Plague of Toads

Plague of Toads is a Witch Doctor Tier 1 skill unlocked at level 2, which summons a pack of poisonous toads who hop into enemies and explode, dealing poison damage.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]
Plague of Toads Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Skill Description:
Description: Release a handful of toads that deal poison damage to anybody who steps on them.
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	Duration
Effect:	Circular AoE
School:	Magical
Mana cost:	9
Cast time:	Unknown
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	Unknown
Synergies:	Unknown
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

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

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.

Skill Rank Table

GO-GO-GADGET TOADS!

• Rank 1: Release a handful of toads that deal 6-9 poison damage to anybody who steps on them. Cost: 9 mana.
• Rank 2: Release a handful of toads that deal 8-11 poison damage to anybody who steps on them. Cost: 9 mana. (A)
• Rank 3: Release a handful of toads that deal 10-13 poison damage to anybody who steps on them. Cost: 9 mana. (A)
• Rank 4: Release a handful of toads that deal 12-15 poison damage to anybody who steps on them. Cost: 9 mana. (A)
• Rank 5: Release a handful of toads that deal 14-17 poison damage to anybody who steps on them. Cost: 9 mana. (A)

(A) = Assumed

Synergies

Several of the known Witch Doctor traits have bonuses that boost the effectiveness of Plague of Toads.

• Plagued -- Increases the damage of Animal and Plague skills.
• Quickening -- Increases the Witch Doctor's spell-casting speed.
• Staff Specialization -- Increases damage done by skills when the Witch Doctor is wielding a staff.
• Right-Handed -- Increases damage done by skills when the Witch Doctor is wielding a weapon in his/her right hand.
• Beast Hunter -- Damage bonus against Beasts.
• Demonsbane -- Damage bonus against Demons.
• Just... Stay... Dead! -- Damage bonus against Undead.

Skill Rune Effects

The rune effects for Plague of Toads were revealed at BlizzCon 2010 by Wyatt Cheng in the gameplay panel.

Plague of Toads rune options.

• Alabaster rune: The toads also blind enemies.
• Crimson rune: Flaming toads add fire damage to their attack.
• Golden rune: Reduced cost per cast. From PCG issue 221 it more toads per cast.
• Indigo rune: Changes the skill to a rain of toads, which fall down on the targeted location.
• Obsidian rune: One huge frog that uses a sticky tongue to capture and consume monsters in one bite. It spits out the treasure and items. Can eat Champions (possibly only at higher/highest rune level?), but not bosses or (presumably) bigger enemies.
  • Bashiok (jokingly?) said[1] that the mega-toad would "lick them to death" when faced with monsters it could not eat in one shot.
  • In comments to that same news post, Exile, a fan who tried this skill with the Obsidian rune at Blizzcon 2010, reported that the toad would eat bosses, deal some damage, then spit them back out. This forced the other players in the party to stand and wait while the toad chewed up the boss, before hacking it back out so the battle could go on. This is likely a temporary state of affairs, and the "lick to death" option sounds more viable for a final game solution.

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:[2]

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 explains:[3]

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.

Previous Versions

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

Media

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Plague of Toads specific gallery contents

• 

  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