Spike Traps Demon Hunter Nephalem Rift Speed Farming Variation

Last updated on Oct 22, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 10 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 33, Patch 2.7.8 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Nephalem Rift Farming
1.

Nephalem Rift Speed Farming

The Spike Traps Demon Hunter can deal reasonably well with Nephalem Rift Speed Farming, mostly thanks to overwhelming damage potential offered by Spike Trap Spike Traps that allow you to include Danetta's Hatred set in the build, and the freedom to spread various utility legendaries for mobility. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if you want to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.

Within the limited scope of regular difficulties, the necessary damage and toughness to triumph over the enemy is significantly smaller. Thus, your best course of action is to improve utility and speed.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Preparation Icon Preparation Focused Mind Focused Mind Right Mouse Button Spike Trap Icon Spike Trap Echoing Blast Echoing Blast 1 Shadow Power Icon Shadow Power Shadow Glide Shadow Glide 2 Smoke Screen Icon Smoke Screen Displacement Displacement 3 Vault Icon Vault Action Shot Action Shot 4 Vengeance Icon Vengeance Seethe Seethe
Passive Skills
2.

Adapting Rotation

When you are speed farming regular rifts, parts of your playstyle will adapt to the lowered challenge and focus more on speed and utility.

The T16 key farming build differs a great deal from the careful and deliberate main Trapper build, meant for Greater Rift solo progression. The major shift in gameplay comes from the inclusion of Vault Vault, turned into a viable detonator of Spike Trap Spike Traps from the use of the rune Action Shot Action Shot (which makes it into an attack), and the 2-piece Danetta's Hatred crossbows (Danetta's Revenge Danetta's Revenge and Danetta's Spite Danetta's Spite), which swap Vault Vault from spending Discipline into spending Hatred. Instead of placing Caltrops Caltrops manually, you will spawn them automatically from Vault Vaulting by wearing Omryn's Chain Omryn's Chain. In essence, find valuable packs (density and/or Elites), drop Spike Trap Spike Traps underneath them, and detonate them with Vault Vault. Keep up valuable buffs like Vengeance Vengeance, Shadow Power Shadow Power, and Smoke Screen Smoke Screen going as often as you can afford. To ease the strain on your massive Discipline spending, pop Preparation Preparation Focused Mind Focused Mind on cooldown.

3.

Adapting Skills

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base Greater Rift progression build, but others will have to change according to the task at hand. Ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficiently take precedence.

  • Your main damage dealer remains Spike Trap Spike Trap, which shreds through low difficulty content thanks to its monstrous damage multipliers. You will maintain the rune Echoing Blast Echoing Blast for its superior damage.
  • The Hatred spender that will pop traps will double as a mobility tool — a pretty cool, if not the most efficient, trick for T16 key runs. Strafe Strafe will be replaced by Vault Vault in key runs, and the combination of Danetta's set and the rune Action Shot Action Shot will turn it into a viable detonator for Spike Trap Spike Trap. For added utility, Vault Vault will also auto-place Caltrops Caltrops as you wear Omryn's Chain Omryn's Chain in this setup.
  • The trio of Vengeance Vengeance, Shadow Power Shadow Power and Smoke Screen Smoke Screen will stay from Greater Rift solo progression, but their focus will shift from survivability to mobility. Instead of Dark Heart Dark Heart, use Seethe Seethe for the massive Hatred regeneration; instead of Gloom Gloom, use Shadow Glide Shadow Glide for extra movement speed. Keep Displacement Displacement as-is, and pop it as often as your Discipline would allow.
  • Natalya's 2-piece set bonus will not restore enough Discipline to maintain the constant churn of this resource in the lightning-fast T16 runs. To remedy the situation, include Preparation Preparation Focused Mind Focused Mind and pop it on a regular basis.
  • From the GR progression build, only Custom Engineering Custom Engineering — a passive tailored to Trapper builds — has a place to stay in T16 runs. The remainder of your passive selection should be dedicated to movespeed augmentation from the likes of Hot Pursuit Hot Pursuit and Tactical Advantage Tactical Advantage, as well as the excellent speedrun-reliant resource tool of Blood Vengeance Blood Vengeance.
4.

