Arachyr Firebats
Witch Doctor build
Diablo 3 Patch 2.6.4

Spirit of Arachyr is the second most powerful Witch Doctor build in terms of Solo GR pushing. It offers insane DPS, but mediocre mobility which makes it unsuitable for speed-farming and Bounties. It has received a moderately high damage bonus in Patch 2.6.4, but the build still lost the Top Tier position to the Jade Harvester's class. 

To check the full list of our Best Diablo 3 builds visit:  The Best Diablo 3 builds by Odealo

Table of contents

1. General information
2. Recommended items
3. Recommended skills

General information

The entire build is based on the Spirit of Arachyr set which provides the following bonuses:

• Summons a permanent Spider Queen who leaves behind webs that deal 4000% damage over 5 seconds and Slow enemies by 60%. The Spider Queen is commanded to move where Corpse Spiders are cast (2/6)
• Hex gains the effect of Toad of Hugeness rune. After Toad of Hugeness is summoned, the Witch Doctor is healed for 10% of maximum Life per second and takes 50% less damage for 15 seconds (4/6)
• The damage of creature skills is increased by 9000%. Creature skills are Corpse Spiders, Plague of Toads, Firebats, Locust Swarm, Hex, and Piranhas (6/6)

Arachyr Firebats is one of the best Witch Doctor builds for solo GR pushing in Diablo 3. It offers very high DPS, but because of limited mobility and necessity to stay in melee range, it may feel clunky for casual players.

This build's basic rotation is as follows:

1. Keeping the Hex damage reduction buff at all times (provided by 4/6 set bonus)
2. Applying Haunt and Locust Swarm on enemies to benefit from the Ring of Emptiness effect (not to mention extra mana regen. from Haunt, and damage reduction from LS) - this step might require a certain amount of experience, you need to be able to visually identify which enemies have the debuffs applied to them
3. Keeping 10 stacks of Soul Harvest up for bonus damage reduction
4. Channeling Firebats - as long as around 50% of trash has the debuffs applied to them, or all of the Elites in the range do
5. Use Spirit Walk for faster movement or in emergency situations

Recommended items

Equipment
	Head - Arachyr's Visage Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Socket 3) Intelligence 4) Increased Firebats damage 5) Vitality 6) Secondary res. Socket:
	Chest - Arachyr's Carapace Stat priorities: 1) Intelligence 2) Vitality 3) Life% 4) Secondary res. Sockets:
	Pants - Arachyr's Legs Stat priorities: 1) Intelligence 2) Vitality 3) Armor 4) Secondary res. Sockets:
	Gloves - Arachyr's Claws Stat priorities: 1) Intelligence 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% / Vitality 5) Secondary res.
	Boots - Arachyr's Stride Stat priorities: 1) Intelligence 2) Vitality 3) Increased Firebats damage 4) Armor 5) Secondary res.
	Pauldrons - Arachyr's Mantle Stat priorities: 1) Intelligence 2) Vitality 3) Area damage% 4) Life%
	Bracers - Lakumba's Ornament Stat priorities: 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) Fire damage% 3) Intelligence  4) Vitality 5) Secondary res. Special power: Reduces all damage taken by 6% for each stack of Soul Harvest
	Amulet - Traveller's Pledge Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Damage 3) Critical Hit Chance 4) Fire damage% 5) Intelligence (Part of the Endless Walk set) Set bonuses: While moving, all damage taken is reduced by up to 50% While standing still, all damage dealt is increased by up to 100%
	Ring - Compass Rose Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% 5) Intelligence 6) Vitality (Part of the Endless Walk set)
	Ring - Ring of Emptiness Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) Critical Hit Chance 3) Critical Hit Damage 4) Area damage% 5) Intelligence Special power: Deal 250–300% increased damage to enemies affected by both Haunt and Locust Swarm
	Belt - Bakuli Jungle Wraps Stat priorities: 1) Dexterity 2) Vitality 3) Life% 4) Armor 5) Secondary res. Special power: Firebats deal 250-300% increased damage to enemies affected by Locust Swarm or Piranhas
	Weapon - Sacred Harvester Stat priorities: 1) Socket 2) High average damage 3) Damage% 4) Intelligence 6) Attack speed% Sockets:  Special power Soul Harvest now stacks up to 10 times
	Off-hand - Vile Hive 1) Critical Hit Chance 2) High average damage 3) Intelligence 4) Increased Firebats damage 5) Area damage% 6) Vitality Special power Locust Swarm gains the effect of the Pestilence rune and deals 45–60% increased damage
Bonus Items for Season 16 (thanks to built-in Ring of Royal Grandeur power)
	Pauldrons - Mantle of Channeling Stat priorities: 1) Intelligence 2) Vitality 3) Area damage% 4) Life% Special power While channeling Whirlwind, Rapid Fire, Strafe, Tempest Rush, Firebats, Arcane Torrent, Disintegrate, or Ray of Frost, deal 20–25% increased damage and take 25% reduced damage
Kanai Cube powers
	Staff of Chiroptera Firebats attack 100% faster, cost 75% less Mana and deal 125-150% more damage
	Coils of the First Spider While channeling Firebats, take 30% reduced damage and gain 60000–80000 Life per Hit
	Unity All damage taken is split between wearers of this item Works only in solo-mode, and when your follower also has it equipped. For team-play use Convention of Elements in Kanai Cube
Legendary Gems
	Bane of the Trapped Increases damage done to enemies under the control-impairing effects by 15% Upgrade: +0.3% additional damage per Rank Gain an aura that slows the movement speed of enemies within 15 yards by 30% (Requires Rank 25)
	Bane of the Stricken Each attack you make against an enemy increases the damage it takes from your attacks by 0.8%. Upgrade: +0.01% damage per Rank Gain 25% increased damage against Rift Guardians and bosses (Requires Rank 25)
	Taeguk Gain 2.00% increased damage for 1.5 seconds for each tick of a channeled skill. This effect stacks up to 10 times. Upgrade: +0.04% increased damage per stack per Rank Gain 2% increased Armor for every stack. (Requires Rank 25)

Recommended skills

Active Skills
	Firebats Call forth a swarm of fiery bats to burn enemies in front of you for 475% damage as Fire Cloud of Bats Makes the bats swirl around Witch Doctor dealing 425% weapon damage per second, increased each second by up to 850% after 3 seconds.  Your main DPS skill. It causes the bats to damage all enemies around Witch Doctor in 15 yards radius. Because this makes this skill basically melee range it is very important to keep and the defensive buffs up
	Spirit Walk Your movement is unhindered for the duration and you are immune to all damage and control impairing effects. Spirit Walk lasts 2 seconds Jaunt Increases the skill duration Your main mobility skill. It is also a life-saver in emergency situations. The rune choice is up to your personal preference
	Hex Summon a Fetish Shaman for 12 seconds that will hex groups of enemies into chickens. Hexed enemies are unable to perform offensive actions Jinx Affected enemies receive 15% increased damage from all sources Toad of Hungress(granted by Arachyr set) Summons a giant toad for 5 seconds that will swallow one enemy within 35 yards. Swollen enemies (after their release) receive 15% increased damage from all sources Jinx rune provides the summoned shaman to apply a decent debuff. The most important part of the skill is getting the damage reduction bonus from the Arachyr set
	Soul Harvest Feed on the life force of up to 5 enemies within 18 yards. Gain 3% Intelligence for each affected enemy. This effect stacks up to 5 times and lasts 30 seconds Languish Slows enemy movement speed and increases Witch Doctor's maximum armor by 10% per stack Amazing defensive ability. In combination with Sacred Harvester and Lakumba's Ornament, it grants an irreplaceable defensive buff
	Locust Swarm Unleash a plague of locusts that swarms an enemy, dealing 1040% damage as Poison over 8 seconds. The locusts will jump to additional nearby enemies Cloud of Insects Affected enemies deal 25% reduced damage Apply to enemies to benefit from the Ring of Emptiness' effect. If you do not have Vile Hive equipped, picking up the Pestilence rune is advised
	Haunt Haunt an enemy with a spirit, dealing 4000% weapon damage as Cold over 12 seconds. If the enemy dies, the spirit will haunt another enemy within 70 yards radius Draining Spirit The spirit returns 13 Mana per second Apply to enemies to benefit from the Ring of Emptiness' effect. Rune choice is up to your personal preference. Both Poisoned Spirit and Resentful Spirit are very decent options, and the remaining two will work as well
Passive Skills
	Confidence Ritual The Witch Doctor deals 25% additional damage to enemies within 20 yards of himself
	Creeping Death The duration of Locust Swarm, Haunt and damage amplification of Piranhas increases to 19800 seconds
	Grave Injustice Every time an enemy dies within 20 yards of the Witch Doctor, the latter regains 1% of maximum Life and Mana, and all remaining cooldowns are reduced by 1 second. The radius is extended by items that increase the health and gold pickup range
	Spirit Vessel Whenever the Witch Doctor suffers fatal damage, they do not die, but automatically enter the spirit realm for 2 seconds and are healed to 50% of maximum Life. While in the spirit realm, they are invulnerable, their movement is unhindered, and they can move through enemies and all kinds of obstacles This effect may occur once every 60 seconds, unaffected by the cooldown reduction stat

We hope you will enjoy this build as much as we did. And see you soon in the world of Sanctuary.

If you have any ideas on how this build could be improved, or if you believe this is no longer the best Witch Doctor build, please let us know in the comments below.

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment.