Demon Hunter Inferno Guide – The Agile DPS Build

The following guide will give you an overview of the Agile DPS build for Demon Hunters trying to survive Inferno difficulty in Diablo 3.

Please note that this build is NOT recommended if you’re playing Hardcore.

The Concept:

Demon Hunters in Diablo 3 have the ability to scale insane DPS if you stack your stats properly. The highest DPS we’ve seen so far is 266k DPS which is massive, even for Inferno, and will 1-2 most mobs, 10-15 shot elites and kill bosses significantly faster than any Barbarian or Monk build. However, with your stats being stacked for DPS, this will likely leave you vulnerable from a survivability standpoint.

At a high level, the build involves having high “effective hitpoints” and using the “Life on Hit” stat to boost survivability while dealing crazy DPS. It also involves using a few evasion skills to help you avoid trouble vs being able to tank damage.

Demon Hunter Inferno Stat Prioritization Break-Down:

The following Demon Hunter stat prioritization is recommended for Inferno Difficulty. Obviously it’s ideal to have all, but if you can’t, this will help you prioritize what you need.

1. Critical Hit Chance and/or Critical Hit Damage
2. Dexterity
3. All Resistances
4. Life on Hit (if you can get DPS in the 200k+ zone, you may want to consider lifesteal)
5. Attack Speed (de-prioritized due to upcoming nerf)
6. Vitality

Demon Hunter Inferno Skill Build:

• Primary: Hungering Arrow; Rune: Spray of Teeth

  Hungering Arrow gives you some AOE damage when coupled with the Spray of Teeth rune to give you some Hatred Regeneration. It is also ideal since you don’t need to be entirely accurate with your aim – the arrows will seek out enemies

• Secondary: Elemental Arrow; Rune:  Nether Tentacles

  Elemental Arrow with the Nether Tentacles Rune is the key skill for the Agile DPS Demon Hunter build. Because you will be low in Vitality, the build-in lifesteal coupled with your Life on Hit state will ensure good survivability. In addition, it does decent AOE damage and a low hatred cost, allowing you to spam it pretty liberally.

• Defensive: Smoke Screen; Rune: Lingering Fog

  Smoke Screen is your primary defensive skill, allowing you to be invulnerable and invisible to enemies for a short period of time. We use the Lingering Fog rune to increase the duration. This also receives a bonus when using the “Tactical Advantage” passive skill for a massive boost in movement speed for a short period of time.

• Hunting: Vault; Rune: Tumble

  Vault is one of the key skills you need to make you truly agile in Battle.  Vault allows you to travel a large distance extremely quickly helping you dodge out of danger and get into offensive position quickly. This also allows you to quickly skip Elites if necessary, skip through dungeons if you’re goblin hunting/boss farming. In addition, it receives a bonus from “Tactical Advantage” passive skill which gives you a massive boost in movement speed for a short period of time.

•  Archery: Multishot; Rune: Full Broadside

  Multishot is a fast and easy way to clear mobs in a massive AOE. With the Full Broadside rune, this does insane DPS and often times will 1 shot all mobs within an area. Use sparingly as it does use a lot of hatred. It’s a nice way to insta-clear mobs especially if you’re gold farming.

• Secondary: Rapid Fire; Rune: Bombardment

  Rapid Fire is a somewhat optional choice; we like it for the ability to quickly target down bosses. In addition, since you’re stacking life on hit, you get massive HP regeneration when using this skill. With the bombardment rune, you also gain big damage with some AOE as well.

• Passive Skill #1: Tactical Advantage

  Since you’re an Agile Demon Hunter, Tactical Advantage will give you a big movement speed boost when using the Smoke Screen and Vault skills

• Passive Skill #2:  Steady Aim

  20% bonus in weapon damage is massive. When used in conjunction with the Vault skill, you can quickly gain enough distance between yourself and the mobs to gain the 20% bonus.

• Passive Skill #3:  Archery

  No matter what item you use, the damage increase coupled with Steady Aim scales extremely well.

Click here for Battle.net Skill Calculator for this Build

Guidelines for Actual Stats For the Demon Hunter in Inferno

**PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A ROUGH GUIDE. YOUR STATS DO NOT HAVE TO MATCH EXACTLY TO MAKE THE BUILD WORK**

Inferno Act 1:

• All Resist: 300+
• Life on Hit: 400+
• DPS: 30k+
• HP: 25k+

Inferno Act 2:

• All Resist: 450+
• Life on Hit: 500+
• DPS: 50k+
• HP: 30k+

Inferno Act 3:

• All Resist: 550+
• Life on Hit: 700+
• DPS: 75k+
• HP: 35k+

Inferno Act 4:

• All Resist: 750+
• Life on Hit: 1000+
• DPS: 125k+
• HP: 40k+

If you have any questions about this build, please let us know in the comments!