Witch Hunter Career Guide
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Introducing The 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's are very distinctive, many wearing a tall sharp flat brimmed hat and a long cloak that can easily hide weapons of choice. They are on a religious crusade to purge corruption in the world and won't stop until all dark witchery is forever banished. Best at distance attacks in PvP or RvR situations where a healer is a strong supporter.
Witch Hunters In Combat
The Witch Hunter is all about fast moves, dealing as much damage as they can without getting injured themselves, or diverting their enemies attention and resources to other distractions while the Witch Hunter dances around their foe and picks off health one point at a time. One of the components with a successful power attack in the very beginning through setting up a successful string of skills such as Blessed Bullets of Cleansing is using stealth (Incognito) to get close enough to your enemy.
You will use Accusations to initiative powerful attacks called Executions. There is a pool of Accusations that builds to a certain point, so you can save these Accusations up for very powerful attacks using Executions that build in strength depending upon how many points of Accusations are in the pool at that time. Each time you use an Execution it uses ALL of the points in the pool at that time, resetting after the Execution completes.
Stealth (Incognito) is an opener in most combat situations, giving you a huge advantage on your target that can sometimes mean the difference in outcome of the battle. The Witch Hunter will currently use up to three primary openers throughout their career, consistently all granting a significant amount of cost off of attack skills and the effectiveness the enemy begins with.
Witch Hunter Attacks
All "x" notations for skills mean the statistic will shift depending upon your level
Burn Armor
Requires: Incognito, Builds: 2 Accusations. A surprise attack that burns your target, causing them to take x damage each time they use a melee attack for the next 15 seconds. Your abilities will cost 50% fewer Action Points for 10 seconds.
Fanatical Zeal
Requires Incognito. Builds 2 Accusations. You leap from the shadows, fueled with righteous anger. Your target will take x damage every time they cast a spell for 15 seconds. Your abilities will cost 50% fewer Action Points for 10 seconds.
Sudden Accusation
Requires Incognito. Builds 2 Accusations. You leap from the shadows and accuse your target of heresy. Your target will take x damage every time they move for 15 seconds. Your abilities will cost 50% fewer Action Points for 10 seconds.
All of these skills require stealth (Incognito), mostly referred to as Incognito from here. Be careful in that the skill takes a significant percentage of your Action Points, a brief moment to activate, and has a large cooldown of 60s. Use it right away in the beginning of combat and you should be able to easily run through your other skills to finish the enemy off.
SOLO Combat
Especially in areas where there is a lot of competition between other players or simply a lot of creatures roaming around, the Witch Hunter will have a harder time soloing at the higher Tiers. This is mainly due to their inability to deal significant damage at a distance, so they must move in close, which is something you don't really want to be doing with only light armor equipped.
To help compensate for anyone attempting to solo their way up ranks, the Witch Hunter does sport some fantastic offensive abilities that will deal a lot of damage real fast, just be sure not to run into other monsters while you solo a target and you should be fine. The successful solo Witch Hunter will do three things each time they spot an enemy: 1) Keep their distance, 2) Deal any long-range drain or slow spells to the enemy, 3) Pump out the damage as quickly as possible.
GROUP Combat
A Witch Hunter can defeat just about any enemy by themselves if given enough time for a surprise attack. There are tons of abilities that make targeting easier, with a lot of these abilities focusing on wounding your prey, which often results in slowing them down in case they attempt retreat.
When in a group you are going to want to ensure focus on a single target. The Witch Hunter is not an area effect focused career at all. Pick a target, figure out how you are going to kill it, before moving onto any other targets. Only shift to other targets when absolutely necessary, as this will break your required string of skills dealing damage.
If you're in large RvR situations you will want to focus first on the Goblin Shaman if there are any. The reason being is that they have only a couple of skills that will be able to withstand any of your attacks, where many other careers are better defended against powerful offensive strikes. Using Silence the Heretic will give you an advantage in overcoming them early.
After the Goblin Shaman is taken out you'll want to move on to the Zealot, which is often paired up with the Goblin Shaman in their attacks. After this I'd say it is up to you who you want to attack. Witch Elves are an important career to target, as they will lay waste to your healers if you don't catch them early, and you will need healing in RvR being an offensive class!
Equipment Inventory
What is interesting about the Witch Hunter is how closely they resemble caster classes in the armor department. You won't expect heavy steel plated armor on them. While being a weak class defensively because of this, they more than make up for it on the offensive front.
This is also a problem in later Tiers, as you will have a hard time finding armor that is more suitable for the intense RvR action that you will likely become involved in as you gain ranks. If you can survive defensively the Witch Hunter is an excellent choice for a pursuit type of character.
