Hey guys! Welcome to our Demon Hunter Leveling guide! DH’s SUCK during the leveling process!!! There’s no other way to say it. Amongst all classes, DH felt the worst during the leveling up phase. Thankfully, this skill build will help you along your way.

I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU OPEN our D3 Leveling Process (all classes). It answers the usual leveling questions. “Leoric’s?” “Grinding?” There’s a ton of supplemental info there.

S28’s Altar of Rites VASTLY affects leveling

S28 is the ‘Season of Massacre Leveling’ due to Node A in Alter of Rites:
“Double massacre exp bonus and duration”.
Every other method is made worse by this. Also, Node C is “no item level requirement”…

First of all, see our Altar of Rites guide / order to get a clearer picture of what I’m talking about. Basically, this hinges around “Opening your first Challenge Rift Cache”, and if you want to take it ASAP. Also, there couple notes on Node C there, specifically how to get Node C with or without the cache.

Challenge Rift Cache woes

Every season, you should be doing the Challenge Rift, and opening the cache to get a huge boost in your leveling speed. However, this season, opening the Challenge Rift cache BLOCKS you from progressing the Altar of Rites past 15 nodes “until the next monday”  since you NEED a challenge rift cache to unlock the 15th node.

To Cache or not to Cache? To open or save? 

Open?

Opening the cache makes your leveling better, no doubt as it gives you the resources to fuel the usual seasonal tricks. Not only do you get Node A (double massacre bonus and duration), you also get to craft high level items to use alongside Node C, AND the usual shenanigans with Rift Caches. It’s a wild bonus. However, you must wait “until the upcoming monday” to go further down (15+) the Altar of Rites, which is a non-issue for many. For the season start, it’s just a few days wait.

Opening is a no-brainer for relaxed players, or if you don’t really plan to nolife week 1.

You also get a considerable boost as you step into 70, as you get 1 or 2 good legendaries.

Save?

Saving the cache vastly slows your leveling speed (in comparison), but you still get the huge bonus from Node A. If you’re getting boosted? save the cache is your best bet – you simply don’t need the EXP and power boost to leveling. You DONT have to wait to completely unlock your Altar of Rites.

Saving is a no-brainer for those getting boosted, or giga-grinders for Week 1.

People forget that massacre sucks for items, and without the cache you’ll be weak at 70.

I’ll be pasting this reminder in all leveling related content. GL leveling your DH  in S28!

Demon Hunter Leveling – Quick Navigation:
Leveling Build FULL | Skills & Reminders | Leoric’s Crown? | Notes | Fresh Level 70!

!!! Challenge Rift Material Spending !!!

As mentioned in our general all classes leveling guide, you SHOULD be doing the Challenge Rift and WISELY be spending the resulting materials from it. TLDR: Challenge Rift -> Attempt Deaths Breath upgrade and Blood Shard gambles for a good legendary.

For a leveling DH, you’re in luck.

Death’s Breath

Upgrade Daggers for a 100% chance of a god weapon, either Karlei’s Point or Lord Greenstone’s Fan. I much prefer Karlei’s, but Greenstone makes life 100000% easier still, as a leveling DH needs as much help as it can get…

Blood Shards

Gamble for Bracers at Level 1 to 15 for Wraps of Clarity. Since your offense is 100% boosted by your new dagger, you don’t need any more DPS. Also, there is no good offensive gamble here anyway so boosting defense helps you push higher difficulties.

Demon Hunter Leveling: FULL BUILD per Level

This build is not SUPER optimized for MASSACRE (S28, you should be doing it)|
but it doesn’t need to be, given how easy it is to level.

Put your level in the box on the upper right – or hit back / next found in the bottom right! If you did the above “cheese”, you can easily slot in Impale over your spender for Karleis. If you got Greenstone, just slot in FoK anywhere.

Help! I can't use those skills because they're from the same category! - Turn On Elective Mode

If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

Binding Force Move to Mousewheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

Demon Hunter Leveling Skills & Reminders Summary

Help! I can't use those skills because they're from the same category! - Turn On Elective Mode

If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

Binding Force Move to Mousewheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

DH Leveling & Leoric’s Crown – When, and is it worth it?

Review our D3 Leveling Process (all classes) for more notes on this. Summary:

It’s worth it || You must be minimum L16 (to be safe)
You must beat him in Campaign Mode || You must not have beaten him previously

DH needs all the help it can get. Personally? I do it for the change of pace. I recommend doing this once you’re Level 26, and no sooner. You can even change difficulty to Easy!

L26 is a sweetspot since you just get Multishot-Fire at Will. Changing it to easy mode (if you’re too weak) allows you to easily kill WHILE moving. Maximize the Vault + Tactical Advantage (Passive) combo to cover the most distance. Do not “re-Vault” until the speed boost wears off. Prioritize speed by only stopping to Multishot value clumps of dudes.

What I really dislike is doing Leoric’s as the opener of your season. It’s painfully slow without mobility skills, and is just bad… (gems don’t come out that early).

Demon Hunter Leveling Notes

Playing the Build

This leveling build practices your DH mobility and re-positioning skills. Tumbling around to get health globes (triggers Blood Vengeance) is key to SPEED and RESOURCE GAIN.

Companion-Bat & Preparation-Punishment serve as Hatred re-fillers. Don’t save them! Use them as soon as your Hatred dips to half. The sooner you use it – the sooner it’s up!

Sentry-Spitfire Turret is your best weapon against elites and bosses! It’s extremely potent and worth the few seconds it takes to change. Replace Marked for Death to this if you’re doing nephs or bounties!

Demon Hunter leveling is so pathetic during the leveling phase that you can and should maximize any special legendaries you obtain!

Followers – Hire them!

If you’re soloing – hire your Templar. We choose him since it provides you with much needed healing and Hatred regeneration – “Take all the left skills!“

Crafted Yellow Weapons

Craft the best 2H Crossbow you can each time you’re in town to check the Blacksmith (upgrade him, too). It’s a huge power boost for little effort. Do this at Level 16 onwards! 2H Bow is an alternative, but avoid it if you can. 1H Hand-Crossbow should be avoided.

This of course, also applies to ANY armor piece that’s grossly under-leveled or weak.

Demon Hunter: Gems while Leveling up

Red gems should always be combined as much as possible as it’s the best gem to put in BOTH your Helmet and Weapon during the leveling up phase.

Green gems for +Dexterity (damage for Demon Hunters) go into any other open socket.

Fresh 70 Demon Hunter, now what?

Congratulations on reaching max level Demon Hunter! As you know, the game is just beginning! But first, a quick reminder – Craft a level 70 Crossbow and any other outdated items you may have. We highly suggest you check out our…

>> Fresh Level 70 Demon Hunter Guide <<<

… and our other Demon Hunter Guides

Check out our D3 Directory Guide for more DH and D3 guides.

Demon Hunter Leveling – Quick Navigation:
Leveling Build FULL | Skills & Reminders | Leoric’s Crown? | Notes | Fresh Level 70!

Well, thanks for reading our Demon Hunter Leveling Guide! Check our our D3 Guide Directory if you need any more help.

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21 COMMENTS

  1. Why chose, Tactical Advantage, as the level 10 passive? Evasive Fire doesn’t unlock until level 14, and you don’t add it to the build until level 42.

    Thrill Of The Hunt, is a far better choice at level 10.

    • If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

      Binding Force Move to Mouse wheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

      However, not all skills can be placed on R.

    • anyway dear we’re trying our hardest to update all fresh 70 guides and hope they’re all ready before the season starts…. so far only the leveling guides are complete. Don’t worry, once a guide is done we will upload it asap! thanks

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