Here is a great high quality post written by Hesterry which I found on the Diablo 3 forums, explaining in detail how to pwn noob inferno monsters with ease.
It’s a great guide and all the comments have been positive so I picked this one to be the main Witch Doctor Guide for TLN!
The Purpose of This Guide
While I could write a guide on how to magic find effectively, blah blah blah… I’m going to avoid doing that, as I’m sure there are already tons of such guides that are better than I could write. Instead I’m going to focus on progression – how to get to Act 4 as quickly as possible. Therefore, I will talk very little on the concept of MF, how to fight elite packs (as they can be run past), and so on.
Why not just farm as you go, or farm the easier/earlier acts/bosses? Interestingly, this has the same answer as why you would want to farm such things – the loot. Blizzard has stated that each subsequent act has a higher tier of loot. In other words, Act 4 Inferno has better loot than acts one, two, or three inferno. So, by getting to Act 4, and learning to farm it somewhat efficiently, you will be getting better, more valuable loot than you would by farming the earlier acts.
Thus, progression in inferno > farming – at least until you hit Act 3 or 4, with very few exceptions.
Notes on Builds and Gear
First of all, let me state that much of this guide I didn’t think up entirely on my own – some of it I have, but much of this is just a compilation of other people’s information. As such, I’ll try to give credit where it is due, but I apologize if I miss some people.
With every Act/Boss, I’ll post an optimized build, and in some cases, and optimized gear set, or at least recommended stats. Of course, going with a build you’re comfortable with is almost always more important than following other people’s recommendations. That said, I highly recommend you try it if you’re having difficulty. I also highly recommend changing builds as needed, and totally ignoring the Nephalem Buff until you get to the act you want to farm. Again, progression first, farming later!
Also note that most of my builds are a Splinter/Kiting build that I discovered thanks to Spellful. For more information on how to use this build, go here:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5271599319
Last, until you get to Act 3 with the stats I recommend for it, spend all of your gold on gear. The increase in income from Act 1 to Act 3 or 4 through selling loot on the auction house is tremendous, but you need the gear to clear the later acts even close to efficiently. Sitting on a million gold does nothing for you – spending it on gear lets you get more gold faster in the long run. Don’t save unless you have to for a specific piece of gear!
Mercenary
I’ve tried all of the mercenaries, and here is what I’ve found…
Scoundrel doesn’t do anything worthwhile, not even going to go there…
Enchantress seemed like a good choice for a while. However, after some time I noticed that she actually polymorphed me. At first, this seemed hilarious – until it got me killed on an elite pack in act 2. Sacked her and settled again on…
The Templar! With decent gear, he can actually take some hits. Additionally, his stun is useful against a number of monsters (Worms, soul lashers, phase beasts etc), particularly when coupled with Hex and other CC. His heals aren’t bad either. Sure, he’ll die, but he’s better than the other choices, in my opinion. For his abilities, I go Heal, Loyalty, Charge, Guardian. My templar currently has 47k HP, 2300 Armor, and 1260 Damage
General Witch Doctor Notes
Spirit Walk – It may not have been apparent in lower difficulties or Inferno Act 1, but it’s important to know the weakness of this ability. When you pop Spirit Walk, a dummy spawns in your place. Sometimes (but not always) monsters will go for it. If it dies (and it dies pretty fast) you immediately come out of invulnerability. Against AoEs, this can make Spirit Walk totally useless. Always, ALWAYS, try to move away before Spirit Walk, or pop it early enough that you can make an escape before it gets damaged – for example, against desecrate+jail, pop it after being jailed, BEFORE being desecrated.
Wall of Zombies – First and foremost, always use this ability with Relentless Grip. The slow will keep enemies from running right past it. Also, it does MASSIVE damage if placed directly on an enemy – literally doubling your dps – which can be amazingly useful on slower bosses, such as Ghom and Azmodan. I’ve found that the best way to use this is to kite monsters (even elites!) to a choke, slow with Grasp of the Dead, then drop a wall directly on the front-most monster as they’re about to leave Grasp. Also, be aware that some particularly large/hovering monsters can walk over it – this includes many (but not all) bosses.
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Act 1
Recommended Builds
Splinters with 1-Hander+Mojo and attack speed items
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRX!XbW!aacZab
VQ Bears with slow 2-Hander
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#fUkXdT!cZU!cZZbZY
Recommended Stats
Damage: 10,000
Health: 30,000
Armor: 2000
Resists: 120
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Getting to the Butcher should be fairly easy with either of the above builds, provided your stats are reasonable. In fact, it should be so easy, there is very little I can say. However, understand that if going from Hell Act 4 to Inferno Act 1 is roughly a 20% increase in difficulty, going from Inferno Act 1 to Act 2 is going to be a 50% increase. Arbitrary numbers, but the concept is what’s important.
What this means is, unless you have about a million gold, or a million and a half, on hand to spend on gear upgrades, expect to farm up a fair bit of gold in Act 1. This is the only time I’ll tell you to go out of your way to farm. The way I did this was by starting at Quest 3 Part 2 (Northwest Gate) and clearing everything to Leoric, killing him, then resetting. This can be done with worse than recommended stats, so if your stats don’t meet this requirement, farm Leoric as I’ve recommended, or farm Heart of Sin+Azmodan in Hell Act 3.
As a point of reference, I spend about a week in Act 1 Inferno, even though I had killed the Butcher about three days in.
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Leoric
Leoric is a joke, really. Just avoid his attacks, and pay attention to when he goes invisible/ethereal. If you’re moving when he does this, chances are he’s not going to hit you. Even if he does, as long as you have the recommended gear, he shouldn’t one-shot you.
For a faster clear with the Splinter Build, I highly recommend dropping Horrify for Soul Harvest+Siphon, and Hex for Haunt+Resentful Spirit. Note that you can burn your mana out really fast with Haunt, so only use it when it’s needed – don’t spam it for the Resentful Spirit damage!
If you’re going VQ Bears, Just be precise in your positioning/range, so he can’t randomly turn around and bash your face in with the scary mace.
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The Butcher
Recommended Builds
Splinter Variation
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRe!XVW!aacZaZ
VQ Bears Variation
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#fUkPQT!cZU!cZZbZY
Recommended Stats
Damage: 15,000
Health: 40.000
Armor: 2000
Resists: 150
The Butcher can be a tad tricky due to his enrage timer when he sets everything on fire – thus I recommend higher damage. The above stats should suffice if you are aggressive enough with your attacks. If you’re still having trouble, shoot for 18-20k damage. Note that VQ Bear damage will be somewhat lower than Splinters due to Pierce the Veil – this is normal, and shouldn’t be a problem, as bears get a higher damage coefficient, and multiple bears should be hitting The Butcher anyway (since he’s so damn fat).
Strategy wise, he’s quite easy. He has five main abilities:
Charge – He’ll rear up and shoot out a red line. Note that with the way Spirit Walk works, you won’t be saved by it unless you run into him, or manage to get out of the way with the movement speed boost it gives.
Rake – He shoots out a cone of bladed chains. This ability often follows his charge, and sometimes his ground slam – rarely other abilities. The only way to practically avoid this is to back up right as he’s using another ability, then move back in afterwards. This can provide some issues if you’re using VQ bears, but your mitigation should be so high from passives, armor, and resists, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Ground Slam – Broadcasted by him bouncing up and down. Incredibly easy to avoid, and gives an amazing opportunity to get some damage in.
Hook Shot – Broadcasted by him pointing in a direction with his cleaver. Another fairly easy dodge, though the hitbox can be fairly large, and with server lag, it can grab you when it shouldn’t. If he does grab you, pop Spirit Walk to avoid his followup attack.
