Attempted several times to improve my GR record, but to no avail. What is heartening is that I can reach GR37/38 without fail when climbing using my WD. I just freeze up every time I play GR37/38 and start to make silly mistakes.
Rain of Toads and Fetish Sycophants is more or less compulsory for the damage output.
Tiki Torchers seems semi important for the fast bbv refresh, AOE.
Rabid Dogs + Templar, vs Leeching Beast + Enchantress?
Enforcer and Gem of Efficacious Toxin seems to be on par DPS wise, but Toxin gives a nice little DOT for more AOE, whereas Enforcer gives a defensive buff to pets. But what I think is, what kills pets, will kill pets anyway. So Enforcer doesn't seem that appealing anymore. They need to make Enforcer such that pets have significantly higher survivability,
I might need a pair of steady strikers with no elemental damage, and couple with Tal Rasha's chest.
And yes, please drop me a perfect roll SMK. This is really praying for a miracle.
Showing posts with label witch doctor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witch doctor. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Thursday, October 02, 2014
Diablo 3 - Leeching Beasts is surprisingly good
As mentioned in the title, Leeching Beasts is surprisingly good for sustain, allowing me to run the Enchantress for more CC instead of the Templar. I ran a full physical build this time:
Rain of Toads
Zombie Piranhas
Jaunt
Legion of Daggers
Slam Dance
Leeching Beasts
3 Dog Passives
Pierce the Veil (from Hellfire amulet, semi decent roll with no socket)
Fetish Sycophants
Was able to clear reliably from GR32 to GR36, failing GR37 due to some ridiculous elite spawn at the entrance. This is a good sign, means that the build is stable and not so RNG dependent.
Enchantress with Thunderfury procs slow relatively well, so I went ahead with RoT for more fetish generation and hence DPS.
I was using a HF with no socket, so I dropped Pain Enhancer and could feel a slight slowdown in kill speed. Still feel that it is a toss up between PE and Bane of the Powerful. 10m ticks per monster compared to a 20% dps boost across the board? Tough decisions.
Was running Tal Rasha Chest with Steady Strikers as well, ended up with 2.1m sheet DPS and 10m toughness. Aughilds with no HF will give me 1.9 sheet DPS and 12m toughness, but with the power of 1 gem. Since it's largely attack speed increases, maybe Pain Enhancer might not be so good with the Tal Rasha setup, since the ticks don't scale with attack speed. Will try and see how it goes.
Slowly creeping towards 600. Another 26 to go.
Rain of Toads
Zombie Piranhas
Jaunt
Legion of Daggers
Slam Dance
Leeching Beasts
3 Dog Passives
Pierce the Veil (from Hellfire amulet, semi decent roll with no socket)
Fetish Sycophants
Was able to clear reliably from GR32 to GR36, failing GR37 due to some ridiculous elite spawn at the entrance. This is a good sign, means that the build is stable and not so RNG dependent.
Enchantress with Thunderfury procs slow relatively well, so I went ahead with RoT for more fetish generation and hence DPS.
I was using a HF with no socket, so I dropped Pain Enhancer and could feel a slight slowdown in kill speed. Still feel that it is a toss up between PE and Bane of the Powerful. 10m ticks per monster compared to a 20% dps boost across the board? Tough decisions.
Was running Tal Rasha Chest with Steady Strikers as well, ended up with 2.1m sheet DPS and 10m toughness. Aughilds with no HF will give me 1.9 sheet DPS and 12m toughness, but with the power of 1 gem. Since it's largely attack speed increases, maybe Pain Enhancer might not be so good with the Tal Rasha setup, since the ticks don't scale with attack speed. Will try and see how it goes.
Slowly creeping towards 600. Another 26 to go.
Monday, September 29, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Diablo 3 - GR36
Managed to complete GR36 yesterday. Current rank at this point in writing is #246 for solo Witch Doctor (Non-season).
Some notes:
- Hexing pants damage output is significant, but the stutter stepping gameplay makes it harder to maintain sycos. Not to mention, GR36 seems to be the point where the sycos start to die frequently. I could probably drop Witching Hour for String of Ears, but it seems too much of a DPS loss. Will try tonight and see how it goes. My right hand is definitely going to get carpal tunnel.
