• Area Damage (AD) is one of the most valuable primary affixes for increasing one's overall damage output, however, it is also one of the most complicated and confusing affixes within Diablo III.
• In this video I'm providing in-depth answers to some of your questions. 0:34 Elemental Damage on Weapons 2:20 Legendary Weapon Procs 4:35 Diamond (Elite Dama.

1. Diablo 3 Area Damage
2. Diablo 3 Area Dmg Download

Witch Doctor Pet Guide

Explanation: If you have 50% Area Damage equipped and your Hammer of the Ancients deals 1.5 billion damage and Area Damage is triggered, you should deal 750 million splash damage to enemies within 10 yards of the target.

submitted by Peter.
Updates
Inferno Acts 2, 3 and 4 will be nerfed in patch 1.0.3. Pets may be viable beyond Inferno Act 1 in future.
Table of Contents
1. My Pets Die In 1 Hit. Pets Suck!
2. The CC Build
3. Summary
4. CC Information
1. My Pets Die In 1 hit. Pets Suck!

No they do not suck. This is a very common misconception about our pets that happens due to wrong gear, and it is precisely why this guide was created to clear this up. Pets need some buffs but they are not as useless as people claim.
The reason why your pets are dying is because your gear does not have defensive stats to benefit them. Witch Doctors instinctively stack intelligence to increase their damage. They naturally ignore defensive stats. The problem is our pets scale off our defensive stats like armor and dodge, and because your gear lacks them, that is why they are dying.
To make your pets survive better, stack things that will make YOU survive better, like strength (improves armor), dexterity, intelligence (improves resistances), armor, dodge and resistances. Vitality and Block do not benefit your pets.
With proper gear, it is possible for your pets to survive comfortably up to Inferno Act 1.
Stat Priority to Increase Pet Survivability

• 1. Stun/Freeze
  Stops an enemy from attacking. See the CC Build section below for more information.
• 2. Intelligence
  Increases both pet damage and survivability (resistances). Best stat to stack.
• 3. Armor/Strength
  Armor reduces all damage, not just physical damage. Armor is a more efficient stat because it exists in higher numbers than Strength.
• 4. Resist All
  Resist All reduces not just magic damage, even physical damage because there is a Physical Resistance stat.
• 5. Individual Resists
  Poison, Fire and Electric are more important because champions with Plagued, Desecrated and Lightning Charged stats do very high aoe damage.
• 6. Dexterity
  Dodge completely stops and attack but it is unreliable. It also suffers from heavy diminishing returns. Up to 100 Dexterity, 1 dexterity = 0.1% dodge. But from 100 to 500 Dexterity, 1 dexterity = 0.025% dodge.

2. The CC Build


The CC Build was discovered during brainstorming in the previous thread as people tried to make the Witch Doctor's pets work in Inferno.
CC stands for 'Crowd Control', which is something that temporarily disables an enemy like stun or freeze. The CC Build thus involves stacking CC stats in order to apply lots of CCs to enemies.
The small % chance of CCs like stuns and freezes are deceptive, because the Witch Doctor can make it happen like 80% of the time. This is due to the unique fact that the Witch Doctor has pets, and can generate relatively more hits than other classes through them. The Witch Doctor can apply CCs through his spells, his pet attacks, and his pet auras.
With the CC build, a single boss can even CCed so much that he barely gets out an attack, resulting in a slow but safe victory.
The CC build should also work well in co-op games because ranged classes like the wizard and the demon hunter will enjoy safely killing enemies from a distance while your pets tank and CC them.
CCs From Gear
Not all gear can have all possible CCs. Most of the item slots can have only one possible CC, with the exception of weapons and off-hands which can have all types.
Here are the CCs that you can get from gear. It is not necessary to get all, but the more the better.

• Amulet - Chance to Blind on Hit (Stat exists but search criteria isn't available)
• Belt - Chance to Freeze on Hit
• Boots - Chance to Immobilize on Hit
• Bracers - Chance to Knockback on Hit
• Gloves - Chance to Stun on Hit
• Helm - Chance to Fear on Hit
• Pants - Chance to Slow on Hit
• Shoulders - Chance to Chill on Hit
• Weapon - Bleed Chance + all of the above CCs
• Off-Hand - Bleed Chance + all of the above CCs

Guide continued after the page break..
Recommended CCs

• Stun - To stop enemies from moving or attacking your pets, increasing survivability.
• Freeze - Same as Stun, but can be removed if attacked.
• Immobilize - To stop those pesky enemies from running away from you. E.g. Fallen Shamans that like to res enemies from afar.
• Slow - Slows movement speed of enemies to prevent them from running away or reaching you if Immobilize doesn't trigger.
• Chill - Slows attack speed and movement speed. Delays attacks from reaching your pets if stun or freeze doesn't trigger. Helps prevent enemies from escaping if Immobilize or Slow doesn't trigger.
• Bleed - Supplementary damage over time to increase your overall damage.

