Spirit Barrage - How The Fudge Does It Work?

Witch Doctor
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The mechanics of The Barber are a bit strange. Mathematically, you want to keep spamming SB on the lowest health enemies to get them to explode first so the AOE damage hits everything. On single targets, you basically just keep casting until it explodes from a huge percentage of its health and dies.

Surviving without soul harvest is extremely difficult. I’d suggest when you first start a run, find a decent sized group of enemies, pop spirit walk and run through them and hit soul harvest on the way through. You can’t be hit during spirit walk, so it’s the safest way to get your first stacks of soul harvest up.

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Cast the phantasms and wait for them to stack up damage. The phantasms stack the damage, not the WD. You can only have three so when you cast a 4th time, the first one you cast will explode. If you wait ten seconds they explode on their own. The Manitou will keep stacking as long as it is active.

You really don’t want to spam unless it is a single target or the RG. Cast 3, let them attack for 4-10 seconds and then cast three more to blow them up. T

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The new video out by Big Daddy Den says he taps spirit barrage the entire time. It’s kinda like channeling, but this allows the explosions to happen constantly.

What I’ve been doing is holding down for a few seconds, wait a few seconds, then hold down another few. It blows stuff up in groups.

Now I can’t wait to try the new way. Tapping.

edit: ok yeah I just cleared a 130 in group and then a 117 solo by tapping right click to attack. just tap until your targets are dead. taptaptaptap it’s really good and way more damage from what i can tell. paragon 1,000.

Big Daddy Den explains the best way to DPS at 8 minutes in. The build he’s showcasing in the video didn’t work for me at all, it was way too squishy for me. But I ended up clearing with a build closer to what I was using in groups.

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I don’t see how tapping is any different than channeling, other than that it might randomly hit attack speed breakpoints better.

It’s random though - you could still be losing dps by tapping, unless there’s some weird mechanic no one has found that makes it behave differently.

All of the information on attack speed, channeling, waiting, etc. here still applies: https:/ /www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/6egxrm/an_indepth_analysis_and_guide_on_lon_spirit/

Essentially, any time you over-write a phantasm, there’s a chance you lose dps. It might be the case that the phantasms was about to tick, and if you overwrite it, you lose almost a half second of damage. This can either be addressed by:

  • Look at your attack speed: if you have a frames per animation (https:/ /pastebin.com/5SNknGNM) that line up nicely so that your 4th cast comes just after a half second increment, you can just channel and not lose any dps. If your 4th cast comes right before a half-second increment, you should never channel.
  • Wait as long as possible to cast your 4th SB. You might still lose a tic, but you’ll lose a much lower percentage of them if you let it accumulate 15 and then maybe sometimes miss one than if you always miss 1 out of 4. On RG or very high GR, you can just let them expire unless the mob is going to move. On things that die faster, try to time it so that you cast 3, wait a few seconds, and then casting 3 more exactly kills the mob.
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This is an interesting take.

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I just found all the Mundunugu set and am transitioning to it from the seasonal set. I’ve basing my build off the leaderboard right now to get a feel etc. on how to play it.

So SB with the Manitou rune are the spirits that the blue bulb above your heat considered pets and is they why some builds are using the Mask of Jeram? Also, I don’t see how casting SB when just using Mantitou rune alone (at this point in my build) works. “Casing” if you will doesn’t seem to do anything. Usually when I cast a spell I see the skill box grey out for a second or stay greyed out until the cooldown finishes. With the Mantitou rune I never see it do that like no matter how many time I click it appears nothing happens.
I think I’ll try the Phantasm rune to see what that does.

EDIT - I got my Grazing Demise so now I have both rune in effect. Still trying to figure out the mechanics. Still need Sacred Harvester

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Spirit Barrage Damage is tricky because you get two types of damage.

Damage 1: Rune Damage (usually Manitou)
Damage 2: Phantasm Damage (Gazing Demise)

Damage depends on FPA (frames per attack)

Damage 1:
So the base damage of SB barrage is 600%.
At 1.41 ias - FPA is 34 frames
At 1.84 ias - FPA is 26 frames

30 frames is 0.5 seconds.

So in 4 seconds of channeling (240 frames)
1.41 ias - damage at frames: 34,68,102,136,170,204,238 (7 attacks)
1.84 ias - damage at frames: 26,52,78,104,130,156,182,208,234 (9 attacks)

Damage 2:

Phantasm Damage is calculated differently - You get the phantasm rune with gazing demise

Manitou damage is 300%/per second for 20 seconds.
Phantasm damage is 750% x mask of jeram x enforcer

Phantasms accumulate damage and then releases that damage all at once

It accumulates damage every 1/2 second. It releases damage when it despawns (naturally after 10 seconds or when you cast the 4th phantasm - you can only have 3 out at any time and they last 5 seconds / 10 seconds with gazing demise)

damage accumulated at every 1/2 second (tick) - phantasm damage x Number of monsters in 10 feet radius x pet multipliers

So in a big mob, the more accumulated damage - the bigger the explosion when the phantasms despawn

So when you continuously cast you get new phantasm at these frames :
1.41 ias - 34 (phantasm 1) ,68 (phantasm 2),102 (phantasm 3) ,136 (phantasm 1) —> (4 ticks worth of accumulated damage)

1.84 ias - damage at frames: 26 (phantasm 1) ,52 (phantasm 2) ,78 (phantasm 3) ,104 (phantasm 1) —> (3 ticks worth of accumulated damage)

To maximize damage in large mobs, you need to let the phantasms accumulate as much damage as you can before despawn the 1st phantasm

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/6egxrm/an_indepth_analysis_and_guide_on_lon_spirit/

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So 1.41 ias is more DPS than 1.84 ias or just bigger explosion? This is the part that confuses me.

Also in order to stay at 1.41 you can’t even put all points in Attack Speed in paragon, and can’t have any on gear nor should you use BBV.

I see all WD’s running BBV and some of them also have IAS on gear. Which even further complicates things oO.

And lastly for us playing hardcore and using Phlebotomize instead of Manitou, how does this work into Damage 1 compared to Manitou?

PS: can Phantasms crit when accumulating? Or only when explosion is triggered? Thanks!

Cheers! <3

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1.41 has a bigger explosion. Whether it has more dps depends mob size. Does the extra tick damage x number of creatures x jeram x enforcer (at 1.41) from phantasm make up for the extra two attacks you get from phblebotomize damage (which doesn’t get pet bonuses). That depends on the mob density.

the most important part of all this is – “when you continuously cast” – so don’t spam SB

I’m trying to max out ias on weapon, gloves and at least one ring. For Manitou, ias helps me with my life on hit that I have on my bracer. On Phlebotomize, ias decreases the frames needed for healing from your attacks.

Basically, you play SB the same way you play Condemn Crusader. You pull elites to the next mob. Because you want the phantasms to accumulate all that damage from the mob when it explodes. You ditch elites unless there are mobs around. SB is a trash kill build.

To get more ticks in, you don’t spam. Attack – pause for x seconds — Attack — pause, repeat.

If it’s a large group, I try to get all 10 seconds worth of ticks. So I try to pause for 2-3 seconds between casts. So by the time I cast Phantasm 4 which explodes Phantasm 1, it’s accumulate 6-9 seconds worth of ticks.

If you want to get more healing and you have high ias, then tap SB, to get a half second pause between casts so you can get in that extra tick.

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But can Phantasm crit when accumulating or only on the explosion? Thanks! (cause one would think in high density you would get insane strings of chain crits on accumulation but somehow that doesn’t feel like it’s happening).

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Everything above is technically correct, but not super useful to think about. First, the difference in dps is tiny between 34 frames and 26 frames - 26 frames will explode with fewer accumulated tics, but each of those tics does more damage because they scale with attack speed.
It’s hard to see, but a graph showing dps comparison is linked in the above analysis: http:/ /i.imgur.com/9k1AeKe.png - and the difference is miniscule.

Second: this difference only applies if you’re just spamming the button or holding it down, which you don’t have to do. A ton of the above link talks about different playstyles and how you can adjust depending on what your attack speed is.

Third: Those two attack speeds are not real world examples. Almost everyone is going to start at 1.75 aps (paragon and BBV), and your choice of changing isn’t to go up by .4 aps, it’s a choice of adding one roll or not, and in that case you only really care if you’re right at a breakpoint between tics (look at the graph to see that it causes a big drop at certain points).

If your APS is around 1.54, and adding more would bring you past 1.587, then you probably don’t want to as you will take a big hit if “channeling”. Same for 2.27 and 2.381. Note that almost all real-world attack speeds are going to be in between those two and not really close to mattering, or they’re going to involve speed pylons or PE in groups and you won’t be able to plan around it anyway.

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Yeah, for groups you can obviously do that, for solo it’s a complete different thing, at least regarding RG because some of them move or teleport a lot so you can’t really not channel / tap (you also need to move from attacks / affixes spawned etc).

So pretty much with 10% AS paragon and BBV we will only get 3 ticks on each phantasm if we channel. Good to know.

Now still can Phantasm crit when accumulating or only on the explosion? Nobody responded to this yet, cheers!

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Aquila’s Cuirass is a great item to have cubed in your Kanai’s box. As long as you´re above 90% resource your damage is cut by a lot …and I usually have 90% resource. Another big defense is to use Traveler’s Pledge and Compass Rose. With this combination (TP & CR) you have to be moving all of the time. Whenever you stop moving, the damage protection diminishes.

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You can’t have aquila cuirass in cube for mundunugu. You need Ring of Royal Grandeur, Barber, Gazing Demise, Sacred Harvester, Mask of Jeram, Ring of Emptiness.

You can cube 3, and wear the rest. Any item you remove from here will either gimp your DR or your dmg. Not talking about Belt of Transcendence variant, that’s subpar in all aspects (toughness, damage etc), you go Crimson or you won’t be any good solo pushing or in groups (nobody cares what you wear for T16 nephalems / bounties or lower GR’s that’s preference).

I have 95% DR standing still with Captain’s Crimson and 98% DR moving (from travelers) at 800ish paragon on hardcore.

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I’m running the Icy Veins version with two changes – I use Haunt instead of Locust Swarm, and Grusume Feast instead of Creeping Death. I’m able to do ~ GR 100 solo deathless with only one Ancient item.

For me, I’m at my most vulnerable when first starting the rift, as it takes me time to get to 10 stacks Soul Harvest. Once I hit 10 stacks, I make it my number one goal to never lose any of them. To that end:

a) at the start of the GR, I pull one or two mobs with piranhas to get my first couple of stacks. I will sometimes kite a group of two or three mobs and soul harvest them twice. I slowly repeat this to get up to at least five or six.
b) after 5 stacks, I run into the first big group while under spirit walk, and get the other 5.
c) once I have 10 stacks, I only need to worry about casting soul harvest on a single mob every 25 seconds or so. SH lasts for 30 seconds, and when cast, it refreshes the timer for all stacks.
d) if I lose my stacks, I usually die
e) to prevent that, I use it off of cool-down.

My typical fights go:

  • see group at screen range
  • haunt x 2 - 4
  • spirit walk (I use 100% extra movement speed rune)
  • run 2/3 rds through the pack
  • lay down 3 Phantasms with an optimal 1/3ish overlap
  • run out last 1/3 to edge, but still close enough for Grave Injustice to proc and move around to avoid attacks
  • Few seconds later pack dies
  • use remaining stragglers to re-up soul harvest
  • after pack dies, check remaining time and cooldown on big bad voodoo. If near its end, wait or refresh it. If BBV goes out in a fight, I sometimes die

For elite packs, pretty much the same except that I use prianado to pin the elite(s) when possible before I spirit walk in.

Grave injustice is a key part of this playstyle. It, along with cool down reduction, will let you have a huge uptime on spirit walk. You can either go with the 3 second duration for a more traditional defense, or the 100% move speed for a more dodgy defense

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What rune in haunt? I usually use the one that doubles the cast…

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When I was using it, the rune was Poisoned Spirit for the extra 20% dmg boost … I have since switched back to Locust Swarm for the extra coverage and free spread.