Marauder Cluster Arrow Demon Hunter Skills and Runes

Last updated on Oct 22, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 16 comments

On this page, we explain how to choose and use your skills when playing Marauder Cluster Arrow Demon Hunter in Diablo 3. Updated for Patch 2.7.8 and Season 33.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Evasive Fire Icon Evasive Fire Focus Focus Right Mouse Button Cluster Arrow Icon Cluster Arrow Loaded for Bear Loaded for Bear 1 Vengeance Icon Vengeance Seethe Seethe 2 Vault Icon Vault Tumble Tumble 3 Companion Icon Companion Wolf Companion Wolf Companion 4 Sentry Icon Sentry Polar Station Polar Station
Passive Skills
1.

Rotation

Sentries are a key part of the build, shooting out your equipped spenders automatically on top of mimicking your own shots. Currently active sentries also directly reflect your damage delivery, adding more damage to your skills per Sentry Sentry dropped. Your basic goal in this playstyle is to drop your initial three charges of Sentry Sentry in key positions to cover the battlefield and proc the chill effect, and then start kiting with devastating Cluster Arrow Cluster Arrow shots, dropping the additional two Sentries from Bombardier's Rucksack Bombardier's Rucksack as the cooldown comes up. You will maintain Hatred through a combination of Vengeance Vengeance Seethe Seethe, assisted by regular Evasive Fire Evasive Fire shots and pops of the Companion Companion active. If there is anything left standing after the initial barrage, reposition smartly with Vault Vault and begin the cycle anew.

2.

Skills and Runes

Similarly to all Marauder-based builds, this variant relies heavily on Sentry Sentry, since each turret results in more damage to your chosen Hatred spenders and another autonomous damage dealer on the battlefield. Thus, to extend their maximum number, you will have to use both Custom Engineering Custom Engineering and Bombardier's Rucksack Bombardier's Rucksack. You should use the cold rune Polar Station Polar Station, whose chilling effect will guarantee the procs of both Cull the Weak Cull the Weak and Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped. Try to drop one of the turrets directly on top of the enemy, and spread the other two of the initial charges to cover the battlefield in the chilling effect. If the fight is prolonged, continue the strategy with your Bombardier's Rucksack Bombardier's Rucksack charges, but always strive to have one turret on top of the biggest threat.

One of the strongest skills supported by the Marauder set is Cluster Arrow Cluster Arrow, with multiple viable runes that can shine during leaderboard pushing. In this guide, we recommend Loaded for Bear Loaded for Bear as the basic choice; a concentrated volley of firepower at a targeted location.

With its troublesome cost of 40 hatred per shot, Cluster Arrow Cluster Arrow is an expensive beast to maintain. Two resource-related skills are incorporated into the build to aid in the struggles of Hatred management.

  • Vengeance Vengeance is a near-irreplaceable tool in the Demon Hunter endgame, due to its base damage multiplier and additional damage reduction properties coming from the Dark Heart Dark Heart rune. You can consider altering this rune to Seethe Seethe when you grow confident in handling the build. Note that this Cluster Arrow variant does not run Dawn Dawn due to item slot constraints, so perma-Vengeance Vengeance is impossible and you will need to treat the skill as a strategic cooldown. There are gear adjustments you can make for the inclusion of Dawn Dawn however, and they will be discussed in the Gear page.
  • The second option is to pop the active effect of the Companion Companion skill, which triggers the Hatred restoration of the Bat Companion Bat Companion. Keep in mind however, that the Marauder set puts all the companions at your side for the small price of the skill slot. The active pop also nets you the Spider Companion Spider Companion slow, the Boar Companion Boar Companion taunt, the Ferret Companion Ferret Companion health globe grab and the Wolf Companion Wolf Companion multiplicative damage increase. Thus, treat your Companion Companion activation not only as a source of Hatred, but also a damage and safety spike.

While the protection of the Boar Companion Boar Companion taunt is nice, it is also temporary. Occupying the enemy for merely five seconds, and only those in a 20-yard radius around you, it will not be enough to keep you in one piece. For emergency situations, you will be taking a repositioning tool in the form of Vault Vault — a reliable displacement skill that can take you great distances cheaply with the Tumble Tumble rune.

With or without Seethe Seethe on Vengeance Vengeance, you will need to take a strong Hatred-generating skill in your selection. Your own survival is another powerful incentive, as the Wraps of Clarity Wraps of Clarity need frequent Hatred generation in order to function. Convenient with its broad conal reach, Evasive Fire Evasive Fire also offers the high regen option Focus Focus, solidifying it as the preferred generator for the slot. Another interesting option for the slot is to run Entangling Shot Entangling Shot Justice is Served Justice is Served, wielding the Manticore Manticore in your hand and dropping Yang's Recurve Yang's Recurve from the build altogether for the additive damage buff from Odyssey's End Odyssey's End. Note that while the damage potential of this alteration is higher, it demands much more precise gameplay both in terms of resource management and timing the bow's damage buff just prior to your CoE cycle. This is not a variation to try out casually!

2.1.

Season 33 Modification

In Season 33, where you have an option to introduce Odyssey's End Odyssey's End to the build with the 4th Cube slot, you should use Entangling Shot Entangling Shot with the extra Hatred generation of the aforementioned Justice is Served Justice is Served.

3.

Passives

Custom Engineering Custom Engineering is the dream passive of the Marauder playstyle, doubling the duration of your Sentries and increasing their maximum number and initial charges to three. While their numbers will swell even further with the Bombardier's Rucksack Bombardier's Rucksack, the ability to skyrocket your damage at the start of every major battle is too good to pass up — especially since transitioning between Rift levels resets your Sentry count, opening up a temporary weakness window in the build.

Working in unison with your Dead Man's Legacy Dead Man's Legacy, the Ambush Ambush passive will deliver during the first 25% of the enemy health pool, and the quiver will pick up the carnage from 60% and below. The 40% damage increase is multiplicative in nature, emphasizing its superiority over other options.

Cull the Weak Cull the Weak is a DPS-oriented Demon Hunter staple, amplifying your damage against Slowed or Chilled enemies by 20%. This potent multiplicative passive gets triggered by the Sentry Sentry Polar Station Polar Station and the Spider Companion Spider Companion, so make sure to always have one turret covering the enemy in its Chill radius.

You have a decision making point for your final passive slot. As arguably the safest of the Demon Hunter sets, Marauder can get away with using a fourth offensive passive in the form of Steady Aim Steady Aim, boosting your damage with a 20% multiplicative increase (a change as of Patch 2.4.1) as long as you maintain the generously low requirement of 10 yards between yourself and the enemy. Another option is to make use of Numbing Traps Numbing Traps, as its damage reduction and enemy slow will be reliably triggered with your Sentries. If you like having a cheat death at your disposal, Awareness Awareness is a free life on a decent 60-second cooldown, coupled with a brief window of safety and life regeneration when triggered.

4.

Changelog

  • 09 Jul. 2024: Revised generator skill recommendation to fit the cubed Odyssey's End via the Season 33 cube changes.
  • 09 Jul. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 32.
  • 10 Apr. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 31.
  • 08 Jan. 2024: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 30.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 29.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 28.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Skills and passives reviewed for Season 27.
  • 13 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 09 Dec. 2021: Guide revised and added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 21 Jul. 2021: No changes required or Season 24.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: No changes required or Season 23.
  • 18 Nov. 2020: Revised generator skill recommendation to fit the cubed Odyssey's End via the Season 22 cube changes.
  • 30 Jun. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 21 Nov. 2019: Changed default passive recommendations. Replaced Steady Aim with Numbing Traps and added more explanations.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Reviewed for Season 18.
  • 16 May 2019: Guide was reviewed and approved for Season 17.
  • 17 Jan. 2019: Information was reviewed and approved for Season 16 with no changes required.
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