Hello,
Witch Doctor is one of my favorite class in Diablo 3 and have been since the launch of the game and one sleepless night i started gathering ideas and thoughts that would improve WD experience over all. Here is what came up on how to make WD much more robust and fun to play class.
One of the biggest problem is how WD build diversity is plagued by certain skills and items that have become too mandatory on many sets and builds and makes gameplay feel very same. This is because there is no good alternatives for these powerful skill/item combos.
All changes proposed here should be manageable as many of these are just damage effects and number boosts, and no new game mechanics are introduced.
Zunimassa’s Haunt, Voodoo theme
- Fetish Army
- Big Bad Voodoo
- Gargantuan and/or
- Zombie Dogs
4 piece:
- While Big Bad Voodoo is active take % reduced damage.
- Somekind of cooldown reduction mechanism for BBV
- Hard cooldown %
- or Starmetal Kukri like effect, when fetishes deal damage, reduce CD 1 sec
“In theme wise BBV is a must skill in Zuni set, and this would make zuni damage reduction much more consistent compared to what it is now. Especially if you happen to die and try to get back in business.”
6 piece:
- Pets deal +% more damage and fetishes deal +% damage per active fetish.
“This change is here to boost actual fetish damage and making it the most damaging element on this set and passive pet damage % is to keep Gargantuan and Zombie Dog damage on good levels too.”
New legendary shoulder:
- BBV gains every rune (and meaby, it follows you?).
“This would fill zunis non-existent shoulder slot with good supporting legendary effect that brings whole set lot more together. Might need some BBV rune tweaking.”
The Gidbinn revamp:
- +% Fetish damage or Fetish Army damage (and some nice effect).
“Nostalgic weapon from D2 that fits right it zuni set, and more damage helps fetishes rise their head from gargantuans long lasted shadow”
Fetish Army rune revamp:
- Every rune gives 2 more fetishes.
“Fetish Army rune choice should be more about flavor then damage, so every rune gives 2 special fetishes ie. how Tiki Torches and Head Hunters are now. cold rune could give Undead Fetishes and physical bigger Fetish Brutes, but overall dps would be pretty much the same on all runes. This would also make whole set more flavorful.”
Helltooth Harness, Death & Decay theme
- Wall of Death
- Gargantuan
- Zombie Charger or
- Acid Cloud
Skills removed from set:
- Firebats
- Zombie Dogs
Gargantuan rebalance:
- Cleave ability should be on base gargantuan.
- Damage on every rune should be more on level with each others.
“This would open more elemental options and more flavor of choice.”
Scrimshaw buff:
- add Zombie Charger deals +% more damage.
“ZC needs more damage to compete with gargantuan and this is first part to bring them more even.”
SuWong Diviner revamp:
- Acid Cloud does damage instantly.
- add resource cost reduction, deals +% more damage.
“AC also need more damage and RCR makes it more usable and fun to play with. Instant damage would work nice with it, and if i remember correctly there was some performance problems with dots.”
Jarems Bracers buff:
- More Wall of Death damage %.
“Same as ZC and AC, to bring damage more on level with gargantuan.”
New set specific legendary belt:
- Damage reduction effect.
“This is needed so you can equip Jarems Bracers to get those buffs going and don’t need Lakumba’s Ornament. And to make it set specific so it won’t mess any other sets itemization.”
New legendary effect:
- While WoD is active, your Zombie Charger and Acid Cloud deals +% more damage.
“And the final effort on catching Gargantuans massive damage lead. This set dont have any set specific weapon/off-hand so this could be it?”
Spirit of Arachyr, Nature theme
- Firebats
- Locust Swarm
- Zombie Dogs
- Hex
Skills added to set:
- Zombie Dogs (creature, animal, nature)
Wormwood buff:
- add Locust Swarm deal +% more damage.
“With Vile Hive this will bring Locust Swarm damage more on level with Firebats damage.”
Wildwood, new legendary effect:
“Arachyr set have two useful weapons and both happen to be two-handers (Chiroptera and Wormwood) which wont fit very well on mixing different kind of setups. So i propose that one or other will be made one-hander. Chiroptera would probably made better option, because Firebats is main damage dealer.”
Coils of the First Spider buff:
- little more damage reduction % and a few second buff when damage reduction is active.
“So you can move and position yourself without worrying your defenses drop too low. This is effort to make Coils look as attractive as Lakumba’s.”
The Tall Man’s Finger buff:
- Summon 3 gargantuan dogs and damage increase %
“Making Tall Man’s Finger same level of power as Short Man’s Finger is right now.”
General
Lakumba’s Ornament rebalance:
- 5 stacks max, and more damage reduction per stack so it evens out.
“This is to break Lakumba’s Ornament + Sacred Harvester combo that is plaguing almost every build out there. This would open many more opportunities.”
Ring of Emptiness:
* Damage buff should only be working on Jade Harvest set.
“Ring is obviously intended to be Jade Harvest item, as it should be as it only forces use of Haunt on builds and sets where it wont fit. This would also open many opportunities.”