Whenever purchasing or acquiring armor and weapons you will want to focus on these three key statistics that will help to boost your skills and abilities:
- Strength: Increases your ability to deal more damage, while reducing your opponents chance to parry incoming attacks.
- Weapon Skill: Increases your own chance to parry the enemies attacks, and increases how often you deal blows that go through their armor defenses.
- Wounds: A skill that increases your health and overall hit points.
Apothecary Potions
This crafting skill is useful when creating items that are use-once, such as lotions, potions, and powders. The Witch Hunter will find the potions portion of this crafting skill to be particularly fun and useful for their career. While crafting is arguably a minor component of the game, the resulting potions for the Witch Hunter are definitely anything but minor!
Some of the potions that are available and useful to the Witch Hunter are: Restoration, Strength, Willpower, Toughness, Initiative, Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill, and many others. Consider leveling up in Apothecary to explore them all when you may need use of one of these on the battlefield!
CORE Abilities
The basic weapon of choice for a Witch Hunter and the one you will start with is your pistol, a long range weapon that hardly does any decent amount of damage, but will help you to attract attention of monsters from a distance. Snap Shot is a skill you'll learn quickly that works with the pistol, a skill you can use even while moving! Just remember that if you select it and want to cancel the ability, moving won't auto-cancel!
While the pistol may be the first weapon you start out with, given its ability at long range combat, the sword will be your real weapon of choice when entering close combat and finishing off an enemy. Much like the usefulness of Snap Shot, the Witch Hunter acquires Razor Strike for their sword skill. This is a multi-use skill, in that it not only serves the Witch Hunter in basic damage, but also sets you up for more power attacks.
Most of the attacks are through skills you have to build up using your righteousness. Skills are based in two categories: Accusations and Executions, most of which will require some amount of righteousness to initiate. The Razor Strike skill you use for your sword weapon will quickly help to build this up, allowing you to initiate a series of deadly attacks on your enemy.
Mastery Abilities
When ranking up you receive your normal Core abilities, but also special abilities known as Mastery and Renown abilities. All Witch Hunter's learn the same abilities up to Rank 10, so it's fairly easy on deciding what to pick at this point. After Rank 10 there are several branches of abilities to choose from that help you to customize your Witch Hunter into a more specialized role depending upon your interests, thus the label Masteries for these special abilities.
You will begin gaining mastery points at rank 11, and will gain a total of 25 Mastery points, 1 point every second rank until rank 20. Then after Rank 20 you are awarded 1 point every other rank to rank 40. View the tables below to understand which Masteries help which CORE abilities by reviewing the Mastery each CORE ability is attached to. Here is a bit more information about each Mastery branch. Each branch has five CORE abilities that are enhanced by Masteries:
"Cogliostro" from the guild "Vendetta" has put together this excellent contribution for the three paths that go into much more detail about which one is best for your play style:
Path of Confession
- Blessed Bullets Of Purity
- Burn Armor
- Razor Strike
- Seeker's Blade
- Trial By Pain
Primary Focus: Single-Target Damage
Secondary Focus: Area of Effect Damage
What Is It & What Does It Do?
Confession is for the Witch Hunter who has no desire to setup, get into position, or wait for DoTs and Debuffs to take effect, the heretic has to die, and they have to die now. This mastery path heavily favors enhancing your most basic of attacks such as Razor Strike and Seeker's Blade and making them as deadly as possible while also adding the ability to add some very respectable AE damage to the class.
The key features to this path are the tactic Sweeping Razor which allows your Razor Strike to hit 2 additional targets within 15 yards, another high damage attack ability in Repel Blasphemy which has the added bonus of a 100% to parry buff for 5 seconds, and lastly Dragon Gun, the only AE execution available to the Witch Hunter. This path is all about front-loaded Burst DPS, running into a Confession mastered Witch Hunter with all their cooldown abilities refreshed is a terror for their target(s). A Witch Hunter mastered in Confession is ideal for a solo-player. With the enhancement to Blessed Bullets Of Purity and the tactic Sanctified Bullets your able to heal yourself better then any other Witch Hunter mastery.
You also have the added bonuses to defense in Repel Blasphemy (100% Parry buff for 5 secs) and Shroud Of Magnus (100% chance to disrupt spells for 7 seconds) The weakness of this path comes from two aspects, the first being that all your attacks will be mitigated by your opponents armor score. This can be especially troublesome when fighting the more heavily armored enemies as they can mitigate a large portion of the damage your dealing. The second aspect is the lack of any DoTs or Debuffs from within this path. Direct-Damage is your game and that's the only game you're playing.
