Witch Doctor builds
Witch Doctor build: Inferno Witch Doctor
See the build: Inferno Witch Doctor
Like any caster, the Witch Doctor needs to control the flow of battle as much as possible to survive Inferno. You need to stay in control of where you can and can't stand, and restrict your enemies' ability to do so as much as possible. Summon Zombie Dogs and Gargantuan remain staples, because anything that gives monster a reason to attack something that isn't you is a good thing. Spirit Walk lets you get out of sticky situations in a hurry, although you should make a point of not having to use it very often. Jailer and Waller elites got you down? Show them that you can play that game, too! Grasp of the Dead and Wall of Zombies will make you just as annoying to them as they are to you.
Your passives and runes are focused on spawning and grabbing up health globes, so gearing to increase your pick-up radius will be very beneficial. As will anything that further increases the chance of health globes to drop. Think of yourself as a spooky, Carribbean Pac-Man.
Preferred stats: Gold/Health Pickup Radius, Intelligence, Vitality, Maximum Mana
Witch Doctor build: The Spirit Warrior
See the build: Witch Doctor Spirit Warrior
Maybe you think zombies are to be promptly shot in the head, not used as allies. Maybe you don't like pet classes. Maybe both. This build focuses on the Witch Doctor as more of a tribal shaman, giving you excellent damage and crowd control with your spirit spells, plus a nearly endless well of mana. Supercharge your Intelligence with Soul Harvest, then unleash Firebombs and Spirit Barrages for huge direct damage while Haunt ticks away at the harder targets. Horrify and Mass Confusion will give you excellent battlefield control. Your passives increase damage at the cost of more mana, but they also shore up your mana (in addition to almost all of your abilities giving you some back.)
Preferred stats: Intelligence, Weapon Damage, Max Mana/Mana Regen
Witch Doctor build: The Plaguebringer
See the build: Witch Doctor Plaguebringer - Updated 5/17
The ten plagues of Egypt got nothin' on this build. Sure, you've got the standard plague stuff with Plague of Toads , and flesh-eating Locust Swarm s, but the real key is poison stacking with the right runes. Your frogs and locusts are both poisonous, and Acid Cloud lets you rain less animated liquid death on the enemy. Zombie Charger brings old-school leprosy back with the right rune, and Fetish Army summons the final plague of death. And while that's enough to drive most civilizations to madness, Mass Confusion will completely shatter any particularly stalwart minds, forcing them to kill each other for you. The Bad Medicine passive is paramount, as it causes your plentiful poison damage to cripple enemy attacks, while Fetish Sycophants and Spiritual Attunement are just small perks to keep things moving quickly.
Preferred stats: Intelligence, Weapon Damage, Maximum Mana
Witch Doctor build: The Zombie King
See the build: Witch Doctor Zombie King - Updated 5/16
There's something especially satisfying about watching minions do your dirty work while you sit back and cackle maniacally—especially when your minions are zombies. There are so many things you can do with zombies in Diablo 3: you can drop them from the sky (runed Grasp of the Dead ), stack them on top of each other and push the undead tower over ( Wall of Zombies ), bursting from the ground ( Zombie Charger runed to make them BEAR ZOMBIES), or stomping all over the place ( Gargantuan ). Most of them only stop by for brief encounters, but you can always count on your trusty Zombie Dogs to chomp through bad guys. A few passives play into this style perfectly: Fierce Loyalty, Jungle Fortitude and Zombie Handler increase the number of zombies you can control, add your Thorn and Health Regen stats to them and reduce the damage they take. When you run low on corpses, just toss out jars of creepy Corpse Spiders to regen mana.
Preferred stats: Intelligence, Weapon Damage, Thorns
