Demon Hunter skills

This page lists all Demon Hunter skills, as of August 2011. Follow the links to the individual skill pages for full discussion of every skill, including first hand reports and screenshots.

Useful skill links:

• Skills - General skill design and mechanics.
  • Active skills - Skills where effects are activated by the player.
  • Passive skills - Skills where effects are activated automatically, by the computer or by special events.
  • Signature skills - Skills that define characters.
• Hatred/Discipline - The Demon Hunter's energy resource.
• Runestones - The way to massive skill customization/modification.
• Demon Hunter skill archive - Demon Hunter skills removed or modified during development.
• Demon Hunter traits - Passive skills in Diablo III were called traits for a while before reverting back.

Contents

Active Skills

Click to the individual skill pages for more details about these skills including numbers, screenshots, runestone information, blue quotes, and much more.

Caltrops

Caltrops is available at level 1.
A simple but effective trap that is used to slow down enemies.

• Description: Lay a trap of caltrops on the ground that activates when an enemy approaches. Once sprung, the caltrops slow the movement of enemies within X yards by X%.

Hungering Arrow

Hungering Arrow is available at level 1.
An arrow skill that does bonus damage and has a seeking property, much like the Amazon's Guided Arrow from Diablo II.

• Description: A bolt that seeks out enemies and does X% damage and has an Y% chance to pierce the target.

Entangling Shot

Entangling Shot is available at level 2.
This debuff skill deals solid damage, as well as slowing the target. Nearby enemies may be chained as well, potentially slowing several monsters and blocking the movement of all that are stuck behind them.

• Description: Release a sticky adhesive that deals 130% weapon damage and entangles up to 2 enemies, slowing their movement speed by 50% for 2 seconds.
• Cost: 15 Hatred.

Evasive Fire

Evasive Fire is available at level 3.
Used for both attack and defense, it consumes both of the resources for different effects.

Shoot for X% of weapon damage. If an enemy is at close range, you will also backflip away X yards.

Fan of Knives

Fan of Knives is available at level 4.
This skill, instantly nicknamed "knife nova," shoots out numerous blades, dealing considerable physical damage to any targets nearby. The range is very short, hardly more than a melee weapon, making this one best used in very close range against multiple targets.

• Description: Throw knives out in a spiral around you doing X-X damage to all enemies within X feet of you. Your knives will also slow enemies by X% for X seconds.

Bola Shot

Bola Shot is available at level 5.
The Demon Hunter uses a bow or crossbow to fire a spinning projectile; two bombs on a length of rope. The Bola hits the target and wraps around it, dealing minimal impact damage but considerably more explosive damage after a couple of seconds.

• Description: Shoot out an explosive Bola that wraps itself around its target. After X seconds the Bola explodes, dealing X% weapon damage to the target and an additional X% weapon damage to all targets within X feet.

Vault

Vault is available at level 6.
A fast movement skill, this allows the Demon Hunter to move a considerable distance at high speed, passing through monsters and other players, though not through solid objects or over open space, as Teleport or Leap Attack does.

• Description: Tumble acrobatically 35 yards.
• Cost: 10 Discipline.

Grenades

Grenades is available at level 7.
Grenades are small projectiles thrown by the Demon Hunter. They bounce around, ricocheting off of walls and other obstacles, before exploding a couple of seconds after they are thrown. They deal considerable fire damage, but are hard to aim precisely, and are best used against large mobs, especially to hit targets located in the back row.

• Description: Throw out three grenades that explode for X-X fire damage.

Marked for Death

Marked for Death is available at level 8.
The Demon Hunter marks her target which becomes more vulnerable to attacks.

• Description: Marks an enemy. The marked enemy will take X% additional damage for the next X seconds.

Chakram

Chakram is available at level 9.
It's a skill used for attacking the enemies with a star-like weapon. Can hit more than one enemy.

• Description: Fire a swirling Chakram that does X-X physical damage to enemies along its path.

Impale

Impale is available at level 11.
A single strike that hits the enemy with a percent of a weapon's damage.

• Description: Fire a massive shot to impale a target for X% weapon damage.

Smoke Screen

Smoke Screen is available at level 12.
Can be used to escape enemies by becoming invisible for a period of time.

• Description: Vanish behind a wall of smoke, becoming momentarily invisible for X seconds.

Spike Trap

Spike Trap is available at level 14.
This trap/object is placed and triggers when enemies move into range.

• Description: Lay a trap that arms after X seconds and triggers when an enemy approaches. The explosion does X-X damage per second to all enemies within X feet for X seconds.
• You can have a maximum of X traps active at one time.

Companion

Companion is available at level 16.
A raven companion that helps the Demon Hunter on the battlefield, dealing damage to monsters periodically.

• Description: Summon a raven companion. Your raven companion will periodically peck at enemies for X-X damage.

Elemental Arrow

Elemental Arrow is available at level 18.
Creates a fire arrow that hits all the targets it passed through in the direction it was launched.

• Description: Shoot an elemental charged arrow that deals X% weapon damage as Fire damage to all targets it passes through.

Shadow Power

Shadow Power is available at level 19.
A buff skill that increases attack speed for a limited time.

• Description: Draw in the power of the shadows, increasing attack speed by X%.

Multishot

Multishot is available at level 21.
The Diablo II favorite returns. This skill fires a huge cluster of arrows or bolts, guaranteeing a hit on everything in range. The mana cost is fairly high and the damage is lower than most single arrow attacks, making it best used against huge groups.

• Description: Fire a massive volley of arrows dealing X% weapon damage.

