Jade Harvester Witch Doctor Speed Farming Variation

Last updated on Oct 23, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 31 comments
Build Variations Updated for Season 33, Patch 2.7.8 Main Build Solo Greater Rift Progression Nephalem Rift Farming
1.

Speed Farming

Jade Harvester is a capable speed farming build for both T16 key farm as well as bounties. We have solo speed GR rankings and solo speed T16 rankings if you want to know more about which builds are best for speed farming.

Within the limited scope of regular difficulties, the necessary damage and toughness to triumph over the enemy is significantly smaller. Thus, your best course of action is to improve utility and speed.

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Haunt Icon Haunt Resentful Spirits Resentful Spirits Right Mouse Button Locust Swarm Icon Locust Swarm Searing Locusts Searing Locusts 1 Soul Harvest Icon Soul Harvest Soul to Waste Soul to Waste 2 Spirit Walk Icon Spirit Walk Severance Severance 3 Piranhas Icon Piranhas Piranhado Piranhado 4 Horrify Icon Horrify Stalker Stalker
Passive Skills
2.

Adapting Rotation

When you are speed farming regular rifts, parts of your playstyle will adapt to the lowered challenge and focus more on speed and utility.

While playing standard Nephalem Rifts for key farming, the build still retains similarities to the GR solo rotation, but pretty much every aspect of the build is reworked for extra speed an utility, especially when it comes to spreading DoTs. You zip from fight to fight in Spirit Walk Spirit Walk form with the powers of Shukrani's Triumph Shukrani's Triumph, spreading your Locust Swarm Locust Swarm automatically via Wormwood Wormwood and spamming Resentful Spirits Resentful Spirits. You should have a Piranhado Piranhado pull up for every fight with the Grave Injustice Grave Injustice reset, and you simply follow up with a Haunt Haunt, dive in and Soul Harvest Soul Harvest the pack. This will more than likely nuke the entire pull, resetting your Spirit Walk Spirit Walk movement and readying up Piranhado Piranhado for the next one. Do not forget to Horrify Horrify your enemies regularly for the movement speed boost from Stalker Stalker and Rechel's Ring of Larceny Rechel's Ring of Larceny.

3.

Adapting Skills

Parts of the skill and passive selection will overlap with the base Greater Rift progression build, but others will have to change according to the task at hand. Ability to cross over great distances faster and more efficiently take precedence.

  • Soul Harvest Soul Harvest is still your main damage dealer, attaining all the runes via the Jade set 4-piece bonus and turning from a utility skill into a nuke via the 6-piece bonus.
  • Haunt Haunt is still a major DoT for your rotation, but it is recommended that you use the faster spread of the Resentful Spirits Resentful Spirits rune.
  • Swap progression-oriented Locust Swarm Locust Swarm runes like Pestilence Pestilence and Cloud of Insects Cloud of Insects for the superior damage of the Searing Locusts Searing Locusts rune, spreading automatically around with a cubed Wormwood Wormwood.
  • The protective Frightening Aspect Frightening Aspect rune on Horrify Horrify should be replaced by the movement speed boost of Stalker Stalker.
  • Just like in progression, the movement speed and invulnerability utility from Spirit Walk Spirit Walk and the monster pull from Piranhado Piranhado retain their value in speed runs.
  • Change Confidence Ritual Confidence Ritual to Gruesome Feast Gruesome Feast, as it undeniably offers the strongest damage increase among its peers, provided you can keep it stacked with health globes — an easy task when farming. Use Pierce the Veil Pierce the Veil over progression-oriented passives like Blood Ritual Blood Ritual or Spirit Vessel Spirit Vessel. Maintain Creeping Death Creeping Death (for the lengthened DoT duration, directly increasing your DPS via the Jade set mechanics) and Grave Injustice Grave Injustice (for the kill-based Cooldown Reduction) as build staples.
4.

