Excelsias
08-31-2008, 10:07 PM
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Full link here, with regular updates:
http://www.lookingforgrog.com/2008/08/184/
Written by Excelsias
Blogging at http://www.lookingforgrog.com (http://www.lookingforgrog.com/)
August 31, 2008 - WAR Beta 3.3
Table of Contents
1. Overview -- Witch Hunter as Predator
2. The Witch Hunter -- How to Hunt
3. Witch Hunter Mechanics -- Incognito and Combo Attacks
4. Witch Hunter Abilities
5. Witch Hunter Masteries & Tactics - JUDGE for Yourself
6. How to Hunt, Pt. 2 - Putting it all Together
Overview - Witch Hunter as Predator
Welcome, Pilgrims! Let's start with the basics, shall we? What's a Witch Hunter? You could say the Witch Hunter is a badass combination of some dude that walked off the Mayflower, mixed in with a little John Wayne cowboy to boot (how many puns can YOU mix in a sentence, huh?!)
However, that isn't the proper analogy for this class. What's a Witch Hunter? In every way, shape, and form, the Witch Hunter is a pure predator, and if you want to be a GOOD Witch Hunter, you'll need to think and play WAR as if you are a predator. You'll spend the entirety of your WAR career hunting, stalking, and preying on the ugly destro baddies, and you better be hungry, because your one and only job is to knock 'em out quick and knock 'em out fast.
What does it mean to be a predator? Turn on the National Geographic channel, and you'll find some documentaries about cheetahs, leopards, panthers, etc. What do all of these big, hunting cats do? What do they have in common?
Predators attack the weak and vulnerable;
Predators prey on the periphery;
Predators hunt from stealth;
Predators use surprise to stun and capture prey;
Predators rely on quick, decisive strikes to win.
Throughout this guide, I'll be referring back to these themes in more detail, even making them the focus of this article's strategy section. They are principles that you should follow at every step. For now, take a look at these YouTube links to get in the spirit of the Witch Hunter as Predator! WARNING: Some of these are kinda' graphic:
Leopard attacking from stealth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igMeL6DUeBY)
Leopard attacking young wildebeests (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S09BMF7wMPE&feature=related)
Leopard hunting small buffalo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJTsgAqsPGU)
Cheetah hunting gazelles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXO3h6bpEUU&feature=related)
Excited yet? You should be. IMHO, the Witch Hunter is one of the most entertaining classes in WAR, and it requires a great deal of non-stop skill, judgment, and perception to excel. No other class can put out as much burst damage in a short period of time, and no class can do it with as much precision. Sure, Bright Wizards can AOE spam until they're red in the face and pump out tons of DPS, but how much fun is that? They're nubs. As a Witch Hunter, you must carefully pick your target, plan your attack, and execute your plan with ruthless efficiency and speed.
The Witch Hunter - How to Hunt
Your role as a Witch Hunter is simple: eliminate your target. People could tell you that there are AE viable Witch Hunter specs. People could tell you that Witch Hunters are a great debuffer and group support class. People are also wrong. Like it or not, practically ALL of your skills are aimed at inflicting damage as quickly as possible, and there is very little available to you in the way of CC, stuns, knockbacks, etc. Your abilities are all about DPS combo attacks, and give you ways to help you get up close to your target for some facestabbin' fun.
I'll make it simple. If you're not in the face of your target mashing the living hell out of your attacks, you're doing it wrong. If you're not enjoying the virtual rainfall of damage numbers floating on your target's head (unless Mythic broke the game again and put them off-center about fifteen f*ing feet), you're doing it wrong. If you think that your job is anything BUT delivering a massive beatdown on people that DON'T WEAR ARMOR, you're DOING IT WRONG. Got it :p ?
That's what this class does. Now -- you need to do it with some finesse and planning; that should go without saying, but the class is truly meant to layout DPS and do it with style.
At this point, I should note one of the major drawbacks to this class, as it is at the moment. Namely - piss poor survivability. Mages in many MMOs get the label of "glass cannon"; in WAR, you're the "really sharp but fragile glass knife". You'll quickly find that if you're playing a Witch Hunter and your is sticking out in a fight as much as a few inches... well, get ready for an arse raping that would put San Quentin to shame. Anyone touches you, and for the most part, you go down like a $5 garden tool.
You just can't stand toe to toe with any real kind of focused damage. Even with a good healer watching your back, you won't last nearly as long as a tank. With only light armor to protect you and substandard resists, you're about as tough as a wet roll of toilet paper. And, like toilet paper, Mythic's done a really good job of designing this class to to be "disintegratable". God forbid Witch Hunter carcasses litter the ecosystem and all that jazz. That's the price to pay for the kind of damage you can do. Therefore - you should be VERY conscious of where, when, and how you choose to attack. Whenever you're thinking about attacking, you should also be thinking about "how the fack am I gonna' get out of the mess I start; can I attack without being noticed?; if I attack that guy, am I gonna' get arse by the two San Quentin-lookin' thugs next to him, aka his Black Orc / Chosen buddies?" Unless you have good answers to these questions, or unless you don't really care if you end up as someone else's kill stat, well -- figure somethin' else out.
Witch Hunter Mechanics - Incognito and Combo Attacks
To summarize thus far: Witch Hunters are predators; Witch Hunters can do great damage; but Witch Hunters aren't very tough. Given how fragile you are, you better have some way to safely get up in someone's face, since your range is zero, and then you better have some ways to get the damage out as fast as witch-hunteringly possible, since you won't last long toe-to-toe.
Good news is... you do. The two primary class mechanics that fuel the Witch Hunter actually do it quite well.
First, Incognito (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8090). This is a skill with a 60 second cooldown that makes the Witch Hunter stealthed, or invisible, to the opposing side. While incognito, your AP will slowly whittle down over time, but not dramatically so - don't worry. I've found that I can sit incognito for a good 20-30 seconds and only lose 1/4 of my AP in that time, although I really wish that Mythic wouldn't have added this AP drain to the skill.
While incognito, the Witch Hunter has a number of special attacks that can used, and these incognito attacks are usually great combat openers. More on these in a bit.
After leaping from the shadows of incognito, your next line of attacks are called Accusations. These are attacks that build accustation ('combo') points, just like a rogue in WOW. You then use Executions as finishing attacks, and executions have more impact/damage based on how many accusation points you've built up.
Let's look at a standard Accusation / Execution attack to make this clear, and how / why you'd combine it with an Incognito attack.
Razor Strike (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8081) is a basic Accusation that deals a good bit of damage and builds 1 Accusation Point. Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082) is a standard finishing Execution that does pure damage. At level 40, it does 239 damage with 1 point, up to 556 damage with 5 points built up. These are both instant cast, so essentially it'll take you six-times the GCD (global cooldown) to build up five points through Razor Strike and then hit Absolution (6*1.4seconds = 8.4 seconds). In that time, you're doing 245 damage per Razor Strike, and 556 on the Absolution... that's 1781 damage in 8.4 seconds, or 212 DPS ... not too shabby.
However, let's say you started incognito and led off with Sudden Accusation (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8096). This doesn't do any damage on it's own, but instead puts a debuff on your target that injures them if they move. This does two things; one, it freezes your enemy in place unless they want a nasty DOT whittling away at them as they move, and two, builds TWO accusation points. Plus, it decreases the AP cost of any other actions in the next 10 seconds by 50%, and given that nearly all Witch Hunter attacks are instant -- the more AP you can hang on to, the more damage you can output in the long run. And, you're still doing good DPS -- 1291 total over 7 seconds, or 184 DPS, if not more from the run=damage debuff. Two less razor strikes, but an attack combination that puts you in a much better situation that cripples your enemy and gives you more long-term potential. Definitely a good trade off in my mind.
The other benefit to using the incognito attack is that you get to your big BURST attack (the Execution) sooner, with Sudden Accusation's TWO Accusation points to start everything off. In PvP, the sooner you can get to BURST damage to outpace any healing coming towards your target, the better.
Witch Hunter Abilities - An Overview
With that analysis done -- let's look at the full range of attacks and secondary abilities you get. All damage/effects noted assume that you're R40 per the Curse WAR database (http://www.wardb.com/).
Accusation Building Attacks - build 1 Accusation Point
Razor Strike (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8081): Standard attack that does a good 250ish damage, and builds 1 point. You can spam it. That's why it's good.
Fervor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8083): Instant attack that cripples your target for 68 damage and 1 point, and applies a DOT for 9 seconds, doing 290 damage in total. No reason NOT to use this instead of Razor Strike as your first attack, unless your part of an assist train that will take someone down before the 9 seconds is up.
Torment (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8085): Attack that does 170 damage and builds 1 point, EXCEPT that it ignores all of your target's armor if you are behind it. That's a lot, if you're fighting a tank. With potentially 70% armor mitigation, a Razor Strike will only do 80ish damage to a tank; Torment will do more than DOUBLE that if you're behind 'em. Moral of the story? Fight tanks facing their bum, not their front, and use this skill.
