In depth new DH set GoD6 analysis, tips and detailed setup options!

Demon Hunter
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Sup all. This is going to be a pretty long post, just wanted to put that out there now. This is a compilation of data analyzed as well as personal testing on a daily basis and I wanted to get this out before I get too busy with covid-19 restrictions letting up. I plan on giving my overall opinions at the very end.

                                   **SKILLS**

1. Hungering Arrow: Devouring.

This is the number 1 and undisputed champion in the GoD6 setup. No other primary comes close and no other rune comes close. Only in T16 and bounty runes will it be outclassed by the Shatter Shot rune now that the bug has been fixed. In early season/low paragon, if you’re running T16 and bounties in group, Devouring Arrow may be slightly little better than shatter shot until your DH gains a little more power.

2. Smoke Screen.

Slotting smoke screen is a good choice for both speeds and high end GR’s. Just about all runes are viable in their own way, with displacement most likely being preferred in speeds due to it’s speed stacked with tactical advantage passive, while the others will depend on need or even just preference. Smoke screen, with it’s inherent 15% movement speed buff as well, allows you to get out of sticky situations that other wise may have caused your demise. Great against RG’s.

3. Shadow Power.

In my opinion, this is the sleeper skill. You’ll see more of the glide rune for speeds, but in high end GR’s, Gloom is a god send. Not only are you gaining 35% more DR, but you’re also gaining a lot of extra sustain with it’s life on hit, making you very hard to kill as long as you’re doing something. For DH’s that feel like they’re lacking toughness, this is a great skill to use and is my “go-to” for my setup.

One cool and unique option that doesn’t get any attention is the Night Bane rune. It has a large 30 yard, 80% slow upon activation for 5 seconds, so you can choose to apply your slow/cull/numbing at will. As a nice side effect, you gain a lot of sustain. A neat option for those that may not have an effective way to slow in their setup.

4. Vengeance: Dark Heart.

This is a self explanatory and staple skill. Due to the high DR it gives you, there’s no reason to consider the other runes. This is basically a must have.

5. Fan of Knives: Bladed Armor.

This skill and rune adds 40% more armor upon cast. It’s a very popular choice given that you don’t have to hit anything to get it’s benefit. Paired with enough cooldown reduction, you can have this buff up almost always. A common option for those wanting more toughness.

6. Companion.

Here, the choices are wolf and boar. Wolf will typically give you very little value here at a mere ~8% damage increase and tends to die often in higher GR’s. Boar on the other hand, gives a decent toughness boost. While Fan of Knives will give you roughly ~11% more toughness, boar gives a little bit of life regen, can aggro mobs and take some hits for you, and requires no management from the user. Solid choice.

7. Strafe.

Because the set doesn’t work without it. Rune choice is preference, with drifting shadow seeing the most play due to it’s speed in high end GR’s. Demolition is a decent rune if you’re trying to get slow from thrill of the hunt proc. Icy trails is also good for slow and freezes if you plan on strafing through your targets. I prefer drifting in high end GR’s and Icy trails in speed GR’s.

8. Preparation: Focused Mind.

I did not mention the other runes because the other runes are less valuable and Focused Mind just does the one job you want it to do, better than the others. This is a solid choice for those that intend to use Smoke Screen or Shadow Power and want those skills to have a high up time.

9. Bolas.

Unless blizzard does some adjustments with this skill before patch drops live, you would only slot bolas to make use of it’s pull effect with Leonine. With that said, it’s a very good skill for zDH’s as well as support-hybrid combinations.

10. Entangling Shot.

Good skill. Only used with Odyssey’s End in which will provide a big damage boost as well as a reliable way to slow. It is highly recommended to take the Heavy Burden rune over all others due to it’s duration, as it’s a PITA to have to reapply once all chains fall off.

Chain gain is a decent rune for speeds if one chooses to go this route, but quite a bit of management is necessary.

11. Sentry.

A decent defensive option for those that play more of a stop and go play style if you plan on using Guardian rune. Polar station isn’t a bad option for slowing, but there are usually better options out there.

