I main a DH but rolled a WD this season as an alt and building toward a Zuni Dart doc (with Aughilds) - still missing some pieces (like DoD) but looking for some general advice beyond the standard Icy Veins setup…
I was running squirts (no good FOT yet) but got to the point where a single spear, wasp dart, step into poison gas, or a freaking mob sneezed my way was insta-kill.
I get it’s somewhat glassy - but looking for what items I can use to offset it (belt?) somewhat…not looking to push LBs, just a fun distraction from the DH grind…
Any comments about what to focus on gear/skill/stat wise is appreciated as well.
Can’t view your profile, atm. Best advice - Soul Harvest / Languish rune + pair of Lakumba’s Ornament Bracers. Get a Soul Harvester dagger to increase Soul Harvest stackes to 10. Languish rune gives +10% armor boost per enemy harvested. Lakumba’s Ornament reduces damage taken by 6% for each enemy harvested. +100% armor and 60% damage reduction… Enjoy!
There are a few more minor additional options aside from cubing Sacred Harvester (you lose the Echoing Fury though since you need DoD) and wearing the Lakumba’s Ornament (you lose Aughild’s but it’s a good tradeoff until high paragon).
Equipping Pauldron’s of the Skeleton King
Equipping strength gems into armor (this becomes useful at very high paragon)
Equipping defensive legendary gems such as Esoteric Alteration
Equipping Unity instead of Convention of Elements
Equipping the Endless Walk set for dynamic toughness or standing damage
Equipping the String of Ears belt instead of a Witching Hour
Equipping Jungle Fortitude (passive) instead of Pierce the Veil (passive)
Once you’re high enough paragon, you can drop the Sacred Harvester, Pauldron’s of the Skeleton King, Lakumba’s Ornament and go back to Echoing Fury with Aughild’s for maximum damage potential.
The main thing is that you really need the Dagger of Darts and Sacred Harvester, Anessazi Edge is useless.
Equip Sacred Harvester and cube Dagger of Darts or vice versa if you happen to get well rolled DoD. Either way, DoD will give you a massive damage boost and Sacred Harvester a toughness boost.
With Sacred Harvester, it stacks up to 10 stacks, one per monster that you harvest, i.e. one per monster present pretty much within melee range when you hit the button. Lakumba’s bracers then give you 6% dmg reduction per stack, so 60% when maxed out if you’re using Harvester, 30% if not.
Note that when you have stacks, each successive harvest adds to them, and once you’re at the maximal number, harvesting a single monster is enough to renew them.
Thanks! I had to cube my DoD since it was absolute crap and been using SMK for the extra Crit and cooldown bonus since my Harvester is also crap - but it sounds like I need to use the Harvester anyway and swap to SH.
I think I might see what i have in NS gear since I know i have better weapon options and LTP with better gear so I don’t die all the time to get the hang of it.
Non-Harvester builds are really only viable at high paragon IMO. If you’re at the point where you can just rely on paragon for toughness, you can consider dropping Harvester for more DPS. At low paragon, or when you’re learning the build, I’d definitely recommend Harvester.
(And It’s worth noting Harvester isn’t just for a toughness boost. It gives you some extra int bonus. Soul Harvest gives 3% int per stack, so it’s 15% without but 30% with Harvester. Not a huge DPS boost, but it’s something.)
Working it together with Spirit Walk is usually a good idea. Pop Spirit Walk, then dart in and harvest.
Building on Iria’s FoK comparison: think of it kind of like combining Smoke Screen and FoK. Pop Smoke Screen, then move in and FoK.
For my WD this season, it was taking a long time for a DoD to drop. Early on I went with a Zuni Darts build, where I used a Soul Harvester as my weapon and the Furnace in the cube. This gave me pretty good results through at least T10-T13, if memory serves me, when I found a DoD.
I mainly use the Jade Harvester set. But I just now dusted off my Zuni Darts build which has
~ DoD as my weapon
~ the Furnace in the cube
~ Aquila Cuirass for occasional damage reduction
~ 2 pieces from the Aughild’s Authority set, which gives me:
(2) Set:
Reduces damage taken by 15%.
Increases damage dealt by 30%.
(3) Set:
Reduces damage from elites by 30.0%
Increases damage against elites by 30.0%
This is a squishy build, but I can solo GR 75 with that (and less than 700 Paragon points). It’s very effective at killing elites. I don’t know how much further it can go, as I use Jade for higher level rifts. On my non-seasonal WD, I’ve gotten into the GR 90s using a traditional Zuni-darts build.
The biggest problem for me with Zuni Darts builds is getting enough damage reduction, to keep from getting one-shot killed at the beginning of higher level greater rifts. If you can get through the first few seconds of a rift, you can generate enough Fetishes (which each provide damage reduction) to survive your attackers. But you have to be careful.
