Impale Demon Hunter

[Tulanian 0]

16 hours ago, huntress said:

it has always been overpowered.  T13 (pre T16 implementation) was even worse.  For gem upgrades (augmenting) I push ranks up to GR69 with my UE MS gold/DB farm build, then swap to s6 impale to get them from that rank up to my preferred augment levels (SC, 110, HC 100 pre s21, post s21 with the hps quiver buff, I'm pushing augments to 110).  

The build is very powerful in the hands of a good player.  I've done a 112 so far, sub p700, no augments, lgems all under 90, missing 3 ancients from the build, non-perfect rolls on a few items.  

god build is ruining the season for me and this will be my last season playing competitively unless Blizzard pulls the finger out and actually balances the game properly.  There's zero need to have god build 10 GRs more powerful than the other DH builds in the game, it's a total joke and decreases player variety.  

edit: vs some mobs, I kite where needed, for example, accursed or grotesques.  If I see mortar, I close the gap to the elite pack immediately.  I used to kite with arcane elites, but now I get in the mix up close and simply move away when the beam is coming my way (either move or vault, depending upon the situation).  Remember, vault triggeds numbing traps passive, so you get DR from it.  

Thanks for the tips.  I do agree that GoD is far and away the strongest DH build this season.  Not quite to the level of a Whirl-Barb with good gear rolls, but in the ballpark to some degree.  

And GoD has definitely kept me from messing around much with other DH loadouts, other than doing that one Conquest without any set pieces in a GR45.  But that's also a factor of the time needed to improve my other gear sets equivalently. Four ancient augmented armor pieces makes a difference in survivability, and I don't have any augmented gear for the other builds. 

[Tulanian 0]

On 1/11/2020 at 4:53 AM, huntress said:

 

well, stone gauntlets bring you to a halt, which is pretty crap for a mobility build imho...I wouldn't even dream of playing with stone gauntlets...

I've been wondering why so many builds recommend Stone Gauntlets.  Seems to me that only a tanky build that can survive when moving slowly would benefit.  Which would be, what, some of the Paly builds? Even a Barb I wouldn't want to see slowed down so much. Everyone else would do better with the Aquila Cuirass in the Cube's armor slot.

[huntress 8]

8 hours ago, Tulanian said:

Thanks for the tips.  I do agree that GoD is far and away the strongest DH build this season.  Not quite to the level of a Whirl-Barb with good gear rolls, but in the ballpark to some degree.  

And GoD has definitely kept me from messing around much with other DH loadouts, other than doing that one Conquest without any set pieces in a GR45.  But that's also a factor of the time needed to improve my other gear sets equivalently. Four ancient augmented armor pieces makes a difference in survivability, and I don't have any augmented gear for the other builds. 

the conquest GR45 solo with no set gear is now VERY easy - just get a bunch of decent ancients and level the legacy of dreams gem to rank 25 and voila.  I go with yangs recurve bow/dead man's legacy quiver.  I either wear aqulias or visage of gunes (and whatever I don't wear gets cubed).  I use stone of jordan ring wherever possible, with COE or elusive ring (again, cubing whichever one I don't use).  Dawn is of course cubed in the weapon slot.  I typically use a hellfire ammy for a free passive.  Boots, pants, and shoulders can be pretty much anything.  Belt I go with the witching hour.  I think I did it in like 3 mns this season.  I've managed every conquest this season other than finishing the game in an hour, which is impossible to do solo.  This is including hc/sc (currently rank 13 globally in the seasonal challenges LBs on PS4).  I did curses solo on HC this season - finally after a few seasons of trying to do it solo.  The spawn wave/mob rate on PS4 is much lower than the PC version of the game, so doing it solo is near impossible.  Very few players have achieved it solo.  

Sitting at rank 40 on the HC LBs, but haven't pushed for near 2 weeks.  I did my 112 with gems under 80, and under p700 and missing like 5 ancients and no augments.  Have 4 augments now ready to go and p920ish, so will do a bit of a tiny push either later today or tomorrow, depending upon how I feel.  Should be able to do a 116/117 I think with some fishing.  Highest rank s6 impale player has done a 117 with near all augments lol...pathetic.  Of course the god build has already done a GR138...it's at least 10 GRs more powerful than s6 impale, perhaps 15 and it's a total joke.  The game is not balanced and this will be my last competitive season unless Blizzard can actually properly balance the game.  I have plenty of other games to play and enjoy and D3 is now just causing me anxiety and making me angry, so it's pretty much time to stop playing it and walk away.  I got 4 years out of it on PS4, so have gotten my money back.  