- Fierce Loyalty is definitely better than Shukrani, but it takes up a passive. Wonder if the movespeed is important now, since the sycos are dying left and right. Zombie Handler seems better, same dog DPS, higher hp for pets. Better to be alive than move faster?
- Or I can simply go back to my Fire no syco build and use Gary. Risky for GRs though, if i screw up my cooldowns.
- Might need to take out pain enhancer for bane of the powerful. Can't quite feel PE's effect anymore, while BOTP is consistently good for elite fights. Maybe I should turn on the damage numbers for normal hits, just to see how much PE is ticking for.
- Need to give my templar the Wyrdward. Apparently it procs from the normal attack of the templar, if you use a Thunderfury.
- Oh and I need to equip Kulle-Aid too. Wallers are super irritating when SW is on CD.
- I need moar passives. WHY U NO ROLL PROPERLY HELLFIRE AMULET??
- Played the whole night, and I couldn't level even once. This is how slow and grindy GRs are.
- I used the DH to farm 10 GR keys, and started to run those that are 36 and above. Quite a silly system as I've said before, but this saves a lot of time, and reduces a lot of the RNG involved. Need to beef up my DH so that my WD can progress? LOL.
- The mats from GR is pitiful. I need some veiled crystals to roll my Hexing Pants. And to get a set of Aughilds with Fetish Army affix instead.
36 levels to go.
Some notes:
- Hexing pants damage output is significant, but the stutter stepping gameplay makes it harder to maintain sycos. Not to mention, GR36 seems to be the point where the sycos start to die frequently. I could probably drop Witching Hour for String of Ears, but it seems too much of a DPS loss. Will try tonight and see how it goes. My right hand is definitely going to get carpal tunnel.
- Fierce Loyalty is definitely better than Shukrani, but it takes up a passive. Wonder if the movespeed is important now, since the sycos are dying left and right. Zombie Handler seems better, same dog DPS, higher hp for pets. Better to be alive than move faster?
- Or I can simply go back to my Fire no syco build and use Gary. Risky for GRs though, if i screw up my cooldowns.
- Might need to take out pain enhancer for bane of the powerful. Can't quite feel PE's effect anymore, while BOTP is consistently good for elite fights. Maybe I should turn on the damage numbers for normal hits, just to see how much PE is ticking for.
- Need to give my templar the Wyrdward. Apparently it procs from the normal attack of the templar, if you use a Thunderfury.
- Oh and I need to equip Kulle-Aid too. Wallers are super irritating when SW is on CD.
- I need moar passives. WHY U NO ROLL PROPERLY HELLFIRE AMULET??
- Played the whole night, and I couldn't level even once. This is how slow and grindy GRs are.
- I used the DH to farm 10 GR keys, and started to run those that are 36 and above. Quite a silly system as I've said before, but this saves a lot of time, and reduces a lot of the RNG involved. Need to beef up my DH so that my WD can progress? LOL.
- The mats from GR is pitiful. I need some veiled crystals to roll my Hexing Pants. And to get a set of Aughilds with Fetish Army affix instead.
36 levels to go.
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Diablo - Greater Rifts Tedium
Tried 2.1.1 yesterday, the improved pet survivability was a significant, though you would still have to gear differently once u go higher GRs. I managed to complete GR35 yesterday, so now I'm ranked 335 as at this point in writing.
Some notes:
- The current Trial Keystone system is a little too random, and it is hard for the pet WD to get high keystones.
- Low keystones means I have to clear the lower GRs first before reaching my current highest GR, subjecting myself to more RNG in terms of map layout, density, and mob type.
- Not to mention, clearing each GR30+ takes about 10 minutes, and I usually progress by 1 tier at a time, so a key for GR32 would take me about 1 hour before I can see the GR35. I don't have that much time.
- Hopefully they will change it such that the player can choose the GR up to the current maximum cleared level. They will probably need to store values account wide, 1 for each class, and 3 for the team based rankings, so that's 9 values to keep track per account.