Abilities to Use
Not all spells have the same chance to make a CC happen. Some abilities can make CCs happen more than others.


Recommended Abilites and Runes

• Gargantuan + Big Stinker Rune (15% area poison damage per second).
  Best area damage rune for Gargantuan to trigger CCs.
• Summon Zombie Dogs + Burning Dogs Rune (2% area fire damage per second).
  Best area damage rune for dogs to trigger CCs.
• Corpse Spiders + Spider Queen Rune (16% area poison damage per second).
  Good area damage.
• Firebomb + Fire Pit Rune (8% area fire damage per second for 3 seconds).
  Good area damage.
• Plague of Toads + Rain of Toads Rune (130% area poison damage over 2 seconds).
  Good area damage but costs more mana than Firebomb. Use this instead of Firebomb if you have a lot of mana.
• Spirit Walk.
  Almost compulsory ability for all Witch Doctors. Escape danger.
• Big Bad Voodoo + Ghost Trance Rune (Heals 2% health per second for 20 seconds).
  Faster attack speed will trigger CCs more, and the heals are useful to keep your pets alive.

Recommended Passive Skills

• Jungle Fortitude (Reduces damage taken by you and pets by 20%).
  Keeps pets alive longer. Dead pets don't generate CC.
• Zombie Handler (Extra dog and health of pets increased by 20%).
  Extra dog is useful to generate extra CC. Also keeps pets alive longer.
• Fierce Loyalty (Pets benefit 100% from Life Regeneration and Thorns).
  The only way to heal pets to keep them alive longer.

3. Summary


Do Stats Benefit Pets?


Defensive Stats

• Strength: Yes (through increasing armor)
• Dexterity: Yes (through increasing dodge)
• Intelligence: Yes (through increasing resistances)
• Vitality: No
• Block: No (but you want to use shield anyway for the extra armor that pets do benefit from)
• Dodge: Yes
• Armor: Yes
• Physical Resistance: Yes
• Cold Resistance: Untested
• Fire Resistance: Untested
• Lightning Resistance: Untested
• Poison Resistance: Untested
• Arcane/Holy Resistance: Untested
• Missile Damage Reduction: Untested
• Melee Damage Reduction: Untested

Offensive Stats

• Intelligence: Yes (through increasing your damage)
• Attack Speed: Yes (through increasing your damage)
• Critical Hit Chance: Yes (increases pet crit chance)
• Critical Hit Damage: No
• Thorns: Yes (Must take Fierce Loyalty Skill)

Stat Priority to Increase Pet Survivability
1. Stun/Freeze

Diablo 3 Area Damage

2. Intelligence
3. Armor/Strength
4. Resist All
5. Individual Resists
6. Dexterity
Can Pets Be Healed? (must take Fierce Loyalty Skill)
From Stats

• Life Regeneration: Yes
• Life Steal: No (needs more testing)
• Life On hit: No (needs more testing)
• Life Per kill: No (needs more testing)

From Abilities

• Firebats + Vampire Bats Rune: No
• Haunt + Consuming Spirit: No
• Spirit Barrage + Phlebotomize: No
• Spirit Walk + Healing Journey: Yes

From Passive Skills

• Blood Ritual Skill: Yes

CC Information


CCs From Gear

• Amulet - Chance to Blind on Hit
• Belt - Chance to Freeze on Hit
• Boots - Chance to Immobilize on Hit
• Bracers - Chance to Knockback on Hit
• Gloves - Chance to Stun on Hit
• Helm - Chance to Fear on Hit
• Pants - Chance to Slow on Hit
• Shoulders - Chance to Chill on Hit
• Weapon - Bleed Chance + all of the above CCs
• Off-Hand - Bleed Chance + all of the above CCs

