Game Guide - Skill Calculator and Items

[Zarathustra]

Lemekim posted this link in the Skill Videos thread, but I didn't want to pull a hijack over there.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/game/

Might as well start theorycrafting those builds! Here's my preliminary plan for the Witch Doctor.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...dXW!ZZacZc

This would give him 4 flaming Zombie dogs to act as meat shields and lots of variety in damage types. He'd be dishing out fire, poison, arcane, and physical damage. In addition, there's lots of healing to go around. Grasp of the dead spawns health orbs, Haunt and Spirit Barrage both leech life, and Big Bad Voodoo will heal the entire party when used.

For passives, I went with Pierce the Veil for more damage (at the cost of more mana), Zombie Handler to give more meat shields and increase the effect of burning when they're ganging up on one target, and Rush of Essence because a 200% mana return on spirit spells is crazy.

Feel free to post your own builds or comment on mine. I was a bit skeptical about the removal of skill trees at first, but the level of customization and the limit of 6 active skills has really grown on me.

Edit/Addition: Other builds I've messed around with...
Summoning Witchdoctor: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...XUV!ZYaaca
Demon Hunter (I really want to find a way to make Chain of Torment work): http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...Vac!ZZcaZZ
AoE Barbarian (proud of how everything flows on this one): http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/ba...UTa!YYZaYa

[Treesh]

After I saw the skill calc (thanks to both Lem and Z), I realized that yep, I'm going to end up with just as many if not more characters than I did in D2. =D I can theorize and calculate skills all I want, but it just doesn't seem right to just theorize and not play them to find out the differences between theory and practice. =) I LOVE the addition of runes to really tweak things how I want them.

[Zarathustra]

I'm the same way, Treesh. The first character I'm drawn to is the Witch Doctor, and I can already see a few builds I'd want to try out. It just doesn't feel right to swap at high levels... I'm going to have to play through the early stages to get a feel for each build.

[Chesspiece_face]

I'm the same way, Treesh. The first character I'm drawn to is the Witch Doctor, and I can already see a few builds I'd want to try out. It just doesn't feel right to swap at high levels... I'm going to have to play through the early stages to get a feel for each build.

Last I checked there was a character limit of 10, so this could be difficult. And since the game is linked to your BNet account you can't collect massive alt accounts like you could with DII. Now this still allows you to have temp character slots to play around with builds on lower level characters and then swapping on your main, but if there is a character limit cap of around 10 there is gonna be a lot of lurkers feeling the pinch very fast.

[Treesh]

Last I checked there was a character limit of 10, so this could be difficult. And since the game is linked to your BNet account you can't collect massive alt accounts like you could with DII. Now this still allows you to have temp character slots to play around with builds on lower level characters and then swapping on your main, but if there is a character limit cap of around 10 there is gonna be a lot of lurkers feeling the pinch very fast.

Somehow, I missed that bit of news. Boo. That's only two of each class! I could probably fill up all ten with just my demon hunters and monks!

*grumbles* *goes to look up respec info*

[RTM]

You can swap skills in & out whenever you want from what I've heard, so on the surface there seems to be no need for multiple accounts' worth of alts and variants. It could potentially kill a lot of the longevity of the game, but the benefits are pretty huge.

[Treesh]

You can swap skills in & out whenever you want from what I've heard, so on the surface there seems to be no need for multiple accounts' worth of alts and variants. It could potentially kill a lot of the longevity of the game, but the benefits are pretty huge.

Thanks RTM. That might be ok then. I do ok with altitis in RIFT because of being able to swap between the five specs whenever the hell I feel like it. Still, it's just weird. Of course, with the 10 slots, I could have one of each gender for each class and see. Hmmm. Are runes just basically a one shot deal to augment the skill or can you reuse them if you change out your skills?

Edit: Found an answer.

There is a restriction on swapping out skills. Runes. There is a tier of rune you can only get in Inferno, say you were lucky enough to find one of these powerful runes. You then throw it into a skill which you use most. The rune is then BOUND to that skill, you can take it out without loosing it, but you cannot put it into another skill. Since these runes are supposed to be incredibly rare, it is unlikely you would have found enough to put into every skill so you can switch them willy nilly.

If you have put enough time into the game to find a max rune for every skill. Then you deserve to be able to switch out every skill as you please, but that will take a long time to do and most people will never get to that point.