- But this will probably make upgrading legendary gems a little easier, as you can easily play your highest achieved GR (35 for me) and easily upgrade 100% each time till rank 25. But this also means once the gem passes rank 35, the upgrade chance gets lower, as without the Trials system, I can't cheese with a DH anymore and get a GR45 token (for example) to level my gem. Well this is good in a way I suppose, it really makes the players play and beat the GR, instead of cheesing the Trials.
- Shukrani Triumph now seems unnecessary. Doesn't help much during fights as I need to spam toads, and I think it is simply better to not die, than to have something that helps me get back quicker when I die. Also, I can probably run Fierce Loyalty and Uhkapian Serpent, to get roughly the same amount of mitigation and a more constant movespeed boost.
- Just watched a vid where a WD stutter stepped using Hexing Pants and toads. I might have to try this for the DPS. Hexing pants is too good.
Some notes:
- The current Trial Keystone system is a little too random, and it is hard for the pet WD to get high keystones.
- Low keystones means I have to clear the lower GRs first before reaching my current highest GR, subjecting myself to more RNG in terms of map layout, density, and mob type.
- Not to mention, clearing each GR30+ takes about 10 minutes, and I usually progress by 1 tier at a time, so a key for GR32 would take me about 1 hour before I can see the GR35. I don't have that much time.
- Hopefully they will change it such that the player can choose the GR up to the current maximum cleared level. They will probably need to store values account wide, 1 for each class, and 3 for the team based rankings, so that's 9 values to keep track per account.
- But this will probably make upgrading legendary gems a little easier, as you can easily play your highest achieved GR (35 for me) and easily upgrade 100% each time till rank 25. But this also means once the gem passes rank 35, the upgrade chance gets lower, as without the Trials system, I can't cheese with a DH anymore and get a GR45 token (for example) to level my gem. Well this is good in a way I suppose, it really makes the players play and beat the GR, instead of cheesing the Trials.
- Shukrani Triumph now seems unnecessary. Doesn't help much during fights as I need to spam toads, and I think it is simply better to not die, than to have something that helps me get back quicker when I die. Also, I can probably run Fierce Loyalty and Uhkapian Serpent, to get roughly the same amount of mitigation and a more constant movespeed boost.
- Just watched a vid where a WD stutter stepped using Hexing Pants and toads. I might have to try this for the DPS. Hexing pants is too good.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Diablo 3 - Patch 2.1.1 Reaction
Patch 2.1.1 dropped yesterday night, but I wasn't able to log in due to the timezone difference. Nonetheless, I read the patch notes this morning and was quite happy with some of the changes. Here I will go through each of the changes based on my first impressions.
Pets
- Many monster attacks that are intended to be avoided by players, and weren't already dealing reduced damage to pets, now deal significantly less damage to pets
- Pets are now properly affected by Shield Pylons
Verdict: Good, not too sure what they refer to for the monster attacks though. Hope they refer to the list of stuff that I had mentioned before HERE. Shield Pylons are a nice touch.
Crusader
Shield Bash
- Can now be interrupted during the hit animation
Verdict: Not too sure if this is a really an important change. But oh well
Witch Doctor
Fetish Army
- Fetish Life has been greatly increased
Verdict: Good. More life, more survivability.
- Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
Verdict: Good. Fetishes move too slow currently for my liking. But this change will mean that they will acquire the targets faster than doggie and block him more often. Perhaps it's time to switch to +FA%? Think this will improve SMK refresh times as well.
- Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
Verdict: Good. This means I can still maintain DPS while running away. This also combos well with Shukrani Triumph. Spirit walk, and hide in spirit form 30 yds away, let the fetishes do the work.
Gargantuan
- Gargantuan is now summoned at the location of your mouse cursor
Verdict: Good. Placement of Gary will less skill intensive now, ala DH style. Wonder why they didn't do this for the Fetish Army.
- Summon animation speed has been increased
Verdict: Good. My gripe with Gary has always been the slow summoning animation. By the time Gary appears, the mob either has died, or they have moved to another location due to my kiting. Hopefully this will make the situation better.
