This is a question for those D3 fans who have been fortunate enough to get your hands on the beta, and have played through it with the WD thus far. Is there any evidence that suggests that the WD class will be good for either soloing or pvping? Also can the WD be considered to be a "Jack of all Trades" and can he do everything well for the most part? If not please list the strengths and weaknesses or pros and cons that you see in the WD up to this point in time. I have been a Diablo fan from the beginning, and I personally can't wait to get my hands on a copy of the game and plan to create a WD as my main. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!
I'm not fan of PvP. But WD will be awesome at PvE. Dogs will tank for you, you have multiple HP regenerating skills, good AoE damage, snares... he has everything. Best solo class so far (in my opinion ofc)
Ok, well thats good to hear. As long as he is descent at soloing then I will be happy. I have been watching some youtube videos on the WD beta gameplay from lvl 1-13 and so far it looks awesome! I played a lvl 98 necro in D2 and loved him to death, so if it is remotely like the necro class then I'm sure I will be pleased.
From the looks of things the WD will be very good at PvE while sort of lacking in PvP. As for soloing, every class can solo in Diablo.. it is Diablo. Witch doctor is underwhelming at the start for sure but I am sure he will pick up later on. His strong points include multi damage (poison, fire, physical, arcane) and AoE/DoT. He lacks some good single target snares/stuns/slows and damage so will probably be a weaker pick for PvP. Just my opinions.
From the looks of things the WD will be very good at PvE while sort of lacking in PvP. As for soloing, every class can solo in Diablo.. it is Diablo. Witch doctor is underwhelming at the start for sure but I am sure he will pick up later on. His strong points include multi damage (poison, fire, physical, arcane) and AoE/DoT. He lacks some good single target snares/stuns/slows and damage so will probably be a weaker pick for PvP. Just my opinions.
Also WD is my favorite so far so I am biased :).
Hmmm...ok. So it sounds like you have definitely played the beta then. What makes the WD ur favorite class to play so far? Just asking this bc I have been getting mixed reviews, seems like a lot of ppl really like the WD and a lot also hate him. So...
From the looks of things the WD will be very good at PvE while sort of lacking in PvP. As for soloing, every class can solo in Diablo.. it is Diablo. Witch doctor is underwhelming at the start for sure but I am sure he will pick up later on. His strong points include multi damage (poison, fire, physical, arcane) and AoE/DoT. He lacks some good single target snares/stuns/slows and damage so will probably be a weaker pick for PvP. Just my opinions.
Also WD is my favorite so far so I am biased :).
Hmmm...ok. So it sounds like you have definitely played the beta then. What makes the WD ur favorite class to play so far? Just asking this bc I have been getting mixed reviews, seems like a lot of ppl really like the WD and a lot also hate him. So...
My lips are sealed but Witch Doctor is my favorite for a few reasons. One is the obligatory I played summoner necro in d2 and I got that itch. Also because I personally like to play cooperatively as opposed to PvP for the most part so he appeals to me in that sense. I also like to be able to sit in the back lines but still be a force that matters for the team. With AoE/DoTs and summons to tank, I can have lot going on while still sitting in the back row.
All in all Witch Doctor seems to be a love it or hate it class. He fits my personal playstyle, so I like him.
i too loved the necro in D2 and therefor im going to choose the WD first and ive made many many builds with him and with all my calculations on the skill calc. with a decent weapon he should be THE best in the entire game at farming/questing with the most ease and absolute least amount of dying. because hes the best at surviving with his minions and can do massive AOE damage. sacrifice can do 800% AOE dmg and can have a HUGE chance to make half if not all of your dogs reappear. and his other aoe's also. spamming haunt with crimson rune for massive damage AND hp regen. many options.
as for pvp, he will be rediculously OP i beleive, why? because he can have his dogs take 70% of all damage as well as a passive that decreases 20% damage when below 50% health, so thast 90% dmg reduction WITHOUT any other factors like his own armor/defense rating. and he can spam poison dart with crimson rune for 300% weapon dmg spam while haunt (500% weapon dmg over 17 seconds) does damage also. and he can just kite any other class to death with spirit walk and horrify. so basically if you want to kill the WD in pvp you HAVE to kill all of his dogs.. and if he resummons them... lol. game over son!
EDIT: with the new passive skill introduced at blizzcon (chance on killing something to summon a zombie dog) you basically can never run out of minions even if there dying kind of quickly.
