WD Firebat builds

[seiya]

Anyone has encountered the Firebat build which it does not channel Firebat at all even in the Trinity setting to use Firebat in range.

If anyone has any recommendation or fix, please share!

 

[Benevolene]

Link the build.

 

[seiya]

RoE Firebats build - Witch Doctor - Diablo III Builds - Diablo Fans

 

[Rabbid]

I'm using this build right now. The issue is not that it doesn't channel Firebats at all, but that it doesn't stand there and channel. It primarily uses haunt and locus and then will very rarely run in and firebats for a few seconds and then go back to haunt and locus.


Does anyone know if there is a way to setup a timer on locus and haunt so that it doesn't use it as much? AKA like dashing strike and vault have a timer.

 

[TwoCigars]

I am not sure that a timer is the correct fix for this issue.

What is happening is that the bot is casting Firebats instead of channeling it.

In GRIFTs when you get to the Rift Guardian, it has no problem channeling. Haunt and Locust Swarm are applied, then the channeling begins. The bot stands in place unless it dies or your avoidance settings force it to move.

During mob and elite encounters, something is going haywire.

The bot should toss out a couple of locust swarms and a few haunts then it should stand there and channel.

I am not sure if the current issue is that the original enemy that was targeted has died. It should really be based on enemies within a range rather than attacking a particular mob.

Perhaps some logic needs to be introduced, like how to handle what happens when all of the mobs except 1 die... If it has locust and haunt applied, and the mob is within 20 yards, it should continue to channel until the mob is dead or your group moves out of follow distance.

There should also be some logic as to when you use Locust + Haunt. Some mobs the bot will spend more time casting spells and the second it casts firebats, instant kill. When this happens, often the casting of firebats would have been enough for the kill.

Things like that.

Overall, I would just like to see the bot choose to channel firebats and not stop until the enemies are all dead.

Edit:
The more I watch the bot, the more it looks like it's ignoring my avoidance settings. It will be at nearly full health and try to avoid the thunderstorm affix. My avoidance setting for this is 30% Health.

There are times that there is nothing it should be trying to avoid and it will keep trying to re-position for no reason.

 

[xzjv]

What is happening is that the bot is casting Firebats instead of channeling it.

Technically there is no difference, channeling is simply casting a spell very fast. If its not channeling its because its not casting fast enough, which is likely because its moving or trying to something else between casts.

 

[Rabbid]

Technically there is no difference, channeling is simply casting a spell very fast. If its not channeling its because its not casting fast enough, which is likely because its moving or trying to something else between casts.

I think what TwoCigars means is if you were playing manually casting would be pressing the button and channeling would be holding down the button.

A FB WD is almost worthless at this point in time as it just sits there at the edge of the fights and casts locus/haunt and then casts FB for 1 second (even if it doesn't kill said mob) and then goes back to locus/haunt. I don't know if it's possible, coding wise, to make it where it doesn't want to locus/haunt every enemy 10x before it uses FB. It would be nice to have some kind of <USE FB MORE OFTEN THAN OTHER SKILLS> code or something to make it want to "channel" properly.

 

[TwoCigars]

Technically there is no difference, channeling is simply casting a spell very fast. If its not channeling its because its not casting fast enough, which is likely because its moving or trying to something else between casts.

Channeling

Can you please still look into what can be done to force the bot to stand in place and channel for as long as possible? Force it to stop trying to do what it's trying to do? There are many posts around the forums and I have had people PM me on forums and Discord asking how to fix it.

---

I understand what you're saying, but the game differentiates between when the button is being clicked really fast and when it's being held down.

• When firebats is clicked really fast, it results in every click being at 450% weapon damage.
• When the button is held down, after 3 seconds it's doing 850% weapon damage... Literally double.

Essentially what I mean by the "casting" vs "Channeling" is that you cast a skill like Energy Twister. Click and move on, not hold down the button. It seems that the bot is treating firebats like a spell that's meant to be cast instead of channeled. At least, that's what it looks like.

The only enemies it reliably channels against is RGs. Perhaps it is getting distracted by mobs, but that should be changed... It should not have to locust/haunt every new trash mob that comes in range, especially ones that are worth 0.001% of the Rift Completion. They will die so fast it doesn't matter.


The way it currently is using firebats is losing out on the damage ramp up that makes it such an OP skill/build.

I can confirm this by watching a GRift 75 and looking at the damage numbers the way the bot is using firebats. Then I run another 75... This time, whenever I the bot positions to DPS, I hold down the firebats key and force it to channel.

Clear time is minutes faster. The damage numbers are drastically different. 100+ billion crits on CoE rotation with most buffs on. Taking half of that away because it's not channeling causes a huge problem.


