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.
Patch 2.3 Brings a lot of changes to the core mechanics of character development in Diablo 3. Crafting, and Reforging cost pre 70 have been significantly reduced, and low level crafting mats will be the same ones that drop at max level. With these changes it allows for us to craft solid 2h weapons consistently while leveling, and have the ability to re-roll stats on our items to maximize our dps/toughness capabilities. Secondly is the Kanai's Cube, which will allow us to equip up to 3 legendary powers directly to our characters, this allows for us to push for GR 45-50 Within only the first 24 hours of character development, depending on how your luck holds out with Loot drops.
**Just to be clear**
* This guide is here to help establish a well thought out (solo) structured plan to develop a new WD within only 24 hours (In Game Time)
* The fastest way to level in Seasons, or when creating a New WD is to do it in groups, exploits, or to get power leveled
* I developed this guide to show how the WD class can be fun, and very straight forward to play if you have a little guidance, and a plan on how to get it started the right way.
* Not everyone will be in groups, and or have a set schedule to always play with clan/guild mates all the time, so you can follow the guide at your own pacing, and after 24 hours of in game time invested end up having a Witch Doctor that is Torment Level 10 Capable or higher.
* If you have any questions the best place to contact me is while I'm Streaming, or in-boxing me on twitch. All this information can be found at the beginning of the guide.
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
* Weapon Crafting, Broken down by Level
* Skill Choice, Broken down by Levels
* Tactics for Gearing while Level progressing
* Appropriate Stat Itemization on gear while Leveling.
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 Torment 6. The final phase is all about rounding out your build, and gear itemization to have your Witch Doctor Torment Level 10 ready.
**Crafting Changes**
* Crafting Materials that drop at low level are the same materials dropped at Lv 70
* Crafting costs (Pre-70) have been significantly reduced
**Mystic Enchantress Changes**
* Reforging cost (Pre-70) have been significantly reduced
* Allows you to min/max your gear while leveling very easily, with little to no cost to you
**Torment 1 ASAP**
* With the changes to the crafting system, Torment 1 is very easily obtainable by level 21
* The additional Exp Gained, and Gem Goblin are greatly effected by this difficulty
**Leoric's Crown Setup**
* Leroic's Crown will always drop (Up until Lv 65) from the King Leroic's quest in Act 1 Story Mode
* The Crown increases the effect of the gem inside it, by up to 100%
* If you complete the quest at Lv 18 or higher, it will roll with a guaranteed socket.
* I would highly recommend when creating a new WD, to begin in story mode. Complete all quests leading up to (But not actually killing) the King Leoric fight, and save the way point.
* After this is completed leave the game, and continue your leveling thru Adventure mode. At some point while leveling, your going to run into a gem goblin, or your going to develop your ruby gems up to "Star Ruby" Quality via jewel crafting.
* Optimally you want to obtain 2 Imperial Rubies from a Gem Goblin, one to put in your King Leoric's Helm, and one into your crafted weapons.
* Depending on how lucky I am, as soon as I obtain Imperial/Star Rubies I immediately leave adventure mode, and complete the King Leroic's Quest line to obtain my Leoric's Crown. This will make a big difference from levels 50-70.
* Worse case scenario where you happen to get bad Gem luck, you should always pick up the Helmet no later then Lv 50, and use whatever your highest level Ruby you have available.
**Gem Treasure Goblin & Torment Lv 1+**
* The Gem goblin Drops are effected by the game difficulty settings
* Torment Level 1 or high (Regardless of level) upon killing the Gem goblin it will drop Marquise gem levels or higher
* These gems will dramatically effect the rate in which it takes to get to level 70.
* Marquise Emerald Gem- 105% Increased Critical Damage on Weapon
At Level 21 you should be at torment level 1 difficulty. The biggest thing to look out for is the gem goblins, they take priority over everything else. Cave of the moon clan, and Halls of Agony tend to turn up a lot of goblins in general so be aware of this while completing these bounties.
**Item Stat Prioritization**
This is a generalization on what stats you want to have on each individual item slot. Keep in mind you should only really be Min-Maxing(AKA reforging) every 4 to 5 levels to not waste to many crafting materials.
