Please do not reply without reading my full post and no flaming/trolling as well as fully explain your build / link.
So I've used the skill calc literally hundreds of times, making hundreds of builds for every single class, and from what i can tell the ONLY real viable end-game builds for the WD soloing 100% require pets, especially if you haven't super massed defense gear. honestly just because blizzard talks about all viable builds doesn't mean EVERY build possible for every class is viable in end game without 1-2 spells that are a must. although this "bla bla skill is a must for inferno" i have only found to be true for the WD. sure norm - hell(doubtful) you might be able to get away with no pets, but inferno? good luck, you'll be one shotted instantly and constantly fleeing rotating CC's while not doing much dmg, so yes the WD survivability in later difficulties is almost entirely based upon having AT LEAST 1 summon to help him kite around. IMO (unless you can somehow prove otherwise)
let me explain in detail so you can properly rebuttal without repeat information:
WD skills for surviving WITHOUT pets, yes these can be runed to make them better or have less of a cool down but not so much better to make them worth not having zombie dogs or gargantuan. not even close. pets are 10x > then these. but pets used in CONJUNCTION with these makes him super awesome.
1. mass confusion (1 min CD)
2. horrify (20 sec CD)
3. spirit walk (15 second CD)
4. grasp of the dead (8 second CD)
5. Hex (10 second CD)
6 haunt with crimson rune 45% dmg returned
7. firebats with golden rune for 20% dmg returned, but using this skill up close to hit makes u super vulnerable without pets and you will die in inferno/hell
as you can see every single one of his CC spells has a CD, and its not guaranteed that horrify/confusion will work on every monster. and hex is very slow and barley hexes that many targets (watching beta footage).
passives for surviving:
1. death trance
yes sir, only ONE passive that helps with surviving.
none of these are that amazing. some slows and some things to make monsters run/fight eachother. but considering these may be ineffective in inferno, such as monsters who are immune to slow and/or immune to confusion/horrify. what then? your screwed without pets. nothing is immune to your pets attacking them, sure the AI in inferno will make some mobs run past your pets, but nothing says your pets won't grab back aggro when they attack them.
So unless you want to have mostly/all CC spells and constantly have to rotate them to survive while doing almost no dmg, you NEED summons to be efficient and even OK at killing SOLO and especially at surviving in later difficulties. the WD also doesn't have any super high dmg abilities without pets, all of his abilities are in the 100-300% range, while other classes have some that are 400-900% (besides Sacrifice, which you'd need pets for >_>). so the best way to kill efficiently and smoothly and in reality, AT ALL, is any viablesolo build you make will need to have BOTH of the pets + pet passive so they can take hits. so unless you have SOMEONE ELSE tanking for you, you won't survive in inferno without pets. period. thats 2 of 6 skills. and 1 of 3 passives, the others can be whatever you want and still be good. pets are the WD's GREATEST spells by far for any situation and if you rune your pets to do dmg with crimson they can potentially do more overall DPS combined then you can. so in this sense i believe if you want to survive AND do the most potential DPS you definitely need pets.
so what I'm asking is, has anyone been able to make a build (without screaming gear is the key, because how are u going to get that gear in the first place?) that has the potential to do lots of dmg AND survive in hell/inferno without any pets?
WD skills for surviving WITHOUT pets, yes these can be runed to make them better or have less of a cool down but not so much better to make them worth not having zombie dogs or gargantuan. not even close. pets are 10x > then these. but pets used in CONJUNCTION with these makes him super awesome.
1. mass confusion (1 min CD)
2. horrify (20 sec CD)
3. spirit walk (15 second CD)
4. grasp of the dead (8 second CD)
5. Hex (10 second CD)
6 haunt with crimson rune 45% dmg returned
7. firebats with golden rune for 20% dmg returned, but using this skill up close to hit makes u super vulnerable without pets and you will die in inferno/hell
No love for Wall of Zombies, the one skill that literally and directly prevents enemies from getting close to you? Nothing we've seen indicates that the wall can be attacked (so it's guaranteed to be up for 5 seconds), it has no cooldown, and enemies can't pass through it. Did I mention you can rune it to slow enemies or to double its width? Couple it with Grasp of the Dead and enemies will be sitting ducks ready for you to spam your damaging skills.
I agree that his survival passives are somewhat lacking, but I think he has way better Life restoration capabilities through Runes than any other class (Alabaster Grasp/Spirit Walk, Crimson Haunt/Spirit Barrage/Soul Harvest, Golden Hex/Firebats, etc.).
Don't forget also that most of his CC spells are - or can be runed to be - damaging spells as well. Overall, I think that playing without pets will be somewhat of a hindrance, but it doesn't seem as bad as you're making it out to be.
No love for Wall of Zombies, the one skill that literally and directly prevents enemies from getting close to you? Nothing we've seen indicates that the wall can be attacked (so it's guaranteed to be up for 5 seconds), it has no cooldown, and enemies can't pass through it. Did I mention you can rune it to slow enemies or to double its width? Couple it with Grasp of the Dead and enemies will be sitting ducks ready for you to spam your damaging skills.
I agree that his survival passives are somewhat lacking, but I think he has way better Life restoration capabilities through Runes than any other class (Alabaster Grasp/Spirit Walk, Crimson Haunt/Spirit Barrage/Soul Harvest, Golden Hex/Firebats, etc.).
Don't forget also that most of his CC spells are - or can be runed to be - damaging spells as well. Overall, I think that playing without pets will be somewhat of a hindrance, but it doesn't seem as bad as you're making it out to be.
wall of zombies doesn't do shit for damage and mobs can just walk through it ( nothing indicates that it can't be walked through or attacked, thats super speculation, or way or the other). one skill thats not that great doesn't suddenly make him viable for inferno... -_-. like i said please post a build supporting your theory.
What about the term "wall" makes you assume that enemies can just walk through it? And when did I ever mention its damage? Unfortunately for you, if you want to make this thread, you can't discount speculation in others' arguments since that's all the discussion you're going to get (not to mention that your OP is entirely speculation).
What about the term "wall" makes you assume that enemies can just walk through it? And when did I ever mention its damage? Unfortunately for you, if you want to make this thread, you can't discount speculation in others' arguments since that's all the discussion you're going to get (not to mention that your OP is entirely speculation).
ah but its not pure speculation. its backed up with facts about the skills and how they work. much less speculation then "zombie wall makes you LEET". if zombie wall is not only impenetrable and can't be walked through, you could just sanction yourself off and never be hit, making that ability stupidly over powered. so highly doubtful its both. so mobs will be able to destroy it, or walk through it (while taking dmg of course) would be the most likely outcome of that ability. but hey if its both then wow zombie wall is the way to go. BUT from reading the runes of possible changes to zombie wall, its makes sense that its able to be walked through, how? because why would you care to DOUBLE the width if it can't be walked through? making an extra half inch for mobs to get around it? lol... and how it slows enemies, so only enemies that run up, touch it, then run around get slowed? no it seems much much more obvious that its able to be walked through reading the rune effects.
but one ability isn't much of an argument considering all of the information i gave supporting otherwise.
ah but its not pure speculation. its backed up with facts about the skills and how they work. much less speculation then "zombie wall makes you LEET".
The entire premise of this thread is pure speculation. There's no way to know that pet skills will be mandatory for Inferno without having played in Inferno without them and miserably failed.
Also, I never argued that "zombie wall makes you LEET." I simply pointed out that it's a CC spell that you didn't include in your list of "Skills for surviving" in the OP. Are you really arguing that Wall of Zombies wouldn't help you survive?
The only video we've seen (that I know of) featuring Wall of Zombies is the original announcement trailer, and there's nothing there that would lead me to believe that enemies can walk through it.
ah but its not pure speculation. its backed up with facts about the skills and how they work. much less speculation then "zombie wall makes you LEET".
The entire premise of this thread is pure speculation. There's no way to know that pet skills will be mandatory for Inferno without having played in Inferno without them and miserably failed.
Also, I never argued that "zombie wall makes you LEET." I simply pointed out that it's a CC spell that you didn't include in your list of "Skills for surviving" in the OP. Are you really arguing that Wall of Zombies wouldn't help you survive?
The only video we've seen (that I know of) featuring Wall of Zombies is the original announcement trailer, and there's nothing there that would lead me to believe that enemies can walk through it.
all the skills i listed have been show cased or seen in the beta so that is NOT speculation. there IS a way to know if its mandatory... looking at all of his skills, calculating, using common sense. all make it 10x more valid then just saying "oh i THINK this will do this.." thats not what i did or im doing. ive taken careful time to look at each skill and deduce the possible outcomes, coming to an ultimate conclusion that they seem almost entirely mandatory for solo. it is very calculated speculation, but labeling it "pure speculation" is far from what it actually is.
im not arguing it wont help u survive, of course it will. im arguing that that ONE skill doesnt make up for not having pets, that is all.
the video featuring wall of zombies ive watched literally 10 times, the mobs die almost instantaneously when they hit the wall making it so we dont know either way if they were going to attack it, walk through it, or ANYTHING because the mobs instantly died. that skill of all in the game is probably the most one with speculation on how it works. so thats a very bad example to use.
you also ignored my very valid points on why it would make sense for it to be able to be walked through regarding rune effects.
The were not very valid points. They were horrible points, and Tenhi has already adressed them. You can't walk across a Zombie Wall, hence the word Wall. No one here knows how hard inferno will be. Maybe you need pets, or they are just really useful, maybe not.
The were not very valid points. They were horrible points, and Tenhi has already adressed them. You can't walk across a Zombie Wall, hence the word Wall. No one here knows how hard inferno will be. Maybe you need pets, or they are just really useful, maybe not.
dismissing my points without any type of ccriticism other then "horrible". and of how i could possibly be wrong makes you seem sooo right man. lol. great debating skills. im convinced.
who cares what the name is? the name makes it exactly what it is ? ok so the monk skill "wave of light" is NOT a wave of light, its a giant bell that falls from the sky and he hits it. THAT totally makes sense right? this is just one of many examples. so therefor saying "the term wall" means ANYTHING is not even an argument for this.
the rune effects on zombie wall makes it pretty much certain thats its able to be walked through, otherwise they dont make sense. and would be useless.
did you see the giant red text at the top of my post where i said no trolling and use examples? neither of which you did. thanks for trolling my thread.
all the skills i listed have been show cased or seen in the beta so that is NOT speculation. there IS a way to know if its mandatory... looking at all of his skills, calculating, using common sense. all make it 10x more valid then just saying "oh i THINK this will do this.." thats not what i did or im doing. ive taken careful time to look at each skill and deduce the possible outcomes, coming to an ultimate conclusion that they seem almost entirely mandatory for solo. it is very calculated speculation, but labeling it "pure speculation" is far from what it actually is.
OK, I'm not sure what having seen a skill in beta or another video has to do with determining its viability in Inferno. Let's boil it down to the core issue. I'd like you to specifically argue this point that I made:
There's no way to know that pet skills will be mandatory for Inferno without having played in Inferno without them and miserably failed.
There's no reason to assume that Blizzard would balance this class (or Inferno) such that any skills are an absolute necessity. That goes counter to their entire philosophy behind player customization in this game.
because why would you care to DOUBLE the width if it can't be walked through? making an extra half inch for mobs to get around it?
It would be significantly more than a half inch. And yes, that's exactly why. The longer they take to walk around it, the longer you have to pelt them with spells before they become a danger to you. Why would you care to double the width if it CAN be walked through?
you do realize were talking WIDTH and not LENGTH right? two VERY different things. the WIDTH makes sense for its if able to be walked through, LENGTH would make me believe the opposite is true. and saying "blizzard wouldnt... blizzard would" is NOT a freaking point, holy shit. thats not even close to an argument, please stay with facts about skills and how they work, which is what this entire argument is about. not what you think blizz would or wouldnt do.
we know the monsters will have advanced AI especially in inferno, so why would monsters walk UP to a wall that will attack and slow them if they HAVE to walk AROUND in the first palce. they wouldnt. so it makes WAY more sense that it can be walked through. still dont see why you would think otherwise.
If the AI is so advanced... why would they attack your Pets? Why would the AI switch the target after being attacked by the Pets? Because you want them to do so? Because they would be useless if they dont get aggro? Its the same with the Wall... if the AI just walks around it (without getting close to it) then it would become utterly useless.
wrong. some WILL by pass your pets in inferno, thats been said. BUT your pets ATTACKING cause aggro, think of it like WoW(yes this isnt wow, its an example) there is an aggro table, if your doing more dmg to a mob at a far range it will run to you, if your pet is doing more dmg it will stay attacking your pet, so runing your pets for dmg is the best way to go to keep aggro AND to do the most damage possible. the zombie wall does not RUN to mobs and attack them like your pets, AND the wall may be invulnerable giving mobs another reason to run around without touching it.
OP has a good point. Now imagine Hardcore Inferno WD. Pets will be 100% necesery. Infact every class will be based on a safe build. And WD has an obvious safe playstyle which is to hide behind the summoned meatshields. Im pretty positive that very few players will dare to test out unconventional safe builds in harcore.
I am crazy enough to do it with my first WD HC character. I think it will do fine as long as you as you take time building up your gear (crafting/mystic) If playing Solo you do have an option for a follower.
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you do realize were talking WIDTH and not LENGTH right? two VERY different things. the WIDTH makes sense for its if able to be walked through, LENGTH would make me believe the opposite is true. and saying "blizzard wouldnt... blizzard would" is NOT a freaking point, holy shit. thats not even close to an argument, please stay with facts about skills and how they work, which is what this entire argument is about. not what you think blizz would or wouldnt do.
we know the monsters will have advanced AI especially in inferno, so why would monsters walk UP to a wall that will attack and slow them if they HAVE to walk AROUND in the first palce. they wouldnt. so it makes WAY more sense that it can be walked through. still dont see why you would think otherwise.
.......i don't even....... Nothing can walk through the zombie wall, it is a redesign of the classic necro ability, bone wall. OBVIOUSLY the indigo rune makes the wall longer ie 1x5 becomes 1x10 runed. And wtf do you think the game AI is, the monsters won't be rolling around on the ground like idiots, but they won't really have the problem solving to avoid the walls with peak efficiency like a player would in arena, they will simply be more aggressive. Also, how much CC do you think we'll need? We will obviously need to control positioning vs monsters with CC, but do we need disables like hex? Personally I think most builds could get by with just grasp and horrify, but zombie wall will probably be super useful since it's spammable. You seem to be very worried about defense but you are using flamebats? Your whole concept of the WD seems very warped, I dunno...
check it: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZcikYe!dWY!aaZYaa
why can't something like that be viable? melee confusion, hp/mp regenerating easy-to-cast damaging spell, hard(i consider zombie wall hard) and soft crowd control, and an escape tool. Seems like a pretty efficient machine that can kite all day to me
all the skills i listed have been show cased or seen in the beta so that is NOT speculation. there IS a way to know if its mandatory... looking at all of his skills, calculating, using common sense. all make it 10x more valid then just saying "oh i THINK this will do this.." thats not what i did or im doing. ive taken careful time to look at each skill and deduce the possible outcomes, coming to an ultimate conclusion that they seem almost entirely mandatory for solo. it is very calculated speculation, but labeling it "pure speculation" is far from what it actually is.
That is still pure speculation.
The fact you are using logic and common sense doesnt change that. If you were to speculate without using logic and common sense, then you would no longer be talking about D3, you would be discussing Religion.
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One is never hurt by being given additional choices, only by taking them away. A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
.......i don't even....... Nothing can walk through the zombie wall, it is a redesign of the classic necro ability, bone wall. OBVIOUSLY the indigo rune makes the wall longer ie 1x5 becomes 1x10 runed.
Thank you.
D3maniac, you say your points are based on common sense and observation of skill mechanics in beta, but your blatant disregard for all logic concerning Zombie Wall makes me have to take your notion of "common sense" with a very large grain of salt.
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So I've used the skill calc literally hundreds of times, making hundreds of builds for every single class, and from what i can tell the ONLY real viable end-game builds for the WD soloing 100% require pets, especially if you haven't super massed defense gear. honestly just because blizzard talks about all viable builds doesn't mean EVERY build possible for every class is viable in end game without 1-2 spells that are a must. although this "bla bla skill is a must for inferno" i have only found to be true for the WD. sure norm - hell(doubtful) you might be able to get away with no pets, but inferno? good luck, you'll be one shotted instantly and constantly fleeing rotating CC's while not doing much dmg, so yes the WD survivability in later difficulties is almost entirely based upon having AT LEAST 1 summon to help him kite around. IMO (unless you can somehow prove otherwise)
let me explain in detail so you can properly rebuttal without repeat information:
WD skills for surviving WITHOUT pets, yes these can be runed to make them better or have less of a cool down but not so much better to make them worth not having zombie dogs or gargantuan. not even close. pets are 10x > then these. but pets used in CONJUNCTION with these makes him super awesome.
1. mass confusion (1 min CD)
2. horrify (20 sec CD)
3. spirit walk (15 second CD)
4. grasp of the dead (8 second CD)
5. Hex (10 second CD)
6 haunt with crimson rune 45% dmg returned
7. firebats with golden rune for 20% dmg returned, but using this skill up close to hit makes u super vulnerable without pets and you will die in inferno/hell
as you can see every single one of his CC spells has a CD, and its not guaranteed that horrify/confusion will work on every monster. and hex is very slow and barley hexes that many targets (watching beta footage).
passives for surviving:
1. death trance
yes sir, only ONE passive that helps with surviving.
none of these are that amazing. some slows and some things to make monsters run/fight eachother. but considering these may be ineffective in inferno, such as monsters who are immune to slow and/or immune to confusion/horrify. what then? your screwed without pets. nothing is immune to your pets attacking them, sure the AI in inferno will make some mobs run past your pets, but nothing says your pets won't grab back aggro when they attack them.
