05-22-2012, 09:27 AM
Seeing as how the servers are down right now I guess I finally have a chance to post here. I play a summon oriented hardcore witch doctor that is currently in Nightmare. Thought I'd rundown my feelings for various skills and how they work in my build. I realize I'm not directly answering the opening question, but oh well.
Leaping Spiders: I'm loving this skill. It's pretty much my primary attack. It costs so little that I can spam it and still regen mana. I also love that I can throw them then run around and let them attack. So I can stay mobile. I don't even need to be able to see the mob. Just know a general direction. Plus there often seems some small interaction with mobs. Not that they actually fully interact, but it sometimes seems like mobs try to walk around them or something weird like that. There just seems to be something going on there.
Spirit Walk: Originally I completely dismissed this skill. Now I think it is required for hardcore play. It gets you out from jailors or frozen champions. I'd assume breaks fear (I've not tried it). Then even greater than that, you can rune it to give mana back and so use it as a dps skill. Later on you can rune it to give life back which seems like it would surely be useful. Just an all around amazing skill.
Pierce the Veil: I like this spell with Spiders, but if you use any higher casting cost spells it becomes not worth it. I generally have a secondary attack that is a more expensive stronger AOE attack and I feel the passive hurts that too much. It does tempt me towards trying a build with just low cost skills and this, but I just can't seem to justify it right now. Something like a Dart/Bomb build since both only cost 10 mana (according to the guide) might be interesting since that gives a single target and an aoe.
Wall of Zombies: I really wanted to like this skill, but the cooldown on it just seemed way too long. Maybe it is viable with a dps rune like Pile On, but as control it seems really bad.
Grasp of the Dead: This is a skill I keep trying to go without and coming back to. It is just so good that I end up feeling unsafe without it. It'll spend a bunch of play time unused, but then randomly become the difference between trouble and safety. When things go wrong this skill makes it so I can survive. I'm not exactly sure why I keep wanting to get rid of it, but I have a suspension that it will be a skill that stays with me forever.
Dire Bats: My go to big damage AOE skill. I really wanted to switch from it to Exploding Beasts, but those just don't work as well. They explode on contact, have short explosion radius, and have a horrible tendency to run into obstacles. Dire Bats on the other hand hit every mob in the path instead of just the first couple and are much better at flying their full path. This is another skill I keep wanting to find another skill to fill the role of and yet not being able to find one I like better. I'd not be surprised if I end up deciding it is simply the best at doing what I want for this slot in my skills.
Gargantuan: Originally I was going to go with Big Stinker, but I'm really loving Restless Giant. It is getting to the point where I'm not sure I would use any other form of it. Possibly the one that turns it into a cooldown just because I could put it with the 4 cooldown passive, but otherwise Restless Giant is just so good that I'll likely stick with it.
Toad of Hugeness: I was amazingly unimpressed with this skill. There just seems to be such a lack of need for it. Up close single target that is just bad. It is such a sad thing cause I really wanted to like it.
Hex: Tried this with the Hedge Magic rune. I was in a group when I tried it and we never felt the heal going off. Hex itself was decent though. It felt like it could be quite useful since it can completely remove a mob from the fight. With some champion packs that could be quite powerful. Yet for me it takes the same slot as Grasp of the Dead and it just seems weaker in the end. I do like how it has good uptime though. Stays up for 12 seconds with a 15 second cooldown. So there are only 3 seconds it is down for. So you can use it quite a bit. I'm slightly undecided on this. It has potential, but I think that you not being able to control it makes it not as good as other skills.
Fetish Army: I may not have given this a long enough trial, but the bit I used it I just felt like I didn't really feel it being active. I'd see the fetishes, but the damage wasn't noticeable to me and I already had the mobs distracted with my pets so it just seemed pointless.
Horrify: I used this and Grasp both for a while. Basically up until Spirit Walk became available to me. I think what it comes down to is that I have two slots for these types of skills. I feel like Spirit Walk is required. So it becomes Horrify or Grasp and Horrify just has too long of a cooldown to really even compete. That is even neglecting that the fear seems weaker too to me. I'd rather keep the mobs from getting close than fear them once they are. So it just loses out to other skills that seem stronger to me.
Fetish Sycophants: I really wanted this passive to be good. I figured with me spamming spiders and throwing bats that it would proc decently. I did get up to 3 of them at one point, but there just seemed to be too often I had none and I couldn't really feel the difference anyway. Another issue I had with it is that I didn't like the play style it encouraged. The fetishes last 60 seconds and so the passive encourages you to play fast to get the most use out of them when you do have some up. Playing in hardcore, I don't really want to play like that. I'm much more of the slow and steady sort. So it just ended up rubbing me wrong unfortunately.
Bad Medicine: I've liked this passive with Rabid Dogs. I feel like they live much longer with it than without. That said, it is also a passive I'm really hoping to get rid of. My hope is that Leeching Beasts will negate needing it and let me switch to something else. I do feel like it is a decent passive though even with me only using those dogs for poison. So other builds could probably make better use of it as well.
So with all that said right now I'm using Leaping Spiders, Dire Bats, Honored Guest, Unbreakable Grasp, Rabid Dogs, Restless Giant, Jungle Fortitude, Bad Medicine, and Zombie Handler.
My hope is to replace Rabid with Leeching Beasts and then Bad Medicine with something else. I'm really not sure what though. Looking at the passives the choice for me seems to be Spiritual Attunement (for more Dire Bats), Spirit Vessel (for life saving in hardcore), Grave Injustice (for regaining life/mana as mobs die), or Tribal Rights (if I were to decide to swap Grasp out for Hex or Ghost Trance). I think I'm leaning toward Spirit Vessel currently.
