Diablo III- Skills Article XXXIX: The Demon Hunter, Secondary Skills- Rapid Fire

Rapid Fire (20 Hatred): At a cost of 1 Hatred every tenth of a second, launch a continual spray of arrows for roughly 230% weapon damage total per second.

Rapid Fire is a highly-usable Demon Hunter damage skill, and probably the most recognizable of the lot.  Many Demon Hunters will default to this easily, and while there is good reason (it’s pretty strong), the other Secondary Skills aren’t by any means bad- this one just happens to be about the easiest way to blow all your Hatred.  Besides, who doesn’t like casting essentially a Ray of Arrows?

Don’t answer that.

Withering Fire (5 Hatred): At a cost of 1 Hatred every tenth of a second, launch a continual spray of arrows for roughly 230% weapon damage as Fire damage total per second.

Withering Fire converts all the damage from this skill to Fire damage- not the best damage type, but occasionally a better choice than weapon damage.  More importantly, it cuts the cost of initiating Rapid Fire by a whopping 75%, letting you use the skill more often and for longer than you otherwise would be able to.  Hey, who wants more arrows?  You do, apparently.

Web Shot (20 Hatred): At a cost of 1 Hatred every tenth of a second, launch a continual spray of arrows for roughly 230% weapon damage total per second.  Each arrow reduces the speed of any target it hits by 80% for 1 second.

Web Shot is a more interesting variation of Rapid Fire that lets you use it with a lot more security against that boss or unique monster that wants to barrel you down and stomp all over your bones.  With the sheer number of arrows that Rapid Fire lets out in a second, it shouldn’t be too hard to make sure that any and everything coming after you is slowed- if you can’t actually manage to slow everything, you have bigger worries (like how you’re going to kill that many things that quickly).

Supporting Fire (20 Hatred): At a cost of 1 Hatred every tenth of a second, launch a continual spray of arrows for roughly 230% weapon damage total per second.  You also launch 3 homing rockets every second, which each deal 35% weapon damage as Physical damage to all enemies near them when they explode.

There are a number of Demon Hunter skills that launch ‘homing rockets’ as you use them- this is your premier option for your Secondary Skill to do so.  Supporting Fire does with these rockets what it does with your arrows- launches a ridiculous number of them at a ludicrous rate for not so impressive per-hit damage.  If you find yourself using Rapid Fire against large batches of enemies, or tend to get ambushed from behind while using Rapid Fire, you probably want this rune.

High Velocity (20 Hatred): At a cost of 1 Hatred every tenth of a second, launch a continual spray of 100% piercing arrows for roughly 230% weapon damage as Poison damage total per second.

The other option for using Rapid Fire against large groups of enemies- particularly if some stay distant and others close on you- is High Velocity.  This essentially converts your Rapid Fire from a spray of arrows into a narrow cone of steady damage, and of a type that isn’t resisted as often as some others (cough cough withering fire cough).  This can easily save you a lot of time and Hatred as it means you don’t have to carve through the front ranks to start shooting what’s behind them.

Bombardment (20 Hatred): At a cost of 1 Hatred every tenth of a second, launch a continual spray of grenades which each explode in a 4 yard radius for roughly 276% weapon damage as Fire damage total per second.

Bombardment is the hilarity-inducing rune for Rapid Fire, in that it’s hugely entertaining to be able to point in a direction and watch everything in that direction explode continuously for as long as you keep pointing.  The improved damage is impressive, and more importantly, the fact that each shot is an area effect guarantees that even smaller enemies (who would otherwise take only some of the damage from a Rapid Fire assault) will be hurt by nearly every projectile you launch during your barrage.