[ZiggyD]

Hey guys and girls.

If you are a bit of a Diablo nutter like myself then you have probably been having a bit of a hard time over the past few days.

I tried to pass the time by playing Diablo 2 Hardcore mode in preparation but I can't really bring myself to continue with it this close to release. So instead I decided to work on something Diablo 3.

Now I called this "Planning out the Right Build for You" and not "Making the best build" or "OP builds for your first D3 character" for a reason. The devs had made it clear that they are doing everything they can to avoid pigeonholing players into specific builds and this really shows in the character skills and runes design.

This is all about making the best build for you.

This means deciding on how you want to play, figuring out what your character needs to be able to do to be able to do that, and then coming up with the skills that support this.

Here is a bit of a guide to this idea (with examples!):

Coming up with the best Diablo 3 build for you

Coming up with the best Diablo 3 build for you

Now! I want to hear how you guys want to play Diablo 3, what your character needs to do to achieve this, and how you are going to build them up to do this!

I'll kick things off with my example (also featured in the video). Here is a link to the build I plan on starting off with. Obviously it will probably change a lot when I start playing but we need to do something to pass the time for now.

How do I want to play?
I want to play on Hardcore mode (as I'm sure you are well aware) because I like playing an intense and slow-paced game where every decision I make is crucial.

What does my Character need to do?
Above ALL else, survive! If they don't survive on HC their magic find and DPS is meaningless!

How have I chosen to go about achieving this?
I'm playing the ranged class the Demon Hunter. I want to keep myself out of harms way and keep my enemy where I can see them well enough to put a bolt in between their eyes. To do this I am going to slow or stun everything I can as much I can. I have gone with entangling shot and caltrops to slow as many mobs as I can while taken extra critical hit skills to increase the damage I do to slowed baddies. I also took a rooted, high dps and further slowing skill to kill anything that gets too close to me. Then if I get into shit I can tumble away and stun mobs while I get safe and pop a potion.

This al sounds fun to me and suits exactly the way I want to play.

Now do yours!

Link to the calculator for the lazy.

ZiggyD

Quick Comments

	TABottles:
	TCPYoonA:
	Mr_Zain:

[TABottles]

Hey mate nice guide. I haven't used the calculator seriously as of yet, I've only tried to become familiar with my abilities (Witch Doctor) and the system Diablo III uses.

My question to you is how are you going to compensate early in the game when you don't have the level requirement for some of those skills? Do you switch up your build early and eventually reach what you want? Level 54 would most likely be reached on your second or third play through.

Quick Comments

ZiggyD:

Some of the Witch Doctors abilities look really awesome and will synergize in interesting ways. Nice choice.

[ZiggyD]

Originally Posted by TABottles

Hey mate nice guide. I haven't used the calculator seriously as of yet, I've only tried to become familiar with my abilities (Witch Doctor) and the system Diablo III uses.

My question to you is how are you going to compensate early in the game when you don't have the level requirement for some of those skills? Do you switch up your build early and eventually reach what you want? Level 54 would most likely be reached on your second or third play through.

Most of my essential skills are obtained by level 19 and things kind of just get better from their. My slowing stuff is pretty much there from lvl 5 onwards so although I may have to sub in some other skills in the early levels I will pretty much be set from the outset. From level 19 on I am mostly just going to be getting some synergies and improvements to my skillset and adding some more damage output.

It may be pretty 'slow' going in the early days (pun sort of intended).

I think some builds are going to be pretty late-game oriented and will have trouble in the early game (which can be a problem in HC mode). If this looks to be the case you could create a early-midgame build and then your ideal late one to transition into.

[TABottles]

Looks like your set! During open beta I leveled my Demon Hunter to level 13 (max in beta) and damn entangled shot is handy and very fun, combined with Caltrops and it's first skill rune giving 80% slow.. i felt damn near unstoppable - well in the early stages of normal difficulty! I didn't take a liking to rapid fire as it tended to eat my hatred too much but glhf with hardcore, i'm still undecided whether i'm jumping straight into it on my first run.

Quick Comments

ZiggyD:

Thanks, I'll be rushing lvl 10 and then jumping straight into it. For my first full playthrough. If I dont make it through I'll just try again!

[cruxSpoon]

I was hoping to re-create a frost orb sorc with mass teleport, but nothing seems to come close.

I can at least get lots of teleports with a wizard with the wormhole rune. Haven't decided the right click skill yet. Im thinkin RoF. I think the best thing about D3 is that you can change your build for the situation, so Im looking forward to that dynamic.

Also, I was trying to theorycraft alot but then i realized, you get skills when you level, so im just going to try each one and see what works, since you're stuck with that for a few levels until you unlock new runes/skills. Since its not locked in, you can just change if you dont like it. Well played blizzard

[ZiggyD]

Originally Posted by cruxSpoon

I was hoping to re-create a frost orb sorc with mass teleport, but nothing seems to come close.

