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Blazinghand
United States25560 Posts
On June 17 2012 20:15 o3.power91 wrote: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
So, instead of Gruesome Feast I typically take Spirit Vessel. It gives you an extra 3-seconds of invulnerability (like spirit walk, but better) if you ever die, with a 2 minute cooldown. It's super, super good, and you can shoot while doing it. Chained with spirit walk you can have a lot of escape time.
To fill the void from gruesome feast, I use Soul Harvest, which will be giving you about 500 int (unless you get an amazing hit off with it, then you could get more).
Pierce The Veil is great if you're going for a splinters build, since you don't use much mana anyways. Any sort of bearspam / firebats build should avoid it, though, since you'll be having mana problems.
Speaking of Mana Problems, instead of Blood Ritual and Spiritual Attunement, I use Vision Quest. It gives you enormous mana regen (though it's a bit tricky to manage) that can allow for some serious bearspam or bat kiting.
My third slot goes to Spirit Attunement or Jungle Fortitude depending on how I'm geared.
Overall, my skill build looks like this (though your mileage may vary): http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cZdjUX!VUb!aabbab
This is the quintessential "clear the level" build, which gives you kiting, the ability to clear weak mobs, and lots of CC, as well as bat-spam with Vision Quest and your many cooldowns. In terms of fighting the butcher, it's not as strong as a darts build, but due to the long range on bats, you'll never get hit by the butcher except for his "fan of spears" spell, which is eminently dodgable.
The ONE fear for this sort of build is a Fast Elite. you can avoid wallers with practice, and Jail is broken by Spirit walk, but this build lacks the Burst DPS of a bears build. You typically just avoid Fast Elites with this build-- you can still get 5 stacks before the butcher without fighting them.
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http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aiTRUd!ZVW!aaaZaa
This is my build and I'm heaving troubles on NM Akt 3 already.
Siegebreaker was a pain in the arse and took ages, some Champion-groups are pretty gruesome.
Here's how I play:
Normal mobs in large numbers:
Acid Cloud once, dive in there with Spirit Walk, use Soul Harvest, dive out again (possible due to the Jaunt-Rune for the extra second) and Acid Cloud for a second time, usually killing shit.
Elite Mobs:
Well, Hex is a great help here it's the one spell I really like, albeit not having a little more range.
I would - of course - have much prefered the Troll Witch Doctor's Hex, but as the Stones already knew, you can't always get what you want.
So basically I hope my Gargantuan will absorb some hits, I get some lucky hits with Poison Darts and Hex does its, well, magic.
I have 5.2k Life, 1600 DPS (credit to my Flawless Square Gem), Level 44 NM Akt 3.
Oh, also I play hardcore.
Thanks for your advice, guys!
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On June 18 2012 01:11 kafkaesque wrote:http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aiTRUd!ZVW!aaaZaaThis is my build and I'm heaving troubles on NM Akt 3 already. Siegebreaker was a pain in the arse and took ages, some Champion-groups are pretty gruesome. Here's how I play: Normal mobs in large numbers: Acid Cloud once, dive in there with Spirit Walk, use Soul Harvest, dive out again (possible due to the Jaunt-Rune for the extra second) and Acid Cloud for a second time, usually killing shit. Elite Mobs: Well, Hex is a great help here it's the one spell I really like, albeit not having a little more range. I would - of course - have much prefered the Troll Witch Doctor's Hex, but as the Stones already knew, you can't always get what you want. So basically I hope my Gargantuan will absorb some hits, I get some lucky hits with Poison Darts and Hex does its, well, magic. I have 5.2k Life, 1600 DPS (credit to my Flawless Square Gem), Level 44 NM Akt 3. Oh, also I play hardcore. Thanks for your advice, guys!
You missed the most important skill: grasp of the dead. Slowing mobs for 80% is incredibly useful.
You don't need spirit walk in NM. Play smart and keep your distance from mobs. If you want to use soul harvest (viable until inferno), use the healing rune in case of an "o shit" moment. Don't need to deliberately run in to harvest souls, that'll get you killed every now and then.
If you're using gargantuan, at least use the version that enrages against elites.
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No Spirit Walk in NM?
Well, I really value your advice, but I doubt I would have even beat normal without.
It saved my life so many times and when you only have one, that's quite a big deal.
Grasp, however, seems like something I should pick up, I have just now clue what to substitute it for.
Soul Harvest is the only skill that makes my damage half-way alright for elites.
The problem with the enrage-rune for Gargantuan is that it triggers even if there's no elite around (3 normal targets suffice), so it's on cooldown more often than not.
Scrath the last point, apparently you can remedy that by just summoning him anew once you encounter elites. Nifty.
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Honestly, if you're to use Pierce the Veil, drop Acid Cloud. It's far too much mana.
With that many CDs you should also probably use Vision Quest, unless you don't like the idea of having to use Spirit Walk for Regen.
Ignore the guy above you, I don't think he realized you play Hardcore.
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if you wanna play with those skillset, make spirit walk with 15% mana reg rune and use passive runes mana reg and VQ. spam acid rain. why not just firebat/zombie? easy gameeeeee
edit: oh i didnt realize you are in HC xD then maybe you can try spirit vessel and VQ see how they go may be.
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On June 18 2012 02:35 Heh_ wrote:Show nested quote +On June 18 2012 01:11 kafkaesque wrote:http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aiTRUd!ZVW!aaaZaaThis is my build and I'm heaving troubles on NM Akt 3 already. Siegebreaker was a pain in the arse and took ages, some Champion-groups are pretty gruesome. Here's how I play: Normal mobs in large numbers: Acid Cloud once, dive in there with Spirit Walk, use Soul Harvest, dive out again (possible due to the Jaunt-Rune for the extra second) and Acid Cloud for a second time, usually killing shit. Elite Mobs: Well, Hex is a great help here it's the one spell I really like, albeit not having a little more range. I would - of course - have much prefered the Troll Witch Doctor's Hex, but as the Stones already knew, you can't always get what you want. So basically I hope my Gargantuan will absorb some hits, I get some lucky hits with Poison Darts and Hex does its, well, magic. I have 5.2k Life, 1600 DPS (credit to my Flawless Square Gem), Level 44 NM Akt 3. Oh, also I play hardcore. Thanks for your advice, guys! You missed the most important skill: grasp of the dead. Slowing mobs for 80% is incredibly useful. You don't need spirit walk in NM. Play smart and keep your distance from mobs. If you want to use soul harvest (viable until inferno), use the healing rune in case of an "o shit" moment. Don't need to deliberately run in to harvest souls, that'll get you killed every now and then. If you're using gargantuan, at least use the version that enrages against elites.
I recommend bad medicine and the Big Stinger Gargantuan. He is a much better tank, the stinker rune procs bad medicine and w/ darts you basically have a constant 20% additional damage reduction.
Remiove Pierce the Veil, as you start going to increased difficulty you should consider sacrificing damage for safety and will rinse you mana with acid cloud.
Remove hex, 1 target just isnt great. Hex is best used in a non pet build in Inferno Act 2+ where you have grasp, spirit walk and hex.
Spirit Vessel is an excellent choice for HC obviously.
One thing you seriously have to consider is armour dex and resistances for your gargantuan. Right now pets do not scale with vitality at all, this is thankfully subject to change soon (hopefully even in 1.03), or its being looking into at least, as right now pets get 2 hit in Inferno Act 2 by white mobs even with decent stats (I have 4k armour 300 all res and my big stinker with bad medicine and jungle fortitude goes down in 2-3 hits from trash).
That being said you should be fine until Hell without worrying about those stats, just bear that in mind. If your garg is dying before being useful thats what you need to look into.
Personally I use Searing Locusts over Acid Cloud but I used AC when levelling so go ahead, its a great skill till Inferno!
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On June 18 2012 03:00 kafkaesque wrote:
No Spirit Walk in NM?
Well, I really value your advice, but I doubt I would have even beat normal without.
It saved my life so many times and when you only have one, that's quite a big deal.
Grasp, however, seems like something I should pick up, I have just now clue what to substitute it for.
Soul Harvest is the only skill that makes my damage half-way alright for elites.
The problem with the enrage-rune for Gargantuan is that it triggers even if there's no elite around (3 normal targets suffice), so it's on cooldown more often than not.
Scrath the last point, apparently you can remedy that by just summoning him anew once you encounter elites. Nifty.
Missed the part about hardcore.. next time put it in the front instead of an afterthought...
Okay so scrap soul harvest. You can kite endlessly using grasp of the dead to slow enemies. Diving into enemies is never a good idea if you only have one life.
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Does anyone have any ideas on how to build the witch doctor post act 2 inferno, given the 50% decrease in effectiveness of attack speed on items? I'm feeling like standard CC/poison dart builds are not as effective and I'm kind of puzzled as to whether or not to stay glass cannon or go for int/vit/resist and try and take a few hits late inferno. Thoughts?
