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LoD Rapid Fire Demon Hunter Guide

Last Updated: January 10th 2024

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Introduction

LoD Rapid Fire Solo Push

The Legacy of Dreams Rapid Fire Demon Hunter first became a real build in Season 17, when two of its key items, Wojahnni Assaulter and Sin Seekers, received tremendous buffs. With none of the Demon Hunter's sets working with Rapid Fire, the combo with Legacy of Nightmares set was a natural choice for this build.

The build was so powerful that it immediately claimed the top spot on solo Demon Hunter leaderboards, destroying the fragile balance we had after Season 12 and Season 16 patches. Instead of 4 different builds (Impale, UE MS, N6M4, and M6 CA) performing within 3 tiers of each other, we suddenly had only one undisputed top dog. And let me tell you, that wasn't a pretty dog. Not by a long shot.

The main problem with Rapid Fire DH comes from Wojahnni Assaulter, which rewards you for channeling Rapid Fire for long periods of time. Sin Seekers further exacerbate this issue by removing Rapid Fire's channeling cost, letting you channel it indefinitely.

On top of that Rapid Fire snapshots your Attack Speed when you start channeling it, giving you extra incentive to never let go of the button. All these factors combined, resulted in a build designed entirely around standing still and holding down one button. Needless to say, such a build doesn't produce very exciting gameplay. Most of the time you just hold Rapid Fire and stare at your buffs and cooldowns, because you need neither move nor aim. At the same time this build outperformed all other DH builds by such a large margin, that you were forced to play it to compete.

Finally, after 4 seasons of Rapid Fire tyranny, Gears of Dreadlands was introduced in Season 21, giving us a superior solo push build in GoD HA Demon Hunter. In Season 27, thanks to Sanctified Powers, a unique build was made possible due to Sanctified Strafe, the LoD Strafe Cluster Bombs (see Mechanics).

Embodiment of the Marauder is the DH set designed about Sentries. LoD Rapid Fire however, goes a step further than that. It is the ultimate Sentry build: you become the Sentry.

Very Tanky ✔
A Lot of Explosions ✔
Scales Well with Density

Extremely High Recovery ✔

❌ Extremely Boring
❌ Very Slow and Clunky
❌ Long and Boring Boss Fights
❌ Did I mention it's boring?

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Wojahnni Assaulter is our strongest multiplier, giving 3,000% additive Rapid Fire damage. Unfortunately it also makes all other sources of additive damage (Rapid Fire rolls on gear, Strongarm Bracers, Taeguk, etc.) completely irrelevant.
  • Sin Seekers increase Rapid Fire damage by 300% and remove its channeling cost.
  • Hellcat Waistguard is an effective x2.5-5 multiplier (see Mechanics) which works with all Grenade skills including Rapid Fire Bombardment.
  • Dawn lets us achieve easy 100% Vengeance uptime.
  • Visage of Gunes gives permanent 50% damage reduction by adding Dark Heart rune to Vengeance.
  • Stone Gauntlets roughly triple our toughness with no downside due to permanent Vengeance.
  • Mantle of Channeling is a no-brainer in any channeling build giving 25% damage and damage reduction for free.
  • Convention of Elements is another separate damage multiplier, giving you triple damage during your Fire cycle.
  • Pain Enhancer is a staple in this build as we will snapshot the high attack speed in large monster density to keep channeling with increased DPS for a long duration.

Season 30 Soul Shards

Soul Shards are powerful socketable items that initially dropped during Season 25 but they are returning for Season 30! There are 4 available for Weapons based on the Lesser Evils, with another 3 for Helmets based on the Prime Evils. They drop at Rank 0 and be upgraded three times with the brand new Hellforge Embers to unlock additional powers, or be used in the Kanai's Cube as Augments. Here's how they progress:

  • Rank 0: Soul Shards begin with a unique static Legendary Power. Creates a Rank 50 Augment.
  • Rank 1: Gives all powers from the normal gems. Creates a Rank 75 Augment.
  • Rank 2: Grants one additional powerful stat. Creates a Rank 100 Augment.
  • Rank 3: Unlocks 1 of 3 bonus Legendary Powers unique to that Soul Shard. Creates a Rank 125 Augment.

Warning: Leoric's Crown and Broken Crown do not work with Soul Shards!

