Witch Tree Proposals (Semi-Updated July 15.)

No more new updates.
My breathe seems to be lost in the wind, with no one to hear my plea.

For the most recent changes please view my latest post.
All specific stats I provide are subject to change.
Added Rough layout image for a new overhaul rework.
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The image itself I made using Photoshop, .PNG or .PSD provided upon request.
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Images Here
Updated: 6/04/2014

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New rough draft
July 6th: http://postimg.org/image/fp7arer0l/
July 15th: http://postimg.org/image/3zxiddj43/
July 25th (newest): http://postimg.org/image/u3fgiky0z/full/
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The Changes

I've changed the top area to be more flexible, should be much easier to access the top tree now through power charges.

The Witch (currently) is the last class that has poor access to the outside tree via Power/Frenzy/Endurance Nodes. Only recently the Marauder Endurance access node was changed.
I still think Witch has poor access to outside the top tree regardless of the power charge entrance.

Reverted to old keystone layout for now. I really wanted to change this area but I don't think it's worth it. Only for the reason that the keystones don't have drawbacks. If they had drawbacks, I would re-add my layout changes. Personally, I think they should swap around the links on the current keystones. Make one additional curse the first keystone, and permanent curses the second (with a drawback).

Changed layout of Wand Circle. Outer nodes have extra elemental damage, while inner nodes have physical and other stats.

Mana Circle has been moved down to accommodate better pathing to outside tree.
Removed one Mana percentage node, replaced with a 20% Mana Regeneration node.
Please make this change. I guarantee you a majority of witches will take these nodes as opposed to how it is now.

I've changed the nodes in the Blast Radius Circle. (again....)
Reworked to have 7 nodes again from my prior proposal.
Layout has changed to be most neutral toward spell damage nodes. If you want the area nodes, that is now optional. No longer required for entering or leaving the circle.

The only issue is.... if other classes want the area nodes, they cannot take it without choosing one spell damage node. The only thing I can say is "Tough". I cannot satisfy everyone. You shouldn't even be in this side of the tree if you aren't a caster.

Slight layout change for Lord of the Dead Circle. Stats unchanged otherwise.

These Three Circle has been moved into the inner start area of the Witch.
I find this change to be an adequate solution for the time being.

Slight layout change for Gemini Circle.
Added one starter node for %Physical + Accuracy (?).
Moved Notable farther into the circle.

Added New Energy Shield Circle.
Uses a new intelligence node for the link to the area.
Entrance and Left side of circle is Percent Energy Shield.
Right side is Flat Energy Shield + Energy shield Recovery.
Notable is percent Energy Shield.

Aaaaaand now the last major Circle change.

Life + Energy Shield Large Circle.
I've specifically separated the Life and Energy shield to have access to the top node to get outside the circle. Players will have a choice of getting the life, energy shield, or both, without being forced to choose. This layout is not much different from the original tree, just shifted.

Flask Nodes Unchanged.
Life nodes have 8%, Life Notable has 10% + 6% All Elemental Resistances.
Energy Shield nodes have 8%, Notable has 18% ES + 5% ES Recovery.
Changed ES Recovery Nodes. Now provides Flat Energy shield + ES Recovery.
Bottom Notable I called Mage's Sanctum, like the previous suggestion. This provides 10% Maximum Mana + 10% Energy Shield.
It also now provides access into the Blast Radius Circle, which is currently impossible from this side.

This Bottom Notable node is a required change, because you would otherwise be forced to overlap pathing. Which is either impossible or very confusing.
(May change location later)
The total Percent Energy Shield provided is still the same. (44%)

Fixed Right-Side starting circle. (2nd time)
Reworked the circle to have 6 nodes + My Notable for ES.
Left side would be 10% mana, 20% Mana Regen, 10% Mana.
Right sided would be flat 15 Life+Mana, %Life+Mana, flat 15 Life+Mana.
The Notable is accessible from the top 2 nodes. Still requires 6 points to access.This would make the notable have 8 links, not sure if that's a problem.