Recommended CCs

• Freeze
• Stun
• Chill
• Immobilize
• Slow
• Bleed

Recommended Abilities for CC Build

• Gargantuan + Big Stinker Rune
• Summon Zombie Dogs + Burning Dogs Rune
• Corpse Spiders + Spider Queen Rune
• Firebomb + Fire Pit Rune (Or Plague of Toads + Rain of Toads Rune if you have a lot of mana)
• Spirit Walk
• Big Bad Voodoo + Ghost Trance Rune

Diablo 3 Area Dmg Download

Recommended Passive Skills for CC Build

• Jungle Fortitude
• Zombie Handler
• Fierce Loyalty

Diablo 3's Patch 2.6.4 brought significant changes to Raekor's Set bonus damage which now increases the damage of Fury spenders by up to an astounding 27500%! This is one of the highest damage bonuses out of all Diablo 3 sets, and on top of that, it's one that can be easily reached within a matter of seconds and selected Fury Spenders can be spammed with the set's full benefit.

This is currently the best Barbarian Build for Season 16 and Patch 2.6.4, which is apparently slightly better than Charge Barb based on the Immortal King's and Raekor sets combined. I guess we will have to see over the course of the Season how it ends up.

To check the full list of our Best Diablo 3 builds visit: The Best Diablo 3 builds by Odealo

Table of contents

1. General information
2. Recommended items
3. Recommended skills

General information

The entire build is based on The Legacy of Raekor set which provides the following bonuses:

• Furious Charge refunds a charge if it only hits one enemy (2/6 pieces)
• Furious Charge gains the effect of every rune and deals 1000% increased damage (4/6 pieces)
• Every cast of Furious Charge grants a stacking effect that increases the damage of the next Fury-spending attack by 5500% per stack. Every cast of a Fury-spending attack consumes up to 5 stacks (6/6 pieces)

The Legacy of Raekor is a truly fitting set for a Barbarian. It's fully oriented on raw DPS, and unlike the majority of sets in Diablo 3, it grants no defensive bonuses. Luckily, Barbarian class offers various items and defensive skills that are more than enough when pushing High-level Greater Rifts.

The gameplay mechanics for HotA Raekor are rather simple, but spamming skills mindlessly will not bring you good results (yes, for some builds it does :) ). First of all, you need to accumulate stacks for the 6 piece bonus, by Charging into enemies with your Furious Charge. After you have 5 Stacks ready, you should use your Hammer of the Ancients for maximum damage. You can lower the stack count versus thrash, as you won't need the entire bonus ready for weaker enemies, but that heavily depends on your current gear, Paragon level, and the difficulty level you are playing currently (or the Tier of Greater Rift). You should adjust it for maximum clear speed.

All Legendary and Set items can be quickly obtained via Item Farming and Multiboxing services which are offered by regular players on Odealo

