WD opinion on Class develpoment

Witch Doctor
1

Ive been browsing the forums the last few days. Alot of people on the ptr made alot of suggestions about balancing WD. I just realized that the dev team has said they hate passive play, such as pets. Im wondering if Mundunugu was nerfed due to the fact that high push is alot of just throwing 3 specters and waiting, then popping them. leaving ALOT of downtime.

This made me realize that the WHOLE class is all about waiting or building up damage. Soul Harvest and jade, zuni pets, helltooth. I know they made Bears, but it needs alot of work still.

How do you think the Devs could change WD to make them viable or more interactive?

Lets keep the feedback going!

2 Likes
2

Firebats.

There are already a few items that improve it but it does not seem to be a viable build, even using Legacy of Dreams, although it is quite fun especially with The Grin Reaper as you can get more going. My wife enjoyed it quite a lot but was having a very hard time on T12+.

3

Well, WD suffers from many things right now? Where to begin? As a class? It is probably the weakest in the game if you sum it up. Squishy, slow, damage is lacking, zero support skills, bad for groups… WD needs either stronger sets with bigger numbers, or new items, or reworked items that already exist or all of the aforementioned.

If we are talking about sets one by one, well, the playstyle is interesting and there are some fun options but in the end it all comes down to the same combo (harvester - lakumba) and the same 4/6 skills and passives on every build. Firebats? It used to be strong a very long time ago but now there are 20 trash clearers way better. It’s okay though to have some weak sets, not everything has to clear GR150. Helltooth? Very bad AI for the gargantuans and the zombie bears is clunky - they collide to walls all the time. Kind of relaxing for T16 and some low/average GRs but that is all there is to this set. If they made Gargs like the Necro Golem/skeletons where they re up all the time and you aim them, that could improve many things. Jade? Great playstyle, very unique, nothing can imitate it not even LoD. It needs a big boost if it is to compete with S and A - tier builds. I can definitely see this becoming stronger in the future. Zuni? Not much can be said here. It is the second strongest option for WDs. Can be played with LoD which is very tanky or with the set which is squishier but provides more damage. It’s above average, it’s acceptable. You can push with it somewhat high. Still cannot compete with the strong builds of other classes. And lastly mundu. The best build that we have. The second nerf was not needed in my oppinion. Very rewarding playstyle, definitely not op, high skill ceiling, very fun to play. It was the only build that put WD on the map again, now they are taking it down for whatever reason. It’s a bad time for WDs in general.

2 Likes
4

For me, the main issue with witch doctor is there is no good lazy build. It is a lot of skill activations which my hands can’t handle for too long so I have to switch to something else after about 2 or 3 hours. That, and I’ve never really gotten one to reach solo 90 GR but that’s me - I’m not very good with the WD. Among my favorite low play though (like Campaign mode) and its easy to see what was stripped to make the necromancer.

I do wish firebats was useful. Its really fun with The Grin Reaper and you have 3 going at a time. Heck, if they made Grin Reaper better, where the little clones persisted (don’t even have to give you damage reduction) I’d probably be satisfied.

5

The Nerf Spirit Barrage was too big now.
When they did the last nerf when they took a bonus from the pet, the skill changed terribly and began to mow, lag and nonsensically mow. When it turns out that he still has the power to kill 145+ GRs in 4 players, then another nerf that will destroy it completely.
Why didn’t they compromise. So let them return the pet bonus back so that the skill works as it should, when they take damage from the off hand.

  • It wants to boost on arachyr set, helltoth and harvester. There are a lot of old legends that don’t do damage and it’s very weak.
6

The problem with WD is that 4/5 of the builds rely on locust swarm. No other class has to apply a dot before their spells or attacks deal damage. The other relies on pets being in the right spot. For these two reasons none of the WD builds are viable in speeds. Chicken is unbalanced and doesn’t do enough damage to clear GRs. I think WD support is overlooked in groups now with shukrani it can keep up and offer quite a bit of damage bonus, damage reduction, and healing but still not as good as zDH (best dps in game) and different pros/cons but generally worse than zbarb. Therefore WD is only good to push and has no farming or xp competitiveness with other classes solo or in group. No one can keep up if they play WD all season so it is reserved only for high GR push solo and with group. I think Arachyr is best RGK in game but if it is so useless throughout the rest of the rift why not use something else?

With the start of the season Zunimassa is a horrible season start. It is a good versatile build but very squishy and slow ramp up if you die you are dependent on fetish cooldown and have to ramp up sycophants. Zuni itself doesnt give any damage bonus on 2-piece or 4-piece and is dependent on multiple other specific items to do damage with 6 piece whether poison dart or other pet build. And if you don’t get those items and don’t happen to get an early Ring of Emptiness (required for the other 4 builds) then it can take a long time to get to T16. In comparison, Inna monks were fully geared doing T16 in 3 hours from season start with the best build in game (i.e., a solo rat run) getting free gear. There was no reason to start the season with witch doctor unless its the only class you play and just understand it is going to be hard to gear, do less damage, and require more clicks and skill to play.

