Hi and welcome to Diablo 3 Tips. My name’s Mike Kim and I’ll be documenting and revealing all the secrets and gaming techniques I come across in Diablo 3.
I’ll also be reviewing the top Diablo 3 guides in the market and giving my honest (and very critical) review of them! So be sure to hang around while I go about finding out the best Diablo 3 Build Guide, Diablo 3 Leveling Guide, Diablo 3 Gold Guide, Diablo 3 Strategy Guide… basically everything there is out there.
With the launch of Diablo 3, I realize that leveling is going to be difficult and I recommend Diablo 3 Speed by Jonathan Bradley Smith for anyone who wants to level to 60 very quickly.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 1 – Magic Missile is the first Primary Skill the Wizard has available to them. Simple fire and forget Skill which does a percentage of your weapon damage and does not cost any Arcane Power. Later on it can be Skill Runed to launch multiple Magic Missiles dealing less damage per projectile or even pierce through multiple enemies.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 2 – The Wizard gains access to a 2nd Active Skill slot as well as the Arcane Orb Skill. Arcane Orb explodes on impact location for a high amount of weapon damage as Arcane and splashes damage to all enemies within 10 yards of impact.
Diablo 3 Wizard build Level 4 – The 3rd Active Skill slot is now available. In addition to that the Skill Frost Nova can be activated as well which freezes enemies within a short distance of the Wizard for 3 seconds. It has a 12 second cooldown and does not do much damage but still useful to get away from agile enemies that are melee range.
Diablo 3 Wizard build Level 5 – Ray of Frost is available at this level which is a channeled Skill. It slows the movement and attack speed of any enemy hit by it and does a significant amount of damage. Great for single targeting enemies down. I would replace Magic Missile with Ray of Frost at this level. Take note that to equip Ray of Frost in your Primary Active Skill slot you may need to turn on the “Elective Mode” under the Gameplay menu in Options.
Diamond Skin, a defensive Skill is unlocked at this level. This absorbs a large amount of damage for 3 seconds, making the Wizard nigh invulnerable.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 9 – The 4th Active Skill slot is available at this level and the Wizard also gains access to the Wave of Force Skill. This throws enemies away from the Wizard along with any projectiles within range. In addition to that, enemies hit by this Skill are slowed by 60%.
Spectral Blade for the Wizard unlocks. This strikes all enemies directly in front of the Wizard for weapon damage. The Skill itself is underwhelming in terms of damage but it does have its uses. One example would be for players looking to create a viable melee Wizard. For now, we’ll stick to the most practical Skills for leveling.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 10 – This is where you pick up your first Passive Skill slot as well as the first two Passive Skills for the Wizard. Between the two, Power Hungry and Temporal Flux, I recommend picking up Power Hungry for the first Passive Skill slot. This ensures the Wizard never runs out of ammunition as they will be able to continuously kill enemies, causing health globes to drop, therefore regenerating the Wizard’s Arcane Power.
Diablo 3 Wizard build Level 11 – Electrocute, the 4th Primary Skill the Wizard has access to unlocks. As Primary Skills don’t use Arcane Power, this is a great filler Skill when low on Arcane Power as it can even hit multiple targets. At Level 18, Electrocute can be Skill Runed to hit up to 6 targets.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 12 – Critical Mass, a Passive Skill for the Wizard unlocks. This may sound useful but at this point where there aren’t that many Skills with cooldowns and even less critical chance stacked on the Wizard, Critical Mass does not occur often.
Arcane Torrent, an Active Skill unlocks at this level. This is a channeled Skill which deals area of effect damage to all enemies near target impact location. This is a very good Arcane Power dump as it kills enemies quickly and in large amounts.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 14 – The 5th Active Skill slot unlocks at level 14. The Wizard’s first Armor Skill called Ice Armor is available as well and should definitely be used immediately. Whenever an enemy attacks the Wizard in melee range they receive a percentage of weapon damage as Cold damage and it slows down their attack and movement speed.
