Saturday, May 30, 2015

Diablo 3 - Raekor's "Frost Viking" Build - CC Tank/zDps - [Detailed Guide+Build] by Master__Roshi

Since all you see these days is WW barbs, I thought I might mix it up for a change. I play mostly 4 man Grifts, and there are almost no barbs (if any) on the 4 player leader board. Why? Theres better dps (DH), better zDps (WD), and better CCTanks (Crus). WW barbs are like a medium blend of all that, but not a specialist. Well today, that changes. This build is designed to lock out the enemy in a frozen pillar your happy teammates will gun down without breaking a sweat (cause it's ice cold!)

LINKS

THE BUILD
Alternate Gear (will address later)

  • The Basics:
For starters, you use the 5 piece set for The Legacy of Raekor, omitting the shoulders. Your primary damage dealer is Furious Charge, and you should select the Cold Rush rune to change the element to Cold. Due to the set, you will still get all the active runes, but the rune you select will determine the damage element.

You are not the primary dps, you are the hardened warrior of ice and snow. You will be primarily using a 1h and a shield, although there a variant weapons to be discussed later.

  • The Skills
Primary - Furious Charge, Cold Rush
Your main damage dealer and crowd control skill. This will fling your sculpted mass of muscles and frost, and freeze the enemy in place. Using the Raekor's Set, this skill will gain the effect of every rune. You select the Cold Rush rune to change its element type to Cold, to synergize with your weapon. Start off fights with this. Charge at your enemy and freeze and bleed them up.

Secondary - Rend, Mutilate
An AoE bleed ability with the frost elemental rune selected, Mutilate. "Affected enemies are Chilled and take 10% increased damage from all sources." Your first party *buff* per se. Stays with the cold damage to get the bonus from your weapon and bracers, makes mobs take more damage from your bros in the backline. The bleed damage is alright, nothing to holler about, easy to use, cheap and spammable with this build setup. 100% uptime not hard to achieve. 10% for 4 players, not bad.

You will use this skill usually third; after charging in and Ground Stomp or Leap to group.

Possible alternatives to Rend:
Seismic Slam, Permafrost (Chills enemies by 60% for 1 sec). Possible alternative for more control than rend, but at expense for a lot of potential damage. Frost damage consistent.
Whirwind, Hurricane Used for grouping and proccing your bracers. Trading a lot of potential damage from Rend, but gaining quite a bit more control. Determine your groups needs and adjust accordingly. Frost damage consistent.
Ancient Spear, Harpoon. Yes I know its silly, but it's actually pretty decent control. Its a ranged knockback, pull, and slow all in one and spammable. Null damage but good for stragglers or saving your DHs. Phys dmg so no bonuses, plus you lose potenial Rend damage. Still thought worth noting down because its a good filler CC while your other skills are on cooldown.

1 Ability
The next four skills are in no particular order, and you can map them to your keys however you feel fit! First up is:
Avalanche, Snow-Capped Mountain
This is a ranged grouping ability that shoves mobs together and slows them. Frost damage consistent. The range is about from waypoint to stash in New Tristram. Example The skill sends 3 waves resulting in 3 knockbacks and slows.

2 Ability
Ground Stomp, Wrenching Smash
This thing is baller. All non frost vikings within 24 yards rush to your feet and bow down in praise. Kneel before the man of ice. Quick cooldown, makes fury, stuns and groups. Hell yes.

3 Ability
Leap, Call of Arreat
Your other grouping ability. Slightly different than Ground Stomp, and more versatile. This one is ranged, first off, so if you are not in a place to ground stomp, you can always leap there. Secondly, Ground Stomp, as awesome as it is, is not always available. You may charge in, freeze a pack then have no way to group. This is your back up grouper. Instead of stunning it slows.
It can also be used to get you out of danger, hop Waller Elites, skip map gaps, or pre group before a freezing charge.

4 Ability
Battle Rage, Bloodshed
OR
Wrath of the Berserker, Insanity
Pick your poison. Do you want consistent damage, or burst damage? Wrath comes with the perk of negating CC, which is very good for a tank, but its main damage allure (disregarding rune choice) is attack speed, which this build uses none of. A third possible alternative would be Wrath of the Berserker with Striding Giant Rune (50% less damage taken) which gives you on command tankiness.

