Diablo 3
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GoD Hungering Arrow Demon Hunter Guide
Last Updated: July 7th 2024
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Introduction
The Gears of Dreadlands Hungering Arrow Demon Hunter has made its entry during Season 21 and immediately surged to the top of all builds in the game, especially in solo pushing. With its excellent mobility and damage it is an all-rounder for speed content.
In Season 23 (Patch 2.7.0), the build has been tweaked to bring down its top-end pushing and fishing potential by capping the pierces on The Ninth Cirri Satchel to 4 while buffing the (6) Bonus from 10,000% to 15,000% to compensate. In Season 29 (Patch 2.7.6), the (2) Bonus Momentum mechanic was enhanced by giving it a 5-second delay before the timer starts ticking down, making the farming playstyle even more care-free.
The build focuses on Strafe and Hungering Arrow to deal damage, which is done semi-automatically thanks to the (4) Bonus that will automatically fire your last used Primary whenever you hit an enemy with Strafe. This allows you to deal damage while moving. The (2) Bonus gives you a Momentum stacking Movement Speed and Damage buff. This bonus stacks up to a total of 160% Movement Speed letting you literally fly through the rifts while destroying everything in your path.
While it is possible to play with other Primary skills, they lack proper legendary support to be an effective choice. Bolas is the only real alternative for T16 and Greater Rifts around 5-7 tiers lower than Hungering Arrow. Entangling Shot can be used in a solo pushing variant to increase your damage output by weaving two different skills, but it is quite difficult to play. During Season 24, Ethereals and the astonishing Buriza-Do-Kyanon incredibly buffed the build, skyrocketing it back as one of the most effective choice to farm Speeds Greater Rifts. Yet even outside of seasonal buffs, the GoD DH remains a solid popular farming build.
This is an Area Damage (AD) build, since Hungering Arrows as well as all the procs from Gears of Dreadlands (4) Bonus can proc it. The build and gameplay itself are easy to learn, however when it comes to optimizing the setup especially in solo push, there are a lot of details and intricate interactions to consider (see Mechanics) in order to get the most out of it. Let's get into it!
Lots of variants ✔
Strong season starter ✔
Top solo farming build ✔
Fast and smooth gameplay ✔
❌ Complicated mechanics
❌ Hits a brick wall in pushing
❌ No direct targeting possible
❌ Lacks massive AoE potential
Core Setup
Items
- The Gears of Dreadlands set provides huge damage bonuses: x3 through the (2) Bonus, and x151 through the (6) Bonus, for a total of x453 damage with your Hungering Arrow. On top of that, the (4) Bonus can also be counted as roughly a x2-2.5 multiplier due to effectively providing hidden extra Attack Speed. Finally, the set gives you 60% damage reduction and up to 160% Movement Speed while using Strafe.
- The Ninth Cirri Satchel is the key item of the build, adding 100% pierce chance to Hungering Arrow (up to 4 times) as well as an up to 600% multiplicative damage increase.
- Hunter's Wrath is another high-value DPS item, providing a 30% Attack Speed bonus to your Primaries (which makes keeping up Momentum stacks easier) as well as another 200% multiplicative damage bonus.
- Dawn can be either worn or cubed, depending on what you find and the variation you play. It will help you to reach permanent Vengeance uptime.
- Depth Diggers provide another 100% multiplicative damage increase to Hungering Arrow.
- Wraps of Clarity add a valuable 50% damage reduction.
- As long as you are not using a Two-Handed Weapon, you can generally use a Quiver or a second Weapon interchangeably (while cubing the other). With perfect rolls on all your gear, dual wielding wins out by about 0.5%.
