Definitely going to use that budget guide since my wiz is about to hit 60. Looking forward to taking a break from my barb to try my hand at ranged inferno for a change instead of whirlwinding thru levels at alarming speed
Introduction:
I made this for the WD's out there wondering what the hell to do now they have hit 60 and have started on inferno, or for the other people bored with the nearly identical specs you seem to find everywhere.
If you want info on my specific spec, scroll to the bottom of the post, otherwise the info regarding gear is pretty universal, and the stats I emphasize should work for nearly any of the popular specs listed around the forums, however based on the stats I pick, I STRONGLY recommend picking up both Pierce the Veil and Spiritual Attunement passive skills to take advantage of some specific stat choices!
Anyways...on to the guide!
Disclaimer:
I am by no means a theorycrafter, but after reading many strategies, and playing and testing my spec thoroughly, I feel this guide to be geared more to people merely looking for an alternative to some of the more often played specs, and this focuses on getting you not only into Act 1, but to clear all enemies on the map, without more than a few deaths, and in most times, none. I would love if someone was able to math all this stuff better, but for now, you’ll just have to take my word that it works if you follow what I have to say. Enjoy!
Gold Distribution:
I budgeted the money in the following manner, to maximize particular stats, and take advantage of other factors I’ll explain below.
That leaves us with 200,000 to spend on 10 additional items, but I still break out 3 separate items for more money. You can usually get great deals on these, especially if you drop to blues
Amulet - 30,000
Ring 1 & 2 - 20,000 each
That leaves you 130,000 to spend on your remaining 7 items, coming out to a little under 20,00g per item, but I recommend spending a bit more on gloves and boots.
While the above is a rough guide, you will find (and as illustrated below), you tend to find gear that fits what we are looking for at a surprisingly low amount sometimes. If the prices seem high, sometimes waiting a day will turn out some better results.
Stats Weighting:
Depending on the weapon or armor slot, obviously we will be looking for very specific affixes, which i’ve listed below (the numbers in parenthesis are what i strongly recommend as the minimums to keep the spec effective). Listed in what manner I purchased, as I wanted the most money available to the most important items.
Weapon(always Ceremonial Knife): Life on Hit(400), Mana Regen, Maximum Mana
- Desired other affixes: Crit Damage (or socket + crit dmg gem), +Int, +Vit. Really try to keep overall DPS above 500 unless you have REALLY good affixes...use one of the many online dps calcs if you are unsure of differences.
Off-Hand (always mojo): Crit Chance, Mana Regen, Maximum Mana
- Ideally try to keep the mojo top end at least about 200 or you will start to take a considerable hit to your dps
Voodoo Mask: Mana Regen, Maximum Mana, {players choice}
- This one i left the 3rd open because there are SO many options as far as masks go(at least for me there usually are). I recommend Int, since part of this build focuses on high resist, that can help, and helms often have very high amounts of it. Crit Chance and All resist are nice too, but really it is up to the player, the main thing we are after here is the mana affixes.
Amulet: Life on Hit (400), +Crit Dmg
- Realistically, you can easily cheap out and just get a 1 affix blue with 400+ LoH and still be ok. I initially used a blue item with +462 LoH and -12% CC reduction.
Rings: Life on Hit (200), +Crit Dmg.
- Basically same as amulet - don’t be afraid to settle on a blue, as you will likely make up for the stats elsewhere
Boots: Movement Speed (+10%), All Resist (60+), Int
- Use your best judgement in picking other stats. Vit is good if your other gear is lacking it.
Gloves: +Crit Dmg, All Resist(60), Int
- If there aren’t a lot of options searching 3 affixes, play around with swapping out the Int.
Bracers: All Resist (60), Int, Vit
- These last few pieces are where we want to start picking up INT, although you may want to consider getting bracers with Reduction to Melee%.
Shoulders: All Resist (40), Int, Vit
- If you have already accumulated a lot of Vit on your gear, you can get +Life % here too.
Chest: All Resist(60), Int, Vit
- Chest is the only item you can get 3 sockets in, so if this is an alt and you have nice gems, here would be the gear piece to do it with, along with legs with 2 sockets.
Legs: All Resist (60), Int, Vit
- See above note for sockets.
Belt: All Resist (60), Int, Vit
- Same as shoulders
Whatever you have leftover, I recommend either buying gems to fill out your sockets, or spend the money adding CC type rings/amulets/etc to your follower.
To give you an idea of what you can get, here is what I managed to clear Act 1 with, using a mere 408k, and very very few deaths.
That about wraps up the gearing part, but if you wanna keep reading about my spec, feel free! It isn't designed to be absolutely ideal by any means, but it works for Act 1, and i think it is a nice break from the other builds out there.
My Act 1 Farm Spec -
The Barry Manitou Tankdocta, Cheapskate Edition
Overview:
This spec and playstyle is designed to be an affordable entry into inferno for witch doctors who are maybe fed up with other specs. Given the fact it only takes less than 500k gold to get going, and the fact the build uses a lot of lesser used fun skills, without a lot of pressure to constantly kite, and picks up on much of the tankdocta style of play, I feel it to be a great overall spec that really showcases some of the potential of the witch doctor.
Playstyle:
The basics of this spec and gear is to enable to you to both tank effectively without having to constantly worry about mana or managing cooldowns, but also provide you with enough burst capability and mobility to keep the game moving at a rapid pace, something sorely needed when farming Acts, which is what this spec is designed to do effectively. By focusing on LoH and High resistances, you can get up in the enemies face, and many of the skills are designed for just such events. By stacking mana and mana regen, you really get a good synergy with Spiritual Attunement, and even with this mediocre test, I was able to achieve respectable regen and mana. If you find you are able to survive quite easily, you can swap out Jungle Fortitude for Blood Ritual for even longer Bats!
Lets break down each spells roll in this build -
Primary Attack: Firebomb + Firepit. Stolen a bit from the tankdocta builds, this spell is quite amazing when paired with high LoH, as each toss can get you upto 2.5x your LoH. Not the most amazing damage, but that is what our other spells are for.
Secondary Attack: Firebats + Cloud of Bats - This is what all that mana and mana regen is for Seriously though, you should be able to ramp up to the full amount with the gear we’ve aquired, and even without channeling long, the damage is good, and appears to proc more LoH than Bears, which is more expensive, and less useful in tight spots.
1 - Soul Harvest + Languish: This is used to not only buff yourself, but the buff also adds ~12 resist all per stack, and slows nearby enemies. with 5stacks, you can easily attain dmg numbers over 16k, and an additional 60 resist all. Using my stats above, I am at about 17.7k dmg with 5 stacks, FWIW
2 - Spirit Walk + Honored Guest - While mana should absolutely not be a problem, i use this because the mana you will regen during this will allow you to hold that bat’s channel that much longer. Use something else if you like
3 - Spirit Barrage + Manitou - I picked this since I was looking for another close quarters spell, and this just ended up working well as a damage compliment for basically no mana, and it basically gives me a constant LoH proc every second as long as enemies are in range.
4 - Gargantuan + Big Stinker - Again picked for added LoH procs, and the added relief he can often provide during champ/elite pack encounters.
For Passives, the 2 required are Spiritual Attunement + Pierce the Viel. For those new to the spec or inferno in general, I highly recommend Jungle Fortitude, but that can be swapped out for nearly any other skill based on your preference. Personally, I use Blood Ritual, sometime Grave Injustice, but really, personal choice on this one
If you haven’t noticed, much of the build relys on Life on Hit, but unlike many that I’ve tried, the damage is respectable, and I don’t feel like I’m standing in 1 spot spamming Firebomb all day long. Personally, I lob a couple firebombs to get them to all come to me, get as many stacks of SL up, put up the Barry Manitou, toss a few firebombs at my feet (for the LoH firepit procs), and start channeling bats as they begin to surround me. For those not aware, you can Spirit Walk WHILE channeling, creating a few seconds of both incredible regen and immunity. If you need to stay mobile, still don’t hesitate to channel bats, even for a bit, the damage is good, and with (hopefully if you were listening) the crit/crit dmg on your gear, you should be able to take down anything that comes your way. If you are really having trouble with a particular pack, stick with Firebomb and Manitou, sneaking in some bats in the mix, but I think you’ll find that you won’t have too many obstacles in your journey through Act 1.
Hopefully this guide has been useful, and any feedback or comments are always appreciated!
