Dogs up in front distracting things and healing. Firebomb and Locust Swarm for damage. Mass confusion for CC/amplify damage as needed. Spirit walk for escape. Soul harvest for extra damage and mana regen. Could switch dogs to gargantuan and mass confusion to another CC if they seem to work better in practice.
summons yay!! Not usually the way I like to play I'm just happy to have the option. Hopefully it is effective in late game.
You took Vision Quest but you only have 3 abilities with cooldowns, two of which - the summon spells - might not always be on cooldown. I'd suggest swapping it for Spiritual Attunement to help make up for Pierce the Veil.
Sorry, i posted this in its own thread instead of the sticky. Now it is in its proper place:
In my opinion, corpse explosion from the Necromancer in Diablo II is the coolest spell in any game that I have ever played. So I sought out to try to find a spec that would have a somewhat similar feel in Diablo III. The main focus of this build will be Zombie Dogs and Sacrifice. Creative use of passives and runes should allow a player to pretty much spam sacrifice as a Necromancer would Corpse Explosion in Diablo II. It is likely that this build will just be for fun and not the best for Hell and Inferno difficulties.
Skills:
Zombie Dogs (Crimson): Of course these walking corpses are our ammo with some added fire damage from rune effect.
Sacrifice (Alabaster): This will be the main attack spell. The runed effect will allow 70% of explodinated dogs to respawn a dog for further explodinating.
Gargantuan (Indigo): This guy will hold baddies off while dogs are recycled. The rune effect is personal preference, but this one adds a cleave to arsenal.
Firebomb (Crimson): This will be the secondary attack for when there is a low supply of dogs for some reason such as a single tough target.
Big Bad Voodoo (Alabaster): This will help buff yourself, your pets, and allies. In addition, the rune effect will help supply dogs as enemies that are killed in its effect have a 75% chance of spawning a dog. This lasts 20 seconds, so during this time, it should be a be an endless supply of dogs.
Mass Confusion (Alabaster): This will supply some crowd control in addition to adding dogs upon enemy death so you can spam Sacrifice.
Passives:
Zombie Handler: No brainer so you can have 4 dogs out and increase the health of Gargantuan
Pierce the Veil: For a massive damage bonus with increased mana cost
Circle of Life: 10% mana returned when using health globes. I may consider Tribal Rites to help with Big Bad Voodoo cooldown.
Assumptions and Synergies:
-Being able to spam acrifice will depend on the speed of dog spawning after their death or after an enemies’ death. If this takes to long, it will be hard to spam.
-This build will be somewhat dependent on cooldowns. Dog cooldown is 60 secs. Big Bad Voodoo is 120 (90 with Tribal Rites) secs. Mass confusion is 60 seconds. The 70% respawn in conjunction of any of those cooldowns should provide for sufficient dog supply, but it is hard to say at this point. And you always have Firebomb for backup.
-Does Pierce the Veil work for spells with no mana cost?
-The only spells that appear to actually have a mana cost are Zombie Dog, Gargantuan, and Firebomb. If all goes to plan, mana will not be much of an issue.
-This will really only be effective on most of the game where you are fighting groups of enemies. A change of skills may be required for bosses.
So if you were a fan of Corpse Explosion in Diablo II, perhaps this or a similar build may the way to go! Who knows if it will at all be effective, but it will certainly be a blast! … see what I did there?
WD Pet Build with so much customization within it. As far as Passives go, I could take Pierce the Veil (since the pets should be doing your dmg and you wouldn't need as much skill spamming - just wondering if pets get that % increase to dmg), or Blood Ritual (again, pets should be up front taking dmg and would allow for slightly MORE skill spamming) in place of Fierce Loyalty (based on gear stats). Can also sub out Soul Harvest for various summons or support skills, like Big Bad Voodoo or 4 sec CD Mass Confusion!! (depending on the fights).
Only question, is Gargantuan a pet like Zombie Dogs (in that it's there until it dies)? I'm pretty sure it is, but haven't really seen it in action yet.
Very generic build. It comes with support, summons and DOTs as well as burst for a finisher. Haunt is runed to deal more damage faster since you want to cast it a lot (it's your mana gen). Mongrels and Gargantuan are built to dish out AOE damage to facilitate DOT group kills. Hex actually functions as much as a heal as it does for CC abilities. I'm not 100% confident in all of the rune choices, but I think the build is solid overall. Just not terribly exciting.
