05-17-2012, 09:31 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-17-2012, 09:31 PM by Elric of Grans.)
As I primarily played Rogues/Amazons in the past, I immediately started a Demon Hunter. I completed Act I, then rolled a Wizard and found the game was considerably more fun. My initial impression of the Demon Hunter is that the skills are a disconnected mismash and the balance is non-existant, as opposed to the Wizard were everything feels good and makes sense. I will elaborate on the skills I have used.
Primary Skills:
* Hungering Arrow. Just how absurdly over-powered is this? Guided arrows that pierce, then guide to another/the original target, with range extending beyond the screen and it generates Hatred? Add the Puncturing Arrow rune and I have frequently observed triple hits per arrow. The average damage is equivalent to the secondary skills (sorry, forgot how to calculate average damage in these situations --- my math skills are rusty). It is excellent crowd-control and powerful against single targets. To test, I have cleared entire zones by just spamming them ahead of me and never seeing a single enemy, just corpses and loot. Just add Hand Crossbows, spam and play on easy mode. Rarely got hit by anything.
* Entangling Shot. Outclassed by Hungering Arrow, but this one feels about right to me. Perhaps a little low on the damage, but a solid skill that feels balanced.
* Bola Shot. I do not like this one at all. A Primary Skill that takes a second to activate? Does that not make it essentially useless? You automatically regenerate the Hatred it returns faster than this, so you may as well just kite for a second and continue using better skills.
* Grenades. Personally, this one did not sit well for me as a Primary Skill, but that was just personal. In play it seems a lot better than it sounds on paper and probably has a good place in certain builds. Personally, I want to fire an arrow in a Primary Skill.
Secondary Skills:
* Impale. Way too Hatred expensive when you first get it. Significantly more appealing once you get Runes, but still burns away your Hatred like it is nobody's business. Outclassed by Hungering Arrow. Fits nicely with Entangling Arrow, but you rely on a low-damage Primary Skill more than you aught to.
* Rapid Fire. Again, way too expensive when you first get it. Withering Fire feels a much better cost (especially considering it uses your Rune). Still feels outclassed by Hungering Arrow, but again fits much better with Entangling Shot or Grenades.
* Chakram. Blessed Hammer redesigned for a ranged class. As with Hammerdins, someone may come up with a way to turn this into a really good skill, but I personally was not interested in being the one.
Defensive:
* Caltrops. What can I say, it does exactly what I expected, and I expected good. Probably not an especially useful combo with Entangling Shot, but fits really well with Hungering Arrow and Grenades. If anything, could be a slightly over-powered as you can spam the crap out of these and keep everything back.
* Smoke Screen. Seems an interesting option. Quite powerful, but costs a good amount of Discipline. I did not use it much, because I was a huge fan of Caltrops, but I could see it being a really solid skill and a lot of fun to play with. That said, I think it will be more popular with Variant Scum than Power Gamers as it adds fun, but there are more efficient ways to play.
* Shadow Power. WTF? This `tree' has two skills that help you completely avoid taking a hit, or you can pick one that gives life leech. Why? Personally, I prefer not being hit any day of the week. Perhaps it comes into its own later in the game, but my initial impression was WTF.
Hunting:
* Vault. Does what it sounded like it would do. A great panic button and I have used it to pick up health globes while low on health. Woot? I cannot fault a really solid skill.
* Preparation. I do not want to like this one. Instantly recovering Hatred is really, really boring. The sad thing is that Secondary Skills blow your Hatred way too quickly, so this actually feels valuable. I have not been using it on principle.
* Companion. Seems an interesting option that adds a little more DPS, and the Runes are quite interesting too. Personally, I prefer Vault, but this seems a solid option for those planning to max their DPS, or using Elective Mode.
Devices:
* Evasive Fire. I do not get the point of this one. A useless version of Vault that also adds piddly damage. Meh? Perhaps I am missing something obvious, but it seems a poorly designed skill. Cheap, but meh.
* Fan of Knives. Not a bad skill, perhaps best paired with Vault so you can damage nearby enemies then get the heck out of that awful situation. Even without Runes this feels solid, adding Runes make it a fantastic combination. Probably a poor choice without Vault, as you do not want to be in the situation to use it.
