Witch Doctor Discussion

On June 15 2012 20:44 SolveN wrote:
Hey guys, I would recommend this post to any aspiring witch doctors, as I have based my builds off of it and am currently in Act 4 Inferno (up to Izual at the moment) having soloed all content. With my current glass cannon set-up, I have 38k damage (or 42k if I run Pierce the Veil), 28k health, 0 +resist and can farm Act 4 content with 5 stacks of valour. I would love to try and answer any questions you have about the builds, strategies for killing rare/elites or gearing but read the guide first. Good luck out there.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/uad8p/witch_doctor_inferno_guidesetup_from_a_wd_that/

Haha. It was posted in this thread a while ago. Thanks anyway.

I got 90% of his dps, I guess that's a good sign.

=Þ

SolveN Canada. June 15 2012 21:04. Posts 42

Profile #

So what is your dps and where are you in Inferno? One thing I like that I have not seen anyone else recommend is Soul Harvest with the Languish rune, which gives you an AoE slow spell on a 13 secs CD in addition to Soul Harvest's increase to your DPS. Also, you can cast it while running which makes it advantageous to Grasp of the Dead in a lot of situations.

FinalForm United States. June 15 2012 21:52. Posts 403

Profile #

I picked up a shield that increases corpse spider damage by 6%. Since this property isn't searchable on the AH I was wondering if it is a valuable or not? Thanks!

ihasaKAROT Netherlands. June 15 2012 21:57. Posts 3393

Profile Blog #

Nope

Theres exactly 0 people using corpsespiders in the game. Its just not a good spell

KCCO!

BurningSera United Kingdom. June 15 2012 22:08. Posts 5279

Profile Blog #

corpsespider is awesome back in nightmare i think xD

Spawn more Overlords - Zerg player at heart. 2009, 820, Yaphets, YamateH <3

Corvi Germany. June 16 2012 20:46. Posts 1351

Profile Blog #

i used jumping corpsespiders until inferno, but then the sad truce revealed itself: everything is shit besides splinter darts, which also isnt good, but somewhat okay at least.

got a barbarian to 60 now. bought mediocre str/vit/allres stuff with shitty 850dps/shield, not a single item over 100k, while most wd's items are several times as expensive. and still its so unimaginable much easier than wd. although my wd has over 50k dps and the barb not even 20k, i feel the dmg difference is way less noticeable than it should be.

lorkac United States. June 16 2012 23:01. Posts 2297

Profile Blog #

I just started Inferno

25k~ Health
30k~ DPS
2.00+~ attacks/second
30%~ damage mitigation (both from armor and resists)

I've reached the point where I need to start spending gold in the hundreds of thousands in order to get a noticeable upgrade. And while it's fun and all to spend 50k-75k on +20 int upgrade, I think I've come to the time when I need to start making sidegrades.

Unless of course I'm mistaking something.

30k DPS should be good enough for act 1 as I grind enough gold for a higher DPS weapon?
25K health should be high enough so long as I kite well? Or should I aim for 30k health? (Or higher? Lower?)

How much resists should I have for act 2? I'm playing under the assumption that I will simply have to play better to get through Act 1, but I am not going to even pretend that I can survive Act 2.

My goals right now gear wise.

3.00 attacks per second
200~ resistances
25k-30k health pool (Under the assumption that since most things will already one-shot me that I should just learn to play better)
DPS as high as I can lift it.

Is that a good goal to reach?

By the truth we are undone. Life is a dream. Tis waking that kills us. He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life --Orlando: A Biography

Heh_ Singapore. June 16 2012 23:11. Posts 2245

Profile Blog #

On June 16 2012 23:01 lorkac wrote:
I just started Inferno

25k~ Health
30k~ DPS
2.00+~ attacks/second
30%~ damage mitigation (both from armor and resists)

I've reached the point where I need to start spending gold in the hundreds of thousands in order to get a noticeable upgrade. And while it's fun and all to spend 50k-75k on +20 int upgrade, I think I've come to the time when I need to start making sidegrades.

Unless of course I'm mistaking something.

30k DPS should be good enough for act 1 as I grind enough gold for a higher DPS weapon?
25K health should be high enough so long as I kite well? Or should I aim for 30k health? (Or higher? Lower?)

How much resists should I have for act 2? I'm playing under the assumption that I will simply have to play better to get through Act 1, but I am not going to even pretend that I can survive Act 2.

My goals right now gear wise.

3.00 attacks per second
200~ resistances
25k-30k health pool (Under the assumption that since most things will already one-shot me that I should just learn to play better)
DPS as high as I can lift it.

Is that a good goal to reach?

Your stats look pretty okay for A1. The basic idea of ranged character is this: increase your dps, worry less about survivability (don't get hit). Don't worry too much about hp/resistances/armor, the amount you get ultimately depends on whether you like to be 1/2/3 shotted.

