I honestly don't think that the Alabaster runestone on the Zombie dogs is worth it. From what I've seen so far, zombie dogs do close to no damage. For healing, I had hex with Golden, but you could also do Big Bad Voodoo with Obsidian.
Of course, all of this is really speculation at this point. With the Hex rune, how often is periodically? I would choose the obsidian rune in Big Bad Voodoo if Hex was a good alternative with Alabaster.
I'm having some troubles coming up with a perfect build because they all seem so viable.
I had a feeling it might be the case. I'll probably still try it. I need as much health leech as possible, and I'm not sure if spirit walk and soul harvest will be enough. I'll go with Life Link if the healing isn't good enough from the alabaster stone.
As we approach beta and release my focus turns to things other than Passive and Active skills. What gems do you plan to focus on and why? What gems will be build specific, and what will be helpful for all WDs? Certainly spell power will be important, but I don't honestly know which gem improves spell damage.
Pretty heavy focus on life leech and zombie dogs. It's the best build I could come up with having not actually played the game and not knowing what I like and dislike.
Since everyone is explaining their build, I'll explain mine.
My focus was on the Passive Blood Ritual, which takes 50% of spell mana cost from life instead of mana. Now obviously this would mean the ability to cast, literally, twice as many spells, and is a viable build with enough life leech. Also, life is a much more available resource then mana.
Zombie Dogs - Alabaster Runestone - This ability will be on my bar for 2 reasons. 1) I need to summon the dogs at the beginning of each login (see Mass Confusion and Big Bad Voodoo for explanation of why I don't need to cast it again after the first one) and 2) I want the dogs summoned by Mass Confusion and Big Bad Voodoo to have a runestone effect, which I'm not sure is possible unless the ability is on your bar. Also the life leech from the dogs is important because of Blood Ritual.
Spirit Walk - Alabaster Runestone - This is my "oh shit" button. If my life gets too low I just pop spirit walk and regen 48% health. Pretty self explanatory when considering Blood Ritual, again. My Spirit Walk is more for the healing than anything else, secondarily it works to run away, but it will not be a damage spell for me.
Soul Harvest - Crimson Runestone - Tons of healing, AOE spell. I wanted at least 2 actual direct damage spells. I didn't want DoT or poisons or frogs or whatever, just straight damage.
Locust Swarm - Golden Runestone - My build will be spending a LOT less mana than the average WD, because of Blood Ritual, however I don't believe that to be an excuse to not have SOME form of mana leech, which is why I chose this ability. I might switch this ability with Golden Runestoned Spirit Barrage, instead, since Locust Swarm is kind of AoE-ish, like Soul Harvest, and it would be nice to have a ranged damage spell like Spirit Barrage. I'll determine which is best for the build once the game is live, of course.
Mass Confusion - Alabaster Runestone - This is where it starts getting fun. Because of the alabaster runestones on this ability and Big Bad Voodoo my build would absolutely *never* need to re-summon zombie dogs after the initial cast. Mass Confusion is up once per minute, and Big Bad Voodoo is up every two minutes, which should be plenty. I assume the dogs won't have tons of health, but the alabaster runestone in my Zombie Dogs ability will give them extra survivability, while providing me with more health to spend on spells. I expect some dogs will be wasted, disappearing at 50% health and being replaced by a full health dog and such, but I figure that will be a rare circumstance. Also, this ability is fantastic crowd control, which I wanted from at least 1 spell.
Big Bad Voodoo - Alabaster Runestone - Big Bad Voodoo seems like a must-have spell for anyone who plans to party with other people. As far as I can tell the only real buff the WD has for party members is BBV. So if you want to actually be useful to other people, and not just yourself, you GOTTA GET BBV. And since my build is all about dog-spawning, I've got the alabaster runestone in it.
Spiritual Attunement - I may change this passive depending on health/mana pool sizes. If my mana is a lot higher than my health I'll probably get Pierce the Veil instead, for added health and mana leech plus more damage of course. The real question is whether or not passives like Pierce the Veil and Death Trance are effected by Blood Ritual. Meaning, if I have Blood Ritual and Pierce the Veil, do my spells cost 15% more mana and 15% more health instead of 30% more mana? Also, if I have Blood Ritual and Death Trance, do my spells cost 50% mana and 40% health when I'm below 50% health? The answers to these questions would of course factor into my decision for Passives.
Blood Ritual - This is the base for the entire build. Also 2% health per second is nice.
Death Trance - Increased survivability, which is important for someone with Blood Ritual. Pretty self explanatory. Might swap this with Pierce the Veil and run with Spirit Attune/Blood Rit/PtV, depending on many factors.
Well that's my build. A lot of "if"s and "maybe"s and "depending on"s, but I think it could be fun. It's got CC, AoE, survivability, pets, spirit walk, and a buff.
Here is the build i'm going with, has great survivability and awesome dmg, I think this is the best build i have seen so far. I'm not just saying that because its mine either. Take a look and let me know.