Take a look at the D3Planner here for example:
Diablo III Character Planner
In the skills/effects tab,

• Slide the Firebats "Channeled for" slider to 0... You get 67 billion DPS
• Slide it to "channeled for" 5 seconds... 134 billion.
• If the bot let's go of the button for FireBats for even a fraction of a second, this starts over.
• Also turn on Bane of the Powerful, CoE and 5 stacks of Gruesome Feast.
  • 0 second channel of Firebats is 350 billion DPS. 5 seconds is 700 billion.

As a final example of what I am saying...

Against a Rift guardian, the bot will actually cast wall of death, haunt, locust then channel firebats until the RG dies... Which is almost always under 8-9 seconds in GRift 75. It takes longer than that to kill normal elites because it's not channeling. Check the picture below for an example of crits while channeling at 850% weapon damage.

---

Avoidance

I have turned these settings down so far that I typically leave them at 10-20 health percent and turned most of them off.

This is because when my bot is channeling, it rarely dies (Likely due to Taeguk stacks in addition to staying close to the group). As soon as it starts kiting or flip flopping in an attempt to find safety, it gets rekt.

Despite these settings, and my health being near 100%, the bot will constantly stop channeling, and start over. I don't think avoidance is causing the issue, although Thunderstorm and Arcane Sentry have both been causing my bots to flee regardless of health or avoidance settings.

---

Taeguk

There are other implications that affect gameplay due to this lack of channeling. Taeguk for example.

Taeguk gives more damage of course... But the reason I can take off my Esoteric for Taeguk is the huge armor bonuses per stack. For INT classes, this is very important...

• 0 Taeguk stacks with no buffs I am at 7600 Armor.
• With 10 stacks of Taeguk I am 9000 [Insert Vegeta meme here].
• With other buffs in server I fluctuate between 12000 and 13000.

When I am at full stacks, My health doesn't dip much. at 0 Stacks my health globe could give someone a seizure.

---

Positioning

WD is simply not moving into the fray far enough. It should be looking to path into the mobs instead of stay on the borders of the battle. Firebats w. illusory boots are equipped or Spirit Walk is

Group Play

During group play, the WD will be standing in Inner Sanctuary. It should force channel while within Inner Sanctuary because it's nearly impossible to die as long as it's channeling and keeping Taeguk stacks up.

In emergency health situations I run to the Inner Sanctuary and start channeling FireBats. I am less likely to die in that position than I am running for safety.

I could care less about Oculus circles. My problem isn't DPS, it's staying alive when the bot isn't channeling.

---

I won't bore you with my long winded whining, but I will include this screenshot that I took while I was writing this:

10 Taeguk Stacks, CoE Rotation, Endless walk at 100, No Gruesome Feast.

186.5 Billion Crit in the foreground, 109.6 billion crit right behind it.

I think what TwoCigars means is if you were playing manually casting would be pressing the button and channeling would be holding down the button.

A FB WD is almost worthless at this point in time as it just sits there at the edge of the fights and casts locus/haunt and then casts FB for 1 second (even if it doesn't kill said mob) and then goes back to locus/haunt. I don't know if it's possible, coding wise, to make it where it doesn't want to locus/haunt every enemy 10x before it uses FB. It would be nice to have some kind of <USE FB MORE OFTEN THAN OTHER SKILLS> code or something to make it want to "channel" properly.

^This

Probably a limited TL : DR of what I said.


I think that combat should go like this:

Check best position within mobs (highest density is smallest radius)​

If Illusory boots, travel up to X yards to get there (too far = death)
If distance is greater that X yards and Spirit Walk is available, use Spirit Walk
If no illusory or Spirit walk, limit travel distance when health drops below 60%
Check to see if there is a beneficial ground effect within 20 yards of best position​

Check for Necrosis (Wall of Death)​

10 second 60% damage reduction should always be on to survive
Basically always needs to be up when in combat.
Should also be cast when buf drops and out of comabt with health under 40%​

Check for Locust Swarm on enemies​

.80 of mobs give or take. Prioritize Elites if in range.
If Pestilence rune, cast only once
Mana is above 300 (will be lower if wearing Topaz in helm, but I prefer amethyst)​

Check for Haunt on enemies​

.80 of mobs give or take. Prioritize Elites if in range.​

*No Mana check. Rush of essence is a required passive for this build.​

Check for best position in mobs again​

Is there a ground effect within X yards that I should stand in before channeling?​

Inner Sanctuary
Oculus circle
Big Bad Voodoo
etc.​

Check for Soul Harvest Stacks​

Will stacks end within the next 5 seconds? Re-Cast before channeling.
If stack expiration is >5 seconds but enemies withing range are greater than current stacks, recast.
Stack expiriation >5 seconds, current mob count is lower than current stacks, do not cast.​

