Share your build...

[Elric of Grans]

I would like to see what everyone is doing. More importantly, why they are doing it. A simple list of skills does not tell the story of how someone plays. It would also be relevant to see what class of weapon (bow, crossbow, hand crossbow/shield, dual hand crossbow, melee weapon/shield, dual melee weapon) you most-typically use.

Weapon
I have mostly used bows. On occasion, I have use a crossbow when the DPS was dramatically higher, but I happily sacrifice a little damage for the faster attack speed. I would like to use dual hand crossbows for the fastest attack speed, but I have never found two decent ones that were close to the same DPS. I think I have only once found one that was decent :\

Active Skills
LMB: Entangling Shot/Justice is Served. I have found I am not overly fond of any of the four Hatred-generating skills. I took Justice is Served to maximise the Hatred generation, allowing me to focus on my other skills. Entangling Shot seemed the lesser of four evils, as it provided a double-debuff, with Slow and a damage boost (from Cull the Weak). The Slow effect almost feels redundant, however, since half the Demon Hunter's skills Slow enemies. I use this on single, weaker enemies (eg Fallen), or thrown out periodically amid Hatred-using skills, to keep Hatred around half-full.

RMB: Elemental Arrow/Frost Arrow. This is my work-horse skill. Solid damage for moderate Hatred cost, Elemental Arrow quickly became a favourite of mine. Frost Arrow is, frankly, an over-powered Rune. It does more damage than the other Runes and it Slows enemies and it splits into additional projectiles that target enemies off the original line. This skill quickly slaughters regular groups and provides solid damage on Elite groups.

1: Smoke Screen/Lingering Fog. This skill almost feels essential for the class. I rarely use it, but sometimes I run into Elite groups that I know I would not have taken down without this. Lingering Fog is the only Rune that actually provides a meaningful benefit and, even post-nerf, longer duration is still longer duration. The ability to take the heat off for even 1.5 seconds when swarmed by, say, Jailer/Mortar Scavengers is that fine line between life and death. I honestly would like to switch out to something I can use more often, but I cannot see how I would handle those nasty groups without it.

2: Companion/Bat Companion. I like the fire-and-forget aspect of this Discipline-using skill. It almost seems too good when similar skills on the Wizard have a five minute timer. The extra damage it provides is, frankly, meaningless and it often tags mobs I did not want it to, but there is one reason I cannot switch it out: the bonus to Hatred Regeneration. It allow me to spam Elemental Arrow and, so long as I am kiting, I never come close to running out of Hatred. When I have the luxury to stand and fire, I pull out absurd damage before I need to stop, and recover fast enough that it is not dangerous. Similar to Smoke Screen, it often feels like I am wasting a slot, but every time I switch it out I immediately find my Hatred drains too fast for my liking. I have not found an alternative that added anything I felt my build needed, either.

3: Sentry/Spitfire Turret. Sentry is fantastic. Solid damage, allows you to kite while applying damage, and allows solid DPS when you can fire at the same time. I drop Sentries when there are large mobs. I drop Sentries when Elites appear. When facing something nasty (eg Extra Fast, Vortex or Jailer), I use Sentry to apply a large percentage of my damage while I focus on kiting the enemies back and forth across the Sentry's range. I use Spitfire Turrent as it seems to provide the best DPS; the other options I have used so far all felt inferior, though the higher-level Runes sound like nice alternatives.

4: Rain of Vengeance: Dark Cloud. Similar to Sentry, this is my means of applying damage while kiting tough Elites. I pop this, then Dark Cloud ensures the damage remains focused on the mobs I am kiting. The total damage is pretty solid, and the cooldown is not as not as bad as I would have thought. Most mobs only require one use to thin-out (removing Minions, or weakening all members of a Champion group), though I have had one nasty group that took three bursts (Extra Fast: I had no time to stop and shoot, so this and Sentry did all the damage). I have tried changing it out a few times to something I can use more freely, but the benefits of this are so good I keep coming back.

