Witch Doctor Group Roles

[Whisperawr]

So right now I'm level a level 45 Witch Doctor and up until last night, I played all of the game solo. I'm starting to play more in groups since I'm approaching higher difficulties. I'm on act 3 of Nightmare mode.

My standard setup is what I use for grinding trash mobs & AoE.
1 Summon Zombie Dogs (Burning Dogs) - These are good for holding aggro because I almost never have guys on me with pets out
2 Soul Harvest (Languish) - The damage multiplier on this is so amazing and makes me so strong, but I don't have a slow so I runed it with Languish
3 Acid Cloud (Acid Rain) - This is a great AoE and the other runes didn't seem as good as this one.
4 Summon Gargantuan (Humongoid) - The pet tank is amazing and it stays alive and cleaves for trash.
Left Click Fire Bomb (Roll the Bones) - This hits so many enemies and explodes 3 times.
Right Click Insect Swarm (Pestilence) - This spreads for maximum AoE damage

So my question is, what should my role in group play be?
What abilities are necessary for Witch Doctor group play?

[gerni]

I use the same setup as you except for the burning dogs. They died far too often to be of any use and especially so in Hell. Spirit Walk has been a MUST for me since it breaks roots and lets you get away if a mob teleports to you. (I use Honored Guest with Spirit Walk because I like to spam Acid Cloud for the ultimate AOE experience) I use Grasp of the Dead with Unbreakable Grasp and Soul Harvest with Siphon since it heals for a ton. That setup is just fine for group roles, however, Mass Confusion can be useful as well as Horrify. Depends on what the other classes bring.

I run with a Barb using Ground Stomp with Wrenching Smash and AOE becomes a joke. I'll swap acid cloud out for Haunt during a boss fight or tough elite/champ pack, though.

[-Orion-]

Get ready to dump the dogs soon, in hell they are getting 1 shotted, the big guy can hold on for a while, maybe a couple of seconds longer
anyway to answer your question, there is no definite role for each class, your only role is to kill, but seeing how the game gets pretty hard in hell and impossible in inferno, u need to use your crowd control instead of taking all dps skills, like fear, hex and confusion, also grasp of the dead runed with the 80% slow is amazing.
also I would advise using big bag voodoo with the 30% damage rune in boss fights or elites.