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monsters in a2 hit 35% less, in a3 44% less
So just focus more on damage with some defense (400-500 allres) and you are good to go
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Blazinghand
United States25560 Posts
On June 20 2012 04:46 FatChunk wrote:
Does anyone have any ideas on how to build the witch doctor post act 2 inferno, given the 50% decrease in effectiveness of attack speed on items? I'm feeling like standard CC/poison dart builds are not as effective and I'm kind of puzzled as to whether or not to stay glass cannon or go for int/vit/resist and try and take a few hits late inferno. Thoughts?
Well, obvious options that occur to me are bats/kiting and trying to get bearspam to work even with the dps nerfs. I dunno how you'd deal with fast mobs or bosses, but bats/kiting should work just as well since you couldn't fire at full speed anyways due to needing to run constantly.
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I don't really know where to post this so I'm gonna try here. Me and syllogism are running A3 Azmodan currently with a very good setup of Monk and Wizard as tank/cc and dpser. The setup is already very good but we believe it would be even better if we got an additional party member that would focus on DPS and dmg buffs and WD fits the bill perfectly. We play on softcore EU and we both have ~300Mf gear on switch. Please PM me if you are interested.
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On June 20 2012 06:21 sandroba wrote:
I don't really know where to post this so I'm gonna try here. Me and syllogism are running A3 Azmodan currently with a very good setup of Monk and Wizard as tank/cc and dpser. The setup is already very good but we believe it would be even better if we got an additional party member that would focus on DPS and dmg buffs and WD fits the bill perfectly. We play on softcore EU and we both have ~300Mf gear on switch. Please PM me if you are interested.
i got news for you. wd has a lot inferior dps to wizard and dh. if people want a wd, then for the cc.
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On June 20 2012 06:40 Corvi wrote:Show nested quote +On June 20 2012 06:21 sandroba wrote:
I don't really know where to post this so I'm gonna try here. Me and syllogism are running A3 Azmodan currently with a very good setup of Monk and Wizard as tank/cc and dpser. The setup is already very good but we believe it would be even better if we got an additional party member that would focus on DPS and dmg buffs and WD fits the bill perfectly. We play on softcore EU and we both have ~300Mf gear on switch. Please PM me if you are interested. i got news for you. wd has a lot inferior dps to wizard and dh. if people want a wd, then for the cc.
With the nerfs to demon hunter, I'm not sure that is true anymore. Tentacle actually does 155% damage now instead of hitting double that on most enemies (and even more on bosses) so theoretically Splinter does more deeps?
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On June 20 2012 06:40 Corvi wrote:Show nested quote +On June 20 2012 06:21 sandroba wrote:
I don't really know where to post this so I'm gonna try here. Me and syllogism are running A3 Azmodan currently with a very good setup of Monk and Wizard as tank/cc and dpser. The setup is already very good but we believe it would be even better if we got an additional party member that would focus on DPS and dmg buffs and WD fits the bill perfectly. We play on softcore EU and we both have ~300Mf gear on switch. Please PM me if you are interested. i got news for you. wd has a lot inferior dps to wizard and dh. if people want a wd, then for the cc.
For parties they are quite good. Something along the lines of this build http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZRQUj!WhV!aaZbaY would be perfect for us.
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On June 20 2012 04:46 FatChunk wrote:
Does anyone have any ideas on how to build the witch doctor post act 2 inferno, given the 50% decrease in effectiveness of attack speed on items? I'm feeling like standard CC/poison dart builds are not as effective and I'm kind of puzzled as to whether or not to stay glass cannon or go for int/vit/resist and try and take a few hits late inferno. Thoughts?
Find a high base atk speed weapon (daggers, ceremonial knives) and try to find whatever ias items you can get your hands on. Stack crit chance + crit dmg on everything, especially rings and amulets to compensate for the loss of dps.
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the attack speed nerf killed my Splinter/CC WD's ability to do Whimsyshire. I used to be able to kill certain affix Elites with no deaths. now I die to them because of the attack speed nerf
time to level my Lvl 23 DH to 60 now
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I give up on wd. I just a2 inferno is where i'll have my last log in.
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um has anyone noticed that zombie bears is broken now or something? the bears always get stuck; half the time they won't go past my character. sometimes only 2 come out. and i don't think it's an issue with me, cause my other characters are the same.
no idea if it's related to the patch, but that's pretty coincidental timing. anyone else notice anything?
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Yeah they broke it, they'll fix it in 1.04.
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EPT