So that is my experience with skills so far. Obviously there are a lot I've not really touched on since they don't fit with how I'm playing my char.
Leaping Spiders: I'm loving this skill. It's pretty much my primary attack. It costs so little that I can spam it and still regen mana. I also love that I can throw them then run around and let them attack. So I can stay mobile. I don't even need to be able to see the mob. Just know a general direction. Plus there often seems some small interaction with mobs. Not that they actually fully interact, but it sometimes seems like mobs try to walk around them or something weird like that. There just seems to be something going on there.
Spirit Walk: Originally I completely dismissed this skill. Now I think it is required for hardcore play. It gets you out from jailors or frozen champions. I'd assume breaks fear (I've not tried it). Then even greater than that, you can rune it to give mana back and so use it as a dps skill. Later on you can rune it to give life back which seems like it would surely be useful. Just an all around amazing skill.
Pierce the Veil: I like this spell with Spiders, but if you use any higher casting cost spells it becomes not worth it. I generally have a secondary attack that is a more expensive stronger AOE attack and I feel the passive hurts that too much. It does tempt me towards trying a build with just low cost skills and this, but I just can't seem to justify it right now. Something like a Dart/Bomb build since both only cost 10 mana (according to the guide) might be interesting since that gives a single target and an aoe.
Wall of Zombies: I really wanted to like this skill, but the cooldown on it just seemed way too long. Maybe it is viable with a dps rune like Pile On, but as control it seems really bad.
Grasp of the Dead: This is a skill I keep trying to go without and coming back to. It is just so good that I end up feeling unsafe without it. It'll spend a bunch of play time unused, but then randomly become the difference between trouble and safety. When things go wrong this skill makes it so I can survive. I'm not exactly sure why I keep wanting to get rid of it, but I have a suspension that it will be a skill that stays with me forever.
Dire Bats: My go to big damage AOE skill. I really wanted to switch from it to Exploding Beasts, but those just don't work as well. They explode on contact, have short explosion radius, and have a horrible tendency to run into obstacles. Dire Bats on the other hand hit every mob in the path instead of just the first couple and are much better at flying their full path. This is another skill I keep wanting to find another skill to fill the role of and yet not being able to find one I like better. I'd not be surprised if I end up deciding it is simply the best at doing what I want for this slot in my skills.
Gargantuan: Originally I was going to go with Big Stinker, but I'm really loving Restless Giant. It is getting to the point where I'm not sure I would use any other form of it. Possibly the one that turns it into a cooldown just because I could put it with the 4 cooldown passive, but otherwise Restless Giant is just so good that I'll likely stick with it.
Toad of Hugeness: I was amazingly unimpressed with this skill. There just seems to be such a lack of need for it. Up close single target that is just bad. It is such a sad thing cause I really wanted to like it.
Hex: Tried this with the Hedge Magic rune. I was in a group when I tried it and we never felt the heal going off. Hex itself was decent though. It felt like it could be quite useful since it can completely remove a mob from the fight. With some champion packs that could be quite powerful. Yet for me it takes the same slot as Grasp of the Dead and it just seems weaker in the end. I do like how it has good uptime though. Stays up for 12 seconds with a 15 second cooldown. So there are only 3 seconds it is down for. So you can use it quite a bit. I'm slightly undecided on this. It has potential, but I think that you not being able to control it makes it not as good as other skills.
Fetish Army: I may not have given this a long enough trial, but the bit I used it I just felt like I didn't really feel it being active. I'd see the fetishes, but the damage wasn't noticeable to me and I already had the mobs distracted with my pets so it just seemed pointless.
Horrify: I used this and Grasp both for a while. Basically up until Spirit Walk became available to me. I think what it comes down to is that I have two slots for these types of skills. I feel like Spirit Walk is required. So it becomes Horrify or Grasp and Horrify just has too long of a cooldown to really even compete. That is even neglecting that the fear seems weaker too to me. I'd rather keep the mobs from getting close than fear them once they are. So it just loses out to other skills that seem stronger to me.
Fetish Sycophants: I really wanted this passive to be good. I figured with me spamming spiders and throwing bats that it would proc decently. I did get up to 3 of them at one point, but there just seemed to be too often I had none and I couldn't really feel the difference anyway. Another issue I had with it is that I didn't like the play style it encouraged. The fetishes last 60 seconds and so the passive encourages you to play fast to get the most use out of them when you do have some up. Playing in hardcore, I don't really want to play like that. I'm much more of the slow and steady sort. So it just ended up rubbing me wrong unfortunately.
Bad Medicine: I've liked this passive with Rabid Dogs. I feel like they live much longer with it than without. That said, it is also a passive I'm really hoping to get rid of. My hope is that Leeching Beasts will negate needing it and let me switch to something else. I do feel like it is a decent passive though even with me only using those dogs for poison. So other builds could probably make better use of it as well.
So with all that said right now I'm using Leaping Spiders, Dire Bats, Honored Guest, Unbreakable Grasp, Rabid Dogs, Restless Giant, Jungle Fortitude, Bad Medicine, and Zombie Handler.
My hope is to replace Rabid with Leeching Beasts and then Bad Medicine with something else. I'm really not sure what though. Looking at the passives the choice for me seems to be Spiritual Attunement (for more Dire Bats), Spirit Vessel (for life saving in hardcore), Grave Injustice (for regaining life/mana as mobs die), or Tribal Rights (if I were to decide to swap Grasp out for Hex or Ghost Trance). I think I'm leaning toward Spirit Vessel currently.
So that is my experience with skills so far. Obviously there are a lot I've not really touched on since they don't fit with how I'm playing my char.