Witch Doctor skills

An ongoing listing of Witch Doctor skills, as seen on the Blizzard site and observed in the WWI gameplay movie.

Contents

Offensive Spells

Locust Swarm

Locust Swarm

This projectile emits a spray of green insects which swarm over anything in close range, like flying piranha. Each swarm seems to last for a given amount of time, and if they kill one monster and still have some duration remaining, they will spread to others. They gain time by consuming each target though, and in a mob the locust swarm can act in chain lightning fashion, leaping from one enemy to another, killing a dozen or more targets if they are closely spaced.

The locusts can also be sprayed on the WD's minions, where they will ride along, without hurting the minions, and grant poison damage to the minion's attacks.

Firebomb

This skill allows the WD to lob blazing projectiles, like molotov cocktails, at his enemies. They may be thrown varying distances, from most of the way across the screen to nearly at the WD's feet. The burning bottle tumbles end over end in mid-air, and explodes with a burst of flame when it lands, dealing fire damage and knocking back anything in the immediate vicinity. The spell seems to involve some sort of fire spirit, not just a flammable substance, since a flaming figure is briefly visible overhead when the firebomb bursts. It also sets targets aflame, and they take continued damage from the fire for several seconds. There are fires left burning on the ground after a firebomb detonates, but these do not seem to deal damage to, or set fire to, targets that walk through them.

Like the locust skill, the firebomb skill may also be cast upon minions, which will add fire damage to their attacks.

Sequence of Witch Doctor casting Firebomb

During the Denizens of Diablo panel at the 2008 WWI event, the D3 team spoke at length about the development of the Firebom skill and how it's one of the skills that best describes what makes the Witch Doctor tick. A partial quote:

Originally it was a sort of fireball spell; when cast it traveled in a direct line from the WD to the target and would hit anything in the path. It exploded nicely. Explosions are cool. Everyone likes them.

Problem was, not really problem, but we've all seen that kind of Fireball spell before. The artists came back said we didn't imagine him that way. We saw Firebomb as more of a physical magic. Like concocting some alchemical recipe in a skull and hurling that, and it explodes.

Once it was a physical projectile designers liked that. It became a physical thing to throw, could go over walls. Become different tactics and use. Great example of how art and design can work together to iterate to make cool skill.

Mind Control Spells

Horrify

Horrify
Rank: 3/5 A spectral mask that horrifies all enemies in proximity, causing them to run in fear. Mana cost: 10 Radius: 20 Fear duration: 1-2 seconds. Mask duration: 5

This curse-like spell works like the Terror curse (or the barbarian's grim ward skill), but functions almost like an aura; causing any monster near the WD to flee in fright. Monsters in range are overcome with fright and immediately scatter, running away from the WD. The skill works by summoning a frightening spirit, which appears above the WD and screams and shakes its arms at the monsters. Presumably, any monsters that come into range while the horrify spirit is active are affected by it, essentially making the WD a moving object of terror. This limits the skill as well, since it can't be cast on individual targets, or cast a great distance from the WD.

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.

Mass Confusion

This curse-like mind control attack summons a blue spirit wherever the WD targets it. The spirit confuses some of the monsters in range, causing a aqua light to appear over their heads. Confused monsters seem to lose their AI, and they mill around more than usual. They may also attack, or be attacked by, other monsters. They are not the WD's minions though, and are not under his control, so he can kill confused monsters just like any other monster.

Soul Harvest

This skill creates a nova-like ring of blue smoke around the WD. All targets within the ring are damaged, and if the damage is enough to kill them, their souls (white/blue ghosts) swirl into the air, then down into the witch doctor, where they presumably add to his mana or life. The radius of the skill is not very large, so monsters need to be nearly in melee range to be affected.

Summoning Spells

Wall of Zombies

Wall of Zombies
Rank: 4/5 Zombies erupt from the earth to attack your enemies. Current level: 4 Zombies attack for 15 damage. Next level: 5 Zombies attack for 15 damage.

The wall shreds goatmen.

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.

Summon Mongrel

Mongrels.

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.