Not much, seeing as Acid Cloud isn't exactly a staple spell many people use. I see a pretty normal helm, but you could still probably get 100k from somebody who does use that spell, although I don't think I would pay more than 30-40k, and that is only due to the socket and decent survival stats (decent, not great)
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Check out the reddit pages on diablo (https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo3 & https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo)
there are usually people offering free power leveling for new toons.
or add me, skwizna#1300, and ill PL you. ill be online from 2pm-4:30pm PST.
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I made this for the WD's out there wondering what the hell to do now they have hit 60 and have started on inferno, or for the other people bored with the nearly identical specs you seem to find everywhere.
If you want info on my specific spec, scroll to the bottom of the post, otherwise the info regarding gear is pretty universal, and the stats I emphasize should work for nearly any of the popular specs listed around the forums, however based on the stats I pick, I STRONGLY recommend picking up both Pierce the Veil and Spiritual Attunement passive skills to take advantage of some specific stat choices!
Anyways...on to the guide!
Disclaimer:
I am by no means a theorycrafter, but after reading many strategies, and playing and testing my spec thoroughly, I feel this guide to be geared more to people merely looking for an alternative to some of the more often played specs, and this focuses on getting you not only into Act 1, but to clear all enemies on the map, without more than a few deaths, and in most times, none. I would love if someone was able to math all this stuff better, but for now, you’ll just have to take my word that it works if you follow what I have to say. Enjoy!
Gold Distribution:
I budgeted the money in the following manner, to maximize particular stats, and take advantage of other factors I’ll explain below.
Weapon - 125,000
Mojo OH - 125,000
Voodoo Mask - 50,000
That leaves us with 200,000 to spend on 10 additional items, but I still break out 3 separate items for more money. You can usually get great deals on these, especially if you drop to blues
Amulet - 30,000
Ring 1 & 2 - 20,000 each
That leaves you 130,000 to spend on your remaining 7 items, coming out to a little under 20,00g per item, but I recommend spending a bit more on gloves and boots.
While the above is a rough guide, you will find (and as illustrated below), you tend to find gear that fits what we are looking for at a surprisingly low amount sometimes. If the prices seem high, sometimes waiting a day will turn out some better results.
Stats Weighting:
Depending on the weapon or armor slot, obviously we will be looking for very specific affixes, which i’ve listed below (the numbers in parenthesis are what i strongly recommend as the minimums to keep the spec effective). Listed in what manner I purchased, as I wanted the most money available to the most important items.
Weapon(always Ceremonial Knife): Life on Hit(400), Mana Regen, Maximum Mana
- Desired other affixes: Crit Damage (or socket + crit dmg gem), +Int, +Vit. Really try to keep overall DPS above 500 unless you have REALLY good affixes...use one of the many online dps calcs if you are unsure of differences.
Off-Hand (always mojo): Crit Chance, Mana Regen, Maximum Mana
- Ideally try to keep the mojo top end at least about 200 or you will start to take a considerable hit to your dps
Voodoo Mask: Mana Regen, Maximum Mana, {players choice}
- This one i left the 3rd open because there are SO many options as far as masks go(at least for me there usually are). I recommend Int, since part of this build focuses on high resist, that can help, and helms often have very high amounts of it. Crit Chance and All resist are nice too, but really it is up to the player, the main thing we are after here is the mana affixes.
Amulet: Life on Hit (400), +Crit Dmg
- Realistically, you can easily cheap out and just get a 1 affix blue with 400+ LoH and still be ok. I initially used a blue item with +462 LoH and -12% CC reduction.
Rings: Life on Hit (200), +Crit Dmg.
- Basically same as amulet - don’t be afraid to settle on a blue, as you will likely make up for the stats elsewhere
Boots: Movement Speed (+10%), All Resist (60+), Int
- Use your best judgement in picking other stats. Vit is good if your other gear is lacking it.
Gloves: +Crit Dmg, All Resist(60), Int
- If there aren’t a lot of options searching 3 affixes, play around with swapping out the Int.
Bracers: All Resist (60), Int, Vit
- These last few pieces are where we want to start picking up INT, although you may want to consider getting bracers with Reduction to Melee%.
Shoulders: All Resist (40), Int, Vit
- If you have already accumulated a lot of Vit on your gear, you can get +Life % here too.
Chest: All Resist(60), Int, Vit
- Chest is the only item you can get 3 sockets in, so if this is an alt and you have nice gems, here would be the gear piece to do it with, along with legs with 2 sockets.
Legs: All Resist (60), Int, Vit
- See above note for sockets.