Is this Mastery Path for me? If you're the type of player who believes the best defense is overwhelming offense, you've found your mastery path. If AE damage is something you desire, then this is your only viable option. Unlike Judgment you're not limited to positional attacks as your attacks are equally as effective from any position, though they will suffer damage mitigation from armor.
As mentioned earlier this mastery path lends itself well to the solo player. With a focus on Single-Target and AE damage, this is a path for those looking to damage and damage only. While not as effective as the Judgment mastery in the execution of Ranged DPS/Healers or the Inquisition mastery in its execution of melee combatants with Confession you'll find a nice balance in the dispatching of both. Your ability to dispense Burst DPS from any position is your greatest asset, and if you are a solo player I can recommend no other mastery path more highly.
Path of Inquisition
- Burn, Heretic!
- Blessed Bullets Of Confession Buff
- Confess!
- Fervor
- Sudden Accusation
Primary Focus: Damage Over Time
Secondary Focus: Debuffs
What Is It & What Does It Do?
Unlike the other two Masteries, the Inquisition path focus isn't as outwardly obvious about what it does. You can take a quick glance at the Judgment and Confession lines and know exactly what they're about, this is not so with Inquisition. While it may look like this path has a focus on killing Healers due to its healing effectiveness debuffs this class has a clear focus on killing melee combatants, and it does it's job well.
With enhancements to Burn Heretic, Fervor, Sudden Accusation, Confess, And Blessed Bullets Of Confession this tree is all about taking down your target slowly but surely. Unlike the other two mastery paths, your bread and butter attack is a DoT based attack, Fervor. To compliment the effectiveness of your DoT you are given the ability Punish The False, a high damage attack that reduces healing effectiveness by 50%, and the tactic Prolonged Confession, which increases the durations of your DoT attacks. With these two combined you can make sure those pesky healers don't negate your damage as you whittle away your target.
The execution gained from this path Exit Wounds is both a great fight opener and finisher. It does enough direct damage to take down your target after you've bled them down or it can be used for its debuffing effects allowing you to survive through the fight long enough for your DoTs to burn down your target.
This path has high-sustained DPS as your target continues to take damage even if they've managed to escape out of range or even if you should die in combat. Another strong offensive addition is that of Seal of Destruction. This ability will cause of your abilities for the next 7 seconds of ignore all armor. This skill is the closest thing to an "I Win" button in the Witch Hunter's arsenal. Combine this ability with either Razor Strike or a quick DoT stack and follow up with Exit Wounds to take down most any opponent, even tanks.
The weakness of this mastery is the lack of a high damage burst DPS skill. This is the only mastery where defense is of importance, as you must survive long enough for your DoTs and Debuffs to take effect, which can be a daunting task as Witch Hunters have low HP and low armor. With dedication and practice this can be the deadliest of the three mastery paths as the sustained DPS of your combined DoTs can put immense pressure on your opponent.
Is this mastery path for me? If you enjoy methodically wounding your opponent and knowing in your mind they're dead before they even know it, this is the mastery path for you. This path is not the easiest path to play but can be extremely deadly in the hands of a skilled player. As far as solo and group game-play go this path excels at both on equal levels. The same can be said for its ability in both PvE and PvP combat.
If you enjoy big damage numbers and watching chunks of your opponents HP melt away in a single blow this is not the mastery for you. I'd recommend this mastery for anyone who enjoys stacking DoTs, DoT-based combat, Debuffs and a more defensively oriented Witch Hunter. While you are just as offensively stacked as any of the other two Masteries you go about it a different way, consistently burning away at your target until death. If your the type of player who enjoys a challenge and a more tactical approach to how you deal damage, this path may be exactly what you're looking for.
Path of Judgment
- Absolution
- Blessed Bullets Of Cleansing Buff
- Fanatical Zeal
- Silence The Heretic
- Torment
Primary Focus: Single-Target Positional Damage
Secondary Focus: Damage Over Time
What Is It & What Does It Do?
Judgment is the quintessential backstabbing Rogue of lore. This entire mastery path favors positional based attacks, including a positional execution in Burn Away Lies, a positional stun in Pistol Whip, and a tactic that compliments using positional based attacks. With the enhancements of the skills Torment, Silence The Heretic, Blessed Bullets Of Cleansing, & Fanatical Zeal it can be easily surmised this mastery path is focused on killing Ranged DPS and Healers. With the combined silence of Silence The Heretic and the 3 second stun in Pistol Whip you are given ample time to cut into any Ranged DPS or Healer you may run into.
Also to add, because of Torment's armor ignoring capabilities and your stun a Witch Hunter fully mastered in Judgment is not completely inept at damaging heavily armored enemies due to your attacks not being mitigated by their high armor scores The weakness of this path comes from the fact you must always be in position for it to excel. Another issue one might find lacking is that of Van Horstmann's Speculum, compared to the other two relics this one falls flat. For the next 7 seconds all combatants who melee attack you will take damage. Your basic bread and butter damage shield.
This is all well and good, except your class is designed to avoid taking damage whenever possible. Until this skill is made useful, I'd suggest skipping over it. When fighting 1v1 you may find yourself having a harder time against melee combatants then the other two Masteries as you are constantly strafing to get into position to use your abilities. Being in position is key to this mastery as the execution and stun must be used from behind your target and your main attack Torment and Silence The Heretic are far more effective when used from behind your opponent as well. Because of this, this path excels in group environments and is the least effective for solo game-play. Only with your opponents distracted by others is this mastery path able to excel to its maximum potential.
Is this Mastery Path for me? If you're the type who doesn't like to be constantly strafing around their targets to stay in position, this is not the mastery path for you. If you ever played a Rogue in EverQuest you'll feel right at home with this path. This path offers the highest sustained Burst DPS with the adverse effect of forcing you to always be in position. If you're willing to put the work in to always stay behind your target you'll find this path very rewarding as your very effective against all targets.
While you must rely on your allies to distract your opponents so that you can get positioning, you can burn down a target faster then any other mastery available to the Witch Hunter. I'd recommend this path for anyone who's commonly in groups, if you tend to be a solo player in both PvP and PvE aspects I'd recommend one of the other two mastery paths.
Morale, Tactics, Renown
Witch Hunter Morale
There are CORE Morale abilities and Witch Hunter specific Morale abilities. Morale is almost more like a resource, that builds during combat, especially when you actively fight. The more you fight the more Morale you get. There are 4 ranks of morale, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, each getting increasingly powerful. You can use a Morale ability once a minute, and once you use it, your morale will be drained, so use them wisely.
Your first Morale ability is obtained at Rank 8, Severe Nerve, a powerful single attack, but is tricky to pull off frequently as you have to use it from the side or rear of your enemy. There are four ranks of Morale for a Witch Hunter, with one ability you can equip at any given time for each of the Ranks. As mentioned above, each Rank becomes increasingly more powerful. Core Morale abilities come up every four Ranks, starting with Severe Nerve.
Once you get your Masteries built up to the highest they will go, there is an additional Morale ability available. The trick is knowing which one you will be able to use, as unfortunately you are stuck with only being able to use one Mastery Morale ability because you can only master one complete line of Mastery abilities. You simply don't have enough to get two or all three lines to the top to get two or three Mastery Morale abilities.
Witch Hunter Tactics
Tactics are much like Morale abilities, but in a much more passive way. With Morale abilities you have to fight and be in a fight to gain something out of them, with Tactics all you have to do is simply equip a Tactic and the effects of that Tactic are instant, whether you're in combat or not. There are three kinds of Tactics: Army, Race, and Career Tactics. Simply read further for information on what Tactics a Witch Hunter uses, equip them and you're good to go!
There are four regular Tactic slots, with a total of six Tactic slots available to you at Rank 40. You start out with only one slot though at Rank 1, much like Morale abilities. The first Tactic comes in at Rank 11, just a few Ranks after your first Morale ability. Remember that Tactics are always with you as long as they are equipped, so always equip one! Since level 11 provides you with just one, it's an easy choice at this point.
Witch Hunter Renown
Renown is meant for Morale and Tactic abilities. The difference here is that they are more of a RvR focused experience system, as opposed to a basic PvE experience system. PvE experience and Renown experience, if you can think of experience in two separate forms this will help you in understanding Renown.
As you gain Renown you gain points to spend, which may be used to increase statistics, crit rates, hit rates especially for the Witch Hunter, and Renown Tactics as well. An excellent Renown Tactic is 'Blade Master', a basic skill early on, but one that gives you a nice increase to your weapon skill.
Advancing A Witch Hunter
Rank 1-10
Ranks 1-10 are all about your Core abilities, as you will only receive one relatively useless Morale ability at rank 8. You don't start out with any Accusations, but will soon obtain these at Rank 2.
Rank 1
- Snap Shot is your only long-range skill, great for pulling enemies to you.
- Razor Strike is your melee attack using a sword.
- Combat sequence: Snap Shot > Razor Strike
- Acquire skills: Absolution (ID)
- Combat sequence: Snap Shot > Razor Strike > Absolution
- Acquire skills: Fervor (DoT)
- Combat sequence: Snap Shot > Fervor > Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution
- Acquired skills: Blessed Bullets of Cleansing
- Combat sequence: BBoC > Snap Shot > Fervor > Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution
- PvP Note: BBoC is great for snaring your target
- Acquired skills: Torment
- Combat sequence: BBoC > Snap Shot > Fervor > Torment OR Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution
- PvP Note: Use Torment more often!
- Acquired skills: Burn, Heretic!
- Combat sequence: BBoC > Snap Shot > Fervor > Torment OR Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution OR Burn, Heretic!
- PvP Note: Use Burn, Heretic! more often!
- Acquired skills: Feinted Positioning
- Combat sequence: BBoC > Snap Shot > Fervor > Torment OR Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution OR Burn, Heretic!
- PvP Note: Use Burn, Heretic! more often!
- Combat Note: A component of positional attacks, which is limited in use at this point.
- Acquired skills: Sever Nerve (Morale), Get Thee Behind Me!
- Combat sequence: BBoC > Snap Shot > Fervor > Torment OR Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution OR Burn, Heretic!
- PvE Note: Use Get Thee Behind Me! when multiple creatures are attacking you at once. This will detaunt them.
- Acquired skills: Blessed Bullets of Purity
- Combat sequence: BBoC OR BBoP > Snap Shot > Fervor > Torment OR Razor Strike > Fervor > Absolution OR Burn, Heretic!
- PvE Note: Use Blessed Bullets of Purity for the healing component
- PvP Note: Use Blessed Bullets of Cleansing when in PvP and have existing healers present
- Acquired skills: Incognito, Burn Armor
- Combat sequence: Incognito > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Burn, Heretic!
- Combat Note: Sometimes you won't have enough points to use Incognito, so skip a few steps and start with Fervor.
Rank 11-20
Rank 11
- Acquired skills: NONE
- Combat sequence: Incognito > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution
- Combat Note: Sometimes you won't have enough points to use Incognito, so skip a few steps and start with Fervor.
- Acquired skills: Trial by Pain
- Combat sequence: Incognito > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- PvE Note: Use Trial by Pain only when an opponent is fleeing from you, where close melee will often result in it canceling upon you being hit by the enemy.
- Acquired skills: NONE
- Combat sequence: Incognito > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- PvE Note: Use Trial by Pain only when an opponent is fleeing from you, where close melee will often result in it canceling upon you being hit by the enemy.
- Acquired skills: Confess!
- Combat sequence: Incognito > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- Combat Note: Confess is a tricky skill to know when to use. If you can recognize a parry or block, this is the best time to use the skill. Continue the normal sequence after use.
- Acquired skills: NONE
- Combat sequence: Incognito > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- Combat Note: Just about the same as level 14, only I ended up using Confess! a bit more often after getting used to it.
- Acquired skills: Silence the Heretic
- Combat sequence: Incognito OR StH > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- PvP Note: StH isn't too useful in PvE, but it's great for PvP if you can sneak up on an opponent! (Which is what the Witch Hunter is all about)
- Acquired skills: NONE
- Combat sequence: Incognito OR StH > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- PvP Note: Much like Confess! at level 14, StH took some time to get used to, and I frankly didn't use it very often even at this level. But when I did use it, it was very useful in PvP at the right moments.
- Acquired skills: Sigil of Sigmar
- Combat sequence: Incognito OR StH > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- PvP Note: SoS is absolutely essentially in getting you out of binds, such as snares. Especially if you become separated from your group and are ganged up on, this can free you in a hurry to find them to get help.
- Acquired skills: NONE
- Combat sequence: Incognito OR StH > Burn Armor > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- Combat note: At this part I started to discover a repeated pattern in my normal PvE combat sequence, which is mostly what you see above in the previous levels, but in PvP I began relying a lot more on my fellow group members for some of these actions. So upon reaching 19 or 20 take a serious look at what you're using and if it fits with future PvP gameplay.
- Acquired skills: Sudden Accusation
- Combat sequence: Incognito OR StH > Burn Armor OR Sudden Accusation > Torment > Fervor, Razor Strike > Absolution OR Trial by Pain
- Combat note: Use Burn Armor if it looks like you'll be doing a lot of PvE for a decent amount of time on one opponent, or use Sudden Accusation in more PvP situations with range casters or those that may flee after they become weak.
Mastery training also begins in this tier, but you won't be using this too much until after Rank 20. It also is a much more customizable system that tailors more to your specific play style, which we'll outline a few of in the next tiers.
At least that's how I see Masteries developing, as I'm only into the low 20's for my Witch Hunter, so more updates to this guide will be forthcoming soon!
Rank 21-30
Unknown at this time, contact us with information or feel free to fill it in here!
Rank 31-40
Unknown at this time, contact us with information or feel free to fill it in here!