                                   **WEAPONS**

0. Dawn and Ninth Cirri Satchel.

I mention these two weapons together as you will end up using both in almost very scenario. There’s very little wiggle room here and at the moment, not worth even mentioning options that don’t use both. The following weapons mentioned below assumes these are already slotted.

1. Odyssey’s End.

Perhaps the highest damage option of the bunch. Requires Entangling Shot to use it’s legendary effect. It is the high risk, medium reward, high skill cap variation, with weaving being a must used technique to get the most out of it. More info on that here.

I believe this option will be the least popular due to how unforgiving this variation can be, but will be the “go-to” option for those looking for a challenge, enjoy a glass cannon approach, and/or want to inch out more damage with technical/mechanical skill. It is also suggested that you equip this weapon and cube the Dawn. More info on that here.

2. Valla’s Bequest.

Most popular variant by far. In short, Valla’s Bequest works by filling in the gap created by the internal cool-down for not being at the optimal strafe break point, thus shooting additional primaries as if it’s at the optimum break point. If you like to dual wield or 1h+ quiver, Valla’s is a good choice as you cannot reach the optimum strafe break point with either set up. More info on that below:

3. Fortress Ballista.

This variation has a more “laid back” approach, requiring the least amount of management. This tough variation allows players to focus more on hitting oculus rings and being able to stay in them a little longer, thanks to the shield this weapon provides. It may not provide as much raw power as the other variations, but it’s ease of approach and toughness puts this in the same realm as the others and will no doubt be a popular variation. Highly recommended for those looking for relaxed game play or players with less experience on DH.

4. 2H Crossbow.

I’m listing all 2H crossbows here, as they all serve the same purpose. Since strafed generators are not directly effected by attack speed, using a 2H crossbow will provide the biggest punch of any type of weapon you can possibly wear in terms of raw damage.

It does not matter which one you go with, however buriza (not for the pierce effect) is a good choice because of the secondary roll giving a nice bit of freeze chance. Hellrack falls under this similar category with the ability to root enemies.
You can also craft an Arcane Barb 2H crossbow as well. This variation gives the user many different options to achieve a nice weapon with the easiest path possible.

5. Yangs.

I know, get the chuckles out :). While Yangs will not be used in any competitive setup, I believe it is however the undisputed champion in T16 and bounties with it’s near endless hatred and discipline capabilities, allowing you to focus on other things for super speeds.

                              **NOTABLE MENTIONS**

5. 2H Crossbow.

I’m listing all 2H crossbows here, as they all serve the same purpose. Since strafed generators are not directly effected by attack speed, using a 2H crossbow will provide the biggest punch of any type of weapon you can possibly wear in terms of raw damage.

It does not matter which one you go with, however buriza (not for the pierce effect) is a good choice because of the secondary roll giving a nice bit of freeze chance. Hellrack falls under this similar category with the ability to root enemies.
You can also craft an Arcane Barb 2H crossbow as well. This variation gives the user many different options to achieve a nice weapon with the easiest path possible.

6. Etrayu.

Decent choice for raw damage, and with it’s 20% to cold roll, makes it almost as strong as a 2H crossbow. If you find a good one, keep it.

7. K-mart Ten-clip.

Ok ok, so it’s actually K’mar, not K-mart, but the latter sounds way cooler. This strafe bow rolls an additional affix which can be converted into anything you want since strafe damage is irrelevant. It also gives you drifting shadow rune, allowing you to choose a different strafe rune of your choice.

8. LIanna’s Wings.

Can’t decide between Smokescreen or Shadow Power? Well, with this weapon, you can use both at the same time!

9. Echoing Fury.

An option that has quickly falling off from it’s PTR glory as we’ve gained more understanding of strafe break points and it’s interaction with the 4pc GoD6. Can be useful for super speed T16, but outside of that it’s not recommended for GR’s.

                                   **JEWELRY**

1. Flavor of Time.

This will most likely be the staple in high end GR’s, simply because of how good the legendary effect is when you get the appropriate pylons. The hardest part is rolling a good one.