A new Skill called Energy Twister unlocks for the Wizard at level 15. This Skill does a significant amount of damage to anything caught in it’s path, however, one reason why I dislike using it is the fact that the direction or path it takes is completely random. It’s very possible that an enemy 5 yards from the Wizard takes absolutely no damage while you try to hit it using this Skill.
An extremely useful Passive Skill unlocks at this level for the Wizard called Prodigy. At this point in level, the Wizard has only one Passive Skill slot which makes it difficult to decide which Skills to activate. However, it is quite a close call between Prodigy and Glass Cannon. Prodigy makes it so that all your Primary Skills cause the Wizard to gain Arcane Power which makes it possible to replenish your own Arcane Power significantly quicker. Glass cannon increases the damage the Wizard deals but the Wizard also deals less damage if they are out of resources and forced to use their Primary Skills. Personally, I would say go with your preference, but at level 20, you should have both these Passive Skills activated.
At level 16, the Wizard also receives a new Skill called Slow Time which reduces all enemy movement speed by 30% and attack speed by 20%. Slow Time even slows down ranged projectiles by 90%, making it an absolute cinch to dodge ranged fire.
The 2nd Armor Skill unlocks for the Wizard at level 17 called Storm Armor. This is a more offensive version of Ice Armor which shocks ranged attackers as well. However, it doesn’t apply any additional effect like how Ice Armor chills enemies hit by it. At this level, Storm Armor is only so-so and I would not replace Ice Armor with it. Later on however, the Skill Runes they have available truly magnify their abilities which allow you to decide which direction you wish to fine tune your Wizard.
Another Passive Skill for the Wizard is Astral Presence which provides a passive increase to the maximum amount of Arcane Power the Wizard can store as well as Arcane Power regeneration per second. This does not increase damage output for the wizard as much as Glass Cannon and Prodigy do so I do not recommend it as yet. At higher levels, when there are more Passive Skill slots available, it may be useful in burst situations where the increase in Arcane Power storage would provide another hard hitting Skill.
Diablo 3 Wizard Build Level 19 – The final Active Skill slot is unlocked at level 19 as well as access to the Explosive Blast Skill. On a short cool down but a huge Arcane Power cost, Explosive Blast deals damage as Physical which means it is affected by Armor and not Resistances. The damage is fairly significant and it can be used as an Arcane Power dump but the Skill itself only affects 12 yards from the Wizard which makes it a very short ranged Skill. That being said, at this level, Arcane Orb with the Arcane Nova Skill Rune still hits harder and costs less Arcane Power.
The Illusionist Passive Skill unlocks at level 19 for the Wizard. This Skill resets the cooldowns on Mirror Image and Teleport immediately after the Wizard is hit for 15% or more of their total Health. This works well in PvP situations where getting away from absurdly hard hitting Skills is important. In a PvE setting while leveling, this may not be as useful. At level 19, this is a terrible Passive Skill as the Wizard does not have access to either Mirror Image or Teleport yet.
If you intend to create a Wizard whose sole purpose is to slow enemies down and deal as much Cold damage as possible, the Passive Skill Black Ice is available at level 20 as well. The flat increase to Cold damage dealt to chilled targets by 20% is in no way insignificant, however, using Glass Cannon provides 15% but does not restrict the damage dealt to only Cold damage.
The Disintegrate Skill is unlocked at this level which looks very much like Ray of Frost but with a twist. Disintegrate penetrates through everything in it’s path and can be aimed unlike Energy Twister. This Skill is perfect for hitting high priority enemies which are hiding behind a horde of lesser mobs and I highly recommend it be used instead of Ray of Frost. Not to mention that this Skill also deals Arcane damage which can be increased should you have the Skill Arcane Torrent Skill Runed with Disruption.
