Update (May 27, 2012): Since my original posting of this article I've gone on to reach level 60 and Inferno difficulty. I've also found a couple errors or omissions which I've corrected. The affected sections are:
- Rewrote the opening paragraph.
- Corrected an error with how the Marked for Death rune Grim Reaper works.
- Changed my alternate Marked for Death rune after Inferno experience.
- Rewrote section on Smoke Screen with more information as well as updated the rune choice.
- Rewrote most of the Final Comments section to clarify a few things, fix a couple omissions and organize some of the thoughts better.
- Added a new final paragraph on skill/rune changing and Nephalem Valor.
Primary:
Skill: Hungering ArrowRune: Devouring Arrow
This rune increases damage by 70% each time it penetrates. This makes it ideal for single-target DPS since when the arrow penetrates it will turn around and go back through the same mob. If it does this a couple times and then scores a critical hit it will do massive damage (more on critical hits in a little bit).
Secondary:
Skill: Elemental ArrowRune: Frost Arrow
This is an area of effect skill but it is also synergy skill. The arrow shatters on impact hitting multiple targets behind the struck target and each target hit is slowed for 1 second. The slow aspect is the synergy portion. There is a passive I'll get to which boosts damage to slowed enemies. I use this on any large group and only switch to Hungering Arrow when I need more Hatred. This skill will easily clear out packs of enemies. Remember to use line-of-sight to ensure the largest group of enemies is directly behind the target. The arrow will shatter in odd directions but for best results try to line them up.
Active Skill 1:
Skill: VaultRune: Rattling Roll
Vault is an "oh shit" skill in combat. I use it to get out of things that appear under me or if I need to change places quickly (to grab a health orb, for example). I use the Rattling Roll rune so that any enemy near where I land gets stunned. This helps keep me from getting instantly killed if I land in a group of enemies. It also has tactical applications where the stun can be used offensively but this can be dangerous. It is a trick to keep up your sleeve, though.
Active Skill 2:
Skill: Marked for DeathRune: Grim Reaper
Marked for Death increases damage from all sources by 12% on the marked target. The Grim Reaper rune causes any enemy within 20 yards (There is a visual indicator that shows the radius of the effect) of the target to also take 12% of the damage done to the marked target. Targets in the radius do not take an additional 12% damage as I originally thought, they merely take 12% of the damage done to the marked target. This does not change it's usefulness, though. When you combine this with Frost Arrow (Elemental Arrow) or any other area-of-effect skill you can do some major DPS to a group. In light of how this rune works it needs placed on a target you are sure will get a lot of DPS but you don't want to put it on the weakest target, otherwise you will have to keep recasting it.
Active Skill 3:
Skill: Rapid FireRune: Web Shot
This is another single target DPS skill. I use this skill on super-tough regular mobs but mostly on elites. You can literally see the health bar of targets start to go down at a constant rate when I activate this skill. The Web Shot rune is for synergy reasons. It slows the target and having a slowed target is very important, but we'll get to that.
Active Skill 4:
Skill: Smoke ScreenRune: Displacement
This skill is the main defensive skill in a Demon Hunter's arsenal. This skill grants a couple effects. First - when it's not acting buggy - this skill drops aggro. More importantly, this skill makes the Demon Hunter invulnerable during it's use. If you know you are guaranteed to be hit by something you can pop Smoke Screen and receive no damage. Due to this amazing feature and abuse by people who were able to get very long Smoke Screen uptimes the skill has been nerfed in a server-side hotfix. It now has a duration of 1 second (down from 2 seconds). A side effect of this is it no longer drops aggro reliably.
Learning to use this skill to avoid damage with the invulnerability effect is mandatory for survival on Inferno difficulty. Almost every enemy can kill a Demon Hunter in one hit so the ability to use this skill to avoid the damage is crucial to staying alive. It can also be used to by-pass groups of enemies since the aggro drop does still work sometimes. That is the impetus for my rune choice, Displacement, which grants faster movement speed for the duration of the ability (1 second). By using this back to back it is possible to advance past elites or other mobs without them following you.
Passive Skill 1:
Skill: Steady AimPretty simple rationale on this skill. As long as nothing is near me I do 20% more damage. The Demon Hunter is a ranged character, there shouldn't be anything near you and if there is pop Smoke Screen and move away to safety.
Passive Skill 2:
Skill: SharpshooterThis skills is insane. For every second you don't score a critical hit your critical hit chance goes up capping at 100%. When you do crit your crit chance is frozen for 1 second. I crit constantly because of this skill. If I have a brief lull and get this to 100% I can literally drop a pack in seconds.
Passive Skill 3:
Skill: Cull the WeakI mentioned synergy a couple times with my Elemental Arrow and Rapid Fire rune choices. This is the other half of that synergy. This skill increases damage against slowed targets by 15%. My choice of runes for Elemental Arrow and Rapid Fire cause a slowing effect. When I use Elemental Arrow all enemies hit are slowed. When the second shot lands it does an extra 15% damage and resets the slow effect. The same holds true with Rapid Fire - the first shot hits and the rest get 15% increased damage.
