I sometimes play with a 60 Wizard, and he just demolishes me in damage, not to mention he's only like 2-3k dps higher than me. I realize our Witch Doctor class is tricky, but killing elites/champions in A2 is near impossible for me solo. Should I switch to bats? Change gear? I just spent like 800-1mil on new gear to try and make this Splinter build viable. Would dire bats with a 2h be better in A2? What am I doing wrong here? Maybe swap out Horrify for Soul Harvest for more damage? Hellllllp.
Trying to figure out what to do now. I have been farming Warden/Butcher for awhile and I don't seem to be getting any decent drops. It's definitely slow going. Any other farming spots I could look at?
I even took pics of my stats and gear (I know it's nothing great):
I feel this is relevant because I had almost identical stats at that point in time. I used a slightly different build, but not really that different. I focused on control abilities, and Poison Darts just like you. How geared is your companion? In your screenshot it doesn't look like you are using one. I use the Templar and he has about 86k life which helps him to eat some hits for me and that let's me get a ton of darts off.
Honestly I found Act 2 very slow to progress through. I took my time, and in the desert there were some champion packs that I just couldn't kill. Those fallen elites that come in groups of 7 come to mind. I would recommend just trying to do like one or two quests, and then move on to some productive farming again. That was you are still able to spend some time progressing, but you are also spending some farming to upgrade your gear further and counter repair costs.
I wouldn't change your build either. I actually dropped Mass Confusion for Zombie Wall in my build, and that was the only difference. It's most likely just practice and patience. I don't think any of us walked in to Act 2 and stomped all over it. We cursed at the bees and the lacunis in the first canyon.
I feel this is relevant because I had almost identical stats at that point in time. I used a slightly different build, but not really that different. I focused on control abilities, and Poison Darts just like you. How geared is your companion? In your screenshot it doesn't look like you are using one. I use the Templar and he has about 86k life which helps him to eat some hits for me and that let's me get a ton of darts off.
Honestly I found Act 2 very slow to progress through. I took my time, and in the desert there were some champion packs that I just couldn't kill. Those fallen elites that come in groups of 7 come to mind. I would recommend just trying to do like one or two quests, and then move on to some productive farming again. That was you are still able to spend some time progressing, but you are also spending some farming to upgrade your gear further and counter repair costs.
I wouldn't change your build either. I actually dropped Mass Confusion for Zombie Wall in my build, and that was the only difference. It's most likely just practice and patience. I don't think any of us walked in to Act 2 and stomped all over it. We cursed at the bees and the lacunis in the first canyon.
Thanks for your post. I get really irritated when I can't kill elites. You really have to slowly progress through A2 or you will get STOMPED.
I'll check out your blog. I run a templar, but he does need gearing update. I'll look into that. Keep forgetting. He's really just a meat shield anyways.
I feel this is relevant because I had almost identical stats at that point in time. I used a slightly different build, but not really that different. I focused on control abilities, and Poison Darts just like you. How geared is your companion? In your screenshot it doesn't look like you are using one. I use the Templar and he has about 86k life which helps him to eat some hits for me and that let's me get a ton of darts off.
Honestly I found Act 2 very slow to progress through. I took my time, and in the desert there were some champion packs that I just couldn't kill. Those fallen elites that come in groups of 7 come to mind. I would recommend just trying to do like one or two quests, and then move on to some productive farming again. That was you are still able to spend some time progressing, but you are also spending some farming to upgrade your gear further and counter repair costs.
I wouldn't change your build either. I actually dropped Mass Confusion for Zombie Wall in my build, and that was the only difference. It's most likely just practice and patience. I don't think any of us walked in to Act 2 and stomped all over it. We cursed at the bees and the lacunis in the first canyon.
Thanks for your post. I get really irritated when I can't kill elites. You really have to slowly progress through A2 or you will get STOMPED.
I'll check out your blog. I run a templar, but he does need gearing update. I'll look into that. Keep forgetting. He's really just a meat shield anyways.
Just remember that your followers gain 2.5 times normal values of primary stats. So what looks like a 100 vitality junk shield to you is a 250 vitality shield to him.
Just remember that your followers gain 2.5 times normal values of primary stats. So what looks like a 100 vitality junk shield to you is a 250 vitality shield to him.
It depends. You probably have to blow Spirit Walk to be able to use Soul Harvest which means you are sacrificing your best defensive ability for a bit more offense. If that works for you then do it. Personally I don't like to get that close to things so I keep Horrify (24 yrd range) for when things get too close to me. Horrify is amazing when you use it with Grasp. When the mobs get to the edge of your Grasp you can Horrify and they will run back the other way through Grasp. If you plan on this then it lets you sit there and just keep spamming them with darts. I do this all the time especially in choke points.
It depends. You probably have to blow Spirit Walk to be able to use Soul Harvest which means you are sacrificing your best defensive ability for a bit more offense. If that works for you then do it. Personally I don't like to get that close to things so I keep Horrify (24 yrd range) for when things get too close to me. Horrify is amazing when you use it with Grasp. When the mobs get to the edge of your Grasp you can Horrify and they will run back the other way through Grasp. If you plan on this then it lets you sit there and just keep spamming them with darts. I do this all the time especially in choke points.
Correct. Would have to burn Spirit Walk which is our best ability IMO for getting the hell out of dodge.
I tried the glass cannon route, it doesn't work. I can take a couple hits in A2 and you really need those if you plan on kiting anything.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It most definitely works, you just need a large amount of DPS to make it work.
The question is wheter the getting to that level of dps so you can ignore health is a better option than a good balance out of both dps and health. For the me the last option is more viable and it definately also works. Especially when you can survive those times when there is no possible way to not get hit once.
I tried the glass cannon route, it doesn't work. I can take a couple hits in A2 and you really need those if you plan on kiting anything.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It most definitely works, you just need a large amount of DPS to make it work.
The question is wheter the getting to that level of dps so you can ignore health is a better option than a good balance out of both dps and health. For the me the last option is more viable and it definately also works. Especially when you can survive those times when there is no possible way to not get hit once.
My thoughts exactly.
Tried glass cannon, died every 2 minutes. Sucked.
It definitely takes some getting used to. I guess I improved a lot from days of Act 2 goblin farming where I had about 8000 HP in my magic find set. I'm a professional lacuni juker. The biggest difference in the two methods is that glass cannon is cheaper and allows you to play in Act 3 and 4 where it takes a ton of gold to gear up defensively, and you will progress much slower.
Glasscannon is the way to go. Please ignore those saying to build defensibly unless they provide proof they are farming Act III easily. You die a lot, but so do other classes. Witch Doctors damage is so pathetic outside of Zombie Bears, that building Glasscannon is the only effective way our class can even hope to farm.
Best thing for Gear choices is to download the Wd spreadsheet. Very helpful and easy to use.
I will quote this for emphasis. I used the spreadsheet to plan out which of 5 potential weapons I wanted to bid on. They were all roughly equal in my eye, and in cost, but when I mathed it out with the spreadsheet the damage gain ranged from 7000 to 15000. I went with the 15000 one, won the auction, and it did in fact raise my damage by 15000. Good and helpful tool for making gear decisions.
glass cannon works fine you just dont get hit and you never die its really easy im sitting on 40k damage without soul harvest and i completely murder mobs before they even get the chance to think about attacking me.
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First post on the forum.
I'm running this Splinter build currently: (28k dps, 28k life)
http://us.battle.net...UkRX!XVW!aacZab
I sometimes play with a 60 Wizard, and he just demolishes me in damage, not to mention he's only like 2-3k dps higher than me. I realize our Witch Doctor class is tricky, but killing elites/champions in A2 is near impossible for me solo. Should I switch to bats? Change gear? I just spent like 800-1mil on new gear to try and make this Splinter build viable. Would dire bats with a 2h be better in A2? What am I doing wrong here? Maybe swap out Horrify for Soul Harvest for more damage? Hellllllp.
Trying to figure out what to do now. I have been farming Warden/Butcher for awhile and I don't seem to be getting any decent drops. It's definitely slow going. Any other farming spots I could look at?
I even took pics of my stats and gear (I know it's nothing great):
http://diablo3infernomode.blogspot.com/2012/05/witch-doctor-inferno-solo-build-and-act.html
I feel this is relevant because I had almost identical stats at that point in time. I used a slightly different build, but not really that different. I focused on control abilities, and Poison Darts just like you. How geared is your companion? In your screenshot it doesn't look like you are using one. I use the Templar and he has about 86k life which helps him to eat some hits for me and that let's me get a ton of darts off.
Honestly I found Act 2 very slow to progress through. I took my time, and in the desert there were some champion packs that I just couldn't kill. Those fallen elites that come in groups of 7 come to mind. I would recommend just trying to do like one or two quests, and then move on to some productive farming again. That was you are still able to spend some time progressing, but you are also spending some farming to upgrade your gear further and counter repair costs.
I wouldn't change your build either. I actually dropped Mass Confusion for Zombie Wall in my build, and that was the only difference. It's most likely just practice and patience. I don't think any of us walked in to Act 2 and stomped all over it. We cursed at the bees and the lacunis in the first canyon.
Thanks for your post. I get really irritated when I can't kill elites. You really have to slowly progress through A2 or you will get STOMPED.
I'll check out your blog. I run a templar, but he does need gearing update. I'll look into that. Keep forgetting. He's really just a meat shield anyways.
Didn't know that. Thanks for the info.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Correct. Would have to burn Spirit Walk which is our best ability IMO for getting the hell out of dodge.
It most definitely works, you just need a large amount of DPS to make it work.
My thoughts exactly.
Tried glass cannon, died every 2 minutes. Sucked.