So I posted a video over a year ago about my build decisions and such that got featured on this site, which was pretty fun. But then blizzard changed how Vision Quest worked and it sort of destroyed my build and I had moved on to other games anyway. (old video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hItesxJhDfM)
I went back to Diablo 3 about a month ago to see where the game sat and I was blown away by the improvements. I got a ridiculous legendary drop in my first play session and sold it on AH for 2 billion gold...which seemed like an unimaginable amount of gold back when I was playing the game before.
I did a LOT of research on gear and approaches to playing WD and I settled on a Zombie Bears build. I played around a lot of with cloud of bats and just didn't love it, as much as I loved Dire Bats before.
Here's the gear I got: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Yorric-2361/hero/37696441 (I have about 56k vitality, 680 all resist, and 240k dps unbuffed--please note I have a Skorn with lots of Life Steal for reflect dmg packs and a one-hander/mojo for everything else--if you see the Skorn it's becuase the last thing I killed before logging off had reflect dmg--the other arrangement is much better and faster!)
Basically the build is a combination of some other builds I saw online (I started with a bears+circle of life/0 dogs build and LOVED IT but would run out of mana on packs in mp10, so I switched to widowmakers). I spam bats and shoot out a widowmaker at the attack speed (basically, hold down right mouse button at all times and spamming left mouse button). I move for things like desecration and poison, and things like the sludge from Heralds and the impact from large mobs, but otherwise it's a very "steamroll" build.
It's extremely easy to spam bears and keep mana up while playing against pretty much any pack, but I'm not loving the build against mp10 (and maybe MP9, I tend to play MP8) bosses. Given the GEAR I have (I am not interested in substantially different gear because I haven't had another perfect drop like the Skorn I sold and don't have the money for great other gear) are there other builds I could explore that might work better on bosses? Please take into account my life steal and life on hit (which I very much need and cannot lose) and my pickup radius (which must also be 14 or more). My Scoundrel follow is almost ridiculously helpful, but I can still get screwed by bosses like The Siegebreaker (who I could kill before with ease).
Certain parts of Act III are just pretty tough, especially the beginning. At this point with my gear it's not hard, but I literally only did the keep ONCE to get to the much easier open area of the field and the bridge up to siegebreaker and beyond. That, to me at least, was the best place to farm for drops that could fund my AH purchases.
You definitely need to get good at dodging arrows--I have about 500 all resist now (580 with a 5 stack of soul harvest) and can take 6-8 of them which is nice, but early on I could only take 2-3 which is okay on the field but very hard in the closed-off keep. Your HP is quite high, much higher than mine--I think you could sacrifice some vit for more AR (check your effective health on a calculator of course, but your hp seems high for your amount of AR).
You can see videos of me farming Act III and some mobs in Act IV on my Youtube channel:
Why are you using bats in act 1? I understand acts 2-4, as I use the same build there.. but when I go back to faceroll act 1 (perhaps to farm pots, or with lesser geared friends) I almost always run with pile-on and bears. Bears just do way more dmg and act 1 is super easy to just face tank and use health globes dropping from massive bear dmg to keep you alive.
Fair question. I guess I just find that holding down bears is boring, and I've developed a proficiency using bats. It's just a more active playsyle/feel to me. To be honest, I never even step foot in act I anymore since I'm able to do Act III now with only very rare deaths. When I go back I promise I'll give it a try.
Quick question. Is anyone using this build and is it viable? I saw a WD playing it and it looked fun. I have tried it out, and I go oom when spamming bats, and then switch to darts until I can line up my four cools again to proc VQ. I am using Grasp, Hex, Walk, Harvest, Bats, and Darts. I am at 28k dps at the moment.
Is this build viable? I asked someone and they told me to drop Darts and get some mana regen gear. He said the point is to spam bats without going oom. I thought the point was to get a really good nuke in Bats, and still being able to put out very good damage with splinters when you can't spam bats? I guess if you could just go with bats and do a bunch of damage, then why takes darts? It would take regearing, though. At the moment, it seems like a decent build kinda but wondering if there is any other feedback on it?
Hey man...I run a bats build that I've written about quite extensively on these forums (Using Vision Quest with Short CD's: How it's Supposed to Work). Technically, you're right: the point (or so it seems) is to use a secondary spell (Bats) when you have the mana and use the primary spell when you're low (darts). The issue with this on a Witch Doctor is our mana regen mechanic--even with 3 mana regen pieces you're looking at 53 or so mana/second. But you're not even getting that full regen because you'll be spamming darts while waiting for your cooldowns to align. I am sure there is a very specific way to make it work, but using two damage spells is a very challenging way to play with vision quest: the mana game is just too unforgiving, as you'll be forced to blow Spirit Walk to trigger Vision Quest instead of being able to save it for emergencies.
Vision Quest SHINES with mana regen gear. I only need two pieces (+22 regen) and that gives me 42 mana regen per second. When vision quest triggers, my regen is 126/second which nearly pays for a bats cast each second (I use Pierce the Veil so Bats are more expensive).
I've got about 300% crit dmg and 600-700resists, ~42k hp. I don't really like to play glass cannon where every little mob can kill you (like the little shadow ones in act 4). I sacrificed resists on gloves and chest coz I think it's not worth to lose dps from this piece of gear and I've never had on rings/amulet and helm (I think mana regen+crit+socket+decent int>resists- really hard to find one with good stats +resists even if you have gold). I've got weapon only 820dps but with 279intellect+130% crit dmg (only 70%gem). Overall I have just a bit more than 2k int.
I've been playing around with the second dps skill and I'm still not decided which one is the best fetish +ambush pretty cool but cd is way too long which makes it a bit useless sometimes. Pile on good dmg (very often ~1.5mln), short cd, hard to hit sometimes:/ (especially while running) for the moment (while playing with barb) I'm going to use vodoo+mana coz even with vision on+low mana regen you can't spam bats as fast as your attack speed allows you to (still can hear my char comments about no mana).
ROFL. Yeah...you WAY WAY outgear me. I have like 1300 intellect, 50% crit chance, 280% crit damage, 32k hp, 500 all resist, 3300 armor--I have absolutely no perfect pieces, so not one thing that has crit/crit dmg/int/all resist/vitality--I always have to sacrifice one or even two stats because I can't afford better. You should make some videos of you tearing it up--it must be insane, because right now about 95% of the game feels pretty faceroll to me (there are obviously some very difficult packs still, but that's the nature of RNG!!) so it must be cake for you. At this point each legitimate upgrade for me averages 30 million and I just don't have the luck with awesome drops to support that kind of cost very often (the last upgrade I got was an amulet three weeks ago--and I'm still sitting under 3 million gold because i don't have much time to play and I never get good drops when I do).
Yes, the guys that go into their shells and barely take any damage. The problem is that they're really fast even without a fast affix + they hit like trucks + hex doesn't work on them.
In the places I farm I almost never come upon elite versions. I will try to find a fast version--I assume they can be found in the keep / bunker?
yup there's plenty of them almost 100% chance elites in the bunker. Sometimes I have 2 elites/champions with these monesters. It is very annoying.
I've been using your build for some time and it's way better than splinters which seems very very slow to kill anything. Now with my gear I've got bat crits close to 400k (45%crit chance), adding mana regen makes me feel like I added attack speed which is pretty cool (50mana regen atm).
Wow dude--400k bats crits! That's very impressive you must have a good chunk more intellect than I've managed to get on my gear (my bats crit around 280, highest ones are in the low 300's). Are your resists also sufficiently high? I just find that gear with good crit and crit damage doesn't often ALSO have good intellect and All Resist. And since I had to prioritize All Resist for act III/act iv/diablo, i sacrificed lots of intellect. Maybe I should pick up a few REALLY high int roll items like legs/chest/belt/shoulders to farm act I super fast.
Yes, the guys that go into their shells and barely take any damage. The problem is that they're really fast even without a fast affix + they hit like trucks + hex doesn't work on them.
In the places I farm I almost never come upon elite versions. I will try to find a fast version--I assume they can be found in the keep / bunker?
First of all, great guide Yorricman! I've been using VQ/bears and have been cruising through act 1, also act 2 started working for me when getting better gear. I started getting trouble with some elite packs in act 3 though, and decided to try your build out, as it seemed key to get some distance between yourself and certain mobs. Therefor I spent pretty much all my cash on yesterday on items for this build, and am quite pleased with the result.
The elite packs in act 3 felt alot more manageable, and I'm not even close in terms of gear, to what this build can accomplish (currently 25% crit, 150% more crit dmg).
However last night i ran into them big fast mobs in the fortified bunker which basicly 1-2 hits me to death and has like 500% walking speed. I have alot to learn about how to make this build work for me perfectly, but this is step 1 for me. I tried making them stuck in terrain, but often i cant hit them with dire bats from there. How do you handle these mobs? Didn't see them in any of your videos, maybe i missed it.
Help is greatly appreciated
Fast is a problem for sure, and dire bats is certainly weaker in the first part of Act III because of LoS issues. The most effective way to kill fast mobs is to:
(1) 12% movement speed is not good enough in Act III against fast affix--it's worth pushing that up to 18%-19% (this may require buying some pants JUST for fast affix mobs).
(2) Try and split up the group so you're only taking dmg from one elite instead of 3-4....your hex will keep it down most of the time and you can burn it down (this is where jinx shines)
(3) Just get more dps. Act III requires a LOT of dps to "feel right". It takes a long time to get to that threshold--you definitely need 30k+ dps, and much more is desirable so you can get those packs down fast before they get to you.
You're right about keeping certain mobs at a distance. Heralds of Pestalence are prime examples, but those awful birds in Act III and the Fire Mages--keep them at max distance from your bats and just spam until they are dead. Basically anything with its own projectile (spear throwers, fireball throwers). All Resist also makes a HUGE difference in Act III after 1.0.3. I was a glass cannon before 1.0.3 and could only take 1-2 spears before I died or triggered spirit vessel. Now I can take 6-8--this make a huge difference in your ability to kind of face tank some white mobs and kill them before they have a chance to kill you (life leech/life on hit is good for this--even a little bit makes a big difference).
That said, I I won't lie--there are some elites that are just close to impossible not to die on a few times with this build--I assume tanking them is the only way to survive without dying solo. These include:
(1) Phase Beasts with teleport and illusionist (act III)
(2) Corruptors with Fast or Teleport (act IV)
If you can give me the name of the mobs you're having trouble with I will hunt them down and put up a video for you showing my strategy for killing them. Hope it helps.
I think he's talking about the giant guys that run through doorways and break them. The elite version of them is probably my least favorite mob in the area that I typically farm (siegebreaker farm).
The best advice I can give you is zombie wall. They cannot be hexed and they run right through grasp in under a second so yeah... zombie wall has been the only solution I could find. If you have enough defensive stats it can help to equip a shield as well... but typically I just burn them down. Sometimes you can also get them stuck in a doorway but I haven't found a good way to do that reliably... it just happens sometimes.
Are you talking about the guys that hunker down and hugely increase their defenses? When they have a fast affix they go really really fast? Is that what you mean?
First of all, great guide Yorricman! I've been using VQ/bears and have been cruising through act 1, also act 2 started working for me when getting better gear. I started getting trouble with some elite packs in act 3 though, and decided to try your build out, as it seemed key to get some distance between yourself and certain mobs. Therefor I spent pretty much all my cash on yesterday on items for this build, and am quite pleased with the result.
The elite packs in act 3 felt alot more manageable, and I'm not even close in terms of gear, to what this build can accomplish (currently 25% crit, 150% more crit dmg).
