Circle of Life

Circle of Life is a Witch Doctor passive skill unlocked at Level 10. It grants a chance that a zombie dog will emerge from the corpse of enemies that die near the Witch Doctor. The range varies; it is 10 yards at base, but is increased by equipment that adds to the Witch Doctor's gold pick up range. As the Witch Doctor does the majority of his killing at well out of melee range, adding to the radius in this way is very useful.

No more dogs will appear above the three allowed (or 4 if Zombie Handler is enabled).

The Mongrels are the basic type if Summon Zombie Dog + one of the rune effects is not enabled.

Description

Skill	Unlocked	Description

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10

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"The heads hanging in the village had their eyes sewn shut with thick thread. Whatever wicked magic held the frightful hound-beasts together was considerably stronger." — Abner Lockridge

This is one of the more powerful passive skills, as it can largely replace the need for the Summon Zombie Dog skill, effective giving the Witch Doctor another active skill in the bargain. There are some difficulties to consider, though.

• The 5% chance to summon a new dog is tiny, especially given the very small radius of effect. The Witch Doctor has to be practically in melee range of his kills, which is dangerous for a low hit point mage-style character. Using equipment to add to your gold pickup radius, thus increasing the radius of this ability, is very helpful.

• • On the other hand, that close range issue only lasts until the desired number of Mongrels have been summoned. Once there are two or three dogs for protection, the Witch Doctor can back up to his usual spell casting range.

• This skill generally does not create new dogs quickly enough to work well with Sacrifice. A WD who wishes to blow up his Mongrels regularly will probably want the ability to resummon them directly.

• • On the other hand, this skill can cause new dogs to be summoned even during the lengthy cooldown (60s) of Summon Zombie Dog.

Synergies

No synergies with any active skills or other Witch Doctor passives are known.

Development

Passive skills have had a long and storied history. When Diablo III debuted at the WWI 2008, skill trees included passive skills, much like in Diablo II. In 2010, it was announced that passive skills had been renamed traits and separated out from active skills. At the July 2011 Press Event, Blizzard announced that passive skills were once again in the game, replacing the traits system.

Beta

Circle of Life was not seen until it showed up in the Diablo III beta as a level 10 passive. Circle of Life was redesigned with a completely new effect later in the beta, and was also moved to level 12. When passives were reorganized for Beta Patch 14, Circle of Life was moved to level 13.

Previous Versions

Circle of Life's original function:

Effect: Gain 10% of your maximum Mana whenever you are healed by a health globe.
Lore: "Life is nothing more than flesh and blood to you. How empty your world must be!" - Seera the Weaver

References

• HardRock's Witch Doctor Passive Skills -- IncGamers 6th Sep 2011
• Witch Doctor Passive Skills -- Blizzard's Official Diablo III Site

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