Tank 1.0.4 WD Discussion

[Such Violent Storms]

First, proc rate. I'm expecting a proc nerf to a lot of skills, so get ready to test stuff upon 1.04. If Gargantuan can tank, LoH will be crazy. Big Stinkers procs a ton for a lot of LoH, and it's totally passive and constant. The same applies to other proc skills like Rain of Toads, Acid Cloud, Firepit, etc. And with some legendaries having 30% chance to charm, %% chance to spawn a demon/angel, and probably more un-previewed, I'd imagine skills getting procs nerfed and probably not mentionedin patch notes.

With the 2H weapon buff, WD will be able to spam things like Rain of Toads because IAS affects the damage of each DoT proc (strangely enough) not the speed at which it procs, and the low attack speed means less mana. You can spam Rain of Toads with a big 2H and no VQ, at 1.00 attack speed or less, and still have just as many LoH procs as you would with a sword and offhand. Jungle Fortitiude is a given, so that leaves 2 passives, one of which can be Bad Medicine for more damage reduction. Throw in Gargantuan with Big Stinker (does this work with Bad Medicine too?) for m0ar LoH.

I can't wait to see the other skills. Spirit Barrage is getting buffed, so perhpas Manitou enters the field as a good source of passive damage (akin to the monk's Sweeping Wind), although I don't think it has LoH returns, sadly.

Do Rabid Dogs or Burning Dogs trigger substantial LoH? That's another good option. Indeed, it seems that pets can take quite a bit of damage if you bump up your resists/armor even a little. They seem to have "a lot" of passive regen, and with the Firece Loyalty passive there's a good chance they can heal through most damage they take with Resist/Armor/Regen. If so, then the Life Link rune has potential for damage mitigation.

Perhaps with the buff to Firebomb, though, Rain of Toads will be outshone by Fire Pit. I guess that depends on new proc rates and 2H changes.

Thoughts?

[Malicious]

Yeah bad medicine works with big stinker

I personally think they'll nerf the co-efficients for pet procs. I could imagine a pet WD with the weapon that charms mobs being quite ridiculous if things remain as they are. All the pet procs with that shielding proc (from 1 of the legendary shiedls) would be ridiculous too. Unless they have some sort of internal cooldown.

[Karth]

Burning Dogs have the same proc coefficient (1.0/100%) as Big Stinker and I very very much expect a proc coefficient nerf on this; without it, they will without a doubt be too powerful in the 1.04 environment. 600% LoH per tick per enemy in the range of the AoE? Insane. Many times the effect of Wicked Wind which was itself cut in half.

[Such Violent Storms]

Even with the nerf, even if they cut the proc coefficients in half for both pets, something like this:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...gYT!aXg!ZbacYY
would still proc a lot.

Three dogs and a gargantuan capable of face-tanking mostly everything, constantly healing and occasionally freezing/stunning, bad medicine, corpse spider procs, rain of toads procs. Dunno if Manitou procs, but Phantasm does if the mana cost isn't too bad.

Looks like a pretty solid build imo, with Spirit Barrage slot totally optional. Soul Harvest is an option.

[randomice]

well the 95.5% chance to proc 6.3k to 9.6k bleed on skorn gonna be funny is the procs stay the same as live now

[Such Violent Storms]

well the 95.5% chance to proc 6.3k to 9.6k bleed on skorn gonna be funny is the procs stay the same as live now

Does the Bleed stack damage or just refresh the timer? Yeah it seems alright, if the ~8k damage stacked like 5 times reasonably fast then it can be noticeable on inferno monster health.

Using something like the improved Maximus with LoH and Firepit could be interesting. http://us.media3.battle.net/cms/gall...806133.jpg?v=0

The Tormentor's 31% chance to Charm, on a weapon that rolls with freeze/stun, could be potent. Though, it could be a double RNG in that the skills must proc with its unique coefficient (50% on Rain of Toads, for example) and then if it does, it rolls the 31% to charm.

[Karth]

I expect much more than a 50% reduction in proc coefficient for Burning Dogs. Big Stinker might remain a good bit higher, though, as it only summons one pet. That build will still proc a good bit either way, though.

I'm not as worried about Skorn's bleed proc (have you ever tested bleed? Doesn't stack with itself, isn't multiplied by mainstat or anything; that's a whole ~1600 dps) as I am with things like the 31% chance to charm on that staff or the chance to summon demons and angels if you can have more than one alive at once. Have you ever seen the kind of damage one monster can do to another when the Enchantress gets ahold of them? Ew.

[flint]

If there is no proc rate nerf I will absolutely be rocking the full Burning Dogs and Big Stinker along with Jungle Fortitude and Zombie Handler on my hardcore doctor. I don't see how any witch doctor trying to progress through inferno would choose not to, just based on the LOH returns. Where it gets really wild is when you add in proc effects from your equipment. If you have a 4% chance to freeze belt that gives you what, 15% chance to proc every second if you have all your pets out? We haven't even brought Fire Pit into the equation yet. Get another 4% on a mojo and you'll be untouchable.

[Chaosmage]

Invulnerable minions.

I'd be saying they overdid it but since this is the first time our class gets something really good I'll shut up till barbs start comparing themselves to a zombie dog.

[Such Violent Storms]

Currently in my theorycrafting, Zombie Handler is not as good as taking Fiere Loyalty and grabbing about 700-1k life regen. My set of passives would be Fortitude/Bad Medicine/Fierce. With the mechanics of summons, it should be relatively easy to make pets take <4000 damage from a single blow (also note they are now immune to things like Plagued, Molten, Frozen, etc.), coupled with a good life pool, inherent regen and 1k more regen from Fierce Loyalty, you should be able to tank most stuff with them. Running up to a pack of elites with rain of toads, spider queen, 3 dogs and a gargantuan should return enough life/hit to tank through everything while dealing substantial damage and proccing freeze/stun reasonably often.