ACTIONS Table
| Rank | Ability | Path | Cost | Range | Type | Delay | Duration | Cooldown | Description |
| 1 | Snap Shot | Core | 20 | 10-65 | Ranged Attack | 1s | - | - | Execution - Requires Accusations. Requires Pistol. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. A cleansing shot of flame which deals damage to your target over 10 seconds. |
| 1 | Razor Strike | Confession | 40 | Melee | Builder Melee Attack | - | - | - | Builds 1 Accusation. A quick precision strike that deals x damage. |
| 2 | Absolution | Judgement | 35 | Melee | Pistol Finisher | - | - | - | Execution - Requires Accusations. Requires Pistol. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. |
| 3 | Fervor | Inquisition | 35 | Melee | Builder Melee-Cripple | - | 9s | - | Builds 1 Accusation. A precise incision that deals x damage, and an additional x damage over 9 seconds. This effect can be stacked up to 3 times. |
| 4 | Blessed Bullets of Cleansing | Judgement | 55 | Self | Blessed Buff-Cripple | - | 30m | - | You load your pistol with bullets designed to fragment on impact, causing your Executions to deal an additional x Spirit damage to the target. The victim will lose 20 Action Points, and you will gain 20 Action Points. |
| 5 | Torment | Judgement | 35 | Melee | Builder Melee | - | - | - | Builds 1 Accusation. A destructive thrust that deals x damage to your enemy. If you are behind your target, this attack will ignore armor. |
| 6 | Burn, Heretic! | Inquisition | 35 | Melee | Melee Finisher-Cripple | - | 10s | - | Execution - Requires Accusations. Requires Pistol. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. |
| 7 | Feinted Positioning | Core | 25 | 65 | Self Buff | - | 10s | 60s | Your positional attacks can be used without the positional requirement for 10 seconds. Does not affect morale abilities. |
| 8 | Get Thee Behind Me! | Core | 20 | Melee | Melee Attack | - | 15s | 30s | Detaunts all enemies within x feet, making them hate you less and causing them to deal 50% less damage to you for x seconds. |
| 9 | Blessed Bullets of Purity | Confession | 55 | Self | Blessed Buff | - | 30m | - | You load your pistol with bullets of purest silver, causing your Executions to deal an additional x Spirit damage. The victim's Initiative will be reduced by x for 10 seconds, and your Initiative will be increased by x. |
| 10 | Incognito | Core | 4 APs | Self | Buff | 2s | 30s | 60s | You begin quietly hunting for heretics, making it less likely that hostile monsters will notice you but slowly draining away your action points. This effect will end if you use any abilities or run out of action points. |
| 10 | Burn Armor | Confession | Free | Melee | Opener Attack-Cripple | - | 15s | - | Requires: Incognito, Builds: 2 Accusations. A surprise attack that burns your target, causing them to take x damage each time they use a melee attack for the next x seconds. Your abilities will cost 50% fewer Action Points for x seconds. |
| 12 | Trial by Pain | Confession | 15s | Melee | Pistol Finisher | - | 3s | - | Execution - Requires Accusations. Requires Pistol. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. A barrage of withering fire that damages your target for up to 3 seconds, as long as you maintain your concentration. |
| 14 | Confess! | Inquisition | 40 | Melee | Melee Reactional-Cripple | - | 5s | 10s | Requires Parry. Builds 1 Accusation. A savage counterattack that deals x damage and disarms your target for 5 seconds, making them unable to use their weapons. |
| 16 | Silence the Heretic | Judgement | 25 | Melee | Builder Attack-Cripple | - | 3s | 20s | Builds 1 Accusation. A punishing blow that silences your target, making them unable to use magic for x seconds. If you are behind your target, then you will also deal x damage. |
| 18 | Sigil of Sigmar | Core | 45 | Self | Dispel | - | - | 60s | An artifact of the Temple of Sigmar which removes all roots and snares from you. For the next 10 seconds, roots and snares will have no effect on you. |
| 20 | Sudden Accusation | Inquisition | Free | Melee | Opener Attack | - | 15s | - | Requires Incognito. Builds 2 Accusations. You leap from the shadows and accuse your target of heresy. Your target will take x damage every time they move for 15 seconds. Your abilities will cost 50% fewer Action Points for 10 seconds. |
| 22 | Sever Blessing | Core | 25 | Melee | Melee Attack | - | - | 5s | Target must have a Blessing. You severe bone Blessing from your enemy and do x damage. |
| 25 | Seeker's Blade | Confession | 45 | Melee | Builder - Melee Curse | - | 10s | 10s | Builds 1 Accusation. A melee attack that can not be defended against, and deals x damage. If the target is Crippled, then they will also become Cursed for 15 seconds, reducing their chances to block, parry, dodge, and disrupt attacks by 5%. |
