Darts, spiders, or toads? Opinions?

[Arethor]

I'm currently in Act 2 Nightmare and really enjoying the versatility of his kit. I use almost entirely different skill sets depending on if I'm soloing or in a group. I've even swapped abilities on the fly to better suit certain situations.

Rain of Toads is really good damage, but does its best damage when your target isn't very mobile. Widowmakers sadly don't seem to do a lot of damage, however the mana return is nice if you're using Plague Bats (really good damage but mana intense) or other mana intensive abilities. Same with Spined Darts, lackluster damage, but gives mana. I still find myself using Firebomb with Flash Fire rune most of the time. Roll the Bones is better damage, however since it goes in a straight line it's best used in a small hallway. Flash Fire on the other hand can decimate open rooms thanks to it's hopping.

The increase in hp on enemies in Nightmare is very noticeable and elites can be really scary depending on their abilities. Last night I was in Act 2 and came across a few types of yellow Savage Beast (those big charging guys). They're annoying enough already if you don't avoid their charges, but some of the combinatioins were just brutal. Here's a few that I remember:

Vortex/Illusion - Vortex pulls you to the caster. Only the main yellow was casting it. Illusion causes both the main yellow and his minions to spawn "fakes" of themselves. I think it was 3 fakes every cast, but it was really hard to tell because of the sheer number of them.

Shield/Anything - I had a few shield combos. The shield pretty much makes them immune to most of my damage while it's up. You need to target the ones without their shield up and just whittle them down.

Mortar/Electric - Mortars hurt. Big time. You have to stay mobile to avoid the blasts. Electic causes them to cast charged bolts when hit. Even more stuff to dodge.

Mortar/Arcane - Mortars again. Arcane has them cast slow spinning long laser beams.

The worst of them all though was Waller/Extra Health. Walls + 4 charges = instant use of my Spirit Vessel. The extra health meant that they took forever to kill. To make matters worse I also had aggro from 2 trees, a dragonfly thing and a few goat men. I think I died 6 times before finally dealing enough damage to take them down.

I highly suggest going with a very tanky/safe sort of build Gnollguy and I wish your Doctor much luck.