Hey guys I'm Debo, I Main the Witch Doctor class, ever since the beta for Diablo 3 Vanilla. Encouraging players to try out the Witch Doctor class, and enjoy Diablo 3 is my major focus. I started to do this by compiling my thoughts in guides, and streaming to provide information to those who seek it.
This Guide, is meant to serve people whom might be new to Diablo 3, or new to the Witch Doctor Class. It provides a structured easy to follow process that will enable the player to maximize the first 24 hours of a New Witch Doctor that is Created.
Getting power leveled, using exploits, or group play will yield faster results in gearing up a Witch Doctor initially. The point of this guide is to provide an option for players to be self sufficient, or use as a itinerary list on what you should be focusing with a new Witch Doctor.
The guide Will be broken up into "Three Phases"
Leveling Phase
* Getting your WD setup to level quickly to Max Level
* Efficiency in Bounty Quest Choices
* Difficulty Settings, Broken down by Levels
* Skill Choice, Broken down by Levels
* Tactics for Gearing while Level progressing
* Appropriate gears choices while Leveling.
Gear Progression Phase
* Executing the hunt for a boon of the Hoarder, and Solid Jewelry Choices (Rings/Amulets)
* Identifying a Solid plan to begin gearing for Torment Lv. 1-3 Content
* Determining (Based upon Drops) which Build to commit to, that will allow you to begin farming higher level torments (Lv's 5-6)
* Acquiring 3 Legendary Gems for your build, to begin Gem development in the "GR" System
Grind Phase
* All the remaining time you have left in the First "24" Hours to push your WD to T6 Farming
* Finishing off Gem progression, (Legendary Gems, and Non Legendary counter parts)
* Min-Maxing with Craft-able Sets.
24 Hour Witch Doctor Itinerary List
The following in which you are about to read, is a start to finish Itinerary for our first 24 hours for a "fresh" solo Witch Doctor. If you are in a group, you can use this as a rough outline on what you should be focusing on as you progress through content. The leveling Phase is pretty straight forward, it list what difficulty, and skill setup you should be running at different level intervals. The second phase shows how you should prioritize your time to quickly Progress onward to Torments 1 & 3. The final phase is all about rounding out your build, and gear itemization to have your Witch Doctor Torment Level 5/6 ready.
Part 1 Leveling Phase
Levels 1-12
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Normal Difficulty
* Hire Enchantress Follower
* Poison Darts (Level 1)
* Grasp of the Dead (Level 2)
* Zombie Dogs (Level 4)
* Poison Dart "Splinters" Rune (Level 6)
* Soul Harvest (Level 9)
* Jungle Fortitude *Passive* (Level 10)
Level 1-12 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
* Poison Dart "Splinters"
* Grasp of the Dead
* Zombie Dogs
* Soul Harvest
Passive skills
* Jungle Fortitude
Levels 12-21
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Master Difficulty
* Haunt (Level 12) ---> Replaces Poison Darts
* Zombie Dogs "Rabid dogs" Rune (Level 12)
* Grasp of the Dead "Groping Eels" Rune (Level 15)
* Personally I await until 4m Toughness with 500k Dps before switching to Torment 1 @ Lv 70
Legendary Gems
* Every-time after Defeating a Rift Guardian, you have a % Chance to acquire a Greater Rift token, the chance for it to drop increases with Torment difficulty
* After Completing a Greater Rift, you receive 1 Random Legendary gem until you acquire all of them.
* Your goal is to obtain 3 Legendary Gems that are working towards you "Gear Progression" Build
* "Safe Gems" To Use/Level are as follows: Bane of the Trapped, Bane of the Powerful
* Usually your 3rd Gem Option is determined by build
Torment Level 3
* Target Toughness 4-5m
* Target DPS 600-800k
* Once you hit Torment Level 3, you should have a good understanding of What build your working towards
* Getting to this Stage int he first 24 hours as quickly as possible, will allow more time int he final phase to reach T5-T6 Difficulty farming potential at the end of the first 24 hours as a New Witch Doctor
Phase 3 Grinding Phase
Getting into a Routine
* Farming Rifts
* Farming Greater Rifts when GR Keystones drop form Regular Rift runs.
* Upgrading Your Legendary Gems
* Spending Blood Shards on specific Gear slots to improve your Build
Gambling for specific item Slots to complete your Build
* Knowing what Build you are committing to and making the correct purchases with Blood Shards
* Making Purchases between runs, to allow for frequent upgrade
Upgrading Legendary Gems
* Identifying the 3 Gems that will work with your build
* Upgrading gems with the 1-1-1 Method
* Minimize Gem Failing once Gems Reach Level 15
Determining if you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur
* If running Cains Set, with Aughilds this might be necessary
* If attempting to Go for a "6" Piece Jade Set this WILL be Necessary
This Section will cover these major points: Bounty Choices , Itemization, and Skill Build
Bounty Choices
Bounties are pretty much straight forward. While leveling there certain bounties that we avoid, and specific acts we stay away from. When you start a new Witch Doctor, everyone can start off in "Adventure mode", granted they've completed story mode beforehand.
Why do you only choose Act 1 Bounties Only?
* Has the most easiest bounties to complete in game
* Monster A.I. pales in comparison to other ones from Acts 2-5
* Bounty maps objectives, usually spawn in the same areas
What Bounties should I do, avoid sometimes, or skip all together?
* Here is a Image the explains it all:
* Green = You should do these Bounties all the time
* Blue = You should do these bounties, when it doesn't involve killing a boss
* Red = You should never do these bounties.....period
Why am I avoiding these Bounties?
* One case, is how Difficulty level effects bosses greatly, Last thing you want to do is fight Skeleton King, Queen Araneae, or the Butcher on Masters+ Difficulty or higher, for the amount of time they take, it is not worth it.
The area also could just be to large, and random to successfully locate the bounty objective quickly. This rears its ugly head with any bounties that takes place on Caverns of Araneae, or Fields of Misery
What about the Maybe Bounties
* It is ok to do these bounties, ONLY if the bounty that is given DOESN'T involve killing a Boss Monster.
If you complete all of the bounties, that are on the list, and all that remains are the ones that you should "NOT" do, it is more profitable to simply leave game to "Reset" the bounties.
Pools of Reflection
Whats a pool of reflection
* Pools of Reflection provide a 25% bonus to experience
* This bonus persists until you reach a set amount of bonus experience (equal to approximately 10% of the current amount of Paragon experience needed to reach the next Paragon level) or your character dies.
* Gathering additional Pools of Reflection bonuses increases the amount of total experience bonus a character can receive until character death, stacking up to 10 times
*This experience bonus persists on logout
While doing bounties you will come across these pools of golden goodness, it is very easy to keep these stacks going from levels 1-61. So to increase the rate at which you level stack these pools without dying. From levels 61 onward, things can get a little tough, so be extra careful to not die as the increased exp makes a BIG difference on your way level 70.
What Gear should I be focusing on while leveling up?
* 2 Handed weapons are the best due to our skill choices, their accessibility, and how well their damage scales as we level up.
* The weapons scale Very well, and make it so we don't have to worry about finding a proper Off Handed weapon
* Equipping anything that increases the Damage for your Witch docotor. (Armor more specifically)
* Any type of gear, that increases the amount of experience you receive
* Level 61+ Any Helmet that has a Socket for a Marquise Ruby Gem
What options do I have if I can't find a decent weapon?
* NPC Merchants, believe it or not they do carry nice Weapons, and Jewelry
* If your Weapon begins to start lacking, and you need to replace it to keep a good leveling pace, Checking the Merchants in each Act will help your out A TON. So don't neglect this option.
Things you don't need to worry about from levels 1-60
* Breaking down Items at the Black Smith
* Picking up, or using Gems
* Learning any Pre-61 Crafting Plan
* Keeping, or saving any Pre- Level 60 Legendary
* Upgrading any Artisan Pre- Level 61
What about when I hit level 61?
* Pick up everything you can Pre- 61, and sell it for gold
* Once you reach level 61 Start picking up EVERYTHING, because these items are the "End Game" Crafting items.
* If you get any Level 60-70 Voodoo Witch Doctor Helmet save them!
What is the most optimal Build in your opinion to level with?
* Haunt, and Locust Swarm by far
* Damage over Time spells are very powerful tools while leveling, and scale Dramatically well with 2 Handed Weapons.
* The build that I have below is a build that works well into level 70, and beyond. If you need the level by level on what skills to you, you can check out the 24 Hour Witch Doctor Phase 1 Itinerary section located at the beginning of the guide.
Phase 2 begins immediately after you obtain level 70. Setting ourselves up to progress towards torment Difficulty levels 1-3 while also identifying (based upon what Items have dropped ) which build would be the most efficient for our Witch Doctor to run. With a little crafting, and some luck this phase will go smoothly.
* Stat alternative that is "ok": Int, Increased Critical Damage, Socket(1)
Enchanter
* Pretty simple here with this artisan, she allows you to re-roll one Stat of your choice. for crafting materials
* Only thing to say about here, is that Chest, Pants, Belts, Shoes are fairly expensive to re-roll stats on so be careful.
* Gloves, and Wrist are by far the cheapest to re-reoll.
* Any items you continual re-roll has their base gold cost increased every time the enchantress is used, this is however excluded when re-rolling Legendary Jewelry (Rings/ Amulets) the cost for these items are consumed in the forum of Gems.
* Boon of the Hoarder is a Legendary Gem in Diablo III. It can only be socketed into Amulets and Rings, and, unlike other Legendary Gems, only drops from Greed in the Treasure Realm.
* This gem gives a chance to cause any killed enemy (even if killed by a pet or a minion) to drop several large piles of gold in addition to their normal loot. The explosion does not cause any damage. Upgrading the gem increases the chance to proc, though for realistic purposes, it is not worth upgrading after reaching rank 50.
* At rank 25, it also gives a brief movement speed boost after picking up gold.
* This gem will have no effect in Greater Rifts. It will also not trigger off of kills made by anyone other than the Nephalem hero who uses this gem, even their own followers. It is also the only gem that gives no real combat effectiveness by itself. The massive quantities of gold offered, however, do prove very potent when coupled with items like Goldwrap and the Custerian Wristguards.
* The Boon of the Hoarder is one of the three gems (the others being Gogok of Swiftness and Invigorating Gemstone) that actually have a limit of effective ranking at 50.
How do you go about getting a Treasure Realm?
* By setting the game Difficulty to Normal, and targeting areas in Adventure mode (non rifts), where Goblin spawn rates are high.
**Can I get a Treasure Realm to spawn from goblins in rifts?**
* No you cannot, it has to be in Adventure mode, you must be level 70, and it is only Goblins that are NOT inside of a rift.
Do you have a list of Areas where you go to hunt goblins?
* The goblins I target it are in these Areas: Act 1 Araneae, Tower of the Cursed level (1 & 2), Core of the Arreat
Map of Goblin farming areas
Why is it so important to get this gem right away after hitting level 70?
* Gold is the sole reason, due to the fact that Crafting, Gem Crafting, and Using the enchanter for re-rolls is can get VERY expensive.
* Securing this item early on, will grant you easy gold for a lifetime.
While Hunting for goblins, or simply running rifts to farm for gear, and mats, your going to come across a lot of Rare (Yellow colored) items. These pieces of gear can help you gear up quickly to getting started on torment farming. I've included a basic list on what stats you want on each individual piece of gear (Excluded are Jewelry pieces as that was covered int he section above)
* Shoulders --> Int, Vit, Armor, Life %
* Helm ---> Int, Vit, Critical Chance
* Chest ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Socket (3)
* Pants ---> Int, Vit, Armor, Socket (3)
* Boots ---> int, Vit, Armor, Increased Movement Speed
* Off Hand ---> Int, Vit, Crit Chance, *Increased Skill Damage*
Phase 2 - Torment Levels 1 & 3
In regard to what target numbers I go for before progressing towards a higher level of difficulty, these are simply what worked for me, A.K.A My opinion. If you find your able to start Torment Level 1 sooner than what target Toughness/Dps then by all means go for it!
Torment 1
* Target Toughness 3-4m
* Target DPS 350-500k
* Personally I await until 4m Toughness with 500k Dps before switching to Torment 1 @ Lv 70
Torment Level 3
* Target Toughness 4-5m
* Target DPS 600-800k
* Once you hit Torment Level 3, you should have a good understanding of What build your working towards
* Getting to this Stage int he first 24 hours as quickly as possible, will allow more time in the final phase to reach T5-T6 Difficulty farming potential at the end of the first 24 hours as a New Witch Doctor
* Straight forward Pet build, can get you farming towards Torment Levels 1-3 Easily
* Does take a little bit of luck, and effort to take this build T6 However
* Only thing bad about pet builds, is that their initial gearing works well for lower torments, but takes a while to obtain the all the items that push it to the end game.
* However once said items are acquired, many Pet builds can easily push Great Rift Level 40 + Content Easily
Due to Drops being fairly luck based, and random, I prefer to go with the 2 Handed Dot/Pet Build, due to the fact that it doesn't require item specific drops. Haunt, and Locust swarm also scale VERY well with 2 Handed weapons, and the right Increase Skill Damage/Elemental rolls on your gear. If you want less of a headache I'd advise to use the 2 Handed Dot build first, to help you farm efficiently, then proceed into a Jade, or one of the End game pet builds once you've acquired some nice build specific loot drops.
* Every-time after Defeating a Rift Guardian, you have a % Chance to acquire a Greater Rift token, the chance for it to drop increases with Torment difficulty
* After Completing a Greater Rift, you receive 1 Random Legendary gem until you acquire all of them.
* Your goal is to obtain 3 Legendary Gems that are working towards you "Gear Progression" Build
* "Safe Gems" To Use/Level are as follows: Bane of the Trapped, Bane of the Powerful
* Usually your 3rd Gem Option is determined by build
* Rhen'ho Flayer (Ceremonial Knife) 7.04% Drop Rate
Drop rates mean the following:
* The % Chance Drop is for when a legendary drops for that specified s
* I.E.: A legendary Sword drops, Doom Bringer Drop Rate is Roughly 5-6%, so basically out of every 20 Legendary Swords that drop you "SHOULD IN THEORY", have one of those drops be a Doom Bringer.
* Keep in mind you could go through 40 Legendary Swords, and see no Doom Bringer, then on your next two Legendary Sword drops you get two Doom Bringers in a row, that is what we call "RNG" or Random Number Generator.
The final phase is mostly coming to terms with what build to lock down (focusing on a specific build) so that by the end of 24 hours (in game time) your Witch Doctor will be able to farm T5-T6 easily. If you followed the correct steps listed in Phase 2, you should have a clear idea of what build your working towards, and only need to "Min/Max" the final pieces of your gear.
Debo what is Min/Maxing?
* From the Game Theory Wiki Definition:
* Min-maxing is the practice of playing a role-playing game, wargame or video game with the intent of creating the "best" character by means of minimizing undesired or unimportant traits and maximizing desired ones.[1] This is usually accomplished by improving one specific trait or ability by sacrificing ability in all other fields. This is easier to accomplish in games where attributes are generated from a certain number of points rather than in ones where they are randomly generated.[2] Min-maxing is particularly common in games where the cost of traits does not reflect their expected usefulness; for instance, in a combat-heavy game a player may focus on physical traits, giving a character abnormally low mental and social skills so that the remaining points can all be channeled to physical statistics that are more likely to come into play.[citation needed]
Some video games have guides dedicated to building the absolute "best" character. Min-maxing in video games is considered expert-level play as it requires a perfect understanding of the game's mechanics and systems, but once it is achieved, a game is no longer challenging.
Does Min Maxing make a difference?
* Lets look at 6 pieces of gear, with a Stat cap of 500 INT. With those 6 Pieces you average 440 Int per piece of gear, bringing you to 2,640 Int Count. If you were to able to bring the average to 460 Int per piece of gear gear, your new Int count would be 2,760 an improvement of 120 Int. If you were able to average 490 Int Average per piece of gear 2,940, that's a 300 Int Difference from the 440 Avg we started with. So with 13 Item slots in Diablo 3, improving your gear piece by piece, maximizing your Stat rolls on each individual pieces of your gear makes a huge difference in character development.
Phase 3 - Gambling for specific item Slots to complete your Build
During phase 2 prioritization on Witch Doctor Voodoo helms is key initially, but after acquiring one of the Build changing Witch Doctor Helms, it is all bout rounding out the items that will improve your build. I.E. Maybe you have 3-4 Pieces of Jade Set, but your lacking the gloves, or Your running a poison Grin Reaper build, and you attempt to gamble for a Swamp Waders for additional poison damage.
* Knowing what Build you are committing to and making the correct purchases with Blood Shards
* Making Purchases between runs, to allow for frequent upgrades
* Gambling for items that "realistically" get is easily, (High Drop % chance items)
For the most part the following gems are commonly used for most builds: Bane of The Trapped, Bane of the Powerful, Enforcer, and Efficacious Toxin gems. For the most part these gems are would you should be upgrading first with a "New" Witch Doctor. The 1-1-1 Method I use, is to upgrade each gem one Level at a time to Maximize successful upgrades. By the time all your Gems reach level 15, you should have solid gear, and proper itemization with your build to already be clearing Greater Rift levels 25-30.
