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Kjolnir's GR35+ Crowd Control Fetish Doc
by kjolnirlast updated May 5, 2015(Patch 2.2)
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Head
Shoulders
Amulet
Torso
Wrists
Hands
Waist
Legs
Feet
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Weapon
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Legendary Gems
Bane of the Trapped- Gem of Efficacious Toxin
- Enforcer
The gear here is designed to provide a very high level of crowd control along with decent survivability and DPS. I chose to use the Hwoj Wrap over the Belt of Transcendence since the Fetish Sycophant proc rate increase with 2.2 made summoning them very easy. Locust Swarm with Pestilence will easily cover the entire screen and beyond in seconds, and I find the crowd control brought by this combo to greatly aid in higher GR survivability. I will have 23 fetishes out at peak, so DPS output isn't a problem either.
The ultimate goal of this build is to attain the Zuni6p damage bonus and maximize the uptime while keeping yourself from getting overwhelmed by enemies.
A look at the thought process behind each item:
The Mask of Jeram - absolutely required to maximize pet damage. No real alternatives here.
Aughild's Power - decent crafted set item that contributes to survival and aids damage against elites. Interchangeable with something else if you prefer another shoulder item.
Countess Julia's Cameo - I like it because I feel like being immune to arcane damage is probably the most useful. Immunity to Jailer and purple lasers is great for higher rift levels as Jailer can one-shot you and nothing makes me happier to see face-wrecking purple lasers than face-healing purple lasers. Also, those aren't as easy to dodge as the poison-based elite affixes. A close second would be Mara's Kaleidoscope, as enemies with poison attacks are prolific and poison immunity means you get to laugh at a couple of rift guardians while they futilely attack you.
Zunimassa's Marrow - No real alternatives here, and always make sure you have three sockets.
Aughild's Search - Same as Aughild's Power, though if you choose to swap in Piranhas in place of Grasp of the Dead, the Strongarm Bracers are probably a better choice. I believe GotD is a superior skill choice, so I use Aughild's Search.
Tasker and Theo - absolutely required for maximizing pet DPS. No real alternatives here.
Hwoj Wrap - Paired with Locust Swarm/Pestilence, this is the heart of the CC for this build, and is required.
Zunimassa's Cloth - Needed to get the 6p bonus, no alternatives. Must have two sockets.
Zunimassa's Trail - same as above, except for the part about sockets, since boots don't have sockets.
Ring of Royal Grandeur - Required for the set piece reduction. No real alternatives.
Zunimassa's Pox - Required for the 6p bonus, and no alternatives.
Ren'Ho Flayer - This is a personal flavor issue. The Starmetal Kukri is also a good choice.
Zunimassa's String of Skulls - Required to get the 6p bonus. No alternatives.
Note that I opted to not use Unity. With the relative ease of having 23 Fetishes out, the Zuni4p bonus translates that into 46% damage reduction. That's almost as good as having Unity equipped on a follower, with the added bonus of follower damage not being transmitted back to you in return. Additionally, using Unity realistically means not using Zuni's Pox, which translates into not using Tasker and Theo because you need that gloves slot to get the Zuni6p bonus.
Legendary GemsBane of the Trapped - The obvious choice with the CC provided by Locust Swarm/Hwoj Wrap.
Gem of Efficacious Toxin - Also an obvious choice based upon the coverage of enemies you gain via Locust Swarm/Pestilence
Enforcer - Necessary for maximizing pet damage, which is your primary damage output.
Paragon Priorities
| Movement Speed |
| Primary Stat |
| Vitality |
| Maximum Resource |
| Critical Hit Chance |
| Critical Hit Damage |
| Attack Speed |
| Cooldown Reduction |
| Resist All |
| Armor |
| Life |
| Life Regeneration |
| Resource Cost Reduction |
| Area Damage |
| Life on Hit |
| Gold Find |
Build Guide
General usage of this build is:
1)Run up and cast Locust Swarm
2) Back up to make room for Fetishes and then spam Plague of Toads
3) Cast Grasp of the Dead on cooldown to keep Zuni6p damage buff uptime.
4) Cast Hex on cooldown to add supplementary CC and damage.
5) Cast Big Bad Voodoo on elite packs, and try to keep Grasp of the Dead centered on them as best as possible.
