a whole different ball-game now. Vitality becomes increasingly inefficient to get. My personal opinion is to get enough to not get one-shot by the weakest attacks, and that's all you need. Gear hard for DPS.
Resistance/Armor would be better than Vitality at that point.
Increased Attack Speed now adds significantly more DPS compared to Dexterity or +Damage, so weigh your options and gear accordingly! Try to get +Att Speed items in Rings+Weapon+Amulets as they are the only slots (are gloves too?) that allow you to have +Att Speed
Rule of thumb here is really just to gear. hard. for. DPS.


Here is a sample good build, which I name the 'Arma Build' after the person whom I learnt it from.

+ [The Arma Build] +

Active Skills Preparation (Battle Scars), Smoke Screen (Breathe Deep), Rain of Vengeance (Stampede), Companion (Bat), Hungering Arrow (Devouring Arrow), Elemental Arrow (Frost).
Passives: Tactical Advantage, Cull the Weak, Steady Aim.

You play it this way - pull mobs with Elemental Arrow, and most normal mobs won't be able to reach you before they die. For those that barely reach you, just hit Smoke Screen and continue shooting Elemental Arrow.

For packs that seem pretty strong and don't die fast, hit Stampede together with Smoke Screen as above and spam Elemental Arrow. For elite packs you'll have to kite (scoot and shoot!). Just do the same thing with Smoke Screen and Elemental Arrow, and when your Discipline falls low hit Preparation. (or use it as a health pot if you wish, though I rather save it for low Disc moments)

The Hatred Regen from Bat is amazing, and together with the boosted regen during Smoke Screen, you have great sustainability and as along as you're wise with your kiting you should have good survivability too. My passives, apart from Tactical Advantage, are for maximum DPS. I'm currently using a Bow.

Of course, there will be some mobs that give you problems such as Fast/Mortar/Invulnerable Minions etc but those give problems no matter what build you use, so you just have to develop a tactic for them (e.g. Figure out a rotation for Mortar - time your shots the moment immediately after you duck their mortars, and start running again before they start lobbing, etc)

I don't want to read all that, just show me your build!

+ Show +

+ [Can you explain your build?!] +

(I'm using Primary/Secondary/Hunting/Defensive etc headings just for convenience of discussion. If you like, look at it as Left Click, Right Click, 1, 2, 3, 4)
Primary + Secondary
I chose Hungering Arrow (Devouring Arrow) as it is the highest DPS Hatred generator in my opinion. I use Elemental Arrow (Frost) for my snare, so there's no need for a Hatred Generating snare.

Hunting + Defensive
Preparation and Smoke Screen are pretty much mandatory from Hell onwards, can't go without them. While Battle Scars rune is obvious, I use Lingering Fog because I use Smoke Screen for escape/rest, so I want it to last as long as possible. You have invulnerability when you Smoke Screen as well so it's useful to prolong it for a second.

Secondary+Hunting
There are many combinations that can fit in here, and if you scroll through this thread you'll find them. I still use Bat Companion as I like the Hatred Regen, though I'm starting to wonder if it's as good as I think. There's no other Hatred burner I can slot in here anyway, I'm burning up my Hatred with Elemental Arrow and Impale.
Why Impale? Well trying it out with Chemical Burn I realized this skill does sick DPS with my current bow. It basically works better with higher weapon damage items (i.e. 2H Bow ) rather than something like a dual-crossbows with lower base damage on each. Great for focusing down elite mobs or bosses alike.

Passives
Tactical Advantage has been my bread and butter since the beginning and is invaluable, I've no idea how some DHs survive without this (they do)
Steady Aim and Cull the Weak are just to maximize my DPS - with Elemental Arrow as my main DPS spell the enemy is perma-slowed so I get the 25% boost all the time. Whether you reap the benefit of Steady Aim (if no enemies within 10 yards you get +20% damage) depends on how good a Demon Hunter you are

Yes, I know my Vitality is kinda low, but my reasoning is even if I get that few hundred more vitality, I'll at most last one more shot and get 3 shot by mobs instead of 2 shot. Why not stack damage instead and kill them fast?
Ideally though you want to have more Vitality than this, probably about 600~. I have a lot of stupid gear with Intelligence on them instead of Vitality, so when those get replaced it'll be better.

