12 replies to this topic

[Gallowbraided]

http://us.battle.net...RYTj!aWT!ZYYcZb

Just wondering what everyone thought about this build. I'm using it for sure, but I figured I'd get some opinions. The skill choices are pretty obvious but I'll explain my reasoning anyway. Obviously as a summoner build I took the only 2 permanent summons available to me. I really have no interest in temporary pets, so I'll be sticking with the Gargantuan and Zombie Dogs.  I took Soul Harvest because I intend to try a build based around the +regen/thorns granted by Fierce Loyalty, so my personal damage may be lacking a bit. Big Bad Voodoo for utility and ally support, and my 2 main damage spells are Haunt and Locust Swarm. The idea is simple, let my pets and tankier allies hang on the front lines while I fire DoT's on the enemy from a safe distance, only moving in near enough to refresh Soul Harvest and Big Bad Voodoo as necessary. The passives are obvious, everything I can get to buff my pets in terms of surviving the onslaught they're sure to endure. Overall I think the build will be pretty effective, although lacking in CC and personal damage. Of course, if thorns turns out to be a fairly useless modifier the build will almost be immediately rendered useless and require a few changes, so I'm hoping for the best here. Let me know what you guys think, and thanks for your input.

[Aevra]

Thorns seems like it'll be viable for normal, maybe nightmare. After that, I really cant see it stacking up enough to keep you or your pets alive long enough to kill the mobs. The build itself is nice. It's a lot like what i want to build my WD as (pets tanking while I do majority of the damage.) Locusts can get a bit mana costly, the only change I would make is swapping locusts for firebats with hungry bats rune.

[wishedhehadbeta]

Aevra, on 07 March 2012 - 08:59 PM, said:

Thorns seems like it'll be viable for normal, maybe nightmare. After that, I really cant see it stacking up enough to keep you or your pets alive long enough to kill the mobs. The build itself is nice. It's a lot like what i want to build my WD as (pets tanking while I do majority of the damage.) Locusts can get a bit mana costly, the only change I would make is swapping locusts for firebats with hungry bats rune.

there are multiple passives on multiple classes that effect thorn dmg, if it wasnt viable throughout the game they wouldnt of wasted passives on it, this isnt D2 where half the skills are fail. they've been working very hard to balance everything and make every possible skill and rune effect equally viable. so thorn dmg should be viable even in inferno, obviously not as most of your dmg but still helping and able to stack a pretty hefty amount. and giving your pets thorn dmg doesnt somehow make them die faster. you can have pretty much invincible pets and thorn dmg will be very nice to have as almost all mobs will be attacking your pets in norm-nm and most of hell and even in inferno most mobs will stil be attacking them. although some will ignore them and go strait for you

[biggest_fan_1983]

almost the same asi i intend to play it... Nice to see someone has the same idea for WD... but instead of Big bad voodoo I think I will use sacrifice... big KABOOM once in a while :-)

[Cisgo]

Thorns looks decent, however if pets are dying too fast in harder modes, (esp with a 60 sec cool off) there probably will be better options.

    If pets (big stinker/rabid dogs) trigger Bad Medicine, you could always sub that in for Thorns to try to keep them upright. Who knows though at this point though, your guess is as good as anyone elses.

[wishedhehadbeta]

Cisgo, on 16 March 2012 - 12:03 PM, said:

Thorns looks decent, however if pets are dying too fast in harder modes, (esp with a 60 sec cool off) there probably will be better options.

If pets (big stinker/rabid dogs) trigger Bad Medicine, you could always sub that in for Thorns to try to keep them upright. Who knows though at this point though, your guess is as good as anyone elses.

the fierce loyalty passive ALSO gives regeneration from your items. so if you stack regen AND thorn dmg they both transfer over and your dogs will survive longer

[Cisgo]

I guess it would really depend on how much the mobs hit for at higher levels. If they are killing pets quickly I would guess a 20% damage reduction (or an additional 16% if using Jungle Fort) would go further than item regen. Although I am not even sure that pets trigger Bad Medicine anyway, so it could be moot.

[wishedhehadbeta]

Cisgo, on 17 March 2012 - 12:46 AM, said:

I guess it would really depend on how much the mobs hit for at higher levels. If they are killing pets quickly I would guess a 20% damage reduction (or an additional 16% if using Jungle Fort) would go further than item regen. Although I am not even sure that pets trigger Bad Medicine anyway, so it could be moot.

if your going to use pets for dmg or thorn dmg then obviously you should take jungle fortitude and zombie handler so they survive way longer and i see no reason why pets wouldnt trigger bad medicine

[Cisgo]

If the WD was able to control his pets regen would work well.

  Take an example, your in Inferno with your Big Stinker and dogs, the garg takes off into the first pack of mobs that enter his aggro range. Now he is surrounded by 8-10 mobs hitting him. What do you think would get more milage, a static regen or a 20% (or 36% if had Jungle Fort which you probably will) damage reduction from each mob that is striking him?  Now if you were able to control the pet, you could lay down an 8 sec AoE snare and back the pet off when he becomes low on health, and kite the mobs with the pet in tow while he regained his health enough to send him back in. That would work well, however these pets are just glorified DoT/speedbumps.

  I think if someone is dead set on having thorns, I might look to drop Zombie Handler (the extra dog won't mean much if dying too fast and multi mob 16% damage reduction prolly will outweigh 20% health)  esp if the mobs are hitting very hard. The game has alot of multiple encounters which I would imagine the pets will be knee deep in, and in all likelyhood they will probably need both damage reductions at higher levels. However, again no one really knows whats in store, good debate though and worth trying both methods out.