Passive Skills

Steady Aim. I keep swapping this slot all the time, because I cannot find anything I especially like. Steady Aim is essentially the current place holder, rather than being used for any particular reason.

Cull the Weak. This has been the crux of my play-style since the moment I unlocked it. Entangling Shot and Frost Arrow now essentially provide a debuff ensuring that all shots coming after them do more damage. 15% does not sound a lot, but I often see 100 extra damage in mid-Nightmare; I can imagine it only becomes better as time goes by.

Brooding. Initially, I did not like this. By Act II/Nightmare, I had so much health (>10K) that it was churning out a fairly good regen amount. Most of the time, this (and my Templar companion) handle my healing. Combined with Smoke Screen, it goes a long way to helping me get through the potion cooldown timer in even horrid situations. I would suggest the skill is unlocked too early, as you need more levels to appreciate how good it is.

[Sir_Die_alot]

For a long time I was using:

1 elemental arrow with tentacle rune (if you're not high enough level to use this yet, it is exactly like the ball lightning but with life steal and Japanese erotica)
2 vault with the half cost rune
3 smoke screen with lingering fog (swapped to this after inferno act 1 just kicked my ass)
4 caltrops with 80% reduced speed rune (again swapped to this from the 2s snare because inferno monsters could be so fast the snare was irrelevant)
5 Hungering arrow with the rune that makes it split into 3 when it pierces

I've now started really moving into act 2, and despite kicking butt in act 1, I was again getting my ass kicked. So my new build is this:
1 elemental arrow with the fear skull rune
2 preparation with the backup plan rune
3 smoke screen with lingering fog
4 caltrops with 80% reduced speed rune
5 Hungering arrow with the increased chance to pierce rune

I took it slow around the edges and I was able to push my way to the witch with 5 stacks. The fight itself was easy just avoid the flies which 1 shot me. I only skipped one boss pack that was extra fast mortar. My current strat is pretty obvious. Just fear spam. With mortar just spam SS and refill with prep. It's dumb but there is no way around it. Mortars are murder for a DH. When I walked into act 2 the first time I was sporting 400+ all resists and about 27k life. One of the bomber cat loled at that and 1 shot me with a 40k bomb. I've dropped resists in favor of hitpoints since then I'm sporting about 250+ with about 32k life.

When servers are back up I plan to move on in act 2. I'll need more gear for Azmodan. A monk I play with ran past everything to try to just skip the act and between a monk, barb, sorc and myself in different combinations I just couldn't survive the fight since everything he does in the last phase is a 1 shot, and being 100% perfect long enough to make his health go to 0 is a lot to ask.

[RiotInferno]

Right now, I'm at the end of Act 2 (Hell), and just hit 58.

My Build

Marked for Death is my current "free skill" option, It isn't vital to the build, but it helps generate hatred.

My gear isn't great, but I haven't had any problems yet. The general play-style is to come up on a pack of enemies, multi-shot through them, drop Preperation, Multishot some more, and hopefully by the time you've gone through your Hatred, your Multishot has refilled your Discipline.

If not, unload some Entangling shots for 6 Hatred each.

Against single-targets, Impale is awesome, and the tactics are similiar. Impale, Preperation, Imaple, Entangling shot.

I was using a bow, but just upgraded to a cross-bow.
Also, I primarily only play co-op, so Soloing isn't something I worry about.

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And now for something completely different

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This is my planned "survival-and-i-don't-care-about-DPS" build that I came up with during the server downtime (so it's completely untested).

My Build

If memory serves me right, Grenades, Spike Trap and Impale don't care what weapon you have equipped. On top of that, Sentry and Companion don't either.

The main equipment for this will hopefully be a 1-Handed Spear and a shield.
The play-style suggests to drop a turret and spike traps, and to run around occasionally impaling things.

Here's my logic:
Every skill on there doesn't require a bow.
2H Crossbows seem popular, and have a base speed of 1.10
Add in (about)15% IAS that you'd receive from a quiver, and you're up to 1.26 ( assuming the IAS equation is newSpeed = oldSpeed * ( 1 + [ IAS % / 100 ] ) )
Spears are 1.2 speed and 1 handed. So by switching to 1-handed spear, you lose .06 speed, but gain the ability to use a shield, while only losing a small amount of DPS, but you can potentially make this up depending on what bonuses you can get on your shield.

I'd definitely welcome any input on this.

[RiotInferno]

An update on the non-bow build:
Arrows Optional

After playing this, it is a lot of fun in a group! Lightning Trap + Impale + Sharp Shooter makes for a decent amount of hit-and-run damage.

I did some research, looking at items in the Auction House, and it appears that there's not a lot of difference in weapon choice (aside from the basic differences in weapons ). Using a shield has greatly increased my survivability, and being able to switch to any better 1-handed weapon I run across is actually quite a boon.

If I find a 1H-xbow, then I can change out Fan of Knives for Nether Tentacles, but if not, the build still works, so far.

How it plays:
As long as you have someone to "tank", or at least keep the monsters off you, and near them, this build is fun. You can lay lightning traps as fast as your weapon allows, although they do have a 1.2 sec fuse, but you can have 3 out at once.

If it is a single creature, that's where Impale really shines. Impale + Grievous Wounds + Sharp Shooter = 25-30K crits, when my base damage (on the lying character screen) was only around 5k.

When monsters rush you, Fan of Knives helps (and reduces their damage, with the Numbing Traps as a passive ), then it's just a kite game with Spike Trap / Impale.

The increased "Oh Crap!" hatred reservoir in Preparation is really really useful, as is the increased Hatred generation from Grenades and the Companion.

Grenades, once I learned how to aim them, are a lot of fun.

All-in-all, if you're looking for something different, give it a try!

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Update
After playing over my noon-lunch, and then switching back to the first configuration I had listed (using a 1H-xbow and shield), that this trap/grenade build doesn't really have the same DPS potential as an actual archery build. This might work okay in a group, but not really for soloing.

[Roland]

Weapon
I started off using almost exclusively crossbows for the higher DPS. I've since switched over to Bows for the higher attack rate, and combined with Archery it gives me pretty close to Crossbow DPS (and really, what else am I going to spend the passive on? Our passives SUCK )

Active Skills
LMB: Bola Shot - Imminent Doom. I switched from Volatile Explosives to Imminent Doom when I hit Inferno because I needed the added damage, and when you can only fire one shot before you have to kite for 2+ seconds the added timer delay doesn't matter much at all. I'm thinking about switching back, however, not that my base DPS is just shy of 18k. Volatile Explosives are very nice for packs (almost essential, IMHO, but that's a playstyle preference), and I haven't seen much else worthwhile. Acid Strike is absolute rubbish - the 3 Bolas fire in a trident-like spread, and each Bola can only hit one enemy, meaning that if you're up-close only one Bola hits the target while the rest pass right through for no damage. Complete. Utter. Garbage. I never much cared for Hungering Arrow, and the explosion radius of Volatile Explosives just made Bola Shot too good of an AoE to give up all the way through to Inferno Act I. As I said, though, Imminent Doom was more of a placeholder, so I'm thinking of switching back to Volatile Explosives.

RMB: Impale - Impact. High-damage single-target? Check. Good chance for stun? Check. Spammable with Companion - Bat and a little bit of added Hatred Regen? Check. Excellent on Act bosses (especially those that can actually be stunned), and super effective on trash mobs in a champ pack for that almost-on-demand stun. Not only does it effectively allow me to whittle down groups, it allows me to gain kiting distance from the one (or two, or three if I'm really pinched) mobs that break free of my Caltrops and get too close to comfort. Never leave home without it. It's a must-have skill in my bar.

1: Caltrops - Jagged Spikes. OMG is this skill awesome. 60% slow on a PB-placed AoE trap (with a long duration before it disappears when not triggered)? Hells yes. 45% CONTINUAL (and that's the key word here) weapon damage? OMG hells yes. Easily got me through to Inferno Act I, and is incredible at choke points due to its static nature and continual slow + damage. Combined with Cull the Weak for added punishment (up to Inferno, anyway). Originally had it as Hooked Spines, but that was only because I thought the damage was a once-fire when tripped, ala the stun. When I actually tried it and realized it was continual damage I never looked back - period. 20% more slow is nice, but continual damage while slowed is better, especially when you can lay 4 or 5 in a line while kiting.

