WD - DO IT RIGHT!! The Immortal Spirit of the Unformed Landder=0>

[Malicious]

Gave it a go last night, but I wasn't a big fan of it. The phantasm does do very good damage against any normal mobs, especially when combined with grasp... but it wasn't good for champions/rares because the mobs keep moving around too much due to the need to kite them (they really hurt in inferno). I think it could be good for a party, though it is quite mana-intensive. For solo play, I think u would need to fit a Gargantuan in (probably over soul harvest). As much as I don't like the pets... I think they are a bit of a necessity for soloing, as u really need some sort of distraction... and the templar taunt isn't good enough imo (if u picked it... I picked heal instead).

[FizzyBubbly]

The way I deal with rares is i drop the soul barrages on my current position and use soul walk to cause them to stay attacking my physical body then when i pop out I haunt then soul harvest as they reach me and drop more barrages and soul walk again. It's not an intuitive way to play but that's how I've been dealing with the Rares/Uniques. I can also kite by dropping the Barrages in front of me as i kite in a circular pattern eventually you have 5 barrages that they are running through.

However in groups i tend to change grasp for Big Bad Voodoo since the plus speed/dmg is too good to pass up.

You are right though the build needs a little something when dealing with Rares, Maybe zombie wall instead of grasp? I'm still trying to flesh it out myself.

[FizzyBubbly]

UPDATE:

Changed out Pierce the veil for spirit attunement and any mana probs are gone. The hit in DMG isn't too bad. Also using zombie wall instead of grasp atm and its ok, works better then grasp cause it keeps the mobs on the spirit barrage stack better.

[Malicious]

I had a look at the blizzard forums and some ppl were talking about Zombie Wall with the slowing rune. I'm gonna give that a go too, as it is kind of frustrating that Grasp does nothing against champ/rare packs.

[FizzyBubbly]

Ok so the excitement of this build is wearing off a bit. I have recently changed my build to the following.

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...dQU!VbZ!aZYZZZ

This build just does things better,

You still have the escapes but the Zombie Beast is REALLY good AOE that you don't have to spend time placing and setting up. Also locust swarm is pretty good even with it's short range it'll spread through a group no problem. With BBV-Rain dance you can spam the zombie beast spell to your hearts content. Just seems to be more consistent then the original build shown here and in turn more fun.

[Frenzied Muffin]

UPDATE:

Changed out Pierce the veil for spirit attunement and any mana probs are gone. The hit in DMG isn't too bad. Also using zombie wall instead of grasp atm and its ok, works better then grasp cause it keeps the mobs on the spirit barrage stack better.

So last night I tried a build similar to the Spirit Vessel \ Zombie Bear build but with Phatasm instead of bears.

The build turned out like this:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...dQP!VWU!bZaZZb

It works well I will admit, but it relies on the templar and zombie wall a lot to avoid damage. I was doing this in hell and I was getting past mini bosses in act 2, but it was hit or miss. Zombie bears definitely work better overall but this wasn't bad.

I'm also testing a safer more damaging build with Corpse Bomb. It's safer then Zombie Bears and functions similar to the above build but I'm trading soul siphon for confusion just for the extra ability to hold mobs. At 200% damage per cast CB is no slouch. I have a feeling this type of build will be my more preferred in a group setting as throwing out massive AoE is more my focus because I roll with 2 barbs and 1 monk. Not to mention with all the cooldowns I have we can power through mini boss packs without much fear of death. Totem, fetishes and confusion are extremely helpful in group settings. Hex is good but I think it's a nuisance to use all the time. Zombie Wall can be swapped for Grasp, Garg, Horrify or Hex depending on your needs or want.

That build:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...jQP!VWU!cZbYYb

Obviously any spamming is reliant on Vision Quest \ Spirit Walk (Honored Guest) to keep your mana pool going so these builds aren't for everyone. Zombie Bears will still be king of damage though.