Edited by Cisgo, 17 March 2012 - 10:35 AM.

[Heavendenies]

Gallowbraided, on 07 March 2012 - 07:59 PM, said:

http://us.battle.net...RYTj!aWT!ZYYcZb

Just wondering what everyone thought about this build. I'm using it for sure, but I figured I'd get some opinions. The skill choices are pretty obvious but I'll explain my reasoning anyway. Obviously as a summoner build I took the only 2 permanent summons available to me. I really have no interest in temporary pets, so I'll be sticking with the Gargantuan and Zombie Dogs.  I took Soul Harvest because I intend to try a build based around the +regen/thorns granted by Fierce Loyalty, so my personal damage may be lacking a bit. Big Bad Voodoo for utility and ally support, and my 2 main damage spells are Haunt and Locust Swarm. The idea is simple, let my pets and tankier allies hang on the front lines while I fire DoT's on the enemy from a safe distance, only moving in near enough to refresh Soul Harvest and Big Bad Voodoo as necessary. The passives are obvious, everything I can get to buff my pets in terms of surviving the onslaught they're sure to endure. Overall I think the build will be pretty effective, although lacking in CC and personal damage. Of course, if thorns turns out to be a fairly useless modifier the build will almost be immediately rendered useless and require a few changes, so I'm hoping for the best here. Let me know what you guys think, and thanks for your input.

This is pretty much what I will be running come release. With just a few changes. Here's the link: http://us.battle.net...RYTP!aWT!ZcYcZZ

I took spirit barrage instead of locust swarm, because right now I think it's stronger, but we all know how quickly that could change *cough* cough* haunt *cough*. I also took fetish army over big bad voodoo. I think this may just a be a personal preference choice more than anything else. I suppose I'll call it the Soul/Zombie build just because it sounds cool :-P

Edited by Heavendenies, 17 March 2012 - 12:14 PM.

[wishedhehadbeta]

Cisgo, on 17 March 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

If the WD was able to control his pets regen would work well.

  Take an example, your in Inferno with your Big Stinker and dogs, the garg takes off into the first pack of mobs that enter his aggro range. Now he is surrounded by 8-10 mobs hitting him. What do you think would get more milage, a static regen or a 20% (or 36% if had Jungle Fort which you probably will) damage reduction from each mob that is striking him?  Now if you were able to control the pet, you could lay down an 8 sec AoE snare and back the pet off when he becomes low on health, and kite the mobs with the pet in tow while he regained his health enough to send him back in. That would work well, however these pets are just glorified DoT/speedbumps.

  I think if someone is dead set on having thorns, I might look to drop Zombie Handler (the extra dog won't mean much if dying too fast and multi mob 16% damage reduction prolly will outweigh 20% health)  esp if the mobs are hitting very hard. The game has alot of multiple encounters which I would imagine the pets will be knee deep in, and in all likelyhood they will probably need both damage reductions at higher levels. However, again no one really knows whats in store, good debate though and worth trying both methods out.

bad medicine > zombie handler. yea i agree.

Heavendenies, on 17 March 2012 - 12:13 PM, said:

This is pretty much what I will be running come release. With just a few changes. Here's the link: http://us.battle.net...RYTP!aWT!ZcYcZZ

I took spirit barrage instead of locust swarm, because right now I think it's stronger, but we all know how quickly that could change *cough* cough* haunt *cough*. I also took fetish army over big bad voodoo. I think this may just a be a personal preference choice more than anything else. I suppose I'll call it the Soul/Zombie build just because it sounds cool :-P

you need more mana regen. haunt now costs a whopping 90 mana per cast. and since you have the short duration rune and its only single target your going to have to spam it a ton , which isnt possible with your build. also minitou is very short range and i woudlnt take it unless your main attack spell was a short range attack like toads or zombie charger. also fierce loyalty isnt available until lvl 45 and manitou isnt until like lvl 53 (as of patch 14 runes, skill calc isnt updated with even p14 yet)

Edited by GladHeHasBeta, 17 March 2012 - 03:51 PM.

[Heavendenies]

GladHeHasBeta, on 17 March 2012 - 03:45 PM, said:

Heavendenies, on 17 March 2012 - 12:13 PM, said:

This is pretty much what I will be running come release. With just a few changes. Here's the link: http://us.battle.net...RYTP!aWT!ZcYcZZ

I took spirit barrage instead of locust swarm, because right now I think it's stronger, but we all know how quickly that could change *cough* cough* haunt *cough*. I also took fetish army over big bad voodoo. I think this may just a be a personal preference choice more than anything else. I suppose I'll call it the Soul/Zombie build just because it sounds cool :-P

you need more mana regen. haunt now costs a whopping 90 mana per cast. and since you have the short duration rune and its only single target your going to have to spam it a ton , which isnt possible with your build. also minitou is very short range and i woudlnt take it unless your main attack spell was a short range attack like toads or zombie charger. also fierce loyalty isnt available until lvl 45 and manitou isnt until like lvl 53 (as of patch 14 runes, skill calc isnt updated with even p14 yet)

Good insight. I never thought about the mana part since I never came close to running out of mana on the beta. But you're correct in thinking I would need more mana since haunt now cost much more. Good catch.

[wishedhehadbeta]

Heavendenies, on 17 March 2012 - 08:39 PM, said:

Good insight. I never thought about the mana part since I never came close to running out of mana on the beta. But you're correct in thinking I would need more mana since haunt now cost much more. Good catch.

glad my obsessive OCD-ness towards WD builds can come in handy.