Hex

Hex is a Defensive Witch Doctor skill unlocked at level 22. It summons a Fetish shaman to assist the Witch Doctor by hexing enemies into chickens for a limited duration.

Background

Hex in action.

The Witch Doctor summons a Fetish spellcaster to cast hexes upon his enemies.

Skill Rune Effects

The following is a very quick summary. See the Hex rune effects page for a more thorough description of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

<skill class="WitchDoctor">Hex</skill>

Skill Design

Descriptions of this skill viewable at Blizzcon 2009 and Blizzcon 2010 gave only vague information about its function, but an August 2011 gameplay video ([1]) shows it in use. A Witch Doctor is seen to use the skill several times in rapid succession, summoning a Fetish Shaman with each use. Each Shaman remains stationary and bathes the ground in a broad area around itself with pulsing, green light. As soon as one such Shaman is summoned, a wraith within its field is seen to spontaneously transform into a clucking, white chicken and wander aimlessly for several seconds, before spontaneously reverting to its original form. Several skeletons within the same Shaman's AoE remain unaffected.

Synergies

The following Witch Doctor passives provide a benefit to Hex:

Skill	Unlocked	Description

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Development

Hex was first seen at BlizzCon 2009 listed as a skill in the gameplay demo, but it was not yet implemented. At the time, it was a Tier II skill on the Voodoo Skill Tree. It was still listed at BlizzCon 2010, but there are no gameplay reports detailing any use of the skill at the event.

Beta

Skill tiers were removed shortly before the beta started in September 2011, and Hex became a level 6 skill. Flux was able to finally try it, and found it very fun but difficult to use effectively:[2]

Thus Hex is just for special occasions. For bosses, basically, and it’s quite useful there, since it instantly neuters their entire offensive suite. The chicken just stands there, with the hover tag still showing the boss’ name, and it’s funny. FUNNY! The effect doesn’t last that long, and with most bosses they turned back into their normal selves before I could kill them in chicken form, but it gave me free hits with bonus damage for some time.

Hex was one of the skills available in the BlizzCon 2011 PvP Arena, and Adivirgi also enjoyed using it:[3]

I kept forgetting to use this ability but it is incredibly powerful and made it a lot easier to take down barbarians who were leaping at me or pulling me towards them. It was most useful to cast it just as an enemy appeared, but casting it a little bit before gave you more time to focus on using attack skills, since the fetish guy followed you around for 8 seconds.

The skill system was once again overhauled for the Beta Patch 13 in February 2012, and Hex was classified as a Defensive skill and moved to level 8. For Beta Patch 14, it was nerfed slightly, and was moved to level 22 (out of the reach of beta players) for Beta Patch 15.

Media

Hex can be seen in action on video here:

• Gameplay: July 2011

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

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Hex specific gallery contents

References

• BlizzCon 2009 Full Witch Doctor Skill Trees and Stats
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report — IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Witch Doctor Beta Skills Mega-report: Part Two — IncGamers 1st Oct 2011
• BlizzCon 2011 PvP Demo: The Witch Doctor — IncGamers 27th Oct 2011
• Witch Doctor Active Skills — Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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