A more defensive approach to your final Skill would be either:
War Cry, Impunity For good armor and ele resist to you and your group. However, if you are running with another barb, chances are he is WW spec and he already has this rolling on the group. Although, if you are running 4 man premades, chances are you are the only barb there hehe. Consider for moderate defense. Gives no benefit of control.
Ignore Pain, Iron Hide This is good panic button. You always see those silly barbs running in thinking they're invincible. The ones who come back alive are using this. This skill has a very good belt that synergizes with it.

All in all your 4th skill is up to you, damage or defense, see what you need adjust accordingly. The rest of the skill are core, the final skill is your choice. I recommend either Ignore Pain or Battle Rage. Ignore Pain has a very good belt that synergizes with it. I included that belt in the original build at the top of the page.

  • The Gear
To start off, you want the Raekor's Set. There are 6 Pieces in the set, you want 5 of the 6, omitting the shoulders.

Weapon!

Gotta hit this first because everyone needs to know your weapon of choice in the great battle vs Kadala for Sanctuary.

Now, there are a lot of great options for this build, but this is what we got up first: Azurewrath. The Cold damage increase and chance to freeze is the icon of this build. This makes sure you hit hard, and keeps the brewskis chilled.

Because this is a one-handed weapon, your shield to match is just the tankiest thing you can find since there are no shields with coordinating affixes, bar Freeze of Deflection. This shield is decent, but the proc is such a small chance (a percent of a percent), it's not worth it considering your other option of shield. The one you want is the Stormshield. The huge melee damge reduction makes it one of the tankiest, if not the tankiest shield in the game. A must-have for a sword and board champion of the snow.

Alternatives are a bit numerous. I will refer to the image at the top of this guide again: Alternative weapons

The Furnace sacrifices a majority of your crowd control and defenses for Raw. Big. Dick. Damage. The slow attack speed and massive damage buffs go great with Raekor's set for DPS builds. However, this is not a DPS build, it is a CC Tank/zDPS build. When using this weapon, you are not exactly a tank.
Blood Brother is a super cool weapon that fits in this build very nicely. 2 hand weapons are very good for Furious Charge builds, and this one adds block! Block is good for tanking, guys. Guys. On top of that, whenever you block you get a 30% damage increase to your next skill! Whopping damage on your charges incoming. Not as tanky as Azurewrath and Stormshield, but hella more DPS. Save this for speed runs if you have it.
Vigilance. Ok. You might be wondering why put a monk weapon on this list. Because it works. You ever see a Barb cast Inner Sanctuary? Well roll a monk, pick one of these up, flip it to your Barb, and blow people's minds. I have personally tested this myself to see if it works and it does! Picture 1Picture 2 (i know I can gift it, i have 8 in the bank, chillll (get it?))
Madawc's Sorrow This thing is kind of cool. You charge in, they all get stunned. Now they are already getting frozen from your charge, so this doesnt synergize too well, but maybe you started off with a leap or an avalanche. Just more CC if you dont have any of the other first choice weapons.
Eun-Jang-Do A 1-hand alternative to Azurewrath. You trade a bit of damage, for a different flavor of CC. Azurewrath give you a chance to freeze at anytime, this one locks em down for sure after a certain threshold. It being a dagger again means your damage is gutted, because Furious charge likes slow weapons, and this is all shanky and fast.
Fjord Cutter A not widely popular weapon, mostly because of the long time bug it used to have, but now fixed, it just hasn't found its way to any true build. The aoe aura acts like Bane of the Trapped, but also has a chance to freeze in addition to its slow. Kind of cool! (hehe) Also has freeze on hit, which is super good for us. Lacks the damage Azurewrath has, however.
Rimeheart A curious weapon I can't really recommend seeing as I don't have one, and haven't tried one. The damage proc piqued my interest so I thought I might throw it on this list to see if someone got great damage out of it somehow.

Gems

You are a Frost Viking, and you do what a Frost Viking Pleases. Your gems will determine how each Frost Viking behaves. Solid choice of gems for tank would be Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard and Esoteric Alteration. A third and very good gem to support your team would be Gem of Efficacious Toxin. This nifty little gem gives a good damage boost to your damage dealers without you having to do a thing. Nice. This build does not use Taeguk as you are not spending resource fast enough, or consistent enough to make it worthwhile.

If you dont feel like the two tanky gems because your CC is so top notch, Bane of the Trapped and Bane of the Powerful are always solid choices.

