Eh I use Spirit Walk sparingly for mix of offensive/defensive purpose. Otherwise Spirit Walked into middle of mob only to discover there's Champion pack nearby and kena jailed/frozen/walled + arcaned/mortared or just plain mobbed to death.
Now I often do Unbreakable Grasp, then Soul Harvest + Zombie Bear. If things go bad, then Spirit Walked away

Anybody tried the pet build? Using lots of Armor and such?

Armor leh?

I'm at same place. Here's my stats and build.

Stats: 20k DPS, 25k HP, 380 resist for all, Armor 3k, Mana 800+ (all IIANM lah)

Poison Darts (Splinters) - Primary
Zombie Charger (Bears) - Secondary

Spirit Walk (Healing Journey)
Soul Harvest - Siphon
Horrify - +100% armor for 8 seconds (forgot the rune name).
Hex - Bleed 12% (forgot rune name) --> only problem this is useless against bosses.

Passive: Jungle Fortitude, Spirit Vessel, and Bad Medicine (just recently, still testing).

Completely defensive built. Spirit Vessel really save my hide, or I'll probably die 3x more often.
I find Resist All ok ah.. after boosting it AND dropping my vit, can really survive much better.

Yeah.. and if you keep on do that, will eventually become naked

It's not cause lower DPS leh, it's the bears totally tak mau jalan
Damn annoying, they say 1.0.4 or earlier. Hopefully earlier coz now zombie bear is unreliable in the middle of a serious fight!

You only use bears ka? Then ma need to go close range always?

I still use splinter darts for primary attack.
Bears for secondary effect e.g. when crowded with monsters all surrounding me, or I see a wave coming at me and timed the bear release, then run the other way

There will be a major class balancing in 1.0.4, and another developer blog on the changes for preview. I'd recommend wait for it first. They did mentioned some stuffs e.g. scaling of pets according to vitality and such.

So fellow WDs, anybody feels like Spirit Walk sometimes can get blocked by obstacles (walls from elites, etc)?

I'm pretty sure it does works mostly, but some times I just get stuck and cannot get away (e.g. U shaped wall on 3 sides with elites coming on the open side). Or the wall spawned with me in the middle, then I find myself cannot move at all.

Is it just me?

Ok, so something's not right.
1. Can Spirit Walk walked through Walls? Logically, if we can escape from Jail, Frozen and being Nightmare-d, I don't see why Walls can block us. Makes no sense anyway. Couple of bugs posted on this Spirit Walk through Waller's Walls and Spirit Walk and Wallers

2. There are also times when the wall spawned directly beneath our feet (happens on other classes too). We can enter Spirit Walk in this case, but can't move at all. This seems to reinforce the idea that Spirit Walk can't go through Walls. Note this bug is already reported Getting stuck in "waller" mobs' walls.

Anyway I'm gonna try out some Spirit Walking through walls to test this out further before posting on the bug forum. Appreciate if you guys can share your results too if any, without dying to the elites la
I just want a clear answer can or cannot walk through walls. Then I'll be able to make informed judgement when facing waller elites.

You are at which difficulty level? Pets is very difficult to use in Inferno or even Hell because they way too weak and have very long cool down.
If you're interested, then need to improve your armor and all resistance A LOT because our pets gain from these stats. Then plus HP regen (Fierce Loyalty), perhaps can survive. There's a thread in the official forum regarding this strategy (and the maths and experiments behind it).

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Added on July 3, 2012, 2:06 pmMay I know you are at which Act with your current set of equipment?
I'm curious coz still wondering how to build up my equipment... what with the sky high price in AH nowadays

This post has been edited by tgrrr: Jul 3 2012, 02:06 PM

It is, but DPS could be misleading.
DPS is Damage Per Second, but some damage are given "over" time, e.g. 575% damage over 12 seconds. In this case (I believe) the original speed of damage is not important, since the absolute damage value is spread out over a fixed time period anyway.

But in terms of pets, I don't think their DPS matters. Their main (I believe intended) function is to shield you from being targeted.

Thanks for the update.


So it seems so far there are 3 different major build for WD that's viable, popular, whatever.. (with variations on each one of course)
1. Kiting build,
Using high speed darts and spamming bears or other high mana high damage skills, probably with VQ. Low to moderate resist all and armor, need to be agile to change tactical position. Just need enough HP to survive.
Cons,
Darts can get blocked by walls, invulnerable minions, etc...
Bears need to get close to use.
VQ not efficient (requires many skills on CD to activate), otherwise mana consumption cannot keep up.