I can at least get lots of teleports with a wizard with the wormhole rune. Haven't decided the right click skill yet. Im thinkin RoF. I think the best thing about D3 is that you can change your build for the situation, so Im looking forward to that dynamic.

Also, I was trying to theorycraft alot but then i realized, you get skills when you level, so im just going to try each one and see what works, since you're stuck with that for a few levels until you unlock new runes/skills. Since its not locked in, you can just change if you dont like it. Well played blizzard

Try something like this.

My theory is teleport, zap everything with the free slowing Ice beam and then while they are slowed hurl an arcane ball, then teleport again. 1 Second cooldown on teleport might be enough to warrant not having frost armour as well so consider changing it (and the related passive) out for something else.

It might not be exactly the same as the D2 build but it should have a similar sort of feeling (and be pretty strong imo).

[Asrathiel]

Yeah I haven't planned anything cos I figured I'd just try each thing as it unlocked and see which felt best.

Lots of fun Monk skills to experiment with!!

I think I'll have a HC Barbarian at some point, won't go HC with my main Monk though. Would be too upset if she died

[Paroxysm]

Personally, I'm waiting until release to even think about any of this. At the moment I plan to 'wing it' on Hardcore mode with a mate (MrSandman) and I'll be streaming it at the same time!

[cruxSpoon]

WTF you can have 2 secondaries!

[ToRsupapower]

I'll be using this build http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...dVf!Zae!ZZZbac
and this build http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...TSd!UZa!caZabb
if anyone cares lol

Quick Comments

ZiggyD:

I like your spike trap and tumble combination int he 2nd build!

[ZiggyD]

Originally Posted by cruxSpoon

WTF you can have 2 secondaries!

Yeah! A lot of that additional flexibility comes from the ability to mix and match like that. Blizzard really doesn't want to pigeonhole us, it's awesome.

Obviously there are drawbacks like resource cost or regen but with clever rune and gear use you can essentially make any crazy combination of character skills you want to.

[cruxSpoon]

My only issue with wizard now, is that, you can't really go a "im a burn everything with fire" build

Thoughts?

Fire/Heal hybrid build: Thinking about removing archon and evocation for something else - Melee range build
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...kgm!ebc!YZcaZc

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...kgO!ebc!YZcaZc - with energy armor instead

Frost Aoe Build - If arcanot familiar mana is not needed will replace with something else, maybe imbued weapon for more aoe damage
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...lkm!WXY!bZYcYc

[cruxSpoon]

My head hurts.....too many build ideas lol

Quick Comments

ZiggyD:

Haha, indeed. So many combinations!

[Bendy]

A poster on the armadagaming forum did an analysis of the approximate number of builds if you're interested
http://www.armadagaming.com/showthre...for-Each-Class

They have quite a nice theorycrafting section which I would recommend checking out for some depth and number crunching.

Also here's a good explanation of stats which will be useful for gear choices.

You Tube

You Tube

Of particular interest is that defensive attributes suffer diminishing returns so it will be more beneficial to start collecting secondary attributes, i.e. if you're a barb with plenty of STR, gather some INT gear to increase resistances.

One thing to consider with hardcore builds is that stacking too many defensive skills may be detrimental due to the pace of fights. Jay Wilson announced recently there will be enrage timers for some bosses, meaning if you can't deal enough damage in a certain time you'll probably die (no TPing out of boss fights).

I'd be inclined to run through softcore first. That's just me though

Quick Comments

ZiggyD:

Thanks for the link! The change to base stats in D3 is interesting

[x5_Bard]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...VTQ!TcU!cYaacc

I'll be going with a 2h monk My idea is to group enemies up using tempest rush then using my big wep % aoe abilities to smash them down. The reason I took Serenity instead of breath is with the rune you get a very similar sized heal, but the 2 sec damage immunity to me looks priceless. I'm going for mainly resistances as with tempest rush I hope to not be taking many melee hits.

Not sure what to use as my primary since WotHF looks to be a larger aoe damage while Fists of Thunder is better spirit regen. I will have to see how spirit intensive my build is while playing!

Also not quite sure whether to pick up Chant of Resonance (+7 mins on mantra+2 spirit/sec) or Beacon of Ytar (reduces all CD's by 15%) as both look like they have merit with my build ^^. Again will really depend on my spirit regen!

[ZiggyD]

@Bendy That unknown factor is exactly why my first playthrough is going to be in HC. I want D3 to terrify me like D2 once did. I'm going to avoid looking at spoilers for any content I haven't played too. I expect to have some cheap deaths to bosses I didn't realize could do 'x'. ^^ Awesome vid btw, I learnt a lot.