Some may want to use Pain Enhancer, as it is better dps than Efficacious Toxin, but only on your screen. Remember, Toxic buffs the real big dps like the wizards and demon hunters, so overall, the mobs will die faster with Efficacious Toxin. Plus, the attack speed from Pain Enhancer benefits you in no way whatsoever.

Rings

You do not use the Ring of Royal Grandeur and a second ring of your choice (CoE, Unity, Wyrdward, etc.), but instead, Focus and Restraint. You will get the first buff from charging, and the second buff from Rend. 

Remember You are not useless dps. This Ring combo will actually help you do a ton of damage while you are maintaining order of the mobs. Your primary role is to form that mob pillar, but this will chug away dps in the background.

Shoulders 

Your choice is between Pauldrons of the Skeleton King and Vile Ward. For that 9th life, the Pauldrons keep the groups tank (you) alive and protecting the backline. Vile Ward makes your DPS go outstandingly high and I regret not putting it on the main build linked at the top lol. But this is supposed to be a tank build so you guys understand, right?

Neck

The Ess of Johan To help group. Normally your templar wears this, but now you are in a group, so now it's yours. Alternatives would be Mara's Kaleidoscope, Xephirian Amulet, or Eye of Etlich.

Belts

If you are running Ignore Pain as your fourth ability, Pride of Cassius is your main choice. Otherwise, Cord of the Sherma is a great choice to add another layer of CC.

Bracers

One choice here, Strongarm Bracers. You are constantly knocking mobs back, so this will up the group's dps considerably. Roll +Cold damage and crit on them.

  • Passives
On the D3 Planner I put just the tankiest passives ever.
Tough as Nails Nerves of Steel Superstition and Juggernaut
You can do that if you like, but I would recommend dropping Juggernaut for something more damage oriented like Rampage, Ruthless or Weapons Master.

  • Playstyle Tips
Of course the specific playstyle is yours, but some pointers from me to you: Don't layer your CC! Big issue here. You dont really have a good cushion of error here until you have considerable cooldown reduction. Other classes can layer upon layer their CC, but this one is more precise. Start of with furious charges to gap close and build rage, stomp or leap to group them, buff the groups damage with Rend. It's a pretty simple style, and very frosty. Rift Guardians will screw your Charge pretty hard, so just stay in threat range as much as possible to give your dps a good angle and time to shoot. Remember you can use leap offensive and defensively, and always have fun.

That just about wraps up the guide and build! I hope you guys took the time to read it and enjoyed it. Maybe this might spark some new ideas from all you clever girls out there. (Jurassic World soon!!)
I've been sick these past couple days so I had the time to think all this up for you guys and hope Barbs can start appearing in the 4 person ladder!

Guide by by Master__Roshi
SOURCE 

Friday, May 29, 2015

Symmetra Gameplay Preview - Overwatch

 Symmetra Gameplay Preview

Symmetra bends the battlefield to her will in this complete, unedited match from an early version of Overwatch, captured in 60 FPS on PC. Here, Symmetra plays on the defensive team with Tracer (https://youtu.be/zNq4nTA3eMg) in Hanamura, a Point Capture map set in an idyllic corner of Japan.

Learn more about Symmetra: http://blizz.ly/MeetSymmetra
Sign Up for Beta: http://bit.ly/JoinOverwatch
Like Us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/playoverwatch
Follow Us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/playoverwatch

Diablo 3 - 2.2 GR50+ Pet Doctor build guide by isokay

I'm just another Witch Doctor currently playing on EU Hardcore and recently I've been pushing for top 5 on the leaderboard. While I haven't succeeded yet (just a matter of finding the right rift now), I have come close and am willing to share my journey with you guys.

Personally I detest the Carnevil build, no disrespect to Carnevil players out there but it feels like a weaker version of a Demon Hunter. I enjoy being up close to the action and living on the edge with my Pet Doctor, more on that later.

I've used about a hundred 53 keystones so far and tested out many iterations of my build (skills/items) and I've come to the conclusion that my current version is probably the best possible setup.

For reference my profile: http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Orianna-2312/hero/58412097

Without further ado, the build. I'll go over the skills, passives, gear, gems, paragon points for those under 800, follower and some playstyle tips. I am playing Hardcore however I am aware that there are some modifications to be made for the Softcore version of my build.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SKILLS


Spirit Walk - Jaunt
I believe this one really speaks for itself. Lets us get out of sticky situations, walk through walls, get up close safely etc. I don't see this build working without Spirit Walk even in Softcore, it would simply be too risky.
Fetish Army - Tiki Torchers
Here is the first deviation of the build compared to the standard Legion of Daggers, I've done a lot of testing with this rune. As a Pet Doctor we fish for a high density rift, the Tiki Torcher will often be hitting 5+ mobs. Simple math tells us that the 2 Tiki Torchers need to do 540% weapon damage to make up for the lost damage of the 3 Fetishes, divided by 106.25% (85% * 1.25, the Tiki Torcher attacks 25% faster than a normal Fetish) this comes down to 5.27 mobs, this means that as long as the Tiki Torchers are hitting 2-3 mobs each the damage is about equal. An added bonus is that in tight corridors where usually surface area is a problem you will now see a boost in damage due to the Tiki Torchers being in a good position.
TIP: If your Tiki Torchers are in a bad position, simply resummon your Fetish Army and they will reposition. In this fashion you can also summon Fetishes behind enemy lines by using Spirit Walk to get through them, summoning the Fetish Army and quickly walking back through the mobs.
Soul Harvest - Languish
Here is the second deviation of the build. A cookie cutter build will run Hex - Jinx, I will explain my deviation in the alternative skills section. As for Soul Harvest, this skill is great and very easy to keep up at 5 stacks, which means 15% more Intelligence. A flat Intelligence bonus actually translates to a flat 15% damage bonus. Soul Harvest has a lot of great runes, but 30% increased Armor is too much toughness to pass up on.
TIP: When I first read the Languish rune I though the Armor bonus was just for 5 seconds. Don't be fooled like me, this is just the slow effect, the Armor bonus stays up for the entire duration. The duration of the buff far outlasts the cooldown, so there is no need to use this skill on cooldown, make sure you have 5 mobs in range when you do use it.
Big Bad Voodoo - Slam Dance
Just like Spirit Walk this skill really speaks for itself, spam it as much as possible. The way I understand it is that it double dips, you being in it increases your Fetishes' damage and if the Fetishes are in it as well their damage is increased even more. Personally I haven't payed attention to it since I am always in melee so this is always the case for me but correct me if I am wrong!
Haunt - Poisoned Spirit
This is a great ability to trigger the Zunimassa 6pc on individual mobs on top of being a nice single target damage boost. On top of this it procs a slow on the mobs for Bane of the Trapped. This ability could be replaced with other spenders like Spirit Barrage or Acid Cloud but personally I think the damage bonus of Poisoned Spirit and the Slow are invaluable, especially on the Rift Guardian.
TIP: When Haunt jumps from a dead mob to another mob this triggers the Zunimassa 6pc on the target mob for 6 seconds.
Piranhas - Zombie Piranhas
This is another skill with great runes. Between the runes Frozen Piranhas, Zombie Piranhas and Piranhado the rune Zombie Piranhas is my favorite. I feel that the utility offered by Piranhado is great especially with the Tiki Torchers but the cooldown is simply too long and Grave Injustice is a passive that we unfortunately cannot acquire as well as in higher level GR's we simply dont kill enough mobs. I feel that the extra range added by Zombie Piranhas outweighs the value of the slow that Frozen Piranhas gives, especially since we are in melee and we have Haunt - Poisoned Spirit slowing the mobs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALTERNATIVE SKILLS

Summon Zombie Dogs - Chilled to the Bone
I started out the season playing this skill. I am not a fan of it due to the simple lack of surface area for this many pets. The bonus damage it offers is great especially on the Rift Guardian but very often they will be attacking different targets than your Fetishes thus nullifying the effect of the bonus damage.
Hex - Jinx
I initially replaced Summon Zombie Dogs by this skill but I came to dislike it because the Jinx damage is additive with other skill damage so when it comes down to it it is not 20% increased damage at all. An argument could be made for the crowd control it offers but I often see it hex completely wrong mobs or be out of position.
Grasp of the Dead - Death is Life
I have used this skill instead of Hex in lower level Greater Rifts in combination with Gruesome Feast. On higher levels though we simply don't kill enough mobs for it to outweigh Soul Harvest.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PASSIVE SKILLS

Jungle Fortitude
I feel this added toughness is a must have on Hardcore. Pet Doctor does not have a lot of Life per Second since the loss of Summon Zombie Dogs - Leeching Beasts so minimizing the damage taken is a lot better than having extra life, which is why this passive beats out Zombie Handler in my opinion.
Pierce the Veil
This one speaks for itself, a very good damage increase at the cost of mana which honestly is not a very big problem but more on that later.
Spirit Vessel
A no brainer, there is no point in playing without Spirit Vessel on Hardcore. For Softcore a point could be made that it is not needed. In that case I would replace it with Gruesome Feast.
Rush of Essence
I hate this passive, but it is mandatory to be able to spam Haunt and at the same time use Piranhas whenever it comes of cooldown. I have experimented a lot without this passive because I absolutely detest it but it makes the build feel very clunky. I have tried running Soul Harvest - Swallow Your Soul for extra mana, it works but I feel that the loss of 30% Armor is too big.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALTERNATIVE PASSIVE SKILLS

Gruesome Feast
This passive is great, and it is the passive I would run if I had a Hellfire Amulet with CHC and CHD. I do however feel that the bonuses of this ability come at the wrong time. The most common time to pick up a Health Globe is after killing an Elite pack, when the bonus isn't needed that much anymore. Thats why I elect to not run it in my initial 4 passive skills. That said, I believe that this passive outperforms Jungle Fortitude on Softcore.
Grave Injustice
I used to run this passive in lower level Greater Rifts, where it works great. The truth is though, Pet Doctor doesn't have many cooldowns that need reducing. A shorter Spirit Walk and Piranhas cooldown is nice but on higher level Greater Rifts we run into the same problem I have mentioned several times before now: we don't kill enough mobs.
TIP: If you're running lower level Greater Rifts run Grave Injustice together with Piranhas - Piranhado and Fetish Army - Tiki Torchers, you will plow through the rift!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEMS

Head - Mask of Jeram
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Critical Hit Chance: ~6%
  • Pet Damage: ~100%
  • Socket: 23% Life
Shoulders - Aughild's Power
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Resistance to All Elements/Armor (better than % Life, see Jungle Fortitude vs. Zombie Handler)
  • Fetish Army Damage: ~15%
Torso - Zunimassa's Marrow
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Fetish Army Damage: ~15%
  • 3x Socket: 280 Intelligence
Hands - Tasker and Theo
  • Intelligence
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Critical Hit Chance: ~10%
  • Critical Hit Damage: ~50%
  • Pet Attack Speed: ~50%
Waist - Belt of Transcendence
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Resistance to All Elements/Armor
  • % Life: ~15%
Wrists - Aughild's Search
  • % Fire Damage: ~20%
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Critical Hit Chance: ~6%
Legs - Zunimassa's Cloth
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Armor
  • 2x Socket: 280 Intelligence
Feet - Zunimassa's Trail
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • Resistance to All Elements
  • Armor
Finger - Ring of Royal Grandeur
  • Intelligence
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Critical Hit Damage: ~50%
  • Socket
Finger - Zunimassa's Pox
  • Intelligence
  • Critical Hit Chance: ~6%
  • Critical Hit Damage: ~50%
  • Socket
Neck - Countess Julia's Cameo
  • Intelligence
  • Critical Hit Chance: ~10%
  • Critical Hit Damage: ~100%
Main Hand - Starmetal Kukri
  • Intelligence
  • % Damage: ~10%
  • Critical Hit Damage: ~35%
  • Socket: 130% Critical Hit Damage
Off Hand - Zunimassa's String of Skulls
  • Intelligence
  • Vitality
  • % Life: ~15%
  • Critical Hit Chance: ~10%
  • Fetish Army Damage: ~25%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ITEM DISCUSSION

