d3 Deadset's Guide Compendium for Season 16 / Patch 2.6.4

[Deadset 108]

Check out the best builds for each class in our guide compendium for Season 16!

Season 16 releases today and Deadset has put together another Guide Compendium for the most viable builds for each class!

Greetings, fellow denizens of Sanctuary! We are at the doorstep of the 16th Diablo season, carrying a mechanics-oriented theme for the first time around: The Season of Grandeur. For the duration of Season 16, all heroes and builds will enjoy the passive effect of the Ring of Royal Grandeur. This seemingly minor change has larger implications, both for builds that traditionally use its power, and ones that don't. In short, you will be able to use one extra item slot in any build - since the required number of set pieces for the completion of set bonuses is lowered by 1.

-Deadset

What can you expect from Patch 2.6.4?

Patch 2.6.4 brings a sizable round of buffs across many sets - both popular and forgotten. Similarly to its predecessor, Patch 2.6.1, it is trying to bring playstyles and builds closer together, but whether it truly succeeds - well, we'll discover during Season 16! The patch also brings a slew of quality of life upgrades, including more visually distinct primal drops, more armory tabs, and potions no longer taking up inventory space.

Basics Guides and Conquest Guides

Before moving on to class impressions and recommendations, I just want to give a quick pointer to the new basics and conquest guides that I compiled recently. If you are new to the game, returning after a long break, or simply have friends that you want to get into Diablo, give those a read:

• Beginner Seasonal Guide - an introduction to Seasons, efficient leveling, crafting and gearing;
• Bounty Farming Guide - how, when, which bounties to do and the builds to do them with;
• Regular "Nephalem" Rift Farming Guide - quantity, quality, and methods for Torment rifting;
• Greater Rift Farming Guide - rewards, competition and strategic considerations for GRs;
• Conquest Guides for Season 16 - the fast track to the Seasonal Journey completion.

As a guide hub, Icy Veins receives a ton of messages on a regular basis for topics like these - I hope they are of use to the community and answer a lot of questions for Seasons to come!

Barbarians

• Beginner's Guide to Barbarians - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Immortal King - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Barbarian with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Immortal King (or Raekor) - Hammer of the Ancients Endgame Build  - A top tier, visceral build that emphasizes melee devastation and pulverizes his enemies to the ground with Hammer of the Ancients.
• Support Barbarian - Group-oriented build that the entire team depends upon for scouting, long-range monster pulls and protection from harmful crowd control affixes.
• Raekor - Furious Charge Endgame Build  - A spec that mixes the powers of two sets, combining the all-around utility of IK with the agile Furious Charge devastation of Raekor.
• Might of the Earth - Earthquake Endgame Build - This spec favors devastating large areas over precise shots, exerts a masterful control over the battlefield and sports a very satisfying rotation.
• Wrath of the Wastes - Whirlwind Endgame Build  - With a playstyle distilled to its simplest essence, the build opens runs with  Whirlwind and mows enemies down in endless, spinning destruction.
• Seismic Slam Barbarian - a ruthless visual feast of a build, this cold-focused Barb spec is surprisingly tough and efficient.
• Frenzy/Thorns Legacy of Nightmares  - More durable than most Barb builds, this spec nails the brutal hand-to-hand melee feel, slicing enemies at incredible speeds.
• Rend Immortal King  - Nearly forgotten, but certainly not powerless, this exotic build bleeds enemies dry with the DoT powers of Rend.

Crusaders

• Beginner's Guide to Crusaders - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Seeker of the Light  - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Crusader with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Akkhan - Condemn Endgame Build - This build is the embodiment of the melee spellcaster fantasy, exerting powerful crowd control over monsters and decimating them in waves of holy destruction.
• Akkhan - Blessed Shield Endgame Build  -  This build plays on the archetype of using the shield as a weapon, charging it with holy might and reaping an entire field of demons with a single, mighty toss.
• Akkhan - Holy Shotgun Endgame Build  - The Holy Shotgun Crusader is a tanky, impenetrable bulwark of steel that absorbs blows and retaliates in blasts of pure, radiant vengeance. 
• Blessed Hammer Seeker of the Light - The reigning champion of many Seasons, the Hammerdin build is still a beast in terms of AoE damage and solo GR pushing potential.
• Thorns Invoker  - Likely the tankiest build in the game that is able to push into GR110+. Tough, focused and dead simple, this build almost Thorns itself to the absolute endgame.
• Sweep Attack Rolands  - This Crusader build revels in high-density rifts, shredding demons to pieces with the highest attack speed possible to the class.
• Bombardment Legacy of Nightmares  - The Bombardment Crusader spec takes assorted legendary items into a highly mobile, auto aiming and visually spectacular Thorns combination.
• Shield Bash Crusader - your best bet if you want to pound demon heads in Greater Rifts, if a bit on the clunky side.

