Nice! another 2h WD like myself hehe. Since u r using Skorn, ur priority is to get as high Crit Chance as possible (ias wont benefit u much except gving u paper dps only, Crit Hit Dmg alrdy high from Skorn but getting more is always welcome) & avg dmg stats will also raise ur dps considerably.
For upgrades start with ring, replace that rare ring u hv with another rare dat gives CC & avg dmg @ get a Unity (since ur Skorn is without LS @ LoH .. LoH on Unity would help getting back health from ur attacks).
You might also want to consider going for Zuni set (at least 2 items to get 130 intel bonus). Boots is a must (+% poison dmg will give good boost t dps since ure a Skorn user) + another Zuni item (helm if u need more health, ring if u need CD & AR)
Your rare helm is alrdy nice with max CC & high armor. If u feel like trying out Acid Rain for speed xp farming, get a Giyua with 6% CC + 5-8% CC to Acid Cloud (u will lose vit but gain AR from Giyua ... u wont see an increase on ur character sheet dps but trust me that xtra 5-8% CC to Acid Cloud will make u crit more often when using Acid Rain). Check out my previous posts few pages back for more details.

0 cd zdog gear is nice to have but dmg on Sac using such setup tends to be much lower than using high base dmg 2h wpn.
Personally i prefer to get free zdog from CoL passive and get higher dmg from Sac when using 2h wpn such as Skorn.

Current setup:
mp5-6: fast n efficient farming almost 0 death
mp7-9: slow with some occassional death when facing vortex/arcane/molten especially (wallers are also a problem as it makes spamming bears difficult)

Spined Dart = fast mana regen
Acid Rain = fast health regen
Zombie Bears = main dmg dealer
Honored Guest = getting away & mana regen
Jinx = crowd control & xtra dmg
Bruiser = tank (between my garg's stun & templar's freeze attack from Azurewarth + Star of Azkaranth most elites/champs can be handled safely)

Spirit Walk (2nd set of life), Blood Ritual & Spiritual Attunement enable Bears to be spammed non stop for continuous high dmg output.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 10 2012, 11:04 AM

From your current gear i would say getting a Witching Hour would give u most dps boost (from ias & chd). However to replace what your current belt provides in terms of EHP, u need a very expensive WH (intel + vit + AR). If you are willing to sacrifice some ehp for dps boost i am wiling to sell u my WH for 20% below AH price (12.5M cheapest in AH so far ive checked, i could let go of mine at 10m )

my WH stats:
100 intel
+39 lightning resist
9% ias
38% chd
+19% GF
+7 pickup radius

LoH wont cut it if u using bears against RD mobs .. unless u r using RoT @ AR @ any DoT type attacks then yeah ... high LoH can help against RD mobs. However all those DoT type attacks hv low dmg and it'll take like forever to kill RD mobs on higher mp games.
If u intend to use bears against RD mobs, then the best way is to get a high LS 2h-wpn (doesnt necessarily hv to be a LS SKorn). Get a cheap rare 2h wpn with at least 1k dps & 5% LS (Vigilance legendary polearm is a good choise as well.. try get one with %stun @ freeze + open socket @ Warmonger) and see for yourself if u can use bears against RD mobs and not lose health while spamming bears.

For 1h+mojo setup i think Manajuma Carving Knife (1k dps + 100% CHD + OS) paired with Gory Fetch (300 avg dmg + reduced ZC cost + crit chance) would be BiS.
However high end EF + Ukhapian Serpent would work as well. (especially if u stack up +%elemental dmg i.e using Tal Set)

SW/Jaunt gives u 3 sec of invulnerability so that u can spam bears on RD even if u dont have LS. But on high MP games this is not good enough... Jaunt > use up Spirit Vessel > Jaunt again (while continuoulsy spamming bears) wont kill high health RD mobs such as Phasebeasts. From my own experience using 5.6% LS Skorn .. low health RD mobs dont pose much problem (unless RD + molten which somehow make my health go down when i spam bear on them) & for high health RD mobs i need to do some kiting while spamming bears in between (Hex/Jinx helps to do some crowd control while i run around spamming AR to get back health above 50% then continue with Bears)

Depending on your playstyle & choice of skill set, the speed at which u clear elites is dependant also on your gear/weapon. Even if u can mitigate RD with high LS your WD dmg output are still restricted by how much mana u have left (unlike DH which can spam hatred generating attacks, WD attacks doesnt generate mana so u need to manage mana via skill sets)

If u going Splinters @ Ghost Bomb build then AS would be important, but if Bears is your main dmg dealer higher AS = faster u lose mana & 0 mana = 0 dps.

Comparing my DH & WD ability to deal with RD packs i could say its far easier for my DH to handle RD with only minimum @ even 0 LS (Bola/Volatile to stun + Echoing Blast while in gloom mode) However my DH lacks crowd control in solo play as compared to my WD (Garg & Hex provide much needed crowd control).

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Added on December 11, 2012, 1:07 pmThats exactly the point im trying to make in my post lolz
However i hv to add that LS is not just useful for Bears only but there are other attacks in WD arsenal that benefit from high LS. Sacrifice (275% wpn dmg for each zdog) has higher dmg output than Bears and i can assure u during my speed runs, Sac 3 zdog on an elite pack will get me back to max health (e pack will be dead @ almost dead after Sac) + max mana (Pride rune). Henry once asked me during our speed runs together why my Sac seems to deal more dmg than his Sac .. simple reason being i am using a 2h-wpn with higher base dmg (min is even higher than his max). Wall of Zombie/Pile On if used precisely can reap the benefits of LS also (800% wpn dmg ... crit up to 1m dps on my current setup ... aiming precisely at a packed mobs will ensure PO hits multiple targets).

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 11 2012, 01:10 PM

WD hv 3 notable high dmg attacks; ZB (236% x 3 = 708% wpn dmg), Sac (275% x 3/4 = 825/1100% wpn dmg) & PO (800% wpn dmg) which makes a high base dmg wpn deadly when used with any of the 3 attacks. However they are "burst" damage as mana is a limitation to spam those attacks non-stop.

My seniments exactly .. i just hate wallers lolz, dats why i keep RoT as main attack to ensure i can still output some dmg even when "walled". My personal worst affix combo on packs are Molten/Arcane/Vortex ... ground is on fire n full of sentry then they just suck u in using vortex ... GG hahaha.

The reason why i always spam AR on RD minions instead of using Bears (they hv low health so dont need bears to kill them).
If i remember correctly there's also a blue post also mentioning about taking away RD on pets attacks (i hate the fact that even when i am not attacking my health goes down bcos my garg is hitting RD mobs & i hv to dismiss my garg each time i try to rez party mbr during ZK/SB uber fights bcos each time my garg hits SB it interrupts the rez process)

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 11 2012, 02:33 PM

I finally gave up farming for signet .. i think buying 1 would save me more time but the problem now is my lack of fund
As i was going thru my mules to look for some items to put up in AH, i came across a Goldskin armor which once was used by my DH to farm gold. So i decided to try it out on my WD, incorporating GF into my existing speed farm for xp.
Some gear changes i made:
- replace Marrow with Goldskin (100% GF + chance enemy will drop gold when hit)
- equip Sun Keeper for me & my templar (extra MF to make up for low mp)
- ToTD (with existing PR on my gears .. now i hv +37 PR which vacuums every gold that appear on my skrin lolz)



Did a couple speed run on Inferno Act3 mp0 (core, tower damned 1, crater 2, tower cursed 1, field of slaughter, keep 2 & 3)
Time taken = 12-15 mins
XP per run = 9.5-10 million
Gold per run = 175k - 200k
Approximately 40m xp & 800k gold per hour which is not bad at all for a speed run on mp0 with high xp, good chance of item drops (356%MF@5NV) & huge gold income (375%GF@5NV .. piles of 3k gold litter my screen)
Now to grind 100hrs to get 80m so that i can buy a signet

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 12 2012, 09:44 PM

The way i see it and from own playing experience:
2 options.. 5% LS or more using Skorn (high crit dmg + added dmg from Bleed) will make life easier handling even RD mobs in high MP games (mp 7 & above) .. u also need at least 40-50k HP with 600 n above AR .. since u lose mana regen from wpn & mojo if u opt for Skorn ... +20 mana from zuni set + 2 passives (Blood Ritual & Spiritual Attunement) to ensure u wont go OOM and able to spam Bears continuously (able to stay in middle of fight leeching back life at a good rate .. reposition only against arcane sentry). PD/Spine Dart will help as well getting back mana fast in situation facing tough mobs (RD/Extra Life@Sheilding Phasebeasts for example)
Another option is 3%LS Carving Knife (with high CHD &/@ Open Socket) .. Manajuma Set will ensure u r surrounded by poison so get Bad Medicine passive that will ensure u always get less 20% dmg. However 3% LS is not quite enough to mitigate RD on higher mp apart from BM passive u need a high armor (4k or more), high AR (600 or more) with higher physical resist (700 or more) .. u also have to manage mana better as Carving Knife hv higher AS so u will tend to run out of mana faster when spamming Bears as compared to using Skorn. (getting bear reduction gear will help)

Once i hit 100k dps n more .. LS will shine better than LoH so if u alrdy hv LS u can start reducing LoH on ur gears... personally i only hv 200+ LoH from Unity ring just to help out when spamming AR in emergency cases to get back health fast.

