Do the dogs feel a little weak to you? I hasve played the WD throughout the beta (patch 9) and Although the WD is general got a small boost in this one (haunt is back to 575%) The dogs seems to get killed a lot. I know they are mostly a crowd control feature but with only 9% damage and so little HP they can't even hold off the Skeleton King long. Am I wrong here or am I missing something
This has been brought up so many times. It seems the majority of people who post here think they are underpowered because they die, and still will with pet passives.
I think what people forget is that they have a 1 minute cooldown, so aslong as they are living for around a minute there isn't a single problem at all.
This isn't WoW where pets last forever and tank every mob/elite for you. Blizzard obviously wants "pet classes" to have a less passive gaming style. With all this said, if pet builds dogs are only lasting lets say 20seconds then that is a problem. However having to summon them every cooldown is not.
It's doubtful they'll be able to tank stronger packs of enemies later in the game without fierce loyalty or else it wouldn't exist. However, you can keep them alive by using CC, which would enable them to survive even if you don't have fierce loyalty, but they wouldn't be tanking much. Really though they're supposed to die, especially on bosses. They take hits for you until they die which is how they provide utility. Even at their strongest I would expect them to die on bosses. But they shouldn't all die at once, they should be able to take a certain amount of hits each and once all 3 or 4 are dead you would resummon and do it again.
honestly we will have to wait and see when it comes out i have mixed feelings about the dogs there good and they arent the damage they do is negligible but they are decent tanks for regular mobs
the dogs are meant to take out smaller mobs and offer a distraction with three more opponents on the map. When you get to the bosses, then you will have to use gargantuan if you want a tanking pet. Then sacrifice the dogs for damage. Assuming you are planning on a summoning build
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the dogs are meant to take out smaller mobs and offer a distraction with three more opponents on the map. When you get to the bosses, then you will have to use gargantuan if you want a tanking pet. Then sacrifice the dogs for damage. Assuming you are planning on a summoning build
You realize that the summoning druid was the worst class spec in the history of D2 right? Thats why I have changed my mind about a WD as my main. My first character in D2 was a summoning druid, and once he got to hell he was utterly worthless. I am not willing to put my complete and utter faith into blizzard making the pet tanks not suck, and relive that summoning druid catastrophe over.
Also Switch skills = lost MF buff!
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"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
they only die to his whirlwind attack, if you have some life on hit items it should be enough for his normal attacks (it heals the dogs too)
This. His whirlwind attack does more than triple damage on the first swing. Zombie dogs do not have the AI to run away while he does his VERY obvious attack animation. I imagine they did this so players had to think during the fight and could avoid a very large chunk of his damage.
I only tend to lose my zombie dogs when I run into two champion packs at once or they stand in three grotesque explosions, both of which seem like acceptable deaths because those situations would nearly kill my character anyway.
Edit: Just tested on my barb to see the numbers again, first swing of his whirlwind hit me for anywhere from 64-86 and each subsequent swing hit me for 12-17. Changed from "triple damage" to "more than triple"...
With the zombie dogs rune Leeching Beasts and the passives jungle fortitude, zombie handler and fierce loyaly I'm guessing they will be pretty survivable. Of course you're gonna have to be lvl 45 or higher to get the full effect, but all those added together equal 50% of the damage they do heals them, they take 20% less damage, have 20% more hp and they benefit from any life regen items/gear you have.
I think they'll be pretty solid once you can fully max the beneficial passives for them.
This is a build idea focusing on zombie dogs that I think could work very well:
It's focus's less on preserving the life of the dogs and more at constantly spawning additional dogs mixed with a liberal dose of confused enemies. Confuse is one of my favorite skills in any game.
Can't say how survivable this build would be, but it wouldn't lack for fun with potentially tons of zombie dogs running around amidst bouncing yellow frogs confusing enemies that kill themselves.
You know, SK always does the triple sweep as his first attack. So if you just hold back for five seconds before the encounter, your dogs survive much longer and can get quite a few attacks in before they die.
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My place really was here. I was too foolish and stubborn to notice. But, what I truly hoped for then was here. Why do I always realize it When I've already lost it.
You know, SK always does the triple sweep as his first attack. So if you just hold back for five seconds before the encounter, your dogs survive much longer and can get quite a few attacks in before they die.
But thats 5 seconds you aren't attacking him, and the 1st 5 seconds he just kinda stands there. You will easily do more dmg with splinters than the dmg you lose from the dogs.
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"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
I like it! Like you said, I think at higher levels this build will fall behind as the dogs can only do so much, but this would be fun to watch dogs and frogs causing chaos with the confused enemy... that then turn into more dogs.
If it wasn't for the 4 dog cap, this kind of build would be much more viable at higher levels.
the dogs are meant to take out smaller mobs and offer a distraction with three more opponents on the map. When you get to the bosses, then you will have to use gargantuan if you want a tanking pet. Then sacrifice the dogs for damage. Assuming you are planning on a summoning build
You realize that the summoning druid was the worst class spec in the history of D2 right? Thats why I have changed my mind about a WD as my main. My first character in D2 was a summoning druid, and once he got to hell he was utterly worthless. I am not willing to put my complete and utter faith into blizzard making the pet tanks not suck, and relive that summoning druid catastrophe over.
Also Switch skills = lost MF buff!
