Build Guide
This build has been tested in 2.6.1 and Season 12 on the PS4 and PC, and is in mid-testing for Season 13.
The build highlights sheer outgoing pet damage with high DPS, supplemented by the Witch Doctor for damage support. The high number of pets all summoned at once work for enemy path blocking and keeping damage piled on as much as possible, either shredding through mobs and piling onto elites, or stacking damage onto bosses and Rift Guardians.
The Witch Doctor's damage support works via Haunt and Spirit Barrage, Haunt with the Poisoned Spirit rune dealing damage as well as making inflicted targets take an additional 20% damage from all sources. Spirit Barrage with the Well of Souls rune adds additional projectiles at 65% damage each all as Fire damage, granting Life on Hit and generating Mana through Voo's Juicer. The real boost however comes from The Barber in the Cube, boosting Spirit Barrage damage up to 250% and making the damage of all projectiles accumulate on an enemy instead of detonating, and then exploding to hit the enemy and all others within 15 yards for the total damage. This makes the skill far wider hitting, and along with Haunt acts as Mana spending damage to trigger the 6 piece set bonus, increasing all pet damage up to 5500% to all enemies hit by Mana spenders for 8 seconds per hit.
The pets themselves work for damage output and some defensive properties. Fetish Army itself becomes longer lasting with a much smaller cooldown thanks to the 2 piece bonus, and with the Legion of Daggers rune summons 8 Fetishes instead of just 5, adding up to 23 total with all the Fetishes summoned through the effects of the Belt of Transcendence. The 4 piece bonus grants 3% damage reduction for the Witch Doctor and their pets for every Fetish summoned, meaning as long as the Witch Doctor keeps casting Mana spenders, they and their pets will have a 69% damage reduction effect constantly active.
The Fetishes themselves work to deal significant Physical damage, but the bulk comes from the Zombie Dogs and Gargantuans, Zombie Dogs with the Leeching Beasts rune for Life on Hit to keep the Witch Doctor healthy while dealing Physical damage, and Gargantuan with the Humongoid rune for maximum damage to multiple enemies as Cold. Using the Short Man's Finger grants the Gargantuan even more damage and splits it into three smaller ones to hit more enemies, and Tall Man's Finger combines the Zombie Dogs into one larger, more powerful one, the latter of which can be swapped out depending on whether the player feels having a single stronger Zombie Dog for greater damage per hit is more valuable, or having multiple Zombie Dogs attacking more enemies at once.
Soul Harvest with the Languish rune works as utility, granting increased Intelligence for better damage and defense at base, and the rune granting additional Armor for every enemy struck, boosting overall damage and defense for the Witch Doctor and their pets.
For passives, Midnight Feast and Zombie Handler each grant an additional Zombie Dog for a total of 5, Midnight Feast improving damage for the Dogs and Gargantuans, and Zombie Handler granting them and the Witch Doctor a 20% total Life boost. Rush of Essence generates Mana over time for every Spirit skill used, so Haunt and Spirit Barrage more than earn back their costs the more they are cast, and works with Pierce the Veil granting another 20% damage boost to the Witch Doctor at the cost of skills costing 30% more Mana, useful because it affects all damage, including that of pets.
The build does allow for some tinkering, at base working to be more survival oriented. By swapping the Leeching Beasts rune for Burning Dogs for Fire damage and another DoT effect, and then Well of Souls for Manitou on Spirit Barrage, it allows for a more damage oriented build. Burning Dogs working for more DPS at the cost of healing, while Manitou deals greater damage per projectile as Cold damage and each projectile counting as a single cast, so each explodes right away when hitting an enemy, each boosted at base by 250% and making the Witch Doctor a walking area of effect mortar to keep hitting enemies and setting them up for increased pet damage.
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