My buddy and I were able to do some pvp at blizzcon this year. I played a wizard and he played the wd, and we tore that shit up. As a wizard the only thing that was even able to touch me was a demon hunter. The other three we fought against were a monk another wizard and a barb. The entire match the barb and the monk were unable to kill me, even when we were off in a corner toe to toe. Diamond skin plus mm destroyed them. My wd buddy did almost as well as me, I had 27 kills 16 assists 4 death, he had like 24 kills and I think 5-6 deaths. So yes a wd is good at pvp, that hexing shaman was hilarious and his poison darts were pretty damn good.
The problem with this thread is that almost all the knowledge gained and used is from difficulty Normal, which is cookie cutter easy. Blizz even said so themselves. The problem I see for WD PvE wise is if his pets will be strong enough to take the hits on the harder difficultys. Coz if you choose to take pets your nukes wont be as powerfull thus you need a little more time to kill stuff. And if the pets cant handle that then you are screwed But I really really like the WD, im all for pet builds :), but from what I have been able to read and hear you need to be very active with offensive spells to kill. The pets wont be strong enough to kill all for you. It wont be like the Necro in D2.
PvP wise i think he will own just as much as the other cha's. Its all about the playstyle and teamwork.
unlike the other classes the WD has almost no survivability without his pets. no real defense passive or skills. and his CC spells have HUGE cool downs (20 seconds and 1 min) and only a couple slow spells that aren't that amazing (zombie wall, grasp of the dead) and don't do shit for damage. his pets HAVE to be able to withstand hits in inferno otherwise the WD would be completely and utterly worthless without someone tanking for him, and since blizz said every class can solo inferno, you can safely assume the pets indeed WILL take hits in the later difficulties. i believe the pets will definitely NEED the passive in inferno that gives you 1 extra dog and all of them 60% extra life. but with that, able to withstand quite a beating before dying. especially if you alabaster rune them to heal themselves for like 70% of all the dmg they do, haha.
Ok, are you trolling or what? You really think Blizzard is gonna make a class based on 1 or 2 skills? That, if a player does not choose either of those 2 skills, it would'nt be viable? Then you completely dont know what you are talking about. Blizzards whole view on and idea behind diablo 3 is customization and variation. They want alot of different builds and setups, though ALL VIABLE. Saying the WD can't survive and is completely useless without pets is totally against Blizzards intention with Diablo 3. Also, you are only looking at skills, totally forgetting about how items are the most important in Diablo. Remember that a WD can wear a shield, to make his defenses better. He can have alot of vitality on his items, or...anything you want! Check out this video and you will understand what I am talking about.
I've used the skill calculator well over 100 times for the WD and every other class, reading carefully what every skill does with every rune. i know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. holy crap are you trolling ME? "gear is most important"? really? sure then GL getting the best defense gear in the game in order to survive without pets in inferno without being able to survive in inferno in the first place... rofl. skills are ALWAYS #1. gear is a distant second because to survive without pets you'd need some wicked defense based gear which you won't be able to get in the first place. so ill agree ONLY to the extent that at the very least you need pets AT FIRST, then once you get great defense based gear you could MAYBE get rid of the pets, but looking at everything i STILL think thats completely naive to think he will be able to survive. he is a summoner, his pets are his GREATEST abilities by FAR. able to make you virtually invincible and any WD build who wants to maximize dmg output NEEDS pets. because your pets dmg combined will do more dmg then you will. after calculating it out, if your pets are runed for damage, crimson zombie dogs for 70% fire dmg aoe PER dog, and gargantuan indigo with 150% wpn dmg cleave(lvl 7 runes). and of course SACRIFICE (800% aoe dmg) which is his strongest ability in the game by FAR, which also needs your dogs. so for the best builds for the WD at surviving AND dmg, pets are a 100% MUST have.
honestly just because blizzard talks about all viable builds doesn't mean EVERY build possible for a certain class is viable in end game without 1-2 spells that are a must. although this "bla bla skill is a must for inferno" i have only found to be true for the WD. sure norm - hell(doubtful) you might be able to get away with no pets, but inferno? good luck, you'll be one shotted instantly and constantly fleeing rotating CC's while not doing dmg, so yes the WD survivability in later difficulties is almost entirely based upon having AT LEAST 1 summon to help him kite around.
let me prove this now so we don't go back and forth:
WD skills for surviving WITHOUT pets, yes these can be runed to make them better or have less of a cool down but not so much better to make them worth not having zombie dogs or gargantuan. not even close. pets are 10x > then these. but pets used in CONJUNCTION with these makes him super awesome.
1. mass confusion (1 min CD)
2. horrify (20 sec CD)
3. spirit walk (15 second CD)
4. grasp of the dead (8 second CD)
5. Hex (10 second CD)
6 haunt with crimson rune 45% dmg returned
7. fireboats with golden rune for 20% dmg returned, but using this skill up close to hit makes u super vulnerable without pets and you will die in inferno/hell
as you can see every single one of his CC spells has a CD, and its not guaranteed that horrify/confusion will work on every monster. and hex is very slow and barley hexes that many targets (watching beta footage).
passives for surviving:
1. death trance
yes sir, only ONE passive that helps with surviving.
none of these are that amazing. some slows and some things to make monsters run/fight eachother. but considering these may be ineffective in inferno, such as monsters who are immune to slow and/or immune to confusion/horrify. what then? your fucked without pets. nothing is immune to your pets attacking them, sure the AI in inferno will make some mobs run past your pets, but nothing says your pets won't grab back aggro when they attack them.
So unless you want to have mostly/all CC spells and constantly have to rotate them to survive while doing almost no dmg, you NEED summons to be efficient and even OK at killing SOLO and especially at surviving in later difficulties. the WD also doesn't have any super high dmg abilities, all of his abilities are in the 100-300% range, while other classes have some that are 400-900% (besides Sacrifice, which you'd need pets for >_>). so the best way to kill efficiently and smoothly and in reality, AT ALL, is any viable solo build you make will need to have BOTH of the pets + pet passive so they can take hits. so like i said before unless you have SOMEONE ELSE tanking for you, you won't survive in inferno without pets. period. thats 2 of 6 skills. and 1 of 3 passives, the others can be whatever you want and still be good.
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Ok, well thats good to hear. As long as he is descent at soloing then I will be happy. I have been watching some youtube videos on the WD beta gameplay from lvl 1-13 and so far it looks awesome! I played a lvl 98 necro in D2 and loved him to death, so if it is remotely like the necro class then I'm sure I will be pleased.
Also WD is my favorite so far so I am biased :).
Hmmm...ok. So it sounds like you have definitely played the beta then. What makes the WD ur favorite class to play so far? Just asking this bc I have been getting mixed reviews, seems like a lot of ppl really like the WD and a lot also hate him. So...
My lips are sealed but Witch Doctor is my favorite for a few reasons. One is the obligatory I played summoner necro in d2 and I got that itch. Also because I personally like to play cooperatively as opposed to PvP for the most part so he appeals to me in that sense. I also like to be able to sit in the back lines but still be a force that matters for the team. With AoE/DoTs and summons to tank, I can have lot going on while still sitting in the back row.
All in all Witch Doctor seems to be a love it or hate it class. He fits my personal playstyle, so I like him.
i too loved the necro in D2 and therefor im going to choose the WD first and ive made many many builds with him and with all my calculations on the skill calc. with a decent weapon he should be THE best in the entire game at farming/questing with the most ease and absolute least amount of dying. because hes the best at surviving with his minions and can do massive AOE damage. sacrifice can do 800% AOE dmg and can have a HUGE chance to make half if not all of your dogs reappear. and his other aoe's also. spamming haunt with crimson rune for massive damage AND hp regen. many options.
as for pvp, he will be rediculously OP i beleive, why? because he can have his dogs take 70% of all damage as well as a passive that decreases 20% damage when below 50% health, so thast 90% dmg reduction WITHOUT any other factors like his own armor/defense rating. and he can spam poison dart with crimson rune for 300% weapon dmg spam while haunt (500% weapon dmg over 17 seconds) does damage also. and he can just kite any other class to death with spirit walk and horrify. so basically if you want to kill the WD in pvp you HAVE to kill all of his dogs.. and if he resummons them... lol. game over son!
EDIT: with the new passive skill introduced at blizzcon (chance on killing something to summon a zombie dog) you basically can never run out of minions even if there dying kind of quickly.
