As in every other build the following text is based on a lot of speculations.
For actives I chose a combination of skills that should be able to do extreme amounts of damage in a short burst. Although relaying on a short burst of spells is not the best strategy, I hope that in Inferno and Hell such should work well.
Here is how I intended the build to combo:
Point is so spam as many Sacrifices as possible while Mass Confusion is active to do the most damage.
Choosing Passives wasn't hard: more damage, lower the mana costs, life regeneration, and shorten the cooldowns. Basic and very effective. Paying life instead of mana is costly but if you play it right I suppose it should be more rewarding than using just mana.
Zombie Dogs and Grasp are runed to synergize with the Gruesome Feast passive, which grants up to a 50% bonus to attack.
Big Bad Voodoo and Mass Confusion are obviously runed to generate Zombie Dogs, since the summoning skill has a 60sec cooldown and the only real offensive skill in the build is Sacrifice, so a constant stream of dogs is a requirement.
Sacrifice is runed to increase Attack (up to 160% for 60 seconds).
Soul Harvest fills out the build with another possible bonus of 630 Attack.
Since Zombie Dogs (again, 60sec CD) and Grasp are the only skills in the build with mana costs, and neither of them are that steep, Pierce the Veil is an obvious choice to boost my damage even more.
Zombie Handler increases the max dogs to 4, which synergizes with the Provoke the Pack rune effect on Sacrifice.
With this build, I can gain a maximum bonus of +630 flat to Attack, and another 210% bonus, for a total possible Attack bonus of 1323 (without even taking gear into consideration). Add another +20% to all damage from Pierce the Veil, and I think we're looking at probably the hardest-hitting combination of any class. Of course, its dependence on Dogs is a definite limitation, especially on boss fights, and cooldown management of Zombie Dogs, BBV, and Confusion will be key. I'm going to go watch Dexter instead of trying to figure out a rotation for those, but...I think if you can figure out the CDs, this build will tear shit apart!
Zombie Dogs and Grasp are runed to synergize with the Gruesome Feast passive, which grants up to a 50% bonus to attack.
Big Bad Voodoo and Mass Confusion are obviously runed to generate Zombie Dogs, since the summoning skill has a 60sec cooldown and the only real offensive skill in the build is Sacrifice, so a constant stream of dogs is a requirement.
Sacrifice is runed to increase Attack (up to 160% for 60 seconds).
Soul Harvest fills out the build with another possible bonus of 630 Attack.
Since Zombie Dogs (again, 60sec CD) and Grasp are the only skills in the build with mana costs, and neither of them are that steep, Pierce the Veil is an obvious choice to boost my damage even more.
Zombie Handler increases the max dogs to 4, which synergizes with the Provoke the Pack rune effect on Sacrifice.
With this build, I can gain a maximum bonus of +630 flat to Attack, and another 210% bonus, for a total possible Attack bonus of 1323 (without even taking gear into consideration). Add another +20% to all damage from Pierce the Veil, and I think we're looking at probably the hardest-hitting combination of any class. Of course, its dependence on Dogs is a definite limitation, especially on boss fights, and cooldown management of Zombie Dogs, BBV, and Confusion will be key. I'm going to go watch Dexter instead of trying to figure out a rotation for those, but...I think if you can figure out the CDs, this build will tear shit apart!
I've looked through your build, I really like it, but I would make some changes.
I think that it is a bit foolish to relay on Health Globes for a little extra damage, if you won't be in the middle of the fight at the start of it, so I removed all the runestones and passives connected to it.
Added some extra damage through Big Bad VooDoo, that could aid not only you but your allies as well, instead of 75% of spawning zombie dogs. VooDoo is 120s cooldown and gives 75%, and Mass Confusion is 60s cooldown and gives 99%.
Instead of Grasp of the Dead, I've put in Hex for extra damage (but I cant decide between Alabaster and Obsidian).
I think that it is a bit foolish to relay on Health Globes for a little extra damage, if you won't be in the middle of the fight at the start of it, so I removed all the runestones and passives connected to it.
Instead of Grasp of the Dead, I've put in Hex for extra damage (but I cant decide between Alabaster and Obsidian).
From everything we've seen, 1 Attack = 1% damage increase, so a 50% damage increase is nothing to sneeze at IMO. If you take gear into account, a well-geared level 60 WD could probably add several hundred percent to their damage with Gruesome Feast. I definitely think it's worth it, but that's just my opinion.
Added some extra damage through Big Bad VooDoo, that could aid not only you but your allies as well, instead of 75% of spawning zombie dogs. VooDoo is 120s cooldown and gives 75%, and Mass Confusion is 60s cooldown and gives 99%.