* 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
The reason we are starting in Story Mode is to setup for our "Leoric's Crown" for later. Complete all quests leading up until (Reign of the Black King) "The Royal Crypts". Once you have the way-point leave the game, and begin adventure mode. You should be around level 8-10 when you get to the "The Royal Crypts" check point. Don't dwell on doing side areas, your #1 focus should be is getting the way-point unlock as quickly as possible.
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
* I reiterate Monsters are pretty stupid in Act 1, they really don't pose a threat.
**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.
**Phase 1 - Itemization**
**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 doctor. (Armor more specifically)
* Any type of gear, that increases the amount of experience you receive
* By Level 50 you should already be using the King of Leoric Crown that has a Socket for a Marquise Ruby Gem
**Things you need to focus on while leveling up**
* Picking up all items that drop, and breaking them down into crafting materials
* Keeping an eye open for Gem goblins, as their imperial gems are very strong for leveling
* Crafting 2 Handed weapons, frequent and often
* Only focusing on bounties that were listed above, to minimize down time.
* If you acquire a Imperial Ruby, or a Star Ruby pre- Lv 50 you should stop what your doing, and finish the King Leoric's quest line to obtain "King Leoric's Crown" to get the increased Exp rate that the crown will provide.
**Phase 1 - Skill Build**
**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.
Pretty straight forward here, should be the first thing you should be focusing on after hitting max level. 5-10 Runs through some Normal Rifts should easily acquire you a full set of Lv 70 Rare(Yellow) quality gear.
Running rifts, collecting Greater Rift keys, then acquiring gems. You want to repeat the process until you've obtained all the legendary gems possible, or just the one you specifically need. After this has happened you are going to be alternating between Regular/Greater Rifts to farm for blood shards, and to level up your initial Legendary gems to Rank 25.
A Standard Build that I like to use when I'm establishing the foundation to my WD is a Pet/Dot build, as it doesn't require any special gear for it to do well.
**Pet/Dot Build**
*Active Skills*
* Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled to the Bone"
* Hex "Jinx"
* Piranhas "Zombie Piranhas"
* Haunt "Poisoned Spirit"
* Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
*Passive Skills*
* Pierce the Veil
* Confidence Ritual
* Fetish Sycophants
* Rush of Essence or Spirit Vessel
The easiest thing I've found to work is to get every single slot filled with a Legendary Item with solid rolls. For my starting Legendary Gems choices I use: "Bane of the Trapped", "Efficacious Toxin Gem", "Esoteric: Alteration". These gems provide additional damage, and survivability that work very well with the build.
When to Start Kanai Cubing
Starting off with the Kanai cube, I usually only focus on its major function: "Extract Legendary Power". If I obtain a copy of a Legendary Item That I already have (or it simply rolled bad stats) I will go ahead and cube the item, to gain its Legendary power and equip it for my Witch Doctor.
**Weapon Kani Cube Popular Choices**
* Start Metal Kukri
* Rhen'Ho Flayer
* Furnace
* WormWood
* Dagger of Darts
* Scrimshaw
**Armor Kani Cube Popular Choices**
* Mask Or Jeram
* Carvnevil
* Grin Reaper
* King Leoric's Crown
* Belt of Transcendence
**Jewelry Kani Cube Popular Choices**
* Ring of Royal Grandeur
* Unity
* Convention of elements
* Obsidian Ring of the zodiac
**Phase 2 Review**
* Step 1. Acquire Rare (Yellow) Lv 70 Gear in every Slot
* Step 2. Run Regular Rifts for Greater Rift Keystones
* Step 3. Obtain all of the Legendary Gems (Or just the ones you need)
* Step 4. Level up your main Legendary Gems to rank 25
* Step 5. Obtain Legendary Gear in each slot, and reforge with strong rolls.
* Step 6. Start to Establish your Kanai Cube options
This is a good side goal to focus on, while doing your Normal Regular/Greater Rift Grind. The additional damage, and toughness that the gems provide will enable us to be able to start farming end game content, at the end of our first 24 in Game hours on our Witch Doctor. Gem choices will vary, but I recommend defiantly using Esoteric: Alteration Legendary gem due to how much toughness this gem will provide at higher greater rift levels.
* Identifying your end Game Build
Once you've established a solid skill/gear foundation from Phase 2, you want to make sure your capable of farming end game content. There 3 sets that can instantly take you to Torment 10 (Greater Rift 45), just by obtaining them, and having some solid gem choices.