Quick Comments

	nirvAnA:
	ToRMaverick:	thanks mate... very helpful

[Benji]

I'm using:

Skill Left - Hungering Arrow - Cinder Arrow
Skill Right - Chakram - Twin Chakrams

Skill 1 - Caltrops - Jagged Spikes
Skill 2 - Vault - Action Shot
Skill 3 - Rapid Fire - Withering Fire
Skill 4 - Grenades - Tinkerer

Chakram is amazing for clearing out packs, Hungering arrow is fairly useful as a hate generator.
Caltrops and Vault are for survivability, Rapid Fire is for single Target or something to fire into doorways or anything where Chakram and Grenades don't really work. Grenades are for a hate generator when There is a ton of stuff around.

I'm changing my stuff around a lot, and I'm only lvl 28 (Work + ASiT limits my ability to play). I honestly don't know how you don't have Chakram, its amazing.

[crAzerk]

I was using Chakram for a big part, but I got bored of it after awhile and switched to Elemental Arrow. Elemental Arrow deals 5% more weapon damage! Probably less AOE though.

EDIT: Just tested Chakram again, didn't like it because of how fast it moves out (projectile speed is too fast) so it only does damage to a mob once. Elemental Arrow on the other hand moves slower and the Ball Lightning hits for multiple times on one mob

EDIT 2: Ok, just discovered a better build for boss fights than what I was using. Replace Elemental with Rapid Shot with Withering Fire rune (reduced cost) and replace Multi Shot (or Fan of Knives) with Bat Companion (generage 3 Hatred/s). You can spam Rapid Shot for ages then.

[pkat]

This is the build I have been using with my group: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...Yjk!bUe!baZaaa

On bosses I swap out Caltrops for Rapid Fire with the Fire Support rune. If the boss has adds I either use Chakram + Razor Disk rune or Twin Charkrams.

Group consists of Barb, 2 Wizards and myself Demon hunter.

Currently in Nightmare Act 3

[Arma]

I'm surprised at how few people use the DH vanish ability.

I use the vanish/invisibility skill (with rune that reduces its cost to 12 discipline) + replenish discipline (with the rune that also replenishes health) as my panic button skills.

Going invisible frees you from movement impairing effects and blocks incoming damage / damage from stuff on the ground (from what it seemed to me). With the 12 discipline rune, you can cast it 3 times before you are out of disc.

And the replenish discipline (with the health rune) is basically a reusable health potion, which replenishes discipline as well, allowing you to cast even more vanishes :P.

I use the movement speed passive so that I get the extra movement speed when I vanish.

These things (listed above) has saved my ass quite a few times :P.

(Currently level 50, act1 hell)

[veteris]

Most of the time, I am in a group and hence all my builds have 0 survivability. ZERO. Anyone who has grouped with me will attest to that, lol. But it is kind of fun playing with max dps and 0 survivability. Dexterity stacking does give a bit of dodge, but you can't dodge fire you're standing in. Considering using Amethyst as gems in my helm and maybe in other armour as well. Currently, I don't have a socketed helm, have Emeralds in most armour sockets and my weapon has Ruby within it. Please bear in mind, some of the builds, especially the last one, has its roots somewhere in the internet.