Season 32 Ethereals
Ethereals are powerful rare weapons that can only be found during Season 32. They were initially the Season 24 Theme. They have incredible stats, a random Legendary power, and a free passive for your class. Read our Ethereal Mechanics Guide for full details on how they work and our Ethereal Farming Guide to learn how to acquire them. What you should prioritize on them is the following:
- The Legendary Power
This build requires Dawn and either Valla's Bequest, Fortress Ballista or Odyssey's End to be functional. We need our Ethereal to roll one of these powers so we can cube the other. We also want a good roll on our Legendary power if it has a range. - The Ethereal Itself
There are 3 different weapons available to us, each with its own benefits:- Buriza-Do Kyanon - A powerful 2h weapon with a chance to Freeze and extra Crit against Frozen enemies. This is the best choice for the build.
- Doomslinger - A 1h crossbow that is a weaker, alternative item to use until you find the above or for speed setups in easy content thanks to the movement buff.
- Windforce - Basically an upgraded Yang's Recurve that only works for certain builds.
- The Ethereal Stat Rolls
Each Ethereal comes with its own fixed set of powerful affixes. While some have a static value, many have a wide stat range. This means the difference between good and bad rolls is significant and something you should look for. - A Useful Passive
This is just icing on the cake because a fifth passive is not going to make or break your build. You're better off hunting for the things above. Check out the Passives section down below to see which ones you're looking for.
Global Stat Priorities
The most important for almost any DH build is reaching permanent Vengeance uptime. This is achievable through the 65% Cooldown Reduction effect provided by Dawn and having 37% Cooldown Reduction on your character, usually from Flawless Royal Diamond, Paragon Points, Shoulders, Weapons (if dual wielding) or your Gloves + Quiver (if using one Weapon). If you are wearing a Dawn and it has less than 64-63% on the legendary affix, you should consider adding another Cooldown roll to make up for it, as any lower will leave you with a noticeable gap.
This build uses specific Attack Speed Breakpoints for optimal damage output depending on your Weapon, due to the Gears of Dreadlands (4) Bonus (see Mechanics).
Aside from that, you want to stack damage stats wherever possible, especially Crit stats, Cold Damage, Hungering Arrow Damage, and lastly Area Damage in this order of priority. For your defensive stats you just need to focus on increasing the raw toughness value. Since almost all of your recovery is based on percentage-based healing from Simplicity's Strength there's no reason to prioritize mitigation over health pool. Physical Resistance is also extremely useful, as you will generally move very close to your enemies and most of the incoming damage will be of that type. Because of that, you should always use Flawless Royal Diamond in your Chest and Pants sockets.
Assembling the Build
Item Stat Priorities
Gems
Skills
Passives
Paragon Points
Altar of Rites
Follower
Gameplay
Hardcore
Variants
Nephalem Rifts
Bounties
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
GR Group Speeds
Echoing Nightmare
Gears of Dreadlands is a great Torment farming build due to it's incredible Movement Speed (with 160% bonus baked into the 4-piece set), really high damage and ability to deal damage while moving. It's among the top builds in the game for Nephalem Rifts. Yang's Recurve is included for the massive amount of Resource Cost Reduction it provides.
Concept
The idea here is to stack lots of movement speed while still being able to kill most big enemies quickly as you are passing by. To achieve this, we use the whole arsenal: Boon of the Hoarder and Goldwrap, Tactical Advantage and Rechel's Ring of Larceny (try to get Fear on Hit on your helmet, weapon and quiver). Your follower assists you with Avarice Band, Nemesis Bracers, The Flavor of Time, Sage's Journey and Cain's Destiny. Blood Vengeance will help you spam your mobility skills without stacking too much Resource Cost Reduction.
Gameplay
Keep up Momentum at 17 or more, spam your mobility skill (Smoke Screen & Shadow Power Shadow Glide) and Strafe away! You don't have to wait until enemies are dead, Hungering Arrows will continue to fly around for a few seconds after you're gone; just make sure to keep an eye out for star icons on the minimap.
Setups
In groups you have to change your setup slightly due to the missing follower. Nemesis Bracers needs to be equipped and then you can choose to go with either Warzechian Armguards or Goldwrap in the cube. We also drop Rechel's Ring of Larceny for Avarice Band.