Another unique Skill the Wizard has at their disposal at level 20 is the Hydra. It basically plants a turret which lasts for about 15 seconds which will attack enemies that come into range of it. The Hydra Skill seems underwhelming, however it is one of the few Skills the Wizard has available which allows them to deal damage while being mobile at the same time. Skill Runes for the Hydra affect what type of damage they deal as well as additional effects such as an area of effect splash to their projectiles or damage over time.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 1 – Poison Dart is the first Skill the Witch Doctor starts with so there isn’t much to say except to spam it on enemies until you reach level 2.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 2 – The Witch Doctor will unlock the 2nd Active Skill slot as well as Grasp of the Dead which is an area of effect Skill which snares enemies and does weapon damage. Useful for making sure enemies don’t get too close and clearing close-knit packs of enemies.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 3 – Corpse Spiders is unlocked. I don’t recommend using this Skill over Poison Dart or Grasp of the Dead. The reason for this is, without a Skill Rune, the spiders usually die even before they arrive at an enemy. At best, they attack only once per spider which does nowhere near the same amount as a single Poison Dart but costs twice as much.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 4 – The Witch Doctor unlocks their 3rd Active Skill slot along with the Skill Summon Zombie Dogs. This Skill is an absolute must to activate as soon as you get it. They don’t deal a huge amount of damage at first but they do absorb a lot of damage from enemies. Zombie Dogs primary function is to pick up low health stragglers as well as to attract the attention of enemies while you pick them off.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 5 – Plague of Toads is unlocked. Another Skill which I wouldn’t bother with, the mechanics behind the toads are fairly weak. The toads you summon hop off in random directions which makes it very difficult to use unless in melee range. Damage per Mana consumed, this Skill is great, but unreliable. I would stick to Poison Dart unless your Witch Doctor is completely surrounded and each toad will definitely hit something.
Hex, a crowd control Skill for the Witch Doctor unlocks at level 8 as well. It randomly turns enemies into chickens which receive more damage and are unable to perform offensive abilities. This does not do much in terms of increasing the Witch Doctor’s DPS so I do not recommend activating it.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 9 – The 4th Active Skill slot is available. In addition, the Skill Horrify is unlocked. The Skill itself does no damage but it does provide you breathing room if you ever get surrounded. In lower difficulties, that will seldom be the case but the same cannot be said for Nightmare, Hell and Inferno difficulty.
Another Skill which unlocks at level 9 is the Haunt Skill. Haunt does damage over 15 seconds and will jump to another enemy should the initial enemy they were haunting dies. This is a great tool for dealing damage to enemies while still staying mobile. Also, Skill Runes later will even allow Haunt to replenish some Health when they haunt a target.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 10 – The Passive Skill slot unlocks at this level along with two Passive Skills to choose from. Very balanced choices, the Witch Doctor has access to either a defensive Passive Skill by activating Jungle Fortitude which reduces the damage the Witch Doctor and their pets receive, or an offensive Passive Skill which increases the amount of damage Plague of Toads, Corpse Spiders, Locust Swarm and Firebats deal using the Passive Skill Vermin.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 11 – Firebomb Skill unlocked. This Skill is best used to clear out groups of closely packed enemies as the radius of the explosion it causes is up to 8 yards. It works about the same as poison dart but with less single target damage so it is subjective whether you wish to replace Poison Dart with it. Their Skill Runes later do make it a lot more effective but that is only available at level 18.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 12 – Firebats unlocked. This is a very potent Skill as the rate of fire for it is very high. If you did not pick up the Firebomb Skill and chose to stick with Poison Dart, I highly recommend Firebats as it does area of effect damage in a cone shape in front of the Witch Doctor. It does have a higher Mana cost but it does massive amounts of damage to enemies within range.
In addition to Firebats, a new Passive Skill called Circle of Life is also unlocked. Whenever an enemy dies within 12 yards of the Witch Doctor, there is a 5% probability a Zombie Dog will spawn. Personally, using the Firebats Skill, I would stick to Vermin as my only Passive Skill. There are synergistic combinations that require Zombie Dogs later which may make this Skill more useful but not at this level.