Spirit Walk
- No longer cancels early when the physical body that is left behind takes enough damage
Verdict: Good. Now Jaunt is a legitimate 3 second escape skill. Paired with Shukrani Triumph, you can stay in SW for a long time away from the action while your pets do the work. I believe this is going to be the go to combo for higher Grifts.
Summon Zombie Dogs
- Zombie Dog Life has been greatly increased
Verdict: Good. Free life is always good. Dogs don't die as fast as Fetishes, so this is a less important change. Read from forums that the buff is about double the current hp.
Fetish Sycophants
- Fetish Life has been greatly increased
- Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
- Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
Verdict: Good. More important change to FS than FA. FS always dies first. This will help maintaining the full 15 so much easier.
User Interface
- Fetish Army and Fetish Sycophants portrait icons should now display more fitting names on mouseover
Verdict: Unnecessary. But it's just me
Firebird's Finery
- The infinite DoT debuff should now have a unique effect when it is applied
Verdict: Unsure what this will imply.
Boon of the Hoarder
- The number of Gold piles that explode from enemies on kill has been reduced
- To compensate, the amount of Gold in each pile has been increased
- The total amount of Gold dropped remains unchanged, but this will noticeably reduce screen clutter
Verdict: Less clutter is good, though this will make maintaining gold related item buffs a little bit trickier if you can't kill fast enough, such as Gold wrap and Avarice Band.
Bug Fixes
- The Moratorium secondary power can now be triggered by assists
Verdict: Good. Makes the gem more useful. Pet users can use this gem now.
- The Bane of the Trapped damage increase will now properly applied to Frozen enemies
Verdict: Good. Though it's still quite shady if the debuff works properly for other effects.
- The Gem of Efficacious Toxin poison DoT can now properly be applied by pet attacks
Verdict: Good. This means it's time to swap out Bane of the Powerful for good.
ADVENTURE MODE
- Rift Guardians and Greater Rift Guardians now drop more crafting materials
Verdict: Good. More mats is always welcomed.
Infernal Machine
- In multiplayer games, the Key of Bones, Key of Gluttony, and Key of War will now be considered group drops
Verdict: Good. This will bring it more line with the organ farming drop scheme. Now if they would buff the drop rate to 100% on T6, then it would be perfect.
Greater Rifts
- The Rift of Trials has received numerous adjustments in an effort to more accurately assess an appropriate level of Greater Rift.
- Large Aqueduct and Sewer maps will no longer show up in Greater Rifts
Verdict: Bad. Forums QQ that now Trials have more ridiculous enemies that prevent you from getting higher keystones. Well this is definitely an unnecessary change, and screws up the leaderboards greatly. Should really let the players choose the GR level they can access. So much flexibility in that idea. Map wise, just don't give me circular maps. It's irritating running circles.
Kadala
Philosophy
- While Kadala is doing a great job of giving players more control over finding specific items, we felt the current experience was a bit cumbersome and inconvenient
- As a result, we're working to reduce the frequency at which players need to run between Kadala and the Blacksmith to salvage unwanted items
- The cost to purchase items from Kadala has been greatly increased
- The chance for Kadala to drop a Legendary item has also been greatly increased
Verdict: Decent. Increase in drop rate is welcomed, the current drop rate feels low for some reason. Higher cost to purchase is immaterial to me, but might be a slight barrier to entry for lowbies. They could have simply enabled the D2 way of buying items, ala shift-right click, and fill the bag with whatever item you are gambling. The salvage all buttons have already removed some inconvenience, so not quite sure why the change now.
Mystic
Enchanting Philosophy
- We want players to be able to more reliably add sockets to their jewelry in order to enjoy Legendary Gems
- We still have long term plans to provide more outlets for excess gems and more ways to farm gems that a player needs; however, since those changes are further down the road, we wanted to improve the quality of life of Seasonal and Non-Seasonal players alike by making it easier to add a socket to your Rings and Amulets
- The cost to enchant jewelry has been reduced from a Flawless Imperial gem to an Imperial gem
Verdict: Good. Less cost is awesome. Less crafting is awesome. 1/3 the price now is welcomed, so I can have more topaz. Feels like I can give all my characters max gems, and still have enough for rerolling jewelry. Should probably take advantage of this tonight. But still, should have fixed crafting speed as I mentioned before.