Demon Hunters

• Beginner's Guide to Demon Hunters - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Natalya's Vengeance  - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Demon Hunter with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Natalya/Marauder Sentry Endgame Build - This build focuses solely on the Sentries, providing Demon Hunters with a cold, calculating playstyle cloaked behind a wall of turrets and animal companions.
• Unhallowed Essence - Multishot Endgame Build  - This build embodies the lone, brooding archer that reaps entire screens worth of demons in massive, fiery bursts of arrows.
• Marauder - Multishot Endgame Build - the Sentry-based mirror of the multishotting AoE love, this is a timing-intensive, but hugely rewarding build.
• Marauder - Cluster Arrow Endgame Build  - Requiring a deep understanding of DHs - the need for positioning and strategic companion placement - this build rewards you with great GR potential.
• Natalya - Rain of Vengeance Endgame Build  - This build transforms the elegance of Strafe into a potent tool that resets the cooldown of Rain of Vengeance, resulting in a potent, bursty playstyle.
• Shadow - Impale Endgame Build  - The Impale build emphasizes on singling out and bursting down priority targets, resulting in a ninja-like, elite hunting playstyle.
• Grenades Unhallowed Essence  - A deceptively simple build, whose sustained grenade damage and tanking potential outdoes many of its flashier counterparts.
• Fan of Knives Legacy of Nightmares  - One of the more exotic specs in the game, the LoN FoK build thrives at low health values and turns them to its own advantage - playing with permanent crits.
• Chakram Demon Hunter - the ninja star-throwing counterpart to multishotting builds, with comparable AoE and more fun visuals.

Monks

• Beginner's Guide to Monks - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Uliana - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Monk with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Sunwuko - Wave of Light Endgame Build  - This unique ranged Monk playstyle blows demons up in screen-wide, incinerating beams of searing light.
• Support Monk  - Group-oriented build that the entire team depends upon for healing, short-range monster pulls and damage reduction from regular attacks.
• Uliana - Seven-Sided Strike Endgame Build  - Widely regarded as the most satisfying build of the class, Uliana enriches the Seven-Sided Strike visual with Exploding Palm detonations.
• Raiment Shenlong - Generator Endgame Build  - The Monk's bread and butter, this build pummels enemies into the ground with the sheer might of the primary fist attacks.
• Sunwuko - Lashing Tail Kick Endgame Build  - Building on the classic Monk image, this spec jump in, whirlwind kicks the demons' teeth in, and jump to the next pack of monsters.
• Tempest Rush Monk - a fun and under-appreciated build that balances the fluidity of rushing through enemies with some carefully timed bursts.
• Exploding Palm/Mystic Allies Inna  - In this Monk take on a summoner build, you rally spiritual fighters at your side that burst entire groups of enemies with Exploding Palms.

Necromancers

• Beginner's Guide to Necromancers - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Trag'Oul - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Necromancer with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Pestilence or Trag'Oul - Corpse Lance  - This build alternates long scouting sessions while waiting on cooldowns with the utter devastation once Devour meets Land of the Dead.
• Rathma - Skeletal Mage - If you like to keep a tight rein on your minions with precise commands, leading the menagerie of undead at your side in a resource-fueled frenzy, this build is the one for you.
• Command Skeletons Inarius  - Turning the skeleton warriors into a vicious, unrelenting superior to Bane of the Stricken, this build is a Necromancer's one-way ticket to the absolute endgame heights.
• Generator Necromancer - a unique take on Inarius gameplay, focusing on lightning-fast scythe attacks and intensive resource interplay.
• Skeletal Mages Trag'Oul  - This is the alternate take on the Mages build, specializing in extreme speed farming, while still offering capable GR pushes.
• Bone Storm Inarius  - While it took an undeniable nerf, this build is still one of the most relaxing, farming-appropriate melee builds of Necromancers.
• Corpse Explosion Inarius  - An underappreciated offshoot to the close range Inarius variants, this build is among the most visually appealing and satisfying Necromancer builds out there.