Adapting Gear

The overall gearing philosophy will remain intact from the GR progression setup. This is still a Natalya set build — and you will run the usual 5-piece split, along with the craftable Aughild's set for some extra bonuses. Utility legendaries will force the Cpt. Crimson set out however, and you will have to move Aughild pieces around to accomodate some speedrun-oriented inclusions. Take Omryn's Chain Omryn's Chain, for example — this legendary belt automates Caltrops Caltrops as you Vault Vault around. Warzechian Armguards Warzechian Armguards also make a strong case for the bracer slot, as you cause massive environmental destruction constantly as you move, proccing the legendary effect with near-permanent uptime. Another crucial piece of the gearing puzzle is the inclusion of Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac over GR-oriented choices like Convention of Elements Convention of Elements; ORotZ will provide the cooldown resets for Vengeance Vengeance that you will sorely lack once you take Danetta's crossbows and lose Dawn Dawn.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Dexterity
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Socket
  4. Vitality
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Dexterity (replaced by Resource Cost Reduction at high Paragons)
  2. Spike Trap Damage %
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Area Damage
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Dexterity
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Spike Trap Damage %
  4. Vitality or Elite Damage Reduction
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Dexterity
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Cold Damage %
  4. Life per Hit or Vitality
  5. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
  6. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Hands
  1. Dexterity
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Waist
  1. Dexterity
  2. Vitality
  3. All Resistance
  4. Life %
  5. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Legs
  1. Dexterity
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. All Resistance
  5. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Feet
  1. Dexterity
  2. Vitality
  3. All Resistance
  4. Armor
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Cold Damage %
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Cooldown Reduction
  4. Attack Speed
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Average Damage Increase or Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Weapon
  1. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  2. High Weapon Damage
  3. Dexterity
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Resource Cost Reduction
Off-hand
  1. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  2. High Weapon Damage
  3. Dexterity
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Resource Cost Reduction

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

4.1.

Altar of Rites

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

Altar of Rites Planner

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

5.

Adapting Gems

Most of your legendary gem selection from GR progression will be DPS overkill in T16 Nephalem Rift speed farming. Zei's Stone of Vengeance Zei's Stone of Vengeance is one you can keep around, since its a non-conditional and immediate damage boost — it can still be useful in early character progression. Once you grow comfortable with the damage you deal, you can completely transfer over to a utility setup with Wreath of Lightning Wreath of Lightning (movement speed boost, plus extra Warzechian Armguards Warzechian Armguards procs) and Gogok of Swiftness Gogok of Swiftness (helpful extra CDR). Last but not least, Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder is indisputably the best T16 legendary gem. Paired with a worn or cubed Goldwrap Goldwrap, and an Avarice Band Avarice Band worn by your follower in solo play (or yourself in groups), this legendary gem increases your movement speed and provides near-infinite Toughness through its interaction with the aforementioned items.

Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

6.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

Due to their foundational bonuses for the basic functionality of the build, your Kanai's Cube legendary power selection has to stay the same as the solo GR progression setup. Both Chanon Bolter Chanon Bolter and Trag'Oul Coils Trag'Oul Coils provide too significant multipliers to ignore, and the Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur allows you to mix the Natalya and Aughild sets, plus a slew of synergistic legendaries.

In your 4th Kanai's Cube slot in Season 33, you should add either Krelm's Buff Belt Krelm's Buff Belt for additional movement speed during farming (and especially bounties), or supplement your upfront burst by using the Act III-specific bounty cache legendary sword Envious Blade Envious Blade.

7.

Follower

The recommended follower for this build during T16 speed farming is the Enchantress, due to her cooldown reduction bonus (cutting down Vengeance Vengeance downtime) and elemental damage increase. Note that this requires that you run Hand of the Prophet Hand of the Prophet and optimize her survivability, as per our guide.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

8.

Legendary Potion

You have two valuable legendary potions in the build; either slot Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid to break up Waller affixes, which potentially ruin both your damage output and escape options, or a Bottomless Potion of the Leech Bottomless Potion of the Leech for the extra life sustain through the temporary Life per Hit bonus.

9.

Changelog

  • 22 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
  • 09 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
  • 10 Apr. 2024: Guide reviewed for Season 31.
  • 08 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
  • 24 Feb. 2023: Variation added, as well as Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
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