Difference between revisions of "Zombie Charger"

Revision as of 16:56, 26 August 2011

Zombie Charger is a Witch Doctor skill enabled at level 5. It summons a zombie that charges forward, disintegrating rapidly into a poison cloud; it deals considerable poison damage, but the range is quite short.

Background

Diablo III Active Skill [e]

Zombie Charger
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Enabled at:	Clvl 5
Skill Description
A reckless, suicidal zombie deals poison damage to all enemies in its way.
Type:	Damage/Line AoE
Resource Use:	Costs Mana
Skill Rune Effects
Alabaster rune:	Unknown
Crimson rune:	Unknown
Golden rune:	Unknown
Indigo rune:	Unknown
Obsidian rune:	Unknown

The base version of this skill essentially functions as a poison cloud that spreads disease to everything in a short path in front of the Witch Doctor.

Skill Design

The zombie is humanoid, but it disintegrates so quickly into a green acid that it's hard to get a good look at it.

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: Summons a zombie from the ground that charges forward and deals X damage to all enemies it touches.

Synergies

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

Skill Rune Effects

Only one runestone effect is known for Zombie Charger, the instantly-legendary "Zombie Bears." It's not known which rune creates this bonus.

The effect was created by Julian Love and revealed at Blizzcon 2010, where it became something of a running joke, and was brought up in interviews and panels with unbearable frequency. [1]

Slashdot: I was playing a Witch Doctor, and I used the spell that summons a zombie for you, and I got a rune that turned it into a swarm of bears. We got a real kick out of that.

Julian Love: Yeah! Zombie Bears! It’s kind of funny, that’s one of the skills that came up – the way we work is that we sit down and throw a lot of crazy ideas out, and sometimes it’s a little scary, throwing an idea that you think “I’m not sure how the group will react. This is kind of wacky.” And I remember sitting in the group and they were saying, “What are we going to do? We need something else.” And I said, “I’m not even sure why this works, but I’m just going to say it: Zombie Bears!” And everybody went, “Yes!” And that was it. Look at the way to it feels to play that skill in the game – it just sounds fun, right?

Development

Zombie Charger first appeared at BlizzCon 2009 at Tier II in the Zombie Skill Tree, but wasn't implemented yet. At BlizzCon 2010, it was one of the Witch Doctor's starting skills, but was nearly useless unruned. Flux explained:[2]

It’s hard to use, since it has so little range; it’s hardly more than melee distance, and doesn’t work at the usual range a player assumes, a few paces behind the front line where the Mongrels are tanking. You have to learn to stand closer, almost at melee range to get any real effect from the skill. It’s not like a poison bolt, where as long as it gets to the enemy the full damage is done. The zombie doesn’t actually hit anything; it’s not a projectile. It’s just passes through them, trailing poison. So enemies it passes over and through take a lot of damage. Enemies it just barely gets to only receive a little splash of damage that hardly registers.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Zombie Charger became a level 5 skill.

Media

Zombie Charger can be seen in action on video here:

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

References

BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats
Julian Love @ Blizzcon 2010 Interview -- Slashdot 25 Oct 2010
BlizzCon 2010 Witch Doctor Hands-on Report
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

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Zombie Charger''' is a [[Witch Doctor skill]] unlocked at [[clvl|level]] 5. It summons a zombie that charges forward, disintegrating rapidly into a poison cloud; it deals considerable poison damage, but the range is quite short.
+[[File:IconZombieCharger.jpg|left]]
+'''Zombie Charger''' is a [[Witch Doctor skill]] enabled at [[clvl|level]] 5. It summons a zombie that charges forward, disintegrating rapidly into a poison cloud; it deals considerable poison damage, but the range is quite short.
+<br><br><br><br>__TOC__
 ==Background==
@@ Line 77: / Line 79: @@
 * [http://interviews.slashdot.org/story/10/10/25/1711255/Julian-Love-Lead-Technical-Artist-for-Diablo-3 Julian Love @ Blizzcon 2010 Interview] -- Slashdot 25 Oct 2010
 * [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/hands-on-from-blizzcon-mega-pvm-report-witch-doctor BlizzCon 2010 Witch Doctor Hands-on Report]
-* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7962606#post7962606 JudgeHype.com July 2011 Press Event Coverage - The Witch Doctor (Translated by Zediono)]
+* [http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7960229#post7960229 Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report] -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
 {{Skill navbox Diablo III|WD}}

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