Intro:
After lurking around, trying all the various pet / jade spirit dot builds, I recently started experimenting with alternatives to play with. IMO, pet build is strong but I feel like I'm cheesing the game because all I do in T6 is send my army forward and dodge damage. Jade dot build packs punch with it's combo and is certainly more fun to play but like many others have noted, they seem to be more fragile.
The other thing I wanted to accomplish was to feel tanky without using the Uhkapian Serpent + Zombie Dog combo.
TMF was also strong to play with , having high single target damage but I felt that in high torments, during the big group fights it didn't help much. The big dog would usually wander around dishing out huge hits but overall I still felt my aoe clear speed was too slow.
The build below is still new and has room for improvement, but I at least feel it's a fun alternative to play.
The Build:
Key Items Rhen'ho Flayer Not very original, but it is a very strong item.
The Grin Reaper The heart of the build. After the buff, allows mimics to cast zombie bears, pirahnadoes and even toads to greatly increase your output.
4/6 of Jade set would help as well (or 3/6 and RORG). My items are not fully optimized yet (I haven't sorted out + skill damage) but was sufficient for testing gameplay.
Skills
Aiming to be viable in higher levels of torment, the build needed to balance damage output as well as defense.
Actives
Primary : Plague of Toads -
Addling Toads (also viable with Toad Affinity for more mana but less CC)
Secondary : Zombie Bears -
High Damage but suffers from high mana cost / low range. Is the reason defense is necessary.
1: Pirahnas : Pirahnado -
Arguably one of the best spells WD's have. CC's mobs / increases damage / holds them in place for bears
2: Soul Harvest : Siphon -
Increases damage output as well as heals on demand when needed. Works well with Jaunt to get in range and out.
3: Horrify : Frightening Aspect
Another strong defensive skill. Fears enemies in range and doubles your armor. Since you will be in close quarters for bears, usually able to use this to full effect.
4: Spirit Walk : Jaunt
High mobility and near invincibility for 3 seconds. Invaluable for getting out of the worst situations. In many cases you can spirit walk to channel bears without a care.
Passives
Jungle Fortitude - (Want to try Bad Medicine but unsure if it will prevent AoE damage)
Not as good as Wizard's Blur since we have no pets but still good for defence.
Grave Injustice -
Extremely valuable for rotating our defensive cooldowns. Is the reason we can survive so long in close range.
Pierce the Veil -
Although it increases the cost of Bears, more damage in a shorter time is always good.
Vision Quest -
When out of mana, toad spam replenishes mana faster. Toads also stay around a bit longer after cast, keeping the buff up for a few more seconds.
Stats:
I would try to get + Mana Regen on Helm / Weap / Mojo.
Regular stats like Poison Damage, Attack speed, Crit chance and Crit Damage.
Cost reduction or cooldown reduction are also nice.
For Defensive stats, I would balance it out, slightly in favour of armor since we get all resist from Int already.
Nothing out of the ordinary for paragon.
Primary : Movement speed until 25% > Int
Offense : (Crit Chance/ Crit Damage / Attack Speed) > Cooldown Reduction
Defense : Armor > All Resist > Life %
Utility : Cost Reduction > Life on Hit > Area Damage > Goldfind
Playstyle:
Unfortunately, I do not have any videos for you. The build revolves around pirahnado and bears. When out of mana or not in bear position, toad spam to reduce damage to the team (charms or bad medicine if you took it) . Grin Reaper's mimics do a great job of spamming pirahnadoes, bears, and extra toads. They even horrify from time to time but usually when you cast it too, so only slightly extra radius from that.
When you are in close quarters, cycle Horrify / Spirit Walk / Pirahnado to stay alive. During the bear spam, mobs usually die and reduce your cooldowns via Grave Injustice.
I just started playing around with this build in t5 but I do enjoy playing it as I find it more fast paced and not as "boring" to play. It is far from complete, but I will modify it as I go along. Thank you.
Because efficiency is the only thing that matters, right? Sigh.
Anyway, looks like a fun build, I'll take a look at my stashed gear and might try it later. I find the pet build way too boring and annoying because of the bad pet AI (watching pets munch through weak mobs while the summoners and/or elites are *right there* is infuriating), and while I greatly enjoy the dot build I have been extremely unlucky and cannot get a Quetzal helm at all (seriously, Kadala gave me 4 masks of Jeram and no quetzal so far), it might be an interesting variation. Keep it up!
i have tried a similar build since i am sick of pets and specially jade. it is okay for solo, and i usually sit at 1.5ish mil dps without pierce the veil. dont need crazy amounts of defensive stats nor fear+armor rune
in a group, it doesnt perform well.mobs die either too fast or too slow and you get eventually creamed. if LS was still around, this would be awesome.
with zuni's and jade's 2nd set bonus + vision quest i dont run out of mana.. AT ALL.
the only other specs i have found viable are perma big bad voodo via weapon + cooldowns OR ranged fetishes via helm + darts with splinter rune.
Intro:
After lurking around, trying all the various pet / jade spirit dot builds, I recently started experimenting with alternatives to play with. IMO, pet build is strong but I feel like I'm cheesing the game because all I do in T6 is send my army forward and dodge damage. Jade dot build packs punch with it's combo and is certainly more fun to play but like many others have noted, they seem to be more fragile.
The other thing I wanted to accomplish was to feel tanky without using the Uhkapian Serpent + Zombie Dog combo.
TMF was also strong to play with , having high single target damage but I felt that in high torments, during the big group fights it didn't help much. The big dog would usually wander around dishing out huge hits but overall I still felt my aoe clear speed was too slow.
The build below is still new and has room for improvement, but I at least feel it's a fun alternative to play.
The Build:
Key Items
Rhen'ho Flayer Not very original, but it is a very strong item.
The Grin Reaper The heart of the build. After the buff, allows mimics to cast zombie bears, pirahnadoes and even toads to greatly increase your output.
4/6 of Jade set would help as well (or 3/6 and RORG). My items are not fully optimized yet (I haven't sorted out + skill damage) but was sufficient for testing gameplay.
Other helpful items are :
String of Ears
3 piece Aughilid's Bonus
Thing of the Deep
Skills
Aiming to be viable in higher levels of torment, the build needed to balance damage output as well as defense.
Actives
Primary : Plague of Toads -
Addling Toads (also viable with Toad Affinity for more mana but less CC)
Secondary : Zombie Bears -
High Damage but suffers from high mana cost / low range. Is the reason defense is necessary.
1: Pirahnas : Pirahnado -
Arguably one of the best spells WD's have. CC's mobs / increases damage / holds them in place for bears
2: Soul Harvest : Siphon -
Increases damage output as well as heals on demand when needed. Works well with Jaunt to get in range and out.
3: Horrify : Frightening Aspect
Another strong defensive skill. Fears enemies in range and doubles your armor. Since you will be in close quarters for bears, usually able to use this to full effect.
4: Spirit Walk : Jaunt
High mobility and near invincibility for 3 seconds. Invaluable for getting out of the worst situations. In many cases you can spirit walk to channel bears without a care.
Passives
Jungle Fortitude - (Want to try Bad Medicine but unsure if it will prevent AoE damage)
Not as good as Wizard's Blur since we have no pets but still good for defence.
Grave Injustice -
Extremely valuable for rotating our defensive cooldowns. Is the reason we can survive so long in close range.
Pierce the Veil -
Although it increases the cost of Bears, more damage in a shorter time is always good.
Vision Quest -
When out of mana, toad spam replenishes mana faster. Toads also stay around a bit longer after cast, keeping the buff up for a few more seconds.
Stats:
I would try to get + Mana Regen on Helm / Weap / Mojo.
Regular stats like Poison Damage, Attack speed, Crit chance and Crit Damage.
Cost reduction or cooldown reduction are also nice.
For Defensive stats, I would balance it out, slightly in favour of armor since we get all resist from Int already.
Nothing out of the ordinary for paragon.
Primary : Movement speed until 25% > Int
Offense : (Crit Chance/ Crit Damage / Attack Speed) > Cooldown Reduction
Defense : Armor > All Resist > Life %
Utility : Cost Reduction > Life on Hit > Area Damage > Goldfind
Playstyle:
Unfortunately, I do not have any videos for you. The build revolves around pirahnado and bears. When out of mana or not in bear position, toad spam to reduce damage to the team (charms or bad medicine if you took it) . Grin Reaper's mimics do a great job of spamming pirahnadoes, bears, and extra toads. They even horrify from time to time but usually when you cast it too, so only slightly extra radius from that.
When you are in close quarters, cycle Horrify / Spirit Walk / Pirahnado to stay alive. During the bear spam, mobs usually die and reduce your cooldowns via Grave Injustice.
I just started playing around with this build in t5 but I do enjoy playing it as I find it more fast paced and not as "boring" to play. It is far from complete, but I will modify it as I go along. Thank you.
Profile Link : http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/ff56k2-1792/hero/48597617
Anyway, looks like a fun build, I'll take a look at my stashed gear and might try it later. I find the pet build way too boring and annoying because of the bad pet AI (watching pets munch through weak mobs while the summoners and/or elites are *right there* is infuriating), and while I greatly enjoy the dot build I have been extremely unlucky and cannot get a Quetzal helm at all (seriously, Kadala gave me 4 masks of Jeram and no quetzal so far), it might be an interesting variation. Keep it up!
in a group, it doesnt perform well.mobs die either too fast or too slow and you get eventually creamed. if LS was still around, this would be awesome.
with zuni's and jade's 2nd set bonus + vision quest i dont run out of mana.. AT ALL.
the only other specs i have found viable are perma big bad voodo via weapon + cooldowns OR ranged fetishes via helm + darts with splinter rune.
gl with this.