Fire – Technically this isn’t his ability, it’s an environmental one of the arena he’s fought in. This does no damage to him, but it will absolutely destroy you. Just look for a panel on the ground turning red, and avoid it. Pay particularly close attention if he’s standing in it. If he pulls you into the fire, you’re probably dead – Spirit Walk will NOT save you!
If you avoid most of his abilities, dps at every opportunity, and use the healing well efficiently, he should be fairly easy. Expect at least a few attempts in order to get an idea for his enrage timer.
Random Tip: Wall of Zombies will stop his charge. If you see him about to charge, pop a wall and continue your damage!
Act 2
Recommended Builds
Splinters with 1-Hander+Mojo and attack speed items
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRX!XVW!aacZab
Recommended Stats
Damage: 20,000
Health: 35,000
Armor: 2000
Resists: 200
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Act 2 is hell on wheels – almost literally. Almost everything moves extremely fast, doing ridiculous amounts of damage. Unfortunately, this makes VQ Bears highly impractical. The wasps alone will make it a nightmare to try to kills things – the bears’ range is simply too low, and the casting delay from using a slower weapon makes it impossible to dodge. Thus, I highly recommend using the splinter build.
Using splinters, however, should make the act pretty darn easy. Slow, perhaps, but easy. Everything should be killable, and you should be able to take a few hits here and there, dramatically reducing your number of deaths. Stutter step to victory!
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Maghda
I’m not even going to bother going into a build/stats or her abilities and such – this boss is far too easy to bother. Save your CCs for the minions she spawns, and avoid her flies and such. The only reasons you should ever die to her are: a) Extreme lag, or b) Blatant human error.
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Zoltun Kulle
He’s fairly easy, although I admit it did take me a few tries. His abilities are as follows:
Minions – He has two, but they’re fairly squishy if you’re soloing. Kite them, trash them, move on.
Slow – He occasionally drops a bubble that slows you if you’re inside it. Never, ever stand in it. If he tosses a fire ball or drops rocks on you, you won’t be able to get out in time.
Falling Rocks – Occasionally he’ll drop some rocks on you from the ceiling. This is broadcasted by the screen rumbling for a moment before they begin to fall. If you aren’t already on the move, this can be tricky to dodge.
Fire Ball – Broadcasted by a shout and burning sound. A fairly easy dodge if you remain moving. It does move kind of fast, but he’s always seeming to shoot it exactly where you’re standing – not a whole lot of motion prediction going on.
Tornadoes – These are again more of an environmental effect, and they just pop up randomly in the arena. They move slowly, but do a ton of damage. Just be wary as you kite around the ring.
His abilities to tend to move quickly, but he doesn’t really try to predict your movements. Never, stop, moving.
If you’re absolutely desperate, it’s possible to trap him on one end of the invisible bridge in the middle (the one going diagonally from top-left to bottom-right) and kill him Mephisto style by darting him to death from the other side. If he’s stuck this way, he won’t use any of his abilities.
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Belial
Recommended Builds
Splinters
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUdQP!YWV!aaZYbb
Recommended Stats
Damage: 25,000
Health: +40,000
Armor: 2000
Resists: 220
I used this video guide (to an extent) to fight Belial, and I highly recommend all witch doctor’s try it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44PSy_W40pM&feature=related
It shortens attempt time by making the first two phases end in about a minute total, allowing the player to focus on the third, harder phase.
Phase One – Snakes
About two dozen serpents spawn in small groups. Kill them all via kiting. Should be fairly easy. If you’re using the recommended build, do not waste CDs or Spirit Vessel, and do not pick up any health orbs just yet. Also, attempt to get five stacks on Soul Harvest if you can.
