LoD Spirit Barrage Witch Doctor Group Progression Variation

Last updated on Oct 23, 2024 at 09:00 by Deadset 5 comments
1.

Group Greater Rift Pushing

This variant is archived, meaning that we are leaving it on the site for documentation purposes, but it will no longer be actively updated.

The Spirit Barrage LoN build is the top tier group Greater Rift pushing build for the Witch Doctor class. This variation is no longer the preferred AoE DPS spec for groups, but you can still build it and play it in your group with a reasonable degree of success.

2.

Adapting Skills

Active Skills
Left Mouse Button Haunt Icon Haunt Poisoned Spirit Poisoned Spirit Right Mouse Button Locust Swarm Icon Locust Swarm Pestilence Pestilence 1 Grasp of the Dead Icon Grasp of the Dead Death Is Life Death Is Life 2 Sacrifice Icon Sacrifice Provoke the Pack Provoke the Pack 3 Spirit Barrage Icon Spirit Barrage Phlebotomize Phlebotomize 4 Soul Harvest Icon Soul Harvest Languish Languish
Passive Skills

The following skill selection alterations will be necessary:

  • Changing Piranhas Piranhas Piranhado Piranhado and Spirit Walk Spirit Walk Severance Severance from the soloing build into Grasp of the Dead Grasp of the Dead Death Is Life Death Is Life and Sacrifice Sacrifice Provoke the Pack Provoke the Pack. The former two are a monster grouping and a survival tool respectively, and both these tasks are taken care of by Support teammates in groups. The latter combination will net you a nice 20% increase of damage.
  • Changing Grave Injustice Grave Injustice (mainly a reset tool for your soloing invulnerability cooldown, Spirit Walk Spirit Walk) into Gruesome Feast Gruesome Feast — a staple DPS passive that gets fed by globe spawning support teammates.
3.

Adapting Gear

You will simply need to exchange The Barber The Barber for Voo's Juicer Voo's Juicer. This is the other Spirit Barrage Spirit Barrage-related legendary that only gets overlooked when soloing due to the power of Sacred Harvester Sacred Harvester in keeping you alive. Voo's Juicer Voo's Juicer has a natural Spirit Barrage Spirit Barrage damage roll however, edging over the competition when survival is no longer a concern. You will still retain the powers of The Barber The Barber in the Cube.

Slot Pieces Stat Priority
Head
  1. Intelligence
  2. Socket
  3. Spirit Barrage %
  4. Critical Hit Chance
  5. Vitality
Shoulders
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Life %
  4. Armor
Torso
  1. Intelligence
  2. 3 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Reduced damage from Elites
  5. Armor
Wrists
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Chance
  3. Cold Damage
  4. Vitality
Hands
  1. Critical Hit Chance
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Attack Speed
  4. Intelligence
  5. Vitality
Waist
  1. Intelligence
  2. Critical Hit Damage (if The Witching Hour The Witching Hour)
  3. Attack Speed (if The Witching Hour The Witching Hour)
  4. Vitality
Legs
  1. Intelligence
  2. 2 Sockets
  3. Vitality
  4. Armor
Feet
  1. Intelligence
  2. Vitality
  3. Armor
  4. All Resistance
  5. Movement Speed
Amulet
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Cold Damage
  5. Intelligence
Ring #1
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Average Damage
Ring #2
  1. Socket
  2. Critical Hit Damage
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Average Damage
Weapon
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Socket (preferably from Ramaladni's Gift Ramaladni's Gift)
  4. Attack Speed
  5. % Weapon Damage
Off-hand
  1. High Damage Range
  2. Intelligence
  3. Critical Hit Chance
  4. Spirit Barrage %
  5. Vitality

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.

3.1.

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.

4.

Adapting Gemming

In a group Greater Rifting setup, your role will be the AoE damage dealer. Since killing the Rift Guardian will no longer be your concern, you need to exchange Bane of the Stricken Bane of the Stricken for Pain Enhancer Pain Enhancer. Due to Spirit Barrage Spirit Barrage's excellent scaling with Attack Speed and the clumps of monsters created by Support teammates, this "APS per bleeding enemy in radius" gem will net you the highest DPS gain.

Slot Gems
Jewelry
Helm
Torso and Pants
Weapon

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

5.

Adapting Kanai's Cube

As previously mentioned, you will be cubing The Barber The Barber in order to retain the damage accumulating powers of the ceremonial knife.

Due to the numerous stuns and freezes available to your Support teammates, you can take advantage of one of the strongest damage reduction sources in the game by cubing Ancient Parthan Defenders Ancient Parthan Defenders.

In Season 33, where you get a 4th slot for the Kanai's Cube, you can introduce additional damage to the build by slotting Shukrani's Triumph Shukrani's Triumph 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.

6.

Legendary Potion

Your recommended potion is Bottomless Potion of the Tower Bottomless Potion of the Tower, whose Armor-increasing properties complement the naturally high All Resistances stat of Witch Doctors (due to Intelligence scaling Resistances) for optimal survivability.

7.

Changelog

  • 23 Oct. 2024: Added Season 33 advice for 4th Kanai slot.
  • 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.
  • 14 Apr. 2022: Guide reviewed for Season 26.
  • 22 Jul. 2021: Added S24 Ethereal recommendation.
  • 01 Apr. 2021: Added potion recommendation.
  • 19 Nov. 2020: Added Cube recommendations for Season 22.
  • 12 Mar. 2020: No changes necessary for Season 20.
  • 22 Nov. 2019: Reviewed for Season 19.
  • 23 Aug. 2019: Archived variant.
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