1)General mobs:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...jQc!Yce!aaZaaZ

Bola Shot for the AoE damage. With a monk pulling stuff together, it does quite a bit.
Impale gives a chance of a stun, which is useful for the champion mobs.
Preparation with the Punishment rune gives a ridiculous amount of time towards Rapidfire. Or any Hatred dump.
Multishot is handy for the scattered mobs where Bola Shot would not be optimal.
Marked for Death with the Contagion rune is a nice debuff that sorta renews itself if you can kill mobs in less than 30s. Otherwise, it has a small Discipline cost so not a problem.
Rapid Fire because I like to see the ticking damage numbers.

2) Mobs/boss I need to keep mobile for:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...jQc!Yce!aaaaaZ

Switch out Preparation for Vault. We will be using our Discipline now so Preparation is pretty useless. Vault is a nice get out of jail card. Can do 2, one after the other, but Discipline replenishes pretty quick.

3) Stand and deliver boss

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...jQc!Yce!aZZaaZ

Hungering Arrow I hear is better single target DPS. Else, might later use Bola Shot with the Acid strike rune.

4) Final build in a group (if I get there)

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...jQc!Yce!aZZYbZ

Hungering Arrow or Bola Shot with the Acid strike rune, haven't really decided on a Hatred generator yet. I enjoy Bola Shot because of the explosions!
Marked for Death with Mortal Enemy is apparently good for Hatred regeneration with Rapid Fire.
And Multishot with Suppression Fire for Discipline regeneration

Passives: Cull the Weak, Archery and Steady Aim seem like three really good DPS passives.

[crAzerk]

Hungering Arrow I hear is better single target DPS. Else, might later use Bola Shot with the Acid strike run

No matter how I turn in it seems Hungering Arrow should have the highest DPS for a Hatred generator

Also, no Caltrops? Vault never seems sufficient, at least at about Act III~ Nightmare, because many mobs have some gay ass shit like Fast-moving or something that you'll need to snare on top of Vault-ing away. Then again I don't have the benefit of a tank-Monk ally using Vortex so I can't just stand and shoot.

Survivability-wise, I find I'm doing fairly decently as long as I keep some Vitality gear on and not sacrifice everything for +damage/Dex gear. In fact, I NEED the +vitality gear as even with my current HP (5-6k @ lv45) I tend to get 2-3 shot if I'm not careful.

I've been toying with the idea of swapping out my FoK for Rapid Fire as I almost never use FoK in a group anyway since I don't want to be anywhere near FoK range in the first place as I'll get 2 shot easily. Plus the wizard in the group will be able to contribute to the required AoE and I can AoE with Multishot instead, and instead use Rapid Fire to deal with the blue/yellow mobs which require focusfiring.


On a side note, I really wish D3 could have Recount (a DPS meter) like in WoW so we could monitor who's doing how much damage :/

[Benji]

I've changed up what I am using a little, like my new build a little better.

(I'm lvl 36 atm)
Skill Left - Hungering Arrow - Puncturing Arrow
Skill Right - Chakram - Razor Disc

Skill 1 - Caltrops - Hooked Spines
Skill 2 - Vault - Tumble
Skill 3 - Rapid Fire - Fire Support
Skill 4 - Sentry - Spitfire Turret

Vengeance - Steady Aim - Archery

Razor Disc is amazing, does a straight line of damage out to the target, then does some very high damage in a large radius, mine is hitting for 800-900 and critting for 1500 or so, and sending multiple to the same area (but not the exact spot) just destroys packs.

Hungering Arrow, Hatred generator, easy enough.

Caltrops has Hooked Spines again as I really need the extra slow now that mobs have significantly more health. Vault has Tumble as I find I use it quite a lot when just running around (not even in fights) as my second resource isn't used much, its more just a convenience thing.

Rapid fire with Fire support not only looks awesome, but good single target damage, and good to use in tight corridors where Chakram isn't viable.

Sentry is new, and I like it as I can drop it, and it does damage, no need for me to use it instead of another ability (like Rapid fire or Chakram), just a nice bonus.

Passive skills, Vengeance is to make my progress faster, the other 2 give me more damage, simple enough. I'm not about min/maxing my damage, just about being efficient until I get to a point in the game where it is actually difficult.