The Passive Skill Spiritual Attunement is unlocked at level 13. This increases your Mana total by 20% and regenerates a small amount of that maximum Mana per second. Only pick this up if you are having Mana issues with your Witch Doctor. If using Poison Dart and Firebats constantly, it’s more likely you will run out of enemies before your Mana resource dwindles.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 14 – The 5th Active Skill slot unlocks at this level. Along with the slot, the Witch Doctor learns a new Skill called Zombie Charger where the Witch Doctor is able to send forth a poisonous zombie, dealing damage to any enemies in it’s path. It costs quite a bit of Mana but it does a massive amount of damage. I would not recommend replacing Firebats with this Skill as an Area of Effect Skill but to use it in tandem with it. The reason for this is because the Firebats Skill requires the Witch Doctor to stand still and channel which could mean being surrounded by enemies from behind. The Zombie Charger can be summoned and the Witch Doctor is free to relocate immediately.
Gruesome Feast, a Passive Skill is unlocked at level 15. This may seem like a great Passive Skill to have as it can potentially provide the Witch Doctor with an increased Intelligence of 50% as long as enemies are being killed and there are health globes to pick up. However, at lower levels, the base amount of Intelligence on a Witch Doctor is extremely low (About 50 or so Int at level 15). Therefore that leaves the 10% of your total mana replenishment whenever you pick up a Health Globe which is subjective based on how much Mana the Witch Doctor is spending to kill enemies and whether they run out of enemies or their resource first.
The Spirit Walk Skill is unlocked. This is a great escape mechanism as it effectively allows you to walk away from battles that aren’t in your favour. On a 15 second cool down, for 30 Mana, the Witch Doctor will be able to get away from being surrounded. The link cancels if the Witch Doctor’s physical body receives too much damage or if the Witch Doctor begins casting spells.
A new Skill Spirit Barrage is also unlocked. This deals Physical damage and deals about the same amount of damage as Poison Dart with Splinter Skill Rune. The real bonuses pop up later when the Witch Doctor has access to their Skill Runes. One of them will even replenish Mana on each usage at level 26 so keep it in mind for later.
A Passive Skill named Blood Ritual will be unlocked at this level as well. This causes 15% of all Mana costs to be paid using Health instead. Also, it passively regenerates a small percentage of your total health pool per second. This is perfect for spamming Mana intensive Skills and possibly using Haunt with the Consuming Spirit Skill Rune as well as Hex equipped with Hedge Magic to top off your Health.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 18 – The Passive Skill Bad Medicine is available at this level. It isn’t great in the early levels but you should take note that this Passive Skill affects all poison damage which would be Poison Dart, Plague of Toads and Zombie Charger. You can consider using this in PvP or in PvE with other players. In Solo however, I do not recommend it.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 19 – Gargantuan Skill unlocks. Another permanent summoned companion, the Gargantuan works like Zombie Dogs except that there is only 1 of them on the field at any one time. Gargantuan deals about the same damage as all 3 dogs put together. Later on, at level 28 they can be Skill Runed to perform additional damage as well as a cleave ability.
Passive Skill Zombie Handler unlocked. This effectively increases the amount of Zombie Dogs you can have available to 4 Dogs. It also increases the Health of the Zombie Dogs as well as the Gargantuan which you unlock at level 19.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Build Level 20 – The 2nd Passive Skill slot unlocks at this level. Pierce the Veil, a Passive Skill unlocks as well which increases the Witch Doctor’s damage by 20% but the Mana costs by 30%. A decent Skill if Mana isn’t a problem. This goes well with Gruesome Feast as a Passive Skill as you kill enemies quicker and can replenish Mana by picking up Health Globes.
A new Skill called Locust Swarm unlocks at this level as well which does poison damage over 3 seconds. It also periodically jumps to nearby targets. A decent damage over time Skill which frees the Witch Doctor to move about while dealing damage.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 1 – Fists of Thunder is the first Skill the Monk has access to. It’s melee ranged and generates spirit fairly quickly due to the rapid attack speed. Otherwise, it also has knocks enemies back every 3rd strike.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 2 – The Monk unlocks their 2nd Active Skill slot as well as the Skill Dashing Strike. Dashing Strike costs Spirit but works as a gap closer. It also immobilizes your target for a short duration.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 3 – The Monk’s second Spirit generator Skill, Deadly Reach unlocks at level 3. I prefer this Skill to Fists of Thunder as it can hit more enemies through it’s slightly longer range. The 3rd strike of this Skill reaches up to 25 yards.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 4 – The 3rd Active Skill slot unlocks at this level as well as Blinding Flash which blinds enemies within 20 yards for 3 seconds. The cooldown for this Skill is 15 seconds and is useful to reduce the amount of damage the Monk receives being melee.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 5 – Lashing Tail Kick is the first damage dealing Spirit dump for the Monk. It deals nearly double the damage of Spirit generators and knocks enemies back. With only 3 Active Skill slots to have Skills in until level 9, replace either Dashing Strike or Blinding Flash for Lashing Tail Kick to optimize the Spirit you gain and spend.
