So, I've been using something resembling the standard acid rain spam builds (except I use frogs w/ 15% confusing rune for my mana-free damage. Never seen anyone recommend it but that part of it has been fine) for a while now but sometimes I like to mix it up a little and I'm looking for a good place to find some decent somewhat cookie-cutter builds and/or advice for something a little different.
My gear is decent for the budget (at least I think so, but what do I know. It's something like 15m or so total, 70kish DPS, 42khps, decent resists and whatnot) but not really good enough to reliably run through MP4 like I own the place. I'm not looking for the fastest farming build. I'm looking for something I can use to kite around bosses in MP4 for a reasonable shot at keys and something I can use against the bosses w/ the infernal machine. I've done one shot at the bosses so far and it took me like 35 minutes of kiting around at MP3.
I don't mind if I have to kite elites around for a bit, I just want a reasonable chance for the keys/body parts to drop so I figure MP4 aught to do it. And I don't want to die 150 times in the process. I was thinking about something featuring haunt and spirit barage, which probably means Rush of Essence, but from there I'm just not sure what else I should do.
Bonus points if anyone comes up with something good where I can throw in Pile On zombie walls.
Edit: Was thinking something along the lines of this:
http ://d3db. com/calculator/i/witch-doctor/36982
edit again: This is actually working surprisingly well...
tried a ton of build and this one is better than acid rain spam, imo, let me explain the build by going through each skills.
SKILLS
-Poison Dart, Spined Dart: only to build up mana when you're low. Make sure to use it every 5 seconds to keep Vision Quest (see passive skills) up at all time.
-Zombie Charger, Zombie Bears: its your main attack, use it as much as possible.
-Spirit Walk, Healing Journey: Your main defensive spell, keep it for a critical moment, when you're stuck, very low life or to avoid fatal damage.
-Hex, Jinx: Permanent single target extra 20% damage, permanent single target cc, extremely useful against key wardens, elites and even uber zoltun kulle.
-Acid Cloud. Slow Burn: is used mainly for the 6sec dot for some extra damage, spamming it when your low on life and spirit walk is on cooldown is a good idea.
-Gargantuan, Restless Giant: used only for his tanking aspec and a small DPS boost. If I had a skill to change, this is the one i'd change.
PASSIVES
Vision Quest: Good mana regen bonus, just make sure it always up.
Jungle Fortitude: Good defensive passive, you may want to change it if you think you're surviability is fine. Spirit Vessel is a good option, especially if you want to use Soul Harvest or Horrify instead of the Gargantuan.
Blood Ritual: Good mana regen bonus.
ROTATION
Keep Vision Quest up at all time, keep the Acid Cloud damage over time up at all time, keep your gargantuan up at all time, use hex as often as possible, the closest target to you is always the one that is being Hexed. Use Zombie Bears as much as possible, spam Poison Dart when your low on mana and spam Acid Cloud when you low on life. Spirit Walk when you're fucked.
I didn't even know there was an armory like thing for diablo. I just thought people were making actual profiles, lol. I'll post mine here because I'll take advice on gear as well as spec, though I'm more or less broke so the gear is what it is for a while.
(Can't link yet, so remove spaces)
Anyway, I went with the same spec as my first post and it was a nice change of pace. It made some encounters in MP4 feel like MP0 (where MP3 was effectively outside acceptable annoyance-to-payoff ratios with the acid cloud spec), but outside of Act 1 it gets a little cumbersome, particularly against fast mobs and large groups. I use a one-hander so I can throw out haunts at a decent pace but the groups you run into in Act 3 were just too much for it. Gotta say though that Pile On, while probably not much more than a novelty, is really fun to work with. Not always so easy to hit but it's fun watching 600k crits
But clearly I need more AE. I was trying to avoid using a bears/VQ build because I ran that one into the ground way back in early Inferno before they changed everything, but back then I was sing a 2-hander and it was using the old mechanics so maybe this'll work. I had definitely underestimated the potential power of Hex, though. I will definitely work that one in. I'd like to work in a garg of some kind as well because I like having something up there to distract units but I'm not married to that idea.
It's somewhat gear-specific, but my exploding zombie dog build is the most fun I've had yet with the WD. Also, in group play, the health globes left behind make you somthing of a healer, and a hero in many respects. Click my sig to see. I'll never play anything else.
You think Barbs aren't tired of spinning around in tight triangles? Sorry but its the most effective way of killing things, and if your basic instincts are the same as mine, no matter how unique or different the build these people offer you, your not going to be able to enjoy it because deep down inside you'll know that you could have just dropped that champion pack in 3 acid rains and been gone by the time the unique build even arives
You think Barbs aren't tired of spinning around in tight triangles? Sorry but its the most effective way of killing things, and if your basic instincts are the same as mine, no matter how unique or different the build these people offer you, your not going to be able to enjoy it because deep down inside you'll know that you could have just dropped that champion pack in 3 acid rains and been gone by the time the unique build even arives
You're missing my point a little bit, though I do get and agree with your point as well.
It's not that the acid rain/exploding zombie dog build that I was using wasn't effective or fun. It's that I'm sick of farming lower MP levels all the time. There are other things to do, like going up a few MP levels and farming keys (as I mentioned) and the build I was using wasn't as effective. The one I linked in the beginning actually worked really well. It could probably use a tweak or two but it was very effective.
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My gear is decent for the budget (at least I think so, but what do I know. It's something like 15m or so total, 70kish DPS, 42khps, decent resists and whatnot) but not really good enough to reliably run through MP4 like I own the place. I'm not looking for the fastest farming build. I'm looking for something I can use to kite around bosses in MP4 for a reasonable shot at keys and something I can use against the bosses w/ the infernal machine. I've done one shot at the bosses so far and it took me like 35 minutes of kiting around at MP3.
I don't mind if I have to kite elites around for a bit, I just want a reasonable chance for the keys/body parts to drop so I figure MP4 aught to do it. And I don't want to die 150 times in the process. I was thinking about something featuring haunt and spirit barage, which probably means Rush of Essence, but from there I'm just not sure what else I should do.
Bonus points if anyone comes up with something good where I can throw in Pile On zombie walls.
Edit: Was thinking something along the lines of this:
http ://d3db. com/calculator/i/witch-doctor/36982
edit again: This is actually working surprisingly well...
tried a ton of build and this one is better than acid rain spam, imo, let me explain the build by going through each skills.
SKILLS
-Poison Dart, Spined Dart: only to build up mana when you're low. Make sure to use it every 5 seconds to keep Vision Quest (see passive skills) up at all time.
-Zombie Charger, Zombie Bears: its your main attack, use it as much as possible.
-Spirit Walk, Healing Journey: Your main defensive spell, keep it for a critical moment, when you're stuck, very low life or to avoid fatal damage.
-Hex, Jinx: Permanent single target extra 20% damage, permanent single target cc, extremely useful against key wardens, elites and even uber zoltun kulle.
-Acid Cloud. Slow Burn: is used mainly for the 6sec dot for some extra damage, spamming it when your low on life and spirit walk is on cooldown is a good idea.
-Gargantuan, Restless Giant: used only for his tanking aspec and a small DPS boost. If I had a skill to change, this is the one i'd change.
PASSIVES
Vision Quest: Good mana regen bonus, just make sure it always up.
Jungle Fortitude: Good defensive passive, you may want to change it if you think you're surviability is fine. Spirit Vessel is a good option, especially if you want to use Soul Harvest or Horrify instead of the Gargantuan.
Blood Ritual: Good mana regen bonus.
ROTATION
Keep Vision Quest up at all time, keep the Acid Cloud damage over time up at all time, keep your gargantuan up at all time, use hex as often as possible, the closest target to you is always the one that is being Hexed. Use Zombie Bears as much as possible, spam Poison Dart when your low on mana and spam Acid Cloud when you low on life. Spirit Walk when you're fucked.
(Can't link yet, so remove spaces)
http:// us.battle. net/d3/en/profile/DrBretto-1241/hero/6553363
Anyway, I went with the same spec as my first post and it was a nice change of pace. It made some encounters in MP4 feel like MP0 (where MP3 was effectively outside acceptable annoyance-to-payoff ratios with the acid cloud spec), but outside of Act 1 it gets a little cumbersome, particularly against fast mobs and large groups. I use a one-hander so I can throw out haunts at a decent pace but the groups you run into in Act 3 were just too much for it. Gotta say though that Pile On, while probably not much more than a novelty, is really fun to work with. Not always so easy to hit but it's fun watching 600k crits
But clearly I need more AE. I was trying to avoid using a bears/VQ build because I ran that one into the ground way back in early Inferno before they changed everything, but back then I was sing a 2-hander and it was using the old mechanics so maybe this'll work. I had definitely underestimated the potential power of Hex, though. I will definitely work that one in. I'd like to work in a garg of some kind as well because I like having something up there to distract units but I'm not married to that idea.
Demon Hunter - Fadeddeath
Monk - Lumos
Witch Doctor - Nox
Wizard - Nethershade
You're missing my point a little bit, though I do get and agree with your point as well.
It's not that the acid rain/exploding zombie dog build that I was using wasn't effective or fun. It's that I'm sick of farming lower MP levels all the time. There are other things to do, like going up a few MP levels and farming keys (as I mentioned) and the build I was using wasn't as effective. The one I linked in the beginning actually worked really well. It could probably use a tweak or two but it was very effective.