@Bard Nice build! I would go with Beacon personally and try and time my mantras for the three second initial increased effect. However, if you prefer a bit less micromanagement Chant of resonance will be a good choice.

There is little doubt that a Monk rocking Near death and Serenity is going to be a great character for HC. I'm sure you will be saved many a death with that (provided you can get to lvl 58). I don't know whether you are planning on HC or SC though but it should be a good build for either.

Quick Comments

x5_Bard:

[x5_Bard]

The issue will be with beacon is that if I don't have enough spirit to use these CD's when they come off it will be pretty pointless! But like I said if its too spirit intensive I can just lower my DPS with my primary to counteract. Also I think micromanagement will be key to my build along with maintaining spirit so should be intensive and fun!

And I'll definitely be playing hardcore! I'm working on a leveling build currently and saving them for each 10 levels so that I can change my build as my abilities improve.

Also I'm just wondering how I should be aiming to increase my difficulty as I go, should I just increase after I finish the game on previous mode? Or is there a post/site I can check out?

[Bendy]

You can't manually increase difficulty. It's an aspect of your character progression analogous to your character level or quest progression. You finish Normal around level 25-30, Nightmare around 50, Hell around 60.

So it effectively takes three story playthroughs to reach the level cap, just like in D2.

P.S. I like the idea of making builds for every 10 levels. The "Progression" tab for each character's skills really helps. If you want you can even pre-plan each level as there are at least 2 or 3 skills/passives/runes unlocked at each level. Maybe only for the obsessive people.

I'm predicting certain builds will be much more viable for different acts/quests during the progression. Of course there's the Nephalem Valour buff to counter frequent switching, but that isn't a factor until Inferno.

Quick Comments

x5_Bard:

Well that makes things simple!

[Delraich]

This is a witch doctor build I am thinking about:

https://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculat...Tea!Zcf!ZYcYab

• Spirit barrage (single target spell) with 3 extra spirits is going to be my main spell (L click)
• For AOE I am thinking of acid cloud (poison damage) with a poison cloud around it (more poison damage) - (R click)
• My run out of mana spell is on 4 (I think it will be easier to spam with my index finger) - which is poison dart (costs 10 mana) with a rune that returns me 24 mana per hit
• My other single damage spell (on 3) is haunt, which is a dot with a build in life gain (155 life gain per second as it damages for 575% damage over 12 seconds)
• On 2 is my tank (gargantuan) which will hopefully keep the mobs entertained while I am casting away. I put a poison cloud around him so that he is constantly poisoning the mobs he is tanking which should synergize with the passive below (bad medicine)
• My "Oh Shit" spell is on 1 (I don't like using my pinkie that much) - is spirit walk with build in healing again as you are running the heck away.

Regarding passives, I went for:

• Jungle fortitude so that my pets and me take 20% less damage
• Bad medicine which reduces damage to me by 20% for 3sec when the mobs take poison damage (which should be pretty often)
• Rush of essence which is a mana return spell when casting spirit spells (which could be handy)

Honorable mention is Grasp of the dead - I might use this one if the above is not working as expected.

Quick Comments

TABottles:

[ZiggyD]

Originally Posted by Delraich

This is a witch doctor build I am thinking about:

https://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculat...Tea!Zcf!ZYcYab

• Spirit barrage (single target spell) with 3 extra spirits is going to be my main spell (L click)
• For AOE I am thinking of acid cloud (poison damage) with a poison cloud around it (more poison damage) - (R click)
• My run out of mana spell is on 4 (I think it will be easier to spam with my index finger) - which is poison dart (costs 10 mana) with a rune that returns me 24 mana per hit
• My other single damage spell (on 3) is haunt, which is a dot with a build in life gain (155 life gain per second as it damages for 575% damage over 12 seconds)
• On 2 is my tank (gargantuan) which will hopefully keep the mobs entertained while I am casting away. I put a poison cloud around him so that he is constantly poisoning the mobs he is tanking which should synergize with the passive below (bad medicine)
• My "Oh Shit" spell is on 1 (I don't like using my pinkie that much) - is spirit walk with build in healing again as you are running the heck away.

Regarding passives, I went for:

• Jungle fortitude so that my pets and me take 20% less damage
• Bad medicine which reduces damage to me by 20% for 3sec when the mobs take poison damage (which should be pretty often)
• Rush of essence which is a mana return spell when casting spirit spells (which could be handy)

Honorable mention is Grasp of the dead - I might use this one if the above is not working as expected.

Nice build and write-up! I especially liked how you set up your hotkeys to best suit you. I use shift a lot so I plan on using pinky shift and fingers for 1,2 and 3. 4 Will be one of my spare mouse buttons and it will preferably be a ranged attack for easier aiming. I find it weird to aim with the mouse and fire with the keyboard.