2. Ess of Johan.

The least popular amulet atm, but I feel it’s a sleeper one. Hungering Arrow is godlike on pulls, meaning you need to make the most out of every pull you see when your follower procs Ess of Johan. Wearing it yourself allows you to essentially double your pull rate, which can up your damage output exponentially with stacked Area Damage. A strong contender for high end GR’s

3. Squirts Necklace.

The glass cannon option. This amulet will be rare to see outside of group play with fortress due to how unbelievably difficult it is to get value out of it during the rift. It does however, shine with shield pylons, making shield pylons the strongest one for Squirts users due to it’s effect and duration.

It is also fantastic on RG’s considering that most RG attacks are pretty easy to dodge and thus a near 100% uptime. Those wearing squirts can consider dropping stricken in high end GR’s.

4. Focus and Restraint.

This will be a staple since strafe procs Focus and Hungering Arrow procs Restraint. Easy peasy, and the damage bonus is good. Rarely will you see setups not using this set.

5. Endless Walk.

This is a good option for those who play a stop and go play style, usually found in Echoing Fury or sometimes Fortress setups. While strafing, you gain toughness. While standing still, you gain damage. Neither takes a while to ramp up. I’m almost surprised I don’t see this set being used more atm, considering how many have reported having toughness issues. This is a big help and a rare gem IMO.

                                    **GEMS**

1. Simplicity Strength.

The staple gem. Every build and setup will use this, no question. There is never a reason to not use this. Slot it.

2. Bane of the Trapped.

Another staple gem. Triggers when you slow a target, no draw backs. Straight damage, usually taken for everything except T16 builds.

3. Boon of the Hoarder.

T16 and bounty speed gem.

4. Bane of the Stricken.

Usually taken in high end GR’s and as a possible group RGK. If the RG is taking longer than 2 1/2 minutes, then you’d strongly want to consider this gem.

5. Zei’s Stone of Vengeance.

Good gem, but not a popular pick. Usually this gem has to fight for a place against stricken and taeguk, depending on the setup. There’s also some misconception surrounding the gem itself. Even if you’re somewhat close to the mob, the damage it does is based on the distance between you and your projectile, NOT the distance between you and the monsters. Since Hungering Arrow travels all over the place, often times you’re getting quite a bit of value out of the gem, no matter where you are.

The downside to this gem is the chance to stun. Because pulls from ess of johan from either you or your follow is extremely important, the stun effect will trigger CC immunity on elites, making pull effects less effective over time. This could be a reason to pick a different gem depending on the content you are doing.

6. Taeguk.

This works because of Strafe and good choice if you intend on strafing a lot. Offers high damage and a decent armor bonus for more toughness. The damage is however, additive, so not recommended if you’re using an Odyssey weapon, but will be ok with the other setups.

If you feel you need a toughness bump, this is a good choice.

                                 **PASSIVES**

1. Steady Aim.

Decent choice if you plan on playing more at a distance. It’s not uncommon to lose the buff while strafing through mobs and going for oculus rings, therefore it’s rare to see this passive.

2. Ambush.

Terrible passive honestly on paper, however a very popular choice due to it’s condition being met at all times thus doing what it’s suppose to do consistently. There are occurrences where a later pierce happens on a big pull and will get some big gains with this passive and AD.

3. Cull the Weak.

Staple choice for all. Easy condition to meet. Would slot it always with the exception being T16 farming.

4. Singled Out.

Good passive, but a preference choice. Not popular, but very good on the RG and a passive you should consider if you don’t plan on taking Stricken Gem. Singled Out + Squirts on an RG is massive.

5. Numbing Traps.

Great passive for extra toughness. Because it debuffs mobs, it’s actually a 33% DR. Almost taken always because how good it is. However (and a big however), do NOT use this passive if you plan on using Entangling Shot as your primary way to slow. It is bugged. See the PTR testing feedback thread on PTR.

6. Perfectionist.

Decent passive choice if numbing traps isn’t optimal to take. Also provides 10% RCR, which is good for Smoke Screen or Shadow Power users, potentially making this almost as good, if not, on par with numbing traps in terms of overall effectiveness.

7. Awareness.

Preference passive. Not a popular one, but not a rare choice either.

