In this Diablo 3 Witch Doctor guide we will be looking at in and outs of Witch Doctor. We will cover everything from basics to advanced stuff that will be helpful at higher levels.
Witch Doctors in Diablo 3 are primarily classified as ranged characters with ability to summon pets to fight for them. They also specialize in elemental attacks like poison, fire, etc. One of the other features is their wide area crowd control spells that are extremely useful against very large size mobs.
Other Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Guides
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Leveling Guide
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor gameplay
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Gameplay Guide
I hit level 13 with Witch Doctors several times in Diablo 3 beta. Since the last few patches I felt Witch Doctors are extremely fast when it comes to level up. At least at early levels.
Your game play as Witch Doctors is mainly going to be stay back and nuke unless you prefer to go Melee route which is not recommended for beginners. You summon minions like Zombie Dogs or Gargantuan to go and tank for you while you stack back and nuke with either single target or area skills.
Compared to other classes, I found Witch Doctors to be quite squishy. You also lack good escape, evasion or mobility skills like Demon Hunters and Wizards which makes it very important that you should avoid getting mobbed and try to keep enemies at a distant. Slows and crowd control help you keep you distance from enemies. Those are your best friend.
Hit and run is going to be your basic strategy most of the time when your pets aren’t around tanking for you.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Resource System Guide
You have one single resource and that is Mana. It automatically regenerates over time so you don’t have to worry about juggling between generators and spenders like Monks and Barbarians.
Your primary challenge is how to consume Mana wisely. This isn’t really a big deal and you will have good handle over this by the time you are in Nightmare difficulty.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Skills Guide
In Diablo 3 Witch Doctors get a total of 22 skills. These skills are divided across multiple categories like Primary, Secondary, Defensive, Terror (crowd control), Decay and Voodoo which I believe is a very naive way of classifying skills and is mainly dumbed down for beginners.
I like to classify them more of how you use them for example, single target, primary, pets, defense, evasion, crowd control, area skills, etc. Like I said before Witch Doctors lack quality evasion skills unlike other classes in Diablo 3.
Anyways here’s a list of important skills that will be part of majority of the Witch Doctor builds.
- Poison Dart – Fast, good range, inexpensive high damage single target
- Firebomb – Fast, good range and inexpensive area damage
- Grasp of the Dead – Crowd control, slow, low cool down and one the MOST popular Witch Doctor skills
- Haunt – Very powerful long range single target high damage DoT skill.
- Zombie Dogs – Pets, they tank for you and keep you alive. Replace with Gargantuan later when unlocked.
- Spirit Walk – Only evasion skill that you have. But you still take 50% damage.
- Soul Harvest – Another very popular skill that boosts your Int by 130. Very good at early levels although I think it might not be that useful at higher levels.
- Wall of Zombie – Another good crowd control skill that you can time and combo with Grasp of the Dead. I don’t like the cool down on this skill though, 25 seconds is just too much!
- Gargantuan – Your might pet, a must have for solo leveling.
- Fetish Army – Just good to have a free spell for a change if you are running out of Mana for every other skill.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Strengths and Weaknesses Guide
Strengths: Powerful class, and has the ability to summon various types of pets. Has highly damaging spells to kill clusters of enemies on their feet and good defensive skills that allow this class to run out of trouble.
Weaknesses: Squishy and defenseless in close combat. Thus it’s important to keep your enemies at a distant.
Diablo 3 Witch Doctor Equipment Guide
Equipment for Witch Doctors are pretty much straight forward. I prefer more damage over DPS since you mainly rely on spells. At early levels it might be wise idea to go for DPS as your primary attack will be Poison Dart otherwise if you are going to spam other skills then it’s best to go with high damage.
Make sure you check out our other Diablo 3 Witch Doctor guides on skills, builds and strategies for power leveling. Lastly don’t forget to hit the Like or +1 button if you found this Diablo 3 Witch Doctors guide useful.
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