The Monk also has access to a powerful Defensive Skill which heals the Monk and all allies within 12 yards named Breath of Heaven. At low levels this may not be optimal to have activated but will certainly be perfect for difficult fights.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 9 – The fourth Active Skill slot opens up for the Monk at level 9. Also notable is the first Mantra available to the Monk called Mantra of Evasion. This increases survivability significantly and also affects any allies within 40 yards.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 10 – This is a big increase in survivability for the Monk as they unlock their first Passive Skill slot and 2 Passive Skills. The first is Resolve which reduces the damage of all enemies which have been dealt damage by the Monk for a short duration.
The second Passive Skill you gain is The Guardian’s Path which increases the Monk’s chance to dodge by 15% while dual-wielding. If a 2-handed weapon is equipped, spirit regeneration is increased by 25%. If the Skills you activate are area of effect based and deal damage to many enemies at once, I recommend that you use Resolve as your Passive Skill which will reduce the amount of damage you receive by a huge chunk in comparison to if you had The Guardian’s Path activated.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 11 – The Monk receives their 3rd Spirit generating Skill called Exploding Palm. The Exploding Palm Skill causes the 3rd strike to bleed and if an enemy dies while bleeding, explode for 30% of their maximum health. In the early levels where enemies don’t have very large health pools, this Skill isn’t as useful as it sounds.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 12 – Tempest Rush is another Spirit dump for the Monk which is extremely useful. This allows you to run toward enemies to deal damage as well as an escape mechanism if you get surrounded by enemies.
The Monk will also receive Fleet Footed, a Passive Skill which increases movement speed by 10%. This sounds like a very useful Skill until you think about the cost required to activate it. At this level, with only 1 Passive Skill slot, the Monk will lose a lot of survivability doing so.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 13 – Transcendence unlocks at level 13 where every Spirit point spent heals you for a small amount of health.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 14 -The 5th Active Skill slot unlocks at this level. In addition, the Monk gains Crippling Wave, the 4th Spirit generating Skill which hits all enemies surrounding the Monk. Enemies hit by this Skill also have their movement and attack speed reduced by 30%. This Skill works well with the Resolve Passive Skill as all enemies within range of the Monk will be affected.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 15 – This level is a huge DPS increase for the Monk class as they unlock the Mantra of Retribution which reflects up to 40% of the damage they receive, back to enemies. However, please take note that you are only able to have one Mantra up per Monk which means using this Skill will directly reduce the amount of survivability the Monk has available as he will have to remove the Mantra of Evasion Skill. Of course, there are other Skills that may make up for the loss of dodge chance via the use of the Guardian’s Path Passive Skill.
Chant of Resonance, a Passive Skill gives the Monk Spirit points every second as long as a Mantra is active. There isn’t much in terms of DPS contributed through Passive Skills so it really is a personal decision on whether your Monk is receiving too much damage or the minimal damage increase having the extra Spirit will provide.
The Skill Serenity is the ultimate get out of jail free card as it absorbs all damage and breaks all control impairing effects for 3 seconds. The Skill Runes for this Skill provide amazing abilities as well such as massive heals or even deal damage based on the amount absorbed by the Monk.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 17 – Seize the Initiative, a Passive Skill for the Monk unlocks at level 17 which increases the Monk’s armor based on the amount of Dexterity you have. Of course, the higher level you are the better this scales as it is based on a percentage of Dexterity you currently have.