So unless you want to have mostly/all CC spells and constantly have to rotate them to survive while doing almost no dmg, you NEED summons to be efficient and even OK at killing SOLO and especially at surviving in later difficulties. the WD also doesn't have any super high dmg abilities without pets, all of his abilities are in the 100-300% range, while other classes have some that are 400-900% (besides Sacrifice, which you'd need pets for >_>). so the best way to kill efficiently and smoothly and in reality, AT ALL, is any viable solo build you make will need to have BOTH of the pets + pet passive so they can take hits. so unless you have SOMEONE ELSE tanking for you, you won't survive in inferno without pets. period. thats 2 of 6 skills. and 1 of 3 passives, the others can be whatever you want and still be good. pets are the WD's GREATEST spells by far for any situation and if you rune your pets to do dmg with crimson they can potentially do more overall DPS combined then you can. so in this sense i believe if you want to survive AND do the most potential DPS you definitely need pets.
so what I'm asking is, has anyone been able to make a build (without screaming gear is the key, because how are u going to get that gear in the first place?) that has the potential to do lots of dmg AND survive in hell/inferno without any pets?
No love for Wall of Zombies, the one skill that literally and directly prevents enemies from getting close to you? Nothing we've seen indicates that the wall can be attacked (so it's guaranteed to be up for 5 seconds), it has no cooldown, and enemies can't pass through it. Did I mention you can rune it to slow enemies or to double its width? Couple it with Grasp of the Dead and enemies will be sitting ducks ready for you to spam your damaging skills.
I agree that his survival passives are somewhat lacking, but I think he has way better Life restoration capabilities through Runes than any other class (Alabaster Grasp/Spirit Walk, Crimson Haunt/Spirit Barrage/Soul Harvest, Golden Hex/Firebats, etc.).
Don't forget also that most of his CC spells are - or can be runed to be - damaging spells as well. Overall, I think that playing without pets will be somewhat of a hindrance, but it doesn't seem as bad as you're making it out to be.
PS: Indigo Wall of Zombies is awesome and has no CD. Also, the Rune Rank doesnt really even matter.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
wall of zombies doesn't do shit for damage and mobs can just walk through it ( nothing indicates that it can't be walked through or attacked, thats super speculation, or way or the other). one skill thats not that great doesn't suddenly make him viable for inferno... -_-. like i said please post a build supporting your theory.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#YkRcij!abW!cYZZYc
ah but its not pure speculation. its backed up with facts about the skills and how they work. much less speculation then "zombie wall makes you LEET". if zombie wall is not only impenetrable and can't be walked through, you could just sanction yourself off and never be hit, making that ability stupidly over powered. so highly doubtful its both. so mobs will be able to destroy it, or walk through it (while taking dmg of course) would be the most likely outcome of that ability. but hey if its both then wow zombie wall is the way to go. BUT from reading the runes of possible changes to zombie wall, its makes sense that its able to be walked through, how? because why would you care to DOUBLE the width if it can't be walked through? making an extra half inch for mobs to get around it? lol... and how it slows enemies, so only enemies that run up, touch it, then run around get slowed? no it seems much much more obvious that its able to be walked through reading the rune effects.
but one ability isn't much of an argument considering all of the information i gave supporting otherwise.
From what I have seen, all the spells are not done.
Most do not tell the Area of Effect, and some not even the duration.
This is my 1st WD build, and it was hindered w/o Support skills.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#jkScgR!baf!bbcbZY
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
The entire premise of this thread is pure speculation. There's no way to know that pet skills will be mandatory for Inferno without having played in Inferno without them and miserably failed.
Also, I never argued that "zombie wall makes you LEET." I simply pointed out that it's a CC spell that you didn't include in your list of "Skills for surviving" in the OP. Are you really arguing that Wall of Zombies wouldn't help you survive?
The only video we've seen (that I know of) featuring Wall of Zombies is the original announcement trailer, and there's nothing there that would lead me to believe that enemies can walk through it.
all the skills i listed have been show cased or seen in the beta so that is NOT speculation. there IS a way to know if its mandatory... looking at all of his skills, calculating, using common sense. all make it 10x more valid then just saying "oh i THINK this will do this.." thats not what i did or im doing. ive taken careful time to look at each skill and deduce the possible outcomes, coming to an ultimate conclusion that they seem almost entirely mandatory for solo. it is very calculated speculation, but labeling it "pure speculation" is far from what it actually is.
im not arguing it wont help u survive, of course it will. im arguing that that ONE skill doesnt make up for not having pets, that is all.
the video featuring wall of zombies ive watched literally 10 times, the mobs die almost instantaneously when they hit the wall making it so we dont know either way if they were going to attack it, walk through it, or ANYTHING because the mobs instantly died. that skill of all in the game is probably the most one with speculation on how it works. so thats a very bad example to use.
you also ignored my very valid points on why it would make sense for it to be able to be walked through regarding rune effects.
dismissing my points without any type of ccriticism other then "horrible". and of how i could possibly be wrong makes you seem sooo right man. lol. great debating skills. im convinced.
who cares what the name is? the name makes it exactly what it is ? ok so the monk skill "wave of light" is NOT a wave of light, its a giant bell that falls from the sky and he hits it. THAT totally makes sense right? this is just one of many examples. so therefor saying "the term wall" means ANYTHING is not even an argument for this.
the rune effects on zombie wall makes it pretty much certain thats its able to be walked through, otherwise they dont make sense. and would be useless.
did you see the giant red text at the top of my post where i said no trolling and use examples? neither of which you did. thanks for trolling my thread.
OK, I'm not sure what having seen a skill in beta or another video has to do with determining its viability in Inferno. Let's boil it down to the core issue. I'd like you to specifically argue this point that I made:
There's no reason to assume that Blizzard would balance this class (or Inferno) such that any skills are an absolute necessity. That goes counter to their entire philosophy behind player customization in this game.
I guess I don't find those points as valid as you do. But for the fun of it...
It would be significantly more than a half inch. And yes, that's exactly why. The longer they take to walk around it, the longer you have to pelt them with spells before they become a danger to you. Why would you care to double the width if it CAN be walked through?
Yup. Speaking of ignoring posts, I'll let Tenhi cover this one:
we know the monsters will have advanced AI especially in inferno, so why would monsters walk UP to a wall that will attack and slow them if they HAVE to walk AROUND in the first palce. they wouldnt. so it makes WAY more sense that it can be walked through. still dont see why you would think otherwise.
wrong. some WILL by pass your pets in inferno, thats been said. BUT your pets ATTACKING cause aggro, think of it like WoW(yes this isnt wow, its an example) there is an aggro table, if your doing more dmg to a mob at a far range it will run to you, if your pet is doing more dmg it will stay attacking your pet, so runing your pets for dmg is the best way to go to keep aggro AND to do the most damage possible. the zombie wall does not RUN to mobs and attack them like your pets, AND the wall may be invulnerable giving mobs another reason to run around without touching it.
I am crazy enough to do it with my first WD HC character. I think it will do fine as long as you as you take time building up your gear (crafting/mystic) If playing Solo you do have an option for a follower.
.......i don't even....... Nothing can walk through the zombie wall, it is a redesign of the classic necro ability, bone wall. OBVIOUSLY the indigo rune makes the wall longer ie 1x5 becomes 1x10 runed. And wtf do you think the game AI is, the monsters won't be rolling around on the ground like idiots, but they won't really have the problem solving to avoid the walls with peak efficiency like a player would in arena, they will simply be more aggressive. Also, how much CC do you think we'll need? We will obviously need to control positioning vs monsters with CC, but do we need disables like hex? Personally I think most builds could get by with just grasp and horrify, but zombie wall will probably be super useful since it's spammable. You seem to be very worried about defense but you are using flamebats? Your whole concept of the WD seems very warped, I dunno...
check it: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZcikYe!dWY!aaZYaa
why can't something like that be viable? melee confusion, hp/mp regenerating easy-to-cast damaging spell, hard(i consider zombie wall hard) and soft crowd control, and an escape tool. Seems like a pretty efficient machine that can kite all day to me
That is still pure speculation.
The fact you are using logic and common sense doesnt change that. If you were to speculate without using logic and common sense, then you would no longer be talking about D3, you would be discussing Religion.
A QUADRILLION MAGIC FIND is worthless if you can't kill shit!
Thank you.
D3maniac, you say your points are based on common sense and observation of skill mechanics in beta, but your blatant disregard for all logic concerning Zombie Wall makes me have to take your notion of "common sense" with a very large grain of salt.