Since you can't actually swap out a skill that has a rune in it, from what it sounds like in other posts as well.

[Quark]

The rune is then BOUND to that skill, you can take it out without loosing it, but you cannot put it into another skill.

Thanks for finding this. Was curious, and this seems like a good solution between just allowing complete removals, and a rune being destroyed on respec.

[Frag]

Started over given the changes that happened 9/23:

The Comebackian: Now that I've had some time watching the beta and how certain skill work, interact and have a inkling of how combat might progress, I've come up with my final draft pre-playthrough for my hardcore toon, The Comebackian. Allowing for the learning of hardcore play, this monk build ensures that short of truly tremendous lag spikes or a blatant disregard for your situation, you should be able to tell a "Whew, that was close!" story as you learn what is dangerous and what is not. More versatile than Patches was, and more refined than the my initial tank build, this setup values mobility, cc and high spirit builder dps to fuel your exploits. The Near Death passive is for one-shots and massive mistakes with Obsidian Serenity to right use after, ensuring you really don't die. Alabaster Lethal Decoy is what you primarily use to ensure you don't lose your toon when you can anticipate bad stuff ™. Your primary attacks give you cc/mobility (Alabaster Dashing Strike), range (Indigo Deadly Reach) and cc/debuffing (Obsidian Dashing Wave). Finally, Golden Matra of Conviction heals on average 961 HP per target hit, meaning you should even be able to regen on immunity shields and recover from a Near Death experience quickly.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/mo...YUV!Ycacab


Ye Olde Ballistic Archer: Not much to say really. Snare everything, blow up groups with Rocket-fueled Strafe & single targets with Rocket-fueled Rapid Fire. Keep away from your targets with Surge, and if things really go to hell, vanish with Lingering Fog. A note on weapons: 2H Crossbows, given the speed boosts in the build, should be favored, given their tight damage range, IMO.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...acg!YcbcYa


Trollblood Hemomancer v2: I have no idea why, really, I love Blood Ritual (and the Bloody Trinity of Ritual + Pierce the Veil + Life Link Handler Puppies) but I really do. I truly hope *NO ONE* ever tries this build except me, as there's no way it's not destined for failure... but <3... I want a challenge You use Mass Confusion & Zombie Dogs to keep things off of you, with Gargantuan for emergencies. Soul Harvest is to keep you healthy and boost your damage to acceptable levels. Firebomb & Haunt are for something to do.. or they might actually be good
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...Xcd!YZZYZb


The Tough: Modeled after a warrior tank in WoW (something I know *NOTHING* about ), this is a group Inferno tank build meant to protect your friends by protecting yourself and keeping the baddies on you. I can't imagine a scenario where you would use this by yourself, as your gearing will be focused on resistances, armor, vitality and your skills provide little damage. Depending on the encounter, Obsidian (for +80% all resistances) or Alabaster (for +50% life & regen) War Cry and your available resistance gear, should be swapped. Also, Golden Frenzy (Smite!) can replace Indigo Cleave for single boss encounters.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/ba...cWe!ZYaZcY


For Blowing Things Up: Nothing special, just a generalist Wizard nuker/farmer. Electrocute for crowds, Ray of Frost for extreme single target obliteration, Wave of Force for a strong active defense, Wormhole for farming and quick escapes, Ancient Guardian so you don't have to reroll (can be recast before the previous one runs out of charges, extending your 'life' until you can escape or kill) and Power of the Storm Armor for -7 AP/s to sustain RoF/Teleport Spam.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...Yde!YZaaab

[Treesh]

Yes, these are mainly just for my own personal notes, but if you see something really out of whack, holler please.

Arcane wazard spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...Yca!baaZaY
Healer monk spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/mo...fYc!bbYcac
First demon hunter spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...XaZ!YbabZY

Edit:Summoner Witch Doctor spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...ZbU!abbacb
Barb Spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/ba...abY!bacaaY
Protector Monk: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/mo...fYc!baYbYY
Second demon hunter spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...UWb!Zcabba
Stormbringer: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...YWf!acaaZa
Slow/Stun demon hunter: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...cYW!acabaa
Another monk: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/mo...aYg!ZcYbca
Witch Doctor: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...bae!aabYcY

The biggest problem I have with my current planned specs is that I just don't know how battle is going to be. Am I going to need more arcane power/hatred/spirit to really fuel the way I want to play? Right now, I added in gains here and there just assuming that I'll always need more. As soon as I saw Frag's post saying "Do I need a group heal?", I looked again at the monk and saw that yes, I can make a healer! Woot! I love to heal. =D The wizard will probably end up being based on what skills are the prettiest ones. Always have to have a vanity character. The demon hunter is probably going to change over and over and over.

