by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Nazeebo is the Witch Doctor representative from Diablo 3 who brings his jars of bugs, waves of frogs, and walls of zombies to the Nexus. During the recent patch there has been a massive power shift towards Nazeebo and he is currently enjoying a very high win rate. I’m here to give you the goods to help you take your witch doctor game to the next level. If you need to brush up on the basics of Nazeebo you can check out his BlizzPro hero page here.

Basic Abilities

Voodoo Ritual -(Passive Trait) This is what allows Nazeebo to be a great harasser. Make sure you don’t forget to toss basic attacks on the enemies and minion waves to maximize this talent. This also allows Nazeebo to sustain very well as long as you put the Voodoo Ritual on each creep before they die. For example if you kill an entire creep wave then Nazeebo will regenerate 13.65% of his health and 7% of his mana.

Corpse Spiders – (Q) A wonderful harass tool that can really pile on the damage late game because of it’s impressive scaling. Just make sure you hit your target with the small impact radius to maximize damage.

Zombie Wall – (W) This skill takes the most practice but can really secure some kills especially in the early game. Zombie wall also pairs well with heroes who have strong AOE damage abilities such as Jaina or Kael’thas. This can also be used to deny an area of movement to the enemies so that traps can be set or to zone enemies away. Keep in mind a failed wall can be cancelled by pressing (W) again.

Plague of Toads -(E) This skill has impressive damage and should be utilized for wave clear, zoning, harass, and siege damage. Even at level 1 each toad wave is responsible for 198 damage if all 5 toads explode on targets. If someone is unfortunate enough to be really close to Nazeebo they can easily eat all 5 toads for some massive damage. This is also his cheapest skill to use mana wise so don’t be afraid to make those toads hop.

Heroic Abilities

Ravenous Spirit – Still a strong choice for an ultimate especially if the enemy team is staying close to each other because of map objectives or bad positional awareness. This is also good if you have a lot of stuns or traps on your team. I still prefer the raw damage of Gargantuan but Ravenous Spirit is more viable with the recent patch and two newest heroes.

Gargantuan -Good raw damage and a big body that can soak skill shots in team fights. The gargantuan often cannot be ignored which is good news for your team because it draws focus away from what you’re trying to do. Just because of how effective the Gargantuan is and the added bonus of have extra siege damage I typically take this heroic ability.

Talents

Level 1

Death Ritual – This is a non negotiable pick. Nazeebo’s only true weakness is that his health and mana pool will suck without this talent. Be sure to farm it up in the early game and not forget about it in the mid-late game.Forgetting about the farming or focusing on it too much is a fine line that needs to be walked to truly be great with Nazeebo. Just be efficient! There is no reason you can’t toss an auto attack on a minion close to death as you pass by a creep wave.

Level 4

Spider Cluster – This is a huge damage spike for Nazeebo’s best long range harass tool. 3 more spiders means double the damage output. The best thing about the spiders is that in the thick of a big team fight it can be hard to identify them which allows them to do sneaky and large amounts of harass damage. There is really no other choice at this level for those reasons.

Level 7

Gidbinn – Increasing the duration on two of your abilities is a pretty big deal. Longer walls and spiders means more chances to kill. Nothing at this level really offers much anyways so Gidbinn is the only pick here.

Level 10

Gargantuan – see heroic abilities section

Level 13

Thing of the Deep – Nazeebo’s newest ability affords him the extra range he needs to secure kills or stay in the back of fights while still being effective. It’s a wonderful buff to take and should be the pick most of the time but if you find the enemy is focusing you then Ice Block might save your bacon.

Level 16

Leaping Spiders – This makes those 6 spiders jump in leaps and bounds making them very hard to escape. This is a huge buff to one of Nazeebo’s primary tools and should be taken almost every time.

Level 20

Bolt of the Storm – Since Nazeebo no longer has Sprint it’s a good idea to have an movement tool at his disposal. If you don’t make good use of Bolt or feel that you won’t need it then buffing your heroic ability of choice isn’t a bad idea.

The Strategy

In the early game your job is to harass and farm ritual stacks. Most 3 lane maps allow you to run to mid lane first to clear that creep wave then rotate to your lane and clear that one for a possibility of 14 early stacks! After that just stay safe and work over your enemies with Nazeebo’s strong harass tools. Look for gank opportunities with zombie wall if you find yourself roaming or an ally shows up to your lane to secure a kill. Remember trapping them in the center of the wall isn’t always the best option and sometimes just denying an escape path will secure deaths much easier.

Mid to late game just play the map and use your impressive witch doctor skills to put damage on the enemies. Show up to objectives and look to use zombie wall and the rest of your abilites to give your team an edge during big engages. Don’t forget about farming a bit when passing through lanes.

Really most of Nazeebo is practicing landing your skills, farming, and proper zombie wall placement. If you can master those three things then your Nazeebo will be a force to be reckoned with. I hope you enjoyed the guide and were able to learn something. Come back next week for another build right here at BlizzPro!