Sentry

Sentry is available at level 22.
Sentry creates a mechanical turret that fires arrows at enemies, working much like the Wizard's Hydra skill.

• Description: The Demon Hunter can have a maximum of X traps active at one time.

Cluster Arrow

Cluster Arrow is available at level 23.
The Demon Hunter fires an arrow that hits the ground, and grenades erupt from the consequent blast, which in turn explode to damage enemies.

• Description: Fire a Cluster grenade that explodes for X% weapon damage into a series of additional miniature bombs that explode for X% weapon damage each.

Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire is available at level 24.
A stream of arrows is launched with increased speed that consumes Hatred.

• Description: Rapidly fire a stream of arrows that deal X% weapon damage each.

Preparation

Preparation is available at level 25.
Used to fully replenish Discipline.

• Description: Instantly restore all Discipline.

Strafe

Strafe is available at level 27.
While moving slower, the Demon Hunter can shoot random targets that are near her.

• Description: Shoot X times per second at random nearby enemies while moving at X% of normal movement speed. Every shot deals X% of weapon damage.

Rain of Arrows

Rain of Arrows is available at level 29.
Arrows fall from the sky, dealing damage to enemies in the area that the arrows had been shot.

• Description: Fire a massive volley of arrows around you. Arrows fall from the sky for X seconds dealing an average of X-X weapon damage per second.

Passive Skills

Passive skills replaced Traits during late game development in 2011. Many Traits were simply changed to passive skills, but some are all new. See the Demon Hunter traits page for a full list of those passives.

| | Weak Spot | Increases critical strike damage by Template:Cyanize. | 3 | Demon Hunter |-

Archery is a Demon Hunter passive skill unlocked at Level 30, which grants bonuses to attacks made by bows or crossbows (bonuses are based on the weapon type of your main hand).

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="DemonHunter">Archery</skill>

Synergies

Every damage dealing Demon Hunter attack benefits from Archery.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Archery was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event. It had a listed level of 6, which was clearly temporary since passives aren't available until level 10.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Archery was moved to level 20. It became a level 22 passive for Beta Patch 13, and when passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Archery was moved up to level 30.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Demon Hunter Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Demon Hunter Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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| | Cloak of Shadows | Reduces melee damage taken by Template:Cyanize. | 6 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Aggression | Increases attack by Template:Cyanize. | 12 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Superior Skill | Increases precision by Template:Cyanize. | 12 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Toughness | Increases vitality by Template:Cyanize. | 12 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Back to Basics | Increases the basic damage done by the Demon Hunter's weapon by Template:Cyanize. | 18 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Focused Discipline | Reduces the cost of Discipline-based skills by Template:Cyanize. | 18 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Opportunity | Increases damage dealt to slowed targets by Template:Cyanize. | 18 | Demon Hunter |-

| | Years of Training | When a Discipline-based skill is used, damage dealt by the Demon Hunter is increased by Template:Cyanize for 10 seconds. Can stack up to three times. | 18 | Demon Hunter |-

Ballistics is a Demon Hunter passive skill unlocked at Level 55, which increases damage dealt by Rockets.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="DemonHunter">Ballistics</skill>

Synergies

This Passive should boost damage from:

1. The Sentry's rockets when using the Spitfire Turret rune.
2. Rapid Fire's rockets when using the Fire Support rune.
3. Strafe's rockets when using the Rocket Storm rune.
4. Multishot's rockets when using the Arsenal rune.
5. Cluster Arrow's rockets when using the Shooting Stars rune.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Ballistics was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event as a level 24 passive.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Ballistics was moved to level 30. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Ballistics was moved up to level 55 and heavily nerfed: damage increase was reduced from 100% to 50%.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Demon Hunter Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Demon Hunter Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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Hot Pursuit is a Demon Hunter passive skill unlocked at Level 27, which increases run speed when the Demon Hunter is full of hatred.

Description

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="DemonHunter">Hot Pursuit</skill>

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Demon Hunter passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system. Hot Pursuit was first revealed in the July 2011 Press Event as a level 24 skill.

Beta

The beta started in September 2011, and Hot Pursuit was moved to level 19. It became a level 20 passive for Beta Patch 13, and when passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Hot Pursuit was moved up to level 27.

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• HardRock's Demon Hunter Passive Skills — IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Demon Hunter Passive Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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• Were you looking for information on Mighty Blow or Massacre bonuses?

Killing Spree is a rune effect in Overpower, a situational Barbarian skill.

This rune effect increases the Barbarian's critical hit chance by 10% for 6 seconds after using this skill.

Skill Rune Effects

Refer to the Overpower rune effects page for a thorough description of all the rune effects in this skill, including screenshots and video.

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="Barbarian">Overpower</skill> <skill class="Barbarian" rune="Killing Spree">Overpower</skill>

Media

Screenshots and videos will be added post-release.

Development

Prior to the January 2012 skill and rune system overhaul, this effect was produced by the Crimson Rune, which granted the following effect:

Killing Spree

[e] Whenever used, your chance to critical hit is increased by 22% for 6.0 seconds.

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| | Resourcefulness | When Discipline is under Template:Cyanize, the regeneration of Hatred is increased by Template:Cyanize. | 24 | Demon Hunter |-

|} Note: The listed levels of the passive skills are clearly a holdover of when they were traits and will change in the future.

Development

The Demon Hunter was the fifth and final character to be revealed in Diablo III, making her debut at Blizzcon 2010.

Removed Skills

• Molten Arrow
• Shock Spike

References

• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011

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