Difference between revisions of "Plague of Toads"

Revision as of 18:31, 19 September 2011

Plague of Toads is a Physical Realm Witch Doctor skill unlocked at level 2, which summons a pack of poisonous toads who hop into enemies and explode, dealing poison damage.

Background

Plague of Toads in action

The Witch Doctor sends forth toads that hop into enemies, exploding in an acidic blast.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Plague of Toads 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.

Icon	Skill	Description

Plague of Toads
Physical Realm
(Level 2)

[e]

Cost: 211 Mana

Release a handful of toads that deal 155% weapon damage as Poison to enemies they come in contact with.

Addling Toads

[e]

Mutate to yellow frogs that deal 248% weapon damage as Poison and confuse affected enemies for 2 seconds.

Explosive Toads

[e]

Mutate to red bullfrogs that explode for 341% weapon damage as Fire.

Toad Affinity

[e]

Reduces Mana cost to 62 Mana.

Rain of Toads

[e]

Hail a rain of toads down from the sky that deals 240% weapon damage per second as Poison to enemies in the area for 2 seconds.

Toad of Hugeness

[e]

Summon a giant toad that swallows enemies whole for up to 5 seconds, digesting for 90% of your weapon damage per second as Physical.

This rune adds a 5 second cooldown to the skill.

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

Skill Design

The toads behave much like Charged Bolts, scattering out from the Witch Doctor and spreading out semi-randomly. The accuracy of this skill with just one cast is suspect. It's best spammed, cast six or eight times in rapid succession against a large number of attackers, especially if the enemies are moving around erratically and are thus more likely to encounter multiple toads each.

Runestones can change this strategy, of course.

Synergies

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

Development

Plague of Toads was first seen in the BlizzCon 2008 gameplay demo. The old version was in the Plague Skill Tree (later renamed to Zombie Skill Tree), and the toads were a green/gray-ish color. Flux had the opportunity to try the skill:[1]

Plague of Toads were great fun to use too, though less damaging than Firebats. At level 1 (the only level possible for active spells in the Blizzcon demo) the WD tossed out three toads, which then hopped forward like scaly, slimy, living Charged Bolts. They weren’t entirely mindless—they homed in on enemies, and exploded with a splat of green acid (poison) when they hit a target. If there was no target in range, the toads would hop 3 or 4 times, covering maybe half the visible screen, before bursting in air. They left behind splats of acid on the ground that would damage enemies who stood in it.

For BlizzCon 2009, Plague of Toads was at Tier III in the Voodoo Skill Tree. Their color was enhanced to a sort of yellowish orange, but their intelligence seemed to have downgraded. Flux explained:[2]

While the looks were upgraded, their function had been lessened a bit. The toads are stupider, more like the amphibian Charged Bolts they sort of resemble. They no longer home in on targets, and very seldom do you hit a normal target with more than one toad from the same cast. That might be less true at higher levels (or with the multi-strike rune socketed), as you gain more toads.

Plague of Toads was available in the BlizzCon 2010 gameplay demo as a Tier 1 skill in the new tree-less system, but it wasn't one of the Witch Doctor's starting skills. Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Plague of Toads became a level 2 skill.

Previous Versions

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

Media

Plague of Toads can be seen in action on video here:

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

Toads on a Dune Thresher.
A Beast feeling the explosive nature of toads.
Larger image.

References

BlizzCon 2008 Witch Doctor Gameplay Report
BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats
@Diablo on Crafted Sets and Toad Licking -- Incgamers 12th Dec 2010
Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
Witch Doctor Active Skills -- Diablo III 13th Sep 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

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-<noinclude>
 [[File:IconPlagueToads.png|left]]
 '''Plague of Toads''' is a Physical Realm [[Witch Doctor skill]] unlocked at [[clvl|level]] 2, which summons a pack of poisonous toads who hop into enemies and explode, dealing poison damage.
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 {{Active skills header}}
-</noinclude>{{Witch Doctor Skill Plague of Toads}}
+{{Witch Doctor Skill Plague of Toads}}
+{{Witch Doctor Skillrune Addling Toads}}
 {{Witch Doctor Skillrune Explosive Toads}}
+{{Witch Doctor Skillrune Toad Affinity}}
 {{Witch Doctor Skillrune Rain of Toads}}
 {{Witch Doctor Skillrune Toad of Hugeness}}
-{{Witch Doctor Skillrune Toad Affinity}}
-{{Witch Doctor Skillrune Addling Toads}}
-<noinclude>
 {{center|Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.}}
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 [[category:Witch Doctor skills]]
 [[category:Active skills]]
-</noinclude>

Fan-made Classes			Fan-made Skills [e]
• Alchemist • Arcane Warrior • Artisan • Aurian Mage • Bard • Channeller • Dragon Warrior	• Flagellant • Giant (U) • Hollow Man • Nomad • Onaga Manji • Phase Knight	• Ranger • Slayer (U) • Techpriest (U) • Telepath • Untainted (U) • Zealot	Dragon Warrior Skills • Bow and Throwing Skill Tree • Dragon Disciplines Skill Tree • Martial Arts Skill Tree	Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree	Aurian Mage Skill • Holy Power Skill Tree • Shadow Spells Skill Tree • Nature Forces Skill Tree
(U) = Unfinished				Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree