I've heard talk about VQ builds that use short cooldowns and ones that use long cooldowns, but I'm really not a fan of either option.
I feel like short cooldown builds spend too much time recasting things and also make you pay so much more attention to keeping them all up that you are more likely to miss things happening in the play field and so are more dangerous. That might be something that time spent playing the build would get rid of, but it is a definite draw back for me. I also feel like a short cooldown VQ build prefers more mid-range casting cost spells. I have my doubts that they could keep up with the cost of Dire Bats without really strong regen gear.
I feel like long cooldown builds have moments of insane strength and then moments of relative weakness. I say relative cause they can still spam their main attack which tends to be a really strong heavy cost one. Being a hardcore player I don't really like having those moments of relative weakness though. It also feels dangerous to me.
So I've found that I prefer a build with a progression of cooldowns. I also really like them all serving purposes of putting obstacles in the enemy's path as well as doing damage to them. Thus I've settled on This Build.
Firebats - Dire Bats: My main attack. At max level you will still need some regen gear, but theoretically not as much as a Bears build nor as much as a short cooldown build where VQ doesn't run for quite as many solid blocks of time. Dire Bats is simply a strong AOE skill that pierces so you can hit what you need to, but also is decent for single target if you can maintain it's cost.
Spirit Walk - Healing Journey: In general, this is a skill that breaks my rule. It is really a defensive save my life skill. No offensive to it with how I use it. It is simply so strong that I can't imagine a build without it. At least without the main skill anyway. Some builds would prefer the mana regain rune. That is very strong and does give it an offensive use which I do like. Being Hardcore though, the on demand heal option is just too good for me to pass up. This skill does give some cooldown play though. Sometimes I'll want to save another cooldown for the next fight and so pop this one to bridge the gap. It serves a nice small cooldown fill option.
Wall of Zombies - Unrelenting Grip: Shortish cooldown at 25 seconds so available for most fights and sometimes multiple times in a fight. Strong defensively to block mobs from getting to me and also strong offensively if I drop it right on top of a mob. Just all around strong skill. There have been other builds where I've complained that the cooldown on this was too long to be usable, but for this build I feel like it is just about right. It tends to be available when I want it to be, but not so often that it is a hassle to keep on cooldown for VQ.
Mass Confusion - Mass Hallucination: The base skill for this is perfect for the build. It makes mobs into obstacles and uses them for damage. It can single handled swing a fight sometimes with the mobs killing each other. I sometimes dislike it's boss utility though. The base skill is generally pointless against them. Somewhat useful during add phases, but those tend to be cakewalks anyway. It is also a skill I've changed runes on a lot and still debate what is best. I've tried the cooldown reduction, but 45 second actually ends up feeling a bit too often. It ends up coming off cooldown too often when I have no need for it whereas 60 seconds for some reason doesn't bother me as much in that regard. I also was using 45 for a bit because of the 60 second cooldown on Garg, but with casting him before combat they naturally stagger each other anyway. The 20% additional damage rune is good. My worry with that is somewhat the range on it and also that often after a MC I'll spend a couple seconds re-positioning and so I feel like I waste a good chunk of the 12 second damage time. In a group this one is likely the winner cause the whole group can take advantage of that damage to more affect. Solo I'm just not as sure. Though it does boost the damage the mobs do as well. If there is any change to the build, this is the most likely one. To go back to that rune. The Giant Spirit rune I'm using currently cause it is passive damage. No matter if I kiting or blocked by a wall, it is still putting out it's damage. Of course it isn't controlled so it might not always walk where you want it to, but I just feel like the fire and forget nature of it works well with the build. I just wonder if it's damage is high enough to make up for the loss of the other rune.
Gargantuan - Bruiser: Yet another obstacle that does damage. He gets recast on cooldown whether he is dead or not. I've run with both the enraging one and the short duration one, but I think I like the stunning one better. I feel like the stun can do a decent amount to keep him alive for the whole cooldown.
Fetish Army - Devoted Following: 90 second cooldown and the longest of any I have. Fetishes last 20 seconds too. Just an all around strong skill. The fetishes distract mobs and do damage as well. Which is basically the whole idea behind the cooldown selection. So a pretty clear choice.
Spirit Vessel: I play hardcore so this is just insanely strong. If I were in softcore I might consider something else, but the added benefit of 2 seconds off of Spirit Walk is pretty nice as well. So I quite possibly might go with this anyway.
Fetish Sycophants: I've swapped this skill out periodically. Trying things like Bad Medicine or Spiritual Attunement to help support the cost of Bats. I keep coming back to the Fetish's though. They are simply just perfect for the build. Obstacles + damage all in one.
Vision Quest: The core ability that everything is built around. When I keep it up correctly everything goes fine. When I don't mana quickly becomes an issue. So it is all about maintaining this really.
In the end I'm pretty happy with the build. I feel like my cooldowns are up when I need them to be and that I always have something running to get between me and the mobs. I have to keep an eye on my cooldowns so they don't sit off cooldown, but not so much as to be a bother. So it just seems like a nice middle ground between short/long cooldown builds and also seems to be good for hardcore where the idea of everything providing obstacles is strong.