[Deadset 108]

15 hours ago, Tulanian said:

I've been wondering why so many builds recommend Stone Gauntlets.  Seems to me that only a tanky build that can survive when moving slowly would benefit.  Which would be, what, some of the Paly builds? Even a Barb I wouldn't want to see slowed down so much. Everyone else would do better with the Aquila Cuirass in the Cube's armor slot.

Aquila is easier to play around at first, but once you hit the necessary CDR breakpoint (37%) for permanent Vengeance, you can put the Stone Gauntlets in for greater protective effect. Since Vengeance makes you immune to Crowd Control effects, and Stone Gauntlets's secondary effect is exactly that, you gain its superior protective benefits and none of the drawbacks.

[Tulanian 0]

13 hours ago, Deadset said:

Aquila is easier to play around at first, but once you hit the necessary CDR breakpoint (37%) for permanent Vengeance, you can put the Stone Gauntlets in for greater protective effect. Since Vengeance makes you immune to Crowd Control effects, and Stone Gauntlets's secondary effect is exactly that, you gain its superior protective benefits and none of the drawbacks.

Hmmm, don't have my Switch with me at work, trying to recall how many of the re-rolls I did on armor had CDR as an option...

[huntress 8]

On 8/7/2020 at 4:41 PM, Deadset said:

Aquila is easier to play around at first, but once you hit the necessary CDR breakpoint (37%) for permanent Vengeance, you can put the Stone Gauntlets in for greater protective effect. Since Vengeance makes you immune to Crowd Control effects, and Stone Gauntlets's secondary effect is exactly that, you gain its superior protective benefits and none of the drawbacks.

true, but it means sacrificing a DPS slot on a piece of gear for that extra CDR, since CDR on shoulders + gogok + paragon CDR isn't gonna cut it and give you perma vengeance.  I guess if you group up and have a tonne of paragon and extra DPS you can afford to drop some dps for more CDR...us solo players with lower paragon just can't afford to drop that extra dps...

[Deadset 108]

On 8/11/2020 at 2:35 AM, huntress said:

true, but it means sacrificing a DPS slot on a piece of gear for that extra CDR, since CDR on shoulders + gogok + paragon CDR isn't gonna cut it and give you perma vengeance.  I guess if you group up and have a tonne of paragon and extra DPS you can afford to drop some dps for more CDR...us solo players with lower paragon just can't afford to drop that extra dps...

I think it's a very modest requirement still? An 8% CDR roll on shoulders, a Flawless Royal Diamond in the helm, 10% CDR in Paragons and a fully stacked Gogok of Swiftness puts you just over 38% CDR. No DPS roll sacrifices required

[huntress 8]

On 8/15/2020 at 12:04 AM, Deadset said:

I think it's a very modest requirement still? An 8% CDR roll on shoulders, a Flawless Royal Diamond in the helm, 10% CDR in Paragons and a fully stacked Gogok of Swiftness puts you just over 38% CDR. No DPS roll sacrifices required

I've never noticed full perma with that setup, always downtime of about 1-2 seconds for me.  Perhaps it works differently on console?  Also note that console has no numlock cheat, so we have to manually activate every skill.  No scripting either...

[Deadset 108]

On 9/7/2020 at 3:23 AM, huntress said:

I've never noticed full perma with that setup, always downtime of about 1-2 seconds for me.  Perhaps it works differently on console?  Also note that console has no numlock cheat, so we have to manually activate every skill.  No scripting either...

I see. There might be a noticeable difference when playing on console, as it requires you to be on point with the re-activation - no numlock or scripts, as you mentioned.

[Guest enigma]

Why do you say this build can't make use of Ethereal weapons? The Buriza-do Kyanon can spawn with the power from Karlei's Point, and Impale does not require a melee weapon equipped to use it - I've found a Buriza with that power, and tested that I can use Impale with it equipped.

[Deadset 108]

Heya, perhaps I worded it badly in the guide, I'll take a look. Regardless, the set powers of the Shadow's Mantle require the use of a melee weapon (2-piece bonus) for the base 6000% damage increase. You can probably make it work decent enough due to the sheer scaling of weapon damage from Ethereals and the 6-piece bonus of Shadow, but it will be inferior to simply equipping Karlei's.

[Guest Newbie]

Is the 6 set not used for this build?

[Orthios 271]

1 minute ago, Guest Newbie said:

Is the 6 set not used for this build?

The build uses the Ring of Royal Grandeur in the Kanai's Cube jewelry slot, which allows you to get the 6-set bonus with only 5 pieces equipped.

[huntress 8]

On 7/29/2021 at 1:04 PM, Guest enigma said:

Why do you say this build can't make use of Ethereal weapons? The Buriza-do Kyanon can spawn with the power from Karlei's Point, and Impale does not require a melee weapon equipped to use it - I've found a Buriza with that power, and tested that I can use Impale with it equipped.

To get the 2 piece bonus, you MUST be using a melee weapon.  All of the ethereal weapons are ranged bow type and NOT melee.  You'll be missing out on 6000% damage and that is a lot.  EVEN the worst rolled non-ancient karleis is going to significantly outperform that crappy ethereal.  

WORST season theme so far by far.  This game is truly dead. I've long since done my season journey, time to move onto other things.  I suggest others do the same.

[Guest Did GG]

On 7/31/2021 at 7:08 PM, huntress said:

To get the 2 piece bonus, you MUST be using a melee weapon.  All of the ethereal weapons are ranged bow type and NOT melee.  You'll be missing out on 6000% damage and that is a lot.  EVEN the worst rolled non-ancient karleis is going to significantly outperform that crappy ethereal.  

WORST season theme so far by far.  This game is truly dead. I've long since done my season journey, time to move onto other things.  I suggest others do the same.

Then why post here? If the game is dead, move on.  It was a good theme.  You're an idiot.

[huntress 8]

On 12/12/2021 at 10:55 PM, Guest Did GG said:

Then why post here? If the game is dead, move on.  It was a good theme.  You're an idiot.

Wow, you a brave one posting anonymously you numbnut.  

Put into context - I play on console (PS4).  Blizzard has failed to fix the issues with the console port for many years (reduced FOV, poor mob density, NG garbage, lag etc).  

We've had save wizard garbage since s15, which could be resolved by Blizzard making seasons on consoles online only saves and not local saves like they are now.  That is Blizzard's fault, not the players.  Online saves would remove the kanai recipe scumming from the game too.  Of course, the PS4 encryption keys have long been broken, so seasons 24 onwards are now featuring modders in seasons, ruining the game for legit players.  That's hard to fix, since it's a Sony issue, but it could be done with a gear sanity checker on character launch.  Easy enough to implement.  

s24, was retarded - I play s6 impale and no ethereal weapon for it.  We were already 10 GRs weaker than GOD HA, add another 5 odd GRs to that...as a shadow impale player, it's impossible to compete.  With that said, I ended up finishing rank 2 globally for HC s6 on PS4.  Rank 1 was a modder cheater scum, so really, I finished up rank 1.  A season theme that only benefits certain builds is NOT a good theme.  

Blizzard has been notified many times by myself and other concerned players in s24 about modders and has done NOTHING.  That's scumful on Blizzard's part right there.  Blizzard controls the LB servers on the Sony platform for its game, so can certainly remove the cheaters from the LBs.  It's a simple and easy dbase query.  

s25 theme is great, loving it and playing the game more than I have played since s16.  

Onyer bike and peddle faster mate.  

[Droidiphile 0]

Call me a bozo if you will, as in "you aren't doing it right," but I find problems with this build.

1) Poor Hatred Management - empty tank = no speed awards with this build. 

2) Stone Gauntlets are a terrible way to manage incoming DPS and are a death sentence in HC mode.

3) I find I don't need the Chain of Shadows Vault buff.

It seems to run better with these mods ::

1) Replace Stone Gauntlets (in cube) and Chain of Shadows (in slot) with Garwulf and Zoey's Secret respectively.

2) Swap in Unity instead of Convention of Elements for soloing - Convention when in a group.

