Guides > Demon Hunter > DPS Demon Hunter

Written by Wizard

This guide will show a DPS build that will work just as well for big groups of enemies as it will in boss fights. It only uses two Discipline skills so you do not need to take Preparation and can take four hatred skills. Between Strafe and Evasive Fire you have some solid escape plans. You have good AOE damage as well as great single target damage, and several options for getting out of hairy situations. Overall this is a very balanced DPS build.

Skills

	Shadow Power Available at level 12 Night Bane
Cost: 20 Discipline Draw in the power of the shadows, increasing attack speed by 50% for 10 seconds. While active, gain 7 Hatred per second.

Shadow Power is a huge damage boost, and with the Crimson runestone socketed you can also use it to regain hatred when you are low.

	Sentry Available at level 21 Chain of Torment
Cost: 10 Discipline Drop a turret on the ground. The turret begins firing at nearby enemies for 40% of weapon damage. Lasts 20 seconds. Create a tether between you and the sentry that does 240% of weapon damage every second to every enemy it touches.

The sentry adds quite a bit of DPS for a long time, and with the Crimson runestone you also get additional damage on anything between you and the turret. Use with strafe to out maneuver enemies and deal extra damage.

	Evasive Fire Available at level 3 Backup Plan
Generate: 10 Hatred. Cost: 4 Discipline if you backflip. Shoot for 115% of weapon damage. If an enemy is at close range, you will also backflip away 15 yards. Shoot for 115% of weapon damage as Poison damage. Whenever a backflip is triggered, leave a poison bomb behind that explodes for 510% of weapon damage as poison in a 18 yard radius after 0.4 seconds.

This is a damage spell with a built in escape mechanism, and with an Obsidian runestone it also has a nuke. What more could you ask for in a spell?

	Multishot Available at level 17 Arsenal
Cost: 30 Hatred Fire a massive volley of arrows dealing 150% weapon damage to all enemies in the area. Every use also fires 10 rockets at nearby enemies that deal 150% weapon damage each.

Use this on crowds, with Arsenal it deals a huge amount of wide AOE damage.

	Strafe Available at level 19 Equilibrium
Cost: 2 Hatred per second Shoot at 200% your normal attack speed at random nearby enemies while moving at 65% of normal movement speed. Every shot deals 50% weapon damage. Increase your attack speed to 3 of your normal attack speed.

Works well with Chain of Torment and is another way to boost your movement speed to escape. The Indigo runestone makes this much more effective.

	Rain of Vengeance Available at level 29 Stampede
Cost: 40 Hatred Cooldown: 30 seconds Fire a massive volley of arrows around you. Arrows fall from the sky for 5 seconds dealing an average of 49% weapon damage per second. Summon a wave of 14 Shadow Beasts to tear across the ground, knocking back enemies and dealing 126% weapon damage.

This is a very powerful AOE skill that, with the Alabaster runestone, can be used to get you out of tight situations with lots of damage and knock back.

Passives

	Sharpshooter Available at level 0
Gain a 3% chance to critical hit every second. This bonus is reset 1 second after you successfully critical hit.

This will make you crit often, a very good skill to have. It works especially well with the increased attack speed of Shadow Power.

	Archery Available at level 0
Gain bonuses based on weapon held: Bow: +10% increased damage Bonus with crossbows: +100% critical damage Bonus with hand xbows: +5% chance to critical hit

No matter what kind of weapon you are holding, this gives good bonuses. If you have a preference for something else it would be fine to drop this but I think it is a solid skill.

	Fundamentals Available at level 0
Increases the damage of your basic attacks by 100%. Your basic attacks restore 15 Hatred.

Lets your basic attacks restore hatred and do more damage, one of the best skills for Demon Hunter.

PvE

Against big groups it is good to drop your sentry behind them, then evasive fire jumping back and then firing off multishots into the crowd. If the monsters get too close to you and you cant get away with Backup Plan or Strafe then go ahead and Rain Vengeance down upon them to clear them out and knock them away from you. Never let yourself get surrounded.

Boss Fights

In a boss fight you want to drop your sentry and keep the boss between it and you for the bonus damage. Use Shadow Power every time, and strafe and Rain of Vengeance as often as you can. Multishot helps in fights where there are smaller monsters as well, but I would normal attack before using it to restore hatred for your other spells during the fight.