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Helltooth Zombie Bears Witch Doctor Guide

Last Updated:July 7, 2024|Change Log

Introduction

Helltooth Zombie Bears Solo Push
View all variants

The stampede is on the way and you're the one commanding the charge! This build utilizes the immense power of the Helltooth Harness to deliver a devastating stream of Zombie Bears to destroy everything in your path. An old school Witch Doctor fan favorite has been enhanced in Season 22 with a new Mojo Ursua's Trodden Effigy, an improvement to the Scrimshaw as well as a giant boost to the 6 piece Helltooth Harness bonus from 9,000% to 17,500%!

You'll spend your time running around using Locust Swarm to gather up enemies, while maintaining your Toughness buffs from Soul Harvest and the Helltooth Harness. Captain Crimson's Trimmings and Blood Ritual work together with high Resource Cost Reduction to make your Zombie Bears cost virtually no Mana, allowing you to spam them at will.

While the build was never the strongest, it always made its way through as a competitive build. It's only with Season 30 that the build really get a chance to shine more due to a massive (6) Bonus buff to 37,500%.

This is an Area Damage (AD) build, since Zombie Bears can proc it. The build has a very mindful playstyle since Zombie Bears have collision with layout, meaning the player has to be extremely careful about his positioning and aim on monsters to destroy the battlefield with a mob of scary Zombie Bears. Let's get into it!

Bears! ✔
High Toughness
Never Resource Starved ✔
Great Against Large Packs ✔

Lack of Mobility
Hard Positioning
Weak Single Target
❌ Not Group Friendly

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • Helltooth Harness (4) Bonus and (6) Bonus are the primary focus of this build as they give 60% Damage Reduction for 10 seconds when you use your Zombie Charger or Wall of Death and a 17,500% Damage buff for 15 seconds after casting Wall of Death.
  • Captain Crimson's Trimmings gives a massive Toughness boost since you are focused on Resource Cost Reduction with this build. The Cooldown benefits aren't utilized as much in solo but still provide a great Damage buff.
  • Scrimshaw reduces the Mana cost of Zombie Charger by 75% and boosts its Damage by 6-7 times. This Main-Hand also has a Primary Stat option to get another 80% additive Damage buff to the skill.
  • Ursua's Trodden Effigy gives Zombie Charger up to a 150% Damage buff as well as spawning more Zombie Bears, launching 8 per cast instead of 3.
  • Ring of Emptiness provides a 300% Damage buff as long as the target is affected by Locust Swarm.
  • Finally Ring of Royal Grandeur allows you to utilize both Helltooth Harness and Captain Crimson's Trimmings.

Season 32 Ethereals

Ethereals are powerful rare weapons that can only be found during Season 32. They were initially the Season 24 Theme. They have incredible stats, a random Legendary power, and a free passive for your class. Read our Ethereal Mechanics Guide for full details on how they work and our Ethereal Farming Guide to learn how to acquire them. What you should prioritize on them is the following:

  1. The Legendary Power
    This build requires Scrimshaw and Sacred Harvester to be functional. We need our Ethereal to roll one of these powers so we can cube the other. We also want a good roll on our Legendary power if it has a range. For speed content it is always helpful to have Ethereals with Echoing Fury or In-geom powers, so keep those if you find them!
  2. The Ethereal Itself
    There are 3 different weapons available to us, each with its own benefits:
    • Arioc's Needle - This is the best option for Greater Rifts as it provides massive damage along with 200% damage to Decay skills which applies to Zombie Bears.
    • The Gidbinn - This is a good option for Nephalem Rifts since it gives plenty of damage as well as a 40% movement speed boost after picking up a Health Globe.
    • Ghostflame - This Ethereal won't be as strong as the other two options but will still provide a nice damage boost to this build. Consecutive hits increase Attack Speed and Critical Hits will restore Mana making you a bear launching machine!
  3. The Ethereal Stat Rolls
    Each Ethereal comes with its own fixed set of powerful affixes. While some have a static value, many have a wide stat range. This means the difference between good and bad rolls is significant and something you should look for.
  4. A Useful Passive
    This is just icing on the cake because a fifth passive is not going to make or break your build. You're better off hunting for the things above. Check out the Passives section down below to see which ones you're looking for.

Global Stat Priorities

Our offensive priorities are: Critical Hit Chance & Damage > Poison Damage > Zombie Charger Damage > Attack Speed & Area Damage > Resource Cost Reduction > Cooldown Reduction. A mix of Attack Speed and Area Damage is nice as they can both help in different areas of a Rift. Attack Speed will help greatly on the Rift Guardian where you'll struggle the most and having some Area Damage will help throughout the Rift a decent amount as we group enemies together.

When doing T16 or speed Greater Rifts prioritize Cooldown more to give yourself as much Spirit Walk uptime as possible and to get a greater Damage buff from the Captain Crimson's Trimmings set. You unfortunately don't have any Crowd Control immunity on a Witch Doctor so try to roll at least 1-2 Crowd Control Reduction Secondary Stats on your Helm or Jewelry. There are many desirable stats for this build which means Vitality is sometimes left behind a bit but this can be made up for easily using Paragon points if needed.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Altar of Rites

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
GR Solo Push
GR Solo Speeds
Zombie Bears T16

Concept
For Nephalem Rifts moving as fast as possible is the primary objective and to do so you'll be taking advantage of our good friend Gold as well as grabbing as much Cooldown as possible for improved Spirit Walk uptime. Skill wise you'll be changing from Languish to Soul to Waste as well as picking up Horrify Stalker, for Passives we grab Fierce Loyalty, Grave Injustice and Gruesome Feast.

Throw an In-geom into the Cube. Pick up Horrify Stalker and put on Rechel's Ring of Larceny to get a tremendous Movement Speed buff. Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard can be used to gain a shield for Squirt's Necklace. The final touch is the combination of Goldwrap, Avarice Band and Boon of the Hoarder which make you immortal once gold starts dropping.


Gameplay
This build is a little clunky compared to some others but still quite fun and speedy in Nephalem Rifts. The big difference here is we need to make sure to keep our Horrify buff up at all times but the rest is mostly business as usual but with extra speed! Once you arrive to some enemies use Wall of Death, Soul Harvest and Piranhas to get your buffs then channel Zombie Bears until the enemies perish.

Setups
If you're doing more than enough damage, you can replace Wormwood with In-Geom and take Stone of Jordan over Ring of Emptiness. Another option is to just swap the weapon and manually cast Locust Swarm (instead of Piranhado) for the buff.

In groups, take Nemesis Bracers instead of Warzechian Armguards for the additional elites from pylons! If you still feel strong enough, swap Captain Crimon's Trimmings with Sage's Journey.

Zombie Bears Solo Push

Concept
The Solo Push build is the one described in the Core section of this guide as well as the focus of the Gameplay section above. You are going to DPS with Zombie Bears, keeping up buffs at all times as you progress through the Rift. Go for Area Damage as a higher stat priority on this build instead of focusing on Cooldown Reduction like the other Variants. On top of that you'll need extra Toughness while pushing, use Belt of Transcendence so the Fetish's can act as a distraction.

Gameplay
Slowly make your way through the rift dragging all enemies along with you while casting Zombie Bears. Once you have a large pack in the center of an area unleash a stampede of Zombie Bears. Things will feel pretty good until you get to the Rift Guardian, try to give yourself a lot of time as we are at our weakest during the boss fight by a considerable margin. Keep those Stricken stacks building up and never let your Soul Harvest fall off. If it does be VERY careful as you get your stacks up to 5+ before trying anything heroic.

Setups
Another variant is using Wall of Zombies to push around enemies. If you have extreme trouble surviving, replace Piranhas Piranhado with Summon Zombie Dogs Leeching Beasts for insane recovery.

Belt of Transcendence can be a solid option as the Fetish's will act as a distraction and help keep the enemies grouped up for you to burst them down.

Instead of Endless Walk you can also play the build with the Squirt's Necklace + Convention of Elements combo. Like this you won't have to stand still all the time but it only works better when you can keep up the amulet's buff sometimes.

Zombie Bears Speed GR

Concept
In speed Greater Rifts you are essentially doing the same thing as in solo but at a much faster pace, in content that we can decimate in a few minutes at most. You will be giving up a decent amount of toughness to pick up Movement Speed while maintaining enough Damage to make sure they go quick.

Gameplay
Here you are going to be moving a lot faster as well as having your Spirit Walk much more often compared to the pushing variant. Use this to your advantage and jump from Elite to Elite while your Locust Swarm is following you, cast Wall of Death and Piranhas when you see an Elite or large pack of enemies then hit them with Soul Harvest and channel the Zombie Bears! Watch your Squirt's Necklace and play around Convention of Elements as much as possible.

Setups
If you feel too squishy, replace Shukrani's Triumph with Sacred Harvester in the cube.

Video Guide

Guide Video

Mechanics

Zombie Charger Zombie Bears

Locust Swarm

Piranhas Piranhado

Gruesome Feast

Summary

  • You are the Lord of the Bears and no one can tell you differently.
  • Keep your Wall of Death and Soul Harvest buffs active and never let them fall off, especially on the Rift Guardian as they provide a large portion or your Damage and Toughness respectively.
  • Use your Wall of Zombies to push all the enemies into a tight line to maximize the effectiveness of your Area Damage.
  • Don't forget to get a Life per Hit roll on your Bracers or Weapon so the Leeching Beasts can heal you immensely.

The buffed Zombie Bears come back as a blast from the past and add an exciting - although at times a bit clunky - build to the Witch Doctor's arsenal. It's not the strongest, but can be used for solo pushing into the higher tiers regardless. But be careful, PETA is watching you!

Credits

Written by Chewingnom & Facefoot.
Reviewed by Raxxanterax & wudijo.

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