2: Companion - Bat Companion. Originally Spider Companion for the added slow (occasionally useful for stragglers that escape the Caltrops), and especially Cull the Weak. Tip from SirDiealot led me to the Bat, and I've never looked back since. Cull the Weak is great up through Hell, but in Inferno it's just not worth it over things like Archery (if you have a Bow), Brooding, and Numbing Traps. Tried the Boar - didn't care for it (I have better AoE skills). Haven't tried the Wolf, but the damage just isn't high enough to be worth it, especially when I burn through Discipline like mad dropping Caltrops + Sentry while kiting. If it was 100% weapon damage it might be a different story, but even then it's hard to argue with massive Hatred regeneration. Flat-out the best Companion skill.

3: Sentry - Guardian Turret. Started out as Spitfire (which was AWESOME). Moved up to Aid Station in Inferno, but found it virtually worthless except for post-fight healing (when I didn't want to waste a pot cooldown). Currently set at Guardian Turret and finding it just as worthless. You simply cannot tank as a DH (nor should you necessarily), and even with Caltrops + Numbing Traps the very basic core mechanic makes this skill worthless - you have to be in the bubble, standing still. You quite simply cannot kite at such a short range. If Aid Station and/or Guardian Turret were not distance-based (or covered the screen, at least) they would be perfectly viable (and balanced). As it is, they're utter crap, so I may just move back to Spitfire Turret (despite the paltry damage boost, it IS a boost, and it's noticeable on Act Bosses). Vigilant Watcher isn't worth anything - if it doubled the duration it MIGHT be, but as it stands there's no reason to take it. Just manage your Discipline with a modicum of effort. Chains of Torment SOUND interesting, but I'm not sure the damage is worth the cost, especially since I don't know the range (although if it's anything like Aid Station / Guardian Turret, it'll be just as worthless as those).

4: Multishot - Fire at Will. Used to have Spike Trap, especially with the damage boost / longer cooldown, but switched to this (on account of SirDiealot) and haven't looked back. VERY spammable with this rune (making it, IMHO, the most damage / Hatred efficient setup for Multishot), and absolutely killer on trash mobs. Useless on single targets, but that's not what it's designed for. Great for choke points as it shoots through some walls (if you're close enough to the doorway, anyway). Like all my other skills, I find it very hard to give up.

Passive Skills
Archery. Without a Bow I might do Cull the Weak, but I'm not sure. Honestly, we don't get very many useful Passives. Thrill of the Hunt was my first, and I used it for quite awhile. I may switch back to that if I had a Crossbow (50% higher crit damage? Really? Does that even mathematically compare to 15% flat damage increase?)

Brooding. This came in somewhere in Hell, I think. Practically useless, but it helps when kiting for those clinch kill-or-be-killed fights, especially when I could actually travel through my Aid Station for a second or two (and that's an eternity). Haven't found anything better to replace it with. Sad.

Numbing Traps. Tried this in Inferno. Not sure if it's worth it, but given how much I use Caltrops it seemed fitting. 25% damage reduction is NOTHING in Inferno, but I suppose it helps more when grouping (which I rarely ever do). As I said, we get pretty shitty passives, so the only thing I might change it for is Sharpshooter, but even that's a stretch.

[Elric of Grans]

In Hell difficulty, I have switched to Hand Crossbow and Shield. The DPS stinks compared to a Bow and Quiver (especially since higher level quivers provide more than 10% faster attack speed), but the added armour as well as the block chance have made a huge difference to my survivability. Even though I would like the added DPS, I think I have settled on this style from now on. I have changed from Steady Aim to Archery to improve my DPS a little, but the crit damage is only slightly higher than bow base damage Roland, I tried the Chains Rune out. The Range is absurdly short (a large enemy is big enough to make you stand outside the range, making it impossible to use on them!), and the effect seems to cancel out if anything (eg terrain) gets between you and the Sentry. I found it almost never triggered, and the damage was pitiful when it did.

Agreed with Roland, our passives are utter trash. It is not the tough decision of which three are best, but the lame decision of what to just fill the slot with. I think you would find Sharpshooter nice with a Bow; definitely with a Crossbow. With the slower attack rate and the time spent kiting you crit pretty often.

[RiotInferno]

I'm a believer in hand xbow / shield. While I feel that the DH can go all-out glass cannon, I don't see the fun in potentially being one-shotted at the drop of a hat. I'll glad sacrifice some DPS for survivability.

[ima_nerd]

I made it to the Sin Hearts portion of A3-NM last night. I've been dreading the Phasebeasts since I saw them in Normal. I knew they would be the first boss packs with the potential to be extremely deadly. Turns out I was right! I rolled a champ pack with Jailer/Frozen this morning and died a couple times while frantically spamming Impale and SS and just trying to stay alive. It could have been a lot worse. Here's my build ATM:

LMB: Hungering Arrow - Shatter Shot
RMB: Multishot - Full Broadside
1: Caltrops - Jagged Spikes
2: Smoke Screen - 1s -> 1.5s duration
3: Sentry - Suppressing Fire
4: Impale - Impact

12.5k HP
38% dmg reduction
2100 DPS

I've had minor trouble with various boss packs during my time in NM but this was the first one that I really had no chance to defeat without dying at least once. I can slog through them well enough but I'm thinking ahead to Hell (trying to not think about Inferno). Even without two immobilizing powers it's hard to avoid getting trapped on the narrow walkways. I'm considering swapping SS or even Sentry for Vault with Rattling Roll. What strategies have y'all used to avoid getting cornered?

[Roland]

I made it to the Sin Hearts portion of A3-NM last night. I've been dreading the Phasebeasts since I saw them in Normal. I knew they would be the first boss packs with the potential to be extremely deadly.

I find Soul Rippers to be far deadlier. Phase Beasts you can at least kite to a point, while Soul Rippers have such huge range with their tongues (to say nothing of the damage, which trumps Phase Beast).

I've had minor trouble with various boss packs during my time in NM but this was the first one that I really had no chance to defeat without dying at least once. I can slog through them well enough but I'm thinking ahead to Hell (trying to not think about Inferno). Even without two immobilizing powers it's hard to avoid getting trapped on the narrow walkways. I'm considering swapping SS or even Sentry for Vault with Rattling Roll. What strategies have y'all used to avoid getting cornered?

Learning how to properly kite is a skill that takes practice to get right, and relies heavily on situational awareness. That said, knowing when (and where) to place your Caltrops so you're not constantly out of Discipline, combined with Numbing Traps for those times when you do get cornered, and Impale - Impact to break the flow of mobs while kiting, as well as spamming it to tear down a mob's health rapidly are all essential things to learn for your build. 2.1k DPS is plenty for NM, although your health could definitely use some work.

Beyond that, I'd say just keep practicing with your positioning and kiting. Experiment in the fields of Act I, where mobs aren't too plentiful, are easy to avoid, and you have lots of space to run. Then try your mettle in the Halls of Agony, where mobs are more challenging, hit harder, and move faster - in addition to narrow pathways, twisting corners, and plenty of obstructions in the landscape. If there's one thing that farming Halls > Warden > Butcher in Inferno has taught me, it's how to kite, as well as subtler nuances like when (and where) I can take a (albeit brief) stand under cover of my Caltrops (with Numbing Traps passive) and Sentry - Guardian Turret.

[RiotInferno]

This is my current build, and it let me solo A1/Inferno
My Build

As far as around lvl 30, I'd probably go something like this:
Level 30 build

I spent 60 levels laughing at Evasive fire, because I thought it was worthless.
Evasive + Tactical Advantage is amazingly good for positioning.
The 60% speed boost lets me get enough distance to throw out some traps, or light up the hallway with Elemental Arrows.

Spike Traps: If you are in a hallway or doorway, you can place them right on top of each other for maximum impact.

Elemental Arrow: 10 hatred a shot is a pure steal. The amount of shots you can get off against a boss w/ Bat + Marked For Death (Mortal Enemy) is ridiculous. Especially if you have any hatred regen gear.

I now prefer Shadow Power (Gloom) over Smoke Screen, but until that point, I think Smoke Screen works just fine.

I also don't use Sharpshooter anymore. At the end of the day, the DPS pump isn't worth it to me (versus Tactical Advantage)

[ima_nerd]

I find Soul Rippers to be far deadlier. Phase Beasts you can at least kite to a point, while Soul Rippers have such huge range with their tongues (to say nothing of the damage, which trumps Phase Beast).

At least you can dodge the tongues. If you see one squaring up to your position you can run perpendicular and avoid it about half the time (in my experience so far). Phasebeasts just pop up behind you (or if you're actively kiting, usually on top of you). And with their range it's really hard to avoid getting popped at least once, which is usually pretty devastating.

Learning how to properly kite is a skill that takes practice to get right, and relies heavily on situational awareness. That said, knowing when (and where) to place your Caltrops so you're not constantly out of Discipline, combined with Numbing Traps for those times when you do get cornered, and Impale - Impact to break the flow of mobs while kiting, as well as spamming it to tear down a mob's health rapidly are all essential things to learn for your build. 2.1k DPS is plenty for NM, although your health could definitely use some work.

I think I'll take your advice and regem to up my HP. This is the first thing I've encountered in D3 that's really made me step back and evaluate the decisions I've made on skills and gear. I have the Diablo skills to kite properly but when there's 3 champ + 4-5 normal Phasebeasts coming at me from one direction and I can only run away in the opposite direction then 2-3 of them TP to where I'm trying to run... I think it's the environment of narrow walkways more than anything that's really hurting me.

Somewhat aside - am I an idiot for not being too impressed with SS? I think I'd rather Vault twice for a little more discipline (or less depending on runes).

[RiotInferno]

I think I'll take your advice and regem to up my HP. This is the first thing I've encountered in D3 that's really made me step back and evaluate the decisions I've made on skills and gear. I have the Diablo skills to kite properly but when there's 3 champ + 4-5 normal Phasebeasts coming at me from one direction and I can only run away in the opposite direction then 2-3 of them TP to where I'm trying to run... I think it's the environment of narrow walkways more than anything that's really hurting me.

Somewhat aside - am I an idiot for not being too impressed with SS? I think I'd rather Vault twice for a little more discipline (or less depending on runes).

SS: If you are, then I'm an idiot also. I don't think it's quite the cat's pajamas.

HP: At item lvl 31, you can start finding items with +Resist to specific categories. Phys Resist / Fire Resist / Arcane Resist + Armor might be more useful then stacking VIT.

At the end of the day, damage mitigation is better than more HP.

[Apostolic]

I think I'll take your advice and regem to up my HP. This is the first thing I've encountered in D3 that's really made me step back and evaluate the decisions I've made on skills and gear. I have the Diablo skills to kite properly but when there's 3 champ + 4-5 normal Phasebeasts coming at me from one direction and I can only run away in the opposite direction then 2-3 of them TP to where I'm trying to run... I think it's the environment of narrow walkways more than anything that's really hurting me.

Somewhat aside - am I an idiot for not being too impressed with SS? I think I'd rather Vault twice for a little more discipline (or less depending on runes).

SS: If you are, then I'm an idiot also. I don't think it's quite the cat's pajamas.

HP: At item lvl 31, you can start finding items with +Resist to specific categories. Phys Resist / Fire Resist / Arcane Resist + Armor might be more useful then stacking VIT.

At the end of the day, damage mitigation is better than more HP.

