Friday, February 26, 2016

Diablo 3 - Written Guide & Tips for Support WD in Season 5 (patch 2.4) by xskilling

Hi guys, this guide is mainly written in mind for entry-level support WDs or people who want to have a better understanding of support WD for S5/patch 2.4

Behind the guide, I've cleared GR100 in a 4man party earlier last week (which was at the time top100, now 250?~)

I play the game all manually, don't bot or use "google maps", my playtime is around ~220-230hr for the current season, averaging 5-6 hr per day, 1200~ paragon - it is definitely viable to reach a GR100 without excessive playing or botting as a support (even my wiz in the clear is only around 150 paragon higher than me)

I know that the /r/diablo subreddit hates the 3 support 1 DPS meta, but this build is pretty much viable for fun/non-meta groups as well

Diablofans build
D3planner current meta standard build
D3planner alternative high GR build

Support WD Role
  • damage amplifier, crowd controller
  • health globe picker/vaccuum machine
  • occasional map scout

Common mistakes/main tips
  • The reality of supp WD is that it is quite easy to play once you know what you are doing, but most people who just started would make mistakes that they wouldn't realize until someone tells them so

Tip 1 - Stutter stepping is a must if you are going to pick up health globes
  • what is stutter stepping? move and attack almost simultaneously to minimize animation downtime and utilizing certain aspects of the game like taeguk gem, hexing pants, globe pickup
  • how to stutter step for support WD? bind force move command to a key/mouse button (space bar for example), hold down right click (haunt), and press space bar (or whatever key) every 0.5 seconds or so
  • why do you need to stutter step? you need to trigger obsidian ring of the zodiac (orotz)'s proc while picking up health globes
  • without stutter stepping, you are doing a half-ass job of your role, which can lead to your own death, your party's death, not enough resource for the wizard spamming ET, or not enough cooldown reduction for your own spells
  • while i don't personally do this, advance users can set up a macro to trigger the force move command every 0.5 secs or so to minimize your fingers/wrists getting messed up/cramps (i don't cuz i don't play more than 2-3 hrs of GRs in one sitting and cuz macros lag my potato comp)

Tip 2 - Do not cast any of your dmg amp/crowd control spells until you reach a desirable pack/location to group up and kill/clear
  • this is probably the most common mistake outside of stutter stepping
  • the reason for holding off is that crowd control resistance stacks up very fast and if you cast a CC spell on a pack that you don't want to clear yet, it is a lot harder for the barb/monk to continue pulling that pack to an ideal location
  • the barb most likely would have to wait till the initial CC effect wears off before continuing to pull
  • casting haunt can also trigger your mimics (grin reaper) which then can cast piranhas/mass confusion - so don't do it even if u are tempted to do so!

Tip 3 - Don't mindlessly spam piranhas/hex/spiritwalk/massconfusion/bigbadvoodoo off cooldown while you are in the middle of clearing a pack
  • several reasons for this, the main one being you want to keep BBV at 100% uptime, which only works if u let zodiac ring prioritize it before other spells
  • the other one is excessive CC spam can make mobs resist pulling/knockback effects earlier than you expect, mobs that run away or teleport away are particularly hard to pull
piranhas
  • this is your only real mana spender, if u spam it, u can go below aquila buff threshold and not have your mana regen back in time and therefore, u can die
  • debuff lasts 8 seconds, so cast it accordingly
  • it may seem obvious but sometimes u move for an extended period that the helltooth dmg reduction wears off, and u can get one shotted!
hex
  • toad of hugeness is the main rune nowadays, u want to cast around 3 at the beginning to debuff everything quickly
  • cast it where u want the toad to pull towards, excessive density can cause the toad to spawn outside of your original cast point
  • after initial casts, u want to occasionally cast it depending on how many mobs are around, debuff lasts 5 seconds, so cast it accordingly
spirit walk
  • don't use it unless you need to dodge molten/exploading grotesque/excessive arcane sentry/electrified
  • if u die without it when there are no dangerous affixes/mobs, u or your party members may be doing something wrong
  • don't rely on spirit walk's immunity to keep you alive, positioning is more important to stay alive
mass confusion
  • debuff lasts 12 seconds, so cast accordingly
  • charm is a hard CC, which stacks up CC resistance faster, so don't go crazy spamming it on range/teleport mobs if u know u want to repull a lot
BBV
  • u want to keep 100% uptime, but refrain from recasting it when an elite is going to die very soon and you would most likely move to the next pack

Playstyle/order of events
1) spirit walk to keep up with teammates/search for an ideal pack to kill
2) wait for wiz/monk to settle down at a location for ET spam
3) cast your initial debuff/buff spells (BBV is the most important one), and start stutter step (spam haunt & pickup globes) - maximize survivability by standing inside inner sanctuary
4) when your ignore pain buff is reset, u can either go scout and aggro more mobs or stay in place to continue stutter step and recast debuffs
  • scout or not depends on the GR level, mobtype, your own survivability, and amount of globes that can be produced
  • i usually scout if its below GR97, anything above GR100 is highly dependent on mobtype (dangerous mobs like spears, chargers is a complete no go)
  • if your party relies on barb to produce globes, u should scout more (WD 70%- to barb 30+%), otherwise let the barb do most of the scouting (monk can produce enough globes) (barb 80%+ to WD 20%-)
5) if you choose to scout, ping or tell your barb to pull closer to your main pack (if you find anything worthy of pulling)
6) rinse and repeat

Additional info
D3planner alternative high GR build
  • i use xephirian for the cube cuz electrified mobs can be very dangerous above GR100, and the oculus's proc is so random that u don't really need it
  • cloud of insects is the main skill change for GR100+ for additional dmg reduction
  • string of ears is also a personal choice, if u think u need it

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