MONSTERS
- The Electrified monster affix now has a short internal cooldown
Verdict: Good. Anything that kills pets less often is good
- The damage of The Butcher's Fan of Spears attack has been slightly reduced
Verdict: Good. Same as above. Getting 1 shot by this move is stupid too.
- The range of the Charging Beasts' Charge attack has been slightly reduced
Verdict: Good. Less deaths due to offscreen charges.
- Plague Nest Bats have had their health globe drop rate significantly decreased
Verdict: Indifferent. Never noticed them to drop health globes at a high rate anyway.
Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Maggot Broods no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Sand Dwellers no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Demonic Hellflyers now run away less frequently and no longer ambush players from the air in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Ghosts now run away less frequently and no longer fly through walls in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Rockworms can no longer spawn in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
Verdict: Good. Less runaway mobs, less hiding mobs = pets can DPS more.
Overall verdict: Good, especially for pet WDs. Increased survivability and effective DPS means more pet WDs will rise up the leaderboards. Not that it actually means anything to me, just simply bragging rights. But I have no one to brag to anyway.
Pets
- Many monster attacks that are intended to be avoided by players, and weren't already dealing reduced damage to pets, now deal significantly less damage to pets
- Pets are now properly affected by Shield Pylons
Verdict: Good, not too sure what they refer to for the monster attacks though. Hope they refer to the list of stuff that I had mentioned before HERE. Shield Pylons are a nice touch.
Crusader
Shield Bash
- Can now be interrupted during the hit animation
Verdict: Not too sure if this is a really an important change. But oh well
Witch Doctor
Fetish Army
- Fetish Life has been greatly increased
Verdict: Good. More life, more survivability.
- Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
Verdict: Good. Fetishes move too slow currently for my liking. But this change will mean that they will acquire the targets faster than doggie and block him more often. Perhaps it's time to switch to +FA%? Think this will improve SMK refresh times as well.
- Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
Verdict: Good. This means I can still maintain DPS while running away. This also combos well with Shukrani Triumph. Spirit walk, and hide in spirit form 30 yds away, let the fetishes do the work.
Gargantuan
- Gargantuan is now summoned at the location of your mouse cursor
Verdict: Good. Placement of Gary will less skill intensive now, ala DH style. Wonder why they didn't do this for the Fetish Army.
- Summon animation speed has been increased
Verdict: Good. My gripe with Gary has always been the slow summoning animation. By the time Gary appears, the mob either has died, or they have moved to another location due to my kiting. Hopefully this will make the situation better.
Spirit Walk
- No longer cancels early when the physical body that is left behind takes enough damage
Verdict: Good. Now Jaunt is a legitimate 3 second escape skill. Paired with Shukrani Triumph, you can stay in SW for a long time away from the action while your pets do the work. I believe this is going to be the go to combo for higher Grifts.
Summon Zombie Dogs
- Zombie Dog Life has been greatly increased
Verdict: Good. Free life is always good. Dogs don't die as fast as Fetishes, so this is a less important change. Read from forums that the buff is about double the current hp.
Fetish Sycophants
- Fetish Life has been greatly increased
- Fetish movement speed has been significantly increased
- Fetish leash range has been slightly increased
Verdict: Good. More important change to FS than FA. FS always dies first. This will help maintaining the full 15 so much easier.
User Interface
- Fetish Army and Fetish Sycophants portrait icons should now display more fitting names on mouseover
Verdict: Unnecessary. But it's just me
Firebird's Finery
- The infinite DoT debuff should now have a unique effect when it is applied
Verdict: Unsure what this will imply.
Boon of the Hoarder
- The number of Gold piles that explode from enemies on kill has been reduced
- To compensate, the amount of Gold in each pile has been increased
- The total amount of Gold dropped remains unchanged, but this will noticeably reduce screen clutter
Verdict: Less clutter is good, though this will make maintaining gold related item buffs a little bit trickier if you can't kill fast enough, such as Gold wrap and Avarice Band.
Bug Fixes
- The Moratorium secondary power can now be triggered by assists
Verdict: Good. Makes the gem more useful. Pet users can use this gem now.
- The Bane of the Trapped damage increase will now properly applied to Frozen enemies
Verdict: Good. Though it's still quite shady if the debuff works properly for other effects.
- The Gem of Efficacious Toxin poison DoT can now properly be applied by pet attacks
Verdict: Good. This means it's time to swap out Bane of the Powerful for good.
ADVENTURE MODE
- Rift Guardians and Greater Rift Guardians now drop more crafting materials
Verdict: Good. More mats is always welcomed.
Infernal Machine
- In multiplayer games, the Key of Bones, Key of Gluttony, and Key of War will now be considered group drops
Verdict: Good. This will bring it more line with the organ farming drop scheme. Now if they would buff the drop rate to 100% on T6, then it would be perfect.
Greater Rifts
- The Rift of Trials has received numerous adjustments in an effort to more accurately assess an appropriate level of Greater Rift.
- Large Aqueduct and Sewer maps will no longer show up in Greater Rifts
Verdict: Bad. Forums QQ that now Trials have more ridiculous enemies that prevent you from getting higher keystones. Well this is definitely an unnecessary change, and screws up the leaderboards greatly. Should really let the players choose the GR level they can access. So much flexibility in that idea. Map wise, just don't give me circular maps. It's irritating running circles.
Kadala
Philosophy
- While Kadala is doing a great job of giving players more control over finding specific items, we felt the current experience was a bit cumbersome and inconvenient
- As a result, we're working to reduce the frequency at which players need to run between Kadala and the Blacksmith to salvage unwanted items
- The cost to purchase items from Kadala has been greatly increased
- The chance for Kadala to drop a Legendary item has also been greatly increased
Verdict: Decent. Increase in drop rate is welcomed, the current drop rate feels low for some reason. Higher cost to purchase is immaterial to me, but might be a slight barrier to entry for lowbies. They could have simply enabled the D2 way of buying items, ala shift-right click, and fill the bag with whatever item you are gambling. The salvage all buttons have already removed some inconvenience, so not quite sure why the change now.
Mystic
Enchanting Philosophy
- We want players to be able to more reliably add sockets to their jewelry in order to enjoy Legendary Gems
- We still have long term plans to provide more outlets for excess gems and more ways to farm gems that a player needs; however, since those changes are further down the road, we wanted to improve the quality of life of Seasonal and Non-Seasonal players alike by making it easier to add a socket to your Rings and Amulets
- The cost to enchant jewelry has been reduced from a Flawless Imperial gem to an Imperial gem
Verdict: Good. Less cost is awesome. Less crafting is awesome. 1/3 the price now is welcomed, so I can have more topaz. Feels like I can give all my characters max gems, and still have enough for rerolling jewelry. Should probably take advantage of this tonight. But still, should have fixed crafting speed as I mentioned before.
MONSTERS
- The Electrified monster affix now has a short internal cooldown
Verdict: Good. Anything that kills pets less often is good
- The damage of The Butcher's Fan of Spears attack has been slightly reduced
Verdict: Good. Same as above. Getting 1 shot by this move is stupid too.
- The range of the Charging Beasts' Charge attack has been slightly reduced
Verdict: Good. Less deaths due to offscreen charges.
- Plague Nest Bats have had their health globe drop rate significantly decreased
Verdict: Indifferent. Never noticed them to drop health globes at a high rate anyway.
Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Maggot Broods no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Sand Dwellers no longer start out burrowed in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Demonic Hellflyers now run away less frequently and no longer ambush players from the air in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Ghosts now run away less frequently and no longer fly through walls in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
- Rockworms can no longer spawn in Nephalem Rifts and Greater Rifts
Verdict: Good. Less runaway mobs, less hiding mobs = pets can DPS more.
Overall verdict: Good, especially for pet WDs. Increased survivability and effective DPS means more pet WDs will rise up the leaderboards. Not that it actually means anything to me, just simply bragging rights. But I have no one to brag to anyway.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Diablo 3 - GR34: Bad Medicine is Legit
Managed to finish GR34 with my pet WD and got back onto the Leaderboards once again.
This time, I used:
Skills:
- Rain of Toads
- Frozen Piranhas
- Spirit Walk: Jaunt
- BBV Slam Dance
- Poison Fetish Army
- Poison Dog
Passives:
- Midnight Feast
- Pierce the Veil
- Fetish Sycophants
- BAD MEDICINE
Some thoughts:
- Bad Medicine is really good, keeps the army alive pretty well. Coupled with Enforcer as well as String of Ears, I could feel the difference in pet survivability. Had Rime for GR34, but was able to kill it in the nick of time. Highly recommended.
- This setup is not very good for Trial Rifts. The lack of AOE is very apparent. The highest keystone i could get was for GR31, and that was due to some lucky procs from Ess of Johan
- Pet Collision is still a problem for WD. The fetishes keep blocking my dog, especially when i can get all 23 of them out (amazingly for GR34). Tight doorways, or when fighting a single target. Poor dog always get blocked.
- Some of the rift layouts are really bad. Like circular (or square?) maps. If you miss the exit, you will have to run one big round.
- Shukrani Triumph helps for shitty situations like the above. Or when u die. It's a time-saver. Uhkapian Serpent is a life-saver. Still can't decide which is better, but I'm sticking with ST for the speed now.
- Shitty situation #2, the RG marker doesn't appear when he spawns. I have to hunt for the RG in situations like this. Or that stupid Orlash RG. Just give us a fucking arrow please.
- I need a good Hellfire amulet. I don't have capable partners to farm for it. Guess I'll have to do it alone. That 5th passive is important, because I made it to 34 without Countess Julia Cameo (amazingly again, Jailer did not hurt as much)
- No idea why GR gives so little exp. Ran GRs the whole night but did not give 1 level worth of experience. Normal rifts give so much more exp. It's tiring and unsatisfying to play.
- They should let the exp bonus from T6 be multiplicative with your gear exp bonus, instead of being additive. Gear exp bonus could probably add up to about 100%, which is just double the current exp rate. From what I see, the current exp rate is only decent at best.
Today is a long day. Time to just do some normal rifts for exp. 40 more to 600!
This time, I used:
Skills:
- Rain of Toads
- Frozen Piranhas
- Spirit Walk: Jaunt
- BBV Slam Dance
- Poison Fetish Army
- Poison Dog
Passives:
- Midnight Feast
- Pierce the Veil
- Fetish Sycophants
- BAD MEDICINE
Some thoughts:
- Bad Medicine is really good, keeps the army alive pretty well. Coupled with Enforcer as well as String of Ears, I could feel the difference in pet survivability. Had Rime for GR34, but was able to kill it in the nick of time. Highly recommended.
- This setup is not very good for Trial Rifts. The lack of AOE is very apparent. The highest keystone i could get was for GR31, and that was due to some lucky procs from Ess of Johan
- Pet Collision is still a problem for WD. The fetishes keep blocking my dog, especially when i can get all 23 of them out (amazingly for GR34). Tight doorways, or when fighting a single target. Poor dog always get blocked.
- Some of the rift layouts are really bad. Like circular (or square?) maps. If you miss the exit, you will have to run one big round.
- Shukrani Triumph helps for shitty situations like the above. Or when u die. It's a time-saver. Uhkapian Serpent is a life-saver. Still can't decide which is better, but I'm sticking with ST for the speed now.
- Shitty situation #2, the RG marker doesn't appear when he spawns. I have to hunt for the RG in situations like this. Or that stupid Orlash RG. Just give us a fucking arrow please.