Life link is better imho bcos it reduces dmg to u (even if ur zdog dies faster u can recast) .. leeching beast is better if u plan to use Sacrifice bcos u dont want ur dog to die 1 by 1 b4 u can use Sac.

Passive for higher MP: SV is a must .. other 2 depending on ur gear n build setup.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 14 2012, 11:19 AM

You're most welcome

Maybe your fren hv too much ias gear (i only hv ias from WH since i alrdy ditched lacuni) @ didnt use the passives to reduce/regen mana. I rarely go OOM unless i press down attack for Bears (faster output of bears). WHat i actually do is i use fast tap (i put Bears on skill 1) while pressing down on left click (PD/SD) so my attack sequence is: when i tap skill 1. Bears are released then right after PD/SD attack (since i keep left click pressed). Alternating between these 2 attacks is what keeps my mana pool at high lvl. I only let go of left click when theres only 1 target left @ when SW is up (HG rune regens back my mana). Give it a try and u will see what i mean.

I highly suggest for future gear upgrades u try n get pickup radius on each gear u can (i upgraded my Trail, Marrow & Ward with pickup radius so i dont need ToTD even when i do farming on low lvl).

If u do go for LS Skorn .. u can focus getting max Crit Chance on your rings/ammy since Skorn alrdy provide u with vry high CHD (ofc getting more CHD will help but at a higher cost). Stay away from ias and get avg dmg instead as it will boost ur "real" dps more. I assure u will see higher dmg output (even for white dmg, min roll) but the icing on the cake is when u crit ... u see yellow numbers with HUGE figures (this is what makes LS shine bcos u get so much health back from crits).

Yeah, "black" weapon + Ukh will work as well (u can see lots of top WD on diabloprogress with such setup). Either a high end EF @ a high dps rare ceremonial knife (i personally prefer this as it will help with mana regen so u can opt for other passives). However dont be fooled by gears equpped by top WD in diabloprogress as they are "padding up" their dps to get high ranking ... i dont think they use that setup for farming etc (high dps & no LS will get u killed in an instant in high mp games lolz)

Obviously i am using Bears for higher mp games i dont think Acid Rain can kill RD packs fast enough on mp6-10.
I do hv a minimal amount of LoH just to spam Acid Rain when i need to replenish my health fast. However i hv to say dat even LS does gain a considerable amount of health when using Acid Rain especially when u crit (refer to my screenshor few pages back.. during my speed run, 1 Acid Rain attack on a pack of scorpion packs produces 10 crits averaging 200k each .. which totals up to approximately 2m dmg)

Try using RoT (Rain of Toad) instead bcos RoT hv no travel time (wont be affected so much by low as of Skorn) plus RoT is a DoT type attack (Damage over Time) which stacks and if ur Skorn hv Bleed% it will work well with RoT. If u plan to gain back hp from LS of Skorn, use Zombie Bears as it is deals most damage (more damage = more life leeched)

24% MS + Spirit Walk/Jaunt + Horrify/Stalker still move too slow?

Yes u can ... using Grave Injustice passive ... i can Jaunt+Stalker to one pack and kill it fast using Acid Rain then GI will reduce CD on SW & Horrify so i can use it again to proceed to next pack ... plus i can still attack in SW mode when i encounter mobs along the way ... i cant attack while in vault mode
I speed farm using both my WD & DH (both having more or less same dps 110k) .. my WD clearly took 3-5 mins less time to do similar speed farm route .. not to mention the pickup radius on my WD is so huge that i dont need to move close to any pile of gold to pick it up Acid Rain AoE is wayyyyyy bigger than BL too

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 16 2012, 12:54 AM

Travel is the key word bro ... AR dont need to travel lolz ... u see 1 pack of mobs u click on it .. instant kill haha ... Acid Rain has AoE of 24 yard, meaning 1 whole pack of scorpions or skellies in Keep will be hit by it whereas BL hits any mobs within its path .. i dont think 1 BL can hit every scorpions in a huge pack. Give it a try and see if i'm wrong.

I would love to see a screenshot of just ONE BL hitting ALL scorpions in a pack (as per my screenshot of 1 Acid Rain hitting all scorpions with 10 crits in my previous post few pages back).
Yeah i do agree WD MS feels much slower in game but in party play with the same MS i dont see my WD being left behind while running along side other classes (no other MS skills used by all party mbrs)

I am not comparing the 2 attacks .. just trying to prove the point u made earlier that BL has larger AoE than AR
I know the magic of BL as i also play a DH ... but comparing the time taken to clear such pack when im playing both WD & DH i hv to say 1 click of AR takes less time than few clicks of BL .. and if u say BL attacks can be done with stutter move, AR attacks can also be done while moving in SW mode (not even breaking the fast MS of SW mode).
I urge u to try out speed farm on low mp (depending on your WD dps .. mp0-2) using Acid Rain attacks, Circle of Life + Sacrifice combo (to ensure healthy mana pool & elite pack killer) & fast movement speed of Jaunt + Stalker ... after u hv personally tried it out ... let me know if u still think WD class is a slow xp farmer

First of all ... without a shadow of a doubt .. different classes have different playstyle, build & gear setup .. heck even with similar build/gear, 2 person can have different ways of handling their toons and efficiency (in terms of fast fingers, control of mouse, keyboard etc).
Bear in mind that the facts i am about to post are solely based on my own capabilities of playing this game .. without being bias to any classes of toons i have created .. i develop my own ways of handling them.

My WD: 1.17 attack speed, 41% CC + 6% CC for AR, 370% CHD
My DH: 2.53 attack speed (im a Calamity user), 54.5% CC, 253% CHD
Both toons hv almost the same dps: 11xk

Reasons why i stated earlier my WD farms 3-4mins faster than my DH on same speed xp farming route:
- to clear 1 huge pack of white mobs my DH spams few BL then vault to next target while my WD just need to click AR once then press SW/Horrify to next pack(within that 3 sec of SW mode i will get to next pack & if along the way i encounter any small numbered mobs i can still attack using AR without breaking the SW mode). Time taken for each toon to perform the task is more or less the same BUT with my WD i need to do fewer clicks.
- dealing with Elite packs however my DH outperforms my WD in terms of having to kite or worry about any ranged attacks (such as mortars) solely bcos of Gloom. My DH can stay in close range and take out Elite packs either using Spike Trap/Echoing Blast @ Cluster/LfB while my WD needs to be more wary of the surroundings and stay at a safe distance while spamming AR (until almost out of mana) while waiting for zdogs to hug the elite packs for me to use Sacrifice (huge damage + get back mana). In situation whereby there's arcane sentry or descrator pool etc both toons needs to reposition .. DH using vault & WD using SW.

So all in all .. it sums up to my WD edges my DH for few reasons: less clicks done (less time), better MS (using Grave Injustice i can 90% of the time chain combo SW/Horrify) .. if i vault too much using my DH i will run out of Disc and get into some difficulties if i end up facing a tough elite pack. But my main reason of choosing my WD over my DH for speed farming is bcos of the pickup radius .. i end up with more gold with less effort taken to get close n collect them. Dont get me wrong .. but i enjoy playing my DH immensely .. especially in coop games. But to say WD is a class that farms slow is a misconception perhaps due to hearsay @ just info read in forum without having trying it out and exploring various skills n combos WD has to offer.

With regards to MS ... like i said b4, i do feel (especially when playing solo game) as if my WD moves slower than my other toons. However i do believe 24% MS for each character equates to same movement speed in game. Unless there's a blue post thsst proves otherwise (i.e WD class suffer from MS penalty), i firmly believe that each class move at the same speed/rate (only feels slower bcos of the different animation of each class).

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 16 2012, 03:37 AM

Lolz .. thats the obvious fact bro .. ofc u wont face much problems as i do using your godly geared DH i hv low disc pool on my DH so thats why i hv to be very careful when vaulting around. Btw i dont use frog since i'm using Skorn but i still hv a total of +21 PR on my WD from other gears ( PR is a must for any WD build bcos lots of WD skills depend on PR .. so sad dat WD dont get any perks from crits )

Anyways i did omit/cheat the fact altho My WD n DH hv same dps, at times (50% of the time) my WD dps is boosted by Gruesome Feast & Soul Harvest haha ... my intel can go from 27xx to 5xxx and dps from 11xk to 19x k max lolz.

Conclusion ... if properly equipped & choose the right skill set .. ANY character can farm pretty well.

This post has been edited by Gecko: Dec 16 2012, 04:00 AM

I'm not quite plvl75 yet still 74 halfway to 75
Quite bz these past few days .. couple of wedding videoshoot jobs so not much time to play .. even try to play night time but fall asleep half-way through the runs haha