Edit: Do we know if there are immunities in the game, especially multiple immunities? And what about the UI? How many hotkeys do we have? Are all 6 skills easily accessible? I would hope they would be, but that does have an impact on how I spec toons.

[Lissa]

Strafe-a-somethin, ridiculous single target damage, big-badda-boom aoe damage. Theorycrafted single target amount makes the Barb look like a child, aoe damage slightly less, but comparable. Indigo Strafe fires ten 60% arrows a second at random nearby enemies, on a single target, you're looking at 600% weapon damage per second, AR checked, costing 20 fury a second. Golden Marked For Death grants a 40% chance per hit to restore 35 fury, with a one second cooldown. You will gain fury while strafing a single or two targets assuming the interaction sticks. Obsidian Caltrops is redonkulously strong, granting you a mere 10% damage taken while you and your foes stand in the affected AoE, lasting 12s. Alabaster Vault gives you mobility and aoe CC. Golden Preperation gives you an emergency cooldown of epic proportions, granting 100% discipline restoration as well as a 55% heal, on a 2m CD. As you have potent active defensives, the passives were spent on pure damage,
giving +3% crit per second you don't crit, +5% crit (hand crossbows assumed) and +100% damage on auto-attacks and 15 fury an auto-attack, granting a Multishot every 2 AA's or 3s of Strafe every 4 AA's: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...UWX!cYcabb

I'm betting they'll cap the number of arrows that can hit a single target with Strafe. They did it with the Amazon in D2 when they saw how disgustingly overpowering strafe could be there (and let me tell you, it was damn disgusting, when I played with either Bolty or Quark, can remember which at the time, when I let strafe off on Meph, they were like, Dubya...Tee...Eff... as Meph dropped really, really quick due to strafe being uncapped early on in 1.0 or 1.1). So don't plan on Strafe being your all around used attack in single and multi situations.

[Zarathustra]

Just expanding on my Barbarian idea for my own notes and any discussion...

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/ba...UTa!YYZaYa

He's completely built around drawing enemies to him and then mowing them down. Fury generators are Cleave with a crimson rune for extra damage, Ground Stomp with Indigo to draw them in, and Ancient Spear with Indigo so he'll chain 8 targets at once and pull them over. Fury dumps include Battle Rage with Alabaster (blood explosions on every crit!), Hammer of the Ancients with Indigo for more AoE fun, and Wrath of the Berserker with Alabaster so every enemy killed explodes for 450% weapon damage.

Brawler capitalizes on having enemies around him at all times, and I'm thinking the extreme AoE output will make Bloodthirst adequate to keep him alive. For the last passive, I'm not sure. I've got Boon of Bul-Kathos for now, but I'd like something that synergizes more with the theme.

[Zarathustra]

Dot-Doctor, fantastic crowd control, steady damage and stability. Basic premise is to use self-propagating dots (in Indigo Locust Swarm & Alabaster Haunt as a pseudo/living-nuke) for damage, Golden Mass Confusion (imo, this has to be a mistake, there's just no way that a 60s CD 8s ability with no cost can be balanced with a 4s CD) for safety, Spiritual Attunement (Passive) & Golden Soul Harvest for mana and 4 Alabaster Zombie Dogs with Indigo Sacrifice for CC, time and health. Pierce the Veil for damage. The dogs seem to be the lynchpin. If they live long enough for a Mass Confusion to go down, then you have time to set up your dots-of-doom, and Soul Harvest your mana back and move onto the next pack at full HP/MP: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wi...bXd!YabaYb

Frag, just a quick comment on your dot build. Obviously we don't know how this stuff will play out ingame, but I think that Resentful Spirit (Alabaster Haunt) might be better off with a different rune. If you're looking to keep dots flying around, remember that Haunt will automatically fly to another target if the current one dies. That means while a 2.1 second duration is great to pour on some damage in a hurry, a longer duration would make them more likely to fly around and hit other targets like the Pestilence (Indigo Locust Swarm).

Fun build, though! Heh, I'm just glad to get back to theorycrafting a game

[Frag]

For the last passive, I'm not sure. I've got Boon of Bul-Kathos for now, but I'd like something that synergizes more with the theme.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/ba...Uba!YYZaYa

Ruthless should be your highest dps increase, even over Brawler (assuming damage bonuses are additive). Also, Beserker Rage could replace Bloodthirst if you find that you don't need the lifesteal, as it's a very synergistic bonus with Cleave as a main attack taking it to a 310% damage bonus when you're at full fury.

/salute on the build. I had toyed with something similar before falling in love with the throwing weapon abilities. You may want to consider one of the +100% armor abilities, I bet it'll be 'required' at some point.

Dot-Doctor: I toyed with Obsidian Haunt for another CC ability, but I thought having an actual nuke, especially one that can provide aoe support while also providing high dps on a single target would complement the aoe pack-chewing nature of Indigo Locust Swarm. Otherwise, the Dogs, Haunt, Locust Swarm and the incidental damage of mobs hitting each other from Mass Confusion is just a stack of slowish damage. Alabaster Haunt is what you need when you have to kill that healer in the back, or that AoE Beastie who can wipe out your dogs.

You're right about Strafe, just had a.. umm, 'someone' check it for me. Nuts. Ok, back to the drawing board but I'l leave up the embarrassment for posterity.

[Zarathustra]

You know, you're right. Ruthless will be a big dps increase and it'll go nicely with the blood explosions. I dig it.

[NuurAbSaal]

Must...resist...temptation...!

Building bazillions of characters would be way more fun than grinding out my thesis I imagine. I'll NOT hop over to the DIII site and catch a breather by posting a short reply on the Lounge instead.

/breath in
/breath out

/slave on

Seriously, has anybody that went there NOT spent way longer than anticipated building chars?

take care
Tarabulus

[Kevin]

Seriously, has anybody that went there NOT spent way longer than anticipated building chars?

take care
Tarabulus

I've gone there, I started to build a character, I never finished, I left and I haven't been back.

I had tons of alts in D2 as well, but I'm anticipating that I'm not going to have that much fun in D3 unless I'm playing with other folks and in the case of a "semi set" group I tend to play something that other folks aren't and compliments the group and I won't have any idea what that is before hand so I just don't get much out of planning a character that I may not play, and I just don't see this game holding my interest solo. D2 barely could,D1 on the other hand I liked better as a solo game than multi, and I see D3 being closer to D2 than to D1. I'm not saying D1 was better (I put more hours into D2) but the tile based play just naturally leads to making the game feel more tactical, even if it really isn't, it felt like it was.

I'll likely get the game and I'll even likely get it on release, I'll putz around in game for an hour or so, and THEN I'll likely feel like hitting a skill planner.

[Frag]

Due to some free time, I decided to try my hand at some theorycrafting and am working on a spreadsheet. From the alpha running of the sheet I have some preliminary results I thought you guys might find bori.. interesting, yes!

Spec: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/ba...cVb!ZYZZZa

Assumptions:
* You land a crit somewhere in the previous packs last few hits where you charged Frenzy, or on the first two of this encounter.
* You have a 0% base crit rate.
* You are fighting a boss pack, with a group of meaty 4k hp monsters.
* It's not worth burning Wrath of the Beserker on them, but still took it to represent a possible actual build.
* Zero latency combat

Code:

Blank 100 dps weapon, 2.8 base speed, 1.6 frenzy speed.

Average Pre-OP Auto-attack: 1008
Average Melee Auto-Attack: 1500.8
Average Mighty Throw: 4136.6
Average pre-OP Frenzy: 806.4
Average Frenzy: 1200.6
Average pre-OP Overpower: 1512
Average Overpower: 2251.2
Average pre-OP Furious Charge: 1680

Those assumptions turn out to be 38540.2 damage in 10s, or 3854 dps. This is from seven auto-attacks, five Mighty Throw, two Overpower, two Frenzy, one Furious Charge and a partridge in a pear tree!

I'm thinking maybe it's possible, at least from a pure killing standpoint, to develop some rules that would allow build optimization tweaking. Obviously gear is a huge factor that can't be planned for as of yet, but in terms of talent evaluation it might prove to be masturbation.

Thoughts?

[Concillian]

While interesting, I think the calculator is not going to be very useful without additional information. Defense was pretty useless in Diablo2, for example (save one rather niche Paladin build). Many things were useful and quite viable in normal, but petered out to not too useful in nightmare and hell difficulties (poison before 1.10).

