With Marauder getting a revision back to its original form, I decided to theorycraft a build and some variations. The main idea behind the new Marauder’s set is that they wanted to put back the power into Sentries by having them fire the abilities on the action bar and improving the damage coming from the Sentries themselves. As there had been quite a few other changes in items along the way since the original Marauder’s set had been conceived, I decided to see what I could scramble together.
As I mentioned in my previous Patch 2.7.2 PTR preview, there were two changes to the Marauder’s set worth noting:
- Marauder’s Encasement (4-piece bonus) – Sentries deal 400% increased damage and cast Elemental Arrow, Chakram, Impale, Multishot, and Cluster Arrow when you do, as well as automatically cast your equipped Hatred spenders.
- Marauder’s Encasement (6-piece bonus) – Your primary skills, Elemental Arrow, Chakram, Impale, Multishot, Cluster Arrow, Companions, Vengeance, and Sentries deal 12000% increased damage for every active Sentry.
The important things of note are how the 4 piece will auto fire your Hatred spenders and that Sentry damage was added to the mix in the 6 piece bonus. That means, there’s no reason to use the hybrid Natalya’s set anymore as the motivation will be for you to drop down Sentries in providing the bulk of the damage.
You’ll also notice that there wasn’t any defensive boost given to the otherwise squishy Marauder build. The reason for this move is that your defense will be manually avoiding damage as Sentries themselves cannot be targeted and will be auto firing your abilities. But you still will require some level of defense so my build will take that into consideration as well.
Gear-wise, we’re looking at the following:
- 5 piece Marauders set (Helmet, Legs, Chest, Boots and Shoulders)
- Zoey’s Secret (belt) – You take 8.5% less damage for every Companion you have active. (Demon Hunter Only) [8.0 – 9.0]% This is critical in that you will be taken up to 72% ( less damage for all your Companions (bat, boar, 3 wolves, 2 ferrets, spider)
- The Cloak of the Garwulf (chest) – Companion – Wolf Companion now summons 3 wolves. By itself, this does little. Used in conjunction with Zoey’s Secret, you will be gaining more defense from having the extra 2 wolves.
- Wraps of Clarity (bracers) – Your Hatred Generators reduce your damage taken by 45% for 5 seconds. (Demon Hunter Only) [40 – 50]%. This is another item that will help reduce your damage. But you will need a generator.
- Endless Walk (ring/amulet) –
- While moving, damage taken is reduced by up to 50%.
- While standing still, damage dealt is increased by up to 100%.
You won’t be needing to move that much except when kiting. So this will end up helping with damage reduction as you setup your Sentries and allow you to hide behind a wall as your Sentries do the bulk of the destruction.
- Elusive Ring (ring) – After casting Shadow Power, Smoke Screen, or Vault, take 50% reduced damage for 8 seconds. (Demon Hunter Only) [50 – 60]%. In between setting up your Sentries, you’ll be moving around with either Vault or Smoke Screen. In both cases, using this along with Endless Walk will provided some good damage reduction since the set by itself doesn’t provide much.
- Bombardier’s Rucksack (quiver) – You may have 2 additional Sentries. There’s no question about this item. It’s a must have and the fact that Sentries will be doing the bulk of the damage means that the additional Sentry damage coming from this quiver will add quite a bit.
- Manticore (Crossbow) – Reduces the Hatred cost of Cluster Arrow by 50% and increases its damage by 279%. (Demon Hunter Only) [250 – 300]%. I think Cluster Arrow will still be the biggest damage boost in terms of the abilities being castable by Sentries. So I’m putting this item as a top one.
- Dawn (Hand Crossbow) – Reduce the cooldown of Vengeance by 62%. (Demon Hunter Only) [50 – 65]%. Vengeance still is a critical ability for the Dark Heart rune. Also, you’re still getting damage boosted for Vengeance in the Marauder’s 6 piece bonus so I’m sure this will play a huge part. But you will probably cube this item to get the full 65% CDR.
- Tasker and Theo (Gloves/cubed) – Increase attack speed of your pets by 45%. [40 – 50]%. Tasker and Theo does influence the speed of attack for your Sentries so this probably will be the best for your armor slot. Also, you want to cube this item because then you can get the full benefit of 50% increased attack speed.
- Ring of Royal Grandeur (ring/cubed) – This will allow you to wear the Cloak of the Garwulf
- Yang’s Recurve (Bow/Cubed) – I think if you prefer Multishot over Cluster Arrow, then you can use this. Or you could just ditch Dawn but you won’t have Vengeance at 100% uptime.
Legendary Gems
- Bane of the Trapped – This gem has always gone well with Sentries and the Polar Station rune.
- Zei’s Stone of Vengeance – Compliments Bane of the Trapped with it’s stunning ability. Also, you’re destroying things at a distance making this gem really good.
- Enforcer – Your Sentries do receive a damage bonus increase from Enforcer so you want this. Also, even though Sentries themselves cannot be attacked, your Companions can be. So you will want to keep them alive so you can have your bonus defense from Zoey’s Secret.
Active Skills
- Evasive Fire: Focus – You’re using this to increase your defense from Wraps of Clarity
- Cluster Arrow: Loaded for Bear – Very good damaging ability. Your Sentries will be nuking the area with this.
- Smoke Screen: Displacement – I find this ability to be a bit smoother than Vault. But Vault can be good too.
- Multishot: Full Broadside – You’re only placing this ability on the action bar so that your sentries auto fire it. This will help clear the screen while Cluster Arrow is used for single target.
- Vengeance: Dark Heart – Damage reduction. You will get some bonus damage but that part isn’t as important as the Damage Reduction. This means you’ll need enough CDR with the help of a Dawn in the cube to ensure 100% uptime on this ability.
- Sentry: Polar Station – You’re using the sentries themselves with their bubble to slow down enemies and provide bonus damage to Cull of the Weak and your Bane of the Trapped gem.
Note that I left off Companion. Normally, Companion is great for the Active effects. But since we’re getting Sentries to auto fire, the bonuses from the Active effects just don’t match up as well compared to having another Hatred spender that Sentries can use.
Passive Skills
- Custom Engineering – You need 5 Sentries up. This is non-negotiable.
- Cull of the Weak – The combination of Polar Station, Zei’s and Bane of the Trapped will allow you to gain the 20% damage boost from this passive.
- Blood Vengeance – You need something to refuel your hatred and discipline which will be the health globes you spawn.
- Hot Pursuit – Your biggest weakness is that you are slow compared to a lot of other classes. This ability should help a little.
Followers
Enchantress might be the way to go for the cooldown reduction and cheat death. My next pick is a Templar for life regeneration and cheat death. But this build is all about the CDR so I think Enchantress is better.
Final Thoughts
Sadly, this build won’t get a chance to be used with an Ethereal in the update. It does show some promise but I’m more concerned about the slowness and zero change to damage reduction. You pretty much need to seek these out through the two supporting items, which I think should be baked into the set. Or at least one of them should be baked in since Companions by themselves are pretty bland.
On the other hand, the real gift here is the return to the old style. I think Marauders still won’t hold a candle up to the GoD set just based on the lack of speed and other defenses that the GoD set provides. However, the GoD set won’t have Ethereal items to really buff up its game play so the switch won’t be as bad. I am looking forward to playing DH this coming season and with Shadow Mantle being the starting set and Marauder’s update being another set, I’ve got some work cut out for myself.