I've found the WD's pvp toolbox to be my favorite and today I stumbled across a build that may very well be my deciding factor for going WD as my main. This is a support build that is heavy in crowd control and survivability and abuses Rush of Essence+Pierce Through the Veil for infinite mana and a free boost in damage. I'm going to break down the skill choices one by one. Here's the build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#cikdeU!fdW!ZZYaaa
1. Haunt(Crimson): This is not a dps build and you will be fairly squishy to melee. Haunt with crimson will allow you to stay mobile while keeping up some pressure and keeping your health topped off. With passives, this spell will cost ~138 mana and regen ~276 mana over 10 secs, effectively giving you infinite mana alongside Spirit Barrage.
2. Spirit Barrage(Crimson): This serves as your supplemental dps whenever when either all your targets are Haunted or you are going for a kill. The damage isn't great, but if your opponents are properly controlled, it should be enough. Like Haunt, crimson rune makes Barrage a heal which I suspect will make the WD very durable when used together. Also like Haunt, Barrage combined with Rush of Essence effectively gives you infinite mana, which is convenient because you might want to be dumping lots of mana into your next skill.
3. Zombie Wall(Indigo): Maybe I am assuming too much, but I think Zombie Wall with double width rune will be incredibly strong. It is a little expensive, but it is spammable and has countless uses on both offence and defense, and the cost should be easy do manage as long as you are weaving in enough spirit spells. The utility of this ability really depends on how certain escape mechanics will operate against it. I'm assuming Leap Attack and Tele can overcome the wall, but abilities like Vault and Dashing Strike may not. Either way it will have tons of uses, though you will have to be careful no to create your own death trap and wall yourself in for 5 secs only to have a Barb leap on top of you.
4. Hex(Alabaster): Apparently the shaman hexes twice during it's life but I'm not quite sure how it will be normalized or how targeting will work. Either way, this should be a fantastic offensive disable, especially with alabaster rune pushing the damage bonus up to 90%!
5. Horrify(Alabaster): Fears are always great mechanics and Horrify is no exception. Alabaster rune enhances it's effectiveness as an escape tool and allows you to quickly get back to your dps target while you trying to chain CC another target. Horrify should be saved for melee attackers if there are any on the opposing team.
6. Spirit Walk(Alabaster): With alabaster rune, Spirit walk is the ultimate responsive escape tool. 3 seconds of vanish is all you will need considering you will come out of it with an extra 48# health. SW can also set up some nasty Horrifies.
Passives-
1. Death Trance: This is your insurance policy meant to buy you enough time to Spirit Walk if you are getting focused and disabled
2. Pierce Through the Veil: The 30% mana cost increase is actually a buff when combined with Rush of Essence and although damage is not your focus, your damage does translate into health, so +20% damage is crucial.
3. Rush of Essence: Obviously a backbone passive for this build, allowing you to cast as many damaging spells as you please, and fueling as many zombie walls as you see fit.
Not sure if pvp builds without indigo runestone zombie dogs (70% dmg transfert to dogs)will be viable since it might be hard to effectively CC other range classes who'll be nuking you from distance. Also if CC duration will be greatly reduced for pvp getting max dmg reduction will be a nessesity. But all in all looks like a fine build to me, just curious whether you're able to go through your zombie wall with spirit walk (think i saw WD ignoring unit collision in spirit walk state during blizzcon class presentation).
Not sure if pvp builds without indigo runestone zombie dogs (70% dmg transfert to dogs)will be viable since it might be hard to effectively CC other range classes who'll be nuking you from distance. Also if CC duration will be greatly reduced for pvp getting max dmg reduction will be a nessesity. But all in all looks like a fine build to me, just curious whether you're able to go through your zombie wall with spirit walk (think i saw WD ignoring unit collision in spirit walk state during blizzcon class presentation).
Oooooo never put any thought to dogs, though I am afraid that whenever they are up, the opposing team will just LoS while they kill them. A lot depends on how controllable the dogs are, but that would be a ton of mitigation, maybe even enough to drop Death Trance. I think dogs would be better suited for an aggressive build where you need a meat shield to let you stop moving and chain spells.
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1. Haunt(Crimson): This is not a dps build and you will be fairly squishy to melee. Haunt with crimson will allow you to stay mobile while keeping up some pressure and keeping your health topped off. With passives, this spell will cost ~138 mana and regen ~276 mana over 10 secs, effectively giving you infinite mana alongside Spirit Barrage.
2. Spirit Barrage(Crimson): This serves as your supplemental dps whenever when either all your targets are Haunted or you are going for a kill. The damage isn't great, but if your opponents are properly controlled, it should be enough. Like Haunt, crimson rune makes Barrage a heal which I suspect will make the WD very durable when used together. Also like Haunt, Barrage combined with Rush of Essence effectively gives you infinite mana, which is convenient because you might want to be dumping lots of mana into your next skill.
3. Zombie Wall(Indigo): Maybe I am assuming too much, but I think Zombie Wall with double width rune will be incredibly strong. It is a little expensive, but it is spammable and has countless uses on both offence and defense, and the cost should be easy do manage as long as you are weaving in enough spirit spells. The utility of this ability really depends on how certain escape mechanics will operate against it. I'm assuming Leap Attack and Tele can overcome the wall, but abilities like Vault and Dashing Strike may not. Either way it will have tons of uses, though you will have to be careful no to create your own death trap and wall yourself in for 5 secs only to have a Barb leap on top of you.
4. Hex(Alabaster): Apparently the shaman hexes twice during it's life but I'm not quite sure how it will be normalized or how targeting will work. Either way, this should be a fantastic offensive disable, especially with alabaster rune pushing the damage bonus up to 90%!
5. Horrify(Alabaster): Fears are always great mechanics and Horrify is no exception. Alabaster rune enhances it's effectiveness as an escape tool and allows you to quickly get back to your dps target while you trying to chain CC another target. Horrify should be saved for melee attackers if there are any on the opposing team.
6. Spirit Walk(Alabaster): With alabaster rune, Spirit walk is the ultimate responsive escape tool. 3 seconds of vanish is all you will need considering you will come out of it with an extra 48# health. SW can also set up some nasty Horrifies.
Passives-
1. Death Trance: This is your insurance policy meant to buy you enough time to Spirit Walk if you are getting focused and disabled
2. Pierce Through the Veil: The 30% mana cost increase is actually a buff when combined with Rush of Essence and although damage is not your focus, your damage does translate into health, so +20% damage is crucial.
3. Rush of Essence: Obviously a backbone passive for this build, allowing you to cast as many damaging spells as you please, and fueling as many zombie walls as you see fit.