So I've never had a Tank Doc but I've been wanting to try Cloud of Bats with the new damage buff. Unfortunately Im not rich enough to just pick up a good shield and other tank gear to try it out, so this is just theory crafting but has anyone tried a build like this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#ScUdjQ!UTW!YcccYb

quick run down

Firebomb - Pyrogiest This plus VQ for the constant mana to fuel bats. 1 cast of pyrogeist should give 11 seconds of VQ proc
Mass Conf - Paranoia for extra damage, CC, and with Grave Injustice you can actually use this often enough to make it worth the skill slot
BBV - Slamdance for even more damage buff, maybe Rain Dance if mana is still an issue
SW - incase you have to bail
SH - Vengeful spirit, obvious Damage buff but using Vengeful with Grave so if you kill some trash mobs you not only get the stacks but removes the cd and regens life/mana

Pierce the Veil for more damage, but not sure the added mana will be sustainable, so this might have to go to Blood Ritual or some other passive. The 30% mana increase makes bats 159 mana, so I have a feeling this wont allow you to spam the cloud

Gear would need to be high block shield, Res, High Life with good mana regen on helm + wep

Probably would cost more than I would be willing to spend, but I could see this damage being pretty sick dealing 334% aoe plus all the other buffs

Thoughts/suggestions?

My WD

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Wunky-1830/hero/158476

SKILLS
Plague of Toads
Rain of Toads

Acid Cloud
Slow Burn

Spirit Walk
Honored Guest

Gargantuan
Restless Giant

Big Bad Voodoo
Slam Dance

Soul Harvest
Siphon

Pierce the Veil

Bad Medicine

Jungle Fortitude


Damage 43602.6 Unbuffed
about 90k with slam dance and 5 Souls stacks.


This post was edited by Trademarks on Aug 29 2012 06:10pm

if you guys havent seen it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Z51lDthY0 good information in this and nice build

After an entire day of testing a3 farming. I have found the the most efficient build for myself is really the most simple and only requires dodging/sidestepping ect. It could very well be my playstyle but I will share anyways.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#SgdUYT!cWa!acZaca

-Just spam Fire Bomb and let Manitou do the rest!
-Group play I have been swapping out zombie dogs for acid, and blood ritual for vision quest.


Interested in some input. It is actually pretty fun and you can FLY through mobs, (Not quite zombie bear fly but its fast :))

I still prefer Rain of Toads with 1k+ LoH.

this build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Soundb-1770/hero/25075006

Note that guy has weird gear, no crit on it, but high stats. It is cheaper than going standard stats+critl. If you can afford normal gear, you will get even more dps than him.

This build absolutely facerolls a3, you get mana for bears, via health globes and huge pickup range, you have survival from high int buffed by soul harvest + 50% int from passive, finally you get tons of damage, ability to reset cooldown at each pack. 20% damage increase from mass confusion + 30% from voodoo = all packs melt in few seconds.

you can see this build in action in stream archive of this guy:

http://www.twitch.tv/twelveday

It absolutely stomps a3. And if you add crit to this kind of gear it becomes only stronger.
By far it is the best bear build I've seen.

Yes, very impressive for that low unbuffed DPS.

I don't like some of his skillrune choices though. Soul Harvest is one of my favorite damage skills now: Spirit Walk into a mob, 1-shot them instantly and, thanks to Grave Injustice, Spirit Walk again and repeat.
I also prefer the stun rune on Mass Confusion as it gives me just enough time to kill annoying elites before they split and run away.

And for the passives. While Jungle Fortitude is nice, with the amount of high-end gear available for low prices now and nerfed Inferno I would prefer a skill that gives exclusive features. Spirit Vessel for more risky play and faster CDs or Circle Of Life (+ Sacrifice) to maximize the pickup-radius potential.

Just thought id share my cents regarding my Witch Doctor build.

Primary Skill: Corpse Spiders
- Rune: Widowmakers
(Note, varies wether or not i play solo or group games, alternative is Fire Bomb with Ghost Bomb.)

Secondary Skill: Firebats
- Rune: Dire Bats

Skillslot 1: Spirit Walk
- Rune: Healing Journey/Honored Guest

Skillslot 2: Soul Harvest
- Rune: Siphon

Skillslot 3: Gargantuan
- Rune: Restless Giant/Bruiser

Skillslot 4: Zombie Dogs
- Rune: Final Gift/Leeching Beasts

Passive 1: Gruesome Feast

Passive 2: Fierce Loyalty

Passive 3: Grave Injustice

This build might seem weird for some of you, although let me get into elaborating my point.

First off my armory profile is here: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Dare-1825/hero/906673

As you can see, when and if you check my armory, my main stats are roughly devided into the following in order to make this build optimal: Life per second and Pick-up Radius.
- Life per Second to keep my pets alive, also with Spirit Walk/Healing Journey. Note: they also share my Health regen from/during Spirit Walk/Healing Journey.
- Pick-up Radius, this because of two core things. Grave Injustice and Gruesome Feast. Basically, the higher range you have, the more you benefit.

Firstly, due to my 43(+8 from Grave Injustice(51)) yard radius, i can 80% of the times i am in combat, be inside spirit walk. Most effective is group play, Since kills and globes also count for other players pick-ups.
Additionally i can constantly summon my pets. somewhere between every 20-40 seconds.

Secondly, Soul Harvest becomes a very powerful healing ability with it's constant uptime alongside Spirit Walk. As long as you are near alot of mobs.( which is all the more okay and heck even fun! ).

Last but not least, i would like to mention the possibility of switching out your pets with Locust Warm/Pestilence and/or Wall of Zombies/whatever rune you chose/Grasp of The Dead/Groping Eels/Death is Life. And Fierce Loyalty passive with Pierce The Veil, if you want a pure Glasscanon build for 4 Player paragon/mf runs in Act III. Works like a charm and my fellow farming friends love me for this.

Also, i don't claim this to be the best Witch Doctor build out there, this is just what works for me and my friends. This also happens to be the most fun build i've ever tried.
Any thoughts and/or critique is more than welcome. I am open for new ideas, especially regarding my Primary Skill.

TLDR: Build results in almost constant Spirit Walk, dashing out Fire Bats(never going oom) and very powerful heals from Soul Harvest. This build is highly effective in Coop/Group play.
With some small alterations, can also be a glasscanon build for amazingly strong AOE damage output, most effective with 4 player groups in Act III Paragon/MF runs(preferably alot of melee meat shields.)

Kindest Regards
- Matt

Damn this build would be fun with Zombie wall - Dead rush.

Actually i have never thought of that, i am going to test that tomorrow

EDIT: Come to think about it, Wall of Zombies / Pile on could work very good with my farming buddy monk... Granted he would have Cyclone... I just tested it out, with my subtle amount of unbuffed damage at 55k, i just critted 1.3million.

I rolled with Wall of Zombies/Pile on and Big Bad Voodoo with Slam Dance. The uptime on those though Will be massive...

This post was edited by Matt590 on Aug 30 2012 08:20pm