Diablo Immortal: Best Strafe Demon Hunter Build

This article is part of a directory: Complete Guide To Diablo Immortal: Tips, Tricks, Builds, and More

Table of contents

It's easy to imagine that Strafe players in Diablo 3 must have been very disappointed to see that Strafe appeared to be capped in Diablo Immortal. The move seems to have a cap on its channel duration and waiting in between each burst can feel like a waste.

But there is a way to return the Strafe ability to its former glory in Diablo Immortal. Strafe is absurdly effective against both bosses and mobs alike, so it's worth fighting to make the ability last as long and hit as hard as possible.

Due to several factors, like gear, skills, reforging, and upgrades, it is impossible to list the exact quantities for many of the numbers detailed here. Any variable number has been replaced with an 'X' to signify its potential to change.

Skill Selection

Diablo Immortal Demon Hunter Strafe Build Collage

Slot	Skill	Description
Primary Skill	Crossbow Shot	Shoot an arrow for X to X damage while moving at reduced speed.
Skill	Vengeance	Active: Transform into the physical embodiment of Vengeance for X seconds, causing every Primary Attack to launch X additional shots for X damage each. Passive: Gain X% increased movement speed for each nearby enemy stacking up to X times.
Skill	Daring Swing	Use a rope to swing to a nearby location, dealing X damage to enemies on the way while they cannot attack you. Maximum X charges.
Skill	Impale	Rapidly throw knives in a direction, continually dealing damage to all enemies caught in the barrage. Using Impale slowly consumes its energy, which recovers while Impale is not in use.
Skill	Strafe	Spin rapidly while moving at X% reduced speed, shooting in all directions for X damage per hit. Using Strafe slowly consumes its energy, which recovers while Strafe is not in use.

In between charging up Strafe, use Impale as it will also gain all the benefits of channeling that the build receives. Vengeance and Daring Swing can and should be used in between flurries to position better and increase overall damage.

Gear

Diablo Immortal Group Of Each Class In A Cathedral

The bulk of gamers will be hunting down their ideal pieces of legendary gear after taking the time to beat the game. But don't forget to track down the set bonus pieces after choosing them from the list. A complete set gives three additional effects, on par with the legendary bonuses from the regular gear.

Primary Gear

Slot	Piece	Legendary Effect
Head	Vision of the Lost	During Vengeance, each defeated enemy increases the remaining duration of Vengeance by X seconds, up to a maximum increase of X seconds.
Chest	Cuirass of the Death Watch	Strafe damage increased by X%.
Shoulders	Chillwrath Mantle	Daring Swing now fires ice arrows at the ground, forming an icy path that continually damages and Chills.
Legs	Coff's Unrelenting Fury	During Vengeance, every X Primary attacks will cause you to launch X additional rocket that deals X damage to a nearby target.
Main Hand	Unrelenting Furor	Strafe duration increased by X%.
Off Hand	Blacktalon	Strafe now continually fires piercing bolts in a direction.

The slot for the legs is unfortunately not all that useful, so feel free to use the highest level gear in that spot. The rest is very self-explanatory, increasing the damage and duration of the build. Blacktalon is the most critical to the build as it allows shots to go through their initial target. The Demon Hunter wipes out mobs in addition to single targets with its addition.

Set Items

Set Bonus	2/6 Effect	4/6 Effect	6/6 Effect
Grace Of The Flagellant	All continual damage, Channeled damage, and persistent ground damage increased by X%.	Each time you damage an individual enemy X times, you will do X additional damage to that enemy.	Each time you deal damage, you have a X% chance to unleash a lightning strike, dealing X damage to all nearby enemies and Stunning them for X seconds. Cannot occur more often than once every X seconds.

It's safe to say no build in the game can make use of the Grace Of The Flagellant set like the Strafe Demon Hunter. The second effect is particularly insidious since the damage comes out so rapidly. Bosses at the end of rifts stand no chance.

