I fear this is a Diablo 101 question, but I’m just not clear on it. I’ve got a GoD build with Hungering Arrow on the LMB and Strafe on RMB. So generally when I’m going through a rift, I’m looking for elites, and then I just flow back and forth over the group using strafe for movement and left-clicking furiously on the elites I see. This is where my question lies.
It gets pretty hectic and I don’t know how accurately I’m clicking on specific mobs. Do I have to target a specific mob to hit him, or if I click somewhere directly on the other side of him, is that just as good?
This is where things can get a bit tricky, because if molten explosions are about to occur right there at the heart of the elite pack, I have to move out of range - let’s say, to the right. This means I have to move the cursor to the right side of the screen to move in that direction. Assuming there are no mobs over there, is it pointless to then be clicking Hungering arrow, as there is nothing to hit in that direction?
My follower is wearing an oculus ring. The ring is probably not going to be right on top of the elites. It will probably be a little ways away. So to stay in that ring to benefit from it and keep strafing, I’m going to have to be going back and forth within the ring, which means that a lot of the time, my hungering arrows are going in the wrong direction.
Does anyone understand what I’m talking about, and how do you deal with this? Is oculus just a bad idea for this build?
Oculus is not the greatest fit as the build is designed to be constantly moving, but it is better than nothing if it’s all you have. Better ring choices on follower are Ring of Granduer to equip emenate sets or Ring of Avarice to emenate pickup area increase.
As for the Hungering Arrows. They seek targets so don’t need to be targetted like most skills, the set is designed to fire them off at appropriate targets automatically while strafing. You only really need to manually fire them at the beginning to build up momentum and then occasionally to help maintain it.
Dont use mouse buttons to strafe or attack and use force move if you arent already., arrows have a pretty big range so dont be afraid to strave inside the oculus. Avarice and stuff is mostly usefull in t16, in gr its useless
When Strifing, also make sure your Momentum stacks are maxed to maximize dmg. HA does a lot of dmg from range (using Zei’s), so circling the pack at a safe distance will do its job. If an Oculus Circle spawns close to the pack, you can always Strife through it to gain the dmg boost (slowing your movement as you enter it) … but circling within it can be dangerous, unless it is safe enough distance from ground effects and attackers. The thing about auto targeting HA and Strife is that Oculus can spawn anywhere, so simply adding the circle to your Strife path can help too. It may not maximize it unless you stay within it, but it does help out.
This isn’t a very efficient method of playing GoD. I suggest watching a wudijo or dieoxide youtube video on how to play GoD and/or read through the “how to play” on maxroll. I’ll list a couple pointers.
Your optimal positioning actually depends on your weapon type and your attack speed. As a general rule of thumb, you want to be about 25 yards away from what you’re shooting at to get the maximum damage from pierces. This changes, though, depending on your weapons and AS, so look it up for your specific setup.
Do not strafe over the enemies. Strafe around them.
Do not left click furiously. You can only shoot HA 1 to 2 times per second. Slow down and make sure that each left click is actually firing a projectile. Use the shift key to force shoot on left click, otherwise, you may just be doing a click to move.
GoD is a very smooth build. You should be always moving, strafing, firing in a fluid rhythm. If there’s an explosion or whatever, just strafe out without disrupting your rhythm.
You don’t need to click a specific mob, but you do want to be firing in the general direction of the mobs.
Here’s the important thing about HA Devouring Arrow, the first shot does the least amount of damage. You need to fire it at the mobs so that it can start piercing and boosting its damage. You can’t control what it hits when it’s at max damage, you just want to get it going.
You are way over thinking things. When you are at max momentum and strafing, you move really fast thanks to GoD 4. If you have a good fluid rhythm and motion, you can just slide right out of the explosion area without any worry. You can stop firing HA to move even faster, but you typically won’t need to.
The things that you most have to worry about is keeping up Vengeance so you are always CC immune and of course stupid walls. Don’t try to fight spinner elites unless you have smoke screen and know how to use it. Otherwise, you should be golden.
Spend as much time as you safely can in the oculus ring, though remember it’s not worth losing squirt’s to be there. Don’t worry about occasionally shooting in the wrong direction. Definitely do not stop strafing ever. If you can, strafe around in a little circle in the ring. Otherwise, ignore it.
This is a common misconception. You don’t just want to maintain momentum. You want to fire HA as much as possible for maximum damage. But you also don’t want to over fire it, because the game will get angry and not let you fire HA again until it calms down. Practice firing HA in town while strafing. Use shift if needed so you don’t move on left click and keep practicing until you find that rhythm where each left click actually fires a new projectile while you’re strafing.
I have been playing GoD since it released, and I am very good at it. I myself don’t use HA on left click, mine is assigned to key 3 which is my primary action key. When beginning an activity, I hold 3 til momentum hits 20 then release it and hold strafe while pressing 3 enough to keep momentum up. I have already practiced a great deal enough to know exactly how often to press my HA key.
I was referring specifically to this as a common misconception. This is not correct if you want to maximize the build’s damage potential. For maximum damage for GoD these two rules must be followed:
Strafe always
Fire HA as often as your AS allows
Anything else will result in less damage and slower clear times than what the build is capable of.
Hey, thanks for all that good info! I’ve changed my play style some and it’s definitely helped. Made me a bit less squishy, too. I think that a big problem that I had was that I wasn’t keeping my momentum up properly. I wasn’t connecting the speed increase with the momentum. Now I realize that if I’m slowing down, it’s time to get the momentum back up.