These are the kinds of things that will make or break builds.

For example, take Mantra of Retribution + Indigo rune. +40% attack speed sounds like a nice party buff, but who knows how attack speed affects actual damage? if handled similar to WoW, it's probably quite a significant damage boost and potentially a resource gain too, but if handled like Diablo II it could be completely useless if party-mates are optimized at a specific breakpoint.

These kinds of things are what will make the early days of the game interesting, but they're the same kind of things that make the skill calculator only really useful for mapping what the skill + rune combinations do.

[Roland]

I think this is going to be my first character:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...cXV!YcaaZa

Actives:
Hungering Arrow (Indigo Runestone): Homing arrow with 60% piercing chance; if it pierces the first target, it splits apart into 8 arrows.
Impale (Obsidian Runestone): Massive single-target damage with an explosive high-damage, short duration DoT (may swap this out for Indigo for knockback + long duration stun, or Crimson for massive-damage piercing line shot; unsure at this time, depends on the synergy of my other skills).
Cluster Arrow (Alabaster Runestone): AoE explosive shot, dropping smaller AoE grenades that have a 1/3rd chance of medium-duration stun.
Shadow Power (Alabaster Runestone): 50% IAS for 10 seconds that also restores 45% of damage as Life. 'Nuff said.
Caltrops (Crimson Runestone): 2/3rds slow lasting for 24 seconds that also deals weapon damage if they remain in the area.
Sentry (Alabaster Runestone): Stationary turret lasting for 40 seconds that shields 1/3rd damage from allies.

Passives:
Cull the Weak: 20% bonus damage to slowed enemies.
Fundamentals: Normal attacks deal 100% bonus damage and restore 15 Hatred (to fuel my AoE Actives).
Custom Engineering: Doubles duration of Caltrops and Sentry. May swap for something more useful if duration proves to not be a problem.

My overall goal is lots of AoE damage that I can stream relatively consistently, combined with slows and stuns to keep enemies at bay, and a nice single-target, high-damage shot for tough enemies. At the very least all the special effects should be nice.

Here's a rocket-oriented take on the build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/de...XVg!YcYaYc

Actives:
Hungering Arrow (Indigo Runestone): Homing arrow with 60% piercing chance; if it pierces the first target, it splits apart into 8 arrows. May swap to Crimson Runestone to turn it into a high-damage DoT for single/multiple targets.
Impale (Obsidian Runestone): Massive single-target damage with an explosive high-damage, short duration DoT. May swap this out for Indigo for knockback + long duration stun if I change Hungering Arrow to Crimson Runestone.
Cluster Arrow (Indigo Runestone): AoE explosive shot that shoots out 9 rockets at nearby enemies, dealing massive damage.
Shadow Power (Alabaster Runestone): 50% IAS for 10 seconds that also restores 45% of damage as Life. 'Nuff said.
Caltrops (Indigo Runestone): Long duration AoE slow. May swap out for Crimson Runestone if Impale goes Indigo (knockback + stun into Caltrops AoE for full-duration DoT).
Sentry (Obsidian Runestone): Stationary turret that shoots out massive damage rockets every so often.

Passives:
Fundamentals: Normal attacks deal 100% bonus damage and restore 15 Hatred (to fuel my AoE Actives).
Custom Engineering: Doubles duration of Caltrops and Sentry. May swap for something more useful if duration proves to not be a problem.
Ballistics: +100% damage to all rockets (unsure if this is additive or multiplicative, but either way a massive DPS boost).

Still focusing on AoE attacks and high damage, but in a slightly different manner. More offensive focused, less party friendly. Fills the role of a long ranged DPSer nicely, though.

I can't wait for this game. I'm going to spend far too much time "trying out" builds for future characters on this calculator, but I'm definitely playing a Demon Hunter right out the gate. May make a slightly more party-oriented character, depending on how things go with the community here, but I intend to have a blast (literally) with him/her. Regardless, I want a high-DPS ranged character, and the Demon Hunter is looking to be my favorite.

Edit:
Eesh. Just cruised the forums and found a little tidbit about the Demon Hunter - resource defaults are 100 Hatred and 30 Discipline. Not sure how rapidly each regenerates, nor if you can ever increase those caps, but it will certainly make choosing Discipline skills tougher. I may have to limit them to 1 or 2 skills, instead of 3 like I was planning.