Phase Two – Mini Belial
Belial comes off his platform and attempts to kill you himself. Initially he’ll reposition by dashing around, then he’ll settle for a bit. He then will occasionally dash to you and hit you for massive damage. If you have the stats I recommend, this should not one-shot you. After about 20 seconds, he’ll step back and shoot three green circles at you. They move slowly, but they will probably one-shot you, and the middle of the three circles will always be centered on you when he fires them. After 30 seconds or so, he starts spawning more snakes, and you have to fight both him and his minions at the same time. Once he gets to 20%, he enters Phase Three
If you’re using the recommended build, grab any health orbs you can as he’s positioning, then blow your cooldowns. If done correctly, with reasonable stacks of Soul Harvest and Gruesome Feast, you should be able to get him to 20% before he starts spawning snakes. Should you not have enough damage to do so, attempt to continue to focus him, while Ccing/kiting the snakes. Avoid fighting the snakes as much as possible, as this will only extend the fight, and increase the odds of making a mistake and dying.
Phase Three – True Form Belial
This is where most of your attempts will probably fail. Don’t despair! Keep trying! He has three main abilities. I recommend positioning yourself in the lower/lower-right section of the arena. Know that ALL of his abilities one-shot
Ground Slam – This should be the only thing you die to, barring extreme lag or really, really poor luck. He’ll rear up, and a green circle will appear on the ground. These attacks vary in form, as do the hit boxes. Never, ever try to make a “clean,” or “efficient” dodge during this phase. Always run further than you need to, and be careful not to get cornered. Note that these attacks often happen in sets of three and two (a three hit combo, then two random hits) before he switches to another attack. The type of attack can also sometimes be influenced by your positioning. For example, if you position closer to him, he’ll quite often do a straight down attack, where he pierces the ground with his claw – thus having a much smaller hit box. However, I’ve found it best to simply run small arcs around the lower section of the arena, somewhere in the middle, between him and the outer edge – not getting too close or too far. Do not attempt to attack him during this type of attack. Between lag and what not, you will probably get hit and die
Breath – While this is broadcast by him rearing up, it’s often too late to avoid by then if you aren’t already moving. However, this is an easy one to dodge, as it only comes immediately after a Ground Slam sequence. Simply position yourself in the lower-right corner and it won’t hit you. Note that if you’re terribly unlucky, he’ll block the lower-right corner instead of the upper-left as he’s supposed to, and you won’t be able to take cover. Once positioned, this is a good chance to attack.
Bombing – This attack often comes immediately after a breath attack, but not always. He’ll stick both of his hands in the ground, and green circles will start popping up everywhere, and explode a second or two later. Avoid, and attack whenever you get the chance. While your avoiding, know that the moment a circle explodes, it can usually be walked on – even if there appears to be an explosion animation going on. For better dodging, try to memorize the order in which nearby circles pop up. If you get boxed in, it’s good to know which are about to explode. Unfortunately, there is a rather severe bug that plagues this ability – invisible bombs. Occasionally, you’ll think you’re safe, but you’ll suddenly explode. If this happens more than once, leave the game and remake to get on a new server. It’s unfortunate, but that’s all you can do.
Honestly, Belial took me six hours, or about fifty attempts. Lag, even in small amounts, got me killed constantly. I’d attempt to dodge a ground slam, but the server would consider me underneath the attack, even when on my screen I was quite far away. Coupled with invisible bombs and the occasional human error, it was not a pleasant experience. It seems luck is required to some extent (or a lot of perseverance, in my case 😛 ). A few tips though…
-Again, dodge his ground attacks by running as far as possible. Avoid running into a corner where he can box you in.
-Dodge carefully during his bomb attacks. Make sure you’re standing just a little bit further away from the circles than you need to be. Again, avoid corners.
-Try to save Spirit Walk for his ground slam attacks – you want to keep Spirit Vessel off cooldown for as long as possible.
-NEVER try to hard-dps using cooldowns. Dodging > damage always
-His opening attack sequence is almost always three attacks plus two, breath, then bombs. Note that this sequence can vary, so don’t rely on it to much. After his first bombing, he can do ground slam -> breath -> ground slam again, so immediately prep for dodging ground slam again after a breath attack, and don’t start hitting him until you know his going into a bomb attack.
Act 3
Recommended Builds
Splinters
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRX!XVW!aaaZab
OR for dealing with packs of Fallen…
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRh!XVW!aaaZac
Recommended Stats
Damage: 28,000
Health: 40,000-45,000
Armor: 2200-2500
Resists: 250
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The jump in difficulty from Act 2 to 3 is significantly less than Act 1 to 2, with a few exceptions. Most notable of which are the elite packs. At this point, some of them are so difficult/impossible to fight, that you either have to reset the map by leaving/rejoining, kite them to a corner and die, or run past them. Only about half of these packs will be killable within a reasonable amount of time. You’ll learn very quickly what you can and cannot kill – use your judgment for each fight. Is it easy to kite? Does it have ranged? Is it plagued? Teleport? Fast? All things you should take into consideration before deciding to fight or skip a pack. Don’t feel bad about skipping things! If you want to farm elites, you can do it later – for now, it’s best to get to Act 4 as quickly as possible.
It’s also worth noting that trash mobs drop some pretty good loot at this point. Check the value of everything that seems like it could be worth some money. I skipped about half of Act 3 (in terms of elites), but still made about a million and a half gold in the day I spend doing the act – almost all of which came from random monsters.
Another exception in terms of difficulty are Soul Lashers – the monsters that slap you about with their tongues. As far as I can tell, this will always one-shot you. Spirit Vessel will help with this, but you still must learn to fight them, and fortunately, they usually come as individuals – not in packs.
The best way of fighting them is either to let the templar charge them for a stun, and have hex out while he does so. The lasher will get stunned, then polymorphed. Provided your damage is reasonably good, you should be able to kill the lasher before it gets out of CC. Optionally, you can spirit walk up, hex, and shoot them to death. Notice that I now recommend Jaunt on Spirit Walk instead of Healing Journey – this is one of the reasons why.
A third option is available, but it requires the right situation. The range of their tongue is actually a fair bit shorter than the screen. Provided you see them coming from afar, you can slow them and shoot them before they get in range. However, more often then not, they are on top of me before I can slow them.
Yet another exception are Phase Beasts. Treat these much like Soul Lashers, except that these don’t have range. They also typically don’t teleport more than once every five or ten seconds. Once the teleport, drop a wall DIRECTLY on top of them to trap them, pop hex a second or two later, all the while shooting them. In emergencies (or when dealing with multiples), Horrify with Face of Death is quite handy.
Also, there tends to be a lot of ranged in Act 3, from quill beasts to archers. The best way to deal with them is to poke your head out from behind a corner, drop a wall, shoot a few times, and hide. Repeat as needed. Note that quill beasts have fairly short range, and can be killed from off-screen fairly easy. Archers have longer range, but their projectiles are very slow.
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Ghom
Lolreally?
Ghom is the easiest boss you will ever fight. Just dodge the gas, kiting in large circles around the edge of the arena whenever possible, slowing the slimes whenever needed. Generally you can ignore them, and they’ll slowly die to your grasps/walls. For a faster kill, drop Horrify for Soul Harvest and Hex (you really shouldn’t need the heal sustain, as you should never get hit) for Haunt with Resentful Spirit. Keep in mind that Haunt burns mana fast, so don’t use it unless the previous cast has run out.
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The Siegebreaker
Another easy boss. Keep Hex if you feel like it, dropping Horrify for Haunt again. He really only has four attacks, only two of which should matter.
Big Charge – This is the one he broadcasts by stomping the ground a few times, then rearing up facing the direction he will charge. Pay attention and dodging should be easy, even if you have to use Spirit Walk
Mini Charge – Similar to the other one, except much more sudden. He won’t stop about, he’ll just rear up and charge. This will kill you if you aren’t keeping a close eye on him.
Ground Slam – Largely irrelevant, as you should never be close enough to him for this to hit you.
Claw Attack – Same as Ground Slam. Worth noting that the hit box for this is really tiny – it shouldn’t hit you unless you balls up badly.
Again, Wall of Zombies will stop his charges, and there are a number of terrain features (namely rocks on the left side of the arena) that you can hide behind which also stop his charges. Really though, if you just keep him on the edge of your screen while running circles around him, he should be cake, as none of his abilities will be capable of hitting you.
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Cydaea
Recommended Build
Splinter Variation
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRd!XVW!aaaZaZ
Yet another easy boss. Keep hex for a touch of sustain against her ranged attacks, and take Siphon over Horrify to make the fight faster.
Poison Darts – She’ll periodically shoot out four poison darts in somewhat random directions, though oriented towards you. These are somewhat dodgeable as long as you remain moving, but they shouldn’t one-shot you either. After two or three volleys, she’ll use her web ability
Web – Just a slow that she places underneath you. Doesn’t do damage, just a little annoying at times. Walk off it and continue fighting!
Spider Pit – Occasionally she’ll shoot out little green pits that spawn spiders. These also spawn on their own. They spawn slow moving (but one-shotting!) small spiders for a little while, then disappear. I find it best to ignore these spiders, occasionally Spirit Walking into them for Soul Harvest. Once there’s a good 30 of them on the screen, kill them with grasp+wall. Though, if you wait long enough, the spiders will disappear on their own eventually.
Basically just kite around the spiders, shooting Cydaea whenever you can. Keep Hex up for the heal, as you will inevitably get hit by the darts. Otherwise, this plays much like Ghom, and should be fairly easy.
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Azmodan
Same build as usual, just dropping Horrify for Haunt once again. However, your gear will need a bit of work. It is absolutely mandatory that you have 12% movement speed on your boots. I also highly recommend buying Hammer Jammers (cheap legendary pants with movement speed on them), Slave Bonds (cheap legendary bracers with movement speed), and possibly a Talisman of Aranoch and/or Unity (cheap legendary amulet and ring with movement speed). Do try to keep about 35k HP and reasonable resists when buying these pieces of gear, however. I’ll explain why you want the movement speed shortly.
Fire Ball – Instagibs, but slow moving. Simply stutter-step as you do damage, and this will never hit you. You can also break it by hiding behind the chains that look like support beams such that it collides with them.
Spawners – After he takes about 15% damage (or it could be on a timer, not really sure), he starts creating monster spawners around the arena, which spawn the melee demon troopers. I like to kill these when they crop up, leaving the health orbs until I need them.
Puddles – These are why you need movement speed. At about 70%, 45%, 25% and 15% life, he’ll use an ability that spawns growing black puddles around the arena. The first three drop fairly predictably in the top right, top left, and bottom left areas of the map, then the others will drop very near, or even underneath you. Spirit Walk can help if you end up right on the edge of a puddle, but if you are right in the middle, Spirit Walk will break before you get out of the pool. With the extra movement speed, however, you can outrun much of the pool’s growth, and ultimately take less damage – hopefully getting out without using Spirit Vessel. Note that the pools have a slightly larger radius than the animation shows.
Lazorzpewpew – Azmodan will occasionally use a somewhat slow moving arcing laser after the first time he uses puddles. Just stutter-step it and keep shooting him.
Much like Belial, kiting > damage, particularly during the pool attack. Fortunately, unlike Belial, lag is much less of an issue, since Azmodan’s abilities tend to be slower, with more obvious hit-boxes. The only hard-to-deal-with mechanic that will kill most of your attempts is the pool ability. Movement speed will help vastly with this. However, it can still be tricky… Some tips:
-Always avoid getting too close to the puddles, and never try to walk between them unless you absolutely have to. Remember, these break Spirit Walk with ease. If you have to cross over a puddle, pop Spirit Walk in a “safe” area, then run across.
-I find that following the ring pattern in the ground that goes from chain to chain with a mild zig-zag is the safest way to deal with the puddles. They seem to have some sense of motion-prediction, and occasionally he’ll drop them in front of you. Zig-zagging seems to mitigate this significantly.
-Don’t be afraid to potion! Keep Spirit Vessel on cooldown as much as possible. When you get hit by a pool, do everything you can to avoid taking lethal damage – from potting to using hex, or grabbing health globes (though only if it’s absolutely safe to do so!)
-When dealing with the spawners, one option is to just drop a wall on one. It will kill the spawner, and most likely any minion that manages to spawn from it.
-Wall+grasp also deal decent damage to Azmodan.
Act 4
IN PROGRESS!
Recommended Builds
Splinters
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRX!XVW!aaaZab
Recommended Stats
Damage: 30,000
Health: 40,000-45,000
Armor: 2500
Resists: 300
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I find there is much contention of damage vs survivability on a Witch Doctor past Inferno Act 2. Most Witch Doctor’s opt for full int gear, with no survivability whatsoever. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. If you prefer to kill things quickly at the risk of being one-shotted by everything, that’s fine. In fact, it’s possible that you may progress more quickly in Act 4 by doing so.
Personally, I’ve found that not everything, just most things, one-shot in Act 3 and 4. Having some health/resists dramatically reduces my number of deaths against such things (like ranged monsters, and dots like desecrate and plague). You’re choice, but I recommend starting with balanced gear, and deciding from there based on your playstyle and performance.
On that note, I’ve also found that a lot of things that players believe is a guaranteed one-shot, actually isn’t. Two prime examples are the Corrupted Angels’ charge, and Izual’s global freeze attack. I’ve found that, with roughly the recommended stats above, I survive the Corrupted Angel charge about 1/3rd of the time with 1/5th health remaining. Similar for Izual’s freeze, except it’s more like a 70% survival rate.
That said, most of the monsters in Act 4 are really squishy. Thus, 30k damage has been enough for me so far. The only monsters you really need to watch out for (at least where I am at), are saboteurs (mortar-like effect that one-shots) which you will stutter-step endlessly to kill, and Oppressors, which have a near-instant charge that one-shots. Treat the Oppressors like the lashers from Act 3, and you should be fine.
Corrupted Angels are similar, except their charge can actually be dodged or avoided with Spirit Walk if you have really good timing. They actually pause and rear up for a moment before charging. If you can dodge it, great. If not, treat them just like lashers. Also, try to hit them with Grasp of the Dead or Wall of Zombies before using darts. This way they’ll be physical resistant and not poison resistant, allowing you to kill them much faster.
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Iskatu
Another fairly easy boss. I recommend dropping Horrify for Locus Swarm+choice rune. Take him slowly, and kite in big circles around the edge of the map. Save your CC for when the little guys bunch up enough to make a slow worthwhile, popping locust when it’s safe to do so. If you try to rush this boss, he’ll kill you very, very quickly. So just let locusts do most of the work, firing off darts when you have a good chance, and running around as needed to wait for cooldowns. Keep hex and potions on hand just in case you take a hit or two.
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Rakanoth
Recommended Builds
VQ Bears Variation
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#fUYTQP!UVW!caaZZb
Recommended Stats
Damage: 38,000 MINIMUM
Health: lolwat?
Armor: lolwat?
Resists: lolwat?
Happy fun time! Oh I lied! This guy cannot really be beaten conventionally. No amount of defensive gear/abilities can save you from his charge, which is undodgeable and instantly kills. In order to beat him, you actually have to stack intellect gear and go VQ-Bears (with a one-hander+mojo), and Spirit Vessel is mandatory. I used this video as a guide.
Essentially, there is no strategy. Pop your pets, and the moment he jumps in (hopefully not onto you), step into the corner, drop your CDs, and blow him up. I have done this successfully, but it took a few tries for him to not jump on me initially, and to get the positioning right. For the this work, every single bear MUST hit him. Positioning your back to the wall, when done correctly, will make the bears go in a straight line, making this possible.
Just as a side note, the gear cost me about 300k, so it’s not a “huge” investment, as you shouldn’t have needed to buy much gear (if any) between the end of act 2 until now. Plus, it’s always good to have a pure-intellect set on hand, should you ever want to change your strategy to a suicidal-type build.
Also, when buying your int gear, try to get it with dexterity. Just a little bit of dexterity can give you the dodge you need to survive a charge, and finish the fight.
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Izual
Recommended Builds
Splinters
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aZUkRW!XVW!aaaZaZ
Recommended Stats
Damage: 30,000
Health: 45,000
Armor: 2600
Resists: 300
As you can see, I recommend a splinter build with Toad of Hugeness in place of Horrify. I’ll get to why shortly. Note that Spirit Vessel is pretty much mandatory for this fight, as it was for Rakanoth.
Frozen – Typical freezing ability that you see on elites. Avoid it carefully, and you’ll be just fine.
Charge – All oppressors have this ability. It’s basically an instant-charge/teleport that instantly kills. It’s range-triggered, so try not to get within a screen of Izual or his oppressors unless there is something between you and them.
Global Freeze – Izual will cast this twice, at roughly 60% and 25%. This a lot of people believe is a one-shot, but if you have the recommended stats above, you should be able to survive. If not, I’ll explain how to deal with it below.
Minions (Oppressors) – Spawns at about 75%. Typical oppressors. Don’t get charged, kill them fast when they show up – ideally from off-screen.
Minions (Corrupted Angels) – Spawns at about 50%. Again, typical corrupted angels, except I think they have slightly more health. Never, ever let these get on screen. Always kill them off-screen, or fight them while they’re hexed and you’re in Spirit Walk.
If you survive the Global Freeze without getting killed, then this fight should be fairly easy. Kite him around one of the holes in the ground for the first 20% or so (oppressors can’t charge over the holes, though the angels can), then start kiting before triggering the oppressor spawns. Drop CCs like a madman (thus the Toad of Hugeness) and kill the oppressors from either behind a hole, or even better, from off-screen.
Shortly after freezing you, the Angels will spawn. Here is where the Toad of Hugeness becomes particularly handy. Whenever you stop to shoot Izual, drop the toad and hex. If the angels wander on screen, they should be near-instantly CCed, giving you time to run away before they kick your !@#. Either kill the angels or ignore them and kill Izual, being careful of when you trigger his second freeze. Other than that, he should be pretty easy.
Now, if you can’t survive his global freeze, you will need to follow the same strategy, EXCEPT after the first freeze (and the triggering of Spirit Vessel), kill any minions and kite Izual until the cooldown on Spirit Vessel ends, then resume fighting. Keep in mind that this means you cannot get hit by anything except the global freeze during the entirety of the fight. Also know that Tyrael does pretty massive damage. Make sure that when you are kiting him in between freezes, that you are keeping Izual off-screen so that Tyrael stays next to you.
Tips and notes!
-Izual can be slowed and trapped by Grasp of the Dead and Wall of Zombies, respectively.
-Izual can be hexed.
-Izual generally doesn’t charge unless he gets within a quarter of a screen of you, whereas oppressors will often charge from the edge of your screen. Keep the oppressors away, and shoot blindly from off screen if you have to!
-The Corrupted Angels tend to be really slow, and not particularly aggressive. If you stay near the edges of the map, and move around cautiously, there’s a good chance you’ll never have to fight them directly – just spirit walk past them occasionally, while dropping CCs as you run by.
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Izual down, and I’m currently at the Pinnacle of Heaven (Diablo). It seems with my current stats that all of his attacks are a one-hit kill (except the cage+grab combo, which never kills). I only did one run, so we’ll have to see if there is some way to mitigate his damage. But for now, I must sleep. Hopefully I can complete this guide tomorrow!
You can find the rest of his post and updates to the guide @ us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5149014804?page=1
