I was thinking Ambush is great, especially when it helps you one-shot trash, but at higher GRs, when you are not one-shotting anything, is there a better passive?
I just changed my Drifting Shadows strafe to rocket storm and I was wondering if maybe switching Ambush to Ballistics would be a good idea?
Full disclosure: I just completed GR110. That is as high as I have gotten with my GoD DH.
As GoD uses many shots to take down a mob even it is a white one. So, you are unlikely 1-shot an enemy.
In this case, Ambush gives only 10% in average, which is less than the 20% of Cull the Weak and Steady Aim.
Strafe is NOT the major damage dealer. The major damage dealer is primary skill. The rockets won’t deal much additional damage even with Ballistics.
I use Cull the Weak, but I don’t have a lot of times when I don’t have enemies within 10 yards, so not sure just how often I would be getting that damage boost.
I will try it, see how it goes. Good to know on the rockets though. If it is not going to help, then I rather move faster so I will go back to Drifting Shadows.
steady aim is additive dmg im pretty sure, so its 20% is much less, not counting ^^ that it wont be up nearly 100% like ambush.
i think ambush is also more than 10%
Steady aim is multiplicative. It used to be additive a long time ago, but they changed that in a patch. It no longer shows up on your sheet dps.
Ambush is only 7.7% on paper, but varies slightly depending on a few different factors (damage overshoot, low HP vs high HP mobs, etc).
ahh i stand corrected
not doubting you, but what is the math for 7.7? too tired to think myself atm
https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo3/comments/eb5vgz/harmonic_means_you_ft_ruthless_ambush_frailty_100/
If you want a TL:DR, TinneOnnMuin wrote it out:
I tend to give ~ values cuz I don’t trust my own math either when i try to apply in game applications to it, so ya i don’t blame you 
thank you. yeah for some reason i was thinking 60% hp, i guess the combo of 40% dmg and dml 60% got all mixed up in there. 
I’m not sure how the math works either, but from what I see in higher Grifts, like I run GR 120’s for gem ups and paragon in Non-season, since I’ve got a little over 3100 paragon.
I don’t see much difference when it comes to regular mobs, but the RG with Stricken and Ambush, you’ll notice that in a 120 that the 40% damage boost really helps. (At least that’s when I see the most out of it.) Because as you’re hitting the RG you’re building Stricken Stacks. So after the RG hits 75% health, you’ll see the RG’s health drop at near the same pace as it was before it hit 75% for a good while and it pick up a faster pace a bit at a time.
So to me, Ambush is really good in levels where you might one shot things, and really good when mobs might take longer to kill, but in the range between those two extremes, another passive might be better.
But even at that, Ambush is good to have in passives, because we just don’t have many offense style passives.
Just my opinion and my opinion is mainly based on the eyeball test and not anything to do with real math, so my impression might be off.
I put together a little spreadsheet a while back that has some relevance to this question (especially when actually pushing, i.e. fighting in density).
Post here.
Spreadsheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n2qsSG4szDVs6_N6rgmx1FMTCyDD0KVQGQDwQMb9HAk/edit#gid=1492528032
tldr: when fighting in density, and using a good bit of Area Damage, Ambush results in you blowing through weaker mobs a good bit faster, but loses much of its effectiveness in longer fights against tougher foes. In other words, if using Ambush, it is strongly in your best interest to kite tougher mobs to fresh density.
On a separate but related note, when fighting a single target (like a RG) and using Stricken, Ambush again isn’t super effective. Assuming your Stricken gives 2% per stack, using Ambush will allow you to kill the RG about 4% faster.
But: that’s just sort of one of the features of Stricken. It makes all damage increases relatively less valuable in terms of kill time. For instance, adding a flat +10% damage would only let you kill that RG about 5% faster.
If you were playing Multishot and using a DML, then Ambush would let you kill about 6% faster (versus using a DML, but no Ambush).
So what I am getting is Ambush does have diminishing returns, but there really is no viable alternative. Makes sense. Thanks all
not sure id call it diminishing returns, if anything it probably gets better the higher you go. if you’re constantly fighting bigger packs, you could argue the buffed hits proccing higher AD is a big benefit. but otherwise yeah pretty much
I got rid of ambush for grp play…simply because sometimes i tend to be a bit lazy and be at the end or the middle of the group. This has the effect that when i arrive at the mobs they are mostly already in a HP-Range where Ambush lost all its effect already. Thats why i went with Sharpshooter recently. 4% crit flat might not be the best…but its consistant