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→Class Design
==Class Design==
The Witch Doctor looks a bit like the top half of one of [[Diablo II]]'s {{wl|[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Flayer_Shaman Flayer Shaman]}}, especially when outfitted in one of his oversized, colourful tribal masks. There is even a Flayer Shaman called {{iw|Witch_Doctor_Endugu Witch Doctor Endugu}}. Judging by the [[Witch Doctor skills|skills thus far demonstrated]], the WD fights a lot like a {{wl|[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Necromancer Necromancer]}}, using cunning and guile, rather than direct physical attacks. Witch Doctors possess a number of mind control spells, the ability to summon and control [[undead]] servants, and a variety of direct damage [[elemental]] attacks.
[[Image:Wd-mongrel2.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Simple [[Mongrel]] and fire-enhanced Mongrel, primary minion of the WD.]]
The [[D3 Team]] has described the Witch Doctor as old, grizzled and fanatical. His magic is not clean and easy, like the fire or lightning a {{iw|Sorceress Sorceress}} can produce with a snap of her fingers. Witch Doctors get dirty. They summon [[Wall of Zombies|walls of zombies]] to rip apart enemies, they call forth undead demon hounds called [[Mongrel]]s that they can detonate to deal heavy damage to their enemies, and they fashion the skulls of the dead into explosive grenades. The D3 team discussed the Witch Doctor's design concepts in the [[WWI 2008: Denizens of Diablo Panel|Denizens of Diablo panel]] at the [[WWI 2008]].
::''For the Witch Doctor, we wanted to get a rich, voodoo vibe. We wanted to avoid straight up master-caster feel. He's not just conjuring things out of thin air. WDs don't just channel magic. They take real world objects and infuse them with voodoo magic. Our spell descriptions for the WD were like, "He's going to throw a shrunken head filled with a chemical concoction." Or "He's going to create insect swarms by blowing voodoo dust from his palms." Or "He's going to sprinkle dust in the air and cause illusions and frighten monsters away."''
The team felt that it wouldn't be a real Witch Doctor without [[zombies]]. They go together naturally, but they didn't want normal slow wandering zombies. They mashed the idea of Zombies with the Firewall of previous games and came up with [[Wall of Zombies|zombie wall]].
[[Leonard Boyarsky]] describes the Witch Doctor: [http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/diablo-iii/885172p1.html]
==Male Witch Doctor's Look== The facial look of the Witch Doctor, male and female, may be almost irrelevant in the game, since most characters will always have one of the masks ([[helms]]) on them. These are far more obscuring of the face than the headgear of any of the other classes. It's not yet known how exactly alike the masks are for male and female WDs. [[File:Wd-male-masks1.jpg|frame|Masks comparison; two pieces of art, and an in-game version.]] The Male Witch Doctor's face has evolved quite a bit during the game's development, at least judging from the few pieces of concept art we've been shown. The earliest version of the character was a sort of wildman of the swamp; he doesn't appear to have been brown-skinned, and the oddest part was that he carried a little shrunken monster in a backpack, somewhat like the Fetish Shaman found in Diablo II. [[File:Wd-male-faces1.jpg|frame|Faces, from the oldest concept art on the left to the in-game version on the right.]] This mini-WD was something of a sidekick, and would assist the WD in combat. One example given during a Blizzcon panel was that when the WD was stunned, the mini-WD would stand up in the backpack and beat him on the head to try and wake him up. ==Necromancer Replacement?===
The WD is clearly {{wl|[http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Necromancer Necromancer]}}-like, in his mixture of summonings, mind control curses, and sub-mage quality magical attacks, but the [[D3 team]] does [[WWI_2008:_D3_Design_Fundamentals_Panel|not view the character as a replacement]] for the Necromancer.
