I played the PTR and loved this new set. I have been away from D3 since and now looking at changes to this set and the WD set. Is this set dead now?
The set isn’t dead, but the change to how the 6 piece bonus works will possibly mean a reduction in solo DPS. Exactly how much of a reduction that entails, both at the top end, and to the average player, I’ll leave to the more math oriented folks around here (sVr mentioned in another thread they’d look at some numbers soon).
For my money, where the new set suffers the most is in the roll back on how the Spirit Barrage rune Phantasm works. The lag WDs caused made them unviable in 4P groups. The change made midway through PTR went a long way to mitigating that, and the nerf to bazooka Wiz made SB WD an attractive alternative. Now that it’s been done away with, I wonder if we’ll be back to warming the bench with the poor DHs 
The set is nerfed for 4p but buffed in solo
I only played the set in solo on the PTR. How is it buffed solo? and how is it nerfed in 4 man?
| Mana Regeneration | PTR Version | Patch 2.6.8 | Fold Change Damage Difference (Live/PTR) | Functional GR DPS difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 5000 | 20500 | 4.10 | 9.0 |
| 200 | 10000 | 21000 | 2.10 | 4.8 |
| 300 | 15000 | 21500 | 1.43 | 2.3 |
| 400 | 20000 | 22000 | 1.10 | 0.6 |
| 444 | 22200 | 22220 | 1.00 | 0.0 |
| 500 | 25000 | 22500 | 0.90 | -0.6 |
| 600 | 30000 | 23000 | 0.77 | -1.7 |
| 700 | 35000 | 23500 | 0.67 | -2.5 |
| 800 | 40000 | 24000 | 0.60 | -3.3 |
| 900 | 45000 | 24500 | 0.54 | -3.9 |
| 1000 | 50000 | 25000 | 0.50 | -4.5 |
At least considering only the 6 piece bonus, the change is a buff to solo players as long as their mana regeneration is lower than 444. This has implications for gearing and skill choices. To highlight this point, with the new version if you have 0 versus 1000 average mana regeneration, the functional DPS difference due to the 6 piece bonus is a gain of 1.4 GRs. As such, the new version reduces the significance of mana regeneration stacking.
Like you said, the change to the 6 piece bonus potentially opens up new possibilities in the build, especially in the early stages of play where gear rolls may be suboptimal.
Truth be told, I was a little sceptical of the mana regen angle of the set before I played it, but ended up really enjoying how it introduced something different to gearing requirements. Now that it’s been changed, I’m not sure how to feel 
I’m glad that it’s friendlier, but I’m a little disappointed too that the spirit or theme of the set seems to have been diluted. I’ll have to wait and give it a try, I guess.
Thanks for running the math!
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On Solo I can easily sustain 600 mana regen and upwards to 700.
Therefore the changes are complete nerf.
If you can;t do 500+ mana regen, you must be playing with a handicap…
well at least your WDs set is useful 
imagine you wouldve been hyped for hydras and already sick of chantodo archon
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I can feel your pain bro… I was playing chantodo for 2 seasons; would have played longer if not for the WWrend barb buff. but when Blizz started fixing bazooka by nerfing channeling items, I knew this Hydra set will be DOA…
Is really not that bad (Hydra set), I did an 105 in ~8m with low lvl gems (25-60) no augs, no ancients except weapon and only 800 paragon. Is it on par with Vyr’s? Probably not in current patch, but if they would buff the 6pc from 1300 to 2000 then hell yeah, I can see it doing 120’s+ for sure with better gear and augs.
WD new set is really strong. It’s already cleared a 143 in the new era.
Edit: 143 cleared now with 8,800 paragon.
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Oh, only 8800? Right, no big deal… lol
Compared to other classes at 10k paragon but clearing lower it’s a huge deal
Sorry, I’m not questing that side of it - it’s just that for a lot of us, 8800 paragon is such a laughable number to base performance on because we’re probably not going to sniff half that, and definitely not in season.
The thing is, you have to use the extreme top metrics for balance. To put it another way; at 2k paragon WD can clear about 5GRifts higher than most other builds across all classes.
Where as an impale demon Hunter can clear a 100 at start a witch doctor with Mundu’s set would be able to clear a 105 with as much ease
My advise to that DH player is to try rolling a WD. Or just be happy with the toys they have been given.
Variety is the spice of life!
Thank you, that’s actually very helpful 
keep quiet, we don’t need nerfs
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There are now witch doctor GR 147 non-season clears in both EU and Asia servers.
When I did my post patch notes rankings of top solo clears per class, there were reasons that I had WD #1 ranked. To add to this there is a crusader in Asia who has cleared GR 145 already, it is clear to me that the top worldwide crusader will still surpass barbs this era (assuming no further changes). I had crusader ranked #2 in terms of top clear.
Edit: EU crusader now at GR 146.
My rankings are looking pretty solid.
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So basically, remove the mana regen buff to damage and reduce 6piece set power to 10,000% for witch doctor?
I also think their braces can use a buff from 6% damage reduction to 8% damage reduction per soul harvest stack