Diablo 3 - GR37

Managed to clear GR37 yesterday night. Rank 91 as at this point in writing.

It was a rift of Infernal Maidens, Executioners, A2 flying thingys and Terror Demons. Not exactly the friendliest rift. And the RG was the Infernal Maiden too, but she turned out to be relatively alright.

What I Ran:
- Medusa Spiders
- Zombie Piranhas
- Jaunt
- Slam Dance
- Tiki Torchers
- Burning Dogs

Passives:
- Zombie Handler
- Midnight Feast
- Pierce the veil
- Fetish Sycophants

Why Medusa Spiders (MS)?

This is a gem of a skill. First, it CCs, so it procs Bane of the Trapped. The tiny spiders fan out, or you can spam a little more of them, so it is somewhat like a semi-aoe. It is a primary, so you can spam and kite with it, slowing monsters as you kite. The best part is, you don't really need to aim it, just throw in a general direction, and the spiders will acquire the targets automatically. This is immensely useful for stutterstepping with Hexing Pants. Oh and it procs fetishes too, at a somewhat low rate. But you can definitely get some fetishes going without the need to pair Piranhnado with ROT. The auto target acquisition also helps with the fetish generation too. Low coefficient but confirmed hits.

Basically, with MS, I have a reliable slow, 100% uptime on BotT, a decent fetish generator, and a not so taxing skill to spam with Hexing Pants.

Whoever said that the spiders do not proc fetishes are dumbasses. They do proc fetishes. Just slowly.

Why Zombie Piranhas (ZP)?

Piranhas is definitely a compulsory skill if you want to do high GRs. I tried Frozen, but it couldn't hold the mobs inside it indefinitely; the range is lacking and sometimes I aim it wrongly. Now that I'm using MS, frozen seems a little less important for BotT

Nado has a long cooldown, but the benefits are hard cc and clumping of mobs for 4 seconds. Doesn't quite work for elites and big mobs though, and the big downtime of no debuff is what turned me away.

Nobody uses Bogadile.

Wave of Mutilation has a large spread, works like a nuke (good against reflect) but has aiming issues as well. New mobs that are drawn onto the screen will not have the debuff if the skill is on cooldown.

ZP has a huge area (like D2 amplify damage curse), and simply lasts for the full 8 seconds. I might switch out for Wave/Frozen, but we'll see.

Why Tiki Torchers and Burning Dogs?

AOE from Tiki Torchers allows FA to reset very quickly. This allows repositioning of FA and BBV frequently, as compared to Legion of Daggers, allowing me to kite better, and still have BBV up while kiting.

I ran Burning Dogs for more AOE damage, as I figured that single target fights are usually not an issue for Pet WD. That proved to be a good call for GR37.

But when I ran GR38, I got the Halls of Agony map, with fire-ish mobs. My kill speed was drastically slower, and I suspect mobs have elemental resistances.

Okay they do: https://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/8770117237#4.


Illusory Boots

I farmed really hard for them, and right now I think they are clearly BiS for WDs. Nothing frustrates me more than chain wallers + tight spaces, which is pretty much every GR right now. Illusory boots overcomes this, and I die so much lesser due to them. These boots come in handy too, when you want to cross a bunch of mobs to cast FA on their backs. Just need to be able to tank a few hits while you are in the midst of them.

Follow-ups
- I need a nice hellfire ammy. Top-end WDs are all running with one. Either gives more damage, more speed, or more survivability.
- Need a better pair of illusory boots.
- Shall test more with physical pets, ROT and Frozen. Maybe I should hover nearer to the mobs to get more out of BotT and Pain Enhancer.
- Don't quite understand how the Sycos can survive at higher GRs though. Will generating faster through ROT be the way to go?
- Comparatively, my toughness and damage is much lower than the top-end WDs. Gotta craft better pieces.