[neKo]

Level 56 hell act 3 but will grind out and try and get 60/inferno tonight.

I suck at making everything look pretty but

1- Caltrops with increased slow
2- Smoke Screen with increased hatred regen (THIS SKILL IS SO IMPORTANT, YOU CAN SHOOT WHILE STEALTHED AND ENEMIES COMPLETELY IGNORE YOU)
3- Bat companion (So much hatred regen )
4- multishot still testing out runes but reduced hatred cost + lightning is pretty sick.

Left click hungering arrow cause it's imba and just auto aims
Right click impale with chemical burn

If going into a boss fight switch up multishot with rapid fire (rapid fire is the best single target hatred use in the game by far) switch caltrops with whatever you want and switch hungering arrow with entangling arrow.

GL HF ! Diablo took me 2 attempts on nightmare, whereas a rare soul ripper took me 17. Fun game

Quick Comments

ToRMaverick:

If its the monster Im thinking about... Soul Rippers kill you super quick! Yup... fun as HELL!

[crAzerk]

Edited the OP quite a bit to reflect my newest build. Mainly Vault replaced by Smoke Screen (thanks neko!), and I've put Rapid Fire into my normal 'trash-clearing' skill build. The reason being in Hell it seems elite mobs need to be focus fired down properly especially those imba ones like Vampiric Illusionist or whatever crap.

[ToRsupapower]

Why don't you use high velocity on rapid fire? (im noob )

[crAzerk]

Originally Posted by ToRsupapower

Why don't you use high velocity on rapid fire? (im noob )

And why would I want that? The only reason would be because I want more AOE / hit more mobs, and in that case Elemental / Multishot will do better. Rapid Fire is for higher single target DPS, and to sustain it I use Withering Fire.

[lolwut]

my build.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...eXdhQ!ab!ZaZZa

[ToRMaverick]

Loving Diablo 3 and also loving the Demon Hunter! After all this I didnt know you could actually have differences in the action bar skill sets between the same class.

My Build:

(Left) PRIMARY SKILL - Hungering Arrow (Devouring Arrow Rune)

(Right) SECONDARY SKILL - Impale (Grievous Wounds Rune)

(1) Caltrops (Hooked Spines Rune)
(2) Marked for Death (Grim Reaper Rune)
(3) Smoke Screen (Lingering Fog Rune)
(4) Multi Shot (Arsenal Rune)

PASSIVE SKILLS - Steady Aim, Cull the Weak, Archery

FOLLOWER - Templar with Intervene, Intimidate, Charge, Guardian

The follower hasnt been discussed as it is for single player only.... but to work out the best option, you need to know your weaknesses. For a Demon Hunter, the answer is melee. If someone pulls you into melee, you can slap at them with a weapon and blow a cooldown, but after that you’re mincemeat. So, you need to have a backup plan.

That’s where the Templar comes in. The Templar is the best option because it offers a solution to a very specific problem that Demon Hunters have – being trapped in melee range with no method of escape and rapidly depleting healthy pool.

Templars are good for Demon Hunters because of three specific skills:

• Intervene
• Intimidate
• Guardian

The fourth skill is a damage skill which is still useful, but not the main reason we like the Templar so much. Intervene is a bubble of sorts – turning your follower into a tank for 5 seconds if your health drops below 50%, which pretty much guarantees a bail out if you get caught in melee. Intimidate slows your enemies for 3 seconds, giving you time to escape and Guardian is a combo attack that deals heavy damage, stuns the enemy for 5 seconds and heals you for a good chunk.

EDIT: Just worked out there is an Elective Mode Option, so you can fully customise your builds.... facepalm! All this time I has a useless hotkey FML!

[crAzerk]

edited the OP quite abit, more of a guide-ish kind of OP now

[Unstable]

I just hit 57 and taking a bit of a break for proleague but im in act 3 of hell and have had 0 trouble on any mob/boss except for minion immune elites with the following.

