hey guys, with the new patch, i threw this together, and it's pretty fun.. i don't have super great gear to really support it, but i also have my own take on a WD, and this build fits my play style really well... heres a link to the build, i don't think the 2.0.5 changes made to the skills has been updated on the site, but those of you who play WDs (this is the WD forum, so i suppose all of you do, but i digress) know what the changes do: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#geUlTY!gfdR!ZZccac
1) You don't have any "Life on Hit" items on your profile; you probably want to switch the dogs rune from "Leeching Beasts" to "Life Link", which combined with your mojo will make 36% of the damage you take go to your dogs.
2) Try "Phantasm" rune for some extra DPS from SB.
3) Swap "Zombie Handler" for "Pierce The Veil". Dog damage sucks, and switching to "Life link" as mentioned on #1 will work just fine with 3 dogs. And since you are using "Rush of Essence", you won't be out of mana as you are getting quite a lot mana regen every time you cast SB, Haunt and Spirit Walk.
4) If you do feel running out of mana switch to "Honored Guest" rune on "Spirit Walk" as, again, with "Life Link" you should be taking quite a lot less damage.
hey thanks for droppin by and taking a look. i'll address each point you brought up and i'll explain why i use what i use.
1.LoH i have my paragon points into, to max that. this eliminates my need for the stat on gear which is a huge relief, as you can only have 4 primaries. i like pairing leeching beasts with the uhkapian serpent. the serpent adds a ridiculous amount of toughness just from being there. i feel having 6 dogs working with my LoH paired with the secondary on the US to be a very powerful combo. best of both worlds.
2. i tried phantasm, i didn't really like it because it's stationary. the way i play i like to keep some distance. i used to run a bear build so the relief of being further away is refreshing. demons smell, see ;] i also like the ability to hit anywhere on the screen, and just drain health down. the versatility of well of souls is amazing
3. the reason i use zombie handler paired with the other 2 passives midnight feast and fierce loyalty, is because with 6 dogs i'm doin 2x more damage than having 3. dogs got a buff to 30% weapon damage, and that rune gives 50%, so that's a total of 80% weapon damage for dogs. removing this skill also removes a dog :[ they are also good meat shields ;D
4. I used to run a bear build, which was heavily mana dependent. i got very good at managing mana since i was using 2piece zuni for the 30MPK, and also had spirit barrage with rush of essence passive. since i've gotten rid of bears for haunt, i practically never have mana issues, as using haunt is better mana regen wise than spirit barrage, but casting it a few times before i spam SB essentially gives me infinite mana... sure i don't have any hard hitting spells, but i can stand there forever... so... i also used to use honored guest with the bears, but i find it useless with this build, so i figured i'd throw on healing journey just for shits, and a bit of extra healing when extreme circumstances arise.
switched some gear around, had some lucky drops these passed couple days. i changed up the build slightly because i like goin ballsy with my WD, it was just the matter of finding the right in.
basically slam down frozen piranhas, haunt everything, spam SB on thickest man there. i like using hex because it's a decent chunk of damage for a mere cooldown. sure i can have better nuking ability with something else, but i can also use this as a run through enemies button, to better position myself. having 6 dogs gives you an insane amount of breathing room. refresh piranhas and haunt as needed.
this is a nice build for T1, with enough damage you can simply haunt stuff and keep moving. if my profile updated, you can see some of the changes i made to help out the build. i tried T2, and that was a walk in the park, so i pulled it up to T3. Still a walk in the park with some close encounters (thank you spirit walk, you truly are a great friend). once i replace my shoulders or possible to aughilds helm / shoulder combo i'll try out T4...
hoping for an azurewrath and frostburns... think that'll tie the whole thing together
Alright, so i did some testing and such. i went into T4, and was having a grand old time. I'm still working on getting the azurewrath / frostburn combo, and i haven't had much luck in crafting a good aughild's helm. blackthorne boots are also being evasive at present. I thought i'd try out fetish sycophants, because, well, why not? I changed up the build yet again, and it helped me burn through T4 elites without any trouble at all... i want to try T5 in the next coming days, just to see if i can do it, which i'm assuming i can so long as i'm careful. if i can get the BT boots and the aughilds helm, i'll shoot right into T6 and test my mettle...
in my sig you can check out my WD...
Several sugestions:
1) You don't have any "Life on Hit" items on your profile; you probably want to switch the dogs rune from "Leeching Beasts" to "Life Link", which combined with your mojo will make 36% of the damage you take go to your dogs.
2) Try "Phantasm" rune for some extra DPS from SB.
3) Swap "Zombie Handler" for "Pierce The Veil". Dog damage sucks, and switching to "Life link" as mentioned on #1 will work just fine with 3 dogs. And since you are using "Rush of Essence", you won't be out of mana as you are getting quite a lot mana regen every time you cast SB, Haunt and Spirit Walk.
4) If you do feel running out of mana switch to "Honored Guest" rune on "Spirit Walk" as, again, with "Life Link" you should be taking quite a lot less damage.
1.LoH i have my paragon points into, to max that. this eliminates my need for the stat on gear which is a huge relief, as you can only have 4 primaries. i like pairing leeching beasts with the uhkapian serpent. the serpent adds a ridiculous amount of toughness just from being there. i feel having 6 dogs working with my LoH paired with the secondary on the US to be a very powerful combo. best of both worlds.
2. i tried phantasm, i didn't really like it because it's stationary. the way i play i like to keep some distance. i used to run a bear build so the relief of being further away is refreshing. demons smell, see ;] i also like the ability to hit anywhere on the screen, and just drain health down. the versatility of well of souls is amazing
3. the reason i use zombie handler paired with the other 2 passives midnight feast and fierce loyalty, is because with 6 dogs i'm doin 2x more damage than having 3. dogs got a buff to 30% weapon damage, and that rune gives 50%, so that's a total of 80% weapon damage for dogs. removing this skill also removes a dog :[ they are also good meat shields ;D
4. I used to run a bear build, which was heavily mana dependent. i got very good at managing mana since i was using 2piece zuni for the 30MPK, and also had spirit barrage with rush of essence passive. since i've gotten rid of bears for haunt, i practically never have mana issues, as using haunt is better mana regen wise than spirit barrage, but casting it a few times before i spam SB essentially gives me infinite mana... sure i don't have any hard hitting spells, but i can stand there forever... so... i also used to use honored guest with the bears, but i find it useless with this build, so i figured i'd throw on healing journey just for shits, and a bit of extra healing when extreme circumstances arise.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#geUliY!dgRf!ZZccbc
basically slam down frozen piranhas, haunt everything, spam SB on thickest man there. i like using hex because it's a decent chunk of damage for a mere cooldown. sure i can have better nuking ability with something else, but i can also use this as a run through enemies button, to better position myself. having 6 dogs gives you an insane amount of breathing room. refresh piranhas and haunt as needed.
this is a nice build for T1, with enough damage you can simply haunt stuff and keep moving. if my profile updated, you can see some of the changes i made to help out the build. i tried T2, and that was a walk in the park, so i pulled it up to T3. Still a walk in the park with some close encounters (thank you spirit walk, you truly are a great friend). once i replace my shoulders or possible to aughilds helm / shoulder combo i'll try out T4...
hoping for an azurewrath and frostburns... think that'll tie the whole thing together
here is the refined build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#geUlVY!RfdV!ZZcccc
also, i've found that this build is very safe and very quick at burning down rift bosses. cheers!