Alright so Season 30 dropped and honestly? Felt kinda lazy. Same old demons, different number. But whatever, gotta chase that loot high, right? Decided to dust off my Witch Doc since everyone keeps yapping about Spirit Barrage this season. Figured I’d see what the fuss is about.
First Try: The Messy Setup
Opened up my stash, stared at the gear spaghetti. Remembered I had some Spirit Barrage stuff leftover from maybe Season 17 or something? Who keeps track. Threw on the Manitou Spear thing, the offhand that makes the Phantoms chase stuff, and that mask everyone says is mandatory – the creepy bird one. Forget stats, just slapped it on. Jewelry? Yeah, right. Random yellows with sockets went in. Grabbed my old chicken set for speed, you know the one, turns you into a squawking bird. Figured running fast never hurts.
Hitting the Dirt
Jumped into a Torment X Nephalem Rift. Felt like I was tickling skeletons at first. Summoned my little fire doggos and a fat zombie guy. Held down the Spirit Barrage button over mobs… and watched my mana bar evaporate faster than free food at a LAN party. My damage? Embarrassing. Died like five times before the first elite pack. They stomped me flat while I was trying to figure out why my “phantoms” were just floating around like confused ghosts, barely scratching the bad guys. Utterly pathetic. Killed the Rift Guardian after what felt like an hour. Reward was garbage, obviously.
Back to the Drawing Board (aka Google, Duh)
Okay, clearly winging it was dumb. I needed the right gear to make this chicken dance properly. Time to farm. Goal:
- The full Spirit Barrage gear thing: Vestments. Needed that set bonus.
- The specific dagger that makes Phantoms pop on enemies.
- The ring that stops mana drain when you channel something – BIG missing piece!
- Bracers that make Spirit Barrage actually do something when it hits stuff.
Spent the next two evenings basically just running Nephalem Rifts on T16 as quick as I could manage with my janky setup. Cursed chests, bounties when the rift keys ran low. My storage filled up with so much junk legendaries it wasn’t even funny.
Finally Putting the Puzzle Together
Took me ages to find that damn dagger. Finally gambled it from Kadala. Got the rest of the Vestments set by sacrificing junk legendaries at Kanai’s Cube – smarter than praying to RNGesus. Found the ring and bracers surprisingly fast after that. Did some gem upgrades to get emeralds in weapons, diamonds in armor. Followed the general season setup for skills:
- Spirit Barrage as main mana drainer.
- Soul Harvest for toughness boost.
- Big Bad Voodoo for boss damage party.
- Chicken Hex for zooming around like a headless bird.
- Gargantuan for extra muscle.
- Piranhas to group enemies up.
The Click Moment
Equipped the ring that stops mana drain. THIS WAS IT. Hopped into a Greater Rift 90. Held down Spirit Barrage on a pack… mana barely budged? Switched to Manitou and let it auto-fry mobs overhead while I spammed more phantoms. Piranhas sucked enemies together, Spirit Barrage exploded them, Manitou zapped stragglers. Suddenly, the Witch Doc was cooking with fire! Elite packs melted. The RG went down in a reasonable time. Cleared GR90 in maybe 5-6 minutes? Wasn’t speedrun territory, but felt GOOD compared to my initial disaster. Damage felt chunky, explosions satisfying, survival was decent. The chicken run is just pure fun for blitzing between packs.
The Real Grind Begins
Gear’s okay, not amazing. Need ancient versions of EVERYTHING. Gotta level up legendary gems way higher. Need better rolled stats. Looking for that sweet, sweet primal ancient drop (lol, probably never). Gonna push higher GRs this weekend, see how far this wobbly setup can go. Farm keys, maybe mess around with groups. Spirit Barrage definitely feels strong this season, maybe even stupid good once min-maxed. It’s a keeper, but man, getting it off the ground solo felt rough until you find those key pieces. Now? Time to see how high this chicken can fly!