This also makes the overall node count for the area balanced. Most classes require you to take 10 nodes to enter at the start, and exit at the end. I've changed the node count on the right side to reflect this.
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Reworked Elemental Damage Circle.
Now has a more consistent layout and node count.
The numbers on the damage nodes top-down should be, IMO, (10%, 18%, 12%) versus (8%,15%,8%,8%).
The reason is so it rewards the Witch more for taking all the nodes from the bottom, and has quick access to damage nodes for spells.
If you enter these nodes from the top, it's not as rewarding unless you take all the nodes.

Recently added a small life circle, which has 2 life nodes and one life regeneration node.
Honestly there needs to be some form of life regeneration close to Shadow / Witch area, and this is very good placement.
I wanted to add the regen node as a combined Notable, but thought better of it.

Also added a new Accuracy cluster in the same area.
Now, Arcane Vision doesn't need that useless Accuracy bonus. It should be thrown into the accuracy cluster instead, and possibly replaced with another stat.

Added a Notable Circle for Elemental Penetration.
I very much like this location. It's not too far to be out of the way, but not too close to all the juicy elemental damage nodes. Still don't know what specific numbers I'd like for this circle.

[Next Update]
Added a Medium sized circle for Reduced Mana Cost of Skills.
It will have 5 nodes total. 4 Nodes and the Notable.
3%, 3%, 3%, 6%, 10%, for a total of 25% reduced mana cost of skills.
The placement is in the area where the crit multiplier circle is.
Accessible from the inner Witch highway.

I've provided a new node for Flat Energy shield, which is combined with the normal ES Recovery.
This is because there is only ONE flat Energy shield node in the tree, and that is only with claws.

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Updated my draft since July.
I've provided 3 places for defensive and utility circles: Hybrid Life+Mana, Energy Shield, and Mana.
All three circles have their own respective notables.

The life mana circle has 2 nodes that combine Life and Mana regeneration.
3x: 6% Max life, 8% Max Mana.
2x: 0.5% Life Regen, 10% Mana Regen.
1x: 12% Max Life, 12% Max Mana, 1% Life Regen, 20% Mana Regen.

The Mana circle is split into two clusters.
One for Reduced Mana Cost of Skills, and the other Mana Regen.
On the left: (2x) 5% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills, Notable for 10% Reduced Mana Cost of Skills.
On the Right: (2x) 10% Max Mana, Notable for: 24% Max Mana, 20 Int, 20% Mana Regen.

The other is the new ES circle I've discussed before. Still undecided on specific stats as of now. Still needs to provide flat ES.
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Overall I think these changes are a step in the right direction.
The flow / layout is more uniform, and accommodates for future changes.

Please Comment on new changes.

It's weird, but I'd take a 25% crit chance, but not two 20% points. 30% per point is really my "okay give it to me" threshold.

Spell Damage isn't as terrible as it may seem at first, which is all the Witch really has to bring to bear. The three point 24% generic offshunt and one of Immolation/Lightning Weaver/Heart of Ice. Really an inversion of the Scion, which has everything, but a plethora of damage.

As far as freebies go, she gets Lord of the Dead and 40% mana regen without having to throw away points on massively overcosted Mana%. (8% mana = 2% life.) Which is better than some have it.

Just combine the Mana% with the Energy Shield points, add 30-40 spell crit multiplier in there somewhere (my crazy idea: where Deep Thoughts is. By the Power Charge).. Perhaps turn her Life and Energy Shield routes into a fork so you can pick just one or both, add in some Moon/Sun worship theming for their names (as the energy shield icon looks like little moons and she's a witch), and really it'd be pretty solid.

The Shadow has much more problems being Harry Potter than she does..