At higher Paragon you can afford to drop some damage and toughness for more Movement Speed: swapping Taeguk for Wreath of Lightning or Goldwrap for Krelm's Buff Belt. Another option is to run with the Shatter Shot rune or switch to Bolas Imminent Doom with Leonine Bow of Hashir + Emimei's Duffel for better AoE coverage.
Gears of Dreadlands is among the top Bounty builds in the game and competitive with UE Multishot DH due to its insane mobility. Yang's Recurve is included for the massive amount of Resource Cost Reduction it provides.
Concept
This Bounty build tries to maximize Movement Speed more than anything. For that we have a whole host of skills and items: Displacement, Shadow Glide, Hot Pursuit, Warzechian Armguards, Rechel's Ring of Larceny and Wreath of Lightning. Elusive Ring adds valuable toughness to be able to channel objectives or town portal while ignoring nearby enemies.
Gameplay
Keep up Momentum at 17 or more, spam your mobility skill (Smoke Screen Displacement & Shadow Power Shadow Glide) and Strafe away! When you are teleporting to the next quest with mobs around, try to do it fast because the defensive buff from Gears of Dreadlands (4) Bonus only lasts 5 seconds.
Setups
If your damage is too low, drop Wreath of Lightning for Zei's Stone of Vengeance and/or Rechel's Ring of Larceny for Stone of Jordan. Arriving at your destination quickly is great but useless if you can't kill anything.
Concept
We aim to go fast and complete Greater Rifts at a comfortable level in around 90-150 seconds. Choose a difficulty where regular monsters die instantly and elites only take a few seconds. For the most damage output, we combine Bastions of Will, Squirt's Necklace & Fortress Ballista.
Gameplay
The gameplay rotation is the same as always: Keep your Momentum stacks high and Strafe away. Go fast and make sure you don't lose your Squirt's Necklace when you can avoid it. Depending on which tier you are farming, consider skipping bad elite packs (such as Waller Elites and Juggernauts) if they slow you down too much.
Setups
If you are too squishy, make sure to run with Awareness or your follower's cheat death ability.
At higher Paragon (2500+) you should switch from Guardian's Jeopardy to Aughild's Authority (quite squishy) or Wraps of Clarity + Convention of Elements (by dropping Ring of Royal Grandeur).
Select Build Version
Standard (Valla/Ballista)
Concept
The most basic and care-free variant revolves around Valla's Bequest. Very similar to this is the Fortress Ballista version that you generally want to transition into once you acquire enough toughness and familiarity with the build to keep up your Squirt's Necklace most of the time. Lastly, Odyssey's End presents an alternative with a very high skill ceiling that rewards you with massive DPS and pushes slightly higher if executed properly.
To have enough damage for the highest Tiers, we use the Bastions of Will set and Convention of Elements. For defense we have Wraps of Clarity and Numbing Traps.
Gameplay
Pull enemies together between your Convention of Elements rotations and mow them down during the Cold cycle. Jump into Oculus Rings when you see them to boost your damage. With Valla's Bequest equipped you can dive into the pack for extra Area Damage and slow value from Bane of the Trapped whenever it's safe enough to do so.
Setups
You have the option to add Elusive Ring in the cube if you're struggling to survive. At high Paragon, Valla's Bequest should be replaced with Fortress Ballista once you can keep up your Squirt's Necklace at least 50% of the time with it.
Concept
Odyssey's End presents an alternative with a very high skill ceiling that rewards you with massive DPS and pushes slightly higher if executed properly. You have to run with Entangling Shot Heavy Burden instead of one of your utility skills, so you will be a bit squishier.
When using a 2-handed bow, you need to make sure that you don't have more than a total of 19% Attack Speed on all of your gear combined (meaning your quiver, you must not have any other rolls) and none from Paragons to stay at the 9 Frames breakpoint for Strafe (<1.67 APS in character details). Going above will heavily drop your DPS and you should avoid this at all costs. The most optimal way to play is to hug the mobs in melee range 100% of the time to maximize your DPS, as this guarantees a perfect use of this breakpoint and Hungering Arrow spawn rate. Unless Oculus Ring zone spawns away from all the mobs, you should always be surrounded by enemies as long as you can survive. However, on small pulls you can instead try to keep up your Squirt's Necklace for more DPS.
