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.
Lvl 13 dogs with Jungle Fortitude can survive the whirlwind. Rabies is mad awesome too... It drastically improves the zombie dogs.
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.
Lvl 13 dogs with Jungle Fortitude can survive the whirlwind. Rabies is mad awesome too... It drastically improves the zombie dogs.
At level 13 you have technically "outleveled" the content so I would expect them to survive. I do have concerns about the dogs and even the Gargan once we actually can see him work but we will have to wait and see how they scale at later levels. If it turns out they are a complete waste and die in 1 hit to normal mobs, then I will either switch to a build that supports a sacrifice build or completely remove them off my skillbar. The damage they do is not noticeable against really any mob so complaining that they die in 1 hit is really not an argument. They are not made to be tanks, if they were then everyone would play the WD and steamroll content.
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.
Lvl 13 dogs with Jungle Fortitude can survive the whirlwind. Rabies is mad awesome too... It drastically improves the zombie dogs.
At level 13 you have technically "outleveled" the content so I would expect them to survive. I do have concerns about the dogs and even the Gargan once we actually can see him work but we will have to wait and see how they scale at later levels. If it turns out they are a complete waste and die in 1 hit to normal mobs, then I will either switch to a build that supports a sacrifice build or completely remove them off my skillbar. The damage they do is not noticeable against really any mob so complaining that they die in 1 hit is really not an argument. They are not made to be tanks, if they were then everyone would play the WD and steamroll content.
I would probably use this build to support the zombie dogs and sacrifice. This gives you plenty of aoe and single target while allowing for the highest chance possible to summon a ton of dogs and sacrifice them. The build uses GoTD and Mass Confusion to support your Oh Crap! moments.
Lvl 13 dogs with Jungle Fortitude can survive the whirlwind. Rabies is mad awesome too... It drastically improves the zombie dogs.
At level 13 you have technically "outleveled" the content so I would expect them to survive. I do have concerns about the dogs and even the Gargan once we actually can see him work but we will have to wait and see how they scale at later levels. If it turns out they are a complete waste and die in 1 hit to normal mobs, then I will either switch to a build that supports a sacrifice build or completely remove them off my skillbar. The damage they do is not noticeable against really any mob so complaining that they die in 1 hit is really not an argument. They are not made to be tanks, if they were then everyone would play the WD and steamroll content.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ShYVjZ!adT!acZZZa
I would probably use this build to support the zombie dogs and sacrifice. This gives you plenty of aoe and single target while allowing for the highest chance possible to summon a ton of dogs and sacrifice them. The build uses GoTD and Mass Confusion to support your Oh Crap! moments.
Also there seem to be a bug which allows you to passive summon Rabid Dogs instead of normal dogs if you have the runed active skill on the bar.