You: HELP! I was VQ/Bears/Rain pre-1.0.4, and now I'm lost
Me: So was I. Now I'm even stronger!
Barrin's BR/Bears/Rain Build
+ Show Spoiler +
The AoE Master
Witch Doctor Cookie Cutter (General use - All gear/act levels)
Click picture for link to build calculator.
+ Show Spoiler +
Barrin's BR/Bears/Rain Build <-- alliteration hehe. I was made for this!
The AoE Master
Witch Doctor Cookie Cutter (General use - All gear/act levels)
Click picture for link to build calculator.
Zombie Chargers (Zombie Bears) - The highest damage spammable spell in the game. With AoE. Must-have.
Acid Cloud (Acid Rain) - The best way to utilize Life on Hit. Nobody self-heals like us.
Spirit Walk (Honored Guest) - Priceless escape spell. Rune to fill out mana.
Soul Siphon (Swallow your Soul) - Powerful damage buff. Rune to fill out mana.
Summon Zombie Dogs (Leeching Beasts) - Great tanks that also heal you.
Gargantuan (Humongoid/Restless Giant/Bruiser) - Good tank, good passive DPS.
Blood Ritual - Explained below.
Zombie Handler - Helps your pets tank; but perhaps more importantly it gives you an extra dog to heal you which makes it less necessary to cast Acid Rain as often.
Jungle Fortitude - Helps you survive running right into big groups of enemies to maximize Bear damage. Helps pets tank.
IN GROUPS USE: Bad Medicine - To further help your group survive. Can replace any passive (personal preference). Not actually necessary.
Acid Cloud (Acid Rain) - The best way to utilize Life on Hit. Nobody self-heals like us.
Spirit Walk (Honored Guest) - Priceless escape spell. Rune to fill out mana.
Soul Siphon (Swallow your Soul) - Powerful damage buff. Rune to fill out mana.
Summon Zombie Dogs (Leeching Beasts) - Great tanks that also heal you.
Gargantuan (Humongoid/Restless Giant/Bruiser) - Good tank, good passive DPS.
Blood Ritual - Explained below.
Zombie Handler - Helps your pets tank; but perhaps more importantly it gives you an extra dog to heal you which makes it less necessary to cast Acid Rain as often.
Jungle Fortitude - Helps you survive running right into big groups of enemies to maximize Bear damage. Helps pets tank.
IN GROUPS USE: Bad Medicine - To further help your group survive. Can replace any passive (personal preference). Not actually necessary.
At this point you might be wondering: WTF? Zombie Bears AND Acid Rain WITHOUT Vision Quest?
Well, yes.
Vision Quest vs. Blood Ritual
Bear spam: 1.4(140)=196 mana/sec
Acid spam: 1.4(174)=243.6 mana/sec
Vision Quest w/ max Mana Regen .30(81) (gain 24.3 mana/sec)
Blood Ritual Bears .85(196)=166.6 mana/sec (save 29.4 mana/sec)
Blood Ritual Acid .85(243.6)=207.06 mana/sec (save 36.54 mana/sec)
CONCLUSION: Blood Ritual ALWAYS saves/generates more mana than Vision Quest when spamming Zombies/Acid. AND it gives you 1% hp per second.
This is about 50% up-time with high mana regeneration... BEFORE you factor in Honored Guest, Swallow your Soul, and moving around (which happens more the higher your damage is).
Bear spam: 1.4(140)=196 mana/sec
Acid spam: 1.4(174)=243.6 mana/sec
Vision Quest w/ max Mana Regen .30(81) (gain 24.3 mana/sec)
Blood Ritual Bears .85(196)=166.6 mana/sec (save 29.4 mana/sec)
Blood Ritual Acid .85(243.6)=207.06 mana/sec (save 36.54 mana/sec)
CONCLUSION: Blood Ritual ALWAYS saves/generates more mana than Vision Quest when spamming Zombies/Acid. AND it gives you 1% hp per second.
This is about 50% up-time with high mana regeneration... BEFORE you factor in Honored Guest, Swallow your Soul, and moving around (which happens more the higher your damage is).
CUTTING THE EXCESS
When I was doing VQ/Bear/Rain pre-1.0.4, I had a lot of excess. You didn't really have to manage resources because they were overabundant. I must have healed myself with Acid Rain (ticks) when I was at full health more than when I was not at full health. Tyrael knows I didn't need 300% mana regeneration when I was running from one monster pack to the next. And who cared if your Acid Rain was only hitting 1 target?
With the VQ nerf, we do not have excess anymore. With this build you have to actively think about your resources... but if you do, you will find that you have plenty. Especially if you have high enough damage to keep to keep the fights short.
And BTW I call this build the "AoE Master" not only because it uses the two best AoE spells and has plenty of tank (pets) but also because with the Swallow your Soul rune you won't really run out of mana against large numbers of enemies (you might against high HP single targets though - which doesn't actually end up being a big deal).
GEARING
Offense: HIGH
Defense: MEDIUM
*****MANDATORY*****
Mana Regen (helm, offhand)
***HIGH PRIORITY***
LoH (amulet, weapon)
Int
Crit Chance
Crit Damage
Movement Speed
**MEDIUM PRIORITY**
Armor
All Resist
Vit
Life%
*LOW PRIORITY*
Life Regen
Life Steal
Reduced Damage From
Bonus Damage to Elites
Chance on Hit
Crowd Control Reduction
- DO NOT USE IAS -
Offense: HIGH
Defense: MEDIUM
*****MANDATORY*****
Mana Regen (helm, offhand)
***HIGH PRIORITY***
LoH (amulet, weapon)
Int
Crit Chance
Crit Damage
Movement Speed
**MEDIUM PRIORITY**
Armor
All Resist
Vit
Life%
*LOW PRIORITY*
Life Regen
Life Steal
Reduced Damage From
Bonus Damage to Elites
Chance on Hit
Crowd Control Reduction
- DO NOT USE IAS -
GENERAL STRATEGY
(1) Run into big group of monsters, pets trailing closely behind.
(2) Pre-cast Acid Rain.
(3) Soul Siphon for damage buff. Keep using as needed for mana.
(4) Spam Zombie Bears
(5) If in danger, first use Spirit Walk to escape (mana reasons).
(6) If still in danger, use Acid Rain to heal and/or run behind your pets for mitigation.
(7) Continue steps 4/5/6 until everything worth killing is dead.
(8) Repeat
Should I use a mace/spear instead of a knife?
If you don't know what you're doing you should just stick with a Knife. You will have less up-time with a mace/spear, but each cast will do more damage which can (even more than) make up for it. The problem with mace/spear is that each bear becomes more valuable so missing one of them can hurt you more. Perhaps mace/spear becomes a better choice the more damage you do. It's certainly viable.
I won't be surprised if some of you try to make this build work, but can't. This build is not for the under-experienced (and it helps a lot to slightly out-gear the act you're doing, especially in the damage); perfectly managing your resources requires actively monitoring many factors. It's really fun - time to go play it.
- Barrin