Recommended items

Equipment
	Head - Raekor's Will Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Strength 3) Increased HotA damage 4) Vitality (if you can't roll HotA damage) 5) Secondary res. Socket:
Chest - Raekor's Heart Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Reduced damage from elites/Secondary res. Sockets: (replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.)
Pants - Raekor's Breeches Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances Sockets: (replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.)
Gloves- Raekor's Breeches Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% / Vitality 5) Attack speed 6) Secondary res.
Boots - Raekor's Striders Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Increased HotA damage
Pauldrons - Raekor's Burden Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Area damage% 5) Life%
Bracers - Bracers of the First Men Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Fire damage% 3) Strength 4) Life on Hit 5) Vitality 6) Secondary res. Special power: Hammer of the Ancients attacks 50% faster and deals 375-500% increased damage
Amulet - Traveller's Pledge Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Damage 3) Critical Hit Chance 4) Fire damage% 5) Strength (Part of the Endless Walk set) Set bonuses: While moving, all damage taken is reduced by up to 50% While standing still, all damage dealt is increased by up to 100%
Ring - Compass Rose Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% 5) Strength 6) Vitality (Part of the Endless Walk set)
Ring - Convention of Elements Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% 5) Strength Special power: Gain 150–200% increased damage to a single element for 4 seconds. This effect rotates through the elements available to your class in the following order: Arcane, Cold, Fire, Holy, Lightning, Physical, Poison
Belt - Pride of Cassius Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All elemental resistances 4) Life gained per Fury spent 5) Life% Special power: Increases the duration of Ignore Pain by 4–6 seconds
Weapon 1/2 - Little Rogue Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) High average damage 3) Damage% 4) Strength 5) Attack speed% Sockets: (Part of the Istvan's Paired blades set) Set bonuses: Every cast of a skill that spends primary resource grants 6% increased damage, Armor and attack speed for 5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 5 times
Weapon 1/2 - The Slanderer Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) High average damage 3) Damage% 4) Strength 5) Attack speed% Sockets: (Part of the Istvan's Paired blades set)
Bonus Items for Season 16 (thanks to built-in Ring of Royal Grandeur power)
Chest - Aquila Cuirass Stat priorities: 1) Strength 2) Vitality 3) All Elemental Resistances 4) Reduced damage from elites Sockets: (replace with Rubys if you feel comfortable with having less all res.) Special power: While above 90–95% of primary resource, all damage taken is reduced by 50%
Kanai Cube powers
The Gavel of Judgement Hammer of the Ancients deals 600–800% increased damage and returns 25 Fury if it hits 3 or fewer enemies
Magefist Fire skills deal 15–20% more damage.
Band of Might After casting Furious Charge, Ground Stomp, or Leap, take 60–80% reduced damage for 8 seconds
Legendary Gems
Bane of the Trapped Increases damage done to enemies under the control-impairing effects by 15% Upgrade: +0.3% additional damage per Rank Gain an aura that slows the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30% (Requires Rank 25)
Bane of the Stricken Each attack you make against an enemy increases the damage it takes from your attacks by 0.8% Upgrade: +0.01% damage per Rank Gain 25% increased damage against Rift Guardians and bosses (Requires Rank 25)
Esoteric's Alteration Gain 10.0% non-Physical damage reduction. Upgrade: +0.5% damage reduction per Rank While below half Life, your resistances to Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Arcane are increased by 75% (Requires Rank 25)

Recommended skills

Active Skills
	Hammer of the Ancients A massive hammer smashes enemies in front of the Barbarian for 535% damage as Physical. Hammer of the Ancients has a 1% increased Critical Hit Chance for every 5 Fury the Barbarian currently has Smash Increases damage dealt to 640% and damage type changes to Fire Your main DPS skill. Simply spam it to kill enemies
Furious Charge Rush forward, knocking back and dealing 600% damage as Physical Battering Ram Damage type changes to Fire and the damage is increased to 1050% Core ability in every Raekor build. It used to transition fast between groups of monsters, as well as generate charges for the 6 piece Set bonus
Wrath of the Berserker Enter a berserker rage which raises the following attributes for 20 seconds: Critical Hit Chance, Attack Speed, Dodge Chance, and Movement Speed Insanity Increases damage dealt by an additional 50% Your core utility ability. It grants terrific bonus damage and damage reduction. Should be used against Bosses and tougher packs of monsters.
Threatening Shout Shout, reducing damage done by nearby enemies by 20% for 15 seconds Demoralize Affected enemies become taunted by the Barbarian Good defensive utility skill. It reduces monster's damage and makes it easier to group them up for your big hit with Hammer of the Ancients
Battle Rage Enter a rage which increases Player's damage by 10% and Critical Hit Chance by 3%. The buff lasts 120 seconds Bloodshed Deal 20% damage of your recent critical hits to enemies within 20 yards radius every second Battle Rage provides very high bonus damage and should be up all the time
Ignore Pain Reduce all damage taken by 50% and gain Immunity to all control-impairing effects for 5 seconds Ignorance is Bliss While under the effect of Ignore Pain, you will be healed for every point of Fury spent Mandatory defensive skill for this build. It grants a very high defensive bonus which is critical when playing Raekor's set
Passive Skills
Ruthless You deal 40% extra damage to enemies below 30% Life
Brawler Increases your damage by 20% if there are at least three enemies within 12 yards
Boon of Bul-Kathos Reduces the cooldown of the following skills: Earthquake: by 15 seconds Call of the Ancients: by 30 seconds Wrath of the Berserker: by 30 seconds
Berserker Rage You deal 25% extra damage while near maximum Fury (approximately 95% and up)

Odealo is a trading platform for players of MMO games. It is an open marketplace for Item Farming, Power Leveling and Boosting services in Diablo 3.

We hope you will enjoy this build as much as we did. And see you soon in the world of Sanctuary.

If you have any ideas how we could improve this build, or if you believe the Immortal King's Hammer of the Ancients Barbarian is not suitable for this title please let us know in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment.