A quick guide for optimizing Squirts with Gizzard gem/Fortress Ballista

Demon Hunter
121

Just a quick math related question…

I haven’t got my ancient Squirt’s yet, but I did find a different Squirt’s.

Now, the new one I found had 8% crit chance, 78% crit dam, a socket and I was able to roll 20% fire dam onto it.

My old one has 17% Fire, 98% crit dam, and 9.5 crit chance and the obligatory socket.

Now the tooltip says the old one is 4.9% better but it doesn’t count the extra Fire Percent and I’m not sure if my math is correct but to my figuring the extra 3% Fire Damage alone is 7.5% better so if I subtract the tooltip from that then the new isn’t worse but 2.6% better.

Is that correct or is my math way off and it just shows how bad at math I really am?

Edit: I think I have my answer. I just checked the stat sheet and I lose about 160,000 fire damage with the new amulet, so that answers that. Unless the stat sheet is wrong. lol

122

Best way to check it is to use d3planner,

https://www.d3planner.com/401417049

and plug in the number yourself.

But quick glance (sorry, on my phone, hard to check your profile myself) at the stat seems to suggest your old one should be better.

Damage increase or decrease via elemental damage is not hard to calculate though. No, it’s not new one is 7.5% better, it goes like this (assuming you have 20% fire damage on your bracers),

1.4 / 1.37 = 1.0219, so new one is 2.2% increase in damage via fire elemental dmg.

Or, to put it in perspective,

1.37 / 1.4 = 0.9786, so old one is 2.14% lower in damage via fire elemental damage.

Hate the word DR in this, but yeah, this is the reason why the more elemental damage you stack, the less effective damage increase it gets, not by much, but stacks up, as its increase/decrease is relative.
(loved the example of LoN rings. 13 ancients from 12 ancients is not 750% increase in damage, but 8.33% increase)

Anyway, conclusion, your old one should be, 4.9 - 2.14, around 2.76% higher in dps.

But do check with d3planner to make sure.

2 Likes
123

Tier 117 down.

Time: 13:36.966
Good for Rank 27 as of this posting.
Paragon: 1649
Shield: 325,883
Life: 300,262
Toughness after Evasive Fire: 209,018,912
Effective Shield Toughness: 226,923,860

Well, after almost 200 paragon on the button, and re-augmenting some pieces to 555 from 500 my sheet damage when up nearly 250,000 to 4,000,000 some odd.

Finally got a good boss, Hamelin, I about laughed and audibly said, “Finally!”

First, map was Festering Wood with Anarch’s and Demon Troopers. No Juggernauts through the whole rifts, and no Mortar affixes either. Spawned the boss on the second map with the first Elite which was also Demon Trooper in the second room. The Floor was the Keep Depths but I’m not sure what the monster combo was.

Anyway, I did it! I’ve got a brand new personal best! Woo Hoo!!!

6 Likes
124

So, I tried a 118 and came up really short, like two and a half minutes, but I died a few times and got the mortar affix on three or four consecutive elites, so it wasn’t a great rift, for me anyway. It was Festering with density so it was good in that sense but those elites really screwed me up.

But, what I really want to say, is I really wish I could stutter step like you guys. I don’t use force move but do use force standstill because I’m just much more comfortable with it.

Right now, I’m re-augmenting the rest of my equipment to 555. So with the additional paragon and those augments my damage will go up somewhere around 100,000.

I’ve also tried switching my enchantress up a bit. Thunderfury helps her with more chances to pull, but I’m trying Eun-jang-do dagger because I think it will help more with Rift Guardians and some elites. That three second freeze, so far means that as soon as they hit 18% life (the affix on the dagger) then they’re dead.

the change doesn’t seem to effect the time between rift opening and Guardian spawn too much, but at 110 it makes the Guardian fight a few seconds shorter.

What I want to know is if my perception is off and the pulls from the enchantress are more important. I want to note that the only area damage I have is from paragon. Though I do have a Primal Restraint with crit, crit, area dam. But my worn restraint has straight dam in addition to crit, crit, so I think it’s better but I could be wrong.

125

There is no magic answer to your question. UE is an outdated build that just doesn’t scale enough.

My DH on HC season has 6 augs and very good gear (including a perfect primal DML and near perfect ancient Yang’s, trifecta focus & restraint, ~72% RCR etc), and she feels clunky even at GR95 (1.2k Para) toughness is ~1.2B with 101 legendary gems.