Left Click: hungering arrow - rarely used outside of boss fights but i usually swap things up during those

Right click: Multishot - while costs more hatred than chakrams the dps burst is needed for higher levels since things 2-3 shot you.

1 - caltrops with damage or increased slow
2 - smoke bomb with hatred
3 - rapid fire for single target dps
4 - preperation with heal - A must have for Hell diff, having 2 heals including your pots are needed most of the time vs elites.

This kit gives me multiple escapes multiple heals and still high DPS burst and sustain DPS. I mix things up specifically for bosses but I have constantly been running with groups.

Overall I like the DH class, I only ran into difficulty on hell vs the butcher but once i regemmed for vitality it was no trouble whatsoever, running 20-25k hp in hell is recommended though.

There is lots of kiting involved for elites, but usually they are no problem whatsoever.

I highly reccomend playing in parties, not because of difficulty but so that you can share your drops with the rest of the group. Doing this has allowed me to stay ahead of the curve item wise so that ive never had any trouble with gear.

[EveMassacrisM]

EDIT: Hit 60 recently, here's my setup:

LC: Hungering arrow - Devouring arrow
RC: Elemental arrow - Frost Arrow

1. Shadow Power - Gloom
I find this generally more fun than Smokescreen and you can stay full health most of the time. When you have SP on you basically can't be killed anyway if you're spamming constantly Frost Arrow. Plus, this also allows you to tank if you're with another squishy partner.
2. Vault - Acrobatics
Just a simple move around skill to get away from Descration/Frost/Plague or just anything generally without needing to use Discipline.
3. Fan of Knives - Hail of Knives
Good damage, Slow and costs little hatred. Why not.
4. Preparation - Backup Plan
Allows you to have SP on even longer, if Backup Plan manages to proc you can tank for a very long time.

Passive: Cull the weak - Archery - Sharpshooter.

[Benji]

I just finished the first act of Inferno, and I completed the entire thing solo. It was pretty easy, I think my run through Act 1 Hell was harder than my Inferno run (Except a pack of Charging Rhinos that had something stupid like Shield/Health/Vortex/Wall and something else that I just had to skip)

2 Things made this run easy, the first is easy, a 600 DPS weapon. The second you hit 60, get one. Its simple, if you are trying to get by on anything lower, you're gimping yourself.

Second, my build which I refined in late Hell finally reached a point where it works perfectly.

Left Click - Entangeling Shot - Justice is Served
Right Click - Elemental Arrow - Ball Lightning

Button 1 - Smoke Screen - Lingering Fog
Button 2 - Preperation - Battle Scars
Button 3 - Impale - Chemical Burn
Button 4 - Companion - Bat Companion

Skills
Steady Aim - Cull the Weak - Archery

Its actually quite beautiful once you get this setup working, you feel OP :P

If you want to know specifics about the build, let me know. My 1 advice is that Smoke Screen and Prep are required for Hell and Inferno progression. There are no alternatives, you will die without these 2 abilities.

[crAzerk]

Why Impale-Chemical Burn? I'm using Stampede as it allows me to stand and shoot abit more for those elites that can be knocked back.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by crAzerk

Why Impale-Chemical Burn? I'm using Stampede as it allows me to stand and shoot abit more for those elites that can be knocked back.

I assume you mean Impact?

Because it does a ton more damage, impale is mostly for bosses honestly, and you spend most of the fight running around and throwing impales when you get the chance, the dot does a ton of damage, and you'll need it to avoid Butchers enrage (eventually his entire floor turns to fire and there's nowhere to go, found out the hard way after a 7% death T_T)

Knockback isn't that attractive to me, if I'm using impale its because I want to kill a specific mob quickly, and knocking it back would most of the time knock it back into the pack and it will become difficult to single out.