Not necessarily true. Both VIT and Armor/Resists increase your Effective Health (the total damage you can take before you die), but do so at differing rates depending on your current gear set. 1 VIT is almost always going to provide more EH than 1 Armor. See:

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/thread-13899.html (contain link to Flash app showing VIT/Armor scale)
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/thread-13865.html


A concrete example (using the Flash app above): for my monk that has ~49k HP and ~6450 Armor, Vitality is 6.75 times as effective as armor at increasing her EH, meaning I should only be willing to trade 100 VIT for an Armor value of 675 or higher.

[RiotInferno]

I think I'll take your advice and regem to up my HP. This is the first thing I've encountered in D3 that's really made me step back and evaluate the decisions I've made on skills and gear. I have the Diablo skills to kite properly but when there's 3 champ + 4-5 normal Phasebeasts coming at me from one direction and I can only run away in the opposite direction then 2-3 of them TP to where I'm trying to run... I think it's the environment of narrow walkways more than anything that's really hurting me.

Somewhat aside - am I an idiot for not being too impressed with SS? I think I'd rather Vault twice for a little more discipline (or less depending on runes).

SS: If you are, then I'm an idiot also. I don't think it's quite the cat's pajamas.

HP: At item lvl 31, you can start finding items with +Resist to specific categories. Phys Resist / Fire Resist / Arcane Resist + Armor might be more useful then stacking VIT.

At the end of the day, damage mitigation is better than more HP.

Not necessarily true. Both VIT and Armor/Resists increase your Effective Health (the total damage you can take before you die), but do so at differing rates depending on your current gear set. 1 VIT is almost always going to provide more EH than 1 Armor. See:

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/thread-13899.html (contain link to Flash app showing VIT/Armor scale)
http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/thread-13865.html


A concrete example (using the Flash app above): for my monk that has ~49k HP and ~6450 Armor, Vitality is 6.75 times as effective as armor at increasing her EH, meaning I should only be willing to trade 100 VIT for an Armor value of 675 or higher.

Point taken. It is not 100% Resist + Armor > Vit. As always, gear is a fine balance based on may factors.

[Elric of Grans]

I still use Smoke Screen. Instant-break out of situations that should equal death (eg Jailer)? Yeah, I will take that. I have desperately tried to use Shadow Power in place of Smoke Screen, but there are so few situations where it is actually better that I could not justify it, and Gloom is the only Rune than makes it borderline useful. I cannot see how damage resistance can possibly compare with complete immunity to damage and control effects.

[RiotInferno]

I still use Smoke Screen. Instant-break out of situations that should equal death (eg Jailer)? Yeah, I will take that. I have desperately tried to use Shadow Power in place of Smoke Screen, but there are so few situations where it is actually better that I could not justify it, and Gloom is the only Rune than makes it borderline useful. I cannot see how damage resistance can possibly compare with complete immunity to damage and control effects.

I prefer it for the duration. 1.5 seconds just doesn't seem long enough for me to get anything done.

[Elric of Grans]

In 99% of situations, even 1 second is enough (in my experience). I have had a couple of nasty situations with Molten/Waller/Vortex packs where Shadow Power's longer duration would have come to a net gain, and I prefer Shadow Power's duration for The Butcher, but outside that Smoke Screen with Lingering Fog and Tactical Advantage has ensured I did not take a single hit. The instant break and immunity from control effects is the most critical aspects, however. Jailer? Frozen? Nightmare? Waller? Vortex? Arcane Enchanted? Basically, everything that is (a) annoying, or (b) instant death, Smoke Screen has 100% reliability to completely negate all effects and damage. That is the reason why almost all players continue to use it after the nerfs: there is no other alternative that provides what Smoke Screen does.

[RiotInferno]

Wait... SS gets you out of Frozen? Or do you have to hit it before you're frozen?

[Elric of Grans]

It breaks Frozen and Jailer. As far as I know, every class has one skill with the Root-Break property; ours is Smoke Screen. That said, it is pretty rare to be caught by the freezing blasts with a Demon Hunter, so it is more for Jailer.

[RiotInferno]

Okay, SS is quite a bit more awesome then I gave it credit for.