Meanwhile both my WD and TV Hydra Wiz with no legendary gems and no augs and only weapons ancient can do GR100-105 with 7-5m left on clock. That huge of a difference (and WD could prolly do higher if she gets 2 open maps with good mob types cause her dmg scales with density, the easier to herd large pools of enemies the faster the clear and more time left for RG - even with no stricken (or any legendary gem) they go down at this GR lvl in ~2-3m which is nothing when you spawn them with 7-8m+ left).

To answer your last question: the pulls from follower only matter if you’re running Broadside with tons of AD on gear (which is denoted by Wudijo to be the way to go for UE MS high clears, he did an 128 at 3k paragon or so).

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126

So, by my figures, if my gear doesn’t improve between now and then, to get a similar time of 13 and a half minutes in a Grift 118. I’ll need about 600 more paragon. Not as much if I kind get a new DML with 20/10 attack speed/Crit chance and able to roll Multishot onto it. My current is 17/9.5 but it also has 198% on the affix. So basically there’s room for improvement.

And my Squirt’s still needs to be ancient with a higher Fire percentage and crit/crit/socket.

Those two things would probably cut the paragon total in half. My Focus could use some improvement as well. It’s got main stat. I’d like to change that to straight damage to up my damage a bit enough to make up for the lost main stat.

I’m not sure what that would cut the paragon needed to, but I’ll just say it’ll shave off another 100.

So if I can get some upgrades, which I haven’t seen one of those in a while and about 200 paragon between now then, then 118 should be in the bag with limited fishing.

Hi Ho Hi Ho, it’s off to farming I go. Hi Ho Hi Ho Hi Ho.

2 Likes
127

At 20k dex with a Primal Yang’s, ancient damage range on rings (assuming max roll 105-210) should be worth about an additional 3% damage over 650 dex for the first ring and maybe about 2.7% damage over 650 dex on the second ring. This is assuming that all the rings in question are ancient and will be augmented. (If we’re talking 650 dex + augment vs. non-ancient damage range and no augment, the non-ancient damage range ring becomes a lot less compelling.)

So for ancient damage range on the second ring at roughly 2.7% over 650 dex at 20k total dex, ancient damage range is worth about 100-120 paragon. Ish.

So all that to say, your guesstimate was pretty accurate haha.

I hate this part of the season. I think you’re about the same place as me with my wizard. Before this point, you are progressing easier. Getting upgrades, adding augments, increasing your paragon. But once you are decked out in all or almost all slots ancient with 100-120 augments, progression really slows down. Past 1500 paragon or so, it starts to turn more into a paragon grind and looking for increasingly rare and difficult to get upgrades.

My wizard just got a huge CoE upgrade (ancient 43/6/8 CDR (rolled)/200% booyah!). First upgrade I’ve seen in quite some time for my wizard. Now I need an ancient CDR+CHC+CHD Karini with 75%+ for the legendary roll. That’s going to be a near impossible upgrade to get.

This is usually the point where I quit the season, since it turns into a huge grind fest to progress further. This season I have more playtime so I decided to switch gears and push DH too. Normally I’d do UE, and I was getting kind of excited about it seeing what you and some other forum DHs are doing, but I keep getting primals for Impale. Seemed like a good opportunity to give Impale a try. And gearing a second class means I still get that feeling of progression.

128

Another question:

But first, the premise…

I decided to go back to non-season a bit with the new found knowledge of dropping boar for wolf and a couple of other tidbits picked up this season.

Put on my Attack Speed Primal Yang’s, switched boar for wolf, changed rolls or equipment so that resource reduction replaced cooldown, stuff like that. Then I’m re-caldesan’s some of the equipment to 550 or 555.

My question is…

I have two Restraint’s. One has attack speed and the other straight damage. The straight damage is a little low at 105-196 and the crit damage is really low at 28%. But it has 6% crit chance.

The other has 7% attack speed, 47% crit dam, and 5% crit chance.

In addition, the attack speed one raised my attack to 2.14 when used in conjunction with an attack speed Focus. But with the straight damage one, I still have 2.04 attack speed.

So there’s three questions here.

I have a Primal Focus with cooldown, crit, crit. Since I’d still have over 2 attacks per second, would it be a good idea to use the Primal Focus?

