Zombie Charger

Zombie Charger is a Witch Doctor skill unlocked at level 4. 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 4
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 4 skill.

Media

Zombie Charger can be seen in action on video here:

• Video: Blizzcon 2010 Rune Effects
• Video: Blizzcon 2010 Arena

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Zombie Charger specific gallery contents

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
• JudgeHype.com July 2011 Press Event Coverage - The Witch Doctor (Translated by Zediono)