The idea behind the build is simple: have a build which requires the least effort from the player's hands (number of clicks). At number (1) I put zombie dogs with poison dmg rune, and at number (2) gargantuan also with poison dmg rune. That choice was obvious since the pets attack on their on. With them doing poison dmg I can benefit from the passive which decrease dmg done by targets poisoned by me (which I'll really need since I don't have any cc in this build).
I got corpse spiders with the queen rune. The tooltip got screwed after the new calculator was implemented, but in it's previous version the spider queen lasted 16 sec. So it's a spell I only have to recast every 16 sec. I also got spirit barrage with the manitou rune. It means the spirit will be attacking my enemies for 20 sec, when I'll have to recast.
Finally, for the last two active, I got grasp of the dead to help me group up the mobs (with even better utility with the unbreakable rune) and haunt with the rune to make it last longer so I don't have to recast that often.
For passives I got some really nice dmg reduction (via poison dmg frpom my pets) and extra defense and offense with zombie handler.
That's it. I know the build won't be viable in inferno, but it'll be funny to see how far I can go with that. The dmg won't be so bad actually since my pets, manitou, spider and haunt will all be attacking at the same time. I think they can add up to some ok dmg.
There's clearly two kinds of players interested in this game, I would call them "the newcomers" and "the veterans". Sadly, imo, "the newcomers" are majority and Blizzard will make the game to fit their needs. It could be a really better game, again, imo.
I just can't understand why some people can't see that this situation is exactly analogous to what someone said above: why should we be forced to play a class? why no class respec? Why force me to stick to a class when I`m playing that class for the firts time? I shouldn't have to level all the way to 60 again just to play a different class.
Were there specific runes for each specific skill? If so why not just make each rune work for all skills and classes, and keep them as items?
It's interesting how lame excuses people can give to justify something. You may think that the new system is better than the old one, but that is no excuse at all for the change. They could have just made what OP suggests easily.
"Our goal with the rune system has always been to provide additional character customization by allowing players to augment or completely alter their skills in new and significant ways. Originally, we tied this in to the itemization system because it felt like a good fit, as Diablo is all about the item drops. But with around 120 base skills, that meant there were around 600 rune variants; on top of that, each variant had five quality levels each, meaning ultimately there would be something like 3,000 different runes in the game… and we knew we were heading toward a problem."
Great, so now there is really no point to a rune system at all -- why not just remove runes all together and put new skills that work the exact same with the same names as the rune abilities in their place? It would be the exact same thing. Seriously, playing Diablo 3 where your class gets 20-some skills to choose from, each with 5 different extensions to those skills (~100 choices for those who aren't fond of math) is NO DIFFERENT than playing a game with a class that has 100-some skills to choose from...NO DIFFERENT. Granted this still leaves room for a lot of customization on the players part, but this ultimately feeds into people saying "Oh this build is by far the most effective. Let me swap my skills runes so I can match it!" instead of them saying, "Man, I wish I had that rune so I could be that badass!". To me, this is another change that rewards casual gamers...another kick in the teeth for those hardcore or elite types.
Seems that every time blizzard encounters a problem they take the easy road as of late. Their motto is quickly becoming, "If it presents a problem, dumb it down!"
To me, the game will still be enjoyable...just less rewarding.
Edit: Also, this seems to pretty much eliminate the point of using a skill as it were, without any rune. Why not just take those skills out and just use the 80-90 remaining "skill runes" as the skills to choose from? Makes sense, right?
I also feel like that. Of course I'm looking forward to the game, but imo it could be a lot better. Well, I understand their motivation for making the game is what guide their decisions, so I can see why they did what they did. I think this is getting really close to final version for those systems.
Working on my PhD in Physics (last year). I research rats brains (kinda interface between Neuroscience and Physics actually). Also been teaching Physics in the same University to first year Engineering students.
I think a passive to give, say, x% chance to stun targets when you deal lightning damage, and an offensive non-signature lightning spell (not a runed version, a lightning focused spell) would solve it.
It seems Blizzard agrees with me on the passive part, as seen in patch 10
I've made a spec a while ago that looked an awful lot like this one. I'd pick wall of zombies with crimson instead the the mass confusion thing tho, it's three extra zombies ready to fight for your lazyness.
You're not the only one eager to check this spec out.
Nice
The thing with crimson wall of zombies though is that we don't know how long those three zombies stay with us. Might replace grasp with it depending on the duration. I wouldn't replace mass confusion because I love that spell
So I'm planning to play the Witch Doctor first. After trying several builds in the calculator I've got one I really wanna try. I call it the Lazy Doctor build:
Let me explain. The idea is to find skills that don't need you to spam them in order to do the job, like summons. Summons are things you only need to cast once a minute (hopefully they'll survive long enough). So aside from the obvious choices (zombie dogs and gargantuan), I searched for skills that would allow me to watch things burn without having to actually cast the spells too often.
1) I choose indigo corpse spiders because it's like a 16 seconds summon (you throw the mother spider there and don't have to worry for the next 16s).
2) Alabaster spirit barrage is also an amazing option. For 20s a spectre will bombard your enemies with spirit bolts for 70% weapon dmg).
3) I don't choose fetish army because of the long cooldown (don't like it). For control I choose my favorite skill: mass confusion. It's both a defensive and an offensive spell. With a rank 4 rune the cooldown is reduced to 28s. With a rank 7 rune the cooldown is reduced to 4s ! (I really think they'll change this... too overpowered in my opinion).
4) The last skill is the one I'm not sure about. I put grasp there so I can damage and slow things at the same time if needed. Could be a dot (locust or haunt maybe). Gotta test it first.
What you guys think? Lacking damage or survivability?
Ya I read it, and shock pulse still isn't nearly as good... to focus on one damage type when there are better spells to use seems stupid to me unless someone just likes the graphics. Blizzard killed the skill tree for a reason...
i. Not everyone like to min max all the fucking time. Playing a theme build is just as part of a rpg as playing good one
ii. There might be item mods linked to certain element. Like "Increase all lighting damage dealed by x%" or "Ignore enemy's lighting resistance by x%". In this case, focus on a single element make better use of such items might be a good idea.
You still have apoint however. Two signature spells looks like a bad deal. It's also really ridicolous how OP eletrecute is compered to shock pulse. Shcok Pulse is random and annoying to use while eletrecute is fast, pin pointed, huge range and allways hit more targets!
Your main attack is Eletrecute + Storm Armor [Alabaster]. With tons of critical and attack speed items, you should make this effect proc all the time, killing everything around you. Mean while you can use your Hydra (and with Prodigy passive pluss attack speed items you will be able to cast more and more hydras. Quick casting will also buff your Arcane Dynamo, allowing you to unleash some crazy ass hydras).
However you should be really close to your oponents in order to make deal out of the storm armor. In order to survive in such close range (with low amount of CC spells) you use 3 avarage cooldown spells:
- Mirror Images (rune allows it to become deadly spell, since your images will be also spamming eletrecutes).
- Diamond Skin (simply to block some damage as long as it holds itself. Good to protect yourself against casual mobs).
- Slow time. Since you're close range build, you should have no problem with reducing it's area in order to improve it's effect.
Evocation is GREALTY welcome because it reduces your cooldowns, perfect for builds that uses multiple "emegency buttom" skills.
In terms of items you really needs a load of Critical Rate (Precision) and specially Attack Speed. Attack Speed = More Arcane Energy -> More Hydras
More Arcane Dynamo -> Bigger Hydras
More Storm Shield procs -> AoE all around
Now that's a nice input, thanks italofoca!
But even with this improved version of the build, dont you think it's considerably behind the fire, arcane and frost builds? I think a passive to give, say, x% chance to stun targets when you deal lightning damage, and an offensive non-signature lightning spell (not a runed version, a lightning focused spell) would solve it.
However I really think that the lightning Wizard is way behind the other ones in damage and survivability. In my opinion, it would be viable if there was a passive to support it, just like fire and arcane got (and the signature-less frost build got the wand one to generate AP).
What you guys think? How would you build a specialized Wizard? The only rule I followed was all damage has to be the from the same "school".
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I've been trying to sell it, but maybe I'm overpricing... how much is it worth?
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The build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#dZYTbg!Wad!bZZYZc
The idea behind the build is simple: have a build which requires the least effort from the player's hands (number of clicks). At number (1) I put zombie dogs with poison dmg rune, and at number (2) gargantuan also with poison dmg rune. That choice was obvious since the pets attack on their on. With them doing poison dmg I can benefit from the passive which decrease dmg done by targets poisoned by me (which I'll really need since I don't have any cc in this build).
I got corpse spiders with the queen rune. The tooltip got screwed after the new calculator was implemented, but in it's previous version the spider queen lasted 16 sec. So it's a spell I only have to recast every 16 sec. I also got spirit barrage with the manitou rune. It means the spirit will be attacking my enemies for 20 sec, when I'll have to recast.
Finally, for the last two active, I got grasp of the dead to help me group up the mobs (with even better utility with the unbreakable rune) and haunt with the rune to make it last longer so I don't have to recast that often.
For passives I got some really nice dmg reduction (via poison dmg frpom my pets) and extra defense and offense with zombie handler.
That's it. I know the build won't be viable in inferno, but it'll be funny to see how far I can go with that. The dmg won't be so bad actually since my pets, manitou, spider and haunt will all be attacking at the same time. I think they can add up to some ok dmg.
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I just can't understand why some people can't see that this situation is exactly analogous to what someone said above: why should we be forced to play a class? why no class respec? Why force me to stick to a class when I`m playing that class for the firts time? I shouldn't have to level all the way to 60 again just to play a different class.
* sigh *
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It's interesting how lame excuses people can give to justify something. You may think that the new system is better than the old one, but that is no excuse at all for the change. They could have just made what OP suggests easily.
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I also feel like that. Of course I'm looking forward to the game, but imo it could be a lot better. Well, I understand their motivation for making the game is what guide their decisions, so I can see why they did what they did. I think this is getting really close to final version for those systems.
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It seems Blizzard agrees with me on the passive part, as seen in patch 10
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Here's the right build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#bhWijY!Wea!ZYYabc
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Nice
The thing with crimson wall of zombies though is that we don't know how long those three zombies stay with us. Might replace grasp with it depending on the duration. I wouldn't replace mass confusion because I love that spell
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#bhWijY!Wea!ZYYabc
Let me explain. The idea is to find skills that don't need you to spam them in order to do the job, like summons. Summons are things you only need to cast once a minute (hopefully they'll survive long enough). So aside from the obvious choices (zombie dogs and gargantuan), I searched for skills that would allow me to watch things burn without having to actually cast the spells too often.
1) I choose indigo corpse spiders because it's like a 16 seconds summon (you throw the mother spider there and don't have to worry for the next 16s).
2) Alabaster spirit barrage is also an amazing option. For 20s a spectre will bombard your enemies with spirit bolts for 70% weapon dmg).
3) I don't choose fetish army because of the long cooldown (don't like it). For control I choose my favorite skill: mass confusion. It's both a defensive and an offensive spell. With a rank 4 rune the cooldown is reduced to 28s. With a rank 7 rune the cooldown is reduced to 4s ! (I really think they'll change this... too overpowered in my opinion).
4) The last skill is the one I'm not sure about. I put grasp there so I can damage and slow things at the same time if needed. Could be a dot (locust or haunt maybe). Gotta test it first.
What you guys think? Lacking damage or survivability?
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Now that's a nice input, thanks italofoca!
But even with this improved version of the build, dont you think it's considerably behind the fire, arcane and frost builds? I think a passive to give, say, x% chance to stun targets when you deal lightning damage, and an offensive non-signature lightning spell (not a runed version, a lightning focused spell) would solve it.
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You could have a fire Wizard:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#YRPQhS!aYf!ZbZYZZ
Or an arcane Wizard:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#akeOQh!bYc!aZZZZZ
Or my favorite one, the frost Wizard:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#ZblPjS!XdV!baZcbZ
But what about a lightning Wizard? The best I could think of is this one:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#YdgRhi!WcU!aaaYYY
However I really think that the lightning Wizard is way behind the other ones in damage and survivability. In my opinion, it would be viable if there was a passive to support it, just like fire and arcane got (and the signature-less frost build got the wand one to generate AP).
What you guys think? How would you build a specialized Wizard? The only rule I followed was all damage has to be the from the same "school".
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So, hi there