Read our Soul Shards Guide written by Chewingnom for full details on how they work. What you should prioritize on them for Solo Pushing is the following:

  1. The Correct Soul Shard & Rank 3 Power
    The best shards for Solo Pushing are:
    • Helmets: We want to use Sliver of Terror for the massive damage buff from our abilities on cooldown. For the Rank 3 power take the Ring of Fire to unleash a devastating AoE blast for big leaderboard pushes!
    • Weapons: We want to use Remnant of Pain for the 100% Critical Hit Chance to incapacitated enemies. For the Rank 3 power take the additional Attack Speed to further power up your character!
  2. The Rank 2 Stat
    The stats that come from the second upgrade are not equal. Here's what we're looking for on them:
    • Helmets: We want either Main Stat for damage or Melee/Ranged Damage Reduction to survive. Avoid Armor and All Resistance as their stat ranges are far too low compared to the others options.
    • Weapons: We want Attack Speed to boost our character's power the furthest.
  3. The Stat Ranges on the Rank 1 and 2 Powers
    This is just icing on the cake because the ranges will not make or break your build. Still, look for the Soul Shards with the best stat ranges, especially on the offensive stats.

For the other game modes, other Soul Shards can be used. Check the Variants below to see what's used there.

What about extra Soul Shards? Either salvage them for gems, or upgrade and use them in Kanai's Cube for Augments.

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. If your Dawn has less than 64-63% on the legendary affix, you should consider adding a 4th Cooldown roll to make up for it, as any lower will leave you with a significant gap.

Rapid Fire Attack Speed Breakpoints

Aim to hit the 4.00 APS breakpoint with all your buffs up (esp. Remnant of Pain. Aside from that, you want to stack damage stats wherever possible: Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage, Fire Damage and Area Damage. For your defensive stats you just need to focus on increasing the raw toughness value.

Your recovery is based on a percentage of your HP, hence there is no reason to prioritize mitigation over HP pool. Physical Resistance is also extremely useful, as you will stand directly inside your enemies and most of the incoming damage will be of that type. 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

Greater Rift Solo Push
LoD Solo Push

Concept
This variant of the build gets outrageous amounts of toughness from Elusive Ring, Unity and Shadow Power Gloom. Because of that all the rest of our items, skills and passives are aimed at maximizing damage. Cindercoat, Blackthorne's Jousting Mail and Magefist for Fire damage. Wolf Companion, Ambush and Bait the Trap for damage increase and extra Critical Hit Chance.

Gameplay
The gameplay for this build is exactly as described above. In general you will be absolutely untouchable, there's only two things you should worry about: Oppressors and Waller Elites. Oppressors just deal ridiculous damage with their fire breath, Molten explosions and stacked Arcane Lasers don't come anywhere close. If you have many Oppressors around, try to stand next to them to make them use melee attack instead of fire breath.

Waller can also be very dangerous. Most of the time walls do literally nothing because you can walk through them. But sometimes the wall spawns directly on top of you and then it instantly stops your Side Cannons before they can hit any mobs. This completely turns off your healing and from there you have 1-3 seconds until you are dead. You need to notice that there's a wall on top of you and quickly move a step to the side or use the Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid.

Be careful when playing with Aquila: while Sin Seekers remove the channeling cost, Rapid Fire still has an initial cost, so you will lose the buff if you restart the channel too often!

Setups
Instead of The Ess of Johan you can also run with Squirt's Necklace, which can prove useful at the Rift Guardian or with a Shield Pylon. If you are more experienced with the build or have higher Paragon (2,500+), you can also drop Unity to cube the second amulet instead.

Other toughness options for this setup are changing Wolf Companion to Boar Companion, Caltrops to Preparation Focused Mind to get 100% upt

At even higher paragon (3,000+), you can drop both Unity and Elusive ring to use Legacy of Nightmares set and get in Pain Enhancer. Since there are no more breakpoints after 4.00 APS, you can then also equip Wojahhni Assaulter and reach the same attack speed with higher base damage in large pulls. For the last few percent of progress, make sure to gather a large pull, so that you have good Rapid Fire snapshot and don't let go of the button until the Rift Guardian is dead. Be careful to not hover any UI elements if the boss is moving a lot!

Video Guide

Mechanics

Rapid Fire Bombardment

Hellcat Waistguard

Wojahnni Assaulter

Vengeance Side Cannons

Summary

  • Put together the core items and level up the Legacy of Dreams gem.
  • Reach the necessary Cooldown Reduction for permanent Vengeance (37% with a perfect Dawn).
  • Apply Pain Enhancer to everything.
  • Recast Rapid Fire to snapshot the Attack Speed and hold on for dear life.
  • Activate your defensive and utility skills when necessary.

I played this build in one season, and honestly, that was one season too many. Now it's useless, but it could always make a comeback. You never know...

Credits

Written by Northwar
Updates by wudijo

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