Hey folks!
I see a lot of non vitality/bleed builds take Bat devotion and I wonder why? Does twin fang really make enough of a difference with the life leech from weapon damage?
Is Turtle utter trash? I was thinking it might be good enough for first time character who’s purpose is to clear the game on ultimate and farm Dark One / Kreig sets. (I’m playing HC by the way)
Thanks!
Bat is one of the better and most universal devotions in the game. It’s especially good on casters without WD skills to sustain. Plus red/green affinity is usually needed.
Turtle is nice on casters with CDR and other forms of absorb, but is far from great. Sometimes it fits in your devotion route. Here’s my Reaper with both Turtle and Bat. [1.1.4.0] The Undead Shinobi of Cairn - PB Reaper, Gladiator in ~ 6 minutes
Not sure about Bat as I never really use it. In HC, I don’t like gambling or relying on procs that don’t provide at least 60% uptime. Giant is one exception due to generally great bonuses for regen based builds. As for the Tortoise, it’s useful only for low HP builds or, as Nery have said, convenient devotion path. I also find it annoying having to rely on another proc icon which is easy to miss in the heat of a battle. In the past, your char would get surrounded by a big golden globe on proc, which was super easy to spot. Now, it’s just a tiny icon. Regardless, I only use it in non-mainstream builds, either low HP or generally very squishy.
Bat is extremely good, but if you’re playing HC you may get used to a “stand still and spam cast” gameplay, which usually leads to deaths if you lack map awareness.
Depends. If it’s a glassy build with tons of spare gear, I go dancing. If it’s my farming spec, I facetank everything with very minimal re-positioning. Dancers still die more frequently in HC regardless of skill. A char that avoided 999/1000 bad situations is still a dead char 
Adding on to Bat:
I love Bat for the reasons mention by Evil_Baka, but my biggest problem with it is that it isn’t consistent especially when you need it. When there are lots of mobs and a boss it’s great, but when the mobs die and the boss is still around not so great.
I dont understand all that Bat and Turtle obsession either. Yes, Bat is nice for WD builds, or vitality ones, or if you have decent proccer and can convert most of its damage into your own damage type (and still need that affinity) and Turtle has its uses too, but putting them into every second build seems a bit too much for me. For example, if you dont have decent proccer skill at hand, or cant make it deal your damage type, or dont need chaos/eldrich affinity, you should think twice before getting Bat.
The other thing I haven’t seen mentioned regarding Turtle is the nodes on it are a pretty nice source of DA/health/armour to pick up for a T1 constellation.
Actually in both cases Bat is doing really small difference. In WD builds you have already big life steal from you skills. For example DW melee very often skips it.
In vitality builds you have so much life steal, which makes Bat effect to have diminished returns.
Bat is used better in builds without many forms of sustain- casters and is especially good if you convert it’s damage. For acid builds for example, melee or casters Bat makes more impact than for vitality.
Thank you for the great replies everyone.
bat is the one reason why every char we play are vampires! (even the ‘holy’ ones. also, you always able to absorb vitality essence from fallen enemies.). If you have a big weapon damage based skills/attacks, adcth as a survival mechanic will be very powerful indeed!. still, adcth alone won’t support your char’s survival. resistances, defensive ability, hp, armor and some panic button healing skills are needed in higher difficulties.
morale of the story: we’re all vampires!
If you play Paladin and use vampiric skills is sacrilegious and blasphemy. 
if you play an occultist using necromancy items for demon-y and undead-y summons, you can still join kymon’s chosen and stroll in their hideout while showing off your whole blasphemous crew in front of their faces.
you can also choose oathkeeper as second mastery, then summon the guardian of empyrion in front of their face for extra lulz.
then you laugh on their face when they learned that kymon is actually an extra heretical ex-inquisitor leading them to worship the wrong god.
Btw, we need to start a petition to bring back the old Turtle proc visuals. The new one is barely noticeable and can get you killed because you have no idea if it proc’ed o not in the heat of the battle…
Petition for Turtle Shell to put an actual Turtle’s Shell on your character’s back for the duration of the proc?
Can’t agree more. One of the reasons I’m very reluctant to use it HC nowadays.