The Passive Skill Exalted Soul increases the amount of Spirit the Monk can have available to them. This doesn’t increase the Monk’s defensive or offensive ability so activating this may not be to your best interests.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 19 – This is a huge jump on damage dealing for the Monk at this level as they unlock their final Active Skill slot as well as the Seven-Sided Strike. The only down-side to this is that the Skill has a 30 second cooldown. It basically strikes 7 times, spreading up to 777% damage over all strikes.
The Monk also unlocks the Sixth Sense Passive Skill which increases the Monk’s dodge based on a percentage of the Monk’s critical hit chance. At the lower levels, the Monk’s Critical Chance will be fairly low and this will not be an optimal choice. Of course, since it is percentage based, it will scale fairly well later on especially with 3 Passive Skills available.
Diablo 3 Monk Build Level 20 – The 2nd Passive Skill slot unlocks at level 20 as well as the Pacifism Passive Skill. Pacifism reduces the amount of damage the Monk receives while stunned, feared and charmed by 75% which is absolutely a must if you intend to PvP. While leveling though, this doesn’t truly help you level any quicker.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 1 – Hungering Arrow – First Skill the Demon Hunter starts off with. It’s decent and does the job, even has a chance to hit multiple enemies instead of just one. Otherwise, if it pierces a target there’s the chance it will hit the same target a 2nd time. Using this for awhile until you pick up Entangling Shot with Chain Gang is very possible.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 2 – Unlocks the second Active Skill slot. The Demon Hunter also gains access to Impale which is a high damage single target Hatred dump. Use on high health pool bosses or rare mobs.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 3 – Bola Shot is unlocked. Hits slightly harder than Hungering Arrow and deals damage to surrounding enemies you hit with the Bola Shot. Without Skill Runes, Bola Shot is better as it does more damage all around.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 4 – Unlock a new Active Skill slot. Caltrops is also now available. Useful for slowing down enemies trying to get to you. Also the first Skill you gain which uses your other resource, Discipline.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 5 – Rapid Fire is unlocked. True to it’s name it has a high rate of fire and the hardest hitting Skill at this point. Use Rapid Fire to replace Impale.
The Demon Hunter will also learn the Evasive Fire Skill here which is decent but only deals damage to a single enemy at a time. The useful part of this Skill is that there is a back-flip tied into it when an enemy is too close. However, Bola Shot still does a flat amount of damage higher than Evasive Fire.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 9 – The 4th Active Skill slot unlocks at this level. In addition, the Demon Hunter also gains the Strafe Skill which allows you to shoot at random enemies while moving at a slower pace at the same time. It isn’t as good as Rapid Fire for a Hatred dump so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 10 – The Demon Hunter gains their first Passive Skill slot as well as two Passive Skills to choose from. Neither increase damage by any amount so feel free to choose from Tactical Advantage or Thrill of the Hunt.
The Demon Hunter also unlocks their final Primary Skill, Entangling Shot at level 11. This is a great Skill and can replace Bola Shot if you wish to replace Caltrops as well. However, it still does not deal as much damage as Bola Shot but places a snare on enemies hit by it. Later on, their Skill Rune Chain Gang increases the amount of enemies hit by Entangling Shot.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 12 – Chakram unlocks. If Bola Shot is replaced, Chakram performs the role of Area of Effect damage dealt. It hits everything in it’s path without a cooldown but costs Hatred to use.
Vengeance, a Passive Skill unlocks at this level. Increases the amount of Hatred the Demon Hunter can store. Additionally, all health globes dropped by enemies gains the Demon Hunter Hatred and Discipline. Although not a flat increase in DPS, this Passive Skill makes it possible to continuously use resource heavy Skills like Rapid Fire and Vault.
Vault is unlocked at level 13 which is your first mobility Skill if you don’t take Evasive Fire into account. For a moderate amount of Discipline, the Demon Hunter is able to jump up to 35 yards. Great escape mechanism if you are unable to kill quickly enough and are about to be surrounded.