Criteria above met, Channel Firebats​

Do not recast Locust Swarm or Haunt unless <.20 of mobs have them both​

Pestilence spreads so fast that you probably don't need to recast
Haunt moves to another enemy when the first one dies so it doesn't need to be recast often
Recast for Elites without them both​

Lower Avoidance Setting if standing in survival ground effect and currently channeling.
Do not move unless emergency health situation arises
If 10 second Necrosis debuff ends and above 80% health, continue to channel
​

If Necrosis debuff ends and health is below 80%, break channeling to recast​

In emergency Health situations (<.40) Don't just kite blindly:

If standing in Inner Sanctuary, wait until <.30 or <.20
Check for Necrosis (60% damage reduction)​

Cast if not already up​

Check for Soul Harvest stacks,​

If no stacks and enemies in range, cast.​

Check for Spirit Walk availability
​

Check for Inner Sanctuary or other sustain ground effect and if it can be reached​

10 yards? 20 yards if illusory boots? 30+ Yards if can cast Spirit walk?​

Attempt to continue channeling unless​

Health drops below 20%
Avoidance is also triggering
Safe area is within X yards​

If combat is handled correctly, we will end up in less emergency health situations.

When we do hit emergency health, it's often because one of our de-buffs/buffs has dropped and we need to try recasting them. Kiting with Necrosis down and no Taeguk stacks is guaranteed death.

​Edit: Image not aligned. Fixed. LoL

 

[TwoCigars]

I have been looking through the WitchdoctorCombat.cs and found this:

Lines 936-956

[B]                [COLOR=#ff0000]var firebatsMaintain =[/COLOR][/B]
[B]                  Trinity.TrinityPlugin.Targets.Any(u => u.IsUnit &&[/B]
[B]                      u.IsPlayerFacing(70f) && u.Weight > 0 &&[/B]
[B]                      u.Distance <= 35 &&[/B]
[B]                      SpellHistory.TimeSinceUse(SNOPower.Witchdoctor_Firebats) <= TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(250d));[/B]


                // Fire Bats:Cloud of bats 
                if (hasCloudOfBats && (TargetUtil.AnyMobsInRange(12f)) &&
                    CanCast(SNOPower.Witchdoctor_Firebats) && Player.PrimaryResource >= fireBatsMana)
                {
                    var range = Settings.Combat.WitchDoctor.FirebatsRange > 12f ? 12f : Settings.Combat.WitchDoctor.FirebatsRange;


                    return new TrinityPower(SNOPower.Witchdoctor_Firebats, range, CurrentTarget.AcdId);
                }


[B]                // [COLOR=#ff0000]Fire Bats fast-attack[/COLOR][/B]
[B]                if (CanCast(SNOPower.Witchdoctor_Firebats) && Player.PrimaryResource >= fireBatsMana &&[/B]
[B]                     (TargetUtil.AnyMobsInRange(Settings.Combat.WitchDoctor.FirebatsRange) || [COLOR=#ff0000]firebatsMaintain[/COLOR]) && !hasCloudOfBats)[/B]
[B]                {[/B]
[B]                    return new TrinityPower(SNOPower.Witchdoctor_Firebats, Settings.Combat.WitchDoctor.FirebatsRange, CurrentTarget.Position);[/B]
[B]                }[/B]

I don't understand exactly how the firebatsMaintain variable works...

I assume that it's looking to see if there is:​

• Any enemy within 35 feet
  
• Enemy in rage is weighting higher that 0
  
• And the time since firebats was last cast is less than 250 milliseconds

With my limited understanding, here is how I think that the fast-attack is supposed to work:

• Firebats Fast Attack will trigger when
  [*=1]Current Mana available is higher than what it will cost to cast Firebats
  [*=1]Any mob is within Firebats Range
  [*=2]The mobs/player situation fits within the FirebatsMaintain variable
  [*=2]Cloud of Bats rune is on Firebats skill
  [*=1]Cast Firebats

I see that it's under the header of:

            // Combat Spells with a Target
            if (!UseOOCBuff && !IsCurrentlyAvoiding && CurrentTarget != null)
            {

So does it have to do with avoidance or when previously out of combat?

 

[Matios]

also now will be top Anarchy set for firebats, has similar dps but alot better survival
2.4.2 GR85+ Firebats Arachyr Witch Doctor Build {Video} - Witch Doctor - Diablo III Builds - Diablo Fans

 

[TwoCigars]

also now will be top Anarchy set for firebats, has similar dps but alot better survival
2.4.2 GR85+ Firebats Arachyr Witch Doctor Build {Video} - Witch Doctor - Diablo III Builds - Diablo Fans

It's the top set? Are we talking for everything or Single Player?

Here is a comparison:

Arachyr's Set Bonus:

Spider Queen slows enemies with webs.

