Voodoo Skill Tree
The Witch Doctor has three skill trees, with a variety of active and passive skills in each. Only 11 WD skills were revealed at Blizzcon, (more than 55 each were shown for the Wizard and Barbarian) so our knowledge of this character's abilities is much less extensive. Furthermore, all 11 skills were active skills, so we know nothing of the WD's passives and masteries.
The Witch Doctor's tree skill trees are:
Contents
Diablo III Skill Trees
Unlike the skill trees in Diablo II, the trees in Diablo III are not focused on just one aspect of a character. All known D3 skill trees have a wide variety of skills, with more passive than active, and all allow for a variety of play styles.
All active skills in the BlizzCon build were capped at 1 skill point (or rank, as skill levels are called in D3), while most passives went up to 15 points. This will not be the case in the final game; active skills will allow more than 1 point, and passives may have different maximum ranks, to allow better game balancing. Know that skills will be modified, that some will be removed, that others will be added, and that the numbers are almost certain to change.
Voodoo Skills
Horrify
| Horrify |
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Rank: 3/5 |
There are 2 durations; how long each individual fright lasts on afflicted monsters, and how long the frightening spirit remains over the WD's head, capable of horrifying or re-horrifying anything that comes into range.
The hover text for this one was seen in the WWI movie, and is reproduced to the right.
Wall of Zombies
| Wall of Zombies |
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Rank: 4/5 |
This skill works much like the Necromancer's bone wall; causing a straight line of obstacles to erupt from the earth. Not merely obstacles though, this wall is made of zombified creatures who claw at and deal damage to any monsters who come into range. Monsters attack the wall, so this isn't hard to do.
The wall zombies seem to be very powerful in the WWI gameplay movie, ripping dozens of Moon Clan goatmen to shreds in just seconds. The skill is level 4 though, as revealed by the hover text, so likely it would be much less powerful at level 1.
The wall will theoretically serve a defensive purpose as well; blocking shots from ranged attackers. It's not known if it can stop the advance of larger monsters, who might just step over it or crush it.
This skill, like all active skills, could only be raised to level 1 at Blizzcon, but it seems unlikely that this will be the case in the final game.
Summon Mongrel
The Witch Doctor summons a mangy zombie dog which attacks the target like one of the D2 Druid's wolves. While they are still alive, the Witch Doctor can detonated the mongrels, dealing substantial damage to nearby targets. Mongrels may also be enchanted with poison or fire bonus damage, if the Witch Doctor uses his attack spells on them. This does not harm the mongrel, but grants it the appropriate elemental power.
Sacrifice
This skill causes the targeted a Mongrel to explode, dealing substantial damage to any enemies in the area. In the Blizzcon 2008 demo the skill was not called "Sacrifice Mongrel," but just plain "Sacrifice." This seems an indication that it will work on all sorts of minions, not just Mongrels. No other minions have yet been revealed, but it's a safe bet that we'll see more in the future.
Passive Skill Speculation
Passives will probably boost the damage/hit points of the mongrels, or of all summoned pets, assuming there are others further down this tree. The explosive damage of a Sacrifice (Mongrel or other unknown minions) could also be boosted, as could the duration and damage of the Zombie Wall.
