I agree with some of your earlier points regarding resilience etc but do disagree that they’re underperforming. Here is a brief list of builds that I have consistently found great for GM’s etc and some have even got better this season and last.
1. Renewal Grasps - the addition of Wicked Implement plus the grenade cooldown revert and stasis buffs have made this even better and I was using it before.
2. Lucky Pants - I think maybe the most consistent high end loadout. Deal great damage when you don’t have heavy and against large health opponents. You can even run any subclass although I’ve always leaned towards void due to invis and the utility that has.
3. Assassins Cowl/one-two punch shotgun - this loadout performs amazing in all content and what I use to solo things like a dungeon. Healing, invis, high damage and an ability loop not reliant on orbs or even cooldowns. Passive damage super for dps or even ad control. The most versatile hunter set up in my opinion.
4. New celestial champ killer - nothing too fancy and one I’ve not used loads yet but I see a celestial hunter melting bosses and champs and healing nades, radiant and benevolence all help ability cooldown and survivability.
5. Omni - tried and true. Turn allies and yourself invis and speed run sections or simply cycle it to stay safe. Nothing fancy but very reliable.
6. Invis Aeon - generate heavy for your team and help clear room more woolly due to the abundance of heavy ammo. Slightly less good now due to Cenotaph Warlocks but this is maybe my most used loadout currently for D2 although previous ones see more use now. Invis finishing and looping back to invis ensures safety when creating ammo and virtually unlimited heavy makes most encounters fairly straight forward.
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Haven't tried the Celestial rework yet, but yeah, those are all solid builds (I'd throw Cyrtarachne's Facade in there too, as that's almost exclusively what I used in GMs last season, and it was great). But...we're comparing apples and oranges. I didn't make it clear enough in my original post, but where I find Hunters lacking isn't in a few specific builds; it's in their default class/subclass kit and how the armor mods work in conjunction. Sure, there are some specific exotic builds that help overcome those shortcomings, but those are the exception and not the rule. That's why when a specific exotic (RIP Young Ahamkara) gets shredded by a nerf, we Hunters are left scrambling for a replacement. The exotic was doing the heavy lifting, not the subclass. By comparison, how many times have Synthos been nerfed, and Titans are as strong as ever. Starfire nerf? Warlocks just switch to Sunbracers or Verity's and laugh.