Witch Doctor Spirit of Arachyr Fresh 70 Starter Build (Patch 2.7.6 / Season 29)

Active Skills
Firebats Cloud of Bats Haunt Draining Spirit 1 Hex Jinx 2 Spirit Walk Severance 3 Summon Zombie Dogs Leeching Beasts 4 Locust Swarm Pestilence
Passive Skills
Swampland Attunement Confidence Ritual Spirit Vessel Grave Injustice

Arachyr builds naturally emphasize on creature-related skills, as defined by the 6 piece set bonus. It is recommended to build around Firebats as the most efficient damaging skill in the category, splitting your skill slots like so:

• Slot 1 — Main Damage: Firebats will fulfill the purpose of a primary damage dealer in the build, taken with the strongest rune Cloud of Bats. Note that prior to obtaining the 6-piece Arachyr bonus, you will not have any set related bonuses to damage, and you can temporarily work with any Mana spender of your liking until then.
• Slot 2 & 3 — Supplementary Damage and Buffs: While only Locust Swarm is affected by the Arachyr set, you will do well to adopt both Locust Swarm and Haunt early on, and get used to the dynamic of supplementing your damage with Pestilence and restoring Mana with Draining Spirit. This will best prepare you for Ring of Emptiness, a key legendary item that quadruples your damage against enemies affected by both DoTs.
• Slot 4 — Set Mechanic: Hex is taken into the build by necessity, as the 4-piece set bonus grants you Damage Reduction that hinges on regular Hexing. The default rune recommendation is the damage increasing Jinx, but once you obtain the Manajuma set you swap into the speedfarming staple Angry Chicken.
• Slot 5 — Mobility: Every well rounded build needs mobility, and for Witch Doctors this means Spirit Walk; for farming, consider taking the speediest rune of them all — Severance.
• Slot 6 — Utility: Early on when you are still missing key legendaries, Summon Zombie Dogs Leeching Beasts can provide some decent sustain and act as meat shields that protect you from the fray. As soon as you acquire Lakumba's Ornament (and especially when you add a Sacred Harvester), you should switch to the Witch Doctor protective mainstay — Soul Harvest Languish.
• Passives: Try to balance your passives according to your needs, adding and subtracting offensive and defensive passives as needed. Preferred offensive passives for the build (in order) include: Confidence Ritual, Pierce the Veil, Creeping Death and Gruesome Feast. The preferred defensive passives are Spirit Vessel and Swampland Attunement. Note that in speedfarming Grave Injustice trumps pretty much all other passives due to the fast killspeed of normal rifts — even more pronounced if you obtain the Manajuma set, due to the Angry Chicken resets.

The build above is specifically created not to require any additional sets or legendary items. In order to transition to a late game-oriented spec using the same set, we have a rough list of high priority items to obtain, as well as a link to the build they pertain to.

• Firebats Build — Sacred Harvester and Manajuma's Carving Knife (Ceremonial Knives); Staff of Chiroptera (staff); Manajuma's Gory Fetch and Vile Hive (Mojos); Lakumba's Ornament and Coils of the First Spider (bracers); Mantle of Channeling (shoulders); Ring of Emptiness and The Compass Rose (rings); The Traveler's Pledge (amulet).