2. Tank build,
High LoH, high resist all and moderate armor and high HP. Balance HP regen using LoH against damage from monsters attack. LoH benefit can be magnified using pets, skills that stacks, etc.. With CC capability as bonuses.
Cons,
??


3. Pets build,
High HP regen with Fierce Loyalty, high resist all and high armor (all 3 scale for pets). With LoH and CC capability as very very useful. Moderate HP enough.
Cons,
Pets not intelligent enough, Plague and Desecrators (or other mechanism) can killed pets off too fast. Need to withdraw/micro-manage pets in such cases.
If pets die, their CD of 1 minute is very long.
Not sure if this is viable/efficient at later Acts.


I'm trying to figure out how to build up my gear next for Act II onwards.
Currently using dart build + bear build, no VQ, and my stats (can take 90% of elites in Act I),
17+k DPS,
24k HP,
4k Armor,
450 lowest Resist All


I'm leaning towards using LoH and variations between tank and pet build. Was trying rain of toads yesterday and it's actually pretty effective (as long as my HP can sustain it) and I'm not using any LoH yet.
So gonna add LoH and try tanking more, running less.

Aha same. The wasps are really annoying.

I added 630+ LoH (1 amulet), primarily using rain of toads (tank build). And the result is surprisingly easy.

Have *almost* no problem standing in desecrator, plague, etc while slowly whacking elites in Act 1. Also no problem standing in Butcher fire in a 4 co-op game (at least till my mana runs out ).
Compared to dart build, have to kite around frequently, with LoH, I feel like don't have to move at all.

With Act II however, elites (even normal monsters) hits much harder, and my HP/damage absorbed still not good enough to stand around and relax like Act I.
Also DPS too low, am finding it difficult/taking too long to kill a goblin

Use acid rain, mana can sustain meh? Is it with VQ, coz I prefer not to use VQ lor.

Dunno, find the bats hard to aim
But what's the primary advantage you think it has over just plain ol darts which won't drain mana?

Oh yeah, I was trying haunt yesterday too. Coz no need bear already, and REALLY need something to take down those pesky flies and jumping lacunis.
How you guys handle them fast annoying monsters? Just blast them with high DPS, or got other tactical ways?

Argh... me no like VQ. Cumbersome and not flexible to setup 4 skills on CD, plus my mana regen only 39/sec. Acid Rain I think 170 or 190 per cast, still too high even with VQ 300% increase mana regen.

That armor and resist all means you're can't get hit (read 1-shot).
What to improve depends on your play style. If kiting, then err... much higher DPS?
If tanking/semi-kiting, then need improve armor and resist all, double the numbers you currently have.

Pandai-pandai la

Very overpowering de.. your specs.
Mana regen at 136/sec!! Can almost spam acid rain and bears like no tomorrow.
Then 900 resist all + 6k armor + 1k LoH, ceh.. no need to play already lor..

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Added on July 9, 2012, 2:32 pmOh my bad. Just went over your equipment, got +14 mana/sec only. Means you're using VQ to get 136/sec.

Maybe get voodoo mask + off-hand item with +mana regen. Then you'll be god like.

This post has been edited by tgrrr: Jul 9 2012, 02:32 PM

You're using normal helm, voodoo mask is WD specific item. Normally got special stats like mana regen. If got +max mana even better.
No idea about using legendary/set la coz no money to spend. Very jelly at your specs liao.

Oh btw, bears don't work well with LoH, somehow the return is just bad. Bear is however WD's most powerful attack not requiring CD. 1 bear = 236% dmg. 3 bears = 700%. I heard no other classes can do this but I've no idea. Acid Rain, Fire pit, rain of toads however stacks LoH very well.

I believe all 3 WD specific items is same. Ceremonial knife, mojo and voodoo mask all can get +mana regen and also +max mana.
And I dunno about this, but maybe higher chance to get WD skill specific benefit e.g. reduce 5 mana for zombie charger, etc, but to have all the right stats line up is and the price is

Kiting build perhaps? Tanky don't really need high DPS

Laboo, post your new WD gear la, make us all jelly


Boost your Int? 1.1k Int is kinda low.
Add another 500 Int, your DPS should go up to about 15k, plus your AR also +50.