Locust Swarm

Locust Swarm is a Witch Doctor skill enabled at level 19, which sends forth a torrent of locusts which swarm over and devour anything they meet. The Locusts can chain from target to target, potentially consuming or damaging numerous targets in close proximity.

Contents

Background

Diablo III Active Skill [e]
Locust Swarm
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Enabled at:	Clvl 19
Skill Description
A plague of locusts assault enemies dealing X damage per second over X seconds. The locusts will jump to additional nearby targets.
Type:	DoT/AoE
Resource Use:	Costs Mana
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Unknown
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Jumps to multiple targets
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

The Witch Doctor sends a locust swarm to literally devour the flesh of his enemies.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Locust Swarm rune effects page for a more thorough summary of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Skill		Effect
Locust Swarm (Level 19)		Summon a plague of locusts to assault enemies, dealing 25 Poison damage per second for 3 seconds. The locusts will jump to additional nearby targets. Cost: 352 Mana.
	Searing Locusts	Ignite the locusts with fire causing them to deal 55 Fire damage per second.
	Pestilence	When the swarm jumps there is a 55% chance to jump to two targets instead of one.
	Cloud of Insects	Increase the duration of the swarm to 10 seconds.
	Devouring Swarm	Convert 40% of the damage done as Mana for you.
	Diseased Swarm	Targets killed by the Locust Swarm leave behind a disease cloud that deals 32 Poison damage per second to enemies in the cloud. The cloud lasts 3 seconds.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

Skill Design

A really nice skill against packs of monsters, working like a disease that affects one monster and then the rest of the group. It can spread quite fast, so casting this spell just once is enough, and by the time it is done, you would have used a few other skills. Enemies who are killed by Locust Swarm leave behind a skeleton, a most pleasant visual effect.

Locust Swarm Video

A video of Locus Swarm in use can be seen below, courtesy of the DiabloInc You Tube channel.

ACHOOO! Uh, I don't feel so good.

Synergies

• No synergies with any of the passive skills are yet known.

Skill Rune Effects

The known rune effects for Locust Swarm are:

• Unknown rune: Rank 2 Mana Regeneration Rune
  • Description: Your Locust Swarm regenerates 50% of the damage it deals as mana to you.
  • Effect: Turns the swarm blue and channels a tremendous amount of mana back to the Witch Doctor.

• Indigo rune: Rank 2 Multi-target Rune
  • Description: Locust Swarm now jumps to two targets upon creature death.
  • Effect: Splits the swarm, sending two out to enemies after each death. With high level Locust Swarm damage this could essentially clear an entire screen of monsters with a single cast.

Development

Locust Swarm premiered with Diablo III in the WWI 2008 gameplay video as a Tier II skill in the Plague Skill Tree (later renamed the Zombie Skill Tree). The first version of this skill could be cast on Mongrels, enhancing them with poison damage.

By BlizzCon 2009, Locust Swarm had been moved to Tier III in the Voodoo Skill Tree and could no longer be cast on Mongrels (renamed to Zombie Dogs). Flux discussed its utility:[1]

The skill isn’t that damaging, but the way the locusts can spread from target to target makes it fairly amusing to use in large crowds. This one might have long term viability, even if the damage is negligible in the end game, simply as a sort of poisonous AoE attack.

At BlizzCon 2010, Locust Swarm was still in the game (moved down to Tier 4), but wasn't one of the Witch Doctor's starting skills. Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Locust Swarm became a level 19 skill.

Previous Versions

See the Witch Doctor skill archive for more details on previous versions of Locust Swarm and other Witch Doctor skills.

Media

Locust Swarm can be seen in action on video here:

• Video: August 2011 Witch Doctor Skill Animations

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Locust Swarm specific gallery contents

References

• BlizzCon 2008 Witch Doctor Gameplay Report
• BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses