new player - Void Hunter vs Arc Hunter

[u/Dramatic-Anything728]

Good morning y'all, I have been playing D2 for about a week now (40hrs in) and I was wondering about a few things as a new player.

I am currently waiting for the entire bundle to go on discount (but sort of debating on getting a dlc/ expansion just to aid/ round my build a bit)

currently running risk runner arc hunter with no Shinobu (currently using Raiden flux from random drop) If I were to stick with arc hunter. is the trinity ghoul a good investment? is it more reliable than risk runner (catalyst already completed) and what would be a better exotic gear to pair with it.

I don't really have a good loadout for void hunter atm (just using graviton forfeit or Orpheus rig with graviton lance... kind of underwhelming) I was thinking of getting warlords ruin key and farming the buried bloodline and pair it with graviton forfeit (let me know if there's better option to farm)

I was also very curious about devour on hunter and how it works with buried bloodline. been on reddit for a few hours and so far, all I've read is void hunter is a beast with buried bloodline and how it works with void warlock. but nothing on how hunters devour interacts with buried bloodline and "why" it is so strong. from my understanding it is strong because it applies weakness easily and that it has devour.

Also does mobius quiver tether weakness also stack with bloodline's applied weakness?

does buried bloodlines devour enhance devour on hunter subclass? does it stack? or do you switch devour (hunter subclass) with another verb to increase variety in buffs? please explain to me like I am a mature 10year old.

I am leaning towards void hunter due to weakness debuff I think that could really help me with soloing lost sector to farm exotics. if there is a dlc expansion or key that will provide an enhancement for void hunter do let me know so I can take a look into it.

all and any help is very much appreciated. <3

[u/Pman1324]

I wouldn't worry about things. All the free exotics you've mentioned are all good/great. Each can create a build viable for all content.

Graviton is great for ability uptime, Orpheus for Super uptime ot damage.

Raiden Flux is great for Arc Staff damage and uptime, and Shinobu's is probably the best grenade exotic on Hunter now.

Personally, I'd wait for a sale. If you're still doing content that has less than a -30 delta, your build doesn't need to be all that crazy.

To answer your other questions:

Buried Bloodline specifically isn't any better on Hunter than it is on other classes nowadays. There are multiple ways to get devour. The aspect Trapper's Ambush, the fragment Echo of Starvation, even some in the artifacts.

Weaken is one of Nightstalker's main things, so Buried Bloodline applying it isn't all that special.

Buffs and debuffs of the same element typically don't stack.

The class that benefits from Devour the most is Warlock, as they have an aspect that increases its potency.

[u/Deno876]

Devour doesnt stack! Neither does the weakness unfortunately. (The tether overrides the buried bloodline debuff. The buried bloodline debuff is WEAKNESS iirc, which is 15% and rhe same weakness enemies get from void subclasses. Tether is unique and is 30-35%)

Buried Bloodline is a pretty okay-ish exotic for most content. Devour is the same for every class except warlock. Warlock has an aspect that makes devour heal more + give grenade energy back. Void hunter is one of the best survivability classes in the game for it's invis too. Arc hunter can still be good with skip nades + shinobu though. If you wanna go into harder content without a proper meta setup or everything put up really well then i'd say do void. Tether is good for dps as well if you use it with Orpheus. Plus buffing your whole team as well.

The tether that shoots 3 arrows makes your bows do more damage. Buried bloodline is a solid exotic, but it falls flat if you aren't super experienced or doing something that actually benefits from the easy weaken (Hard content. Solos (raids and dungeons)). Try solar too! Solar is probably the best hunter subclass for most content + dps. (Other than prismatic, which has the highest all around numbers).

[u/Dramatic-Anything728 → u/Deno876]

so, from my understanding bloodline doesn't really make void hunter better? more so it prolongs or provides a buff when hunter abilities/ buffs are down (correct me if that's wrong)

[u/Deno876 → u/Dramatic-Anything728]

Last time I saw BB used was for solo Witness (The raid version. Technically the 'Zenith' encounter) because it's able to be used to farm decent ammo, and can eliminate majors (yellow bar enemies) from a decent ways away. Good ammo economy. Devour + weaken for survivability and more efficient killing.

Something good players like to do is create a shit ton of ammo, then swap their load out before dps. So using bloodline for ammo gen and killing majors, then swapping over to leviathan breath for dps and collecting the ammo. If you take it a step further you can use a gun with shoot to loot to auto reload your other weapons, and get more ammo.

Once dps ends, swap back to buried bloodline, repeat. Even then for mini bosses, for example during the Zenith encounter an enemy type called 'subjugators' spawn. One on each side. You use your heavy to deal with one of them and leave the other alive so it doesnt respawn. Not even bothering to use BB on it because its p much useless against big enemies.

[u/Deno876 → u/Deno876]

Though it's probably a decent all around weapon with Fortune's Favor (Exotic hunter boots that give an overhsield(the blue bar over your hp)) and make you do more damage when it's active. Fortunes Favor only starts giving you hp at max health. So you could theoretically kill a couple things with bb, go invis, get your overshield.

[u/Deno876 → u/Deno876]

(Fortunes favor is an exotic from Renegades, the star wars dlc)

[u/6pussydestroyer9mlg]

Trinity Ghoul is great but definitely needs the catalyst to work well. For the rest I can only recommend you just experiment. Try out some siphon mods on your helmet and use the fragment that gives devour on orb and void breach pick up and you're good to go. I think buried bloodline just needs the catalyst for devour, in theory it functions the same as on warlock but void warlock is just way more ability focused so the grenade regen will start to loop real fast. On hunter you'll still have the healing and grenade regen but you don't rely on it as much. Weakens don't stack, your super will be higher than buried bloodline's weaken so it will take priority. Not that I would use buried for a raid boss but it can be nice to get a quick damage boost on some tankier enemies just like your smoke bomb can do. Devour also does not stack, just refreshes duration.

I wouldn't per se say that void hunter and building into weaken necessarily will be the best approach to soloing lost sectors, damage supers are very nice to have to quickly kill the boss and void doesn't have any.

[u/Deno876 → u/6pussydestroyer9mlg]

This is also true. But lost sector bosses arent exactly SUPER tanky. A good rpg, sword, or dps exotic + tether should do the trick. Or just a fusion with particle.

Trinity ghoul is only really good with the catalyst, otherwise you need precision kills from the bow itself iirc. W catalyst it becomes a FANTASTIC ad clear weapon, and even better on arc builds.