I run a similar build but I use Blood Ritual, Grave Injustice, and Gruesome Feast.
The only difference, in terms of mana efficiency, is that I typically use one mana regeneration item, which isn't bad because I have a respectable, although not uber, Thing of the Deep and I still very much appreciate the 20 yard pickup radius.
I feel that the damage buff from running Gruesome Feast (over something like Spiritual Attunement) is very much worth that single regen item. I do find that Cloud of Bats carries a higher chance to die than other WD builds, but I'm really having a ton of fun with it because it really matches my preferred playstyle.
Blood Ritual synergizes quite well with this build, though, since it really cuts into the harsh initial cast cost, providing efficiency and survivability (1000 life/sec at 50k HPs is nothing to sneeze at). That being said, has anyone experimented with mana reduction to Firebats items and Life on Hit? It seems to me that Cloud of Bats could possibly work quite well with LoH.
Uhm, no mana reg items, but you still have full Zunimassa set
Also this. I did a bears build with Zuni 4pc and I had trouble OOMing with that. If you lose the 4pc you sure will be OOMing if you have to move-cast-move-cast-move-cast like some champ/rare packs require.
The general idea of buffed Firebats is legit, though. You just really have to acclimate yourself to the playstyle, especially for Cloud of Bats, as it basically makes you a melee toon.
I run a similar build but I use Blood Ritual, Grave Injustice, and Gruesome Feast.
The only difference, in terms of mana efficiency, is that I typically use one mana regeneration item, which isn't bad because I have a respectable, although not uber, Thing of the Deep and I still very much appreciate the 20 yard pickup radius.
I feel that the damage buff from running Gruesome Feast (over something like Spiritual Attunement) is very much worth that single regen item. I do find that Cloud of Bats carries a higher chance to die than other WD builds, but I'm really having a ton of fun with it because it really matches my preferred playstyle.
Blood Ritual synergizes quite well with this build, though, since it really cuts into the harsh initial cast cost, providing efficiency and survivability (1000 life/sec at 50k HPs is nothing to sneeze at). That being said, has anyone experimented with mana reduction to Firebats items and Life on Hit? It seems to me that Cloud of Bats could possibly work quite well with LoH.
Uhm, no mana reg items, but you still have full Zunimassa set
Also this. I did a bears build with Zuni 4pc and I had trouble OOMing with that. If you lose the 4pc you sure will be OOMing if you have to move-cast-move-cast-move-cast like some champ/rare packs require.
The general idea of buffed Firebats is legit, though. You just really have to acclimate yourself to the playstyle, especially for Cloud of Bats, as it basically makes you a melee toon.
I've started toying with cloud of bats builds... My current iteration is my favorite-- I'll probably write up a guide about it.
I'm playing solely on mp 10- I use 4p Zuni and life steal.... I pretty much am invincible. While I use neither gruesome feast nor grave injustice, I find the build amazingly efficient. Ideally, whenever I can use some of my gold again, I want to get a -bats/crit visage, and an amazing Zuni mojo with +spirit barrage.
Right now, I can get rush of essence going and be almost mana neutral with bats.
From some testin last night-- I'm getting about 120m xp an hour, but I need to do more runs to make sure.
Great patch, and great reworked good dps ability for us. I run similar build but i discovered that dogs at mp10 are less efficent then having Mass Confuse - Paranoia, midrange cooldown and massive 20% extra damage. And like shaggy said Blood Ritual, Grave Injustice, and Gruesome Feast makes wonders to mana and dps.
On the minus note the posision is even more important then with beers.
It would be cool if someone get this spec working with Pierce of Vail.
I got bats to work with PTV but I had to use a bats soj, spiritual attunement, blood ritual. I use 4 piece zunis with a mana regen mojo. Can channel almost endlessly.
yeah :D!
The only difference, in terms of mana efficiency, is that I typically use one mana regeneration item, which isn't bad because I have a respectable, although not uber, Thing of the Deep and I still very much appreciate the 20 yard pickup radius.
I feel that the damage buff from running Gruesome Feast (over something like Spiritual Attunement) is very much worth that single regen item. I do find that Cloud of Bats carries a higher chance to die than other WD builds, but I'm really having a ton of fun with it because it really matches my preferred playstyle.
Blood Ritual synergizes quite well with this build, though, since it really cuts into the harsh initial cast cost, providing efficiency and survivability (1000 life/sec at 50k HPs is nothing to sneeze at). That being said, has anyone experimented with mana reduction to Firebats items and Life on Hit? It seems to me that Cloud of Bats could possibly work quite well with LoH.
EDIT
Also this. I did a bears build with Zuni 4pc and I had trouble OOMing with that. If you lose the 4pc you sure will be OOMing if you have to move-cast-move-cast-move-cast like some champ/rare packs require.
The general idea of buffed Firebats is legit, though. You just really have to acclimate yourself to the playstyle, especially for Cloud of Bats, as it basically makes you a melee toon.
I'm actually using a Visage helm, and the build works perfectly.
xD
I've started toying with cloud of bats builds... My current iteration is my favorite-- I'll probably write up a guide about it.
I'm playing solely on mp 10- I use 4p Zuni and life steal.... I pretty much am invincible. While I use neither gruesome feast nor grave injustice, I find the build amazingly efficient. Ideally, whenever I can use some of my gold again, I want to get a -bats/crit visage, and an amazing Zuni mojo with +spirit barrage.
Right now, I can get rush of essence going and be almost mana neutral with bats.
From some testin last night-- I'm getting about 120m xp an hour, but I need to do more runs to make sure.
DiabloProgress: http://www.diabloprogress.com/hero/mannequin-1116/Stitches/14628018
I got bats to work with PTV but I had to use a bats soj, spiritual attunement, blood ritual. I use 4 piece zunis with a mana regen mojo. Can channel almost endlessly.
^^