I've tried several different item builds but came to the conclusion that this is the best setup for Hardcore. Softcore has a few deviations which I will get into.
Countess Julia's Cameo
Out of all the rifts I did, the affix that nailed me the most was Jailer, especially when combined with a pack of blue mobs. At GR53 Jailer hits me for about 90% of my health (55m toughness), when this is repeated every 5ish seconds by a pack of 3-5 blue mobs its time for me to leave the rift... On top of this Arcane Sentry's can really fuck up your positioning a lot.
As for the other immunity necks, I find that Mortar is quite easy to dodge unless it is a Horde pack, Descecrator barely tickles, Fire Chains can only be annoying if it is combined with Teleporter and Molten, well..
Thunderstorm is manageable with quick reactions and can be predicted quite easily, Electrified is nullified by the Fetishes and Orbiter is very easy to avoid.
Frozen Pulse is very easy to avoid, Frozen on the other hand is a bit harder, especially when combined with something like Waller. If I were to chose any other Neck I would chose the Talisman of Aranoch.
The Poison affixes are an absolute joke, Plagued is barely tickling and Poison Enchanted you can see comming from a mile away giving you plenty of time to reposition.
Belt of Transcendence
I personally dislike any belt other than The Witching Hour, I did a lot of testing with it because I had a Hellfire Amulet with the Fetish Sycophants passive. I have found that while it is possible to keep up 15 Fetishes like this, very often in key moments you will dip to around 10 Fetishes which is a very big loss in toughness, this happened a lot on Elite packs which in turn caused me to proc Spirit Vessel many times leading me to drop the belt in favor of Belt of Transcendence which in itself gives a big toughness boost.
Aughild's Custodian
The Aughild's set is a Hardcore only thing, on Softcore I suspect people will be skipping Elite packs thus the set bonuses won't be nearly as attractive. There are good alternative's: Lacuni Prowlers are very very good. Make sure they roll with the same stats as the Aughild's Search with Attack Speed added to this. The Vitality could be dropped for % Movement Speed to gain more Intelligence from Paragon Points. As for the Shoulders slot, there isn't really anything that stands out so anything with good stats will do.
Armor, Resistance to All Elements, % Life, % Movement Speed
Generally speaking Armor and Resistance to All Elements will beat out % Life, this is under the condition that there is nothing that one shots you. A certain buffer of life is needed, this is why I think 15% Life is better than 8% Elite Damage on Off Hand. On slots like Shoulders I prefer Resistance to All Elements over % Life because of our little Life per Hit/Life per Second.
On a slot like Legs you can get extra Armor compared to slots like Waist/Shoulders so Armor > Resistance to All Elements on that slot. With the large amount of bonus armor we get from Soul Harvest - Languish and possibly Taeguk even on slots like Waist and Shoulders Armor >= Resistance to All Elements, but it is very close.
On the slots where you don't have Resistance to All Elements try to make sure you have a secondary Resistance, preferably Cold or Lightning.
Tasker and Theo
Tasker and Theo could be replaced by Zunimassa's Finger Wraps, this allows for the use of Convention of Elements. I have done a lot of testing with this ring and I dislike it for the following reason. Pet Doctor is a build that needs constant damage, not burst damage. As a Pet Doctor you try to gather large clumps of mobs and move from clump to clump. There is downtime between clumps and sometimes on Elite packs there is downtime too if you have to reposition and your Fetishes are teleported back to you. Convention of Elements will often roll over to Fire Damage at the wrong time and the bonus will be nullified, that's why I prefer Tasker and Theo.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GEMS

Bane of the Trapped
Speaks for itself honestly, by far the best gem in the game.
Enforcer
Good damage increase, the added toughness for the pets will become a must have at ~GR55, I notice that on GR53 my Fetishes are actually taking damage!
Pain Enhancer
This gem is so incredibly powerful if you play with balls. Get up into the face of the mobs, tag as many as you can with Haunt and Piranhas and you can see your damage shoot up. Make sure you memorize what the range of Pain Enhancer is as it is only 20 yards.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALTERNATIVE GEMS

Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard
I would love to use Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard but I simply dont see room for it. Pain Enhancer and Bane of the Trapped both offer far too much damage and I'm affraid that without Enforcer's toughness boost to the Fetishes they wont survive nearly as well as they do now. With Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard I would have to rethink a few of my items as % Life would go up in value due to the insane Life per Second the gem offers.
Taeguk
While Enforcer is great at boosting the toughness of the Fetishes it does not boost your own toughness. Taeguk on the other hand boosts your own toughness and is actually a slight damage increase over Enforcer if you manage to keep the stacks up. As long as your Fetishes stay alive it is worth using Taeguk instead, however I suspect on GR55+ you will have serious problems keeping your Fetishes alive without Enforcer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PARAGON POINTS