Or, keep the two rings at attack speed?

And third, Despite the looks of the straight damage Restraint rolling terribly, is it possible that it might be better than the attack speed just because I already have over two attacks per second as long as I keep the attack speed Focus?

129

It’s hard to compute the exact benefit of all rings you’re comparing without knowing your entire build. I would use d3planner or something similar to just compare the affixes.

Personally, I’d just use the primal one with cooldown you mentioned because it has a red border and the stats are quite good (mostly for the red border though). Also remember that if using Captain Crunch, the +8% CDR will provide +3~4% more damage in addition to the utility of having more Wolf uptime (or Boar oinks).

130

I’m not sure how to post links, but I loaded my character out in the build I’m using. And for now am using the Primal Focus as I was thinking along the same lines as you. But if you wouldn’t mind checking my profile under the character named Rynn, it’s my build I’m using to push 117 in Non-season.

I’d do as you suggested with d3planner but I’m ashamed to admit that I don’t know much on how to use it. I’m sure it’s all pretty self explanatory but the dang thing confuses the heck out of me.

So, now you know two things about me…

I’m absolute rubbish at math and pretty much computer illiterate.

It’s not all my fault though. Had some ECT treatments some 20 years ago and it pretty much wiped out most of what I learned in High School and the little bit of college I have and also makes it hard to understand some things that other people find pretty simple.

131
  1. Copy the URL to the clipboard
  2. Paste the URL into your forum post
  3. Highlight the URL in your post
  4. Click the </> button in the editor
  5. This will turn your URL into pre-formatted text
  6. Whilst not clickable, the URL will be properly formatted so others can copy / paste it like this… http://www.ThisIsAnExample.com/HowToMakeLinks.htm
1 Like
132

Thanks, Meteor. Give me a sec and I’ll see if I can work that…

https://us.diablo3.com/en/profile/Idolis-1765/hero/97481468

Edit: Well looky there, I did it. Thanks again, Meteor.

133

I went ahead and imported your character and allocated your paragon (move speed → rest into dex) to match your profile:

https://www.d3planner.com/429945038

From that link, you can go to the skills/effects tab to see what your Multishot damage is with all the buffs and multipliers.

To compare two rings, clone a copy of your set by adding a new configuration in the lower left (New set → Clone current set). Next, go to equipment tab, click the ring you want to change, and select “unlock”. Then change the rarity from primal ancient to ancient (so you can input the exact values). You can then see how the Multishot damage changes when you switch between the two configurations (the new one and the original one).

Edit: before you ask how I embedded a link, only a select few on the forums (those with TL3) have the ability to do so. You can just follow Meteorblade’s advice and encapsulate your links with ` characters as you did before.

2 Likes
134

You’re welcome, but links to certain domains are allowed to be embedded for those of us without Trust Level 3. Links to the armoury are now on the white list. For example, your DH…
https://us.diablo3.com/en/profile/Idolis-1765/hero/97481468

1 Like
135

Well, it seems that the two attack speed rings is the best option. Resulting in a 1.3% increase dps over all other options.

Doesn’t look like much, but results in about 322 billion in additional dps.

And thank you so much, Iria for doing that work for me. I really appreciate it.

2 Likes
136

It’s not hard to gear for UE MS and you don’t need primals to progress with it either, tbh I feel that Impale doesn’t have the upper hand on UE MS lately, with broadside you can push really high with good gear (for a DH that is), and arsenal should still do 120’s just fine (we already have 116 clear with UE MS on HC seasonal with only 2k paragon, but then again it’s HC so you won’t gear as offensively as on softcore and lack 1 dmg boost passive for awareness as well).

Cheers! :slight_smile:

137

My point wasn’t really in relation to UE, it was more that for pretty much every build, you eventually get to the point where progression really starts to slow down and you are looking for very minor gear upgrades over your already ancient and augmented pieces. E.g. you have ancient 40/9.5 gloves and spend 100-250k+ shards trying to get 50/10 gloves etc. Earlier in the season as you are adding more pieces, you progress much faster and increase your GR potential as you add ancients and augments. Once you are decked out in all ancients and fully augmented, your rate of increase in your max GR potential slows to a crawl. It’s basically all about paragon and super rare minor upgrades at that point.