Pretty heavy focus on life leech and zombie dogs. It's the best build I could come up with having not actually played the game and not knowing what I like and dislike.
The main thing I'm curious about is whether the dogs spawned by runestone effects will have the runestone effects of summoned dogs. I assume yes. If so, the runestone spawned dogs would only really provide mana savings. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'll probably use a similar build, keep zombie dogs on my bar, but only for beginning a fight. Once you start killing stuff the dogs will be spawned on their own, allowing you to cast offensive spells. Sounds like a viable build to me. Mass Confusion and Big Bad Voodoo are both great abilities on their own, but if they summon runestone active dogs for you, even better. That's my opinion, anyway, I'm sure others will disagree.
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I had a feeling it might be the case. I'll probably still try it. I need as much health leech as possible, and I'm not sure if spirit walk and soul harvest will be enough. I'll go with Life Link if the healing isn't good enough from the alabaster stone.
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Did not know this. I haven't played Cata, and I certainly never played a warlock. I just remember getting DoT'd up like crazy.
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This is what I was thinking.
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Since everyone is explaining their build, I'll explain mine.
My focus was on the Passive Blood Ritual, which takes 50% of spell mana cost from life instead of mana. Now obviously this would mean the ability to cast, literally, twice as many spells, and is a viable build with enough life leech. Also, life is a much more available resource then mana.
Zombie Dogs - Alabaster Runestone - This ability will be on my bar for 2 reasons. 1) I need to summon the dogs at the beginning of each login (see Mass Confusion and Big Bad Voodoo for explanation of why I don't need to cast it again after the first one) and 2) I want the dogs summoned by Mass Confusion and Big Bad Voodoo to have a runestone effect, which I'm not sure is possible unless the ability is on your bar. Also the life leech from the dogs is important because of Blood Ritual.
Spirit Walk - Alabaster Runestone - This is my "oh shit" button. If my life gets too low I just pop spirit walk and regen 48% health. Pretty self explanatory when considering Blood Ritual, again. My Spirit Walk is more for the healing than anything else, secondarily it works to run away, but it will not be a damage spell for me.
Soul Harvest - Crimson Runestone - Tons of healing, AOE spell. I wanted at least 2 actual direct damage spells. I didn't want DoT or poisons or frogs or whatever, just straight damage.
Locust Swarm - Golden Runestone - My build will be spending a LOT less mana than the average WD, because of Blood Ritual, however I don't believe that to be an excuse to not have SOME form of mana leech, which is why I chose this ability. I might switch this ability with Golden Runestoned Spirit Barrage, instead, since Locust Swarm is kind of AoE-ish, like Soul Harvest, and it would be nice to have a ranged damage spell like Spirit Barrage. I'll determine which is best for the build once the game is live, of course.
Mass Confusion - Alabaster Runestone - This is where it starts getting fun. Because of the alabaster runestones on this ability and Big Bad Voodoo my build would absolutely *never* need to re-summon zombie dogs after the initial cast. Mass Confusion is up once per minute, and Big Bad Voodoo is up every two minutes, which should be plenty. I assume the dogs won't have tons of health, but the alabaster runestone in my Zombie Dogs ability will give them extra survivability, while providing me with more health to spend on spells. I expect some dogs will be wasted, disappearing at 50% health and being replaced by a full health dog and such, but I figure that will be a rare circumstance. Also, this ability is fantastic crowd control, which I wanted from at least 1 spell.
Big Bad Voodoo - Alabaster Runestone - Big Bad Voodoo seems like a must-have spell for anyone who plans to party with other people. As far as I can tell the only real buff the WD has for party members is BBV. So if you want to actually be useful to other people, and not just yourself, you GOTTA GET BBV. And since my build is all about dog-spawning, I've got the alabaster runestone in it.
Spiritual Attunement - I may change this passive depending on health/mana pool sizes. If my mana is a lot higher than my health I'll probably get Pierce the Veil instead, for added health and mana leech plus more damage of course. The real question is whether or not passives like Pierce the Veil and Death Trance are effected by Blood Ritual. Meaning, if I have Blood Ritual and Pierce the Veil, do my spells cost 15% more mana and 15% more health instead of 30% more mana? Also, if I have Blood Ritual and Death Trance, do my spells cost 50% mana and 40% health when I'm below 50% health? The answers to these questions would of course factor into my decision for Passives.
Blood Ritual - This is the base for the entire build. Also 2% health per second is nice.
Death Trance - Increased survivability, which is important for someone with Blood Ritual. Pretty self explanatory. Might swap this with Pierce the Veil and run with Spirit Attune/Blood Rit/PtV, depending on many factors.
Well that's my build. A lot of "if"s and "maybe"s and "depending on"s, but I think it could be fun. It's got CC, AoE, survivability, pets, spirit walk, and a buff.
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you have zero mana leech and zero life leech.
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Pretty heavy focus on life leech and zombie dogs. It's the best build I could come up with having not actually played the game and not knowing what I like and dislike.
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