Steady Aim, a Passive Skill unlocks at this level as well. So long as no enemies are within 10 yards, your damage increases significantly. This is the first flat damage increase the Demon Hunter has access to and should activate.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 14 – The 5th Active Skill slot is unlocked along with the Skill Grenades. Grenades act as a Hatred generator and have the highest Hatred generated if Skill Runed appropriately at higher levels. For now, as it generates the same amount as Bola Shot, Hungering Arrow and Entangling Shot, it’s just a matter of preference.
Another Skill which is perfect for taking down durable enemies unlocks called Marked for Death. Whichever enemy this Skill is used on receives additional damage. This makes it so high priority enemies (Some enemies will continuously spawn smaller enemies) are able to be taken care of easily.
Cull the Weak, a Passive Skill unlocks at this level. Skills such as Entangling Shot make this a viable Skill to use as it provides a flat out damage increase to enemies which are snared.
Fan of Knives unlocks at level 16. This Skill hits extremely hard but has a cooldown of 10 seconds and costs some Hatred. It also causes enemies hit to be snared for a short duration. If you have problems killing large packs of enemies, this Skill is the way to go.
Spike Trap Skill unlocks. Plants an immobile trap on the ground similar to Caltrops but does damage instead of the snare. This Skill can be used to ambush enemies by setting up to 3 Spike Traps overlapping each other to deal massive damage. However, this is fairly situational and inconvenient to perform. This Skill generates Hatred.
The Passive Skill Nightstalker unlocks at this level 17. Every time you deal a critical strike, you have a chance to restore 2 Discipline. At this point, the possibility of the Demon Hunter to have a high amount of critical chance is extremely low. I do not recommend replacing Cull the Weak or Vengeance with Nightstalker as they both provide better damage overall.
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 19 – The final Active Skill slot is unlocked at this level. Also, the Preparation Skill which replenishes all your Discipline but on a 45 second cooldown is unlocked. At higher levels with the proper Skill Runes, Preparation can be extremely useful. However, for easier difficulties I would not activate this Skill unless I have a free Active Skill slot.
The Demon Hunter also gains the Passive Skill Brooding at level 19. If the Demon Hunter doesn’t take damage for longer than 5 seconds, the Demon Hunter will start regenerating a percentage of their total health. This will be useful later when Health globes drop with less frequency (Due to enemies having higher health at more difficult levels).
Diablo 3 Demon Hunter Build Level 20 – The 2nd Passive Skill slot unlocks at level 20 along with the Hot Pursuit Passive Skill which increases your movement speed by 15% as long as your Hatred resource is full.
At level 20, the Demon Hunter also unlocks Elemental Arrow which does damage as Fire through as many enemies as it passes through. This is a decent room clearer as it has no cooldown and a fairly low cost of only 10 Hatred per cast. At higher levels, Elemental Arrow can be Skill Runed to have secondary effects and different types of elemental damage.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 1 – Bash – Nothing much to say here other than this is the first Skill the Barbarian starts out with. Later on some of the Skill Runes are useful but you will generally replace this with Cleave during the early levels.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 2 – Hammer of the Ancients – The first Secondary Skill you have access to, this Skill has an increased probability of 15% to deal critical damage. Decent as a Fury Dump and single target damage dealer.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 3 – I went with Cleave replacing Bash as it there are no other logical choices for dealing melee Area of Effect damage yet. At level 8, enemies you kill using Cleave will explode to deal even more AoE damage.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 4 – This is when you unlock your Defensive Skill slot along with Threatening Shout. Nothing much to do except to activate Threatening Shout on your Action Bar. To be honest, at level 4 in normal mode this Skill isn’t needed as enemies don’t hit hard enough to warrant the Fury spent using this Skill.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 5 – To maximize melee Area of Effect damage, I replaced Threatening Shout with Rend at this point. To do this, you will need to turn on Elective Mode under Options and Gameplay.
The Ground Stomp Skill is also unlocked at Level 8 but I didn’t use it due to it’s fairly long cooldown. The Skill itself is great but I only had 3 Active Slots to choose from. Later on when more Active Skill slots are available I would highly recommend this as it does prevent enemies from casting or using skills and abilities which have a long cast-time.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 9 – This is when the Barbarian unlocks the Tactics Skill slot as well as the Leap Skill. There’s no argument here as this is your first mobility Skill and allows you to close the gap between enemies as well as an escape mechanism should your life get perilously low.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 10 – All classes unlock their Passive Skill slot at Level 10. The Barb immediately has to choose between Pound of Flesh which provides extra healing from health globes or Ruthless which increases the chance to deal a critical strike by 5% and the amount of critical strike damage by 50%.
Personally I would recommend Ruthless as the enemies at this point shouldn’t be dealing much damage to you. Of course, if you feel there is too much downtime, swapping in between them isn’t too big a deal.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 11 – Frenzy is unlocked here. This Skill is good with Skill Runes later but there is no reason to swap from Cleave at this point as Frenzy has increased attack speed, Cleave hits multiple targets which still kills multiple enemies quicker than Frenzy.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 12 
In addition to that, you unlock the Weapons Master Passive Skill. The bonuses are based on whichever weapons you have equipped. Personally I stuck with Ruthless but I can see how having BOTH Weapons Master and Ruthless equipped at Level 20 with Maces and Axes equipped would provide amazing synergy.
Quite a large jump in DPS here as you unlock an additional Active Skill slot as well as Battle Rage. Snap this up as it’s a flat increase to overall DPS. Just don’t forget to constantly maintain the buff as the duration isn’t very long compared to the Monk’s Mantra and the Wizard’s Armor.
The Passive Skill Inspiring Presence is also unlocked here which is probably a good choice if you have survivability problems. I recommend against it though as Ruthless still provides better DPS. In a group setting, activating this Passive Skill will also affect your party members so it can be suitable in those situations. It’s important to note that in a group, enemies have more health and deal more damage as well which does make survivability skills paramount.
Under the Tactics category you also gain access to “Weapon Throw” which does add a little variety to your tool belt. This is the first ranged Skill you have which is single target but snares enemies. I don’t recommend it during Normal mode and at this level.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Build Level 16 – The Barbarian unlocks the Sprint Skill which is viable but I still preferred Leap as my mobility Skill because it does damage where Sprint does not. One thing to note is that Sprint does not have a cooldown where Leap does. However, my goal is to kill everything as quickly as possible.
The Passive Skill Berserker Rage is unlocked at this point as well which increases your damage by a significant amount while your Fury is at its maximum. I still stuck to Ruthless as I felt picking this would be counter productive to using any of my other Fury dump Skills.
The Overpower Skill unlocked. This is an absolute beast of a Skill as it does massive damage to everything within melee range. The down-side is the cooldown attached to it. However, if it crits any of the enemies, the cooldown is reset which means you can keep using it. At level 20, with two Passive Skill Slots I intend to be using Ruthless and Weapons Master along with Maces and Axes to increase the chances of me critting with Overpower.
The Passive Skill Bloodthirst is also unlocked at Level 18 which directly heals you for a small percentage of all the damage you deal. I can see how this will be extremely useful but not right now when Health Globes can keep my Health topped off. I chose to stick to DPS increasing Ruthless once again.
Diablo 3 Barbarian Barbarian Build Level 19 – The final Active Skill slot is unlocked. Along with an extremely powerful Skill called Earthquake. It costs 50 Fury in itself and has an absurdly long cooldown. Test and experiment if it’s your thing. For all intents and purposes I would only have it activated if clearing huge packs of enemies were a problem.
The Passive Skill Animosity unlocked. This provides an increase in the total amount of Fury you can have as well as Fury generation by a percentage. This does not affect your DPS directly but will allow more frequent use of Fury dump Skills.
Seismic Slam which is a Fury dump which causes an Area of Effect damage is unlocked. At this point if you want to replace Cleave with either Bash or Frenzy, it’s viable as you now have a spammable no cooldown Fury dump. It also has a slight knock-back which may prove useful to interrupt attackers you face.
Diablo 3 Speed by Jonathan Bradley Smith