3) Replace Awareness with Blood Vengeance - consider Rakoff's on Follower if soloing.

4) Max out Resource Cost Reduction wherever possible.

As it's listed, it's a great starting point.  If you guys have a better way to manage Hatred, let me know!

[huntress 8]

On 12/18/2021 at 10:28 AM, Droidiphile said:

Call me a bozo if you will, as in "you aren't doing it right," but I find problems with this build.

1) Poor Hatred Management - empty tank = no speed awards with this build. 

2) Stone Gauntlets are a terrible way to manage incoming DPS and are a death sentence in HC mode.

3) I find I don't need the Chain of Shadows Vault buff.

It seems to run better with these mods ::

1) Replace Stone Gauntlets (in cube) and Chain of Shadows (in slot) with Garwulf and Zoey's Secret respectively.

2) Swap in Unity instead of Convention of Elements for soloing - Convention when in a group.

3) Replace Awareness with Blood Vengeance - consider Rakoff's on Follower if soloing.

4) Max out Resource Cost Reduction wherever possible.

As it's listed, it's a great starting point.  If you guys have a better way to manage Hatred, let me know!

1.  Cold/overpenetration rune can be problematic to manage.  You have to be more careful with character placement.  lightning/ricochet rune is a better option when it comes to hatred management and most players use it.  Cold does do a fraction more damage, especially when paired with high AD.  

If playing low level GRs (below GR90), then switch vengeance to seethe rune and aquilas in cube to visage of gunes.  This solves most hatred issues.  You can also elect to switch out the diamond in helm to a topaz for more RCR.  But, with the s25 theme, this latter change is NOT required as the rank 2 shard adds RCR.  

2.  I never use stone gauntlets, nor would I EVER recommend using them.  They are bad items at the best of times.  Stick with Aquilas cuirass.  

3.  nah.  compass rose + elusive ring.  RORG in cube.  Use aughild's 2 pieces (shoulders + bracers).  Gives you more damage and more damage reduction.  

4.  Yes, I do.  I recommend this. On console, we have to do this anyway, we can't elect not to and put those points to main stat.

I speed farm T13 with this build without too many issues.  I can go down to GR70 with just the vengeance rune/cube changes suggested above in point 1.  YMMV.

[Guest Velzun]

Hey everyone,

How do we manage ressource in this build, it's my very first DH and i'm a little lost here. i'm trying to not let my Impale launch while traveling + i can't seems to rebuild hate because i almost one shoot everything (while i'm getting os if i push torment) 

[huntress 8]

On 12/21/2021 at 5:02 AM, Guest Velzun said:

Hey everyone,

How do we manage ressource in this build, it's my very first DH and i'm a little lost here. i'm trying to not let my Impale launch while traveling + i can't seems to rebuild hate because i almost one shoot everything (while i'm getting os if i push torment) 

Hi Velzun,

What level rifts and GRs are you running?  Do you have all of the items for your build?  Are you running SC or HC?

All of these variables will affect my answers.  Please advise.

[MrHandsome 5]

On 12/20/2021 at 8:02 PM, Guest Velzun said:

Hey everyone,

How do we manage ressource in this build, it's my very first DH and i'm a little lost here. i'm trying to not let my Impale launch while traveling + i can't seems to rebuild hate because i almost one shoot everything (while i'm getting os if i push torment) 

Basically either put up Seethe rune for Vengeance on lower GR's and content, higher up it should take at LEAST 3 shots to kill the smallest mob, to make sure you regain hatred on shots... and not shooting in air but always at mobs, hits regain hatred with impale.

[huntress 8]

On 12/24/2021 at 9:02 PM, MrHandsome said:

Basically either put up Seethe rune for Vengeance on lower GR's and content, higher up it should take at LEAST 3 shots to kill the smallest mob, to make sure you regain hatred on shots... and not shooting in air but always at mobs, hits regain hatred with impale.

define high up 😉  I'm One shotting RGs at GR90.  Even running seethe/visage of gunes, I am running out of hatred on occasions at up to GR105 now.  And this is still with seethe/visage.  I am running HC though, so my templar isn't regenerating hatred, but instead giving me a 2nd cheat death proc.  Part of this is the seasonal theme (shards) and the buff that they give.