Grasp of the Dead

Grasp of the Dead is a Witch Doctor Tier 3 skill unlocked at level 6. This skill is a curse; it inflicts victims with much slower foot speed and deals damage as well. It's highly useful in the Arena PvP.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]

Grasp of the Dead Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Skill Description:
Hands reach out, slowing enemies by X% and dealing X-X damage per second for X seconds.
Skill Details:
Type:	Direct Damage
Quantity:	Duration
Effect:	Circular AoE
School:	Magical
Mana cost:	12 mana
Cast time:	None
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	None
Synergies:	None
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

A powerful debuff. This curses the target with much reduced movement speed and deals damage as well.

Skill Design

Grasp of the Dead on a Wizard.

This skill is powerful, but has a very small radius of effect. Possibly this can be increased with a runestone. As it is, GotD requires precise aim and timing to hit a moving target.

The visual is creepy, putting what looks like brown worms that are constantly wriggling in and out of the victim.

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: Hands reach out from the ground attacking all enemies within 8 yards of the targeted location. Cost: 12 mana.
Rank 2: Hands reach out from the ground attacking all enemies within 8 yards of the targeted location. Cost: 12 mana. (A)
Rank 3: Hands reach out from the ground attacking all enemies within 8 yards of the targeted location. Cost: 12 mana. (A)
Rank 4: Hands reach out from the ground attacking all enemies within 8 yards of the targeted location. Cost: 12 mana. (A)
Rank 5: Hands reach out from the ground attacking all enemies within 8 yards of the targeted location. Cost: 12 mana. (A)

(A) = Assumed

Synergies

Numerous Witch Doctor traits boost his damage across the board and to specific monster types, as well as increasing his casting speed. No known traits specifically affect Grasp of the Dead, though.

Skill Rune Effects

None known.

Development

Grasp of the Dead was first listed in the BlizzCon 2009 gameplay demo at Tier III in the Zombie Skill Tree, but it had not yet been implemented.

This skill was present on the pre-made Witch Doctor in the Blizzcon 2010 Arena, and was shown to be quite effective. Flux wrote about it in his length PvP hands-on report:[1]

A very powerful curse, this one greatly slowed the enemy, as well as afflicting them with a sort of worming, brown, burning graphic. It’s actively unpleasant to see this on your character; you actually feel like they’re being eaten alive. And you can’t even run from it properly, in your slow motion cursed state. Hard to hit a moving target with this one since the radius of effect was very small, but hugely useful if you managed it.

Media

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

References

The Barbarian - Barbarian skills - Barbarian traits - Fury - Barbarian skill archive [e]
Tier One/Clvl 2	Tier Two/Clvl 3	Tier Three/Clvl 6	Tier Four/Clvl 10	Tier Five/Clvl 14	Tier Six/Clvl 20	Tier Seven/Clvl 26
• Bash • Rampage • Cleave	• Ground Stomp • Ignore Pain • War Cry • Weapon Throw	• Frenzy • Revenge • Hammer of the Ancients	• Leap Attack • Sprint • Threatening Shout	• Ancient Spear • Battle Rage • Rend • Seismic Slam	• Furious Charge • Taunt • Whirlwind	• Call of the Ancients • Earthquake • Wrath of the Berserker

The Monk - Monk skills - Auras - Combos - Monk traits - Spirit - Monk skill archive [e]
Tier One/Clvl 2	Tier Two/Clvl 3	Tier Three/Clvl 6	Tier Four/Clvl 10	Tier Five/Clvl 14	Tier Six/Clvl 20	Tier Seven/Clvl 26
• Hands of Lightning • Lashing Tail Kick • Long Reach	• Circle of Wrath • Lethal Decoy • Serenity	• Blinding Flash • Crippling Wave • Holy Aura	• Dashing Strike • Dominate Aura • Way of the Hundred Fists	• Exploding Palm • Inner Sanctuary	• Breath of Heaven • Retribution Aura • Sweeping Wind	• Resist Aura • Seven-Sided Strike • Wave of Light