Difference between revisions of "Poison Dart"

Revision as of 00:27, 20 May 2012

Poison Dart in action.

Poison Dart is a Primary Witch Doctor skill unlocked at level 1. It's a ranged attack in which the Witch Doctor blows a poisoned dart at the enemy, dealing initial poison damage and additional damage over time.

Background

The Witch Doctor uses a blowpipe to fire a poison dart.

Skill Rune Effects

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

Name	Level	Description

<skill subcat="Physical realm spell" class="WitchDoctor">Poison Dart</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Splinters">Poison Dart</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Numbing Dart">Poison Dart</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Spined Dart">Poison Dart</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Flaming Dart">Poison Dart</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Snake to the Face">Poison Dart</skill>

Skill Design

This low-level direct damage skill first appeared in 2010. The casting animation is fairly slow, but the projectile itself is very fast and accurate.

Synergies

The following Witch Doctor passives provide a benefit to Poison Dart, runed or not:

Name	Level	Description

<skill class="WitchDoctor">Bad Medicine</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor">Pierce the Veil</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor">Fetish Sycophants</skill>

Development

Poison Dart was revealed as a Witch Doctor skill in early August, 2010. A fan in the official forums proposed a dart gun weapon for the Witch Doctor, and got more than he bargained for in the reply:^[1]

Bashiok: Wow, pretty good guess. We have a new witch doctor skill called Poison Dart. Pretty much this.

It was first seen in Blizzcon 2010 and skill runes were also shown at this moment. It was one of the Witch Doctor's starting skills, and Flux obligingly wrote about it:[1]

The main attack skill that the WD started with, this one was also disappointing while un-runed. It’s pretty much what you’d think; a tiny green projectile that deals impact damage and some DoT to the target. The dart moves quickly through the air so it’s got good accuracy, but the casting (blowing) animation is very slow. Lift the pipe, squat down into the shooting stance, fire, stand back up again, repeat. This results in a poor DPS, even though the actual dart isn’t terrible.

Beta

Skill tiers were removed shortly before the beta started in September 2011, and Poison Dart became a level 1 skill. Flux tried it out again, and reported on it:[2]

Poison Dart is the Witch Doctor’s starting attack skill, and the unruned form is about as straight forward as a skill can be. Literally! The Witch Doctor whips out a blow pipe and spits one dart in a straight line, which deals poison damage on impact with some additional poison drain over time. Though the firing animation is kind of slow, the dart flies quickly, and I had no trouble hitting even moving targets. (There are very few monsters in the beta that do anything other than advance upon you in a straight line at a predictable speed.)

The skill system was once again overhauled for the Beta Patch 13 in February 2012, and Poison Dart was classified as a Primary skill (but remained at level 1). After being nerfed some for Beta Patch 14, it was nerfed just a little bit more for Beta Patch 15.

Media

Poison Dart can be seen in action on video here:

Video: Blizzcon 2010 Rune Effects

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

Close-up of Witch Doctor blowing a dart

References

↑ Bashiok forum post — Incgamers 4th Aug 2010

BlizzCon 2010 Witch Doctor Hands-on Report
Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
Witch Doctor Beta Skills Mega-report: Part One — IncGamers 30th Sep 2011
Witch Doctor Active Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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

[1] Bashiok forum post — Incgamers 4th Aug 2010

[1]

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 The following is a very quick summary. See the [[Poison Dart rune effects]] page for a more thorough description of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.
-<skill class="WitchDoctor">Poison Dart</skill>
+{{skill description header}}
+<skill subcat="Physical realm spell" class="WitchDoctor">Poison Dart</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Splinters">Poison Dart</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Numbing Dart">Poison Dart</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Spined Dart">Poison Dart</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Flaming Dart">Poison Dart</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Snake to the Face">Poison Dart</skill>
@@ Line 19: / Line 25: @@
 ==Synergies==
-The following [[Witch Doctor passives]] provide a benefit to Poison Dart:
+The following [[Witch Doctor passives]] provide a benefit to Poison Dart, runed or not:
-{{Passive skills header}}
+{{skill description header}}
-{{Witch Doctor Passive Bad Medicine}}
+<skill class="WitchDoctor">Bad Medicine</skill>
-{{Witch Doctor Passive Pierce the Veil}}
+<skill class="WitchDoctor">Pierce the Veil</skill>
-{{Witch Doctor Passive Fetish Sycophants}}
+<skill class="WitchDoctor">Fetish Sycophants</skill>
@@ Line 67: / Line 73: @@
-{{Skill navbox Diablo III|WD}}
+{{Skill navbox Diablo III|WD|primary}}
+[[category:Active skills]]
 [[category:Witch Doctor skills]]
-[[category:Active skills]]
+[[category:Witch Doctor active skills]]

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