Last week we received our invite to participate in the Diablo III closed beta, which allows players to progress through a large chunk of the first act. It’s a relatively short beta, offering roughly 3 hours of play time and taking players through to the first major boss, King Leoric the Skeleton King.
For my first run through I opted to try out the Demon Hunter, a ranged hero that relies on doing high damage while keeping enemies at a distance. I managed to get my Demon Hunter to level 10 by the end of the beta, which I found a little on the easy side, not having died once. I felt that the Demon Hunter was just a little over powered, with even boss fights lasting less than 30 seconds in most cases.
The Demon Hunter is best used with ranged weapons, which were available in two varieties during the beta: crossbows and bows and arrows. As expected, your hero base stats combined with the weapon stats determine just how much damage the Demon Hunter does, and how quickly they do it.
The Demon Hunter relies on two casting pool resources: Hatred and Dicipline. Hatred is spent on offensive abbilities and recharges quickly, while Discipline is reserved for “tactical abilities.
The first ability you unlock as the Demon Hunter is Hungering Arrow, which by default is bound to the right mouse button. Hungering Arrow does 140% of regular damage and can pass through enemies onto addtional enemies, effectively doing chain damage.
This ability formed the foundation of the Demon Hunter’s abilities during my beta experience, and turned out to be a devastating tool which, in all honesty, could probably be toned down a bit in the interest of balance.
Also available was Evasive Fire – an ability which when triggered does 135% weapon damage to a single enemy and vaults the Demon Hunter away from the enemy if they are within melee range, making it a fantastic aggressive-evasive manoeuvre. Other abilities include Entangling Shot (which does extra damage as well as slows up to two enemies), grenades, and my personal favourite, the Chakram – a big ninja star that flies around in circles doing damage to a number of enemies.
Overall, the Demon Hunter plays much like you would expect. Its abilities are centred around doing damage and keeping enemies at arm’s length. While in its current state, it may be a little overpowered, for the most part it’s a highly enjoyable class to play, and we can’t wait to play further into the game with it upon release.
Stay tuned for more hands-on features with the Barbarian, Witch Doctor, Monk and Wizard over the next few weeks.
Demon Hunter gameplay footage
Diablo III Demon Hunter Hands-on preview << Comments and views
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