Alternate 1:
Skill: PreparationRune: Battle Scars
I have a few alternates that work really well too. This is one of them. I take this ability for boss fights. It gives a 60% heal on a 45 second cooldown. It can be a life saver. Since this is a boss fight ability and bosses don't require AoE I replace Frost Arrow (Elemental Arrow). Keep in mind that you must be able to survive a hit in order for this to be useful. If all the bosses attacks kill you in a single hit this skill is pointless unless you are using a lot of Discipline and need to restore it instantly.
Alternate 2:
Skill: Hungering ArrowRune: Shattering Shot
Prior to switching to Devouring Arrow I used Shattering Shot with Hungering Arrow. This is another AoE attack since the arrow splits when it pierces. Split arrows can also pierce and split further so it can do quite a bit of damage to multiple targets. I decided to replace this rune on Hell difficulty because I thought a single target rune would work better. I used this rune from the time I got it all the way up to early Act II Hell, though, and it served me quite well.
Alternate 3:
Skill: Marked for DeathRune: Mortal Enemy
Originally I listed the Death Toll rune here but on Inferno 1% life leech on a boss is nothing. Instead I use the Mortal Enemy rune on bosses. It grants 3 hatred each time I hit the boss. With full hatred and this rune active on the boss I essentially double the time I can use Rapid Fire and significantly decrease the time it takes to get back to full hatred allowing me to use Rapid Fire sooner. The effect of the Grim Reaper rune is not relevant in most boss fights making this a great choice for giving an increase in DPS. This can be crucial on Inferno as bosses have enrage timers.
Final Comments:
The build I describe is pretty crazy. In most cases you are doing an additional 12% + 15% damage to targets and that doesn't even show up on the stat page. Then there's Sharpshooter causing crits all the time and the damage is just insane. Keep in mind that Steady Aim is factored into the DPS total shown on the stats page and so is Sharpshooter since it increases your crit chance directly. For this reason I always remove Sharpshooter when I'm comparing a new piece of equipment to make sure it increases my DPS with low crit chance as well as high crit. It also shows what the real DPS increase is since the 100% crit increase is a bit over-inflated (You don't maintain 100% crit all the time).Again, though, I don't want to state this is the best build. I'm sure it's not. It is a very effective build, though, because all the skills either tie in together or provide a lot of versatility to handle any situation. There are escape skills, single target skills and multi-target skills with passive skills configured to maximize damage. Hell, I didn't even mention the slow effect on Frost Arrow being a freaking slow effect. I use this all the time to escape too since it slows mobs down. It really is an after-thought feature in the build but it is very useful none-the-less.
Hopefully some of you can see the logic behind my choices and come up with your own choices. I know, for example, there is a passive to increase rocket damage for those who use rocket skills a lot. Things like that are somewhat subtle but can make a big difference in DPS which directly translates to survivability.
A bit of basic information about itemization. Dexterity is a Demon Hunter's primary stat. Vitality is a good secondary stat but by the time you get to Inferno most things will kill you in a single hit no matter what. Other stats usefulness change depending on your level and your build. Rings or amulets with +damage will significantly increase your DPS at earlier levels. Increased Attack Speed is very useful and should be on as much stuff as you can get it on. If you choose to use Sharpshooter then items with increased critical hit damage also become pretty desirable since you will be critting a lot. I found a piece of gear that increased by DPS by over 100 with a minimal chance to crit but due to it having increased critical damage on it, my DPS was increased by over 1000 with a 100% critical chance. That is not an insignificant amount because it doesn't factor in any of the other increased damage sources like Marked for Death or Cull the Weak.
Gemming gear is important, too. All empty armor sockets should have Emerald's in them for more Dexterity except the helm. Put an Amethyst in the helm since it increases life by a percentage. Weapons should have either a Ruby for increased damage or possibly an Emerald for increased critical damage depending on your build. Remember to remove your gems from equipment you no longer need so you can put it in new gear.
Don't forget to check the auction house for new bows periodically. You can get really cheap poorly itemized but high DPS bows. Look for bows with high DPS, Vitality and a socket. If it has Strength or Intelligence or other crappy mods but it's really cheap, that's okay. Only worry about getting perfectly itemized weapons and armor when you can get something you're sure you won't replace very easily (although be prepared to pay a steep price for the best gear, naturally).
One last thing. Changing skills or runes removes your Nephalem Valor buff (It increases magic find when you kill groups of elites). When you reach a boss with stacks of Nephalem Valor you will need to weigh whether changing a couple skills around is worth losing your buff. Some groups will have no trouble killing a boss with you not quite as optimized as you could be, other groups will need all the DPS possible. The alternative is to take your boss spec while you clear the trash to the boss. You'll certainly be less efficient for the trash but you will be ready for the boss and won't have to lose your stacks to change skills.