Silence the Heretic (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8100): GREAT attack that silences your opponent for three seconds, making them unable to use spells. Also does 205 damage if you're behind your opponent. You use this skill when you think the healer you're ganking is gonna' unleash a big heal.
Confess (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8086): This is actually an attack that builds an accusation point, but, has the unique requirement of having parried your opponent first. If you do so, it does 245 damage AND also disarms your opponent for 5 seconds, making them unable to attack. That's a HUGE deal against tanks. Keep this hotkeyed and WATCH for parries!
Seeker's Blade (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8097): Can't be defended, and does 245 damage. If crippled (meaning Fervor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8083)), target will also become cursed, reducing block/dodge/parry/disrupt rates by 5%. Not really exciting, and the AP costs of this ability (50 AP) is kinda' high. However, not a bad follow-up to Fervor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8083) when you're on a tank.
Incognito Attacks - build 2 Accusation Points
Burn Armor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8091): Your first Incognito attack, earned at Rank 10. Does 150ish damage to your target each time they melee attack for 15 seconds, and builds 2 Accusation Points. Put it on a stupid tank or MDPS... and they could potentially take a buttload of damage. Use this on melee classes practically ALL of the time.
Sudden Accusation (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8096): Does 51 damage every time your target moves for 15 seconds. Triggers about once a second if moving. Here's the thing; it's PHYSICAL damage, so if you pop this on a heavily armored tank, it'll do about 15 damage per move. That's not even enough to tickle a Black Orc. Use this ONLY on lightly armored targets if you think they will flee. Fanatical Zeal is almost always better if your target is a caster and will fight back. This is best used on Squig Herders.
Fanatical Zeal (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8098): Just like Burn Armor, but does 130ish damage when casting spells, instead of melee attacks. GREAT against healers and casters.
Execution Finishing Attacks
Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082): There's two good things about Absolution. One -- it does all of it's damage immediately, unlike other finishers -- up to 556 in one big, solid, massive hit. Second, it has a 30 foot range. Given WAR's quirky "not in your cone" errors, this is handy.
Burn Heretic! (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8093): Finisher that does 1368 damage over 10 seconds, with a 10 foot range. Downside is obviously not immediate damage, and the lower range... but it packs a BIG long-term wallop. If you're in a fight where you need two finishers to win (almost any fight 1v1 when you're both at 100% HP), use this sucker first.
Trial by Pain (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8087): This is a different one. It's a channeled spell that requires you to stand still and uninterrupted for 3 seconds while you shoot your target. 30 foot range, does 122 damage per shot. Not a big fan of this one.
Secondary Abilities
Snapshot (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8080): Standard attack to spam when your opponent is out of reach. Does 75 damage at up to 65 feet, and can be used on the run. Better than sitting with your thumb up your . About the only thing you CAN do besides twiddle your thumb your , if you're not in their face.
Feinted Positioning (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8092): Ability that allows you to ignore positional requirements of attacks, like it says. Don't have more to add other than that it takes awhile to get used to using this. It's a good ability, but Witch Hunter combat is so hectic, it can be easy to ignore this.
Get Thee Behind Me! (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8088): Detaunts everyone around you (30 feet), causing 50% less damage to you for 15 seconds. Beautiful skill, and about the only thing that can help keep you in one piece if you get targeted / attacked.
Sigil of Sigmar (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8095): Removes any roots/snares, and prevents roots/snares from affecting you for 10 seconds. This will save your a LOT. Keep it hotkeyed, and any time you get snared, HIT IT and FLEE :p
Pick Lock (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=14427): Allows you to sneak into the postern door of a keep. Neat for sneaking in to see how a lord is faring in keep sieges.
Declare Anathema (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8094): Knocks down your target, and you leap backward. I haven't tested a Witch Hunter at R40 (just the R31 templates from elder beta) -- but if this works as intended, it'll be cool. No clue how long the KD lasts.
Bullets of ... (these trigger effects after every execution, and are 30m buffs)
Blessed Bullets of Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8089): First buff you get as a Witch Hunter, and in my opinion, the best. Does 200ish damage over 5 seconds after any execution, and, SNARES YOUR TARGET FOR 40% DURING THAT TIME. Snaring people is good, it keeps them in range of your pokey stick.
Blessed Bullets of Purity (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8084): Mythic misspelled this one. It's actually spelled, Blessed Bullets of Really Crap Compared to Cleansing. Does 150ish damage to your target, and heals you for half that damage with every execution. People... 150 damage won't matter in the big scheme of things, and 70 points of healing every few seconds isn't much. The ONLY way I found this to be useful was to spam 1 Accusation, and then 1 Execution back to back to back to get the damage ticking over and over... but you get more burst holding your Accusation Points and using Cleansing.. I guess this is useful if you don't have a healer, and you spam it every 3-4 seconds for 70 points of healing, but people -- find a friend who will heal you!
Blessed Bullets of (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8099): Does 234 damage over 9 seconds after an execution, and causes them to lose 30 AP in that time. That's not exciting compared to the snare on Cleansing.
Witch Hunter Masteries & Tactics - JUDGE for yourself!
I'm not going to go into a full fledged discussion of Masteries and Tactics, cause, well... at this point you're probably very, very sleepy. WAKE UP NUBLITS!
The other reason is that I'm horribly pig headed and biased; IF you wanna' rock it out in PvP, IMO Judgment is the way to go. Why? The Judgment mastery line buffs Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082), Torment (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8085), and Blessed Bullets of Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8089) - three of your most precious abilities. Judgment also gives you the immensely AWESOME:
Additional 5 seconds on Blessed Bullets of Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8089) via the Fanatical Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8137)tactic, doubling the length of your snare;
3 second positional stun via Pistol Whip (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8115);
The kickass Burn Away Lies (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8116), an awesome Execution with BACKLOADED burst DPS and extremely high total DPS output;
Atonement (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8138), a tactic that increases Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082) crit chance by 25%;
Expurgation (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8154), a level 4 morale move that does... 1600 dps DOT to all enemies within 30 feet, and snares them by 60%. You wanna' sow confusion in the ranks of your enemy? This'll do it.
No other mastery line gives you this much AWESOMENESS at once. You get TWO excellent executions that benefit from points in this line, boosted DPS from torment strikes, increased crit percentage on Absolution, a 3 second stun, and double the duration of your snare. That rocks.
For the sake of fairness...
Inquisition: Decent line for the healing mitigation debuffs, but besides that, it doesn't offer much. That's pretty powerful though, and not a skill that many classes can provide. As such, it can make you very valued with your group. Not a bad group-oriented mastery line, but just doesn't give as much oomph as Judgment.
Confession: Holy Blade (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8152)is, well, kinda' freakin' cool. Sweeping Razor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8133)is also a nifty tactic that can seriously boost the DPS of Razor Whip when you're in a mass of Destros. But besides those two things, the mastery line doesn't appeal to me.
Bottom-line - you get the best bang for your buck from a heavy spec' into Judgment. I'd pair up the two tactics I highlighted above with Flowing Accusations (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8121)which gives 2 Accusation Points after each execution (nasty, as it keeps executions flowing furiously) and Flanking (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=523), which does 15% more damage when attacking from behind or the side. Considering that's where you SHOULD be attacking from, it's pretty good.
How to Hunt, Pt. 2 - Putting it all together
When we started, we highlighted the following characteristics that every predator displays:
Predators attack the weak and vulnerable;
Predators prey on the periphery;
Predators hunt from stealth;
Predators use surprise to stun and capture prey;
Predators rely on quick, decisive strikes to win.
What does this mean for a Witch Hunter?
Choose your targets carefully -- attack the weak and vulnerable
Ever notice how big predators don't, like, attack bears and ? I mean, they're always going after some wounded wildebeest, or a gazelle, or a little baby monkey or something. When predators DO go after big game, what do they do? They gang up like a bunch of thugs and take out a big cow or something. Why?
Predators don't hunt for the thrill of it; that's why they aren't alligator wrestling and what not. Only people are that dumb. Predators hunt to survive; that is, predators HUNT TO WIN, and follow the rules of nature to do so. You should as well in WAR. Don't attack targets you can't take down, like 1v1 matches with heavily armored tanks that have pocket healers. If you do want to kill tanks, find groupmates who know what they're doing, and use your overwhelming DPS to tilt the battle to your favor.
Overwhelming superiority and force is what it's all about, and that means if you're gonna' match up 1v1, do it against someone you can beat up. Squig Herders, Sorcs, Shaman, DOKs all fit the bill. ZEALOTS don't -- those mofos can heal themselves a LOT. They're the equivalent of a giant massive turtle in WAR. You don't see cheetahs eating turtlels unless they got run over by some rich dude's Land Rover in Africa.
So, morale of the story -- recognize what your class can and can't do, and pick battles that you can WIN. Witch Hunters excel at taking out lightly armored targets, and are ESPECIALLY good against casters.
Vulnerable? Save up five Accusation Points and go after a healer at half-health. Won't be a long, or fair fight, but you'll get a buttload of XP and reknown points. Just like a cheetah attacking a wounded calf gets dinner.
END TRUNCATED -- TOO MANY CHARS FOR WHA! VISIT FULL LINK FOR MORE.
