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. Follow the links to the individual skill pages for full discussion of every skill, including first hand reports and screenshots.

Useful skill links:

• Skills - General skill design and mechanics.
  • Skill runes - The huge skill customization and improvement system.
• Witch Doctor - A ranged class who also relies on pets.
  • Mana - The Witch Doctor's energy resource.
  • Witch Doctor skills - A list of all the Witch Doctor's active skills.
    • Pets - Summoned creatures that aid the Witch Doctor.
    • Physical Realm spells - Details to come.
    • Spirit Realm spells - Details to come.
  • Witch Doctor passives - A list of all the Witch Doctor's passive skills.
• 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, skill rune information, blue quotes, and much more.

Primary

Name	Level	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.

Corpse Spiders Physical Realm (Level 7)

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

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.

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.

Secondary

Name	Level	Description

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.

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.

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.

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.

Defensive

Name	Level	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.

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.

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.

Terror

Name	Level	Description

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.

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.

Mass Confusion Spirit Realm (Level 24)

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

Decay

Name	Level	Description

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.

Spirit Barrage Spirit Realm (Level 21)

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

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.

Voodoo

Name	Level	Description

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.

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Skill Distribution

A useful player-made chart showing when the Witch Doctor gains access to skills, passives, and rune effects.

Witch Doctor skill progression. Stats as of May 5, 2012.

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