Deskrawl Hunter Guide: Damage Routes and Early Priorities

This is a choice of supporting pieces, not a class tier list. A Hunter whose equipment already helps the attacks they use can be in a very different position from one copying a late-game setup without its items. Keep the damage plan readable: know which attacks deliver the damage and which bonuses are meant to improve them.

A Hunter player in the levelling thread recommended Dexterity and Basic Attack, Strong Attack or All Damage bonuses while experimenting. They used Poison Shot with Steady Shot before moving further into Poison. Another Hunter in the level-25 discussion made a similar case for broad bonuses before committing to one damage type. These are player examples, not a required opening rotation.

Use that flexibility for a reason. If you are still swapping attacks as they become available, a narrowly specialised item may help only part of the bar. Once your gear and skills point clearly toward Poison, Physical or Arcane, you can judge a specialised bonus against that actual setup rather than against a theoretical endgame list.

Launch discussions complained that traps appeared at the Hunter’s feet. Patch 1.0.1 changed traps to be thrown in front of the target. Patch 1.0.2 then replaced Frost Trap with Arcane Trap, changing its damage category and replacing Frozen with Arcane Grip. Hotfix 1.0.2a says Arcane Trap now applies Dizzy; its attack-speed reduction also benefits Flare. Keep that newer status wording in mind when reading older placement advice or Cold-trap descriptions.

Distance still matters to specific Hunter choices. Lone Hunter, for example, retains a condition that no enemies be within six units in the 1.0.2 description. A ranged-looking loadout is not proof that this condition stays active when a boss closes the gap. Check the actual fight before relying on a distance-based payoff.

Violet Skybow’s stated effect gives attack hits a chance to rain Arcane daggers onto the target. That is a named additional effect with its own Arcane damage. The tooltip does not say that it converts the damage type of every attack you use. A bow can therefore introduce an Arcane component without settling the whole build’s stat priorities for you.

The level-25 Hunter thread contains both a player who reported fixing their clear through matching Poison bonuses and another who could only win some of the time. Before leaving a stage to run in the background, watch enough repeats to see whether the setup is stable. If it is not, an earlier reliable stage is a more useful place to improve your equipment than a boss that keeps ending the run.

Choose your next read by the problem you are solving. Hunter talents covers point priorities; Rapid Fire covers the attack and its set interaction; Lone Hunter focuses on the distance condition. None of those choices is a guarantee that a build will handle every boss.