Full link here, with regular updates:
http://www.lookingforgrog.com/2008/08/184/
Written by Excelsias
Blogging at http://www.lookingforgrog.com (http://www.lookingforgrog.com/)
August 31, 2008 - WAR Beta 3.3
Table of Contents
1. Overview -- Witch Hunter as Predator
2. The Witch Hunter -- How to Hunt
3. Witch Hunter Mechanics -- Incognito and Combo Attacks
4. Witch Hunter Abilities
5. Witch Hunter Masteries & Tactics - JUDGE for Yourself
6. How to Hunt, Pt. 2 - Putting it all Together
Overview - Witch Hunter as Predator
Welcome, Pilgrims! Let's start with the basics, shall we? What's a Witch Hunter? You could say the Witch Hunter is a badass combination of some dude that walked off the Mayflower, mixed in with a little John Wayne cowboy to boot (how many puns can YOU mix in a sentence, huh?!)
However, that isn't the proper analogy for this class. What's a Witch Hunter? In every way, shape, and form, the Witch Hunter is a pure predator, and if you want to be a GOOD Witch Hunter, you'll need to think and play WAR as if you are a predator. You'll spend the entirety of your WAR career hunting, stalking, and preying on the ugly destro baddies, and you better be hungry, because your one and only job is to knock 'em out quick and knock 'em out fast.
What does it mean to be a predator? Turn on the National Geographic channel, and you'll find some documentaries about cheetahs, leopards, panthers, etc. What do all of these big, hunting cats do? What do they have in common?
Predators attack the weak and vulnerable;
Predators prey on the periphery;
Predators hunt from stealth;
Predators use surprise to stun and capture prey;
Predators rely on quick, decisive strikes to win.
Throughout this guide, I'll be referring back to these themes in more detail, even making them the focus of this article's strategy section. They are principles that you should follow at every step. For now, take a look at these YouTube links to get in the spirit of the Witch Hunter as Predator! WARNING: Some of these are kinda' graphic:
Leopard attacking from stealth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igMeL6DUeBY)
Leopard attacking young wildebeests (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S09BMF7wMPE&feature=related)
Leopard hunting small buffalo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJTsgAqsPGU)
Cheetah hunting gazelles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXO3h6bpEUU&feature=related)
Excited yet? You should be. IMHO, the Witch Hunter is one of the most entertaining classes in WAR, and it requires a great deal of non-stop skill, judgment, and perception to excel. No other class can put out as much burst damage in a short period of time, and no class can do it with as much precision. Sure, Bright Wizards can AOE spam until they're red in the face and pump out tons of DPS, but how much fun is that? They're nubs. As a Witch Hunter, you must carefully pick your target, plan your attack, and execute your plan with ruthless efficiency and speed.
The Witch Hunter - How to Hunt
Your role as a Witch Hunter is simple: eliminate your target. People could tell you that there are AE viable Witch Hunter specs. People could tell you that Witch Hunters are a great debuffer and group support class. People are also wrong. Like it or not, practically ALL of your skills are aimed at inflicting damage as quickly as possible, and there is very little available to you in the way of CC, stuns, knockbacks, etc. Your abilities are all about DPS combo attacks, and give you ways to help you get up close to your target for some facestabbin' fun.
I'll make it simple. If you're not in the face of your target mashing the living hell out of your attacks, you're doing it wrong. If you're not enjoying the virtual rainfall of damage numbers floating on your target's head (unless Mythic broke the game again and put them off-center about fifteen f*ing feet), you're doing it wrong. If you think that your job is anything BUT delivering a massive beatdown on people that DON'T WEAR ARMOR, you're DOING IT WRONG. Got it :p ?
That's what this class does. Now -- you need to do it with some finesse and planning; that should go without saying, but the class is truly meant to layout DPS and do it with style.
At this point, I should note one of the major drawbacks to this class, as it is at the moment. Namely - piss poor survivability. Mages in many MMOs get the label of "glass cannon"; in WAR, you're the "really sharp but fragile glass knife". You'll quickly find that if you're playing a Witch Hunter and your is sticking out in a fight as much as a few inches... well, get ready for an arse raping that would put San Quentin to shame. Anyone touches you, and for the most part, you go down like a $5 garden tool.