If you’re trying to meet all the season objectives, I would add that:
a) the easiest set dungeon, to me, is the Arachyr set.
b) for me, the best set for doing T13-16 is Helltouth. It offers the best balance of speed and ease of use.
Finally, Darts builds are powerful, but I do get tired of all the mouse clicking.
I got another DoD (not good but better than nothing) so cubed SH and it’s been an improvement - still super squishy but love the elite/RG melting.
I will try the spirit walk/harvest combo
Is Haunt viable as a spender to activate the 6pc Zuni bonus when Piranado is on cooldown?? What’s the recommended CDR percentage so that isn’t an issue (like getting to permavengeance for DH)?
Haunt is okay, but I never liked it because it doesn’t hit enough targets. I suppose if you’re using it as something to bridge the Piranhado gap, it’s fine.
I always used to use Spirit Barrage: Phantasm. It has some AoE, applies a chill/slow, and it hangs around for a bit. Grasp of the Dead is a decent option too. Same idea, it hits multiple targets, slows enemies, and hangs around.
I wouldn’t take CDR anywhere really except diamond in helm + shoulders. Too many good DPS stats elsewhere to justify taking CDR IMO.
Some people will use Zuni’s mojo even with LoD. Comes with extra fetish army damage (25% vs. 15%) plus an extra primary affix. Or you could use one of the defensive mojos. Uhkapian Serpent or Henri’s Perquisition. Uhkapian Serpent would be my preference, it’s more reliable and you’ve got enough flexibility with LoD to give a skill slot for zombie dogs.
I’m still working on this build: https:// www.d3planner. com/127823435
I have less than 2k Paragon point and I can consistently complete GR114s solo. So I have to disagree with you and say that Non-Harvester builds ARE high grift viable at low paragon.
It is more about play style. Shoot from behind walls, recast fets to block incoming missiles, shoot the Mobs that still get attacks through, before everyone else. The Ess of Johan (follower) and Piranhado for grouping. I often find myself using recasting of fets as a defensive move and using nado to pull mobs off of me.
I typically cast nado at the edge of my screen and then Spirit Walk to it. by the time I get there I can get 5 stacks of Soul Harvest off of the group. Back off before Walk ends and pop Big Bad Voodoo. Then it’s all about using area damage to kill groups quickly. Elites are best killed at a distance while surrounded by whites.
Unity and Aquila Cuirass drop incoming damage to 25%. Simplicity’s Strength provides Life per Hit (LpH), but most of my recovery comes from Life per Second (LpS) from the Boots of Disregard. I need a better pair of Depth Diggers and a different pair of trifecta (AS. CHC, CHD) gloves. I’ve rerolled a few Stone Gauntlets enough times to get a primal, but still no ancient trifecta ones.
This LoD build can take a hit, and recovers back to full health quickly. It is much more tanky than the LoN version. Honestly I think it’s better than my Impale Demon Hunter, but I’d need to rank up another set of 115 gems to do a proper comparison.
[Edit: A picture to show some crits: https:// imgur. com/a/kKAYtKI]
[Edit2: For non-solo: I replace Unity with Stone of Jordan and sometimes Oculus Ring in the cube]
Last I heard, elemental damage was still additive with Mask of Jeram though. So elemental damage isn’t nearly as important for dart/pet docs as it is for other builds. For most builds, 40% elemental over 20% is a 1.4/1.2 = 16.67% effective DPS increase. With a 200% Mask of Jeram, 40% elemental vs. 20% is a 3.4/3.2 = 6.25% efective DPS increase.
You’ll take it on bracers for sure, because there’s no other DPS stats there to compete.
But it’s not as essential on amulet as it is compared to most builds.
Armor for toughness.
I wouldn’t worry about it unless you’re like 5k paragon. Maaaybe as low as 3k. Anything less than that and topazes are better, you get a little damage plus a little toughness from topazes. To justify rubies, you need to be high enough paragon that the extra toughness from rubies, outweighs the small amount of toughness + dps from topazes.
1400 armor (from 5x rubies) is worth somewhere in the ballpark of 13-16% toughness, depending on how much base armor you have and what you’re running for % armor bonuses.
For something I mocked up to compare for myself:
(was more for a wizard setup with the gearing choices I’d typically make, but should illustrate the general idea for WDs too)
At 2000 paragon, topazes were worth 4.7% toughness and 7% DPS.
At 3000 paragon, topazes were worth 4.0% toughness and 5.7% DPS.
At 5000 paragon, topazes were worth 3.1% toughness and 4% DPS.
At 5000 paragon, 15% toughness from rubies clearly beats 3.1% toughness + 4% DPS from topazes.
At 2000 paragon, not so much. I’d generally take 4.7% toughness + 7% DPS.
EDIT: Note that % gains are compared to running without any gems socketed in chest/pants at all.