Full support build. It packs frogs and spiders for damage (and the frogs double as CC), but everything else is meant to either CC or increase the effectiveness of your group. This is a TERRIBLE solo build, but it could be excellent in group play.
Experimental build that would focus on stacking damage as high as it would go. It's risky and it might not be worth it, but I see a lot of damage potential. Also, part of the build depends on how high you can stack the Soul Harvest buff.
summons yay!! Not usually the way I like to play I'm just happy to have the option. Hopefully it is effective in late game.
You took Vision Quest but you only have 3 abilities with cooldowns, two of which - the summon spells - might not always be on cooldown. I'd suggest swapping it for Spiritual Attunement to help make up for Pierce the Veil.
Confuse enemies and then Explode them with your dogs! nearly guaranteed to raise your dogs again (weather because they rise or because you killed stuff)...so do it again! repeat until mob is dead. meanwhile a nearby mob is being ransacked by gargantuan so you mob them with fetishes under big bad voodoo and shore up your dogs who might have been lost to the other battle.
edit: ok got that out of my sestem, now for my 2 actual builds:
First Melee doc. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ceUgij!Ydf!ZbaccZ
Use Mass confuse with soul harvest to make my way slaying foes with my ceremonial dagger. If extra health is needed cast haunt on targets. In dire situations I can use both/either Horrify and spirit walk to escape/fill my globes. In tough situations lead with spirit barrage which grant an AoE around me. Passives boost attack and survivability in harry situations.
only half my skills cost mana and one 'free' one grants it so I'm not too worried about the cost from pierce the veil
Second Swiss army build http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cfSijQ!cWf!cYcYbc
Just a good mix of high damage spells for tough enemies and good ability to deal with mobs. through in some CC with slow and confusion and a geneal buff with healing in Big Bad Voodoo
Passives give make sure that mana is not scarce with some innate health regen and toughness.
Not super efficient, but I think it will be fun.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If that made sense to you, Bravo! I think I even confused myself...
Time to discuss builds!
Here's my initial thought: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#fSZjgU!bXY!ZYaZbZ
Dogs up in front distracting things and healing. Firebomb and Locust Swarm for damage. Mass confusion for CC/amplify damage as needed. Spirit walk for escape. Soul harvest for extra damage and mana regen. Could switch dogs to gargantuan and mass confusion to another CC if they seem to work better in practice.
Comments/criticisms?
What's your build?
EDIT: fixed link
summons yay!! Not usually the way I like to play I'm just happy to have the option. Hopefully it is effective in late game.
You took Vision Quest but you only have 3 abilities with cooldowns, two of which - the summon spells - might not always be on cooldown. I'd suggest swapping it for Spiritual Attunement to help make up for Pierce the Veil.
In my opinion, corpse explosion from the Necromancer in Diablo II is the coolest spell in any game that I have ever played. So I sought out to try to find a spec that would have a somewhat similar feel in Diablo III. The main focus of this build will be Zombie Dogs and Sacrifice. Creative use of passives and runes should allow a player to pretty much spam sacrifice as a Necromancer would Corpse Explosion in Diablo II. It is likely that this build will just be for fun and not the best for Hell and Inferno difficulties.
Skills:
Zombie Dogs (Crimson): Of course these walking corpses are our ammo with some added fire damage from rune effect.
Sacrifice (Alabaster): This will be the main attack spell. The runed effect will allow 70% of explodinated dogs to respawn a dog for further explodinating.
Gargantuan (Indigo): This guy will hold baddies off while dogs are recycled. The rune effect is personal preference, but this one adds a cleave to arsenal.
Firebomb (Crimson): This will be the secondary attack for when there is a low supply of dogs for some reason such as a single tough target.
Big Bad Voodoo (Alabaster): This will help buff yourself, your pets, and allies. In addition, the rune effect will help supply dogs as enemies that are killed in its effect have a 75% chance of spawning a dog. This lasts 20 seconds, so during this time, it should be a be an endless supply of dogs.
Mass Confusion (Alabaster): This will supply some crowd control in addition to adding dogs upon enemy death so you can spam Sacrifice.
Passives:
Zombie Handler: No brainer so you can have 4 dogs out and increase the health of Gargantuan
Pierce the Veil: For a massive damage bonus with increased mana cost
Circle of Life: 10% mana returned when using health globes. I may consider Tribal Rites to help with Big Bad Voodoo cooldown.
Assumptions and Synergies:
-Being able to spam acrifice will depend on the speed of dog spawning after their death or after an enemies’ death. If this takes to long, it will be hard to spam.
-This build will be somewhat dependent on cooldowns. Dog cooldown is 60 secs. Big Bad Voodoo is 120 (90 with Tribal Rites) secs. Mass confusion is 60 seconds. The 70% respawn in conjunction of any of those cooldowns should provide for sufficient dog supply, but it is hard to say at this point. And you always have Firebomb for backup.
-Does Pierce the Veil work for spells with no mana cost?
-The only spells that appear to actually have a mana cost are Zombie Dog, Gargantuan, and Firebomb. If all goes to plan, mana will not be much of an issue.
-This will really only be effective on most of the game where you are fighting groups of enemies. A change of skills may be required for bosses.
So if you were a fan of Corpse Explosion in Diablo II, perhaps this or a similar build may the way to go! Who knows if it will at all be effective, but it will certainly be a blast! … see what I did there?
-Gerahben
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZhcfRg!bXV!aaabcY
WD Pet Build with so much customization within it. As far as Passives go, I could take Pierce the Veil (since the pets should be doing your dmg and you wouldn't need as much skill spamming - just wondering if pets get that % increase to dmg), or Blood Ritual (again, pets should be up front taking dmg and would allow for slightly MORE skill spamming) in place of Fierce Loyalty (based on gear stats). Can also sub out Soul Harvest for various summons or support skills, like Big Bad Voodoo or 4 sec CD Mass Confusion!! (depending on the fights).
Only question, is Gargantuan a pet like Zombie Dogs (in that it's there until it dies)? I'm pretty sure it is, but haven't really seen it in action yet.
Sheesh. I. AM. EXCITE.
Very generic build. It comes with support, summons and DOTs as well as burst for a finisher. Haunt is runed to deal more damage faster since you want to cast it a lot (it's your mana gen). Mongrels and Gargantuan are built to dish out AOE damage to facilitate DOT group kills. Hex actually functions as much as a heal as it does for CC abilities. I'm not 100% confident in all of the rune choices, but I think the build is solid overall. Just not terribly exciting.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#bWjPdQ!ZbU!acbbbZ
Full support build. It packs frogs and spiders for damage (and the frogs double as CC), but everything else is meant to either CC or increase the effectiveness of your group. This is a TERRIBLE solo build, but it could be excellent in group play.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZfVTgd!cfd!aZZYYb
Experimental build that would focus on stacking damage as high as it would go. It's risky and it might not be worth it, but I see a lot of damage potential. Also, part of the build depends on how high you can stack the Soul Harvest buff.
I miss read the skill i thought it said 3 :-/
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZTjQhP!XVf!aaaaaa
Confuse enemies and then Explode them with your dogs! nearly guaranteed to raise your dogs again (weather because they rise or because you killed stuff)...so do it again! repeat until mob is dead. meanwhile a nearby mob is being ransacked by gargantuan so you mob them with fetishes under big bad voodoo and shore up your dogs who might have been lost to the other battle.
edit: ok got that out of my sestem, now for my 2 actual builds:
First Melee doc.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ceUgij!Ydf!ZbaccZ
Use Mass confuse with soul harvest to make my way slaying foes with my ceremonial dagger. If extra health is needed cast haunt on targets. In dire situations I can use both/either Horrify and spirit walk to escape/fill my globes. In tough situations lead with spirit barrage which grant an AoE around me. Passives boost attack and survivability in harry situations.
only half my skills cost mana and one 'free' one grants it so I'm not too worried about the cost from pierce the veil
Second Swiss army build
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cfSijQ!cWf!cYcYbc
Just a good mix of high damage spells for tough enemies and good ability to deal with mobs. through in some CC with slow and confusion and a geneal buff with healing in Big Bad Voodoo
Passives give make sure that mana is not scarce with some innate health regen and toughness.
Not super efficient, but I think it will be fun.