I would say use some judgment on #s 3 and 4. You don't want to blow the CD on a small mob pack, and you don't also want to hold back your skills when the mob pack is large enough and slow down your DPS.
The active offensive skills you will be using with this build - Locust Swarm, Plague of Toads, and Grasp of the Dead - serve utility purposes first and are not your primary source of damage. Your pets will (and should) far outdamage what your skills are doing.
Rational Behind Skill/Passives SelectionLocust Swarm/Pestilence: Paired with the Hwoj Wrap and to a lesser degree at close range with the Level 25 Bane of the Trapped gem and Grasp of the Dead, Locust Swarm is your primary CC skill. With the Pestilence rune you will cover all mobs on the screen in seconds.
Plague of Toads/Addling Toads: Used for a nominal level of damage as well as some supplementary CC.
Grasp of the Dead/Groping Eels: Used primarily for the fact that it gives the Zuni6p damage bonus during all of its duration rather than just for four seconds after the first hit like most mana spenders. Also provides an additional layer of crowd control. I use the Groping Eels runs since I have gear for +physical damage (my pets all do physical damage since I geared that way before their damage changed) so I wanted to maximize the damage of the skill. Other runes aren't bad since you're not using the skill for the damage it does itself anyway.
Fetish Army/Legion of Daggers: Legion of Daggers maximizes Fetish Army Damage, and the skill itself takes advantage of the Zuni2p bonus. Core to the build.
Big Bad Voodoo/Slam Dance: Great bursty DPS you need to get you through tough elite packs. Paired with Grasp of the Dead, I see Fetishes crit for up to 75M damage.
Hex/Jinx: Some supplementary DPS and CC. Doesn't work with greater rift guardians or other purple elites. The pathing and AI is a bit wonky for this guy so I'm not entirely sold on his usefulness yet.
Pierce the Veil: I take this for the raw damage output. With moderate levels of resource cost reduction the increase mana cost does not hurt at all.
Fetish Sycophants: An obvious must-take for this build. You could drop this passive if you had the Belt of Transcendence, but then you lose the primary CC from the Hwoj Wrap that is central to this particular build.
Fierce Loyalty: Taken for the +1 dog and the big-time speed boost it gives you. Movement speed can be the key difference in finishing or not finishing a GR.
Creeping Death: Taken for the "perma"-CC you get with the Hwoj wrap. I say "perma" because if you get too far away from the enemies (more than a screen seems to be the tipping point) the Locust Swarm appears to drop off.
That's the build! Let me know if you have any questions!
- Comments (4)
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jodaewon
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#1jodaewon
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I would switch to the addling toads for extra CC and replace Garg with Hex - Jinx(CC and Damage buff) I do not like having the dog/garg as they have a tendency in bottlenecked maps to get in the way of the fetishes. If you add in creeping death passive you dont have to spam locust swarm and it will keep it on them all the time. For higher GR you should never be without Spirit Vessel. All of this depends on how high you are going though.
kjolnir
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#2kjolnir
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I used Addling Toads at first for sure. Some of my "spamminess" with Locust Swarm was founded upon the mistaken belief that reapplication would trigger the zuni6p damage buff when it doesn't, at least for now. I might switch back since I don't need to cast Locust Swarm as much and Grasp of the Dead is inexpensive to cast, even with Pierce the Veil.
I'll play around with dropping the dogs and gargantuan and focus on a straight Fetish build, Swap in Hex/Jink and maybe Big Bad Voodoo/Slam Dance. That'll also let me drop Midnight Feast in favor of Creeping Death. I'm kinda meh on Spirit Vessel for non-HC characters. You're still going to get one-shotted by Jailer or Thunderstorm or something else cheesy on high level GRs and I have a hard time wanting to dedicate a passive slot for something that's only delaying the inevitable for a few seconds.
I'll let you know how the experiments go ;-)
Last edited by kjolnir: May 4, 2015
kjolnir
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#3kjolnir
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Tried out your recommendations yesterday evening, and they seem to be working fairly well. I definitely came closer to clearing GR36 than the previous go-round. Guide has been updated accordingly.
kjolnir
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#4kjolnir
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Finally got a Tasker and Theo! I was able to complete a GR40 (though it took 30 mins and was EXTREMELY painful process!). Really like the build now with the TnT.
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