* Identifying the 3 Gems that will work with your build
* Upgrading gems with the 1-1-1 Method
* Minimize Gem Failing once Gems Reach Level 15
Determining if you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur
* If running Cains Set, with Aughilds this might be necessary
* If attempting to Go for a "6" Piece Jade Set this WILL be Necessary
Phase 3 - Crafting high level Gems (non legendary)
Towards the end of the 24 Hour Witch Doctor Run, items should have solid rolls, and your Jewelry should be min maxed to a decent level. Most of your gear will be complete, and Gems should be stacking up due to the probability your jewelry re-rolling is complete. Not to mention your Gold count should be solid allowing you to craft all your gems to "Royal" or "Flawless Royal" very easily.
Hope you guys enjoyed this guide! I hope a lot of new players can utilize it to make their time more efficient with the game, become better players, and teach other players on how they can improve their Witch Doctors. More future guides to come, how your looking forward to them.
Thank you for such an in-depth guide! I had taken a long break from D3 right after getting level 70 in RoS, and when I recently came back a lot of things were confusing to me at first, and your guide helped me to clarify a lot!
I'm trying to level a Seasonal WD using this awesome guide, but when it comes to A1 bounties, was there a change to how they work in 2.1.2? I can't seem to get a map that doesn't get at least 1-2 of the red or blue ones w/ boss kill requirement. So I'm always doing 3-4 bounties and then resetting and never getting Caches.
I'm trying to level a Seasonal WD using this awesome guide, but when it comes to A1 bounties, was there a change to how they work in 2.1.2? I can't seem to get a map that doesn't get at least 1-2 of the red or blue ones w/ boss kill requirement. So I'm always doing 3-4 bounties and then resetting and never getting Caches.
Thats perfectly fine if your not full clearing the bounties to get Horadric caches, but only if yoru leveling to 70, after that point you DEF wanna full clear bounties to get that magical lil treasure box
My Twitch Tag:
http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo
My armory Profile:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Debo-1782/hero/1274676
Diablo Fans Link to where I keep the growing list of all WD information:
http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/witch-doctor-the-mbwiru-eikura/95384-debos-2-1-witch-doctor-compendium
Now that the formalities are out of the way:
The 24 Hour Witch Doctor
This Guide, is meant to serve people whom might be new to Diablo 3, or new to the Witch Doctor Class. It provides a structured easy to follow process that will enable the player to maximize the first 24 hours of a New Witch Doctor that is Created.
Getting power leveled, using exploits, or group play will yield faster results in gearing up a Witch Doctor initially. The point of this guide is to provide an option for players to be self sufficient, or use as a itinerary list on what you should be focusing with a new Witch Doctor.
The guide Will be broken up into "Three Phases"
Leveling Phase
Gear Progression Phase
Grind Phase
24 Hour Witch Doctor Itinerary List
The following in which you are about to read, is a start to finish Itinerary for our first 24 hours for a "fresh" solo Witch Doctor. If you are in a group, you can use this as a rough outline on what you should be focusing on as you progress through content. The leveling Phase is pretty straight forward, it list what difficulty, and skill setup you should be running at different level intervals. The second phase shows how you should prioritize your time to quickly Progress onward to Torments 1 & 3. The final phase is all about rounding out your build, and gear itemization to have your Witch Doctor Torment Level 5/6 ready.
Part 1 Leveling Phase
Levels 1-12
Level 1-12 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
Passive skills
Level 12-21 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
Passive skills
Level 22-27 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
Passive skills
Level 28-36 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
Passive skills
Levels 37-48
Haunt "Poisoned Spirit" (Level 48) Rune
Level 37-48 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
Passive skills
Level 49-70 Ending Skill Setup
Primary Skills
Passive skills
Phase 2 Gear Progression Phase
In Order or prioritization
Upgrading all Artisans to Max Level
Boon of the Hoarder
Jewelry Rings,Amulet
Re-Rolling Rare (Yellow) Quality items to decent standing
Torment Level 1
Legendary Gems
Torment Level 3
Phase 3 Grinding Phase
Getting into a Routine
Gambling for specific item Slots to complete your Build
Determining if you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur
Min-Maxing your Gear
Crafting high level Gems (non legendary)
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Phase 1 "Leveling Phase" In Depth
This Section will cover these major points: Bounty Choices , Itemization, and Skill Build
Bounty Choices
Bounties are pretty much straight forward. While leveling there certain bounties that we avoid, and specific acts we stay away from. When you start a new Witch Doctor, everyone can start off in "Adventure mode", granted they've completed story mode beforehand.
Why do you only choose Act 1 Bounties Only?
What Bounties should I do, avoid sometimes, or skip all together?
Why am I avoiding these Bounties?
What about the Maybe Bounties
If you complete all of the bounties, that are on the list, and all that remains are the ones that you should "NOT" do, it is more profitable to simply leave game to "Reset" the bounties.
Pools of Reflection
Whats a pool of reflection
While doing bounties you will come across these pools of golden goodness, it is very easy to keep these stacks going from levels 1-61. So to increase the rate at which you level stack these pools without dying. From levels 61 onward, things can get a little tough, so be extra careful to not die as the increased exp makes a BIG difference on your way level 70.
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Phase 1 - Itemization
What Gear should I be focusing on while leveling up?
What options do I have if I can't find a decent weapon?
Things you don't need to worry about from levels 1-60
What about when I hit level 61?
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Phase 1 - Skill Build
What is the most optimal Build in your opinion to level with?
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Pre-61
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Level 61-70
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Level 70
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Phase 1 Recap
Here are the important things to remember:
Here are my 1-70 Times for all 4 Test sessions I conducted:
Test Session 1
Test Session 2
Test Session 3
Test Session 4 Screen shot was lost but final time 1-70 was 6 hours 28 minutes
Test Session 4 Video proof Fast Forward to "10:45:00" Mark
Phase 1 "Leveling Phase" Video Tutorial:
Phase 1 Tutorial Video/Recap
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Phase 2 "Gear Progression" In Dept
Phase 2 begins immediately after you obtain level 70. Setting ourselves up to progress towards torment Difficulty levels 1-3 while also identifying (based upon what Items have dropped ) which build would be the most efficient for our Witch Doctor to run. With a little crafting, and some luck this phase will go smoothly.
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Phase 2 - Upgrading all Artisans to Max Level
Black Smith
Jewel Crafter
Rare Amulet Crafting
Enchanter
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Phase 2 - Boon of the Hoarder
How do you go about getting a Treasure Realm?
Do you have a list of Areas where you go to hunt goblins?
Map of Goblin farming areas
Why is it so important to get this gem right away after hitting level 70?
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Phase 2 - Re-Rolling Rare (Yellow) Quality items to decent standing
While Hunting for goblins, or simply running rifts to farm for gear, and mats, your going to come across a lot of Rare (Yellow colored) items. These pieces of gear can help you gear up quickly to getting started on torment farming. I've included a basic list on what stats you want on each individual piece of gear (Excluded are Jewelry pieces as that was covered int he section above)
Phase 2 - Torment Levels 1 & 3
In regard to what target numbers I go for before progressing towards a higher level of difficulty, these are simply what worked for me, A.K.A My opinion. If you find your able to start Torment Level 1 sooner than what target Toughness/Dps then by all means go for it!
Torment 1
Torment Level 3
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Phase 2 - The Two major, introductory Witch Doctor Builds
No specific gear is required to do these builds
2 Handed Dot/Pet Build Level 70
1 Handed Per Build
Due to Drops being fairly luck based, and random, I prefer to go with the 2 Handed Dot/Pet Build, due to the fact that it doesn't require item specific drops. Haunt, and Locust swarm also scale VERY well with 2 Handed weapons, and the right Increase Skill Damage/Elemental rolls on your gear. If you want less of a headache I'd advise to use the 2 Handed Dot build first, to help you farm efficiently, then proceed into a Jade, or one of the End game pet builds once you've acquired some nice build specific loot drops.
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Phase 2 - Greater Rifts/Legendary Gems
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Phase 2 - What Witch Doctor Builds to be focusing towards
The guides inside my WD compendium showcase the different Builds for Witch Doctors, and the versatility of what options we have for T6/GR 30+ Farming.
WD Compendium (Scroll to the bottom for Guides/Videos)
List of Legendary Items that Can take you to T6 Easily, without requiring additional items
Drop rates mean the following:
Phase 2 "Gear Progression Phase" Video Tutorial:
Phase 2 Tutorial Video/Recap
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Phase 3 - "Grinding Phase" In Depth
The final phase is mostly coming to terms with what build to lock down (focusing on a specific build) so that by the end of 24 hours (in game time) your Witch Doctor will be able to farm T5-T6 easily. If you followed the correct steps listed in Phase 2, you should have a clear idea of what build your working towards, and only need to "Min/Max" the final pieces of your gear.
Debo what is Min/Maxing?
Does Min Maxing make a difference?
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Phase 3 - Getting into a Routine
Pretty Straight forward here, establishing a routine a to maximize your time to acquire the most amount of crafting materials, Gear, and Blood Shards.
Here is an example of a "routine" I used when I was in Phase 3
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Phase 3 - Gambling for specific item Slots to complete your Build
During phase 2 prioritization on Witch Doctor Voodoo helms is key initially, but after acquiring one of the Build changing Witch Doctor Helms, it is all bout rounding out the items that will improve your build. I.E. Maybe you have 3-4 Pieces of Jade Set, but your lacking the gloves, or Your running a poison Grin Reaper build, and you attempt to gamble for a Swamp Waders for additional poison damage.
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Phase 3 - Upgrading Legendary Gems
For the most part the following gems are commonly used for most builds: Bane of The Trapped, Bane of the Powerful, Enforcer, and Efficacious Toxin gems. For the most part these gems are would you should be upgrading first with a "New" Witch Doctor. The 1-1-1 Method I use, is to upgrade each gem one Level at a time to Maximize successful upgrades. By the time all your Gems reach level 15, you should have solid gear, and proper itemization with your build to already be clearing Greater Rift levels 25-30.
Determining if you will need a Ring of Royal Grandeur
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Phase 3 - Crafting high level Gems (non legendary)
Towards the end of the 24 Hour Witch Doctor Run, items should have solid rolls, and your Jewelry should be min maxed to a decent level. Most of your gear will be complete, and Gems should be stacking up due to the probability your jewelry re-rolling is complete. Not to mention your Gold count should be solid allowing you to craft all your gems to "Royal" or "Flawless Royal" very easily.
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Screen Shots of the Test Session Witch doctors after 24 hours.
Test Session 1 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results (2nd Screen Shot)
Test Session 3 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results (2nd Screen Shot)
Phase 3 - "The Grind Phase" Video Tutorial:
Phase 3 Tutorial Video/Recap
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In closing
Hope you guys enjoyed this guide! I hope a lot of new players can utilize it to make their time more efficient with the game, become better players, and teach other players on how they can improve their Witch Doctors. More future guides to come, how your looking forward to them.
Links to all Recap/Map Images/Compendium Links:
Phase 1-3 Video Recaps
Phase 1 Tutorial Video/Recap
Phase 2 Tutorial Video/Recap
Phase 3 Tutorial Video/Recap
Map images used
Bounty List
Map of Goblin farming areas
Phase 1 Test Sessions
Test Session 1
Test Session 2
Test Session 3
*Test Session 4 Screen shot was lost but final time 1-70 was 6 hours 28 minutes*
Test Session 4 Video proof Fast Forward to "10:45:00" Mark
Phase 3 Test Session Result
Test Session 1 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results
Test Session 2 End Results (2nd Screen Shot)
Test Session 3 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results
Test Session 4 End Results 2nd Screen Shot
Thank you for such an in-depth guide! I had taken a long break from D3 right after getting level 70 in RoS, and when I recently came back a lot of things were confusing to me at first, and your guide helped me to clarify a lot!
I'm trying to level a Seasonal WD using this awesome guide, but when it comes to A1 bounties, was there a change to how they work in 2.1.2? I can't seem to get a map that doesn't get at least 1-2 of the red or blue ones w/ boss kill requirement. So I'm always doing 3-4 bounties and then resetting and never getting Caches.
Thats perfectly fine if your not full clearing the bounties to get Horadric caches, but only if yoru leveling to 70, after that point you DEF wanna full clear bounties to get that magical lil treasure box
Ok. I had thought that if you stocked them and opened them at 70 you'd get that level gear and tested it and was wrong anyway, so moot point ^^;
>Rhen'ho Flayer 7.04%
I have an SMK, two Int Furnaces, literally every other piece of WD gear that exists, and I've NEVER seen a Rhen'ho Flayer.
RNG is a cold mistress////