Currently, the easiest way to gain dps is to stack attack speed from rings/amulets/gloves/legendaries. But that's getting nerfed by an unknown amount. Look out for crit chance/damage on weapons and armor (just search on the AH), they'll boost your dps by huge amounts once you start stacking them.

To boost your overall dps, get a high damage 1h weapon for whatever you can afford. Prices are plummeting. Supplement it with a good offhand (look only for Kurastian Asps, they have the highest damage, max 110-405). Have fun searching though, the offhand search parameters are a bitch.

Welcome to the A2 brickwall. You need a massive improvement in gear to go through A2/A3. Have fun farming warden/butcher or using the RMAH. I recommend the former.

=Þ

udgnim United States. June 17 2012 01:58. Posts 6464

Profile Blog #

On June 15 2012 21:57 ihasaKAROT wrote:
Nope

Theres exactly 0 people using corpsespiders in the game. Its just not a good spell

I use Medusa Spiders (slow proc) with a Splinters/CC build with 2.94 attack speed mostly doing Inferno Whimsyshire nowadays

it's very good for me because it acts like a low damage AoE slow and also does Physical Damage which is good if I ever run into a Plagued affix pack and it's also something that can be spammed and be used much more effectively for damage than Poison Dart when dealing with Waller packs

Last edit: 2012-06-17 01:58:47

E-Sports is competitive video gaming with a spectator fan base. Do not take the word "Sports" literally.

Executor1 June 17 2012 02:07. Posts 1334

Profile #

Damn 30k dps for act 1? that should be good for act 2 im at 24k with soul harvest full stacks and ive been doing perfectly fine, doing warden butcher runs quite fast at the moment. When i first started act 1 inferno i had around 10k and even that wasnt too bad id still beable to get 5 stacks neph valor and do up to skeleton king without to many issues.

dezi

Germany. June 17 2012 03:05. Posts 1417

Profile Blog #

How will IAS nerf affect us? All those WDs with 3+ attacks/sec will be hurt the most i guess (i'm at ~2 - 1.3 mainhand, 57% IAS on gear). Will drop down to ~1.7. Splinter spam is the only reliable specc after act 1 Inferno (don't want to facepull / stand within the packs). Stacking crit and dropping IAS completly is the new way to go then? Meh, IAS nerf without class changes ... stuck on so much useless spells ...

TPW Member | My Maps @ TL: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=171486 | Search 'dezi' at EU

Promises Netherlands. June 17 2012 03:08. Posts 1330

Profile #

On June 15 2012 20:50 Heh_ wrote:

Show nested quote +

Haha. It was posted in this thread a while ago. Thanks anyway.

I got 90% of his dps, I guess that's a good sign.

What I wonder about with this is all his switching of skills.. that completely destroys your stacks doesnt it? Or does he just want to get trough everything and farm it later?

I Hate Sandcastles

lorkac United States. June 17 2012 03:17. Posts 2297

Profile Blog #

On June 17 2012 03:05 dezi wrote:
How will IAS nerf affect us? All those WDs with 3+ attacks/sec will be hurt the most i guess (i'm at ~2 - 1.3 mainhand, 57% IAS on gear). Will drop down to ~1.7. Splinter spam is the only reliable specc after act 1 Inferno (don't want to facepull / stand within the packs). Stacking crit and dropping IAS completly is the new way to go then? Meh, IAS nerf without class changes ... stuck on so much useless spells ...

My main worry is that I need at least 2.00+ to be able to kite effectively, and I want 3.00 so I don't feel like every time I bump into a fast pack that I should just reroll the stats and restart the game.

I wouldn't even mind a DPS downgrade if I was still able to keep my animation frames down.

By the truth we are undone. Life is a dream. Tis waking that kills us. He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life --Orlando: A Biography

Asvhald Spain. June 17 2012 07:01. Posts 112

Profile #

On June 15 2012 21:57 ihasaKAROT wrote:
Nope

Theres exactly 0 people using corpsespiders in the game. Its just not a good spell

I'd recommend you to check your facts before throwing around sweeping generalizations

. Corpse Spiders is a GREAT spell... when combined with the Leaping Spiders rune. Each spider attacks roughly 2.5 times (some attack 2 times, some attack 3 times), with 19% weapon damage per attack, with 4 spiders per attack, you get a grand total of (average) 190% weapon damage.

Leaping Spiders advantages:

-Damage: higher total DPS than Splinters
-Reliability: you don't have to hit the mob with your attack, only have it land close enough to it for the spiders to leap. Much more difficult to miss one of these than a round of Splinters. Besides, the spiders live for a short while, so even if you land them and they don't attack, you can still get some damage in by having the mob get close to them.
-Safety: you can attack around corners, obstacles, etc... without having to establish a direct line of sight between you and the target
-"Lob" spell: ¿Waller? (especially indoors) ¿Minions immune? Major "oh shit" moments for Splinters, especially the later. With Spiders, you can partially (and sometimes totally) bypass these obstructions due to the arc trajectory of the attack.
-Physical damage: Full damage to Plagued mobs (as far as I know there are no mob types resistant to Physical... feel free to correct me if this isn't the case).