We will only know for sure once we get reliable release information and numbers, though =]
unlike the other classes the WD has almost no survivability without his pets. no real defense passive or skills. and his CC spells have HUGE cool downs (20 seconds and 1 min) and only a couple slow spells that aren't that amazing (zombie wall, grasp of the dead) and don't do shit for damage. his pets HAVE to be able to withstand hits in inferno otherwise the WD would be completely and utterly worthless without someone tanking for him, and since blizz said every class can solo inferno, you can safely assume the pets indeed WILL take hits in the later difficulties. i believe the pets will definitely NEED the passive in inferno that gives you 1 extra dog and all of them 60% extra life. but with that, able to withstand quite a beating before dying. especially if you alabaster rune them to heal themselves for like 70% of all the dmg they do, haha.
I've used the skill calculator well over 100 times for the WD and every other class, reading carefully what every skill does with every rune. i know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. holy crap are you trolling ME? "gear is most important"? really? sure then GL getting the best defense gear in the game in order to survive without pets in inferno without being able to survive in inferno in the first place... rofl. skills are ALWAYS #1. gear is a distant second because to survive without pets you'd need some wicked defense based gear which you won't be able to get in the first place. so ill agree ONLY to the extent that at the very least you need pets AT FIRST, then once you get great defense based gear you could MAYBE get rid of the pets, but looking at everything i STILL think thats completely naive to think he will be able to survive. he is a summoner, his pets are his GREATEST abilities by FAR. able to make you virtually invincible and any WD build who wants to maximize dmg output NEEDS pets. because your pets dmg combined will do more dmg then you will. after calculating it out, if your pets are runed for damage, crimson zombie dogs for 70% fire dmg aoe PER dog, and gargantuan indigo with 150% wpn dmg cleave(lvl 7 runes). and of course SACRIFICE (800% aoe dmg) which is his strongest ability in the game by FAR, which also needs your dogs. so for the best builds for the WD at surviving AND dmg, pets are a 100% MUST have.
honestly just because blizzard talks about all viable builds doesn't mean EVERY build possible for a certain class is viable in end game without 1-2 spells that are a must. although this "bla bla skill is a must for inferno" i have only found to be true for the WD. sure norm - hell(doubtful) you might be able to get away with no pets, but inferno? good luck, you'll be one shotted instantly and constantly fleeing rotating CC's while not doing dmg, so yes the WD survivability in later difficulties is almost entirely based upon having AT LEAST 1 summon to help him kite around.
let me prove this now so we don't go back and forth:
WD skills for surviving WITHOUT pets, yes these can be runed to make them better or have less of a cool down but not so much better to make them worth not having zombie dogs or gargantuan. not even close. pets are 10x > then these. but pets used in CONJUNCTION with these makes him super awesome.
1. mass confusion (1 min CD)
2. horrify (20 sec CD)
3. spirit walk (15 second CD)
4. grasp of the dead (8 second CD)
5. Hex (10 second CD)
6 haunt with crimson rune 45% dmg returned
7. fireboats with golden rune for 20% dmg returned, but using this skill up close to hit makes u super vulnerable without pets and you will die in inferno/hell
as you can see every single one of his CC spells has a CD, and its not guaranteed that horrify/confusion will work on every monster. and hex is very slow and barley hexes that many targets (watching beta footage).
passives for surviving:
1. death trance
yes sir, only ONE passive that helps with surviving.
none of these are that amazing. some slows and some things to make monsters run/fight eachother. but considering these may be ineffective in inferno, such as monsters who are immune to slow and/or immune to confusion/horrify. what then? your fucked without pets. nothing is immune to your pets attacking them, sure the AI in inferno will make some mobs run past your pets, but nothing says your pets won't grab back aggro when they attack them.
So unless you want to have mostly/all CC spells and constantly have to rotate them to survive while doing almost no dmg, you NEED summons to be efficient and even OK at killing SOLO and especially at surviving in later difficulties. the WD also doesn't have any super high dmg abilities, all of his abilities are in the 100-300% range, while other classes have some that are 400-900% (besides Sacrifice, which you'd need pets for >_>). so the best way to kill efficiently and smoothly and in reality, AT ALL, is any viable solo build you make will need to have BOTH of the pets + pet passive so they can take hits. so like i said before unless you have SOMEONE ELSE tanking for you, you won't survive in inferno without pets. period. thats 2 of 6 skills. and 1 of 3 passives, the others can be whatever you want and still be good.