Demon Hunter Basics - Leveling Gear

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about Demon Hunter Leveling Gear and Stats guide.

[Guest Lexblow]

Awesome guides guys!!!

 

My questions are kinda tricky, hope i can make myself clear enough....

 

1) How can i judge if an item is actually an upgrade for my character? I Used to only change an item if there where 3 greens or 2 greens and no reds in the new item ... Then  it was harder and harder to get always 3 greens, then i moved to summ up all red and greens of a given item and if the result was a positive number i changed the item, if it was negative i discarded it. Of course this is not the best way to do it, but i do not have the deep knowledge to calculate all the ins and outs of each piece of equipment i can possibily find... Can you guys give me any quick rule to identify if an item is an upgrade? This one of summing all numbers up is at least any good or it will ruin my equipment in the long run?

 

2) If an item has more of priority 1 stats but neither of priority 2 and a low number of priotity 3 than my current item in slot, how can i say the new item is better than the old one?

(Example:  Wrist with 400dex + 100 Vit + 400 healing VS Wrist with 550 dex + 200 armor + 20% gold drop) who would be better?

 

3) Should i prioritize the first stats over all others, or having all stats said in that piece of equipment, no matter the numbers? If an item has all priority stats, even not the best rolls for each one, should i give them the spot on slot? Or go for the one with highest dex not minding the others?

 

 

Hope i made myself clear enough, english is not my 1st language....

 

Thanks in advance!

[Storm 426]

1.) As far as comparing Damage, Toughness, and Healing. for the most part you will find a "sweet spot" for Toughness and healing that helps you to stay alive.  some of it is personal preference, and some of it will also depend on skill. If you're using shadow power then you won't be concerned with healing at all because you'll generate all of your healing through abilities.

 

After you have enough toughness and healing to stay alive at the difficulty you're playing on, you'll go for as much damage as you can get.

 

2.) Following along with what I said above, You'll find your comfortable number for toughness. for me I find I like around 10mil toughness for T6. if a new piece of gear has a huge damage upgrade but is going to drop me below 10million toughness I won't use it, or I'll save it until I get an upgrade in a different slot that gives me more toughness first. For stats that are caculated in your Damage, Toughness, and Healing you don't have to worry about any math or prioritizing. Whether 400 dex is better than 5% crit will be shown on the green/red damage +/- at the bottom.

 

You will have to occasionally do some math for numbers that aren't reflected on the character sheet though, mostly in the case of elemental damage, or cooldown reduction. If a neck has -10% damage compared to what you currently have, but has 20% fire damage, and you're primarily using fire skills, then it would actually be a damage gain. likewise with playing the Maruader set with Sentries it's important to place them quickly, so cooldown reduction is important even though it isn't reflected on the character sheet damage. Finally there are also some +attack speed breakpoints speficially for maurauder sentries, but that's starting to get a lot more advanced than just leveling and gearing a DH.

 

3.) The easiest way to get your damage up is % Crit Chance, and Crit Damage %, Dex supplies a good amount of damage and toughness, and All Resist is more important than Vitality. but asside from that you shouldn't have to worry too much about one stat vs. another. just go with whatever gives you the most overall damage and/or toughness.

[Poyo 41]

Awesome guides guys!!!

 

My questions are kinda tricky, hope i can make myself clear enough....

 

1) How can i judge if an item is actually an upgrade for my character? I Used to only change an item if there where 3 greens or 2 greens and no reds in the new item ... Then  it was harder and harder to get always 3 greens, then i moved to summ up all red and greens of a given item and if the result was a positive number i changed the item, if it was negative i discarded it. Of course this is not the best way to do it, but i do not have the deep knowledge to calculate all the ins and outs of each piece of equipment i can possibily find... Can you guys give me any quick rule to identify if an item is an upgrade? This one of summing all numbers up is at least any good or it will ruin my equipment in the long run?

 

2) If an item has more of priority 1 stats but neither of priority 2 and a low number of priotity 3 than my current item in slot, how can i say the new item is better than the old one?

(Example:  Wrist with 400dex + 100 Vit + 400 healing VS Wrist with 550 dex + 200 armor + 20% gold drop) who would be better?

 

3) Should i prioritize the first stats over all others, or having all stats said in that piece of equipment, no matter the numbers? If an item has all priority stats, even not the best rolls for each one, should i give them the spot on slot? Or go for the one with highest dex not minding the others?

 

 

Hope i made myself clear enough, english is not my 1st language....

 

Thanks in advance!

Hello, Lexblow

Lets see...

1. Knowing your stat priorities and how your character scales with them is the key. In general, you can level up from 1-60 without having to worry about Critical Hit Chance(CDC) / Critical Hit Damage(CHD) / Attack Speed(AS) and simply focus on having Dexterity(or your chars main stat) on each item. When closing in on level 60, there will be more primary stats available on the items and their individual budgets will get higher.

What I suggest you do, is to simply mouseover each new item you get, see if its either a Damage or Toughness upgrade. If the item doesn't have sockets, elemental damage or skill damage and is not an upgrade as Dmg / Tough, you can discard it immediately.

When you have sockets, elemental damage or skill damage, you wont see these affixes display under your Damage and you will have to calculate them yourself. Taking a calculator does the trick, else you can open your Character screen check  "Fire Damage Increase" for example and compare your Damage with Fire Damage.

Unless you are leveling on Hardcore, Toughness will usually be of second importance and you simply try to have enough to survive elites and when you can't, lower the difficulty and improve your Toughness.

2. The example you gave is rather poor, so I'll set a new one for comparison:

Wrist 1: 400 Dex, 300 Vit, 15% Fire Damage 

Wrist 2: 350 Dex, 400 Vit, 6% CHC 

For starters, I left out secondary stats as I've never chosen an item because it had decent secondary stats, unless the items I was comparing had equal primary stats.

Wrist 2, is likely to present itself as an upgrade in Damage and Toughness when you mouseover it, however the 15% Fire Damage on Wrist 1 is not displayed under upgrades and if you are using Fire Skills in your build, it can be a significant upgrade compared to Wrist 2. Easiest is to simply equip Wrist 1 and check the Fire Damage under your Character Sheet and you will see just how much of a damage upgrade it is.

Regarding Toughness, you should focus on Damage as much as possible and if an item is a significant increase in Damage, you will likely be willing to sacrifice some Toughness for it.

3. Primary stats are the most important and you can always disregard secondary stats (except single resists and even single res has very little impact on your character's performance). Just simply compare the Damage on the 2 items when you mouseover an item you recently obtained and see what you need to give up in order to gain something else. Damage upgrades are rarely misleading unless they have Elemental Damage, Skill Damage or Sockets without gems.

Elemental Damage and Skill Damage you can check by equipping the item and looking at your character sheet under individual Skill Damage Increase or Elemental Damage Increase.

Sockets you can fill if you have extra gems and simply salvage the item that is worse. (you will get the gems refunded, unless you bought the item from a vendor - than you can't salvage it)

Hope this helps

[Guest Lexblow]

Ty so much guys for you feedback!!!

 

 

I feel honored, 2 answers to a single question (ok , ok, actually 3 lol)!!

 

I guess i understood you Poyo, following this mindset of damage upgrades feel a lot easier for me..

 

And with this in mind can i estabilish a pattern of stats for slots selection? Like:

 

             OK, for weapons, wrist, hands, amulets and rings go for damage upgrades.

             For helmets, pants, armor, shoulders, feet, go for thoughness upgrades. 

            Because chances are that you will eventually get the most of each one, like there is some equipment more proficient into damage upgrades and equipment more proficient into thoughness upgrades. (don't know if this is true, im asking...)

 

            Maybe my example is poor or misguided, but i guess you guys will understand it. 

           

 

Wich slots can excel at damage stats and wich ones at thoughness? So i can get the best of two worlds. 

            I know this seems like too robotic or feel too restrictive, but me and my OCD have hard time with hidden numbers and subjectiveness.

We like more one (or several) rules to follow... :-)

 

 

Keep Up the excellent WORK!!!