Melee DH?

[:1]I don't see that this has been covered, but sorry if there's already a similar thread...

Do you guys think there will be a way to build a melee demon hunter?

The way I see it, there are 2 obstacles - skills/traits and stats.

I don't think stats should be much of a problem. The game auto-assigns them, but it's not like I'll be getting all this dex when I need strength to dish out melee damage... I'm assuming the DH gets a little more precision and willpower than, say, a Barb, and probably a little less tanking ability - but that shouldn't make it unviable.

As to skills, there are a lot of DH skills (and probably traits) that are ranged only (like entangling shot, bola, etc). But since we can only have 7 skills anyway, I'm sure there have to be 7 skills that I can cobble together to make a DH that uses a dagger or whatever. Maybe traps, movement skills, stuff like that. And for traits I can choose things that similarly don't matter whether you're ranged or not...

So what do you think... viable? What are the best skills/traits you can think of to set this up?|||I believe it was mentioned earlier, with people dreaming about a thematically appropriated whip weapon class for the DH. Overall, though, we don't currently know enough about DH traits/spells to make even a generic assessment of viability. Blizzard, however, is looking into it (and given the fantastic concepts they have for melee Wizards, they might pull something cool off.)

http://www.diablowiki.net/Demon_Hunter#Melee_Combat.3F

Now, as you said, skills that look like they are ranged weapon only are difficult to adapt to melee playstyle as there is no weapon swap. For example, Cluster Arrow with stun skill rune woulda been fantastic for a melee DH, but alas, I don't think we can expect it to be usable with a sword.

http://www.diablowiki.net/Demon_Hunter_skills

Best bets would indeed be traps - you create a terrain patch with them where you stand your ground and force your enemies to take their full brunt which sounds like it would be easier for a melee DH to accomplish than for a ranged build.

There are also some nukes independent of ranged weapons - our current two examples are Fan of Knives and Grenades.

Vault you already mentioned.

Trait support is the last big question. I expect that for DH to be viable in melee they will need access to defensive traits (at the very least Vitality and Defense multipliers) and a trait or two that specialize them for melee (ala Drain Power that Wizards have, but perhaps something unique.) But we currently have zero information on their unique traits, so....

Overall, I expect the melee Demonhunter to be a cross between the Monk and Wizard, so to speak. Fragile and nimble melee combatant, hit and run reliance, heavy spellcasting usage. This is to contrast the Wizard's melee, which looks like it will be a tremendous tank thanks to innate life leach and a plethora of defensive spells.|||Attributes will be pretty well covered since they are very general now. Want to do more dmg? Increase you attack stat! Counts for ranged/melee/spell/everything

But like you pointed out skills/trait are going to be the thing that holds you back. Blizz talked at length last Blizzcon about the many iterations of the DH they went through and ended up throwing out because it became or just looked to melee orientated. That's not to say some of the remaining 15 or so skills we have yet to see won't be melee based but it's a pretty long shot at this point with the info we've been given.