However last night i ran into them big fast mobs in the fortified bunker which basicly 1-2 hits me to death and has like 500% walking speed. I have alot to learn about how to make this build work for me perfectly, but this is step 1 for me. I tried making them stuck in terrain, but often i cant hit them with dire bats from there. How do you handle these mobs? Didn't see them in any of your videos, maybe i missed it.
Help is greatly appreciated
Fast is a problem for sure, and dire bats is certainly weaker in the first part of Act III because of LoS issues. The most effective way to kill fast mobs is to:
(1) 12% movement speed is not good enough in Act III against fast affix--it's worth pushing that up to 18%-19% (this may require buying some pants JUST for fast affix mobs).
(2) Try and split up the group so you're only taking dmg from one elite instead of 3-4....your hex will keep it down most of the time and you can burn it down (this is where jinx shines)
(3) Just get more dps. Act III requires a LOT of dps to "feel right". It takes a long time to get to that threshold--you definitely need 30k+ dps, and much more is desirable so you can get those packs down fast before they get to you.
You're right about keeping certain mobs at a distance. Heralds of Pestalence are prime examples, but those awful birds in Act III and the Fire Mages--keep them at max distance from your bats and just spam until they are dead. Basically anything with its own projectile (spear throwers, fireball throwers). All Resist also makes a HUGE difference in Act III after 1.0.3. I was a glass cannon before 1.0.3 and could only take 1-2 spears before I died or triggered spirit vessel. Now I can take 6-8--this make a huge difference in your ability to kind of face tank some white mobs and kill them before they have a chance to kill you (life leech/life on hit is good for this--even a little bit makes a big difference).
That said, I I won't lie--there are some elites that are just close to impossible not to die on a few times with this build--I assume tanking them is the only way to survive without dying solo. These include:
(1) Phase Beasts with teleport and illusionist (act III)
(2) Corruptors with Fast or Teleport (act IV)
If you can give me the name of the mobs you're having trouble with I will hunt them down and put up a video for you showing my strategy for killing them. Hope it helps.
The one tough confrontation for this build happens to be barrels.
LOL good one.
Actually, the heads that drop off those zombies in Act I are also very annoying because the bats go right over them--I have to kill them with grasp (or just ignore them lol).
I do like this build alot, however I think you need wall of zombies to even consider it as a multiplayer build.
I imagine I would make A LOT of changes for a PvP situation--in fact, I doubt even Dire Bats will be viable for that because they move too slowly. But we'll see--if your opponent has poor defenses, you can spirit walk-->spam bats in their face--GG insta death.
Just some thoughts about the support skills in a bats build...
I think you're better off getting 30 regen from gear once you can afford it and dropping Honored Guest for Jaunt. You need ~50 regen with a 1.5 weapon to use it with PtV I think.
Also, once you feel comfortable it's better to get ZW as your 5th ability I think. Having 5 short cds requires more work definitely, but it's the better build overall compared to getting Big Bad Voodoo or Fetish Army. I do wonder if Ghost Trance would be good vs reflect packs though. But honestly if you can just get a good LoH amulet you don't need to get Hedge Magic or Ghost Trance as much, though Hedge Magic is kind of nice and you don't really need the extra 10% from Jinx. Mass Confusion can also be really good as your 5th ability, possibly better than ZW actually if you don't mind running in to use it.
I still question if SH is really the way to go vs getting Horrify, too. If you don't need the heal as much, is it really worth having to run in every 30 sec to get like 2-3 stacks a lot of the time? Not so sure.
Where you wouldn't have to be close to enemies ever and would use Horrify for Vortex, but still get the run speed when trying to keep VQ up. And then use Hex for Teleporters with both GotD and ZW to slow enemies down and SW for emergencies.
I appreciate your thoughts and some of these things I actually already do! For example, in acts I and II I always run with Zombie Wall - Pile On instead of Fetishes--it can one shot many act I elites and take most Act II elites down to under 10% hp (it does 1 million-1.5 million dmg when it crits). I never claimed this build was viable for PvP and I would definitely use Wall or something else other than Fetishes for PvP.
This is an old post also--if you watch my videos at youtube (user name Yorricman) you'll see that I use Jinx now instead of Hedge Magic on Hex. I like Soul Harvest too much for the heal and for the ABSURD damage boost it gives me--remember, I have prioritized crit and crit dmg even over intellect and I only have like 1300 intellect natively--so the Soul Harvest makes an enormous difference (my dps on the character sheet goes from 50k to over 75k with a 5 stack...)
As for the LoH amulet, I spent 30 million on a 8% crit chance/50% crit dmg/100 intellect/soceted/500 life per kill amulet--I'm not going to be in the market for another one in a while. This makes reflects damage mobs with illusionist VERY easy because so many die over and over that you stay healed up fine. Do I wish it was life on hit? Yes...but then it would have been 100 million gold! ;-)
I cant agree with this build. After reading your post and watching the video i most say that i think a Splinter build is stronger.
My WD is on HC and currently in act3, to compare with your hero mine got alot more ehp and less dmg. The reason why I dont like this build is that it requires u to get mana reg items and need to have 4 spells on cd for the build to work correctly.
If u instead stick with crit-hit and dmg while using splinters the dmg is still pretty sick. I can get like 50k-60k crits with each hit and u fire away 3 of those every attack. The way I fixed the problem with horde/inv mobs is geting the rune fetisch ambush (250 wepdmg for each fetish u spawn). If u are lucky that nasty thing can almost 1-shot an elite pack in act1 (having ca 35k dps on my wd).
Cant rly dig deeper and explain my thoughts more atm cause im at work but this is just short why i think the splinter build is superior.
Let me know how Act III works all the way through. I"ll post a video of my build in Act III and see how you think it compares to yours. The drawback of my build compared to a darts build is that darts are superior for boss kills--but for me, dire bats make everything else go so fast that it's worth slower kills on bosses to use it for elites/champions/white mobs.
What you say about VQ and four CD's is definitely true if you only have four CD spells, but as I explain, when you use FIVE CD spells you never, ever have to worry about that clutch ability being on CD when you need it (aka, Spirit Walk). But it's a bit of a juggle and it definitely takes some getting used to. Once you do, it's a very, very powerful build.
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I went back to Diablo 3 about a month ago to see where the game sat and I was blown away by the improvements. I got a ridiculous legendary drop in my first play session and sold it on AH for 2 billion gold...which seemed like an unimaginable amount of gold back when I was playing the game before.
I did a LOT of research on gear and approaches to playing WD and I settled on a Zombie Bears build. I played around a lot of with cloud of bats and just didn't love it, as much as I loved Dire Bats before.
Here's the build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#bfdUjQ!UYT!bccZYb
Here's the gear I got: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Yorric-2361/hero/37696441 (I have about 56k vitality, 680 all resist, and 240k dps unbuffed--please note I have a Skorn with lots of Life Steal for reflect dmg packs and a one-hander/mojo for everything else--if you see the Skorn it's becuase the last thing I killed before logging off had reflect dmg--the other arrangement is much better and faster!)
Basically the build is a combination of some other builds I saw online (I started with a bears+circle of life/0 dogs build and LOVED IT but would run out of mana on packs in mp10, so I switched to widowmakers). I spam bats and shoot out a widowmaker at the attack speed (basically, hold down right mouse button at all times and spamming left mouse button). I move for things like desecration and poison, and things like the sludge from Heralds and the impact from large mobs, but otherwise it's a very "steamroll" build.
It's extremely easy to spam bears and keep mana up while playing against pretty much any pack, but I'm not loving the build against mp10 (and maybe MP9, I tend to play MP8) bosses. Given the GEAR I have (I am not interested in substantially different gear because I haven't had another perfect drop like the Skorn I sold and don't have the money for great other gear) are there other builds I could explore that might work better on bosses? Please take into account my life steal and life on hit (which I very much need and cannot lose) and my pickup radius (which must also be 14 or more). My Scoundrel follow is almost ridiculously helpful, but I can still get screwed by bosses like The Siegebreaker (who I could kill before with ease).