Man when me and 5 of my buddies all picked diff chars and went through the first game my poor buddy picked the druid and went summoning only to be sorrely disapointed that only his bear was a mini tank, and his spirit granted us a decent damage increase. It was quite disapointment to him.
the dogs are meant to take out smaller mobs and offer a distraction with three more opponents on the map. When you get to the bosses, then you will have to use gargantuan if you want a tanking pet. Then sacrifice the dogs for damage. Assuming you are planning on a summoning build
You realize that the summoning druid was the worst class spec in the history of D2 right? Thats why I have changed my mind about a WD as my main. My first character in D2 was a summoning druid, and once he got to hell he was utterly worthless. I am not willing to put my complete and utter faith into blizzard making the pet tanks not suck, and relive that summoning druid catastrophe over.
Also Switch skills = lost MF buff!
Man when me and 5 of my buddies all picked diff chars and went through the first game my poor buddy picked the druid and went summoning only to be sorrely disapointed that only his bear was a mini tank, and his spirit granted us a decent damage increase. It was quite disapointment to him.
I enjoyed summoner prior to the patch that added synergies. Thats when the druid got raped (because they buffed NPCs to account for it).
Also we should account for gear.
There was a blue stating that items will affect skills: maybe we will find an "helmet of shepherd" with "increase pet lives by X%" or something like that.
In beta they seem quite balanced, does not die to often against normal monsters, maybe I lose one or two against rare/champions and they are not a match for bosses/minibosses.....seems fair enough.
Haven't been able to play the beta much due to performance issues, but logged on tonight and it just about changed my mind on having the WD be my main. Even at level 10 with decent beta gear, the dogs die INSTANTLY on SK, even when I'm trying to maneuver my way out of danger. I don't want them tanking everything for me (even though you end up taking ghastly amounts of damage when they're not alive), nor do I mind recasting it (or exploding them when I hit that level), but they feel completely useless at the moment. Hopefully with more skills and skill-variants..er, runes, the class will come together better, because I still love the overall class. Just not psyched where it ended up.
On a side note, I also am not enjoying the order in which the WD skills unlock anymore. Darts feel weak and Firebats eats mana like crazy now. The other classes just feel immediately powerful.
People need to realize that they're perfectly fine in beta except for the skeleton king. They die on the skeleton king because it's a fight where there is easily avoidable damage that is meant to be avoided. Since you can't control the dogs, they get hit by it and get one shot. I don't expect dogs to be good in most boss fights because I'm sure most bosses have devastating attacks that can be avoided via good movement. I wouldn't give up on them because in normal play, they hold up well enough.
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I think what people forget is that they have a 1 minute cooldown, so aslong as they are living for around a minute there isn't a single problem at all.
This isn't WoW where pets last forever and tank every mob/elite for you. Blizzard obviously wants "pet classes" to have a less passive gaming style. With all this said, if pet builds dogs are only lasting lets say 20seconds then that is a problem. However having to summon them every cooldown is not.
dogs = wolves
Gargantuan = bear
the dogs are meant to take out smaller mobs and offer a distraction with three more opponents on the map. When you get to the bosses, then you will have to use gargantuan if you want a tanking pet. Then sacrifice the dogs for damage. Assuming you are planning on a summoning build
Find any Diablo news? Contact me or anyone else on the News team
You realize that the summoning druid was the worst class spec in the history of D2 right? Thats why I have changed my mind about a WD as my main. My first character in D2 was a summoning druid, and once he got to hell he was utterly worthless. I am not willing to put my complete and utter faith into blizzard making the pet tanks not suck, and relive that summoning druid catastrophe over.
Also Switch skills = lost MF buff!
"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
This. His whirlwind attack does more than triple damage on the first swing. Zombie dogs do not have the AI to run away while he does his VERY obvious attack animation. I imagine they did this so players had to think during the fight and could avoid a very large chunk of his damage.
I only tend to lose my zombie dogs when I run into two champion packs at once or they stand in three grotesque explosions, both of which seem like acceptable deaths because those situations would nearly kill my character anyway.
Edit: Just tested on my barb to see the numbers again, first swing of his whirlwind hit me for anywhere from 64-86 and each subsequent swing hit me for 12-17. Changed from "triple damage" to "more than triple"...
I think they'll be pretty solid once you can fully max the beneficial passives for them.
This is a build idea focusing on zombie dogs that I think could work very well:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#YfWjXQ!adT!cYYZac
It's focus's less on preserving the life of the dogs and more at constantly spawning additional dogs mixed with a liberal dose of confused enemies. Confuse is one of my favorite skills in any game.
Can't say how survivable this build would be, but it wouldn't lack for fun with potentially tons of zombie dogs running around amidst bouncing yellow frogs confusing enemies that kill themselves.
"Just google "diablo 3 gold guide" and magical rainbow covered demons will assault your eyes."
I like it! Like you said, I think at higher levels this build will fall behind as the dogs can only do so much, but this would be fun to watch dogs and frogs causing chaos with the confused enemy... that then turn into more dogs.
If it wasn't for the 4 dog cap, this kind of build would be much more viable at higher levels.
If we can figure out what makes the dogs live longer... we can build our gear to match.
I enjoyed summoner prior to the patch that added synergies. Thats when the druid got raped (because they buffed NPCs to account for it).
There was a blue stating that items will affect skills: maybe we will find an "helmet of shepherd" with "increase pet lives by X%" or something like that.
In beta they seem quite balanced, does not die to often against normal monsters, maybe I lose one or two against rare/champions and they are not a match for bosses/minibosses.....seems fair enough.
On a side note, I also am not enjoying the order in which the WD skills unlock anymore. Darts feel weak and Firebats eats mana like crazy now. The other classes just feel immediately powerful.