That was less of a comment about UE and more of a comment about the rate of progression over time for pretty much any build. Part of the enjoyment of D3 is the feeling of progression. There’s a point where you progress quicker, but eventually you get to the point where progression really slows down and you need exponentially more hours to gain a GR level on your top clear potential. I find that part of the season far less fun, I enjoy the feeling of finding periodic upgrades, and when that slows down I start to lose interest. That’s usually around the point when I either quit the season or start working on a second class.

My point about UE vs. Shadow didn’t really relate to that first point. I’d rather play UE, I’ve played pretty much nothing but UE on my DHs since season 3 when it was first added. I’ve pushed UE before, been top 100 in SC seasonal a couple times and maybe top 50 in HC seasonal the couple times I pushed UE in HC. Nothing too exceptional, but I definitely have experience with UE. I decided to play Shadow this season since I’ve never really played it much before, and since I got three primals for Shadow (Karlei’s, boots, gloves) it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a go. And in my experience UE can get frustratingly fishy at the high end push, and it seems like Impale should be a little more consistent in that regard.

2 Likes
138

Tier 117 down on Non-season.
Time: 14:20.416
Good for Rank 245 as of this posting.
Paragon: 2511
Shield: 316,157
Life: 124,025
Toughness after Evasive Fire: 187,644,592
Effective Shield Toughness: 478,332,201

The Boss was an easy one, Tethrys (or whatever the succubus one’s name is). First floor was the one with the narrow windy paths all winding to and from small larger areas, with one huge open area near the exit. Sorry, don’t know what it’s called with Returned and the red ghouls.

Second map was the Shrouded more with Reaper Sheild bearers. And the third map was the flooded causeway with swarms and tormented stingers.

Not the best maps but good density on each and pretty good mobs.

All in all, pretty proud of myself.

4 Likes
139

Yeah possibly, outside of 4p / rat runs there’s no point for progression in solo, all streamers who push “solo” run hundreds of rat runs to get their gems and paragons up before “pushing”.

I refuse to grind every season rats, it’s just boring, am playing the game to have fun, I know the limits of the toons I play in the season, and once I reach those am happy with it and just chill / have fun / farm some stuff and play the game <3

2 Likes
140

DiEoxiDe,

I was talking to you on your stream last night and lots of the information you gave me was good, great even.

But I think I made a mistake when talking about my shield and how it stays up and it has to do with my playstyle.

To me, the shield is a “buy me time” thing. I only need it to take a hit or two or three and stay up, giving me enough time to move away from whatever hit me without losing the Squirt’s buff.

I fish a lot because some mobs are just plain bad for my playstyle and others wreck the shield because of auto targeting attacks like ghost mobs, and boggin trappers and the big ones I can’t remember the name of.

The mobs I avoid are Lacuni Leapers and fire grenade throwers, burrowers and leapers, ghosts except for the Reaper ones because their attacks are shorter. And that’s the main mobs I avoid.

Then I also need high value whites in the rift. But if an elite spawns as a Juggernaut, it can ruin even that. Then there has to be either a good map or a great map. Then the boss has to be rather easy too.

Pylon placement can be important too but not absolutely necessary.

Point is, in my playstyle, the shield is only important because I couldn’t use Squirt’s without it. So to me, using Gizzard is a necessity because it allows me to use Squirt’s and be a little relaxed.

Without Gizzard, I’d be back to using a Hellfire Amulet.

All that said, with my playstyle, my top most Grift will probably be much lower than someone else’s, like yours for example because I’m fishing sooner than others.

I also tried using Diamonds as you suggested, but it doesn’t help me as much and the Emeralds give enough armor for the shield to do what I need it to do, which is only take a hit or two and stay up. The extra damage though might not be much but it can be the difference between finishing a Grift or not for me, or at least it feels that way.

Long winded way of saying I don’t really play the way, your build is intended to play but it still works for my playstyle, if any of that makes sense.

Last night, I changed my gloves from Resource Reduction to Attack Speed and increased my sheet damage about 300,000 equating to a boatload of paragon and almost finished a 118 on some rather poor maps with bad mobs as in low progress. Just messing around with about 25 keys.

Later today, I’ll farm up 100 and fish for the map, mob, and boss combinations I mentioned earlier.

Should be able to find a decent combo sometime before I run out.

So hopefully later today or maybe tomorrow I’ll have completed a 118 in Season.

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