| 30 | Fanatical Zeal | Judgement | Free | Melee | Opener Attack | - | 15s | - | Requires Incognito. Builds 2 Accusations. You leap from the shadows, fueled with righteous anger. Your target will take x damage every time they cast a spell for 15 seconds. Your abilities will cost 50% fewer Action Points for 10 seconds. |
| 35 | Blessed Bullets of Confession | Inquisition | 55 | Self | Blessed Buff-Curse | - | 30m | - | You load your pistol with bullets doused in holy water, causing your Executions to deal an additional x Spirit damage. Any healing abilities that the victim uses over the next 5 seconds will become 50% less effective. |
| 40 | Declare Anathema | Core | Free | Self | Escape | - | 2s | 30s | Knocks your target down as you leap backwards, jumping away from them. |
| Rank | Ability | Path | Cost | Range | Type | Delay | Duration | Cooldown | Description |
| x5 | Shroud of Magnus | Confession | 25 | Self | Relic Buff | - | 10s | 60s | Rumored to be the death shroud of Magnus the Pious, this holy relic increases your chance to Disrupt enemy magic by 100% for x seconds. You may only use a single relic at a time. |
| x9 | Repel Blasphemy | Confession | 40 | Melee | Builder Melee Attack | - | 5s | 30s | Builds 1 Accusation. A melee attack that deals x damage. Your chance to parry attacks is increased by 100% for the next 5 seconds. |
| x13 | Dragon Gun | Confession | 35 | Melee | Pistol Finisher | - | - | 10s | Execution - Requires Accusations. Requires Pistol. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. A pistol shot that deals damage to your enemies near them. |
| x5 | Seal of Destruction | Inquisition | 25 | Self | Relic Buff | - | 10s | 60s | A holy relic created under the tutelage of Elven mages, the Seal allows your attacks to ignore the victim's armor for the next 7 seconds. |
| x9 | Punish the False | Inquisition | 30 | Melee | Builder Melee-Curse | - | 10s | 10s | Builds 1 Accusation. A precision blow that deals x damage, and causes a lingering wound which reduces the effectiveness of all healing by 50% for 10 seconds. |
| x13 | Exit Wound | Inquisition | 35 | Melee | Finisher-Cripple | - | 5s | 10s | Execution - Requires Accusations. Requires Pistol. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. You fire a hollow point shell, dealing damage immediately and reducing the target's Toughness, Strength, and Weapon Skill for 10 seconds. |
| x5 | Van Horstmann's Speculum | Judgement | 25 | Self | Relic Buff | - | 10s | 60s | A tiny enchanted mirror hung around your neck, this holy relic deals x damage to anyone that strikes you with a melee attack over the next 7 seconds. |
| x9 | Pistol Whip | Judgement | 35 | Melee | Builder Melee Attack | - | 3s | 20s | Requires Pistol. Builds 1 Accusation. Target must be facing away from you. A quick backhand blow with the butt of your pistol that deals x damage and stuns your target for 3 seconds. |
| x13 | Burn Away Lies | Judgement | 35 | Melee | Finisher Attack-Curse | - | 9s | 10s | Execution - Requires Accusations. Target must be facing away from you. Costs 20% fewer action points per Accusation. A pistol shot that fires bullets filled with fire oil, first dealing damage over 9 seconds and then igniting into a raging inferno which deals additional damage. |
MORALE Table
| Rank | Ability | MRank | Range | Duration | Description |
| 8 | Sever Nerve | 1 | Melee | 15s | A directed strike that inflicts x damage to your target. |
| 12 | Force of Will | 2 | Self | 30s | You stare down your opponent, draining x of their Action Points into yourself, and reducing their Strength by x for 30 seconds. |
| 16 | Confusing Movements | 1 | Self | 7s | Concentrating on your perceived movements, you will be able to Dodge and Parry all attacks against you for 7 seconds. |
| 20 | Relentless Assault | 2 | Group | 15s | A prolonged fervor that grants 10 Action Points a second to everyone in your group for 10 seconds. |
| 24 | Broad Swings | 3 | Self | 10s | All of your attacks for the next 10 seconds will strike up to 2 additional enemies near your target. |
| 28 | Exoneration | 1 | Self | 9s | You regain x health and x Action Points over 9 seconds. |
| 32 | Reversal of Fortune | 2 | PBAE | 5s | Deals x damage to all enemies within 30 feet and disarms them, making them unable to use their weapons for 5 seconds. |
| 36 | Witchfinder's Protection | 3 | Group | 10s | Everyone in your group has a 50% increased chance to parry attacks for 10 seconds. |