Gameplay
Pull enemies together between your Convention of Elements rotations and mow them down during the Cold cycle. Jump into Oculus Rings when you see them to boost your damage.
When you make a new pull and are getting ready to DPS, you need to use Entangling Shot and then Strafe with it for a few seconds, making sure that all enemies are entangled (you will entangle roughly 10 enemies per second using Strafe). After that the only thing you have to do is change the way you keep up your Momentum stacks: instead of shooting a Hungering Arrow when the counter hits 17, you first shoot Entangling Shot and then Hungering Arrow (use Smoke Screen to stay alive) and only after that you continue with Strafe. Normally this would be a DPS loss because you have to spend extra time not Strafing, but because of the Momentum bug (see Mechanics below) you have to shoot twice more often than not anyway.
Setups
If anything in this version is too difficult, you should just play one of the easier ones because almost any possible adjustment will reduce the push potential by too much.
Concept
This setup is very similar to solo speeds, but since we get a lot of toughness from supports, we more easily maintain Squirt's Necklace and can even add more greedy choices such as Caltrops Bait the Trap and Steady Aim to reach most DPS. Taeguk is replaced with Zei's Stone of Vengeance because the benefit of the former is heavily reduced when supporters are present.
Gameplay
You should be focused almost entirely on your positioning, which can be tougher than expected due to all the Movement Speed you have. You should (in order of importance):
- Stay out of dangerous ground effects
- Stay inside Oculus Ring zone
- Stay inside Bait The Trap AoE
- Stay 10 yards away from all monsters for Steady Aim
Other than that you just need to keep up your Momentum stacks, spam Smoke Screen and cast Preparation and Vengeance when they come off cooldown.
Note: if you are running double DPS and both of them have Convention of Elements, you should desync them. One DH removes their CoE from the cube, waits until the other is on the start of Lightning in their cycle and puts it in again. This way you never have to wait longer than 4s for your window of increased DPS.
Setups
This setup is intended for 3 min runs, where average elite fight takes 5-10 seconds. If you are going for faster runs you should switch Special Recipe for Displacement and Caltrops for Fan of Knives Bladed Armor.
At higher Paragon (2500+) you should switch from Wraps of Clarity and Convention of Elements to Ring of Royal Grandeur + Aughild's Authority, which will provide you with more consistent DPS at the cost of toughness. This is especially great for very fast runs (75-100 seconds) where playing around Convention of Elements is barely possible.
Concept
For Echoing Nightmares we are using an exact copy of the Fortress Ballista Push Build. For more information check out our full Echoing Nightmare Guide and take a look at our Echoing Nightmare Build Tier List and META post for the best builds and strategies!
Gameplay
Click Speed Pylon as soon as the challenge starts and all the other Pylons at around wave 90. At wave 122 you can stop attacking and run to the corner to let the timer run out.
Keep up your buffs and spin to win! Make sure to dodge incoming attacks, explosions and the green meteors by spamming Smoke Screen as much as possible.
Video Guide
Mechanics
Hungering Arrow Devouring Arrow
Momentum: Gears of Dreadlands (2) Bonus
Gears of Dreadlands (4) Bonus and Attack Speed
Valla's Bequest
Odyssey's End
Fortress Ballista
Summary
- Put together the core items and acquire the full Gears of Dreadlands set.
- Reach the necessary Cooldown Reduction for permanent Vengeance (37% with a perfect Dawn).
- Get the Momentum buff to 20 and keep it above 17 at all times by using your Hungering Arrow.
- Use Strafe the rest of the time to move and deal damage.
- Activate your defensive and utility skills when necessary.
We hope you enjoyed this guide! Gears of Dreadlands is a great build for all kinds of purposes and skill levels, and if you're not familiar with it yet you are missing out on this powerhouse of a farmer!
Credits
Written by Northwar & wudijo
Updates by wudijo