Core
  • 25% Movement Speed > Intelligence
Offense
  • Critical Hit Chance = Critical Hit Damage > Attack Speed > Cooldown Reductioon
Defense
  • Armor = Resist All > Life > Life Regeneration
Utility
  • Life on Hit > Area Damage = Resource Cost Reduction > Gold Find
Not much I can really add to this, the first 600 Paragon Levels are really key for Pet Doctors as you want to quickly max out CHC/CHD/IAS and Armor/Resist All/Life.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOLLOWER

While the Templar's healing and tanking powers are great, with 22 Fetishes in front of us we simply don't need a tank. Unfortunately we don't benefit all that much from the Templar's last skill either (Mana Regeneration). Therefor, the best follower for Pet Doctor is in my opinion the Enchantress, she helps us to stay in melee range significantly by crowd controlling enemies. The best build I have found on the Enchantress is the following:

ITEMS

Focus - Smoking Thurible
I have tried using the Hand of the Prophet because many of the Enchantress's skills are amazing, however the Enchantress will die so often to Elite affixes that it's not worth it. As for stat priorities on the Focus, it doesn't really matter.
Finger - Wyrdward
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Cooldown Reduction: ~8%
  • Stun Chance: ~35%
Finger - Oculus Ring
  • Attack Speed: ~16%
  • Bonus Damage: ~40%
While the Damage amplifying circle only procs when the Enchantress lands a killing blow, this does happen a few times per rift and it is a HUGE damage increase so make the most of it.
Amulet - The Ess of Johan
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Cooldown Reduction: ~8%
I have played with both The Ess of Johan and Dovu Energy Trap but I have to admit, especially with Tiki Torchers the pull effect is invaluable. There is no debate, it is hands down the best neck the Enchantress can have. Dovu Energy Trap is great on the Rift Guardian but lets be honest, Pet Doctors melt any Rift Guardian there is pretty much.
Main Hand - Sultan of the Blinding Sands
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Cooldown Reduction: ~10% (if possible)
  • Blind Chance: ~40%
It will be very hard to get one of these with both Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction, I'm not even sure it's possible without rerolling. What you want to reroll is the standard Holy Damage to Lightning Damage, this will allow it to proc Wyrdward and add even more crowd control.
SKILLS

Charm
Speaks for itself, this is a far better option than Forceful Push which actually does more harm than it does good because it causes your Fetishes to have to reposition
Missile Ward
This skill is better than its Powered Armor counterpart simply because a lot of the dangerous affixes and mobs fall in the ranged damage category.
Disorient
Here I opted for more crowd control rather than a very small (3%) damage buff. The crowd control has a lot shorter cooldown and can be very significant.
Mass Control
As much as I like the Attack Speed buff the Enchantress gives Mass Control is too powerful to pass up on. The amount of crowd control this brings to the table is immense, especially useful on elite pack. Choosing between these two skills is very hard and this is the reason why I did some testing with Hand of the Prophet which unfortunately didn't work out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALTERNATIVE FOLLOWER

The crowd control version of the Enchantress really shines on Hardcore, on Softcore however it's very common to skip Elite packs as they are not our strong suit making crowd control a lot less required. With Gruesome Feast being a great passive over Jungle Fortitude on Softcore (see alternative passive skills) a Health Globe oriented Enchantress is much better suited for Softcore.

ITEMS

Focus - Smoking Thurible
This doesn't change, the Enchantress still needs to stay alive, especially when skipping mobs it becomes tricky for her to survive without the Smoking Thurible
Finger - Broken Promises
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Cooldown Reduction: ~8%
  • Critical Hit Duration: 3 seconds
Finger - Oculus Ring
  • Attack Speed: ~16%
  • Bonus Damage: ~40%
Amulet - The Ess of Johan
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Cooldown Reduction: ~8%
Whatever you do, make sure you do not have Critical Hit Chance on any of the rings or amulet, you do not want any random critical hits as you are aiming for 5 consecutive non-critical hits.
Main Hand - Solanium
  • Attack Speed: ~7%
  • Cooldown Reduction: ~10% (if possible)
  • Health Globe Chance: 4%
Similar to the Sultan of the Blinding Sands try to aim for both Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction, with the priority being Attack Speed.
SKILLS

There are two changes I would make to the skill build of the Enchantress when playing Softcore:

Erosion > Disorient
Due to the smaller focus on crowd control the 3% increased damage that can be picked up here will prove useful.
Focused Mind > Mass Control
Similar to above, since we will mostly be fighting trash mobs that are relatively simple to deal with Mass Control is no longer needed. 3% increased Attack Speed for both us and the Enchantress will provide a nice damage boost to our Fetishes and the rate at which the Enchantress will spawn Health Globes.
Guide by isokay

SOURCE

Thursday, May 28, 2015

One-Stop Rehgar Guide by Grubby - Heroes of the Storm

 One-Stop Rehgar Guide

What kind of dog are you? A golden retriever, a pit bull or perhaps more of a vagabond? No matter which tree you bark up, this One-Stop Rehgar Guide will have you howling at the moon in a fit of spirited doggedness.

See builds here: http://imgur.com/a/qhDH6

Watch Heroes of the Storm gameplay LIVE everyday at http://twitch.tv/followgrubby

Stay tuned for more Hero Guides and subscribe here on YouTube.

Follow Grubby on Twitter, Facebook:
@followgrubby

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Tracer Gameplay Preview - OVERWATCH

Tracer Gameplay Preview 

Try keeping track of Tracer in this complete, unedited match from an early version of Overwatch, captured in 60fps on PC. Here, Tracer plays on the defensive team in Hanamura, a Point Capture map set in an idyllic corner of Japan.

Learn more about Tracer: http://blizz.ly/MeetTracer
Sign Up for Beta: http://bit.ly/JoinOverwatch
Like Us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/playoverwatch
Follow Us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/playoverwatch

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Shadow Dragon Deck (Priest, 70% Win Rate. Meta-Counter) by MatiasValero - Hearthstone

The Shadow Dragon Priest

1 Holy Smite x2
1 Power Word: Shield x2
1 Twilight Whelp x2
2 Shadow Word: Pain
2 Sunfury Protector
2 Wild Pyromancer x2
3 Shadow Word: Death
3 Shadowform
3 Dark Cultist
4 Defender of Argus
4 Hungry Dragon
5 Holy Nova x2
5 Antique Healbot
5 Azure Drake x2
5 Blackwing Corruptor x2
5 Vol'jin
6 Holy Fire
6 Lightbomb x2
8 Chromaggus
9 Nefarian
9 Ysera
This is my Shadow Dragon Deck.

The deck shores up all of the weaknesses that people associate with the Dragon-deck meta, thriving around massive board clear and taunts followed by strong/game-ending minions.

Wild Pyromancer, Holy Nova, and Lightbomb along with Smite, Vol'jin, Shadow Words, Holy Fire and Blackwing Corruptors provide ample board clear, and the Sunfury/Defender combined with dragons make for excellent control. Power Word: Shield/Azure Drake+Chromaggus for fun card duplication, as well as Nefarian. Despite the lack of Northshire and Thoughtsteal, the deck rarely seems to run out of cards, mainly because so many of the cards trade up in value.

Most games end up with a hand full of AoE and dragons that eventually just outpace whatever sort of opponent you're up against. Shadowform provides an extra clincher that seals the game against most aggro decks while providing overbearing board control late-game. More often than not opponents will get you down to 10-15 health before turns 5 and 6, and by that point you'll have enough control in your hand to turn the tables on them.

Some tech that I've looked at include Volcanic Drakes vs Azure Drakes, since they've made for some fun AoE+Drake turns in the past. But they're too squishy and conditional for my taste. Bloodmage Thalnos is a solid early game card to combo with Smite and Holy Nova. Putting in more win conditions is always an option, too, whether that's Ragnaros, Sylvanas, Sneed's, etc.

Most common problems this deck faces are paladins and control warriors. It's not easy to deal with divine-shielded minions or the set of tools that control warriors bring to the table. Patrons aren't a huge problem vs Azure+Holy Nova/Smite, Lightbombs, or Corruptors. The deck does really well vs aggro of all kinds, though, in my experience.


Monday, May 25, 2015

Hearthstone - Murloc OTK Combo by CryptHS

Murlocs. What more did you expect? More information below



Explanation:
Mrghllghgh! Oh sorry, anyways for this special combo you are going to need two things. One, a bunch of murlocs and two, a one turn tick of Emperor Thaurissan on most of your murlocs. After that, laugh very dramatically as you ruin your enemy by the power of murloc.

Deck List:
http://i.imgur.com/zNIfoBw.png

Tips and Tricks:
Treat this as any other Freeze Mage. Expect instead of Alexstrasza and Fireballs you are using murlocs. Control the board, draw out your entire deck and win the game in the most spectacular way possible.