Belt: All Resist (60), Int, Vit
- Same as shoulders
Whatever you have leftover, I recommend either buying gems to fill out your sockets, or spend the money adding CC type rings/amulets/etc to your follower.
To give you an idea of what you can get, here is what I managed to clear Act 1 with, using a mere 408k, and very very few deaths.
Gear prices:
http://i.imgur.com/gpocJ.jpg
Gear Stats:
http://i.imgur.com/VOugP.jpg
Character Stat Sheet:
http://i.imgur.com/4FNe2.jpg
That about wraps up the gearing part, but if you wanna keep reading about my spec, feel free! It isn't designed to be absolutely ideal by any means, but it works for Act 1, and i think it is a nice break from the other builds out there.
My Act 1 Farm Spec -
The Barry Manitou Tankdocta, Cheapskate Edition
Overview:
This spec and playstyle is designed to be an affordable entry into inferno for witch doctors who are maybe fed up with other specs. Given the fact it only takes less than 500k gold to get going, and the fact the build uses a lot of lesser used fun skills, without a lot of pressure to constantly kite, and picks up on much of the tankdocta style of play, I feel it to be a great overall spec that really showcases some of the potential of the witch doctor.
Spec:
http://us.battle.net...dUgT!bZW!bcbZcY
Playstyle:
The basics of this spec and gear is to enable to you to both tank effectively without having to constantly worry about mana or managing cooldowns, but also provide you with enough burst capability and mobility to keep the game moving at a rapid pace, something sorely needed when farming Acts, which is what this spec is designed to do effectively. By focusing on LoH and High resistances, you can get up in the enemies face, and many of the skills are designed for just such events. By stacking mana and mana regen, you really get a good synergy with Spiritual Attunement, and even with this mediocre test, I was able to achieve respectable regen and mana. If you find you are able to survive quite easily, you can swap out Jungle Fortitude for Blood Ritual for even longer Bats!
Lets break down each spells roll in this build -
Primary Attack: Firebomb + Firepit. Stolen a bit from the tankdocta builds, this spell is quite amazing when paired with high LoH, as each toss can get you upto 2.5x your LoH. Not the most amazing damage, but that is what our other spells are for.
Secondary Attack: Firebats + Cloud of Bats - This is what all that mana and mana regen is for
1 - Soul Harvest + Languish: This is used to not only buff yourself, but the buff also adds ~12 resist all per stack, and slows nearby enemies. with 5stacks, you can easily attain dmg numbers over 16k, and an additional 60 resist all. Using my stats above, I am at about 17.7k dmg with 5 stacks, FWIW
2 - Spirit Walk + Honored Guest - While mana should absolutely not be a problem, i use this because the mana you will regen during this will allow you to hold that bat’s channel that much longer. Use something else if you like
3 - Spirit Barrage + Manitou - I picked this since I was looking for another close quarters spell, and this just ended up working well as a damage compliment for basically no mana, and it basically gives me a constant LoH proc every second as long as enemies are in range.
4 - Gargantuan + Big Stinker - Again picked for added LoH procs, and the added relief he can often provide during champ/elite pack encounters.
For Passives, the 2 required are Spiritual Attunement + Pierce the Viel. For those new to the spec or inferno in general, I highly recommend Jungle Fortitude, but that can be swapped out for nearly any other skill based on your preference. Personally, I use Blood Ritual, sometime Grave Injustice, but really, personal choice on this one
If you haven’t noticed, much of the build relys on Life on Hit, but unlike many that I’ve tried, the damage is respectable, and I don’t feel like I’m standing in 1 spot spamming Firebomb all day long. Personally, I lob a couple firebombs to get them to all come to me, get as many stacks of SL up, put up the Barry Manitou, toss a few firebombs at my feet (for the LoH firepit procs), and start channeling bats as they begin to surround me. For those not aware, you can Spirit Walk WHILE channeling, creating a few seconds of both incredible regen and immunity. If you need to stay mobile, still don’t hesitate to channel bats, even for a bit, the damage is good, and with (hopefully if you were listening) the crit/crit dmg on your gear, you should be able to take down anything that comes your way. If you are really having trouble with a particular pack, stick with Firebomb and Manitou, sneaking in some bats in the mix, but I think you’ll find that you won’t have too many obstacles in your journey through Act 1.
Hopefully this guide has been useful, and any feedback or comments are always appreciated!
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