Limited Use Skills - Pyrogeist, Lingering Spirit, and moreder=0>

[pcguy]

Has anybody in Inferno found a use for spells such as Pyrogeist and Lingering Spirit? These skills seem very limited in their use and quite underpowered.

Lingering Spirit's spirits do not seem to stack on you. I only ever see one swirling around me. Isn't the point of this spell to not have to continually re-cast haunt? What the hell am I going to do with a single auto-cast haunt? How does that help me?

As for Pyrogeist - we can't even spam it. We only get one tiny, sputtering camp fire at a time and it will deal a little damage to a single enemy. It's decent for kiting a medium to small mob with limited health, but how often do we do that?

These skills need to be looked at.

If you share similar views on other skills, please post them here - criticisms and solutions.

[Phillter]

I can't speak to Lingering Spirit (never really use Haunt), but I can say that Pyrogeist is terrible. I tried it when I got it and had to switch it out mid-pack on the first set of mobs that I came across. Absolutely dreadful rune, especially since the description makes it sound so interesting.

Zombie Charger (and all of its subsequent runes other than Zombie Bears) is also deplorable. Yes it does decent damage, but the slow speed of its walk, the mana cost, the looooong summon time during which you cannot move, and the distance which the zombie travels are all terrible! This sounded and looked like such an awesome skill when it debuted, but in practice it is a terrible skill to use past A3 normal. Anyone else agree?

[Thrakhath]

I am using Zombie Charger and Lingering Spirit effectively on Act 1 Nightmare. I have used zombie charger since I could first get it, and ever since I got the Undeath rune it has been my most effective skill. I make sure enemies are haunted/grasped first, so the the charger will always kill at least one enemy and reanimate. Undeath is an amazing rune, so far.

Lingering Spirit is fairly useful so far; a constant auto-cast Haunt saves me a lot of time when I used to start every battle with it. I may find they become useless later, but they are definitely both viable at the start of Nightmare.

[pcguy]

I am using Zombie Charger and Lingering Spirit effectively on Act 1 Nightmare.

Nightmare? How about Inferno? The skill needs to be tweaked to be effective in Inferno. I do not care about Nightmare. It would be better if the enemies didn't have to be in melee range in order for the spirit to jump from you. The range should be extended to 30 yards, or perhaps be extended with Pickup radius gear.

Undeath works in Nightmare because it can reliably set off a chain reaction. In Inferno, it sounds like it would only be worth it's mana cost in certain Illusionist packs. The damage of the initial zombie should be buffed, with the chain reaction zombies either being debuffed or staying with the default 205% damage.

[Thrakhath]

The other reason Undeath works well in Normal/Nightmare is that my four zombie dogs, gargantuan and Templar provide decent tanks to distract enemies. The impression I get is that this will not be true for long...

I am not planning on sticking with Lingering Spirit long term, but switching to Draining Spirit one it is unlocked.