Season 24 - Ethereal Memory

[dave in the basement]

Working on Chapter 4.  I forgot that this one is the one that needs a little bit of grinding to get done.  Might or might not make the cutoff for next Thursday.

Any particular reason you are working on the story? You can burn through the chapters in adventure mode, but I figured there was a method to your madness.

[Sssith]

Nah...just madness.  I hadn't done the story in a long time, so I just wanted to run through it.

I also find grinding bounties and rifts a bit meh at times.

[syn]

Might or might not make the cutoff for next Thursday.

is the season ending, or is that just when D2R comes out?

[Sssith]

Just when D2R comes out.  I am going to switch over to that.

Playing D3 has been a nice little refresher, but I have to say I don't love it.  I enjoyed in then and having an ok time now, but I will happily switch to D2R on Thursday.

[Orbert]

I got my Wizardspike last night!  The Ethereal one, completing the Feat of Strength, of course.  This was after several more D3 Wizardspikes and, frustratingly, yet another Mang Song's Lesson and another Oculus.  But it's done, and I'm glad I didn't have to do the cheesy thing.

[syn]

grats. RNG must know i'm done for the season after the khalim's flail drops. several more caduceus and mighty scepters, tho. 

[Sssith]

Need some expert wisdom here.  I finally got one of the pieces for my DH build Sin Seekers.  The big benefit is no channeling cost on my Rapid Fire and a boost to its damage.  That said now I don't have anything that is generating hatred.

I have been mostly following this build: https://maxroll.gg/guides/natalya-rapid-fire-demon-hunter-guide

While I don't have everything lined up like the build I still don't see how the build is generating hatred.

Aside from that question I am also puzzled that I am sometime run out of Hatred when I am just using Rapid Fire.  I thought the whole point was that Sin Seekers don't use it.  Colored me confused.

[Orbert]

Sin Seekers removes the channeling cost of Rapid Fire, but there's still the 20 hatred initial cost each time you use it.  If you tend to use Rapid Fire in short bursts, each burst has an initial hatred cost.  Try to use more long, sweeping sprays.  After the initial cost, you're free to keep spraying.

I've looked at that build before, and never understood how you're supposed to generate hatred, either.  I guess it depends on your natural hatred recovery and not spending it faster than that.  I think Vengeance cranks up your hatred recovery along with the other boosts, so that probably helps.  It's a tricky build, though.

[Sssith]

Thanks that is helpful.

It is also pretty interesting.  That would mean I am standing still a lot and just vaulting to get out of a spot.  The Rapid Fire is on the left click which encourages short bursts.  Vaulting is the way to move then.  Which also helps explain the rational for lots of Discipline skills.  It also helps explain the use of Compass Rose (I think that is the name of the item set).  I thought it an odd choice to boost damage when standing still but again this helps to explain why.

I do see some weapons having mods that help with the generation of Hatred maybe it depends on that.

You would think that they would spell it out more clearly in the build guide how this is supposed to work.  For now I have Grenade in my fourth slot with the rune that generates extra hatred.  A couple of quick throws and you are back up and running.  Doesn't matter if you throw it at nothing.

Still, a good guide should explain these mechanics and the trouble with generating hatred.

[Orbert]

I played around with my characters on Americas a bit, but somehow after getting the Achievement for all 21 ethereals, it felt anticlimactic.  So I hopped over to Europe and started a new Seasonal character, just to keep myself amused until D2R drops.

The RNG gods continue to fuck with me.  I started a Demon Hunter at Master level, and was plowing through, little by little.  First character in a new Season is always like that.  I'm thinking now would be a cool time for an Ethereal to drop.  Massive damage to make the next several levels fly.  Zing!  An Ethereal Ballista!

Buriza-do-Kyannon, Level 9.  Numbers were insane, of course.  Something like +1250% to Damage and +350% to Toughness compared to the bow I was using.  And best of all, 2 extra Sentries and Custom Engineering for the Passive.  Imagine, a Nephalem power and a Passive that actually compliment each other.  Time for some killer Sentries!

Except you can't even get Sentries until Level 25.

I moved it up to Torment 2, and with the absurd damage an Ethereal can do at this level, the next couple dozen levels flew by.  I was afraid that by Level 25, the Buriza would start to show its limitations, but it was still pretty effective until I got into the 50's.  At 51, a yellow one-handed crossbow dropped and all the numbers were green.  Damage was like 10% higher than the Buriza, Toughness was up, Recovery was up.  The Sentries which had started off destroying everything before I ever needed to fire a shot were lagging by now, so I was okay ditching the boosts and switching weapons.  He's into the 60's slog now.  Ugh.  Well, like I said, hopefully just something to keep me amused until D2R.

[Sssith]

That sounds like my experience with the DH.  I think I back off a little before you did though.

[Cluck Kent]

Hey Sssith,

I had a look at that guide and I'm not sure it's doing that build justice. It's geared for high GR pushing which means it's not optimal for T16 rifts and bounties and GRs up to about 100.

This build doesn't require BotS to kill RGs under 100-105. It's still a useful gem in the build but at levels under 100 RGs die pretty quickly from my experience. With an Eth weapon, they should be mincemeat. Also Taeguk is a gem that is very useful both offensively and defensively for this build.

The guide suggests the play style is stop and fire for at least 5 seconds. It's during that 5 seconds plus that your hatred is supposed to regenerate back to full.

[Sssith]

Thanks for the info! 

[Orbert]

What, is this Season still going?!

So my poor old PC was struggling to run D2R to the point where it just wasn't fun.  Nice little nostalgia trip I'll probably revisit if/when I upgrade my PC again.  In the meantime, I went back to D3.

My European Demon Hunter ended up trying both the Marauder (sentries) and Unhallowed Essence (multishot) Set Dungeons, but just couldn't master them.  I hate the Set Dungeons that rely on sheer dumb luck.  The Marauder dungeon fails if any enemy gets within melee range.  Those stupid sandworms can show up on the map and zip over and pop up right next to you in less than a second, causing you to fail.  What a pain in the ass.  So after trying that one four or five times, I tried the UE dungeon.  Kill 20 or more with a single Multishot, six times.  Again, totally up to chance whether or not they're grouped nicely for you.  Lots of 17's and 18's, no 19's, but a couple of 20+, not enough to Master.  Gave that one up after three or four tries.  Demon Hunter is easily the class I play the most, but I've never mastered any DH Set Dungeon, and still haven't.

I usually just make a Barbarian, get him to 70, and grind until I have the Immortal King set.  Then master the dungeon.  It's easy, but it does have the virtue of actually relying on your skill and not pure fucking chance.

Since the end of the Season hasn't even been announced yet (probably everybody is busy playing D2R) I thought I'd see if I had time to do it.  Finished the Wrath of the Whirlywastes set first, and with a little help from an Etheral Grandfather, ran Rifts and Bounties until I had the Savages set.  Switched to Savage Frenzy just because it's faster.  Kept grinding until I had the full IK set.

Mastered the IK Set Dungeon this morning on the second try.  Went up two levels in the Season Journey; I don't remember their names.  Onward and upward.  It's good to have goals.

[dave in the basement]

Nice work, Orbert! Hopefully you'll have enough time on EU to grab those transmogs or just have a fun time.