Now I'm not saying that you have to have perfect rolls, or everything set up perfectly with your Kanai cube to get these builds to Torment 10. I'm just simply saying if you start to accumulate specific set pieces more so then others, it would be wise to commit to that set. This doesn't mean you will be stuck with that certain build forever, it will just be your vehicle to get you to your destination.
**Setting up for Kanai Cube Crafting**
There a lot of different recipes, that are useful with the Kanai's cube, but these are the most note worthy:
* "Archive of Tal Rasha" Extract Legendary Power
The best recipe by far hands down. In the Phase 2 section I've included a list of popular Legendary items to cube based upon what drops for you. Solidifying a strong Cube Legendary item setup will make it so the transitioning to Torment 10, and Higher Greater Rifts very easy, combined with one of the major 6 piece sets
* "Hope of Cain" Upgrade Rare item
Solid choice when your searching for a specific legendary drop. With basic crafting materials, and a Rare item of your choosing, it will provide you a legendary item of that item type randomly. Example: I use a Rare Ceremonial Knife, and place it in the Kanai's cube, I also place the crafting mats required to use this recipe, I transmute the items in the box, and it turns my Rare Ceremonial knife into the legendary "Last Breath". Another nice thing about this is, that the created legendary has a chance to roll with ancient affixes.
* "Skill of Nilfur" Convert Set item
Allows you to convert a set item (That consists of 3 pieces or higher) to another piece of that set randomly. This will allow us to obtain set items that are missing from making our sets, with our duplicate set item pieces we acquire. However be forewarned set items made this way will never be ancient
* After 24 Hours, welcome to "Endless Paragon Grinding"
At this point your WD should be farming end game level content (GR Lv 45+ & Torment 10). Your next step is to plan out how far you want to take your WD. Plan on ranking in top 1000? Paragon 600-700 With solid items should be more than enough. Top 100? Well you might need something closer to paragon 1000. However I will warn you now, Paragon level HEAVILY influences the outcome of Greater Rift progression in groups or solo. Botting, and "un-ethical" things will be done in the pursuit of people Ranking against each other. (which is fine because its human nature) If you want to push high level paragon levels, just realize the bigger picture, and be aware of what goes on.
**Exp Slaving**
*I'll try to put this as simple as possible*
* The old system made it so exp was individually earned (Even exp increasing effects)
* People didn't like how support classes could run high amounts of Exp gaining items, while the Damage dealers of the group couldn't do the same without sacrificing significant amounts of damage.
* Blizzard changed this, and made it so that all Exp increasing items would apply to the groups exp total, which then would be divided evenly among everyone in the party.
* Players Noticed the insane exp rates, by utilizing characters in the group that do nothing more than "support" the best they can, while wearing as much Exp increasing items as possible.
* Double Exp Slaves, with Double Damage Dealer group setups are the normal now.
So in short 2 people in the group should deal high amounts of damage, capable of carrying 2 other players who's focus isn't damage, but more on a Light "support" /Heavy Exp Gaining item build. So if you have dreams of grinding out high level paragon levels quickly, start building those High Exp gaining sets, or have your friends "slave" for your group.
* In Pursuit of Perfect item sets
So after you established what you wanted to do with Paragon farming, the only thing left is to start grinding Rifts for perfect gear sets. For weapons, and other smaller items, Using the "Hope of Cain" recipe would be a good way to attempt to pick up ancient item rolls for specific legendarys. Of course if you plan on really pushing the paragon levels eventually you will have a set of full ancient items easily. If you were to ask me which is more difficult, the paragon grinding or looking for full sets of ancient gear, paragon grinding in the long term is wayyyy more difficult.
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.
My Twitch Tag:
spsDebo 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-2-1-2-witch-doctor-compendium
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The 24 Hour Witch Doctor Patch 2.3 & Onward
*Original excerpt I used with the first guide*
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.
Link to the first iteration of the 24 hour Witch Dotcor
Patch 2.3 Brings a lot of changes to the core mechanics of character development in Diablo 3. Crafting, and Reforging cost pre 70 have been significantly reduced, and low level crafting mats will be the same ones that drop at max level. With these changes it allows for us to craft solid 2h weapons consistently while leveling, and have the ability to re-roll stats on our items to maximize our dps/toughness capabilities. Secondly is the Kanai's Cube, which will allow us to equip up to 3 legendary powers directly to our characters, this allows for us to push for GR 45-50 Within only the first 24 hours of character development, depending on how your luck holds out with Loot drops.