Disadvantages:

-Electrical mobs: Spiders will proc a TON of lightning. Your screen will go blue literally.
-Difficulty to focus fire: Spiders will attack enemies close to their landing zone. While they seem to prefer the closest mobs, still a fraction of the damage will be diverted to other mobs.
-DoT: Spiders do their damage over a few seconds, instead of instantly.

Personally, I find the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. I use them myself (about to clear Act 3 Inferno).

Iyerbeth England. June 17 2012 07:05. Posts 2213

Profile Blog #

Whilst I really like Leaping Spiders myself (though I've found I can't use them in Inferno) you missed that they can't proc Life on Hit at all except for the vase which you'll almost never be hitting with anyway (unless you are in which case splinters/haunt/dire bats is better) and the animation length makes kiting and using them very challenging. Also they're less damage than alternatives.

That's not to say they're bad, I just think you missed some serious disadvantages.

♥ Liquid`Sheth ♥ | Why choose the lesser evil?

MugenXBanksy United States. June 17 2012 16:40. Posts 382

Profile #

WTF guys y u no use rain of toads its soo nice >_>

Last edit: 2012-06-17 16:40:43

we all hope to be like whitera one day

Blazinghand United States. June 17 2012 18:35. Posts 12275

Profile Blog #

On June 17 2012 16:40 MugenXBanksy wrote:
WTF guys y u no use rain of toads its soo nice >_>

If you're looking for a good range/kiting spell, bats can hit more and "burrow through", letting you hit things in the back (useful against invulnerable minion guys), and if you're looking for straight-up DPS, you're better off using Zombie Bears.

Many players don't even use a primary skill at all.

Even though the toads range is nice, if you have VQ you can just use bats, since you spend more time running than shooting anyways.

Last edit: 2012-06-17 18:35:19

When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.

Unholy_Prince June 17 2012 18:47. Posts 55

Profile #

Leaping Spiders are incredibly useful as Glass Cannon. Using them in areas like Act 3 Keeps to determine whether there's mobs in a new room before entering, and even clearing out rooms without things like Quillbeasts having LoS on you. Leaping Spiders also get around Wallers and other annoying affixes.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Leaping Spiders though is the ability to bug mobs out by throwing them to the edge of your screen, where they then jump to a nearby enemy pack. It's very easy to cheese down entire Champ packs this way, who won't aggro you as the Spiders jump on them and kill them slowly.

Stolen from another forum to better illustrate my point:

Spiders are better than many give them credit; obviously, splinters has the damage advantage over leaping spiders, however spiders offer something splinters doesn't: Cheese.

You spam 4-5 casts of spiders near a doorway before entering it's line of sight and see if they bite, you spam spiders near a corner and they leap off to a target, you mash spiders on a wall of a waller elite and they jump over, their not requiring LOS makes them superlative. They're also more comfortable for keeping shit off your face, like in A3, there's always an errant Rakanishu wanabe getting near you; if you mash the spiders in a middle distance, whenever there's something near you they'll leap to it and when not they'll just go about their merry way and pick a random target.

This combines brilliantly with Sycophants: due to this spider playstyle you often have 1-3 sycophants hovering near you as you may be too far for them to visually engage the targets. As soon as a mob comes close, they tank for you (rather than what they do if you bearspam: Charge off in a random direction and not help you). Currently, I'm on 2.21 cast/sec and sycophants are pretty ubiquitously present if you mash a primary spell as your main dps. I ran with a variant of Missiletoad's spec for many days, and never when I swapped leaping with splinters did it feel easier/better. More damage, yes. Safer, no.

Last edit: 2012-06-17 18:49:09

o3.power91 Bahrain. June 17 2012 20:15. Posts 5254

Profile Blog #

So for Act 1 farming purposes, what build should I be using? I finished Act 1 once, but I had to change my skill set to beat butcher which took away all my valor stacks... I've been using bears and horrify to help get through elites/general mobs, but those seem useless against butcher with my current dps/survivability (21k dps, 17k hp; 18k dps, 21k hp with alternate gear)

Also, should I be using Peirce the Veil passive too? It hinders my progression through mobs because of the mana cost of bears, but I think it could help against butcher...

Currently my build is this: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#afPZUX!YXb!acZaZb

Last edit: 2012-06-17 20:15:59

Are you for rela?

Mowr Sweden. June 17 2012 20:25. Posts 753

Profile #

Hi there.
So, I am mostly runnig act 1 because I find that I just die so easily in act 2. Here are my (non-harvested) stats:
http://i47.tinypic.com/2nga7x1.jpg
Does anyone have a suggestion for what should look for if I want to focus on to survive better, i.e. res, vit etc?