This is a good point that I took into consideration, but instead of just re-runing BBV, I decided to replace it entirely. I put in Indigo Spirit Barrage instead, as that gives me a good spammable AoE damage spell so I don't have to rely so heavily on having dogs up to sacrifice all the time. I think with proper CD management of the Summon and Confusion, I could still have dogs up *most* of the time and Sacrifice them as necessary. Grasp of the Dead and Spirit Barrage should be sufficient for those times that I don't have dogs out.
Some tentative damage numbers for this build (again, not even taking gear into account, so these will presumably be much higher in practice):
Sacrifice: 107-178 * 1323% (max possible Attack buff from skills) = 1,415-2,355 * 1.2 (Pierce the Veil) = 1,698-2,826. If all 4 explosions hit one target, we'd be looking at 6,792-11,304.
Spirit Barrage: 36-71 * 1323% = 476-939 * 1.2 = 571-1,127 per bolt (4 bolts with Well of Souls).
What is very interesting is that all of these builds are viable! They all have their weaknesses and strengths. Although, all are based around the same concept, they are all in some sense very different.
I like them all, and i posted elsewhere about this dog dilemma... it all depends on how many dogs can be out at once... yeah, were given 4 with the passive skill, but if we can get more through Mass Confusion, that would be awesome
here is my version of the dog build... i use toads also in an effort to combine its rune effect with that of Mass Confusion...
The goal in this is to confuse, kill, create more dogs, sacrifice, create more dogs, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. I opted for the alabaster sacrifice rune to give me 70% chance to spawn new dogs after i blow them up, allowing me for even more sacrificing.
the gargantuan i really like with crimson rune, but i might switch him out for horrify so i can get a speed buff to make toad-bombing easier.
I also went with BBV and the 40% damage for allies instead of the dog option because the MC rune is much more affective imo.
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Does anybody really care?
I really don't think these builds would work very well unless you have huge mana regen items... and health gain items... but really you can't count on finding those kind of things, and this build just has no sustainability. Not to mention any single target damage at all.
I really don't think these builds would work very well unless you have huge mana regen items... and health gain items... but really you can't count on finding those kind of things, and this build just has no sustainability. Not to mention any single target damage at all.
Zombie Dogs is the only required skill in this build that even has a mana cost (and it's quite low with a 60sec CD). Neither Sacrifice nor Mass Confusion have mana costs at all. I can't speak for the others' version(s) of this build, but for mine, the highest mana cost spell is the summon, which, even with Pierce the Veil, is only 229 mana. Compare that to some of the more "spammable" spells (numbers assuming PtV) like Plague of Toads (274), Zombie Charger (298), Firebats (457/sec), Firebomb (343), etc. I think this is one of the better builds as far as sustainability goes. Only a Spirit Doc is probably going to be more efficient with mana, IMO.
And just because Sacrifice hits all targets in a radius doesn't mean it can't be effective for single-target damage too. Imagine Sacrificing your dogs so that all their explosions hit one target (pretty likely in, say, a boss scenario). That's 800% weapon damage right there (before Attack benefits). I'm not worried.
Zombie Dogs is the only required skill in this build that even has a mana cost (and it's quite low with a 60sec CD). Neither Sacrifice nor Mass Confusion have mana costs at all. I can't speak for the others' version(s) of this build, but for mine, the highest mana cost spell is the summon, which, even with Pierce the Veil, is only 229 mana. Compare that to some of the more "spammable" spells (numbers assuming PtV) like Plague of Toads (274), Zombie Charger (298), Firebats (457/sec), Firebomb (343), etc. I think this is one of the better builds as far as sustainability goes. Only a Spirit Doc is probably going to be more efficient with mana, IMO.
And just because Sacrifice hits all targets in a radius doesn't mean it can't be effective for single-target damage too. Imagine Sacrificing your dogs so that all their explosions hit one target (pretty likely in, say, a boss scenario). That's 800% weapon damage right there (before Attack benefits). I'm not worried.
This is mine. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cSgUTb!dXW!aZZaab I know the single target damage of the dogs, yes. But compare that to Haunt in this build. Haunt can have three effects going at once, with the rune I have in there it deals damage over 1.9 seconds with 320% damage per second, that is 608 damage right there... so three haunts at once would be 1824% weapon damage. Now compare that to 800%.
More than either mana or single target skills, what the build lacks is life gaining. How will you survive against a massive army when Mass confusion and zombie dogs are on cooldown? Wall of Zombies is the only damage dealing skill in the list here that doesn't have a cooldown, and it does cost mana.
But compare that to Haunt in this build. Haunt can have three effects going at once, with the rune I have in there it deals damage over 1.9 seconds with 320% damage per second, that is 608 damage right there... so three haunts at once would be 1824% weapon damage. Now compare that to 800%.
More than either mana or single target skills, what the build lacks is life gaining. How will you survive against a massive army when Mass confusion and zombie dogs are on cooldown? Wall of Zombies is the only damage dealing skill in the list here that doesn't have a cooldown, and it does cost mana.
I'm fairly certain that Haunt won't be able to stack on a single target, so a single Haunt would do 608% weapon damage over its duration, and 3 would do 1824%, as you mentioned. However, that's the MAX damage for Haunt. 800% is the minimum for Sacrifice, assuming all four explosions hit at least one target (which they obviously should, otherwise you shouldn't have used it in that situation). If they hit more, even better. It only takes 3 targets per explosion to blow Haunt out of the water, and with a 12yd range, I don't assume it'll be too difficult to achieve that, especially if everything is clumped together.
My build deals with health regen through the runes I have in Dogs and Grasp, which add a good chance to drop lots of health globes (which also synergizes with Gruesome Feast). And yeah, you could be in trouble if you have no way to get Dogs up and are being gang rushed by monsters. You have to use discretion with Sacrifice; just because you have Dogs up doesn't mean you need to (or should) Sacrifice them, even in a Sacrifice-centric build.
The need for active Zombie Dogs is an obvious limitation of this build, but I hardly think it prevents the build from being viable. In any case, I definitely won't be using this build to level (Spirit Doc all the way!), but I think it'll be a lot of fun to play around with later in the game.
I'm fairly certain that Haunt won't be able to stack on a single target, so a single Haunt would do 608% weapon damage over its duration, and 3 would do 1824%, as you mentioned. However, that's the MAX damage for Haunt. 800% is the minimum for Sacrifice, assuming all four explosions hit at least one target (which they obviously should, otherwise you shouldn't have used it in that situation). If they hit more, even better. It only takes 3 targets per explosion to blow Haunt out of the water, and with a 12yd range, I don't assume it'll be too difficult to achieve that, especially if everything is clumped together.
My build deals with health regen through the runes I have in Dogs and Grasp, which add a good chance to drop lots of health globes (which also synergizes with Gruesome Feast). And yeah, you could be in trouble if you have no way to get Dogs up and are being gang rushed by monsters. You have to use discretion with Sacrifice; just because you have Dogs up doesn't mean you need to (or should) Sacrifice them, even in a Sacrifice-centric build.
The need for active Zombie Dogs is an obvious limitation of this build, but I hardly think it prevents the build from being viable. In any case, I definitely won't be using this build to level (Spirit Doc all the way!), but I think it'll be a lot of fun to play around with later in the game.
Oh I think the Dog Explosion build will work for sure... it just shouldn't be focused on entirely, you have to think about sustainability in terms of both health and mana before you think about damage output.
As for Haunt, it does stack. At least, I saw it stacking unruned in beta footage. Whether or not that runed version stacks is questionable.
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZkjdPT!cUd!aZaaZZ
----- Active Skills and Runestones -------
----- Passive Skills -------
As in every other build the following text is based on a lot of speculations.
For actives I chose a combination of skills that should be able to do extreme amounts of damage in a short burst. Although relaying on a short burst of spells is not the best strategy, I hope that in Inferno and Hell such should work well.
Here is how I intended the build to combo:
Point is so spam as many Sacrifices as possible while Mass Confusion is active to do the most damage.
Choosing Passives wasn't hard: more damage, lower the mana costs, life regeneration, and shorten the cooldowns. Basic and very effective. Paying life instead of mana is costly but if you play it right I suppose it should be more rewarding than using just mana.
Older versions
Bump
This is more fun, and I have the link in my sig, so, why repeat it...
Sacrifice is mainly for Mass Confusion. But you made me realize that I practically don't use Mana in this build, so I'll have to rethink some things.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZYTQjg!YdX!baZaaa
With this build, I can gain a maximum bonus of +630 flat to Attack, and another 210% bonus, for a total possible Attack bonus of 1323 (without even taking gear into consideration). Add another +20% to all damage from Pierce the Veil, and I think we're looking at probably the hardest-hitting combination of any class. Of course, its dependence on Dogs is a definite limitation, especially on boss fights, and cooldown management of Zombie Dogs, BBV, and Confusion will be key. I'm going to go watch Dexter instead of trying to figure out a rotation for those, but...I think if you can figure out the CDs, this build will tear shit apart!
