Witch Doctor discussion !

[Ralph Wiggum]

/rolling tumbleweed

Just kidding. I know there's not a lot of us who have Witch Doctors as the primary character. But hopefully there's enough to have some discussion on tips and tricks. Share your WD tips, builds, items, etc. here!

Currently I'm a level 52 WD and starting out on Act I Hell difficulty. I am getting absolutely POUNDED (i.e. constantly killed) by elite/champions/bosses.

Originally my build for most of the game was this:



Now after doing a bit of research on the net, I'm resorting to this build:



It seems to be mostly working for most part, but I dislike the constant monitoring of the spell cool-downs to ensure Vision Quest is active. Otherwise I run out of mana.

I'm also slightly overdue to upgrade some armour pieces, but damn, it just feels so difficult with the WD sometimes.

[Fireslide]

When I was levelling my WD, it was always in a group. So my main role was to CC the elite packs, and add on some damage with zombie bears whenever the chance presented itself.

I'd take out jungle fortitude for blood ritual. Gives you 1% life per second and reduces mana costs. I'd also say you don't have enough mana to really go bats and bears. Take out soul harvest, it's too risky to land by yourself most of the time.

With wall or grasp/fear/hex/spirit walk you've got enough escapes/control to do ok vs most elite packs.

Vision quest is a dull way to play. Take it out for spirit vessel as soon as you can. You only need two damage spells, low cost like rain of toads, splinters, firebomb, leaping spiders and high cost high damage like locust, bats, or bears.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Thanks for tips, I've followed your passive skills suggestion and have my primary and secondary attacks as Poison Darts (Splinters) and Direbats respectively. I also bought a weapon which massively increased my DPS (which was fairly cheap) and this has also made a significant difference.

[Mugsy]

My lvl 20 WD currently uses poison darts (triple shot rune) for direct damage and leaping spiders for support with overwhelming groups. Also using rabid zombie dogs, the Gargantuan, Soul Harvest and Haunt. I rarely need those last two spells but then again, I'm still at the beginning of act 2 normal. Should probably try a new spell that I'll use more often.

I haven't got blood ritual as a passive but am curious to try it... it feels like it'll change the dynamics of how the WD will play (similar to the blood golem with D2's necromancer).

[Novocaine]

Blood Ritual doesn't really make much of a difference early on. Spiritual Attunement is better for mana regeneration. However once you start progressing through inferno (30k+ hps) BR becomes really nice for health regen.

Been rolling with this so far through inferno and enjoying the build

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/w ... WXV!accZcZ

Though I don't use Horrify as much as I'd expect, the extra speed boost and fear comes in handy some times. Corpse bomb is fun as hell but really inefficient to use. Might switch those out later on through the inferno trek.

[Mugsy]

Blood Ritual doesn't really make much of a difference early on. Spiritual Attunement is better for mana regeneration. However once you start progressing through inferno (30k+ hps) BR becomes really nice for health regen.

Been rolling with this so far through inferno and enjoying the build

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/w ... WXV!accZcZ

Though I don't use Horrify as much as I'd expect, the extra speed boost and fear comes in handy some times. Corpse bomb is fun as hell but really inefficient to use. Might switch those out later on through the inferno trek.

Yep, currently using SA to keep the Mana up.

Wish I had Acid Cloud unlocked... will get there soon enough at least.

Is Spirit Walk really that useful? I just don't see 2 sec as a very long time and, judging by the description, if your body can still be injured during spirit walk, that kinda defeats the purpose of escaping harm.

[Novocaine]

Yes it is useful. You don't take damage while spirit walking however you leave an avatar that can, which will break spirt walk if it takes too much damage. It's rare for it to break at a bad time though. I couldn't play without it tbh.

Tapatalkin' like a boss

[Fireslide]

Spirit walk is a must. I'd recommend the rune that gives 3 seconds of walk. Reason being, you want to use it as an escape/repositioning spell instead of a healing/mana regen spell which will cause you to use it at inopportune times.

You can even use it, step sideways a bit and unleash damage for 2.5 seconds without worry.

Horrify is good, get the one with big AoE. Against champion / elite packs, it buys you 4+ seconds of dealing damage whilst they are running away and doesn't put you in huge danger to use it.

Hex is amazing. The heal is nice if playing solo or your lacking any decent regen. Otherwise the damage bonus is godly vs champion/elites and in a party. it's up 80% of the time, and with practice you can get it to hex the target you want or if any come right up to you.

[Mugsy]

Thanks for the thoughts on Spirit Walk guys. Will definitely give it a try as I am not using Haunt or Soul Harvest (wish the later could be activated over the mouse cursor instead).

Hex is amazing. The heal is nice if playing solo or your lacking any decent regen. Otherwise the damage bonus is godly vs champion/elites and in a party. it's up 80% of the time, and with practice you can get it to hex the target you want or if any come right up to you.

I so want to try out Hex when I'm high enough level... it just sounds so cool. Wish the Wizard could Hex things... chickenfy the enemies then disintegrate them. It would be like the KFC combo attack.

[EveT]

Wish the Wizard could Hex things... chickenfy the enemies then disintegrate them. It would be like the KFC combo attack.

Agreed, this would be awesome to have... haha.

I've got a Lvl20+ WD myself, my secondary character (Monk's my first). I started out with WD though, but found myself getting increasingly frustrated with having to hang back and take care of my creatures, more than helping my teammate (I usually played with a group). That's was probably what drove me to change to Monk. I've always been one for melee too, I guess.

But great tips here so far, will definitely be trying some more combinations out!

[Mugsy]

Well, I've finished the game (in normal) as all other characters and just have the WD to go. Currently at lvl 33... grinding a bit on the Bridge of Korsikk (I have a habit of doing this till I reach lvl 34 with my characters).

I'm loving Acid Cloud. It's all I use against groups. I'm still using zombie dogs and the Gargantuan as it's normal difficulty and I'm going to enjoy having summons as much as I can before later difficulties. Am not finding much of a need for spirit walk yet so I've got rid of soul harvest and have Haunt with the life steal rune. It does nice damage against single opponents which is what I wanted for bosses and it keeps my life healthy.

Still using the Poison darts with the triple shot rune and leaping spiders as my left and right click... just because they don't cost much mana.

Got a lovely lvl 35 witch doctor knife waiting for me when I get to that level. Should give me a nice boost in DPS.

I seem to have developed a fetish for Legendary Voodoo Masks... just because they look cooler than the normal masks or normal voodoo masks.

[Mugsy]

I think I've just unintentionally created the biggest stereotype. Not only is my WD using a giant mace, he's wearing Hammer Jammers. I think it's... HAMMER TIME!

Pity we can't get access to other classes' abilities like in Diablo 2 yet... if my WD had Hammer of the Ancients, I'd be playing 'Can't touch this' to the game.

[Puggz]

you can find some good builds here http://www.noxxic.com/diablo3/

I found if your getting stomped to much try and open the game to public and get some tanks in to help or just buff up your templar with heaps of HP and RA so he never dies. Effective when he uses the healing and knockback skills.

If you need any help running through some acts feel free to add me and I can smash you through some hard parts