| 40 | Frenzied Slaughter | 4 | Self | 7s | All of your abilities will cost 25% fewer action points, cool down 50% faster, and deal 20% more damage for 7 seconds. |
| Rank | Path | Ability | MRank | Range | Duration | Description |
| x15 | Excommunicate | Inquisition | 4 | 100ft | 10s | For the next 15 seconds, heals will have no effects on your target. The target and all other enemies within 30 feet of them will suffer x damage over 15 seconds. |
| x15 | Expurgation | Judgement | 4 | PBAE | 10s | Deals x damage over 10 seconds to all enemies within 30 feet and snares them, reducing their run speed by 60%. |
TACTICS Table
| Rank | Ability | Description |
| 11 | Emperor's Ward | Any time you are attacked, there is a 25% chance that you will become protected by a magical barrier for up to 10 seconds, which will absorb up to x damage. This effect will not trigger more than once every 3 seconds. |
| 13 | Jagged Edge | Any time you critically hit an enemy they will begin to bleed, suffering additional x damage over 9 seconds. |
| 15 | Inquisitor's Fury | Each time you critically hit an enemy, your autoattack speed will be increased by 50% for 10 seconds. |
| 17 | Unwavering Faith | Increases your Spirit resistance by x. |
| 19 | Brute Force | Increases your Strength by x. |
| 21 | Flowing Finishers | All of your Executions gain a 50% chance to restore 2 Accusations. |
| 23 | Sigmar's Favor | Any time that you are healed, there is a 25% chance that you will regain an additional x hit points as well. |
| 25 | Flanking | All of your attacks deal 15% more damage when you strike an enemy from the sides or rear. |
| 27 | Righteous Steel | Increases your chance to parry attacks by 10% |
| 29 | Riposte | Each time you parry an enemy's attack, you will strike them back for x damage which they can not prevent. |
| 31 | Penetrating Barbs | Increases the durations of Fanatical Zeal, Burn Armor, and Sudden Accusation by an additional 5 seconds. |
| 33 | Last Rites | Any time you land a killing blow on an enemy, you will regain x health over 9 seconds. |
| 35 | Vindication | Each time you disrupt an enemy's spell, you will deal 35% more damage for 10 seconds. |
| 37 | Empreror's Commendation | Burn Armor, Fanatical Zeal, and Sudden Accusation will also grant you x points of Morale. |
| 39 | Blood, Faith, and Fire | Any time you land a killing blow on your enemy, all of your groupmates within 30 feet will regain x Action Points. |
| Rank | Ability | Description |
| Confession x3 | Seeker's Triumph | Seeker's Blade will now ignore 50% of the target's armor, and its cooldown time is reduced by 5 seconds. |
| Confession x7 | Sanctified Bullets | Blessed Bullets of Purity will now heal you for 50% of the damage that they cause. |
| Confession x11 | Sweeping Razor | Razor Strike will not also hit up to 2 additional enemies within 15 feet of your target. |
| Inquisition x3 | Full Confession | Confess! no longer costs action points, and it will nearly always critically hit. |
| Inquisition x7 | Prolonged Confession | Increases the duration of Fervor, Blessed Bullets Of Confession, and Burn, Heretic! by an additional 3 seconds. |
| Inquisition x11 | Encourage Confession | Blessed Bullets Of Confession will also deal x damage to the victim each time that they use a direct healing ability. |
| Judgement x3 | Fanatical Cleansing | Blessed Bullets Of Cleansing will also cause the victim to lose an additional 50 Action Points over 5 seconds. You will not gain any additional action points from this extra loss. |
| Judgement x7 | Atonement | Increases Absolution's chance to critically hit by 25%. |
| Judgement x11 | Vitriolic Judgement | Any time you strike an enemy in the back, there is a 25% chance that they will lose x points of Morale. |
A Witch Hunter's Destiny
Ultimately the Witch Hunter is about fast and furious offensive combat, dealing massive amounts of damage early on in order to subdue your opponent for a quick finishing kill. They are a tricky class to play early on but can be quite useful in RvR if you know them well enough. Just be careful on the RvR battlefield or in multiple enemy situations where your armor will be your primary weakness.
Witch Hunter Official Lore
"These poor, simple folk - too fearful or too dull-witted to see the vulgarity and evil in their own midst. They wail and complain about my...uncompromising methods, but who among you can say that hanging half a village is too high a price to pay for the assurance that corruption has been exposed and destroyed this day?"
- Ernst Traugott, Templar 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.
Don't forget to visit the Witch Hunter Overview article for basic information on the Witch Hunter!