Additionally the reliance on ring of emptiness makes almost all the builds require the same 4 skills: soul harvest, spirit walk, pirahnas, and locust swarm. There is only a difference in the main damage ability and extra utility slot. In a way it is nice it feels like you’re playing the same class in every build but it also gets very old and all the builds serve the same purpose.

2 Likes
7

WD , you MUST:
*** Use defence only near monsters
WHAT? (brasers must have in all builds!!!)
*** Use attacks before to deal the damage
WHAT??? (debuff must have in all builds)
Who will play this?

I came to D3 at the beginning.
Have tried all classes, and had one love - its WD.
=== WD had passive running army.
BARB had a fury
DH had a strafe.
Wiz had archon
==== after first few patches I remember, we lost Zuni build at all. got Jade and helltooth, but still playable. Managuma running. A lot of fun. also Gargantuan+piraniado.
BARB had a fury
DH had a strafe.
Wiz had archon or exploding build.
==== few patches later WD lost top tier at all. WD LOST all pets builds.. WD MUST use skills before the damage right to the enemy.
— BARB had a fury. had pet builds!!!
— DH had a strafe. got multishot build. had pet builds!!!
— monk got a range build. had pet builds!!!
— Crus gor range build. had pet builds!!!

ALL this classes never use attack before damage. coming to enemies before defence.
they could never come close to the monsters at all.

I did a pause in it and come back 3 years later. Whats changed?

all classes got new builds.
what can I see? NON FETISH damage. PETS exept fetishes in descriptions.
BARB has a fury - it isnt passive. yes, you just need to run with the right mouse button with your dealing of damage. nothing more.
DH has a strafe. - it isnt passive. yes, you just need to run with the right mouse button with your dealing of damage.
I do. GR 100 only running without anything except RMB.
My friend with multishot never see monsters, they die behind the screen, 120 GR easy.

WD just die, die, die. die… because BLIZZ dont like passive playing. REALLY?

WD run more than any other class. its must to do. (try)
Better is to delete the class than to tell
"we dont like passive playing"

I really think,
WD must have passive buff for damage of its own or ALL pets, depend on a build/set. As all other classes.
WD must have other savings, not how it has existed, but as another classes. 1 from set(50-60%!!!), 1 from skill (30-50% as DH) and 1 additional of 1-2-3 items (hadnt existed at all) of 40-50% (+1-2 10-15%)
right now WD has only 10-30% def, it’s not adequate for last 5 years patches.

I can see in my stash old DH things and new.
all def has increased, WD not!
damage items? same.
old builds? look! Zuni is the weakest!

8

What to do for the class?
its easy decision

  1. up each set to get same dmg with other classes. Most of bonuses are from previous patches. Too low.

  2. up each set to get same DEF with other classes. passive def.
    Up def of nonset items. not for damaged monsters. for ALL. it must be playable with the spirit walk. def for 12-15sec after the walk. its ok.
    Now the most of bonuses are from previous patches. Too low. offhand for 30% dmg reduction? when other classes have 42-60% from 1 ring or belt???)

  3. Just make a conditions.
    conditions at the nessecery item.
    % def for the WD and only 1 kind of pets.
    thats all. no more 30 pets. up to 15, as monk or DH.

and we can recall this exclusive class back.
*1) Gagrs + Piranthas
*2) dogs + sacr
*3) locust + bats
*4) jade + manajuma
*5) fetishes + darts
*6) fetishes + confusion/fear
*7) bears(as at the beginning, with legacy!)
*8) spirit
*9) frogs+ dead grasps or wall

  1. needed self-homing as a set bonus
    cast 1, get 2-5 for free. Must have.
    DH has
    Monk has
    barb has everithing in 1 button
    crus has
    WD needed.

additional dmg could be, but not as “your pets dont work without your acid cloud” activation for 200-300% is ok for elites. but pets must have dmg for others.

difficulties of WD - to run around pets, because you couldnt controll hem properly, you need more Def than other classes, because pets builds have to kill all and do it randomly.

builds of direct dmg what could be increased by your pets - as other classes, and they all have more control and self-homing.

9

They can start fixing WD class development by:

  1. removing soul harvest and its supporting items, except retain the ability for the jade harvester set.
  2. remove ring of emptiness
  3. buff everything accordingly to compensate for the power losses of the previous two changes
3 Likes
10

This wont fix it. Also it seems A lot of WD folks forget the other classes have a “Prison Ring” of sorts too. Wizard Bracer for shields, Krysbins and Dayntees for Necros’ damage and defense. The itemization choke is a problem for a few. Its just glaringly obvious for the WD because the best items for their DMG and DEF are linked and limited. Have to shoe horn in Soul Harvest, Locust/Haunt in every build.

The main issue for the WD in this case is the lack of variety in how to stay alive or vastly amp damage via skills and legendary effect interactions. Horrify could become a DR skill or Confusion and Big Bad Voodoo could become decent buff skills for some MUCH needed variety. They need to expand the WD itemization options instead of forgetting the other bloody skills they programmed into the game.