8. Leech.

Semi-popular choice. Good for those who’s only sustain is the Simplicity Strength’s Gem. Sustain in general is really important and should not be overlooked with the new set.

9. Tactical Advantage, Blood Vengeance, Hot Pursuit.

Speed rift passives. Do not take Blood Vengeance if using Yangs for speeds.

                                   **GROUPS**

I believe this set will do well in group play. I do not think it will replace WD or Crus in a strict 4 man party, however I think GoD6 is a very valid “off meta” option that does what no other class can do, and that is offer many valuable buffs and be a serious damage dealer at the same time and thus should be welcomed in most groups.

zDH’s and support-hybrid DH’s will also see quite a bit of group play. DH parties are now considered “good” and can do EXP speeds quite efficiently. Having both a zDH and GoD6 is a very good combo for any party. Add a zbarb and it’s party time (high squirt uptime, pixel pulls). The 4th man can be whatever fits. I did a 4 man party with 3 DH’s and a zbarb (2 GoD6, zDH, zbarb) and cleared a 140 with relative ease. Fun :slight_smile:

I will say this though. I personally believe that people may be overrating GoD6 as an RGK and underrating it as a trash killer. Time will tell :slight_smile:

                          **HONORABLE MENTIONS**

N6GoD4. A set hybrid in which provides the tankiest option with a higher 6pc multiplier at the expense of a few slots. As a guide comes along (looking at you dmkt), I’ll link it here.

                       **WHAT I LIKE ABOUT THE SET**

I like how many different play styles are viable among all levels and there is a setup for everyone. The build is relatively easy to drag mobs along with during rifts, which is a major plus in high end GR’s. Super fast for speeds and a strong build overall, eventhough it is a little behind WD’s and Crus in terms of raw power (plz buff a little!). It is however the best spot DH’s have been in a very long time.

                           **WHAT I DON'T LIKE**

I don’t like how the only primary that’s viable is Hungering Arrow. I also dislike that the only rune that’s viable for most content is Devouring Arrow. This rune and skill alone trumps all other setups and sets at nearly every single role.

It is ironic that a skill and rune meant for single target damage, clears tightly packed trash mobs better than anything in our DH arsenel, and is unbelievably underwhelming on stray targets. It will be confusing for a lot of players coming to play the set without knowing how to make the set shine, because it doesn’t do what you think it should, and vice versa.

                             **END THOUGHTS**

Overall, I find the set a ton of fun to play. I also purposely did not put together full DH builds. I decided to focus on individual details of the build in which you can put together to make the best build fit that works for you based on the descriptions.

Other useful information pertaining to this set.

Happy pew pewing DH’s!

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You might want to add Sharpshooter to the list of passives. I figured out what was going on…

While using a quiver and hand crossbow or bow results in more consistent crits. You can mimic the higher crit rate by dual wielding hand crossbow and slotting sharpshooter to up the frequency of crits and get higher crit damage than you would by equipping the quiver instead of putting it in the cube.

It’s still not the same exact crit rate but it’s really close which makes slotting Sharpshooter worth when dual wielding hand crossbows.

That’s what I think is happening at least. Or at least it makes sense to me.

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That’s not a bad observation. In these times, the lower your crit chance is, the better sharpshooter becomes as the chances of you getting the higher threshold at times increases.

I will say that at the standard amount of crit chance, dual wielding won’t drop your chc low enough for a variation of value to be efficient, usually +4 chc in the majority of cases and +8 chc at best for a very short period of time. In speed rifts where there’s a stretch of low density, you may see more value, but at higher GR’s where constant shots are necessary, the value diminishes greatly. You’ll need +8 chc at all times to beat out ambush and +15 chc to stand a chance vs cull the weak/steady aim. That’s impossible in a long GR.

If you do like the idea of having more chc in a dual wielding setup, I’d suggest archery over sharpshooter. You gain 1% more chc over sharpshooter on a consistent basis and you get more hatred regen.

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Even at that, with GoD 6 you basically have a free passive slot no matter if you’re doing speeds, high Grifts, whathaveyou and it seems to me that any offensive or defensive passive will fit in any scenario you’re running.

Edit: And your thing about lower crit chance upping the threshold. That’s probably what I’m seeing also, because my base crit chance is only 48.5% due to equipment.

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The skill is called Companion! Also, my Ferrets have some words to say to you: “bbppbpbppbbbppbbrrrrbrpprp” which translates from dooking to English as “Put me in coach!”

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I had a 3dh 1 wwbarb speed group in mind with A ZDH using Odessy’s End (or however it’s spelled) 4 piece GoD and some support/survival items like Viasage of Gunes. Possibly OE in the cube and dualing Dawn & Fortress. Entangling shot everything then the 2 DPS DH come in with GoD6 and Hungering Arrow and the Zbarb filling the exact same role as they do in Rats. I haven’t tested any of this, just theory crafting.

As far as the set goes, I’ve had a blast playing dual generator ES & HA.

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Amazing analysis…but it’s BOON of the Hoarder…

Boon = GOOD
Bane = Bad

Hence

Boon of the Hoarder = good for the hoarder of gold
Bane of the Trapped = bad for the “trapped” enemies

I’m definitely looking forward to gearing up a “lazy” and “laid back” version - no way I’m going to learn all that other weaving stuff…need to be able to give more than 1 like.

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My first personal best 121 was with Fortress Ballista and it had good damage combined with squirts. Really good intro to the build, and fun to play around with squirts a bit. I can see people wanting to try this out before moving on to the other builds.

My top clear was a 125 using Generator weaving and Odyssey’s End, and Flavor of Time. Like y’all said on stream tonight nothing can beat a Festering Woods with a Conduit and Power with FOT. The issue is Ess of Johan will always do something for you, squirts is hit or miss (depends on mob type and player awareness), Flavor of Time is like a 50/50 chance you’ll get a sweet advantage after fishing for a god tier map.

I used numbing traps in my personal best 125, but when this patch goes live I’ll have to run Perfectionist, because I run Entangling Shot.

Thanks for the post, DiEoxidE!

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Great post! It should be sticky, or at least linked into the existing sticky thread here.

I’m a little late with my german guides due to a new job and stuff, but that’s what I am planning to write as well. Some basic information about the set, “use Dawn and Cirri”, several options for 3rd weapon, jewelry, gems, skills, and so on.

There is one thing I don’t understand yet completely: How do you trigger Cull the Weak and Numbing Traps reliably? Only by BotT while strafing through the pull and FoK (for Numbing Traps)?

I tried Thrill of the hunt once and the cold rune for Strafe, but that’s a dumb idea.

I ask, because I tend to use Simplicity-Stricken-Taeguk as my gem gem choice, and maybe even Impaling Bolt for Sentry. But I feel like I’m missing something here …

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You don’t need Thrill of the Hunt as long as you use the Cold Rune on Strafe and strafe through, it’ll trigger Cull the Weak. The follower Kormac will help with this too. His slows through his abilities and Thunderfury count as slows provided by you.

I don’t know what your paragon looks like but as an example, I’ve got 3000, so on equipment like gloves and weapons I rolled Dexterity off and just used augments as a substitute.

With Fortress Ballista, either wielded or put in the cube, with Taeguk, you should have no problem surviving strafing through affixes and mobs in 120’s even with low paragon where you can’t roll off Dexterity. I haven’t beat 132 yet but I’m able to survive well in 130’s as long as I don’t stand in frozen until it explodes, molten explosions, or on an arcane sentry.

But you can cross Frozen, stand close to Frozen pulse, stand in plagued, run around on poison affix, cross arcane sentry, take Thunderstorm and lightning enchanted to the face and so on. Helps take advantage of oculus circles too.

That’s my experience anyway.

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Oh, and you need Numbing Traps too. Definitely should have mentioned that. Sorry. But strafes cold rune also triggers Numbing Traps.

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Ok, I’ll give cold Strafe another try. I just noticed that it’s harder to pull groups together with it, especially with Thrill of the Hunt.

And because I see this as well

How do those players do it? With Odyssey and ES?

My paragon doesn’t matter (it’s ~2500 on NS, but I played with ~1200 points on the PTR) - I just want to understand how slowing works in this build.

But of course: a little bit more focus on toughness is important for lower paragons, probably the strongest argument for Taeguk here (unless you use Odyssey).

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Yes, they’re using Odyssey and Entangling Shot. So they can drag mobs together and then entangle them easier they use Drifting Shadow and no need for Thrill of the Hunt. There are advantages to using Odyssey but the playstyle is demanding in the skill department.

I’m not skilled enough to pull off the mechanics of using Odyssey, so I settle for the easier playstyle that probably won’t clear as high as using Odyssey because of the shortfalls you point out, one being it’s a bit harder to group mobs but requires less timing cycles while trying to work in two generators.

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Numbing Traps is bugged with entangling shot. Only the enemy you shoot will receive the debuff and depending on the build you’re running is a bit too dangerous to strafe right in the middle of the pack of mobs because some mobs can hit really hard.

You can check the testing we did and also Iria’s post to see what is wrong with the passive. You’re probably much better off with perfectionist.

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Bott and FoK is what triggers it for most players. It’s popular to play this build pretty close up due to wanting to get into oculus rings in which often times you have to strafe through mobs to get there and thus bott applying slow on the way.

For odyessy users, it’s entangling shot mostly. If you’re not using entangling shot or bott, then yes you’re right. Slowing mobs becomes tricky.

One cool and unique option that doesn’t get any attention is shadow power: night bane. It has a large 30 yard 80% slow upon activation for 5 seconds, so you can choose to apply your slow/cull/numbing at will. As a nice side effect, you gain a lot of sustain. Id pair this with preparation focused mind for continued use.

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I wish I’d thought of that. I’d have to drop FoK Bladed Armor for it and replace my Companion with Preparation but the better pulls could make up for the loss of wolf and the sustain could (maybe) make up the loss of Armor especially if I slot Perfectionist as a passive.

When the patch drops, I’m gonna give that good run through. On paper, it looks like it would work.

Thanks, DiE.

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Updated the OP to include that option.

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At the very least, I could use Shadow Power Gloom in place of FoK and I think wind up with more toughness. I mean, I’m not really sure how damage is calculated but I think 35% reduction to all damage is better than just 40% more Armor.

If that’s not the case, someone please correct me. But winding up with more toughness or better pulls depending on the rune of Shadow Power seems like a vast improvement over wolf and FoK either way you slice it.

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Why not use both SP and FoK? Wolf does very little, providing ~8% more damage and that’s if it’s not dead due to higher incoming damage from higher GR’s.

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In the limit of high armor, the 40% armor bonus from Bladed Armor becomes a 32% toughness boost.

Since armor is additive, the benefit of Bladed Armor is even less if you use Evasive Fire - Hardened or Stone Gauntlets though.

As a reference, the damage reduction formula via armor for a level 70 character is:

DR_armor = 3500 / (3500 + total_armor)

which translates via a toughness multiplier as:

Armor toughness multiplier = 1 / DR_armor = 1 + total_armor/3500

The “high armor limit” I mentioned is when that “1” in the equation above doesn’t matter much, which is roughly the case with Strength and Dexterity classes which easily attain over 30000+ armor.

For that example, if you have 30000 armor with just 25% paragon (i.e. 24000 base armor x 1.25), Bladed Armor will boost that to 39600 (24000 x 1.65). The toughness of 39600 armor vs 30000 armor is calculated by:

(1 + 39600/3500) / (1 + 30000/3500) = 1.2866 or 28.66% more toughness. This number will increase gradually to +32% as you stack more and more armor via paragon though.

On the other hand, Shadow Power Gloom provides a fixed +53.85% toughness which will always beat 40% armor. However, with 40% or more CDR, you can keep Bladed armor up full time whereas Shadow Power Gloom must be manually activated (and cannot be sustained permanently without Preparation Focused Mind and some more RCR/CDR).

TL;DR: Shadow Power Gloom provides +53.85% toughness, Bladed Armor provides +32% toughness at most but can be kept up full time with moderate CDR.

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