Let's help Blizzard brainstorm some new Witch Doctor spells

[Naja]

With only 11 active spells, the Witch Doctor is far from complete. From the Blizzard devs' own admission, this is mostly because the Witch Doctor is an unorthodox character, and thus difficult to pin down as easily as a basic caster (Wizard) or melee character (Barbarian).

But that doesn't mean we can't use our imagination based on what we do know!

What are some cool spells you'd like the Witch Doctor to have?

For me, I think there's a lot of room for growth within the current summoner/support caster frame.

For example, Blizzard could expand the fire skills to be defensive in nature (how about a "Flame Armour" skill that provides some protection against melee damage while doing fire damage to melee attackers), as well as offensive. I think that since flame damage is going to be the primary direct damage spell type for the Witch Doctor, he's going to need at least 1 or 2 seriously damaging skills that just look awesome. One of these level 30 spells just needs to be a no-nonsense skill that fills most of the screen up with flame, has an awesome sound effect, and toasts monsters with high damage. Call it "Incinerate" or something. Maybe it could function like a nova spell...except with fire.

It might be interesting to have a plague version of "Flame Armour" (like the Undead's disease cloud ability in W3). Or better yet, a poison aura passive ability that does periodic disease damage a certain radius away from the Witch Doctor. Call it something like "Spead Illness". The Witch Doctor seriously needs an updated version of the Death Knight's/Lich's "Death and Decay" spell that affects most of the screen and melts the skin off of all monsters in the radius. Like "Incinerate", it's best to keep the most powerful spells short and to the point. Something like "Blight" or "Pestilence" . The graphic could be like how the Undead spread blight on the ground in W3 (except the visual blight would be temporary).

I'm not too sure about what additional minions the Witch Doctor should summon besides Zombie Dogs. I'm still rooting for large, poisonous spiders, but besides that I'm out of ideas.

Finally, it might be cool to expand on the mind control spells we have seen so far. We've witnessed the traditional "attack other mobs" and fear-based spells ("Mass Confuse" and "Horrify"), but what if a high-powered mind control spell actually allowed the Witch Doctor to temporarily turn a regular monster into a minion? Call it something like "Possess" (since the WD is allowing a spirit to take possession of the monster's mind, or something). It could include a cool graphic of ghostly spirits screaming unholy terrors flying into the monster before it starts fighting for you! You could even "Sacrifice" (blow up) the temporary minion, using the mob's own monsters against them!

Thoughts?

EDIT: I've thought of a lower level version of "Possess": Zombify! It would work like a curse that the Witch Doctor places on a monster that lasts several seconds. If that monster dies while it is still cursed, then it reanimates and fights for the Witch Doctor for a limited period of time before expiring. Since this is a lower-level skill, it may be wise to cut these zombies' effectiveness (say, -50% hitpoints/damage/attack, etc.); zombie effectiveness could always improve with additional skill levels. Like "Possess", you should totally be able to detonate zombified minions with the "Sacrifice" skill. Totally.

[psuedoenviro]

I'll try:

JuJu Powder - 20% chance to blind with a 25% decrease in monster defense. (Possibly a 1 sec stun with a recharge of 5 sec) Raises with each point added. Low Level defensive skill in the Voodoo Skill Tree. Cone shaped, short range, inferno-like skill where WD blows a powder on monsters. Skill would improve minions chance to hit while increasing their survivability rate. Skill would also allow for a WD to enter into melee or use ranged attacks more efficiently.

[bjsdtl]

this is a witch DOCTOR, so we must include some sort of hallucinogenic experience either for the wd himself to use or to apply to his pets/teammates or the enemy. in real life witch doctors take crazy drugs to see what everyone else cannot see, and get important answers from this other realm. im not sure how to implement that but it would be cool.

maybe the wd could send himself into a drugged frenzy and be able to see larger (or maybe the whole) minimap like maphack would? boring example but its all i could think of at this moment to go along with "getting answers that others cannot see." plus it would make people stop using maphacks altogether! theyd just ask for a wd to come check it out

[stillman]

This is just a theory, but I think the WD is there so we have a chr to gimp ourselves with.
But if you are really creative, you can make his lame spells amount to serious killing power. However; it's harder to do this than with the wizard or barb.

[Butch Audacity]

The Witch Doctor needs some spells based on snakes since snakes play a important role in many tribal cultures. The witch doctor could summon snakes as minions. The witch doctor could also have other zombie-based spells.

[Naja]

Originally Posted by bjsdtl

this is a witch DOCTOR, so we must include some sort of hallucinogenic experience either for the wd himself to use or to apply to his pets/teammates or the enemy. in real life witch doctors take crazy drugs to see what everyone else cannot see, and get important answers from this other realm. im not sure how to implement that but it would be cool.

Maybe a "Spirit Trance" spell would allow the Witch Doctor to have an out-of-body experience, allowing his spirit essence to scout ahead of him and his party without alerting monsters. You could balance that out by making the Witch Doctor's body more vulnerable to damage while his spirit is elsewhere.

[DemolitionSquid]

Some ideas that could be incorporated in spells:

Rain Dance
Sacrifice (not like Paladin's, I'm talking about the human sacrifice in the WD lore)
Bondyn and Loa (Voodoo's God and spirits)
Fetishes/Voodoo Dolls

[Leugi]

Voodoo Doll: Not a simple summoned, it's actually a targeted skill in which you target an enemy and a voodoo doll appears, the other monsters will consider him of your side and will start attacking the lil' doll, but when they damage the doll the original target is also damaged.

Plague: Also targeted, the monster becomes ill and is poisoned and probably slower, when the targeted monster dies a mass of worms go out from his body in a nova way giving some poison damage.

Rain Dance: Yep, the WD will dance... summoning a storm above him that shoots thunders to enemies.

That's all for now.

[Butch Audacity]

A were-leopard spell that changes the witch doctor into a leopard briefly and gives him the ability to fight with claws and fangs. This ability is based on West African Leopard Men societies.

[Hodl Pu]

DEMON SLAVE: Having a demon slave skill. Not one you can summon, but you can mind control 1 demon and becomes a permanent slave, unless you decide to get a new one (demons only). I see it as a relevant skill since some tribe witch doctors try to manipulate souls and demons to do their bidding (referenced from my history and art history classes).