You just can't stand toe to toe with any real kind of focused damage. Even with a good healer watching your back, you won't last nearly as long as a tank. With only light armor to protect you and substandard resists, you're about as tough as a wet roll of toilet paper. And, like toilet paper, Mythic's done a really good job of designing this class to to be "disintegratable". God forbid Witch Hunter carcasses litter the ecosystem and all that jazz. That's the price to pay for the kind of damage you can do. Therefore - you should be VERY conscious of where, when, and how you choose to attack. Whenever you're thinking about attacking, you should also be thinking about "how the fack am I gonna' get out of the mess I start; can I attack without being noticed?; if I attack that guy, am I gonna' get arse by the two San Quentin-lookin' thugs next to him, aka his Black Orc / Chosen buddies?" Unless you have good answers to these questions, or unless you don't really care if you end up as someone else's kill stat, well -- figure somethin' else out.
Witch Hunter Mechanics - Incognito and Combo Attacks
To summarize thus far: Witch Hunters are predators; Witch Hunters can do great damage; but Witch Hunters aren't very tough. Given how fragile you are, you better have some way to safely get up in someone's face, since your range is zero, and then you better have some ways to get the damage out as fast as witch-hunteringly possible, since you won't last long toe-to-toe.
Good news is... you do. The two primary class mechanics that fuel the Witch Hunter actually do it quite well.
First, Incognito (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8090). This is a skill with a 60 second cooldown that makes the Witch Hunter stealthed, or invisible, to the opposing side. While incognito, your AP will slowly whittle down over time, but not dramatically so - don't worry. I've found that I can sit incognito for a good 20-30 seconds and only lose 1/4 of my AP in that time, although I really wish that Mythic wouldn't have added this AP drain to the skill.
While incognito, the Witch Hunter has a number of special attacks that can used, and these incognito attacks are usually great combat openers. More on these in a bit.
After leaping from the shadows of incognito, your next line of attacks are called Accusations. These are attacks that build accustation ('combo') points, just like a rogue in WOW. You then use Executions as finishing attacks, and executions have more impact/damage based on how many accusation points you've built up.
Let's look at a standard Accusation / Execution attack to make this clear, and how / why you'd combine it with an Incognito attack.
Razor Strike (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8081) is a basic Accusation that deals a good bit of damage and builds 1 Accusation Point. Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082) is a standard finishing Execution that does pure damage. At level 40, it does 239 damage with 1 point, up to 556 damage with 5 points built up. These are both instant cast, so essentially it'll take you six-times the GCD (global cooldown) to build up five points through Razor Strike and then hit Absolution (6*1.4seconds = 8.4 seconds). In that time, you're doing 245 damage per Razor Strike, and 556 on the Absolution... that's 1781 damage in 8.4 seconds, or 212 DPS ... not too shabby.
However, let's say you started incognito and led off with Sudden Accusation (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8096). This doesn't do any damage on it's own, but instead puts a debuff on your target that injures them if they move. This does two things; one, it freezes your enemy in place unless they want a nasty DOT whittling away at them as they move, and two, builds TWO accusation points. Plus, it decreases the AP cost of any other actions in the next 10 seconds by 50%, and given that nearly all Witch Hunter attacks are instant -- the more AP you can hang on to, the more damage you can output in the long run. And, you're still doing good DPS -- 1291 total over 7 seconds, or 184 DPS, if not more from the run=damage debuff. Two less razor strikes, but an attack combination that puts you in a much better situation that cripples your enemy and gives you more long-term potential. Definitely a good trade off in my mind.
The other benefit to using the incognito attack is that you get to your big BURST attack (the Execution) sooner, with Sudden Accusation's TWO Accusation points to start everything off. In PvP, the sooner you can get to BURST damage to outpace any healing coming towards your target, the better.
Witch Hunter Abilities - An Overview
With that analysis done -- let's look at the full range of attacks and secondary abilities you get. All damage/effects noted assume that you're R40 per the Curse WAR database (http://www.wardb.com/).
Accusation Building Attacks - build 1 Accusation Point
Razor Strike (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8081): Standard attack that does a good 250ish damage, and builds 1 point. You can spam it. That's why it's good.
Fervor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8083): Instant attack that cripples your target for 68 damage and 1 point, and applies a DOT for 9 seconds, doing 290 damage in total. No reason NOT to use this instead of Razor Strike as your first attack, unless your part of an assist train that will take someone down before the 9 seconds is up.
Torment (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8085): Attack that does 170 damage and builds 1 point, EXCEPT that it ignores all of your target's armor if you are behind it. That's a lot, if you're fighting a tank. With potentially 70% armor mitigation, a Razor Strike will only do 80ish damage to a tank; Torment will do more than DOUBLE that if you're behind 'em. Moral of the story? Fight tanks facing their bum, not their front, and use this skill.
Silence the Heretic (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8100): GREAT attack that silences your opponent for three seconds, making them unable to use spells. Also does 205 damage if you're behind your opponent. You use this skill when you think the healer you're ganking is gonna' unleash a big heal.
Confess (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8086): This is actually an attack that builds an accusation point, but, has the unique requirement of having parried your opponent first. If you do so, it does 245 damage AND also disarms your opponent for 5 seconds, making them unable to attack. That's a HUGE deal against tanks. Keep this hotkeyed and WATCH for parries!
Seeker's Blade (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8097): Can't be defended, and does 245 damage. If crippled (meaning Fervor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8083)), target will also become cursed, reducing block/dodge/parry/disrupt rates by 5%. Not really exciting, and the AP costs of this ability (50 AP) is kinda' high. However, not a bad follow-up to Fervor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8083) when you're on a tank.
Incognito Attacks - build 2 Accusation Points
Burn Armor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8091): Your first Incognito attack, earned at Rank 10. Does 150ish damage to your target each time they melee attack for 15 seconds, and builds 2 Accusation Points. Put it on a stupid tank or MDPS... and they could potentially take a buttload of damage. Use this on melee classes practically ALL of the time.
Sudden Accusation (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8096): Does 51 damage every time your target moves for 15 seconds. Triggers about once a second if moving. Here's the thing; it's PHYSICAL damage, so if you pop this on a heavily armored tank, it'll do about 15 damage per move. That's not even enough to tickle a Black Orc. Use this ONLY on lightly armored targets if you think they will flee. Fanatical Zeal is almost always better if your target is a caster and will fight back. This is best used on Squig Herders.
Fanatical Zeal (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8098): Just like Burn Armor, but does 130ish damage when casting spells, instead of melee attacks. GREAT against healers and casters.
Execution Finishing Attacks
Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082): There's two good things about Absolution. One -- it does all of it's damage immediately, unlike other finishers -- up to 556 in one big, solid, massive hit. Second, it has a 30 foot range. Given WAR's quirky "not in your cone" errors, this is handy.
Burn Heretic! (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8093): Finisher that does 1368 damage over 10 seconds, with a 10 foot range. Downside is obviously not immediate damage, and the lower range... but it packs a BIG long-term wallop. If you're in a fight where you need two finishers to win (almost any fight 1v1 when you're both at 100% HP), use this sucker first.
Trial by Pain (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8087): This is a different one. It's a channeled spell that requires you to stand still and uninterrupted for 3 seconds while you shoot your target. 30 foot range, does 122 damage per shot. Not a big fan of this one.
Secondary Abilities
Snapshot (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8080): Standard attack to spam when your opponent is out of reach. Does 75 damage at up to 65 feet, and can be used on the run. Better than sitting with your thumb up your . About the only thing you CAN do besides twiddle your thumb your , if you're not in their face.
Feinted Positioning (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8092): Ability that allows you to ignore positional requirements of attacks, like it says. Don't have more to add other than that it takes awhile to get used to using this. It's a good ability, but Witch Hunter combat is so hectic, it can be easy to ignore this.
Get Thee Behind Me! (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8088): Detaunts everyone around you (30 feet), causing 50% less damage to you for 15 seconds. Beautiful skill, and about the only thing that can help keep you in one piece if you get targeted / attacked.
Sigil of Sigmar (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8095): Removes any roots/snares, and prevents roots/snares from affecting you for 10 seconds. This will save your a LOT. Keep it hotkeyed, and any time you get snared, HIT IT and FLEE :p
Pick Lock (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=14427): Allows you to sneak into the postern door of a keep. Neat for sneaking in to see how a lord is faring in keep sieges.
Declare Anathema (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8094): Knocks down your target, and you leap backward. I haven't tested a Witch Hunter at R40 (just the R31 templates from elder beta) -- but if this works as intended, it'll be cool. No clue how long the KD lasts.
Bullets of ... (these trigger effects after every execution, and are 30m buffs)
Blessed Bullets of Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8089): First buff you get as a Witch Hunter, and in my opinion, the best. Does 200ish damage over 5 seconds after any execution, and, SNARES YOUR TARGET FOR 40% DURING THAT TIME. Snaring people is good, it keeps them in range of your pokey stick.
Blessed Bullets of Purity (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8084): Mythic misspelled this one. It's actually spelled, Blessed Bullets of Really Crap Compared to Cleansing. Does 150ish damage to your target, and heals you for half that damage with every execution. People... 150 damage won't matter in the big scheme of things, and 70 points of healing every few seconds isn't much. The ONLY way I found this to be useful was to spam 1 Accusation, and then 1 Execution back to back to back to get the damage ticking over and over... but you get more burst holding your Accusation Points and using Cleansing.. I guess this is useful if you don't have a healer, and you spam it every 3-4 seconds for 70 points of healing, but people -- find a friend who will heal you!
Blessed Bullets of (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8099): Does 234 damage over 9 seconds after an execution, and causes them to lose 30 AP in that time. That's not exciting compared to the snare on Cleansing.
Witch Hunter Masteries & Tactics - JUDGE for yourself!
I'm not going to go into a full fledged discussion of Masteries and Tactics, cause, well... at this point you're probably very, very sleepy. WAKE UP NUBLITS!
The other reason is that I'm horribly pig headed and biased; IF you wanna' rock it out in PvP, IMO Judgment is the way to go. Why? The Judgment mastery line buffs Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082), Torment (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8085), and Blessed Bullets of Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8089) - three of your most precious abilities. Judgment also gives you the immensely AWESOME:
Additional 5 seconds on Blessed Bullets of Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8089) via the Fanatical Cleansing (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8137)tactic, doubling the length of your snare;
3 second positional stun via Pistol Whip (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8115);
The kickass Burn Away Lies (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8116), an awesome Execution with BACKLOADED burst DPS and extremely high total DPS output;
Atonement (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8138), a tactic that increases Absolution (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8082) crit chance by 25%;
Expurgation (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8154), a level 4 morale move that does... 1600 dps DOT to all enemies within 30 feet, and snares them by 60%. You wanna' sow confusion in the ranks of your enemy? This'll do it.
No other mastery line gives you this much AWESOMENESS at once. You get TWO excellent executions that benefit from points in this line, boosted DPS from torment strikes, increased crit percentage on Absolution, a 3 second stun, and double the duration of your snare. That rocks.
For the sake of fairness...
Inquisition: Decent line for the healing mitigation debuffs, but besides that, it doesn't offer much. That's pretty powerful though, and not a skill that many classes can provide. As such, it can make you very valued with your group. Not a bad group-oriented mastery line, but just doesn't give as much oomph as Judgment.
Confession: Holy Blade (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8152)is, well, kinda' freakin' cool. Sweeping Razor (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8133)is also a nifty tactic that can seriously boost the DPS of Razor Whip when you're in a mass of Destros. But besides those two things, the mastery line doesn't appeal to me.
Bottom-line - you get the best bang for your buck from a heavy spec' into Judgment. I'd pair up the two tactics I highlighted above with Flowing Accusations (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=8121)which gives 2 Accusation Points after each execution (nasty, as it keeps executions flowing furiously) and Flanking (http://www.wardb.com/spell.aspx?id=523), which does 15% more damage when attacking from behind or the side. Considering that's where you SHOULD be attacking from, it's pretty good.
How to Hunt, Pt. 2 - Putting it all together
When we started, we highlighted the following characteristics that every predator displays:
Predators attack the weak and vulnerable;
Predators prey on the periphery;
Predators hunt from stealth;
Predators use surprise to stun and capture prey;
Predators rely on quick, decisive strikes to win.
What does this mean for a Witch Hunter?
Choose your targets carefully -- attack the weak and vulnerable
Ever notice how big predators don't, like, attack bears and ? I mean, they're always going after some wounded wildebeest, or a gazelle, or a little baby monkey or something. When predators DO go after big game, what do they do? They gang up like a bunch of thugs and take out a big cow or something. Why?
Predators don't hunt for the thrill of it; that's why they aren't alligator wrestling and what not. Only people are that dumb. Predators hunt to survive; that is, predators HUNT TO WIN, and follow the rules of nature to do so. You should as well in WAR. Don't attack targets you can't take down, like 1v1 matches with heavily armored tanks that have pocket healers. If you do want to kill tanks, find groupmates who know what they're doing, and use your overwhelming DPS to tilt the battle to your favor.
Overwhelming superiority and force is what it's all about, and that means if you're gonna' match up 1v1, do it against someone you can beat up. Squig Herders, Sorcs, Shaman, DOKs all fit the bill. ZEALOTS don't -- those mofos can heal themselves a LOT. They're the equivalent of a giant massive turtle in WAR. You don't see cheetahs eating turtlels unless they got run over by some rich dude's Land Rover in Africa.
So, morale of the story -- recognize what your class can and can't do, and pick battles that you can WIN. Witch Hunters excel at taking out lightly armored targets, and are ESPECIALLY good against casters.
Vulnerable? Save up five Accusation Points and go after a healer at half-health. Won't be a long, or fair fight, but you'll get a buttload of XP and reknown points. Just like a cheetah attacking a wounded calf gets dinner.
END TRUNCATED -- TOO MANY CHARS FOR WHA! VISIT FULL LINK FOR MORE.