This build now uses Ball Lightning.
I'm on Act III inferno and I don't use smoke screen, at all. It's not even on my bar. So here is a small guide on how I play without it.
I stack all resists and use Shadow Power with Gloom instead. I also stack attack speed, high life on hit weapon etc. Playing inferno this way is very gear demanding, but awesome. I don't have to kite most things (exceptions being elite packs, you have to stutter step micro those almost always).
If your resists and gear are good enough you don't have to worry about getting one shot and can hold your ground a lot better. Unkiteable mobs such as the naga and lacuni are a joke if you go this route.
The nice thing about going this route is it frees up four of your skills. The only two mandatory are shadow power and preparation. Just about everything thing else I've had work to a certain extent. I prefer using entangling shot/6 hatred rune and ball lightning though.
The only time I miss smoke screen is when I have a nasty jailer combo or I'm in the back of a waller cave. But even then I can pop shadow power, spam a skill and usually outlive the incoming damage in time for the wall or jail to dissipate.
Typically I will clear trash very quickly and not have to kite it much. I stutter step micro most elites but there are some packs that is impossible with and then I kite them to the spawn, reset the death timer and then try to burst them down as best as I can. Most times you can at least kill one mob with how long you're staying up with shadow power (12 seconds).
Don't get me wrong, I still die but I rarely get one shoted (except act 3, screw you Soul Rippers). So if you're looking for an alternative to smoke screen and infinite kiting this build is pretty awesome. I enjoy it quite a bit. I only have 40k damage but I have something like 500 resists and enough armor to knock off 50%. I can out tank a lot of barbarians thanks to the massive lifesteal/life on hit DH's get.
Tips
- Learn to stutter step micro, it will save your life. Move a little, turn fire (with auto fire without clicking a monster on) one ball lightning, run, rinse repeat. Because enemies chase you in a direct line you usually hit every single enemy chasing you.
- If you're in a party thunder bola/screaming skull spam will keep monsters off of your party very well. 4 second repeatable fear is just about the best CC you can get.
- Life on hit weapon is a lot better than current DH meta gives it credit for.
- The scoundrel slow is often going to be better for your usage than the Templar's temporary tanking.
- If you stutter step micro properly, mortar types will never hit you.
- Fire chain mobs have different movement AI. They will move randomly around you to get the chain to hit you. Fast fire chain teleport mobs will kill you over and over and over.
- Skip every single invincible minions you run into. It's just not worth it with how we have to kill them (even if we can kill them).
- Well that's all I can think of for now. A bonus to using this build is every single piece of equipment (sans weapons) will be portable over to a monk. They want the exact same stats you do.