**Just to be clear**
The guide Will be broken up into "Three Phases"
**Leveling Phase**
**Gear Progression Phase**
**Grind Phase**
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**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 Torment 6. The final phase is all about rounding out your build, and gear itemization to have your Witch Doctor Torment Level 10 ready.
**Crafting Changes**
**Mystic Enchantress Changes**
**Torment 1 ASAP**
**Leoric's Crown Setup**
**Gem Treasure Goblin & Torment Lv 1+**
At Level 21 you should be at torment level 1 difficulty. The biggest thing to look out for is the gem goblins, they take priority over everything else. Cave of the moon clan, and Halls of Agony tend to turn up a lot of goblins in general so be aware of this while completing these bounties.
**Item Stat Prioritization**
This is a generalization on what stats you want to have on each individual item slot. Keep in mind you should only really be Min-Maxing(AKA reforging) every 4 to 5 levels to not waste to many crafting materials.
*Part 1 Leveling Phase*
**Levels 1-12**
**Begin in Story Mode**
* Normal Difficulty
The reason we are starting in Story Mode is to setup for our "Leoric's Crown" for later. Complete all quests leading up until (Reign of the Black King) "The Royal Crypts". Once you have the way-point leave the game, and begin adventure mode. You should be around level 8-10 when you get to the "The Royal Crypts" check point. Don't dwell on doing side areas, your #1 focus should be is getting the way-point unlock as quickly as possible.
**After way point has been obtained**
* 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
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**Levels 12-21**
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Master Difficulty
* Haunt (Level 12) ---> Replaces Poison Darts
* Zombie Dogs "Rabid dogs" Rune (Level 12)
* Sacrifice (Level 13) Replaces -----> Grasp of the Dead
* Change Jungle fortitude Passive -------> Circle of Life (To combo with Sacrifice)
* Spirit Walk (Level 16)
* Haunt "Consuming Spirit Rune" (Level 18)
**Craft Journeyman Gnarled Staff 2 Handed (Level 18)**
* Gargantuan (Level 19)
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled to the Bone" Rune (Level 19)
* Jungle Fortitude (Level 20)
* Locust Swarm (Level 21) ----> Sacrifice
* Change Circle of Life passive -----> Blood Ritual
* Soul Harvest "Siphon"
*Level 12-21 Ending Skill Setup*
**Primary Skills**
* Haunt "Consuming Spirit"
* Locust Swarm
* Spirit Walk
* Soul Harvest "Siphon"
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled to the Bone"
* Gargantuan
**Passive skills**
* Blood Ritual
* Jungle Fortitude
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**Levels 22-27**
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Torment 1 Difficulty
**Craft Adept Bone Staff (Level 22)**
* Hex (Level 22) replaces ------> Soul Harvest
* Gargantuan "Humongoid" Rune (Level 22)
* Haunt "Resentful Spirits" Rune (Level 23)
* Spirit Walk "Jaunt" Rune (Level 23)
* Hex "Hedge Magic" Rune (Level 26)
**Craft Master Battle Staff (Level 26)**
* Locust Swarm "Pestilence" Rune (Level 27)
* Pierce the Veil *Passive* (Level 27) ---> Replaces Jungle Fortitude *Passive*
*Level 22-27 Ending Skill Setup*
**Primary Skills**
* Haunt "Resentful Spirits"
* Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
* Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
* Hex "Hedge Magic"
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled to The Bone"
* Gargantuan "Humongoid"
**Passive skills**
* Pierce The Veil
* Blood Ritual
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**Levels 28-36**
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Torment 1 Difficulty
**Craft Master Great Axe (Level 29) [2 Handed]**
* Gargantuan "Restless Giant" Rune (Level 29)
* Fetish Sycophants *Passive* (Level 30)
* Hex "Jinx" Rune (Level 31)
**Craft Grand Master Timber Axe [2 Handed] (Level 33)**
**Craft Grand Master War Staff (Level 35)**
* Rush of Essence *Passive* (Level 36) -----> Replaces Blood Ritual *Passive*
*Level 28-36 Ending Skill Setup*
**Primary Skills**
* Haunt "Resentful Spirits"
* Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
* Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
* Hex "Jinx"
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled to the Bone"
* Gargantuan "Restless Giant"
**Passive skills**
* Pierce The Veil
* Rush of Essence