I feel like short cooldown builds spend too much time recasting things and also make you pay so much more attention to keeping them all up that you are more likely to miss things happening in the play field and so are more dangerous. That might be something that time spent playing the build would get rid of, but it is a definite draw back for me. I also feel like a short cooldown VQ build prefers more mid-range casting cost spells. I have my doubts that they could keep up with the cost of Dire Bats without really strong regen gear.
I feel like long cooldown builds have moments of insane strength and then moments of relative weakness. I say relative cause they can still spam their main attack which tends to be a really strong heavy cost one. Being a hardcore player I don't really like having those moments of relative weakness though. It also feels dangerous to me.
So I've found that I prefer a build with a progression of cooldowns. I also really like them all serving purposes of putting obstacles in the enemy's path as well as doing damage to them. Thus I've settled on This Build.
Firebats - Dire Bats: My main attack. At max level you will still need some regen gear, but theoretically not as much as a Bears build nor as much as a short cooldown build where VQ doesn't run for quite as many solid blocks of time. Dire Bats is simply a strong AOE skill that pierces so you can hit what you need to, but also is decent for single target if you can maintain it's cost.
Spirit Walk - Healing Journey: In general, this is a skill that breaks my rule. It is really a defensive save my life skill. No offensive to it with how I use it. It is simply so strong that I can't imagine a build without it. At least without the main skill anyway. Some builds would prefer the mana regain rune. That is very strong and does give it an offensive use which I do like. Being Hardcore though, the on demand heal option is just too good for me to pass up. This skill does give some cooldown play though. Sometimes I'll want to save another cooldown for the next fight and so pop this one to bridge the gap. It serves a nice small cooldown fill option.
Wall of Zombies - Unrelenting Grip: Shortish cooldown at 25 seconds so available for most fights and sometimes multiple times in a fight. Strong defensively to block mobs from getting to me and also strong offensively if I drop it right on top of a mob. Just all around strong skill. There have been other builds where I've complained that the cooldown on this was too long to be usable, but for this build I feel like it is just about right. It tends to be available when I want it to be, but not so often that it is a hassle to keep on cooldown for VQ.
Mass Confusion - Mass Hallucination: The base skill for this is perfect for the build. It makes mobs into obstacles and uses them for damage. It can single handled swing a fight sometimes with the mobs killing each other. I sometimes dislike it's boss utility though. The base skill is generally pointless against them. Somewhat useful during add phases, but those tend to be cakewalks anyway. It is also a skill I've changed runes on a lot and still debate what is best. I've tried the cooldown reduction, but 45 second actually ends up feeling a bit too often. It ends up coming off cooldown too often when I have no need for it whereas 60 seconds for some reason doesn't bother me as much in that regard. I also was using 45 for a bit because of the 60 second cooldown on Garg, but with casting him before combat they naturally stagger each other anyway. The 20% additional damage rune is good. My worry with that is somewhat the range on it and also that often after a MC I'll spend a couple seconds re-positioning and so I feel like I waste a good chunk of the 12 second damage time. In a group this one is likely the winner cause the whole group can take advantage of that damage to more affect. Solo I'm just not as sure. Though it does boost the damage the mobs do as well. If there is any change to the build, this is the most likely one. To go back to that rune. The Giant Spirit rune I'm using currently cause it is passive damage. No matter if I kiting or blocked by a wall, it is still putting out it's damage. Of course it isn't controlled so it might not always walk where you want it to, but I just feel like the fire and forget nature of it works well with the build. I just wonder if it's damage is high enough to make up for the loss of the other rune.
Gargantuan - Bruiser: Yet another obstacle that does damage. He gets recast on cooldown whether he is dead or not. I've run with both the enraging one and the short duration one, but I think I like the stunning one better. I feel like the stun can do a decent amount to keep him alive for the whole cooldown.
Fetish Army - Devoted Following: 90 second cooldown and the longest of any I have. Fetishes last 20 seconds too. Just an all around strong skill. The fetishes distract mobs and do damage as well. Which is basically the whole idea behind the cooldown selection. So a pretty clear choice.
Spirit Vessel: I play hardcore so this is just insanely strong. If I were in softcore I might consider something else, but the added benefit of 2 seconds off of Spirit Walk is pretty nice as well. So I quite possibly might go with this anyway.
Fetish Sycophants: I've swapped this skill out periodically. Trying things like Bad Medicine or Spiritual Attunement to help support the cost of Bats. I keep coming back to the Fetish's though. They are simply just perfect for the build. Obstacles + damage all in one.
Vision Quest: The core ability that everything is built around. When I keep it up correctly everything goes fine. When I don't mana quickly becomes an issue. So it is all about maintaining this really.
In the end I'm pretty happy with the build. I feel like my cooldowns are up when I need them to be and that I always have something running to get between me and the mobs. I have to keep an eye on my cooldowns so they don't sit off cooldown, but not so much as to be a bother. So it just seems like a nice middle ground between short/long cooldown builds and also seems to be good for hardcore where the idea of everything providing obstacles is strong.