Mundunugu Spirit Barrage Witch Doctor Guide

Last Updated: 1 June 2023

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Introduction

Mundunugu Spirit Barrage Solo Push
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Introduced with Season 20, the Mundunugu's Regalia is the most recent addition to the Witch Doctor's repertoire and, despite its funny name, the set itself is no joke at all. It focuses around releasing huge AoE bursts with specific setup and timings. As such, it is a very potent Trash Killer, especially when paired with a proper zBarb stacking enemies tightly together, allowing you to unleash devastating damage combos, one-shotting whole Elite packs even all the way up to Greater Rift 150.

The main damaging mechanic in this build Spirit Barrage Phantasm paired with The Barber originated from the old LoD Spirit Barrage theorycrafted during Season 10. While the mechanics are quite complicated, the overall idea is simple: make a pull, place three Phantasms on the ground, wait a few seconds, and then cast three more to instantly release the accumulated damage of the previous Phantasms. The more enemies are in the area and the longer you wait, the stronger the resulting explosions will be.

The build is quite tanky due to Spirit Walk and Grave Injustice in combination. Luckily, you have Big Bad Voodoo Ghost Trance following you around most of the time, thanks to the Mundunugu's Regalia (2) Bonus, to provide valuable healing and defense! This setup is also great for speed content, competing with top tier builds in Nephalem Rifts and Bounties. Keep in mind that this build has an exceptional scaling with monster density, which however requires a lot of Greater Rift fishing to reach the highest tiers.

Unfortunately, Season 21 brought a significant nerf to the build by removing the ability for Phantasm to benefit from Mask of Jeram and Enforcer. Season 23 further nerfed Spirit Barrage by lowering the Gazing Demise damage multiplier. Yet, the setup was stronger than ever in Season 24 with Ethereals (Arioc's Needle). In Season 25 Witch Doctors received additional buffs to Lakumba's Ornament, making the build more tanky and thus a bit stronger again. In Season 27, Mundunugu is a serious contender for the best Witch Doctor build due to the Sanctified Haunt. With Season 28, the build gets a slight buff with Manitou dealing more than twice the damage it did previously.

Unlike most others, this is not an Area Damage (AD) build, since all your damage comes from The Barber explosions which cannot proc it. It does replicate it though by redirecting the damage done by Spirit Barrage to all targets within 15 yards. This setup relies on many interactions between Phantasm and Manitou with The Barber, which makes it hands down one of the most complicated builds to fully understand in the entire game (see Mechanics). This guide will steer you through all the mechanics behind Spirit Barrage!

Unique Playstyle ✔
Insane AoE damage ✔
Rewarding Explosions ✔
Rewards Excellent Gameplay ✔

❌ Difficult Execution
❌ Sensitive to Fishing
❌ Complicated Mechanics
❌ Low Single Target Damage

Core Setup

Core Item Build

Items

  • The Mundunugu's Regalia set provides upwards of 20,000% separate damage multiplier to Spirit Barrage, your main damage ability.
  • Ring of Royal Grandeur in the cube will allow to wear the Captain Crimson's Trimmings set using the Belt and another piece of your choosing (Pants or Boots).
  • The Barber is the main item behind the special mechanics of the build, as well as giving a huge 500% damage bonus. Playing around its effect is the key aspect of the build.
  • Gazing Demise provides us with a 150% separate damage multiplier, makes Phantasms last twice as long and increases Manitou Attack Rate.
  • Ring of Emptiness activated by Locust Swarm Pestilence for another 300% separate damage multiplier.
  • Lakumba's Ornament goes along with Sacred Harvester and Soul Harvest Languish for a total of 30% bonus Intelligence, 100% Armor and 60% damage reduction, constituting your main source of toughness.


Season 28 Altar of Rites

Season 28 brings a brand new progression feature called the Altar of Rites that grants tremendous powers to your entire account in exchange for sacrifices. It requires you to farm Bounties, kill the Ubers, craft the Staff of Herding, and more. Completing all 26 of these tasks, along with sacrificing 6 Primal Ancients grants you unbelievable Damage, Defense, Quality of Life, Increased Drops, 3 Potion Super Powers, and the juicy Wings of Terror. Read the full guides on Unlocking the Altar and the Altar Mechanics by Raxxanterax and Chewingnom to learn everything about this fantastic Season!

Note: The suggested path assumes you are playing Solo and used the Challenge Rift Cache to help you level up.

Node 2: Choose Anointed to gain a full set of 70 yellows from level 18-70!

Node 6: Rush to gain double Bounties to help unlock other Nodes in the Altar.

Nodes 7-14: These are the last Nodes you can gain until the Challenge Rift resets. Take at least 1 Node at the bottom of each path to unlock all 3 Potion Super Powers. Pick up the Mirror Node at the top for a colossal 41% extra XP all season. Remember to unlock Father once you clear GR70 solo and have your first Primal!

Nodes 15-26: Pick up the final Quality of Life, Damage, and Defense Nodes (in that order) to finish the Altar.

Potion Super Powers: Take Father first, then Mother, and finally Mortal.

Disclaimer: The Mortal and Mother Potions require you to salvage 2 and 3 Primals respectively. Unlock them as soon as you have those materials as they don't cost a point!

Recommended Altar Path
Use the Scroll Bar to see Altar Progression

Global Stat Priorities

You want to stack damage stats wherever possible, especially Critical Hit Chance and Damage, Attack Speed as well as Cold Damage and Spirit Barrage Damage. Area Damage is useless in this build (and actively avoided in groups including in Paragon Points) as we only deal damage with The Barber explosions.

You want to stack a decent amount of Cooldown Reduction (CDR) to ensure a good uptime of Spirit Walk and Big Bad Voodoo, as these two skills will keep you alive. Grave Injustice will do most of the work, especially with some Pickup Radius. It is also a great offensive stat due to Captain Crimson's Trimmings (3) Bonus. Stack this stat as much as you feel comfortable with in Greater Rift Solo Push.

Spirit Barrage Attack Speed Breakpoints

Attack Speed is a good stat as it is a separate damage multiplier for Phantasms and it helps us out stacking Bane of the Stricken. Manitou does not scale with Attack Speed in any way while Phantasm cast rate depends on Attack Speed Breakpoints when holding down Spirit Barrage, hence it is important to stay away from some Spirit Barrage Breakpoints (see Mechanics). In Solo you want to end up at the 21 FPA Breakpoint of Spirit Barrage, which requires you to play 7% Attack Speed on your Weapon and an additional 52% Increased Attack Speed from other sources (Paragon Points, Affixes on your gear as well as Gogok of Swiftness). In groups, 7% Attack Speed on your Weapon is enough; the rest of the Attack Speed will be granted via Pain Enhancer.

For toughness, we prioritize Armor on Pants, Boots, and Chest mixed in with some Vitality and perhaps Elite Damage Reduction on Chest. Resource Cost Reduction is also a good defensive option due to Captain Crimson's Trimmings (3) Bonus. Physical, Lightning or Arcane Resistances as a Secondary Affix are generally useful to have as Arcane Enchanted, Orbiter and Mortar Elite Affixes are your worst enemies by a long shot. Life Regeneration & Life per Hit are not useful as most of your healing is coming automatically from Big Bad Voodoo Ghost Trance. Mana Regeneration, despite being included in the Mundunugu's Regalia (6) Bonus, is neither useful for resources nor as an actual damage increase (around 0.3% per roll).

Crowd Control Reduction is an incredibly valuable secondary Affix to roll on both Rings, Amulet and Helmet as we are very sensitive to Hard Crowd Control effects and mitigating these will ease up our gameplay significantly. Make sure to get the Primary Affixes locked in before attempting to get CCR though.

Assembling the Build

Item Stat Priorities

Gems

Skills

Passives

Paragon Points

Follower

Gameplay

Hardcore

Variants

Nephalem Rifts
Bounties
GR Solo Push
GR Speeds
GR Group Trash Killer
Echoing Nightmare
Nephalem Rifts

Concept
Mundunugu's Regalia constitutes one of the best Nephalem Rift farmer for the Witch Doctor class. Spirit Barrage Manitou continuously attacks for you even while you are moving; all the multipliers from Gazing Demise, the set itself as well as Squirts Necklace provide such a massive damage boost that it's not necessary for you to worry for the accumulation mechanics of The Barber. You can use Phantasms to accumulate extra damage on Elites and the Rift Guardian, however, while moving Manitou will do most of the work. Molten Wildebeest's Gizzard protects Squirts Necklace.

Gameplay
Keep up Big Bad Voodoo and Soul Harvest at all times, spam Horrify when near enemies and use Spirit Walk for extra mobility. You will run at an insane pace due to all the Movement Speed buffs, effectively making you fly through Nephalem Rifts, while Goldwrap with Boon of the Hoarder and Avarice Band will grant you invincibility. On tough elite enemies and the Rift Guardian, use Locust Swarm to apply Ring of Emptiness.

When you do longer Torment 16 sessions, you can kill the first few monsters with Big Bad Voodoo active, summon some Zombie Dogs from the Boogie Man rune and then swap the rune to either Slam Dance or Ghost Trance. The dogs will stay permanently and keep your Fierce Loyalty active.

While playing in groups when you can't have the Cain's Destiny effect from your follower, it's possible to kill the boss yourself by accumulating some damage with Phantasm, then swapping items to get the set bonus and detonating them. Even without the Munudunugu's Regalia (6) Bonus active at that moment they will explode for their entire accumulated damage that includes the big multiplier. Be aware that even with great execution, it will not always work and requires a bit of practice to do well.

Setups
When you play in groups, replace Warzechian Armguards with Nemesis Bracers and Stone of Jordan with Avarice Band.

If you don't want to deal with Locust Swarm, you can drop it for Sacrifice Provoke the Pack. This way you can improve your overall AoE-DPS when rushing through the rift at the cost of slightly lower nuke potential on the elites.

Video Guide

Mechanics

In-Depth Explanation

Spirit Barrage Phantasm & Pets Mechanics

Spirit Barrage Phantasm

Spirit Barrage Manitou

Shukrani's Triumph

Locust Swarm

Piranhas Piranhado

Summary

  • Put together the core items and acquire the full Mundunugu's Regalia set.
  • Don't stand still and simply channel Spirit Barrage.
  • Timing your rotations is key and incredibly rewarding.
  • Use Spirit Walk when it's truly needed.
  • Wait for your group to correctly setup a dense pull for you to kill.
  • Enjoy this powerhouse of a Witch Doctor build!

Good Luck!

Credits

Written by sVr, wudijo & Chewingnom.
Updated by wudijo & Chewingnom.

Changelog

  • 11 February 2023
    Updated for Season 28 / Patch 2.7.5.
  • 15 August 2022
    Updated for Season 27 / Patch 2.7.4.
  • 23 March 2022
    Updated for Season 26 / Patch 2.7.3. Refined Solo & Group Push Setups.

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