Adapting Gear

The basics of your gear setup remain the same; however you will equip the full 6-piece Jade Harvester set and drop the Cpt. Crimson plus Ring of Royal Grandeur Ring of Royal Grandeur combo from the GR progression setup. This opens up the jewelry slots for all-out damage and utility items to assist you in speed farming in the fastest way possible. Stat-wise, the T16 Jade Harvester refocuses from Haunt Haunt damage into Locust Swarm Locust Swarm damage, and changes from Poison (or Cold, depending on your progression rune of choice) into Fire elemental damage. The remaining adaptation and changes will happen in your jewelry, where you need to swap from the slow paced, rotation-oriented combo of the Endless Walk set (The Compass Rose The Compass Rose and The Traveler's Pledge The Traveler's Pledge) into more speedfarm-appropriate gear.

You will keep Ring of Emptiness Ring of Emptiness from the GR progression build, as it provides a time- and pacing-agnostic damage bonus at the mere cost of including Locust Swarm Locust Swarm in the build, attained via the cubed Wormwood Wormwood. Another great ring for GR speed farming is Rechel's Ring of Larceny Rechel's Ring of Larceny, whose movement speed bonus will be triggered constantly via Horrify Horrify. The third suggested ring for the setup is a Cold damage Stone of Jordan Stone of Jordan, which provides a consistent elemental and elite damage bonus. You should have the SoJ equipped, since its elemental and elite bonuses cannot be extracted in the Cube; pair it with your better rolled item between Ring of Emptiness Ring of Emptiness and Rechel's Ring of Larceny Rechel's Ring of Larceny, and cube the worse one.

It should be noted that Avarice Band Avarice Band is a supremely useful legendary item that, in conjunction with Goldwrap Goldwrap and Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder, will form a gold triumvirate that keeps you safe and showered in gold as you farm up T16s. When you are farming solo however, this ring can be equipped on your Follower, and its power will "Emanate" to you (meaning you gain the benefits of the item as if you wore it yourself). That being said, in group farming you will need to wear the Avarice Band Avarice Band yourself, replacing the SoJ, since you cannot have a Follower in parties.

Finish off the jewelry with the powerful damage multiplication from Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace. Take heed of its downside (increase in damage taken, as well as loss of the damage buff as you take hits) and try to safeguard its bonus with Goldwrap Goldwrap, as well as crowd controlling monsters prior to engagements with Horrify Horrify, rendering them unable to retaliate.

Weapons-wise, early on you can stay on Sacred Harvester Sacred Harvester to bolster the benefits of Lakumba's Ornament Lakumba's Ornament. The latter however quickly become survivability overkill once you get the hang of Goldwrap Goldwrap mechanics; a good alternative for the weapon then becomes In-geom In-geom, as it allows you to chain cast Spirit Walk Spirit Walk from elite to elite, clearing the rift lightning-fast. Another source of additional speed will be found in Warzechian Armguards Warzechian Armguards, which provide an environment destruction-based speed boost. Note that the former favorites in the slot, Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers, are still quite valuable to the build. In solo play however, they should be equipped on the follower, and their power will carry over to you via the Emanate mechanic. Nemesis Bracers Nemesis Bracers should still be equipped by you in group play.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Socket
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Vitality
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Locust Swarm % Damage
  3. Area Damage
  4. Cooldown Reduction
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Locust Swarm % Damage
  4. Vitality
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Fire % Damage
  4. Life per Hit or Vitality
  5. Reduced Damage Melee Attacks (Secondary stat)
Hands
  1. Intelligence (or Cooldown Reduction at high Paragon)
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Critical Hit Damage
  4. Area Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Life %
  4. Armor
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. All Resistance
  5. Pickup Radius (Secondary Stat)
  6. Health Globe Healing Bonus (Secondary Stat)
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Fire % Damage
  5. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  6. Melee or Missile Damage Reduction (Secondary Stat)
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Area Damage
  5. Average Damage
  6. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  7. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Area Damage
  5. Average Damage
  6. Physical or Lightning Resistance (Secondary Stat)
  7. Life per Kill (Secondary Stat)
Weapon
  1. High Weapon Damage
  2. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  3. Intelligence (or % Damage at high Paragons)
  4. Area Damage
  5. Increased Attack Speed
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Locust Swarm % Damage
  5. Area Damage

To help you with farming the gear you need for your builds, we have two very useful guides that you can access by clicking the links below: a Salvage Guide to help you quickly check whether or not you can safely salvage a piece of gear and a Legendary Farming Guide to help you efficiently farm legendaries and set items.

4.1.

Altar of Rites

The former Season 28 theme, the Altar of Rites, has been revised and re-added to Diablo 3 as a permanent character progression mechanic. — For virtually all builds and players of all skill levels — from casual to advanced — we recommend progressing through the Altar tree using the path outlined below. The suggested path is geared towards maximum quality of life first, then amplifying damage, and then mopping up the tree with defensive and edge case utility nodes.

Note that while they require reaching them with a Seal, Legendary Potion Powers are not part of the Seal cost system; Potions unlock with a separate resource called Primordial Ashes, obtained from salvaging Legendary or Set items of Primal (red bordered) quality. Upgrade them as soon as possible, and in the order shown below (courtesy of Caleko's Altar of Rites planner).

Altar of Rites Planner

You can read more on the Altar of Rites, Seals and Legendary Potion Powers in our dedicated Altar of Rites Mechanics guide.

5.

Adapting Gems

Gogok of Swiftness Gogok of Swiftness retains its usefulness in T16 farming, as an increase of both Attack Speed and Cooldown Reduction is universally valuable for Jade Harvester builds. Offense-oriented, damage multiplication gems should be replaced by utility; Bane of the Trapped Bane of the Trapped should be replaced by Boon of the Hoarder Boon of the Hoarder, whose interaction with the Avarice Band Avarice Band and Goldwrap Goldwrap will keep you rich, safe and sped up throughout the run. Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken should give way to Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard, whose shielding mechanics will safeguard your Squirt's Necklace Squirt's Necklace damage bonus.

Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

For more information about gems, please refer to our guide on gems.

6.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

In the weapon slot of the Cube, we recommend running Wormwood Wormwood — it casts free Locust Swarm Locust Swarms on a regular basis and allows you to focus on Haunt Haunting and pure speed.

You need to maintain Quetzalcoatl Quetzalcoatl in the armor slot of the Cube, as it is a cornerstone legendary piece for the mechanics of the Jade Harvester build.

Your jewelry Cube slot will be occupied by your worse rolled item between Rechel's Ring of Larceny Rechel's Ring of Larceny (massive speed boost whenever you Fear an enemy with Horrify Horrify), and Ring of Emptiness Ring of Emptiness (massive damage multiplication against enemies affected by either Haunt Haunt or Locust Swarm Locust Swarm).

In Season 33, where you get a 4th slot for the Kanai's Cube, you can introduce additional attack and movement speed to the build by slotting Echoing Fury Echoing Fury there.

The Kanai's Cube can be used for much more than simply extracting Legendary powers from items. Please refer to our Kanai's Cube guide for more information.

7.

Follower

The recommended follower for this build during T16 key farming is the Enchantress due to her cooldown reduction buff from Prophetic Harmony Prophetic Harmony, as well as the Focused Mind Focused Mind attack speed buff.

For more information regarding followers, we advise you to read our Follower Guide, which contains detailed advice for choosing the skills and the gear of your follower.

8.

Legendary Potion

The preferred potions for this build are Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid Bottomless Potion of Kulle-Aid (allowing you to break down Waller affixes that impede your positioning) and Bottomless Potion of the Tower Bottomless Potion of the Tower (whose Armor-increasing properties complement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Witch Doctors). Pick whichever you feel helps you out the most.

9.

Changelog

  • 23 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
  • 10 Jul. 2024: Added Season 32 advice for ethereal weapons.
  • 10 Apr. 2024: Guide reviewed for Season 31.
  • 10 Jan. 2024: Revised guide for the permanent addition of the Altar of Rites, and added Season-specific Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 13 Sep. 2023: Added Season 29 Paragon Cap and Gearing recommendations.
  • 22 Feb. 2023: Added Season 28 Altar of Rites recommendations.
  • 26 Aug. 2022: Added Season 27 Angelic Crucible recommendations.
  • 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 06 Dec. 2021: Enriched the guide and added Season 25 Soul Shard recommendations.
  • 22 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: Minor gear revision and added follower recommendation.
  • 19 Nov. 2020: Added Cube recommendations for Season 22.
  • 01 Jul. 2020: No changes required for Season 21.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 22 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Flavor of Time is the new recommended amulet.
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