- I need a good Hellfire amulet. I don't have capable partners to farm for it. Guess I'll have to do it alone. That 5th passive is important, because I made it to 34 without Countess Julia Cameo (amazingly again, Jailer did not hurt as much)
- No idea why GR gives so little exp. Ran GRs the whole night but did not give 1 level worth of experience. Normal rifts give so much more exp. It's tiring and unsatisfying to play.
- They should let the exp bonus from T6 be multiplicative with your gear exp bonus, instead of being additive. Gear exp bonus could probably add up to about 100%, which is just double the current exp rate. From what I see, the current exp rate is only decent at best.
Today is a long day. Time to just do some normal rifts for exp. 40 more to 600!
Friday, September 19, 2014
Diablo 3 - How to fix the pet Witch Doctor
Main Issue
Pets are the main source of damage and defense for the pet WD build. For most cases, they are the only source of damage and defense.
When pets die, there are a few scenarios:
a) the pet skills are available, and the WD resummons them immediately
b) the pet skills are on cooldown, and the WD has to dodge until one of the pet skills are ready. Tendency is that the WD dies anyway.
The problem now is that the pets die too quickly, that even when resummoned they die immediately, putting the WD into situation b most of the time. This is not aided by the fact that pet skills have very long cooldowns.
This is especially painful in higher Grifts.
Currently, pets die very easily to the following abilities:
- Charge attacks (Anarch, charging Beasts, Corrupted Angels)
- DOT effects (Anarch fire trail, Herald of Pestilence, Barbed Lurkers)
- Environment effects (blood pools in Blood Marsh A5, exploding plant in A2)
- Slam attacks (Mallet Lords, Punisher jumps, Hammer guys in A2)
- Elite affixes (Arcane Sentry, Electrified, Fire chains, Molten trails)
Generally, any ability that will tick for a decent amount of damage for a long time will kill the pet outright in a few seconds. A strong power move like the mallet lords slam can be mitigated by the force armor, but sometimes it's just too strong (especially in higher Grifts), and the pets get 1-shotted.
But strangely, they can survive molten explosions, frozen explosions, and similar stuff that kills most players.
Solutions to Improve Pet Survivability
There's a few ways to go about doing this:
1) Make pets toughness scale with the difficulty/monster's HP
This was seen in the PTR, and generally made the pets immortal. It was definitely fun to play immortal pets, and the WD only needs to worry about his own survivability. But other players will QQ and complain that the WD is OP, similar to the DH right now.
2) Make pets gain the defensive bonuses from the player's gears, like regeneration, LOH, immunity amulets, serpent, unity, blackthornes, etc.
This will probably lead to more interesting gear choices, if they directly affect the pets, and doesn't feel as OP as #1.
3) Tweak the numbers for the enforcer gem.
25% seems too low for now, and does not seem to help much. 75% would probably be a much better number.
4) Redesign the Zuni set bonus
Currently the SMK and Zuni set bonus serve almost similar function: to allow permanent Fetish Army. SMK requires a little more to work maintain the army, while Zuni requires the player to wear 4 parts of the gear.
Instead, redesign the Zuni set bonus to be:
Your pets are now invulnerable.
Note the slight difference here. This means the Fetish Army will still expire after 20 seconds, just that they are invulnerable for the duration they are out. Similarly for the sycophants and Wrathful Protector. At least now you get full mileage out of your pets when they are out.
This will have implications for the other builds that uses the Zuni sets though, like the Darts build.
5) Reduce the cooldowns of pet skills
Just have no idea why they are so long. They could simply half the cooldowns, and if the pets die then just resummon. This reduces the time spent without pets, and make the gameplay better for the WD.
6) Redesign the pet skills similar to the DH's
This way, pets will auto revive after a certain time, they have an active ability, and Zuni's bonus could simply make the active bonus permanent for Fetish Army (or something else). Thus far, I have yet to hear DH complain about their pet's survivability. And the DH's pets do tank very well due to their design and active abilities (boar and spider in particular). But this is going to be a major redesign, so I highly doubt it will happen.
-----
After it's all said and done, I will probably try running super tanky build with
- Jungle Fortitude
- Bad Medicine
- String of Ears
- Uhkapian Serpent
and see how far i can go.
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