Natalya Spike Trap Demon Hunter Guide

Last Updated: September 14th 2023

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Natalya Spike Traps Solo Push
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In Season 28, Natalya's Vengeance has been completely reworked into a Spike Trap set. Before that, the set was renowned for its versatility by providing a massive generic damage multiplier that could support any skill which didn't fit any of the other Demon Hunter sets. With this rework, builds like N6M4, N6GoD4, N6 RF and N6 FoK vanished to make room for something new - and frankly, that wasn't a huge loss.

The new build combines Spike Trap as a powerful nuke ability with Caltrops for utility to enable a true trap-based playstyle. While this setup is relatively slow-paced, the build can still move around quickly because of all the extra Discipline generation from the (2) Bonus, allowing you to spam Shadow Power, Caltrops, Vault and Smoke Screen nearly all the time.

In order to deal the most damage through the (6) Bonus, you have to set up a chain reaction of up to 10x Spike Trap Custom Trigger (with Custom Engineering + Scatter from Trag'Oul Coils) and detonate them with a Hatred Generator, usually by tapping Evasive Fire Hardened. Thanks to the set's (4) Bonus you even create your own pulls for more Area Damage!

The main sections of this guide cover the easy solo push version using Dawn for permanent Vengeance uptime. The high-end push version and other setups are described in more detail in the variants below.

High skill ceiling
Unique playstyle
Huge area damage

Satisfying big nukes

❌ Many buttons
Needs setup time
Constant knockbacks

Not beginner friendly

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Natalya's Vengeance (2) Bonus removes all costs and cooldowns for Spike Trap, increases its damage by 100% when combined with Caltrops and refills Discipline rapidly all the time.
  • Natalya's Vengeance (4) Bonus allows Caltrops to pull in enemies when hit by Spike Trap and provides 75% damage reduction.
  • Natalya's Vengeance (6) Bonus provides a 10,000% damage bonus to Spike Trap and increases their damage by 25% for consecutive explosions of the same chain reaction.
  • Chanon Bolter provides a 200% damage bonus to Spike Trap and taunts enemies.
  • The Demon's Demise provides another 200% damage bonus of Spike Trap and triggers explosions an additional time, effectively doubling damage again.
  • Trag'Oul Coils adds yet another 200% damage bonus to Spike Trap, increases the deployment speed and adds the Scatter rune for free.
  • Dawn offers massive cooldown reduction for Vengeance to ensure permanent uptime.
  • Aughild's Authority is a strong secondary set choice that adds extra damage and defense, which is included in most variants of the build.
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur is required to combine Natalya's Vengeance with additional sets and free up more item slots.

Season 29 Paragon Cap

Season 29 brings several features, first the brand new Visions of Enmity mechanic. They are an optional and rewarding mini dungeon system where players slay monsters in quick succession of portals. These portals have a chance to spawn upon killing any monster in the open world and they hide many rewards for you to reap! Read the full guide on the Visions of Enmity Mechanics by Chewingnom to learn everything about this fantastic feature!

As if it wasn't enough, Season 29 also shakes things up with a Paragon Cap and a Paragon Distribution Twist! You can only assign a total of 800 Paragon Points to your character. Previously, you were only able to assign a total of 50 Paragon Points to each attribute within the Core, Defense, Offense and Utility categories, but now you can assign up to 200 in each attribute. Each category can only have 200 Paragon Points placed into them.

This forces you to make choices while also enabling crazy possibilities such as 200% Area Damage or 40% Cooldown Reduction! Note that Movement Speed now only grants 0.125% per point but can also go above the 25% Movement Speed cap from items. With that in mind, here is the Paragon Distribution you should follow for the build described in the main sections of the guide. Variants may differ, see below.

Season 29 Paragon Distribution

One exciting novelty in Season 29 is the ability to run near permanent Vengeance even without including Dawn thanks to the 40% extra Cooldown Reduction from Paragons. In addition to the great synergy with Captain Crimson's Trimmings, this makes the build a lot easier and more consistent to play.

Global Stat Priorities

Stack the typical damage stats such as Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage and Fire Damage on every piece possible. In order to reach (near) permanent Vengeance uptime, roll Cooldown Reduction on every slot and put all your Paragons into it. When playing with Dawn, only 37% Cooldown Reduction is enough. On Chest and Shoulders, add Spike Trap Damage and fill remaining affix slots with Average Damage (Rings) or Area Damage where possible.

Resource Cost Reduction on Shoulders and a Weapon can help to smooth out the build's playstyle and increases toughness when running with Captain Crimson's Trimmings. Other than that, we prefer Vitality > Life % = All Resistance on armor pieces for more defense.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Speeds
GR Solo Push
GR Group Trash Killer
Spike Trap Solo Push (Dawn)

Concept
This setup combines high damage and toughness to reach the highest GR tiers. We want to stack up large packs of enemies with the pulling effect from Caltrops and nuke them down with Area Damage.

Gameplay
This is described in more detail in the Gameplay section above. Keep up the buff from Vengeance while searching valuable monster packs. When you find a good spot, place Spike Trap underneath enemies, then tap Caltrops + Evasive Fire once together to pull them in. Repeat this process until you have all nearby enemies stacked up.

Once you have all enemies inside your Caltrops area, set up chain reactions of 10 Spike Traps stacked on top of each other. Once the density thins out, kite leftover enemies with you and prepare the next pull. Whenever Oculus Rings appear, reposition into them for more damage and use Smoke Screen frequently to stay alive.

Season 29 Paragon

Setups
If you want to include Awareness, drop Leech or Numbing Traps for it.

A slightly higher damage version replaces Captain Crimson's Trimmings + Pauldrons of the Skeleton King with Aughild's Authority + Dawn. Like this you can drop most of your Cooldown in favor of damage stats while keeping permanent Vengeance, but you have much less Resource Cost Reduction and more downtime on your Smoke Screen.

Video Guide

Mechanics

Natalya's Vengeance

Chanon Bolter

The Demon's Demise

Trag'Oul Coils

Summary

  • Keep up your buffs from Vengeance as much as possible.
  • Stack up nearby enemies by placing 1-2x Spike Trap Custom Trigger below them, then tapping Caltrops and Evasive Fire together at the same time.
  • With a fully prepared pull, set up 10x Spike Trap Custom Trigger[/d3planner-skill]s, detonate them and repeat to deal damage.
  • Use Smoke Screen frequently to move around and survive.
  • Kite leftover enemies to the next pull or move on without them if they're too slow.

I hope you enjoyed this guide! Although the Spike Trap has a setup time, it offers a unique and powerful playstyle that has been missing from the game for years. With this build it's all about the right timing to create fantastic damage bursts.
Good luck!

Credits

Written & Updated by wudijo.
Review and Contributions by Northwar.

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