Jade Harvester Witch Doctor BiS Gear, Gems, and Paragon Points

1. Best in Slot Gear and Alternatives

The build incorporates the complete Raiment of the Jade Harvester set, taking all six available pieces and opening up the jewelry for the Endless Walk set and its damage multiplication bonuses. Crit Chance is necessary along with Intelligence and Vitality on Jade Harvester's Wisdom. Cooldown reduction is important for the Jade Witch Doctor, and it is advisable to get it on the Jade Harvester's Mercy, where it accompanies the Crit stats, as well as on the Jade Harvester's Joy. The latter will also provide you with skill damage, as Haunt % can be rolled on both the Jade Harvester's Joy and the Jade Harvester's Peace. Jade Harvester's Courage and Jade Harvester's Swiftness remain pure toughness slots, prioritizing high Vitality and Armor. Note that stacking Armor benefits you because of the balancing of sources of mitigation, as All Resistance is already abundant on an Intelligence-based character.

For Season 16 adjustments, please refer to our dedicated section below.

Not skipping on any of the six available set pieces to obtain the full Jade Harvester set bonus allows you to split between offense and defense in the jewelry slots. One of the 2.4 reworks, the Endless Walk set — The Compass Rose ring and The Traveler's Pledge amulet — adds a unique mechanic that slowly increases your damage by up to a 100% if you remain stationary, and drains it away and increases your damage reduction while moving. This mirrors the Jade Harvester playstyle, which goes from extended periods of drawing agro with Haunt spam into a more static Soul Harvest, Piranhado and Horrify rotation. The Ring of Emptiness will occupy your second ring slot; this legendary jewelry piece dramatically increases your damage against enemies affected by both Haunt and Locust Swarm, matching the natural rotation of the build.

The general recommendation for the belt slot is the Haunting Girdle, releasing an extra Spirit when you cast Haunt for added burst. While Jade Harvester is far from a pet build, the Belt of Transcendence is another viable belt due to its amazing unique bonus — basically, a better Fetish Sycophants passive at the cost of a gear slot. With its guaranteed trigger, this belt will quickly take you to the cap of 15 fetishes that act as a solid meat shield and distraction for your enemies.

Introduced in Patch 2.4, Lakumba's Ornament is a targeted bracer for Jade Harvester Witch Doctors. Synergizing with the bonuses of the Sacred Harvester (discussed below), this bracer will cut incoming damage roughly in half, significantly improving the survival chances of this melee spellcaster build.

The appropriately named Sacred Harvester is the best-in-slot weapon for a Jade Witch Doctor in Greater Rifts, as its unique bonus extends the number of Soul Harvest stacks from 5 to 10. Considering that the build benefits from all Soul Harvest runes, the Damage, Toughness and Utility bonuses gained from this Ceremonial Knife are second to none when it comes to progression content.

There is some wiggle room in the offhand slot, depending on your needs for better survival or damage. The standard choice is equipping Henri's Perquisition, offering a significant source of upfront damage reduction and crowd control. Note that if you choose the survivability route in gearing, this slot is interchangeable with a Vile Hive, depending on your better item roll. In the stats, look for high damage range, Intelligence, Vitality, Crit Chance, and increased Haunt %.

1.1. Season 16 Adjustments

During Season 16 (and in seasonal play only), you will be getting the benefits of Ring of Royal Grandeur passively, without the need to wear it. For the Soul Harvest WD builds, this allows you to improve on the build's damage potential.

Since you enjoy a passive RoRG bonus and can drop one of the core Jade set pieces, your best option is to replace Jade Harvester's Wisdom with the Quetzalcoatl, previously slotted in the armor Cube slot. The newly vacant slot in the Cube should be filled with the unique power of Strongarm Bracers; this legendary amplifies your damage against targets that have been knocked back. The effects of Piranhado accomplish precisely that, giving you a reliable trigger of this decent additive damage bonus.

2. Paragon Points

3. Gems

Bane of the Trapped is a potent source of additional damage, as it is its own multiplier in your total damage calculation. The gem procs itself with its level 25 property, and is otherwise triggered by Haunt and Languish.

Esoteric Alteration is the strongest mitigation gem available, and its impact is noticeable in this close range caster build. Improving your elemental resistances with every gem level and adding an emergency toughness spike through the level 25 property, Esoteric Alteration ensures that enemies will have a hard time bursting you down.

Introduced in Season 4, Bane of the Stricken occupies the third and final jewelry socket. Building up your damage multiplicatively in prolonged fights and with a level 25 bonus specifically targeting Rift Guardians, this gem is designed to assist AoE heavy builds in their struggle against single target, high HP enemies. Jade Harvester Witch Doctors are no exception.

4. Kanai's Cube

To improve your damage, the best choice for the weapon slot in the Cube is The Furnace, the strongest generic two-handed weapon in the game. With its 50% additional elite damage affix it speeds up clear times greatly, as Champion and Rift Guardian fights are the usual GR bottleneck. Alternatively, you can cube a Vile Hive mojo to get a free Pestilence rune, allowing you to run the Toughness-oriented Cloud of Insects rune on your bar.

Tucked away in the armor slot of the Cube, the Quetzalcoatl voodoo mask is a key piece that doubles the pace of your Haunt and Locust Swarm DoTs, ties into the Creeping Death passive bonus and produces the signature Jade burst.

In GRs, the jewelry slot will be best taken by the pure damage boost of Convention of Elements, whose rotation of elemental bonuses you will have to keep under close scrutiny to take advantage of the short-lived Cold proc. Alternatively, you can use Unity for its 50% damage reduction when paired with another on the follower, plus an immortality item for him (i.e. Enchanting Favor) — a great choice for hardcore, or when lacking in toughness.

5. Follower

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.

6. Changelog