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Certain parts of Act III are just pretty tough, especially the beginning. At this point with my gear it's not hard, but I literally only did the keep ONCE to get to the much easier open area of the field and the bridge up to siegebreaker and beyond. That, to me at least, was the best place to farm for drops that could fund my AH purchases.
You definitely need to get good at dodging arrows--I have about 500 all resist now (580 with a 5 stack of soul harvest) and can take 6-8 of them which is nice, but early on I could only take 2-3 which is okay on the field but very hard in the closed-off keep. Your HP is quite high, much higher than mine--I think you could sacrifice some vit for more AR (check your effective health on a calculator of course, but your hp seems high for your amount of AR).
You can see videos of me farming Act III and some mobs in Act IV on my Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/yorricman?feature=results_main
I'll work on gear pictures but I'm kind of really into The Secret World right now...I'll get around to it.
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Fair question. I guess I just find that holding down bears is boring, and I've developed a proficiency using bats. It's just a more active playsyle/feel to me. To be honest, I never even step foot in act I anymore since I'm able to do Act III now with only very rare deaths. When I go back I promise I'll give it a try.
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Hey man...I run a bats build that I've written about quite extensively on these forums (Using Vision Quest with Short CD's: How it's Supposed to Work). Technically, you're right: the point (or so it seems) is to use a secondary spell (Bats) when you have the mana and use the primary spell when you're low (darts). The issue with this on a Witch Doctor is our mana regen mechanic--even with 3 mana regen pieces you're looking at 53 or so mana/second. But you're not even getting that full regen because you'll be spamming darts while waiting for your cooldowns to align. I am sure there is a very specific way to make it work, but using two damage spells is a very challenging way to play with vision quest: the mana game is just too unforgiving, as you'll be forced to blow Spirit Walk to trigger Vision Quest instead of being able to save it for emergencies.
Vision Quest SHINES with mana regen gear. I only need two pieces (+22 regen) and that gives me 42 mana regen per second. When vision quest triggers, my regen is 126/second which nearly pays for a bats cast each second (I use Pierce the Veil so Bats are more expensive).
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ROFL. Yeah...you WAY WAY outgear me. I have like 1300 intellect, 50% crit chance, 280% crit damage, 32k hp, 500 all resist, 3300 armor--I have absolutely no perfect pieces, so not one thing that has crit/crit dmg/int/all resist/vitality--I always have to sacrifice one or even two stats because I can't afford better. You should make some videos of you tearing it up--it must be insane, because right now about 95% of the game feels pretty faceroll to me (there are obviously some very difficult packs still, but that's the nature of RNG!!) so it must be cake for you. At this point each legitimate upgrade for me averages 30 million and I just don't have the luck with awesome drops to support that kind of cost very often (the last upgrade I got was an amulet three weeks ago--and I'm still sitting under 3 million gold because i don't have much time to play and I never get good drops when I do).
You're right about the helm.
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Wow dude--400k bats crits! That's very impressive you must have a good chunk more intellect than I've managed to get on my gear (my bats crit around 280, highest ones are in the low 300's). Are your resists also sufficiently high? I just find that gear with good crit and crit damage doesn't often ALSO have good intellect and All Resist. And since I had to prioritize All Resist for act III/act iv/diablo, i sacrificed lots of intellect. Maybe I should pick up a few REALLY high int roll items like legs/chest/belt/shoulders to farm act I super fast.
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In the places I farm I almost never come upon elite versions. I will try to find a fast version--I assume they can be found in the keep / bunker?
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Are you talking about the guys that hunker down and hugely increase their defenses? When they have a fast affix they go really really fast? Is that what you mean?
