Diablo III Countdown: Skillsets
By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Writer
Recently the Diablo 3 Beta has gone live! Unfortunately Blizzard forgot to invite me but thankfully a lot of people, including ColbyCheeze, are streaming the game and revealing a lot of content to get us even more hyped for the launch. Also the skills on the official Diablo 3 website got released and in this article I will be showing you a quick preview of a few spells that Diablo 3 currently revealed. I have already talked about the classes in the first article but now we have some specifics to describe exactly how these classes operate on the battlefield.
Demon Hunter
Fan of Knives: Some of you might know the skill Fan of Knives in World of Warcraft. In Diablo 3 the skills has the same kind of effect; it is an area of effect spell in which you basically throw knives around you to hit the surrounding monsters. While the description is the same, the actual animation is far more beautiful in Diablo 3.
Molten Arrow: This spell might be one of the most useful spells the Demon Hunter possesses; basically you shoot a piercing arrow in the current way that you are aiming. It hits targets for a percentage of your weapon damage and it leaves a trail of fire, dealing Fire damage per second to all enemies who stand in it. This spell will surely have some epic combinations with the rune system.
Grenade: The Grenade spell lets you throw three grenades in the current direction you’re facing that explode and deal Fire damage to the surrounding monsters.
Bola: With this spell you shoot out an explosive Bola that wraps itself around its target. After a few seconds the Bola will explode and deal extra damage to the target and an additional amount of damage to nearby targets.
Entangling Shot: The Entangling Shot is the Demon Hunter’s stun skill. With this shot you shoot off an arrow which deals damage and entangles the monster for an x amount of seconds.
Monk
Crippling Wave: The Monk uses large sweeping attacks that daze the target; on the first hit the target is dazed and on the second and third hit it refreshes the duration of the daze effect.
Impenetrable Defense: The Monk creates a shield that protects him from any incoming damage. Enter monks as an off-tank class!
Exploding Palm: With Exploding Palm the Monk does a series of lethal strikes to the targets nerve clusters, setting up a deadly chain reaction within the target. It also causes the target to bleed for an x amount of second. If the target dies while bleeding it explodes, which deals damage to surrounding enemies.
Seven-Sided Strike: Unleashes a fury of attacks, striking multiple enemies nearby.
Way of the Hundred Fists: The Monk fires a series of punching strikes to the targets in front of the Monk. Let’s hope this one stays true to the name ‘hundred.’ I have high hopes for some spectacular rune effects connecting to this skill. Projecting waves of lightning with each strike maybe?
Wizard
Disintegrate: Fires off a laser beam that will hit every target in its line of fire. It’s always important to have situational skill shots to keep things exciting for the wizard.
Electrocute: Fires off an electric beam that hits multiple nearby targets dealing x amount of damage, as well as stunning and slowing the target. Electrocute can jump to 2 other targets dealing 30% less damage with each jump.
Teleport: The standard go-to defensive skill for a mage. Just make sure you teleport out of the fray and not into it.
Magic Missile: This skill lets you fire off a fast single magic missile at a target, dealing x amount of arcane damage.
Slow Time: The Slow Time spell creates a purple bubble of protection around the Wizard. Basically what it does is create a forcefield around the wizard that not only slows the movement of enemies who enter it, but even slows projectile attacks launched from distant enemies.
Barbarian
Cleave: This skill lets you swing your weapon in a wide arc to deal damage to nearby targets. It also does 60% of weapon damage to other nearby enemies that are caught in the extended swing.
Ground Stomp: Ground Stomp makes you stomp the earth beneath you to stun and do 30% of damage to the surrounding targets. It’s an easy clean-up job from there.
Leap: With Leap you will leap into the air dealing 40% of damage to all enemies within 8 yards of your destination. This skill might be the most fun opening skill to do because you surprise your targets when you leap forward. I expect this to be widely popular in PvP.
Seismic Slam: This Slam might be the biggest Area of Effect spell that the Barbarian possesses; the barbarian slams the ground to cause a wave of destruction that deals 215 weapon damage and knockbacks targets in a 45yard arc around the epicenter.
Whirlwind: Every Warcraft fan and Diablo fan is probably familiar with the Whirlwind. We saw the blade master in Warcraft 3 being specialized in this skill. Whirlwind lets the character rotate in circles to deliver multiple attacks to every target that is currently walking in its path.
Witch Doctor
Firebomb: Firebomb is very similar to the Grenade skill that is used by the Demon Hunter. Instead of throwing grenades you throw one bomb at your enemy that will explode on impact and deal fire damage. As such timing is vital to landing this attack.
Horrify: This powerful curse frightens the nearby enemies into running away for a few seconds. The radius emanates from the Witch Doctor, not from the spot targeted when cast, so it only works on enemies who are very nearby.
Locust Swarm: Locust Swarm might be the most fun spell for the Witch Doctor to have. You send off a cloud of locusts that swarm over nearby enemies eating their flesh from their bones. The Locust Swarm will chain between nearby enemies which might set off a really fun situation where you can clear the room with only one simple spell. I’m curious how effective it is against living skeletons though.
Mass Confusion: With Mass Confusion you will confuse your targets into turning against their allies temporarily. The duration is currently set at 8 seconds.
Soul Harvest: With Soul Harvest you can feed on the life force of up to 5 nearby enemies within 15 yards. You will gain 126 attack for each affected enemy which will last for 30 seconds.
After seeing all the skills of the current classes I am thinking about trying out a Demon Hunter at the release of Diablo 3. I have always liked the archer class above any other class in any MMORPG that I have played. It’s refreshing to finally see an archer breaking from the typical stereotype to encompass a bit more utility. The Wizard also looks rather interesting but I can’t help shake the feeling that it’s meant to play more of a supporting role in this game. Still, in the hands of an expert, wizards will be able to dish out immense aoe damage while remaining quite mobile. The current amount of damage an attack or spell deals can be changed considering Diablo 3 is still in early beta, but after seeing all the video’s on the Diablo 3 site you can get a really good view of what to expect of the currently announced classes.
