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    Blizzard has updated the Diablo 3 Patch v1.08 Notes with some new stuff, including skill buffs. I’ll just quote the relevant portions here, with the new changes in red:

    Monster Density
    Certain areas in Act I and Act II have received further adjustments to Monster Density

    Demon Hunter, Active Skills
    * DiabloWikiRapid Fire
    ** Base weapon damage increased from 276% to 438%
    ** Hatred cost while channeling has been reduced from to 6 (down from 10)

    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiBombardment
    ** Weapon damage increased from 345% to 414%
    ** Explosion radius increased to 8 yards (up from 4)

    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiFire Support
    ** Weapon damage of Homing Rockets increased from 35% to 145%

    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiWithering Fire
    ** Now reduces the initial Hatred cost to 10 (up from 5)

    Wizard, Active Skills
    * DiabloWikiArcane Torrent
    ** Base weapon damage increased from 210% to 285%
    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiArcane Mines
    ** Weapon damage increased from 180% to 340%
    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiCascade
    ** Weapon damage of bonus missiles increased from 210% to 285%

    Archon
    * The duration of DiabloWikiArchon should now be extended by assists from players in multiplayer games, in addition to kills.

    DiabloWikiDisintegrate
    * Base weapon damage increased from 170% to 220%

    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiEntropy
    ** Weapon damage increased from 196% to 253%

    * Skill Rune – DiabloWikiIntensify
    ** Maximum damage increased from 221% to 286% weapon damage

    Teleport
    * Players may now DiabloWikiTeleport to any location within range, as long as a path is available

    Bug Fixes
    * Fixed a bug causing Teleport – Safe Passage to only reduce damage from physical attacks

    Witch Doctor
    * Active Skills
    ** DiabloWikiFirebats
    *** Now has a larger initial cost but a much lower continual cost while channeling
    **** Note: This skill will be receiving a buff to its damage in the next PTR patch

    Monsters

    General
    * Players should now encounter more monsters in Acts I, II, and IV in Inferno difficulty when playing at Monster Power 1 or greater
    * In multiplayer games, the increase in monster hit points per additional player has been reduced to 50% (down from 70%)
    ** Tormented Stingers and Stygian Crawlers have had their experience reduced by 75%.
    ** Damage dealt by Tormented Stingers has been reduced by 75%.
    ** Experience granted by Shadow Vermin has been reduced by 50%.
    ** The chance for Shadow Vermin to drop loot has been reduced by 50%.

    Keywardens
    * Nekarat the Keywarden now has a chance to drop a random Key (of Destruction, Hate, or Terror) in addition to the Infernal Machine plans
    * All Keywardens will now only appear in Inferno difficulty

    I wrote about the PTR monster density issue last week and that post got a lot of good comments from other testers… but I haven’t had a chance to try these new changes yet. Anyone had a chance to get on and see what, “Certain areas in Act I and Act II have received further adjustments to Monster Density” means? Tweaks to the numbers of enemies, obviously. Perhaps they’ve buffed more the Act One dungeons and surface areas to make them closer to comparable? I hope they didn’t lower the sardine can approach of those Act Two dungeons, since they were awesome when overcrowded. (And no surprise that Shadow Vermin were nerfed in exp and drops; as I said in that article, the number of them in ZK’s Realm of Shadow dungeon was just insane.)

    Also, I’m personally psyched to try out the changes to DiabloWikiRapid Fire. The DiabloWikiDemon Hunter was my first fave char, and Rapid Fire was my early favorite skill. I loved the awesome machine gun pewpewpew style and the way it could mow down enemies in a row.

    Demon Hunter training academy.

    Demon Hunter training academy.

    Unfortunately it’s not a real viable skill past Nightmare, since it only hit a single target and forced the DH to stand still to use it. I used to speculate on how it could be improved; DiabloWikiWeb Shot was useful for good DPS + CC in one skill, and the DiabloWikiHigh Velocity rune effect (not tweaked in this update) had some potential with a 40% chance to pierce — but that really needed to be the base skill effect with about 90% piercing from the rune, and another function something like the Hungering Arrow DiabloWikiSpray of Teeth or DiabloWikiShatter Shot effect would really have helped give Rapid Fire competitive DiabloWikiAoE. Especially once DiabloWikiBola Shot got such a huge damage buff a few patches ago.

    That said… I don’t think that just a 60% damage buff to Rapid Fire will really do the trick, (maybe doubling it would?) but this should now be amongst the best single target DPS skills for the Demon Hunter! Pity you almost never have just a single target. (Maybe in MP games, when you can shoot from behind a DiabloWikitank and just concentrate damage on the boss, or on an Uber?)

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