Reforge Bonuses

Diablo Immortal looking At Reforge Stones From The Vendor

Even for paid players, reforge attribute bonuses can be guided, but are not guaranteed completely. With enough rerolls, any player can eventually get the exact attribute they want, but this will take time and luck, even for those who have the money. Therefore, several different attributes have been listed within the same family, in order of preference.

Family Bonus

Family	Family Attribute
Wildfire	You have a X% chance when you defeat an enemy to summon a fireball-spitting Hydra.

When following this guide, Strafe will be killing minions in mobs with relative ease, so expect to see multiple Hydras on each rift run.

Attributes

Preference	Attribute
First	All skill damage increased by X%.
Second	Critical Hit damage increased by X%.
Third	Damage done to enemies below 30% Life increased b X%.

More than the family bonus, the attributes that boost skill damage and critical hit damage are the reasons to stick with the Wildfire category. The skill bonus is where the Strafe build spends all of its time, so it's by far the best attribute in any family.

Gems

There are two kinds of gems to consider for this build: the legendary gems and the regular gems. Players of all income levels will be using this guide, so there are three charts for legendary gems to choose from. Probability demands that even paying for an advantage will still make it tough to get the right gems, so feel free to mix and match from the charts based on the character's most valuable stats.

Legendary Gems

5-Star Gem	Effect
Blood-Soaked Jade	Increases all damage you deal by up to X% and your Movement Speed by X%, with less damage bonus the lower your Life, to a minimum of X%.
Bottled Hope	Using a skill to grant a buff increases the target's damage done and movement speed by X% for X seconds. Cannot occur more often than once every X seconds per target.
Echoing Shade	Your attacks have a X% chance to summon a shadow clone for X seconds that gains some of your abilities.
Howler's Call	Your Primary Attack has a X% chance to summon a charging spirit wolf that inflicts X% base damage +X to all enemies in its path. Cannot occur more often than once every X seconds.
Seeping Bile	Your attacks have a X% chance to poison enemies, inflicting X% base damage +X every second for X seconds. This poison spreads to nearby enemies if the victim dies. Cannot affect the same target more often than once every X seconds.
Zwenson's Haunting	When you defeat an enemy, summon a dark beast to attack nearby enemies, dealing X% base damage +X to all nearby enemies. Cannot occur more than once every X seconds.

Unless competing in high-challenge rifts or PvP, all of the offensive 5-star gems are what make the most sense here. This build is not here to tank, it's here to lead the DPS charts.

2-Star Gem	Effect
Bloody Reach	Increases all damage you deal by X% for every X yards between you and the enemy hit. Maximum increase of X% at X yards.
Cutthroat's Grin	Gain X% increase Critical Hit Chance when attacking from behind.
Fervent Fang	Each time you deal damage to an enemy, that enemy now takes X% increased from your attacks, up to a maximum increase of X% at X stacks.
Follower's Burden	Increases all damage you deal by X% for each summon you control, up to a maximum increase of X%.
Lightning Core	Your Primary Attacks and movement slowly charge you up with electricity. When fully charged, your next Primary Attack will release chain lightning, dealing X% base damage +X to nearby enemies. Cannot occur more often than once every X seconds.
Power And Command	Power and Command alternate states every X seconds. Power increases your Primary Attack damage by X%. Command increases all other skill damage by X%.

Although they don't have the Resonance of the 5-Star gems, the effect benefits of the 2-Star gems are every bit as good. Once again, focus on damage unless it's a PvP or solo rift situation.

1-Star Gem	Effect
Berserker's Eye	Increases all damage you deal by X%, but increases all damage you take by X%.
Trickshot Gem	Your Channeled skills consume energy X% slower.
Chained Death	Increases damage done by your attacks by X% per target hit, up to a maximum of X% with X targets.
Everlasting Torment	Your critical hits inflict agony, dealing X% Base damage +X every second for X seconds. Each enemy can only be affected by this once every X seconds.
Seled's Weakening	Gain X% increased damage for X seconds after killing an Elite monster.
Zod Stone	Increases the duration of your Ultimate Skills by X%.

Unless players have six or more 2-Star gems or greater, Trickshot Gem should never be replaced. More time spent in Strafe is a huge boost to this build.