by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Books have often been society’s only bastion of light for passing along knowledge that would otherwise be lost to time or convoluted by the oral tradition. In order to provide new and old adventurers with as much knowledge of what to expect on their journey in Sanctuary, we created this tome of knowledge – Ars Arcanum. We will regularly feature a Legendary weapon or armor piece, discussing its stand-alone powers and capabilities, as well as how it may synergize with new builds or other items.

Let’s take a break from rings for a little bit. At the end of last week, Season 3 kicked off and I saw my friends list come alive. It was interesting leading up to the opening moments, as some players were still having trouble deciding what class to roll in the 11th hour. After the weekend passed, I decided to take a look and see just what exactly the ratio settled out to be. The top three popular choices among my friends were Barbarians, Wizards, and Demon Hunters. Today, I want to talk about an item for the latter that supports their oldest set.

Why is it good?

Crashing Rain is a belt and belts right now are one of the most flexible slots for pretty much any class except maybe Barbarians. As such, the development team has been leveraging opportunities to add new items to the game in the form of belts particularly to give players a bevy of choices, no matter what set poison they pick. The call of the day for Demon Hunters in seasons gone by was The Witching Hour. Some Hardcore players may have given preference to Krelm’s Buff Belt, especially mixed with Krelm’s Buff Bracers, but in general, DHs were one of the main classes “glassing out” and letting themselves and their Sentries do the work while keeping at range and dodging all attacks. Embodiment of the Marauder was your only choice and you lived or died by it.

Well, we live in a different world now. Natalya’s Vengeance received a major buff in Patch 2.2.0 and as a result, Rain of Vengeance is seeing way more play. It stands to reason that Unhallowed Essence and Marauder’s set will likely still reign supreme at the highest end of play, but Natalya’s will actually rain vengeance. (Sorry.) The best application for the set might be for speed farming T6 with infinite Strafe, all the while nuking targets with Rain of Vengeance. The skill continues to come off cooldown exceedingly quickly due to all of the Strafing.

The belt fits in because it just makes Rain of Vengeance hit that much harder. Having a beast drop down for massive weapon percent damage is good. When you combine it with effective area-of-effect spread in Strafe, you’ve handled both ends of the spectrum and now have all of the tools necessary for an effective speed clearing setup.

Who is it good for?

Of course, other classes outside of Demon Hunters need not apply. This is specific to those filled with Hatred and (some) Discipline.

Where can I find it?

Patch 2.2.0 is here, so you can farm this up right now! The belt is not locked to seasonal play either, so players that just wanted to build off of their saved up Natalya’s pieces in preparation for the coming changes of 2.2 just have to go and add this belt to their set and they’ll be good to go.

The Fluff

When it rains, it crashes.

Simple and effective, just like the belt’s power. I like it.