Diablo III- Skills Article XXXVIII: The Demon Hunter, Secondary Skills- Impale

Impale (25 Hatred): Throw a knife at the target to deal 250% weapon damage.

The Demon Hunter’s Secondary skill is where their main source of damage really comes from, and it shows even with the first option they get- Impale.  The amount of damage is very large for a single hit of a Demon Hunter skill, and the various riders you can tack on make this skill very strong for eliminating single threatening targets.  This means that in most cases, Impale will be your weapon of choice for boss fights, though some forms of it are even more useful in other situations.  You do need to be careful that nothing gets in the way- nothing like clicking a champion monster with Impale only for a Fallen to jump in the way at the last second.

Impact (25 Hatred): Throw a knife at the target to deal 250% weapon damage, knockback, and inflict a 1.5 second Stun 65% of the time.

Impact is the rune that makes Impale especially useful against bosses and melee enemies.  By sending them flying and possibly pinning them down with this, you can get an amazing amount of breathing room- usually more than enough to recoup the Hatred you spent using Impale.

Chemical Burn (25 Hatred): Throw a knife at the target to deal 250% weapon damage, and 125% weapon damage as Physical damage over 2 seconds.

If you don’t mind running away and just want your Impale target to take even more damage, then you’re going to want Chemical Burn.  This is especially useful for using Impale to smack one enemy out of the middle of a group and then go for a brisk job as your target burns to death.  The delay on the damage isn’t so nice, but as a Demon Hunter, you should be able to stay out of reach long enough to take advantage.

Overpenetration (25 Hatred): Throw a knife in the target direction that deals 250% weapon damage to everything it hits and pierces all enemies.

Overpenetration makes Impale much more practical to use against groups of enemies.  This is especially true if you can manage to get a bunch of foes to line up, but don’t count on it.  The sheer damage potential here is unearthly, and any Demon Hunter who can manage to throw out Overpenetration shots on a regular basis is going to have few worries from masses of foes.

Awareness (25 Hatred): Throw a knife at the target to deal 250% weapon damage.  Then throw knives around you in all directions, dealing 75% weapon damage to all enemies within 10 yards.

Awareness is the ‘help help I’m surrounded’ option for Impale, and lets you flick a modest additional hit out at any enemy that tries to take advantage of you when you stop to hurl your initial knife.  The range on the secondary effect is fairly good and while the damage isn’t likely to be impressive, there’s still fun to be had with minions here.

Greivous Wounds (25 Hatred): Throw a knife at the target to deal 250% weapon damage.  If you score a critical hit, treat this skill as ‘Throw a knife at the target to deal 500% weapon damage.’

Turning a critical hit focus into a sudden-death focus, Greivous Wounds rewards you for being lucky on a hit with this Hatred-eating skill by making the attack almost insanely destructive.  If anything pumps up a single hit from a Demon Hunter to Barbarian damage levels, this is going to be it.  Sadly, it -is- reliant on critical hits, so if you’re not focused on that, you’ll want to use something else- the damage boost becomes unreliable.