Ultimate Witch Doctor Summoner Build

[illusions]

I haven't seen this built around so decided to create a thread about it because the Summoner Witch Doctor is under-rated.

I use a Summoner Build for my Witch Doctor and I'm able to solo inferno 5 and up with very minimal repairs required for this build. What is so special about this build is it requires absolutely NO MANA BOOST. You will never run out of mana.

Active Skills

• Gargantuan (Bruiser - Stun is good and 200% weap dmg)
• Summon Zombie Dog (Life Leech - Your only skill to get life)
• Plague of Toads (Addling Toads...low mana, AoE, and confuses enemies... what else do u need? Stay back and spam while ur pets kill)
• Fetish Army| (Devoted Following - Lowers cooldown to 68 secs)
• Big Bad Voodoo (Slam Dance - All your pets get 30% dmg + 20% atk speed + 20% movement)
• Spirit Walk (Jaunt) ... this is the only optional skill, can be replaced by Mass Confusion (Paranoia - for more dmg) OR Soul Harvest

Personally I would recommend Spirit Walk if your DPS is 120k + , if lower then that, you would need to boost damage with either Mass Confusion (Paranoia) or Soul Harvest (rune of your choice, I wouldn't pick the mana one)

Passive Skills

• Tribal Rites (25% reduce cooldown on most of your skills, IT IS A MUST, your Fetish Army cooldown goes down to 51 secs)
• Pierce The Veil (your overall dmg increased by 20%. Your mana cost increased by 30%, who cares about increase of mana? The main skill you're gonna be spamming is 12 mana which is regenerated instantly when u cast almost.)
• Fetish Sycophants (these little guys are A LOT STRONGER than the active skill, but both are a deadly combination. If anyone knows the exact weapon dmg % of this passive skill please share.)

http://diablonut.incgamers.com/skill...grMjE4NTg4KzE=

My DPS is around 175k without Big Bad Voodoo activated, so with Big Bad Voodoo activated , your Summon Zombie dogs get 9% + 30% so 39% of 175k , Gargantuan is 200% weapon dmg + 30% so 230% of 175k , Fetish Army is 20% base + 30% so 50% of 175k. The Fetish Sycophants are much stronger, I heard around 150% base or more but cant guarantee this.

You're probably gonna ask, why no Soul Harvest and why no Gruesome Feast?

No Soul Harvest because the Radius is only 15-16 yards. You're standing far from your pets who are attacking for you. Pointless.

Gruesome Feast. My gear doesn't have high Pickup Radius. If your gear does have high pickup radius you might want to use this skill

An easy way to get high DPS is by not sacrificing any crit hit chance on any equipment except the Mojo (I recommend using Skorn with crit hit dmg and a socket with 1400 dps+ for your 2H weapon, it will increase your dps by minimum 10k , by using that instead of a 1000 dps crit weap w/ socket + mojo)

My crit is ~ 40/450. I'm still wondering if my crit is transfered to my pets or if their damage % is only based on my DPS. In my calculation above, only used DPS, will be checking for crit though.

Also, definately choose Anatomy with Scroundel for the extra 3% critical hit chance (it will remain activated even when Scroundel is dead. This will improve your DPS drastically if your crit hit dmg is high).

My crit is ~ 40/450 so 3% CHC extra gives me at least 5k dps extra.

[MCPWTB]

Pets get damage based on your DPS.
So dogs do 9% of your current DPS, in this case, the buff from BBV is applied indirectly.

So are you sure they get the 39% damage or even 9%*1.3 = 11.7% of your DPS?
Pet guide on battle net forums:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/top...4045226?page=1

I asked some questions there related to BBV.


Spirit walk healing journey will heal pets, if needed.

[BRKO]

Also definately choose Anatomy with Scroundel for the extra 3% critical hit chance (it will remain activated even when Scroundel is dead... this will improve ur DPS drastically if your crit hit dmg is high).

For no particular reason I thought the templar is most suitable companion for a WD due to his healing skills. Gonna try this scoundrel crit thingy once I reach 60 and/or get good gear. thanks for the tip .)

[MCPWTB]

The reason to choose the Scoundrel is to use:
1. Windforce with high IAS and high chance to knockback. Possible to roll with a chance to freeze/stun/blind.
2. Star of Azkaranth comes with chance to freeze/stun and even a possibility of IAS: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/the-star-of-azkaranth
3. Get IAS and LoH in the other slots to make your scoundrel a knockback machine with some ability to survive.

Crowd control for pets. Enemies not attacking => enemies not doing damage to your pets => you standing there casting damage non-stop.

[Caris]

Hmm I always found the Enchantress with the attackspeed buff the bedst for this kind of build. You have no heavy mana-spender and want to cast as many toads as possible to trigger as many Fetish sycophants as possible. So I'd go for AS > cc anytime. Also she can have alot more MF than the scoundrel.

What MP can you play with that build?

Spirit walk healing journey will heal pets, if needed.

Only if you have the passive Fierce Loyalty otherwise they only get healed by globes.

[BRKO]

Have tried the enchantress. Though Focused Mind skill gives only 3% bonus to attack speed it feels I kill monsters faster. Now to find some nice staff for her...

[MCPWTB]

For general RoT/Acid Rain pet build I was able to do MP8 with much worse gear than I have now. Granted it was SLOW and I wouldn't be able to kill certain bosses, such as the Butcher since the fire gets me eventually, but I wouldn't die to very many types of elites either.

Now I can do MP10 but that's just a gear check. If I did a RoT/Acid Rain build with my gear, I would probably be unkillable by all but a few enemies, but I would take forever to kill stuff. I have a high base average damage and crit damage, therefore 3% crit chance gives me more DPS.

You'll have to decide for yourself which follower is best.

I prefer to the Scroundrel because of the crowd control aspect as I outlined above.

[Dogbert]

No mention of the useless spirit vessel passive can only mean one thing. I recommend this build.
Good job. Sounds like fun

[Ghoulz]

I like using the enchantress with Maximus. More minions for the summoner.

[snurrfint]

Wow, your definition of 30% more dmg is pretty off.

9% weapon dmg ----> 39% is 333% more dmg.

and 200% weapon dmg -----> 230% is 15% more dmg.

Seems like a good build non the less. GJ