Scion is just mindlessly overpowerd and should be removed,

if you want to play caster you choose scion
if you want to play Melee you choose scion
if you want to play Ranged you choose scion

the problem isnt the witch, it is the scion, i wanted to make a lighning strike max block char, and guess whats the best for it? right scion, not templar

Witch in my opinion needs more -% mana reserved nodes closer and storm hunter is rite massively op is the scion.

Not bad tweaks, but it's just that... tweaks. I still wouldn't take those elemental damage nodes, they just aren't that impactful. I'd maybe go for your "Blast Zone" node if I were doing AoE spells, but that's it.

I'd rather see the elemental nodes get an extra stat, similar to what the Shadow gets, but different. My ideas would be:

Fire: +15% fire res / 15% fire damage / Penetrate 15% fire resistance of burning foes.
Cold: +15% cold res / 15% cold damage / Debuffs have increased duration on chilled foes.
Lightning: +15% light res / 15% light damage / Leech 2% of your lightning damage as mana on shocked foes.

Stuff like that makes the Witch relevant! So what if the Scion gets more cast speed if the Witch gets effects which allow it to stand out?

I like the idea of having the elemental penetration, would give the witch some uniqueness toward a build.

Elemental resistances are kind of "meh" on those large nodes.
I also like the idea of adding crit multiplier somewhere in the tree, but I only meant to rework the starting area.

It was more of reworking the "flow" than reworking individual stats.
GGG can add more stats to the tree area as they see fit.

Still, it still feels Witches are lackluster in comparison.

The Witch /should/ probably get an elemental penetration cluster, so that the Witch can remain relevant vs the Scion's much higher mana regen and cast speed...

Those spell crit nodes ARE pretty worthless, too. 20% is the lowest I'll go per crit point, but I'd still pick 3% cast speed over 20% crit on most days, unless I'm a coc build. 25% crit spell crit per node, honestly....

"

StormHunter wrote:

Scion is just mindlessly overpowerd and should be removed

The Witch actually has probably the best relationship with the Scion. You can still get the 80% mana regen from that notable regeneration thingy, and by going through the 3% cast speed route. And Harrier's not a burden at all if you also want the spellpower and the Life+Mana cluster over there. Basically you're just giving up access to the Resist and Armour notable, which isn't much of a loss if it's a loss at all.

By taking Witch, you can get the 40% mana regen at her base without taking the garbage Mana% in front of it. Which is kind of like how the Scion is - it's a stat that's effectively cut off completely if you start as someone else.

At the end of the day the Scion could be vastly improved if that lump of Life% were split into two, with the other half being where the infinite evasion wheel is now, thus giving mobility into and out of Harrier.

So GGG has stated on reddit they are going to change the Marauder tree, and massive changes to the witch tree.

Hopefully they can buff the witch area.
I'm more in favor of balancing # of nodes required, rather than straight up buffs to nodes.

I really, REALLY, hate the fact the three stat specific classes (Marauder, Witch, and Ranger) have more points required to travel into highway nodes.
I think it's 7, where the hybrid classes only have to travel 6 nodes.

Not to mention, traveling inside their own areas is utterly painful with useless nodes.

If they were to balance this equally for all classes, I would welcome this change.


I highly doubt they intent to do what I have suggested in this thread, but I think a change overall is greatly needed.

There are other threads proposing buffs to casters as well, and that is needed ASAP.
Screw all these melee builds, I want some hardcore caster action!

Shadow/Witch middleground node:

Arcane Blur - +10% spell damage / On a critical strike with a spell, you gain 15% more movement speed for 2.0 seconds.

Would be completely worthless with Traps/Mines/Totems (only caster gets buff).

Templar/Witch middleground node:

Ardent Flame - +6% increased fire damage / +10% increased burn damage / +1% of fire spell damage is leeched as life

Witch Purist nodes:

We need elemental penetration /somewhere/. EE doesn't cut it.
Life/ES appeal for leftish side of tree
Stronger ES appeal in general
Spruce up left highway between Templar/Scion/Witch. Right highway is okay.
Spruce up area near serpent stance
Starting area is a mess for Witch.