Witch Doctor skills

The Witch Doctor Skill Tree as seen in Blizzcon 2009. Skill are no longer presented in this fashion. Image by Muldric.

This page lists the Witch Doctor skills, with information that was current as of August 2011. This page is a quick listing; follow the links to the individual skill pages for full discussion of every skill, including first hand reports, Blue quotes, runestone information, and numerous screenshots and other images.

All character skills have undergone considerable changes during development, with the biggest change coming before Blizzcon 2010, when skill trees and passive skills were removed from the skill listing and Traits were introduced. See the Witch Doctor skill archive for information about skill changes over time.

Useful skill links:

• Skills - General skill design and mechanics.
  • Active skills - Skills where effects are activated by the player.
  • Passive skills - Skills where effects are activated automatically, by the computer or by special events.
  • Signature skills - Skills that define characters.
• Mana -- The Witch Doctor's energy resource.
• Runestones - Their huge impact on changing skills can not be over-emphasized.
• Witch Doctor skill archive - Removed Witch Doctor skills.
• Witch Doctor traits -- Passive skills in Diablo III were called traits for a while before reverting back.

Active Skills

Click to the individual skill pages for more details about these skills including numbers, screenshots, runestone information, blue quotes, and much more.

Physical Realm

Icon	Skill	Description

Poison Dart Physical Realm (Level 1)

[e] Cost: 9.8 Mana Fires a deadly poison dart that deals 100% weapon damage as Poison and an additional 40% weapon damage per second as Poison over 2 seconds.

Plague of Toads Physical Realm (Level 2)

[e] Cost: 211 Mana Release a handful of toads that deal 155% weapon damage as Poison to enemies they come in contact with.

Zombie Charger Physical Realm (Level 5)

[e] Cost: 229 Mana Call forth a reckless, suicidal zombie that deals 150% weapon damage as Poison to all enemies in its way.

Corpse Spiders Physical Realm (Level 7)

[e] Cost: 473 Mana Summon 4 spiders to attack nearby enemies for 38% weapon damage as Physical.

Firebats Physical Realm (Level 9)

[e] Cost: 352 Mana per second A swarm of fiery bats burn enemies in front of you for 130% weapon damage per second as Fire.

Firebomb Physical Realm (Level 11)

[e] Cost: 264 Mana Lob an explosive skull that deals 130% weapon damage as Fire to all enemies within 8 yards.

Locust Swarm Physical Realm (Level 19)

[e] Cost: 352 Mana Summon a plague of locusts to assault enemies, dealing 5% weapon damage per second as Poison for 3 seconds. The locusts will jump to additional nearby targets.

Acid Cloud Physical Realm (Level 22)

[e] Cost: 528 Mana Acid falls down dealing an initial 125% weapon damage as Poison, followed by 25% weapon damage per second to enemies who remain in the area.

Wall of Zombies Physical Realm (Level 27)

[e] Cost: 352 Mana A line of zombies emerge from the ground, attacking nearby enemies for 40% weapon damage per second for 5 seconds.

Spirit Realm

Icon	Skill	Description

Haunt Spirit Realm (Level 4)

[e] Cost: 106 Mana Haunt an enemy with a spirit dealing 500% weapon damage as Arcane over 15 seconds. If the target dies, the spirit will automatically haunt another nearby enemy. You may have up to 3 Haunt effects active at once.

Horrify Spirit Realm (Level 8)

[e] Cooldown: 20 seconds Don a spectral mask that horrifies all enemies within 12 yards, causing them to run in fear for 5 seconds.

Spirit Walk Spirit Realm Movement (Level 12)

[e] Cost: 176 Mana Cooldown: 15 seconds Enter the spirit realm for 3 seconds. While in the spirit realm, your movement is unhindered. Your link to the spirit realm will end if you cast any spell or your physical body sustains 50% of your maximum health in damage.

Soul Harvest Spirit Realm (Level 14)

[e] Cooldown: 15 seconds Feed on the life force of up to 5 nearby enemies within 15 yards. Gain 126 Attack for each affected enemy. This effect lasts 30 seconds.

Spirit Barrage Spirit Realm (Level 21)

[e] Cost: 141 Mana Bombard a target with a spirit bolt that deals 125% weapon damage as Physical.

Mass Confusion Spirit Realm (Level 24)

[e] Cooldown: 60 seconds Incite paranoia in enemies, causing some to fight for you for 8 seconds.

Command

Icon	Skill	Description

Summon Zombie Dogs Command Summon (Level 2)

[e] Cost: 176 Mana Cooldown: 60 seconds Summons 3 zombie dogs from the depths to fight by your side.

Grasp of the Dead Command (Level 3)

[e] Cost: 53 Mana Cooldown: 8 seconds Hands reach out from the ground slowing enemy movement by 50% and dealing 50% weapon damage per second as Physical for 8 seconds.

Hex Command Summon (Level 6)

[e] Cost: 176 Mana Cooldown: 10 seconds Summon a Fetish Shaman for 8 seconds that will hex enemies into chickens. Hexed enemies are unable to perform offensive actions and take 20% additional damage.

Sacrifice Command (Level 16)

[e] All of your zombie dogs explode, each dealing 200% of your weapon damage as Physical to all enemies within 12 yards.

Gargantuan Command Summon (Level 18)

[e] Cost: 528 Mana Cooldown: 120 seconds Summon a large zombie follower to fight for you. The Gargantuan swings for 30% of your weapon damage as Physical damage with every swing.

Big Bad Voodoo Command Summon (Level 25)

[e] Cooldown: 120 seconds Summon a fetish to begin a ritual dance that increases the attack, casting and movement speeds of all allies in the area by 15% for 20 seconds.

Fetish Army Command Summon (Level 29)

Cooldown: 120 seconds [e] Summon an army of Fetish creatures to fight by your side for 20 seconds. Dagger-wielding fetishes attack for 28% of your weapon damage as Physical.

Passive Skills

Passive skills replaced Traits during late game development in 2011. Many Traits were simply changed to passive skills, but some are all new. See the Witch Doctor traits page for a full list of those passives.

Skill	Unlocked	Description

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Vermin

(Level 10)

Your Plague of Toads, Corpse Spiders, Locust Swarm and Firebats abilities do 20% more damage.

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30

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Death Trance

(Level 28)

Reduce damage by 60% whenever you are below 25% of your maximum Life.

Blood Spatter

(Level 29)

Whenever an enemy dies within 8 yards, regain 1% of your maximum Life and Mana and the cooldown on all of your abilities is reduced by 1 second. This range is extended by items that increase your gold and pickup radius.

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Development

The Witch Doctor's skills and skill trees were first seen at BlizzCon 2008, with only a few skills enabled and many showing nothing more than vague descriptions in the skill tree. The listing was fleshed out at Blizzcon 2009, but most of his skills, especially the summoning ones, remained NYI. The current information was revealed at Blizzcon 2010, with the passive skills removed (see the Witch Doctor traits and a near-final skill listing.

A large number of the higher level WD spells have still never been shown publicly, in contrast to the skills of the Wizard and Barbarian, almost all of which have been shown off.

Removed Skills

• Pit of Fire
  
• Parasite
  

References

• Full Witch Doctor Skills
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Witch Doctor Overview -- Diablo III 13th Sep 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