Hex Jinx Has to be used on your skill bar:
Gives you 30% increased damage for 12 seconds on a 15 second cooldown skill

• Hexed Enemies are chickens and can't attack you
• Casting it gives you Toad of hugeness
  • Toad gobbles up an enemy at a time
  • When toad is up, you get 50% damage reduction
  • Over 15 seconds you will heal 150% of your Life Per Second

Firebats does 1500% damage


Helltooth's Set Bonus:

Enemies hit by Primary skills, Firebats, Wall of Death, etc. become infected with Necrosis.

• Enemies affected by Necrosis:
  • take 1500% damage per second.
  • take 20% more damage from all attacks for 10 seconds
  • are slowed for 10 seconds
  • deal 60% less damage

Enemies affected by wall of death take 1400% additional damage from FireBats.

Wall of Death has to be on your skill bar

• 1200% weapon damage as cold over 6 seconds (weak)
• 25% damage reduction for 3 seconds

In terms of just the set bonus, I can see where having toad eating enemies and Jinx changing them to chickens would help you survive more. I also see a small healing bonus, so it might be better for survive-ability. It's worth noting that you need to channel Firebats for a couple seconds to get good damage out of it, and you can't attack things that the toad eats. This will break channeling on the bot when the enemy is hidden and the last one in the area.

As far as DPS, When I D3 Planner the two sets with my current gear rolls and skills, Helltooth has a definite, but small DPS advantage.

In terms of the surviveability, Arachyr's looks better. In terms of DPS, Helltooth looks like it has a small advantage. You may be right on it being the better set for survival... The jury is still out on it being the better set in general.


However, I am not very confident in that build you posted. It is not good compared to this build:
Diablo III Character Planner

When you look at the link for your Arachyr build, I can tell you that it's not a very high GRift build and built for Single Player only, here is why:
No Taeguk. It's instead using Wildebeest for the Set bonus interaction. This equates to a 10% buff of the gem with the set, not that great IMO when already wearing the Coils.
No Furnace in cube
Unity instead of Convention of Elements? This is for SinglePlayer Im sure.
Not using Rush of Essence Passive which turns Haunt, Soul Harvest and Spirit Walk into spirit generators
I prefer Gruesome Feast to Swampland Attunement. I have 15000 Intelligence so 5 stacks of Gruesome give me a huge AR bonus and it proportionately increases my DPS at the same time.
I don't think wormwood is as good as having Locust Swarm on your skill bar whether using pestilence or cloud of insects.


I will do some testing for the Arachyr set, but not using that build. Is there another build for higher GRifts that you're aware of? I can just change gear out and use the skills and cube as in the D3Planner I linked.

 

[Matios]

its new thing, some top 5 teams start using this set , on asia 3 days ago 4 man grift top 1 is with this set
30 % damage from hex ( 2 x 15 ) work for wd and for second dps , in helltooth you have 20 % only for your self
hex also pull in enemies, and help sirvavility, and remember this game need balance, thats why many top builds use 1-2 survavility gems , not max dps
and for bot you need better balance dps , survavility
my wd with homulucus mojo and sacritfice zombie deal 100 % more damage, but have problem on gr79 , with ahk mojo and heal dogs ( and 100 % less damage) they can easy gr79, sometimes in 5-7 minutes but also here is second problem with bad casting dogs, they have to first force use sacritfice ;/ w8 for fix it by admins so maybe my bost can handle 90 +

 

[TwoCigars]

its new thing, some top 5 teams start using this set , on asia 3 days ago 4 man grift top 1 is with this set
30 % damage from hex ( 2 x 15 ) work for wd and for second dps , in helltooth you have 20 % only for your self
hex also pull in enemies, and help sirvavility, and remember this game need balance, thats why many top builds use 1-2 survavility gems , not max dps
and for bot you need better balance dps , survavility
my wd with homulucus mojo and sacritfice zombie deal 100 % more damage, but have problem on gr79 , with ahk mojo and heal dogs ( and 100 % less damage) they can easy gr79, sometimes in 5-7 minutes but also here is second problem with bad casting dogs, they have to first force use sacritfice ;/ w8 for fix it by admins so maybe my bost can handle 90 +

I don't know about all of that, but I will attach a WitchDoctorCombat.cs you can use for the Arachyr set.

Obviously it's a little more customized towards my gear and such, but it will work for you.


Here is how to use the included file:

Close the Bot.

Make a backup folder on your desktop to save the original WitchDoctorCombat.cs file

DB > Plugins > Trinity > Components > Combat > Abilities > WitchDoctorCombat.cs

Move that file to your desktop backup folder just in case.

Place the attached WitchDoctorCombat.cs into the Abilities folder to replace the old one.

Open your bot and test it out.

​

Let us know what you think.


TC