I've looked through your build, I really like it, but I would make some changes.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZdTQjg!UdX!ZcZZaa
From everything we've seen, 1 Attack = 1% damage increase, so a 50% damage increase is nothing to sneeze at IMO. If you take gear into account, a well-geared level 60 WD could probably add several hundred percent to their damage with Gruesome Feast. I definitely think it's worth it, but that's just my opinion.
This is a good point that I took into consideration, but instead of just re-runing BBV, I decided to replace it entirely. I put in Indigo Spirit Barrage instead, as that gives me a good spammable AoE damage spell so I don't have to rely so heavily on having dogs up to sacrifice all the time. I think with proper CD management of the Summon and Confusion, I could still have dogs up *most* of the time and Sacrifice them as necessary. Grasp of the Dead and Spirit Barrage should be sufficient for those times that I don't have dogs out.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ZYTijg!YdX!baZYaa
Some tentative damage numbers for this build (again, not even taking gear into account, so these will presumably be much higher in practice):
I'm SO LOOKING FORWARD to playing this game!!!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#hbZQjT!Xde!ZacZaa
here is my version of the dog build... i use toads also in an effort to combine its rune effect with that of Mass Confusion...
The goal in this is to confuse, kill, create more dogs, sacrifice, create more dogs, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. I opted for the alabaster sacrifice rune to give me 70% chance to spawn new dogs after i blow them up, allowing me for even more sacrificing.
the gargantuan i really like with crimson rune, but i might switch him out for horrify so i can get a speed buff to make toad-bombing easier.
I also went with BBV and the 40% damage for allies instead of the dog option because the MC rune is much more affective imo.
Does anybody really care?
This is my new build. Please let me know what you think.
It was my first choice, but I think that the Pack stacks, and if so, It would come more handy in inferno and hell
Zombie Dogs is the only required skill in this build that even has a mana cost (and it's quite low with a 60sec CD). Neither Sacrifice nor Mass Confusion have mana costs at all. I can't speak for the others' version(s) of this build, but for mine, the highest mana cost spell is the summon, which, even with Pierce the Veil, is only 229 mana. Compare that to some of the more "spammable" spells (numbers assuming PtV) like Plague of Toads (274), Zombie Charger (298), Firebats (457/sec), Firebomb (343), etc. I think this is one of the better builds as far as sustainability goes. Only a Spirit Doc is probably going to be more efficient with mana, IMO.
And just because Sacrifice hits all targets in a radius doesn't mean it can't be effective for single-target damage too. Imagine Sacrificing your dogs so that all their explosions hit one target (pretty likely in, say, a boss scenario). That's 800% weapon damage right there (before Attack benefits). I'm not worried.
This is mine. http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cSgUTb!dXW!aZZaab I know the single target damage of the dogs, yes. But compare that to Haunt in this build. Haunt can have three effects going at once, with the rune I have in there it deals damage over 1.9 seconds with 320% damage per second, that is 608 damage right there... so three haunts at once would be 1824% weapon damage. Now compare that to 800%.
More than either mana or single target skills, what the build lacks is life gaining. How will you survive against a massive army when Mass confusion and zombie dogs are on cooldown? Wall of Zombies is the only damage dealing skill in the list here that doesn't have a cooldown, and it does cost mana.
I'm fairly certain that Haunt won't be able to stack on a single target, so a single Haunt would do 608% weapon damage over its duration, and 3 would do 1824%, as you mentioned. However, that's the MAX damage for Haunt. 800% is the minimum for Sacrifice, assuming all four explosions hit at least one target (which they obviously should, otherwise you shouldn't have used it in that situation). If they hit more, even better. It only takes 3 targets per explosion to blow Haunt out of the water, and with a 12yd range, I don't assume it'll be too difficult to achieve that, especially if everything is clumped together.
My build deals with health regen through the runes I have in Dogs and Grasp, which add a good chance to drop lots of health globes (which also synergizes with Gruesome Feast). And yeah, you could be in trouble if you have no way to get Dogs up and are being gang rushed by monsters. You have to use discretion with Sacrifice; just because you have Dogs up doesn't mean you need to (or should) Sacrifice them, even in a Sacrifice-centric build.
The need for active Zombie Dogs is an obvious limitation of this build, but I hardly think it prevents the build from being viable. In any case, I definitely won't be using this build to level (Spirit Doc all the way!), but I think it'll be a lot of fun to play around with later in the game.
Oh I think the Dog Explosion build will work for sure... it just shouldn't be focused on entirely, you have to think about sustainability in terms of both health and mana before you think about damage output.
As for Haunt, it does stack. At least, I saw it stacking unruned in beta footage. Whether or not that runed version stacks is questionable.