Introduction
First, I want to start off by saying that this build is by no way suppose to be a "beat Inferno" build. This build is meant to be a little off course and a fun change to the typical WD builds. While I have tested it in Inferno, it is by no means the strongest build to clear the difficulty. However, it should be more than capable of taking on Normal and Nightmare and with the right tactics Hell.
When the Witch Doctor was first announced, all I thought about was pets and poison. The Diseased Zoo Keeper focuses on just that; poisoned animals to do your killing. With the use of five animal skills and plenty of poison imbuement, the character definitely lives up to his name.
Skills http://us.battle.net...WSYV!Zcd!ZbZZab
The main design behind the skill choice is both to chose summons that do not need to be constantly spawned and to add poison damage where ever possible.
Corpse Spiders (Spider Queen) - Corpse Spiders is normally a spammable attack but with the Spider Queen rune we get a skill that we can click once and let it do its thing plus we get added poison damage
Firebats (Plague Bats) - Firebats becomes your only skill that needs to be actively used constantly. It will also be your main source of direct damage. The Plague Bats rune is used to add additional poison damage to the attack.
Plague of Toads (Toad of Hugeness) - Plague of Toads naturally has poison damage to it so we can use the Toad of Hugeness rune to change the skill from something spammable to a persistent source of damage. We also get the added benefit that the giant toad removes attackers from the battle temporarily.
Locust Swarm (Devouring Swarm) - Locust swarm also has the original benefit of poison damage so here is a chance for us to get some mana regen back that all Witch Doctors need with the Devouring Swarm rune.
Summon Zombie Dogs (Rabid Dogs) - What is a Summon WD without his Zombie Dogs. With the Rabid Dogs rune we get the additional poison damage we are looking for with this build.
Sacrifice (Pride) - Used primarily for elites, Sacrifice can help get that extra umph of damage you may need. With the Pride rune, we get another chance to gain back some needed mana as well.
Passives
Jungle Fortitude - Helps you and your Zombie Dogs stay alive longer.
Bad Medicine - With Poison damage added to almost every attack we have, this will also help keep us alive for longer by reducing their damage.
Zombie Handler - Four Zombie Dogs are always better than three. Plus the 20% additional life will help them fight for longer.
Gear
Since this build is primarily for fun, gear is not as important compared to most builds. The obvious INT and VIT will give your WD the boost in damage and life it will need. There are really no other attributes you need to focus on based upon this skill choice.
Tactics
Now the important part, how to play the character. As mentioned, the ideal behind the class is poison animals you can summon once and let them do their magic.
You should always start with summoning your Zombie Dogs. Once entering any grouping, you then want to cast your other three summons; Corpse Spiders, Plague of Toads, and Locust Swarm. With these four summons out, they will attack anything in the area while you are left free to do other things.
Once all summons are casted, you can use your Firebats to focus damage on any one/group of monsters that need the extra attention. When fighting elites, Sacrifice can also come in handy to drop some heavy damage quickly. I would suggest making sure your CD on Summon Zombie Dogs is up before using this, however.
Pros and Cons
Given that this build is just for fun there are definitely some weaknesses to the build but there are also some advantages. The biggest advantage is the use of consistent summons. You do not have to constantly be micromanaging them. Click once in any grouping and they should last throughout the fight. With the use of Jungle Fortitude and Bad Medicine, paired with the use of summons survivability is actually pretty good as well since you won't be taking much damage. Lastly, you only need to be lvl 36 to have all of the runes available so you can play through all of Nightmare with this complete build.
The biggest disadvantage is a lack of direct damage. With only Firebats at your direct control, the spreading of damaging can be difficult. Poison deals a lot of damage but it is also over time so taking that into account takes some getting use to. The last problem, as with all WD, is resource management. Firebats is mana heavy so with little mana, there is not much you can do but sit back and watch your summons do everything.
looks like fun, its just so sad that dogs are so damn weak atm (playing a Pet CC WD myself so i know)
could be fun and all with a 2h mace, but unless you are running around finding big packs mana will be a huge problem, and with a 2h its not possible to stack up on mana regen.
i would personly take Hex over Toad, mainly for the reason of rares and elites cant be eaten by it.
other then that it would be a fun build to play.
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EU Season Achievement Ladder: Season 1 : #773, 7150/7880 | S2 : #742, 5970/8280 | S3 : #1000+, 810/980 | S4 #? 0/? |
I bookmarked this thread and will be using this build. I saw this topic as soon as you had posted it ScyberDragon but I wasn't in the mood to reply. I'm looking forward to playing my WD a lot more now, this is going to be fucking awesome!
Also, I see this build becoming much more viable when patch 1.0.4 hits.
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Jurassic World – 2015
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First, I want to start off by saying that this build is by no way suppose to be a "beat Inferno" build. This build is meant to be a little off course and a fun change to the typical WD builds. While I have tested it in Inferno, it is by no means the strongest build to clear the difficulty. However, it should be more than capable of taking on Normal and Nightmare and with the right tactics Hell.
When the Witch Doctor was first announced, all I thought about was pets and poison. The Diseased Zoo Keeper focuses on just that; poisoned animals to do your killing. With the use of five animal skills and plenty of poison imbuement, the character definitely lives up to his name.
Skills
http://us.battle.net...WSYV!Zcd!ZbZZab
The main design behind the skill choice is both to chose summons that do not need to be constantly spawned and to add poison damage where ever possible.
Corpse Spiders (Spider Queen) - Corpse Spiders is normally a spammable attack but with the Spider Queen rune we get a skill that we can click once and let it do its thing plus we get added poison damage
Firebats (Plague Bats) - Firebats becomes your only skill that needs to be actively used constantly. It will also be your main source of direct damage. The Plague Bats rune is used to add additional poison damage to the attack.
Plague of Toads (Toad of Hugeness) - Plague of Toads naturally has poison damage to it so we can use the Toad of Hugeness rune to change the skill from something spammable to a persistent source of damage. We also get the added benefit that the giant toad removes attackers from the battle temporarily.
Locust Swarm (Devouring Swarm) - Locust swarm also has the original benefit of poison damage so here is a chance for us to get some mana regen back that all Witch Doctors need with the Devouring Swarm rune.
Summon Zombie Dogs (Rabid Dogs) - What is a Summon WD without his Zombie Dogs. With the Rabid Dogs rune we get the additional poison damage we are looking for with this build.
Sacrifice (Pride) - Used primarily for elites, Sacrifice can help get that extra umph of damage you may need. With the Pride rune, we get another chance to gain back some needed mana as well.
Passives
Jungle Fortitude - Helps you and your Zombie Dogs stay alive longer.
Bad Medicine - With Poison damage added to almost every attack we have, this will also help keep us alive for longer by reducing their damage.
Zombie Handler - Four Zombie Dogs are always better than three. Plus the 20% additional life will help them fight for longer.
Gear
Since this build is primarily for fun, gear is not as important compared to most builds. The obvious INT and VIT will give your WD the boost in damage and life it will need. There are really no other attributes you need to focus on based upon this skill choice.
Tactics
Now the important part, how to play the character. As mentioned, the ideal behind the class is poison animals you can summon once and let them do their magic.
You should always start with summoning your Zombie Dogs. Once entering any grouping, you then want to cast your other three summons; Corpse Spiders, Plague of Toads, and Locust Swarm. With these four summons out, they will attack anything in the area while you are left free to do other things.
Once all summons are casted, you can use your Firebats to focus damage on any one/group of monsters that need the extra attention. When fighting elites, Sacrifice can also come in handy to drop some heavy damage quickly. I would suggest making sure your CD on Summon Zombie Dogs is up before using this, however.
Pros and Cons
Given that this build is just for fun there are definitely some weaknesses to the build but there are also some advantages. The biggest advantage is the use of consistent summons. You do not have to constantly be micromanaging them. Click once in any grouping and they should last throughout the fight. With the use of Jungle Fortitude and Bad Medicine, paired with the use of summons survivability is actually pretty good as well since you won't be taking much damage. Lastly, you only need to be lvl 36 to have all of the runes available so you can play through all of Nightmare with this complete build.
The biggest disadvantage is a lack of direct damage. With only Firebats at your direct control, the spreading of damaging can be difficult. Poison deals a lot of damage but it is also over time so taking that into account takes some getting use to. The last problem, as with all WD, is resource management. Firebats is mana heavy so with little mana, there is not much you can do but sit back and watch your summons do everything.
Game Play
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could be fun and all with a 2h mace, but unless you are running around finding big packs mana will be a huge problem, and with a 2h its not possible to stack up on mana regen.
i would personly take Hex over Toad, mainly for the reason of rares and elites cant be eaten by it.
other then that it would be a fun build to play.
EU Season Achievement Ladder: Season 1 : #773, 7150/7880 | S2 : #742, 5970/8280 | S3 : #1000+, 810/980 | S4 #? 0/? |
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
Also, I see this build becoming much more viable when patch 1.0.4 hits.