Witch Doctors

• Beginner's Guide to Witch Doctors - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Arachyr  - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Witch Doctor with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Arachyr - Firebats Endgame Build  - Requiring minimal upkeep, this build spins a circular, no-aiming-required wave of Firebats obliteration around you. Simple, neat, and utterly effective.
• Helltooth - Gargantuan Endgame Build  - This staple summoner build offers laid-back playstyle with automated minions, excellent sustain and protective options, and even some space for crowd control.
• Jade Harvester Endgame Build  - One of the oldest examples of interesting set execution, this melee spellcaster trades the safety of range and hexes for aggressive dives and DoT consumption.
• Zunimassa Gargantuan Endgame Build - This build thrives behind a thick wall of Fetish summons and is accompanied by lumbering, destructive Gargantuan brutes in a pure minion playstyle.
• Legacy of Nightmares Spirit Barrage Endgame Build  - Emerging from a convergence of obscure mechanics, this build offers a unique, spell-heavy, bursty playstyle that produces some of the most spectacular visuals of the class.
• Grasp of the Dead Witch Doctor - a no-cooldown, no-resource take on making corpses rain from the sky;

Wizards

• Beginner's Guide to Wizards - Levels 1-70 and Guide with the Starting Set, Vyr  - A guide that will take you through the leveling process efficiently and optimize your Season 16 Wizard with the Haedrig's Gift free set.
• Firebird (or Tal Rasha) - Meteor - Reaching for the heartstrings of Meteor lovers, this build channels torrents of arcane energy to conjure destructive, burning meteorites into a pure visual feast.
• DMO - Frozen Orb - Combining the Frozen Orb nostalgia of sorceresses past with the forgotten power of Slow Time wizardry, this build leaves enemies helpless, watching their frozen death creep ever closer.
• Energy Twister Wizard - a surprisingly undervalued, but horrifyingly potent on the time-bending, whirlwinding destruction from seasons of yore.
• Vyr Archon - The oldest devotees to the Archon playstyle: Vyr and its complementary Chantodo sets got an awesome boost of power in Patch 2.6.1.
• Tal Rasha - Explosive Blast - Aside from its distinct cannonade of arcane blasts, this build is very attractive to Wizards due to its ability to include Sage's set for materials farming.
• Arcane Torrent Tal Rasha - Spawning off the addition of Manald Heal this guide offers not one, but three very fun, tanky, non-Archon lightning variants to build around.

Conclusion

Patch 2.6.4 brings a solid buff across the board for many of the lacking sets. Personally, I'm mostly interested in the buffs to the Legacy of Nightmares ring set, and what new and surprising builds are going to spawn off that. I'm off to trying it out myself, but as always - have fun, and good luck in Season 16!

[Rooach 34]

Do it like me, play Destiny. Its the better Diablo

[Rhondis 148]

8 minutes ago, Rooach said:

Do it like me, play Destiny. Its the better Diablo

Do it like me, play Grim Dawn. A game in the same genre as Diablo, but much better.

[rickster 12]

Thank You - Sly & The Family Stone

[Rooach 34]

Quote

Do it like me, play Grim Dawn. A game in the same genre as Diablo, but much better.

Thats a good idea, ill try that when im finished with D2

[Sinth 2]

Any thoughts on updated tier lists?  The tier rankings at the top of the site are based on last patch, but the relative power of the class sets changed a lot this patch.  It's hard for a casual player to understand whether (for example) Leap Quake or Whirlwind is better now, or whether Uliana EP monk is better than Sunwuko WoL now (since Uliana got a massive buff and Sunwuko got a tiny buff).

Edited January 18, 2019 by Sinth
spelling fix

[Rooach 34]

https://www.diablofans.com/builds

Most upvoted Build will be best :P