* Fetish Sycophants
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**Levels 37-48**
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Torment 1
**Craft Illustrious Obsidian Staff (Level 40)**
**Craft Magnificent Elder Staff (Level 42)**
**Craft Resplendent High Priest Staff (Level 47)**
* Haunt "Poisoned Spirit" Rune (Level 48)
* Gargantuan "Big Stinker" Rune (Level 48)
*Level 37-48 Ending Skill Setup*
**Primary Skills**
* Haunt "Poisoned Spirit"
* Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
* Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
* Hex "Jinx"
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled to the Bone"
* Gargantuan "Big Stinker"
**Passive skills**
* Pierce The Veil
* Rush of Essence
* Fetish Sycophants
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**Levels 49-70**
* Adventure Mode Bounties
* Torment 2 or Torment 1 Difficulty
**Craft Glorious Primordial Staff (Level 52)**
**Craft Exalted Mythical Staff (Level 57)**
* Confidence Ritual *Passive*(Level 60) Replaces --------> Rush of Essence *Passive*
* Piranhas (Level 61) ----> Gargantuan
* Piranhas "Zombie Piranhas" Rune (Level 63)
**Craft Exquisite Caduceus Staff (Level 61)**
*Level 49-70 Ending Skill Setup*
**Primary Skills**
* Haunt "Poisoned Spirit"
* Locust Swarm "Pestilence"
* Spirit Walk "Jaunt"
* Piranhas "Zombie Piranhas"
* Zombie Dogs "Chilled To The Bone"
* Hex "Jinx"
**Passive skills**
* Pierce The Veil
* Confidence Ritual
* Fetish Sycophants
* Rush of Essence or Spirit Vessel
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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?**
* Here is a Image the explains it all:
**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?**
**Phase 1 - Itemization**
**What Gear should I be focusing on while leveling up?**
**Things you need to focus on while leveling up**
**Phase 1 - Skill Build**
**What is the most optimal Build in your opinion to level with?**
**Pet/Dot Build**
*Active Skills*
*Passive Skills*
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*Phase 2 Gear Progression Phase*
Pretty straight forward here, should be the first thing you should be focusing on after hitting max level. 5-10 Runs through some Normal Rifts should easily acquire you a full set of Lv 70 Rare(Yellow) quality gear.
Running rifts, collecting Greater Rift keys, then acquiring gems. You want to repeat the process until you've obtained all the legendary gems possible, or just the one you specifically need. After this has happened you are going to be alternating between Regular/Greater Rifts to farm for blood shards, and to level up your initial Legendary gems to Rank 25.
**What Gems do you recommend to start off with?**
**Gearing Towards what dropped for you**
Link to my Witch Doctor Compendium (WD Builds at bottom)
A Standard Build that I like to use when I'm establishing the foundation to my WD is a Pet/Dot build, as it doesn't require any special gear for it to do well.
**Pet/Dot Build**
*Active Skills*
*Passive Skills*
* Pierce the Veil
* Confidence Ritual
* Fetish Sycophants
* Rush of Essence or Spirit Vessel
The easiest thing I've found to work is to get every single slot filled with a Legendary Item with solid rolls. For my starting Legendary Gems choices I use: "Bane of the Trapped", "Efficacious Toxin Gem", "Esoteric: Alteration". These gems provide additional damage, and survivability that work very well with the build.
When to Start Kanai Cubing
Starting off with the Kanai cube, I usually only focus on its major function: "Extract Legendary Power". If I obtain a copy of a Legendary Item That I already have (or it simply rolled bad stats) I will go ahead and cube the item, to gain its Legendary power and equip it for my Witch Doctor.
**Weapon Kani Cube Popular Choices**
**Armor Kani Cube Popular Choices**
**Jewelry Kani Cube Popular Choices**
**Phase 2 Review**
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*Phase 3 Grinding Phase*
* Getting 3 legendary Gems to Rank 40
This is a good side goal to focus on, while doing your Normal Regular/Greater Rift Grind. The additional damage, and toughness that the gems provide will enable us to be able to start farming end game content, at the end of our first 24 in Game hours on our Witch Doctor. Gem choices will vary, but I recommend defiantly using Esoteric: Alteration Legendary gem due to how much toughness this gem will provide at higher greater rift levels.
* Identifying your end Game Build
Once you've established a solid skill/gear foundation from Phase 2, you want to make sure your capable of farming end game content. There 3 sets that can instantly take you to Torment 10 (Greater Rift 45), just by obtaining them, and having some solid gem choices.
**Helltooth**
Video Guide
**Ararchyr/ManaJuma**
Video Guide
**Carnevil/Zunimassa**
Video Guide
Now I'm not saying that you have to have perfect rolls, or everything set up perfectly with your Kanai cube to get these builds to Torment 10. I'm just simply saying if you start to accumulate specific set pieces more so then others, it would be wise to commit to that set. This doesn't mean you will be stuck with that certain build forever, it will just be your vehicle to get you to your destination.
**Setting up for Kanai Cube Crafting**
There a lot of different recipes, that are useful with the Kanai's cube, but these are the most note worthy:
* "Archive of Tal Rasha" Extract Legendary Power
The best recipe by far hands down. In the Phase 2 section I've included a list of popular Legendary items to cube based upon what drops for you. Solidifying a strong Cube Legendary item setup will make it so the transitioning to Torment 10, and Higher Greater Rifts very easy, combined with one of the major 6 piece sets
* "Hope of Cain" Upgrade Rare item
Solid choice when your searching for a specific legendary drop. With basic crafting materials, and a Rare item of your choosing, it will provide you a legendary item of that item type randomly. Example: I use a Rare Ceremonial Knife, and place it in the Kanai's cube, I also place the crafting mats required to use this recipe, I transmute the items in the box, and it turns my Rare Ceremonial knife into the legendary "Last Breath". Another nice thing about this is, that the created legendary has a chance to roll with ancient affixes.
* "Skill of Nilfur" Convert Set item
Allows you to convert a set item (That consists of 3 pieces or higher) to another piece of that set randomly. This will allow us to obtain set items that are missing from making our sets, with our duplicate set item pieces we acquire. However be forewarned set items made this way will never be ancient
* After 24 Hours, welcome to "Endless Paragon Grinding"
At this point your WD should be farming end game level content (GR Lv 45+ & Torment 10). Your next step is to plan out how far you want to take your WD. Plan on ranking in top 1000? Paragon 600-700 With solid items should be more than enough. Top 100? Well you might need something closer to paragon 1000. However I will warn you now, Paragon level HEAVILY influences the outcome of Greater Rift progression in groups or solo. Botting, and "un-ethical" things will be done in the pursuit of people Ranking against each other. (which is fine because its human nature) If you want to push high level paragon levels, just realize the bigger picture, and be aware of what goes on.
**Exp Slaving**
*I'll try to put this as simple as possible*
So in short 2 people in the group should deal high amounts of damage, capable of carrying 2 other players who's focus isn't damage, but more on a Light "support" /Heavy Exp Gaining item build. So if you have dreams of grinding out high level paragon levels quickly, start building those High Exp gaining sets, or have your friends "slave" for your group.
* In Pursuit of Perfect item sets
So after you established what you wanted to do with Paragon farming, the only thing left is to start grinding Rifts for perfect gear sets. For weapons, and other smaller items, Using the "Hope of Cain" recipe would be a good way to attempt to pick up ancient item rolls for specific legendarys. Of course if you plan on really pushing the paragon levels eventually you will have a set of full ancient items easily. If you were to ask me which is more difficult, the paragon grinding or looking for full sets of ancient gear, paragon grinding in the long term is wayyyy more difficult.
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Video Section
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**Video Review of the 24 Hour Witch Doctor**
Video Guide & Final Thoughts
Links to most recent 24 Hour Witch Doctor Test Run
Leveling Phase: http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo/v/12692349
Gear Progression Phase #1: http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo/v/12692705
Gear Progression Phase #2: http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo/v/12692820
Gear Progression Phase #3: http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo/v/12692924
Grind Phase: http://www.twitch.tv/spsdebo/v/12693036
Great post.
Something usefull to read tonight.
It never hurts to help!!!