Jimmy James - Critical Strafe Demon HunterBiographyJimmy James was born possessing a powerful link to the Realm of Shadow. While this link resulted in him being physically weak and sickly, it also granted him the ability to partially shift his physical being into the Realm of Shadow for short periods of time. He found that by shifting into this incorporeal "shadow-state" he could sense, react, and move with supernatural speed, enabling him to avoid hazardous situations and mitigate the damage from potentially lethal wounds. This link also gave him the somewhat sinister ability to leech the life from the physical realm. Talents which he put to by use by ridding the local farms of vermin and thieves (for a small fee of course).
One day, a passing Demon Hunter stopped to admire Jimmy's skill with the bow as Jimmy sped like a dark whirlwind through an orchard harvesting the apples by shooting their stems. When the day's work was done the Demon Hunter approached Jimmy and offered to teach him the ways of the Demon Hunter. The prospect of more challenging targets and greater rewards was enough to convince Jimmy to leave his boring old life behind and hunt some fresh meat for a change.
Currently Jimmy James is working on a personal achievement of killing 100,000 demons. ("Hunter or Hunted" Demon Hunter class achievement.)
ConceptJimmy James is a critical-hit-based engine which allows him to perpetually attack using
Strafe as long as there are enemies to hit. The basic idea is to spend Hatred to attack with
Strafe, spend Discipline to refill Hatred with
Preparation (
Punishment rune), and then critical hits from continued
Strafe attack refills Discipline with the
Night Stalker passive skill.
Hatred -> Strafe attack/critical hits -> Discipline -> Hatred (repeat)
Defensively, the Demon Hunter class is jacked in my opinion. There are no skills to boost dodge, which, as a defense, was already pretty weak even before they removed the ability to dodge reflect damage in 1.0.5. And the change to the passive skill
Perfectionist only gives a meager +10% boost to armor and resists.
So, basically, the only real defense a Demon Hunter has is movement, which is completely negated by cramped areas (like Belial's battle). With this in mind I tried to lean towards offensive skills that I could use while moving.
Build: SkillsProfile: JimmyJamesWeaponsPrimary: Preferably 2 Hand Crossbows with 50% or higher Critical Hit Damage mod and socketed emerald or a Hand Crossbow and Quiver with Critical Hit Chance mod (currently using a Crossbow with a socketed emerald)
Secondary: Hand Crossbow/Shield with Critical Hit Chance mod
StrategyThis build requires items with increased Critical Hit Chance to maintain the
Strafe engine (detailed above) and boots with increased movement speed since mobility is the primary (only) defense. In addition, items with Life on Hit mods and Critical Hit Damage are extremely effective with this build but not required. Optimally you want to have
Sentry,
Rain of Vengeance, and
Strafe all going at the same time while maneuvering through combat avoiding melee and ranged attacks.
When up against unavoidable damage (such as Reflect Damage elites) this build can switch to "defensive mode" by standing in the
Sentry's healing aura and attacking with
Hungering Arrow while spamming
Shadow Power (
Gloom rune) every 5 seconds for damage reduction and life steal.
Passive Skills: The Strafe engine requires Night Stalker to build up Discipline while Archery can provide either increased Critical Hit Chance or Critical Hit Damage depending on the weapon equipped.
Perfectionist is used more for the 10% discipline cost reduction (which works with the
Punishment rune) than for the paltry 10% increase to armor and resists.
Before Combat: Nothing to do but be on your guard. You always want to attack from as far away as possible so stop advancing as soon as you see an enemy.
Entering Combat: First use
Rain of Vengeance (
Dark Cloud rune) and put down a
Sentry (
Aid Station rune). Then
Strafe forward and back in a zigzag to kite enemies toward the
Sentry while avoiding ranged attacks.
Combat: Continue to strafe around/near the
Sentry until your Hatred runs low then use
Preparation (
Punishment rune) to refill Hatred. (
NOTE: Make sure to use
Preparation before your Hatred runs out completely so you never stop strafing. If you use
Preparation when you are not strafing you will have to wait for the cast animation to complete before you can begin strafing.) Whenever you refill your Hatred put a second
Sentry down if you only have one out. Recast
Rain of Vengeance whenever it becomes available.
Against monsters that can stay in melee range or that have the Reflect Damage affix, use the defensive tactics described under "Strategy".
Preferred FollowerBecause of this build's focus on Critical Hit Chance, the
Scoundrel follower provides an almost constant 10% boost to damage with the
Hysteria skill. Follower equipment has Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage or both.
(Originally this build used the Enchantress for crowd control, ranged defense (which was a LOT cooler pre-1.0.5), and increased attack speed. However, when I switched to a critical hit build I decided the
Scoundrel was a better compliment.)
Link to damage comparison using this build in conjunction with different follower skills.-420