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Fast is a problem for sure, and dire bats is certainly weaker in the first part of Act III because of LoS issues. The most effective way to kill fast mobs is to:
(1) 12% movement speed is not good enough in Act III against fast affix--it's worth pushing that up to 18%-19% (this may require buying some pants JUST for fast affix mobs).
(2) Try and split up the group so you're only taking dmg from one elite instead of 3-4....your hex will keep it down most of the time and you can burn it down (this is where jinx shines)
(3) Just get more dps. Act III requires a LOT of dps to "feel right". It takes a long time to get to that threshold--you definitely need 30k+ dps, and much more is desirable so you can get those packs down fast before they get to you.
You're right about keeping certain mobs at a distance. Heralds of Pestalence are prime examples, but those awful birds in Act III and the Fire Mages--keep them at max distance from your bats and just spam until they are dead. Basically anything with its own projectile (spear throwers, fireball throwers). All Resist also makes a HUGE difference in Act III after 1.0.3. I was a glass cannon before 1.0.3 and could only take 1-2 spears before I died or triggered spirit vessel. Now I can take 6-8--this make a huge difference in your ability to kind of face tank some white mobs and kill them before they have a chance to kill you (life leech/life on hit is good for this--even a little bit makes a big difference).
That said, I I won't lie--there are some elites that are just close to impossible not to die on a few times with this build--I assume tanking them is the only way to survive without dying solo. These include:
(1) Phase Beasts with teleport and illusionist (act III)
(2) Corruptors with Fast or Teleport (act IV)
If you can give me the name of the mobs you're having trouble with I will hunt them down and put up a video for you showing my strategy for killing them. Hope it helps.
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I'm burning mad! I'm STEAMING MAD!
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LOL good one.
Actually, the heads that drop off those zombies in Act I are also very annoying because the bats go right over them--I have to kill them with grasp (or just ignore them lol).
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I imagine I would make A LOT of changes for a PvP situation--in fact, I doubt even Dire Bats will be viable for that because they move too slowly. But we'll see--if your opponent has poor defenses, you can spirit walk-->spam bats in their face--GG insta death.
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I appreciate your thoughts and some of these things I actually already do! For example, in acts I and II I always run with Zombie Wall - Pile On instead of Fetishes--it can one shot many act I elites and take most Act II elites down to under 10% hp (it does 1 million-1.5 million dmg when it crits). I never claimed this build was viable for PvP and I would definitely use Wall or something else other than Fetishes for PvP.
This is an old post also--if you watch my videos at youtube (user name Yorricman) you'll see that I use Jinx now instead of Hedge Magic on Hex. I like Soul Harvest too much for the heal and for the ABSURD damage boost it gives me--remember, I have prioritized crit and crit dmg even over intellect and I only have like 1300 intellect natively--so the Soul Harvest makes an enormous difference (my dps on the character sheet goes from 50k to over 75k with a 5 stack...)
As for the LoH amulet, I spent 30 million on a 8% crit chance/50% crit dmg/100 intellect/soceted/500 life per kill amulet--I'm not going to be in the market for another one in a while. This makes reflects damage mobs with illusionist VERY easy because so many die over and over that you stay healed up fine. Do I wish it was life on hit? Yes...but then it would have been 100 million gold! ;-)
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I think it's THE key to using Vision Quest in a way that feels good. Glad you're liking it!
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Let me know how Act III works all the way through. I"ll post a video of my build in Act III and see how you think it compares to yours. The drawback of my build compared to a darts build is that darts are superior for boss kills--but for me, dire bats make everything else go so fast that it's worth slower kills on bosses to use it for elites/champions/white mobs.
What you say about VQ and four CD's is definitely true if you only have four CD spells, but as I explain, when you use FIVE CD spells you never, ever have to worry about that clutch ability being on CD when you need it (aka, Spirit Walk). But it's a bit of a juggle and it definitely takes some getting used to. Once you do, it's a very, very powerful build.
EDIT: Video is up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zc5jSzNwBxc