Difference between revisions of "Corpse Spiders"

Revision as of 00:27, 20 May 2012

Spiders on the prowl.

Corpse Spiders is a Primary Witch Doctor skill unlocked at level 3. The Witch Doctor tosses a small jar from which spiders swarm out, pouncing on nearby enemies.

Background

The Witch Doctor throws a jar that breaks and releases spiders that attack nearby monsters.

Skill Rune Effects

The following is a very quick summary. See the Corpse Spiders 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">Corpse Spiders</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Leaping Spiders">Corpse Spiders</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Spider Queen">Corpse Spiders</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Widowmakers">Corpse Spiders</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Medusa Spiders">Corpse Spiders</skill> <skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Blazing Spiders">Corpse Spiders</skill>

Skill Design

This skill was initially called Spider Totem. In the earliest version it summoned three large spiders from the earth wherever the Witch Doctor targeted the spell. They swarmed over nearby enemies, dealing poison damage.

Synergies

The following Witch Doctor passives provide a benefit to Corpse Spiders, runed or not:

Name	Level	Description

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

Development

The old Spider Totem Spell.

The old Carrion Spiders Spell.

Corpse Spiders was first revealed during BlizzCon 2008; it was originally known as Spider Totem (later Spider Statue) and was on the Plague Skill Tree (itself later renamed to Zombie Skill Tree). It worked like a trap (the Assassin skills from Diablo II) with a radius of poison damage. When cast a small totem would appear out of the ground, from which hundreds of small spiders would emerge, and swarm over nearby monsters, dealing poison damage.

By BlizzCon 2009, this skill had changed dramatically. Renamed to Carrion Spiders and moved to the Voodoo Skill Tree, it had a completely different visual. Flux tried it in the gameplay demo, and described it:[1]

This skill is now called Carrion Spider, a summoning spell that causes a human corpse to erupt from the ground. This gruesome zombie sits up out of the earth and vomits out a large, milky-colored spider, before sinking back into the ground and vanishing from sight. The spider then functions as a minion, racing over to an enemy and latching onto them, dealing considerable poison damage for some duration of time. The spell can be cast repeatedly, just to watch the gruesome zombie animation, and sometimes the spider actually bursts through the zombie corpse’s chest, rather than waiting to be vomited up.

During BlizzCon 2009's Heroes and Monsters panel, the development team discussed the changes made to it. The Spider Totem had a noisy look, a player would cast this in a combat situation, and the entire screen was filled with small spiders which made it hard to concentrate. Also, they didn't like the totem thematic, as the Witch Doctor is more dark than that.

For BlizzCon 2010, the name was changed (once again) to Corpse Spiders. Although available in the gameplay demo, it wasn't one of the Witch Doctor's starting skills.

Beta

Skill tiers were removed shortly before the beta started in September 2011, and Corpse Spiders became a level 7 skill. The skill's mechanics were also changed when the name was changed, from a zombie that vomits spiders to a simple glass jar that is thrown at monsters and releases spiders upon impact. Flux was not impressed:[2]

Whatever the delivery system, this one is fairly ineffective. The concept seems to be that this is a DoT spell that deals Physical damage instead of poison or fire or whatever is the ghost damage Haunt deals (Arcane). Unfortunately, there’s no reason (at least not in the beta) that you’d want to prioritize one type of damage over another, since all you care about is more damage against monsters that have negligible resistances. On that front Corpse Spiders fails, since the damage is very low and the spiders are slow to start delivering it.

The skill system was once again overhauled for the Beta Patch 13 in February 2012, and Corpse Spiders was classified as a Secondary skill and moved to level 3. It was reclassified as a Primary skill for Beta Patch 15; while its damage was nerfed, its mana cost was also lowered considerably, low enough to make it a spammable skill.

Previous Versions

See the Witch Doctor skill archive for more details on previous versions of Corpse Spiders (or Spider Totem, or Spider Statue, or Carrion Spiders) and other Witch Doctor skills.

Media

Corpse Spiders can be seen in action on video here:

No videos yet.

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

References

BlizzCon 2008 Witch Doctor Gameplay Report
BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats
BlizzCon 2009 Heroes and Monsters Panel
Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
Witch Doctor Beta Skills Mega-report: Part Two — IncGamers 1st Oct 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

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 The following is a very quick summary. See the [[Corpse Spiders 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">Corpse Spiders</skill>
+{{skill description header}}
+<skill subcat="Physical realm spell" class="WitchDoctor">Corpse Spiders</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Leaping Spiders">Corpse Spiders</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Spider Queen">Corpse Spiders</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Widowmakers">Corpse Spiders</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Medusa Spiders">Corpse Spiders</skill>
+<skill class="WitchDoctor" rune="Blazing Spiders">Corpse Spiders</skill>
@@ Line 19: / Line 25: @@
 ==Synergies==
-The following [[Witch Doctor passives]] provide a benefit to Corpse Spiders:
+The following [[Witch Doctor passives]] provide a benefit to Corpse Spiders, runed or not:
-{{Passive skills header}}
+{{skill description header}}
-{{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 73: / Line 79: @@
-{{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]]

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(U) = Unfinished				Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree