Witch Hunter

The Witch Hunter is a tireless foe of Chaos, dark magic and witchery of all kinds. As the taint of Chaos continues to spread and more people are drawn to the dark arts, the Witch Hunters role has become increasingly important to the Empire. Fast, cunning and deadly, they dispense merciless judgment upon any who serve Chaos. While the people of the Empire agree that the Witch Hunters work is critically important, rare is the citizen who does not feel pangs of dread when they lay eyes upon one, for it is understood that most Witch Hunters would sooner burn an entire village to the ground than see a single follower of Chaos go free.

Witch Hunter Specialty

The Witch Hunters sole motivation is rooting out and destroying corruption. To that end, they use the various tools and tactics available to them to weaken their opponents strength and resolve via Interrogation before meting out final Judgment. Fast and agile, the Witch Hunter is dangerous in close-quarters, especially when approaching an unsuspecting or startled target from behind. The Witch Hunter will frequently employ holy water, chrisoms, blessed ashes and other relics to further increase the suffering inflicted upon their foes.

Playing as a Witch Hunter

Whether youre positioning yourself for a devastating strike against an unwary enemy or going toe-to-toe in the thick of the fight, there are few places on the battlefield where a Witch Hunter does not belong. In the face of your tireless assaults and interrogation, your enemies quickly wither and fall – be it by blade, bullet or torch. While your pistol can be a powerful and devastating weapon under the right circumstances, it is slow and awkward to reload in close-quarters. As such, you will make frequent use of the deadly speed and effectiveness of rapiers, knives, stakes, torches and daggers. You will also find it useful to anoint your weapons before a fight to dispatch your unholy enemies with even greater efficiency.

Fighting against a Witch Hunter

The Witch Hunter relies heavily on his ability to catch targets off guard or to distract them in the thick of a fight. A powerful melee fighter, he is at his most effective when he can move behind an enemy and unleash pistol shots or powerful strikes from his anointed blade upon them. As such, it is critical that you not lose track of a Witch Hunter in the heat of battle. Keep them at range if you can - as their pistols are unreliable from a distance - and stay in front of them if they close in on you. A bullet in the head or a blade through the heart await those who do not.

Career Masteries

The Empire is not just under overt assault from the forces of Chaos, but is also fighting a constant war against the creeping incursions of darkness and heresy within its own borders, and no one is more aware of this than the Witch Hunter. Tasked with digging out the taint of corruption from within the healthy flesh of the Empire, the Witch Hunter is a grim figure, looked upon with equal measures of awe and dread, for they have the authority of an investigator, a judge, and an executioner. By blade, pistol, and torch, they are determined to cleanse the Empire of evil.

The Witch Hunters are deadly fighters who seek out and destroy anything tainted by the touch of Chaos. They lay down Accusations at swordpoint until theyre satisfied of their enemys guilt, and then unleash an Execution with the booming voice of their pistol. Their combat abilities are bolstered by a variety of sacred artifacts, such as blessed bullets which add additional effects to their Executions, and potent Holy Relics which can briefly imbue them with great power.

Path of Confession

The Path of Confession is direct and uncompromising, and focused primarily on direct and immediate opposition to heresy. A specialist in Confession will eschew subtlety and lengthy investigations in favor of simply approaching their enemy and beating the truth out of them. While not necessarily the most powerful approach, it is effective in its straightforward brutality, and provides a small measure of increased protection when the Witch Hunter finds themselves under direct attack.

Path of Inquisition

The Path of Inquisition is focused on longer and detailed investigations, weakening and progressively working over an enemy until the victims guilt is all but assured. A player with heavy Inquisition Mastery may appear less powerful at first glance, but the devastating effects of their attacks are felt more and more as the fight progresses.

Path of Judgment

The Path of Judgment is taken by Witch Hunters who are assured that their targets are guilty and no questioning is needed. They tend to take their suspects by surprise, and are at their best when the enemys attention is elsewhere. A Master of Judgment will seek to avoid face-to-face confrontations, and will be at their most powerful when they have allies nearby that can distract their enemies, allowing the Witch Hunter to lay down very potent attacks.

Class Changes

• Incognito is now 35s cooldown (up from 30s) and has its cooldown reduced by 1s for every enemy within 100ft when effect is broken, with a minimum of 5s cooldown (link)

• Hastened Expurgation is a new, core tactic, which grants a 50% speed bonus when in Incognito and reduces the cast time by 1 second, but reduces the duration to 3 seconds (link)

• Razor Strike no longer requires a target and will now strike up to 3 enemies in front of you, up to 15 feet away. It will not build Accusations unless you hit at least one target. (link)

• Sweeping Razor now increases Razor Strike range to 30ft and removes target limit (link)

• Trial by Pain damage output improved by 50%, now strikes all enemies within 20ft of its target, and has an 8s cooldown (link)

• Fervor is no longer cleansable and its damage over time component has been doubled (link)

• Burn, Heretic! is no longer cleansable (link)

• Close Combat is a new archetype tactic for all melee DPS classes. This tactic provides a 25% damage reduction against ranged and magical damage for 2s after using a direct damage, single target, melee ability on an enemy. This reduction does not stack with localized damage reductions such as Detaunt or Guard. (link)

• Dragon Gun now knocks down the primary target for 3s and reduces the Morale of all targets hit by 50 per Accusation spent (link)

• Sudden Accusation, Burn Armor, and Fanatical Zeal are now undefendable (link)

• Sever Blessing is now undefendable (link)

• Increased heal effect on Sanctified Bullets tactic to 150%, up from 100% (link)

Builds

• Tier 1: The pistol whipping basics
  • A stealther tickles your fancy, I see. Through Tier 1, you should use Torment and Absolution from the Judgment tree more often than not. These are two hard hitting abilities that will get boosted from our points in the tree. For damage, take Inquisitor's Fury for your lone tactic slot at 15, or keep Emperor's Ward if you want more survivability.

• Mid Tier: The fresh T2 build and things you'll want to pick up along the way.
  • Keep your Inquisitor's Fury slotted until 19, then swap it out for Brute Force. At 20, re-slot Inquisitor's Fury or grab Emperor's Ward for survivability as your second tactic. You can keep going up Judgment towards Fanatical Cleansing, or as the build suggests you can go Confession and get Shroud of Magnus, Sanctified Bullets, and Repel Blasphemy. When you hit 30 though, you'll want to swap to the Judgment build centered around Burn Away Lies and Fanatical Cleansing. BAL and Absolution will be your heavy damage dealers going into T4.

• Tier 4 - Burn Away Haters: This meta tier 4 build is exceptionally good in small scale skirmishes due to its heal debuff, knockdown, and high burst damage.
  • Brute Force is your bread and butter tactic, and Fanatical Cleansing activates your overall burst. Riposte is situational and can be traded with Flanking or Righteous Steel. When you open on a target, BAL should be your first Execution. If you get lucky and regenerate Accusations quickly through Flowing Accusations, you can hit a quick full strength Absolution. At rr50, add Seal of Destruction to round out the build.

• Tier 4 - Repel Blasphemers: This alternative build drops the heal debuff from Inquisition and picks up the great 1v1 ability, Repel Blasphemy.
  • Similar tactic setup as the meta build, where Riposte is exceptionally good when paired with Repel Blasphemy. At rr50, grab Shroud of Magnus and think about swapping Flowing Accusations with Vindication for the substantial damage increase on Disrupt.

Credit: Bamboozeled