* Spike Trap. Yum? Expensive, but powerful. In my limited experience with it, this should fit nicely into any build, though would obviously combos best with Slow/Stun skills to help you maximise damage.
What do others think of the class so far?
EDIT: Tags.
Primary Skills:
* Hungering Arrow. Just how absurdly over-powered is this? Guided arrows that pierce, then guide to another/the original target, with range extending beyond the screen and it generates Hatred? Add the Puncturing Arrow rune and I have frequently observed triple hits per arrow. The average damage is equivalent to the secondary skills (sorry, forgot how to calculate average damage in these situations --- my math skills are rusty). It is excellent crowd-control and powerful against single targets. To test, I have cleared entire zones by just spamming them ahead of me and never seeing a single enemy, just corpses and loot. Just add Hand Crossbows, spam and play on easy mode. Rarely got hit by anything.
* Entangling Shot. Outclassed by Hungering Arrow, but this one feels about right to me. Perhaps a little low on the damage, but a solid skill that feels balanced.
* Bola Shot. I do not like this one at all. A Primary Skill that takes a second to activate? Does that not make it essentially useless? You automatically regenerate the Hatred it returns faster than this, so you may as well just kite for a second and continue using better skills.
* Grenades. Personally, this one did not sit well for me as a Primary Skill, but that was just personal. In play it seems a lot better than it sounds on paper and probably has a good place in certain builds. Personally, I want to fire an arrow in a Primary Skill.
Secondary Skills:
* Impale. Way too Hatred expensive when you first get it. Significantly more appealing once you get Runes, but still burns away your Hatred like it is nobody's business. Outclassed by Hungering Arrow. Fits nicely with Entangling Arrow, but you rely on a low-damage Primary Skill more than you aught to.
* Rapid Fire. Again, way too expensive when you first get it. Withering Fire feels a much better cost (especially considering it uses your Rune). Still feels outclassed by Hungering Arrow, but again fits much better with Entangling Shot or Grenades.
* Chakram. Blessed Hammer redesigned for a ranged class. As with Hammerdins, someone may come up with a way to turn this into a really good skill, but I personally was not interested in being the one.
Defensive:
* Caltrops. What can I say, it does exactly what I expected, and I expected good. Probably not an especially useful combo with Entangling Shot, but fits really well with Hungering Arrow and Grenades. If anything, could be a slightly over-powered as you can spam the crap out of these and keep everything back.
* Smoke Screen. Seems an interesting option. Quite powerful, but costs a good amount of Discipline. I did not use it much, because I was a huge fan of Caltrops, but I could see it being a really solid skill and a lot of fun to play with. That said, I think it will be more popular with Variant Scum than Power Gamers as it adds fun, but there are more efficient ways to play.
* Shadow Power. WTF? This `tree' has two skills that help you completely avoid taking a hit, or you can pick one that gives life leech. Why? Personally, I prefer not being hit any day of the week. Perhaps it comes into its own later in the game, but my initial impression was WTF.
Hunting:
* Vault. Does what it sounded like it would do. A great panic button and I have used it to pick up health globes while low on health. Woot? I cannot fault a really solid skill.
* Preparation. I do not want to like this one. Instantly recovering Hatred is really, really boring. The sad thing is that Secondary Skills blow your Hatred way too quickly, so this actually feels valuable. I have not been using it on principle.
* Companion. Seems an interesting option that adds a little more DPS, and the Runes are quite interesting too. Personally, I prefer Vault, but this seems a solid option for those planning to max their DPS, or using Elective Mode.
Devices:
* Evasive Fire. I do not get the point of this one. A useless version of Vault that also adds piddly damage. Meh? Perhaps I am missing something obvious, but it seems a poorly designed skill. Cheap, but meh.
* Fan of Knives. Not a bad skill, perhaps best paired with Vault so you can damage nearby enemies then get the heck out of that awful situation. Even without Runes this feels solid, adding Runes make it a fantastic combination. Probably a poor choice without Vault, as you do not want to be in the situation to use it.
* Spike Trap. Yum? Expensive, but powerful. In my limited experience with it, this should fit nicely into any build, though would obviously combos best with Slow/Stun skills to help you maximise damage.
What do others think of the class so far?
EDIT: Tags.
May the wind pick up your heels and your sword strike true.