Soul Harvest

Soul Harvest is a Witch Doctor Tier 3 skill unlocked at level 6. This skill has changed a great deal during development, and is now a buff that boosts the Witch Doctor's spell damage when there are numerous enemies in the vicinity.

Background

Diablo III Skill [e]

Soul Harvest Active, 5 ranks
Used by:	Witch Doctor
Skill Description:
Gain X% increased spell damage per enemy within X feet for X seconds.
Skill Details:
Type:	buff
Quantity:	Channeling
Effect:	radius
School:	Magical
Mana cost:	Unknown
Cast time:	Unknown
Duration:	None
Cooldown:	None
Synergies:	Unknown
Requires:	N/A
Prereq of:	N/A

The Witch Doctor gains strength from the close proximity of his enemies.

Skill Design

This skill was initially a nova-type of attack, one that dealt damage and fed mana back to the Witch Doctor for everything it killed. That changed entirely during development, and the skill now buffs the Witch Doctor's spell damage.

Skill Rank Table

Rank 1: Gain X% increased spell damage per enemy within X feet for X seconds.

Synergies

None known.

Skill Rune Effects

None known.

Development

Soul Harvest was first seen at WWI 2008 and BlizzCon 2008, where it was in the Spirit Skill Tree at Tier II. Originally, Soul Harvest was a low-damage, leeching, nova-like attack spell. Flux described using it:[1]

I seldom needed it, and found it to be less than effective as a killing weapon. It wasn’t that damaging, and wasn’t that cheap to cast either; so I had to make sure it was going to kill at least a few monsters to be cost effective.

The old version of this skill created a nova-like ring of blue smoke around the Witch Doctor. All targets within the ring were damaged, and if the damage was enough to kill them, their souls (white/blue ghosts) swirled into the air, then down into the Witch Doctor, where they added to his mana. The skill was just the same at BlizzCon 2009.

Soul Harvest was changed entirely for Blizzcon 2010, becoming a buffing sort of war cry. Unfortunately, there are no gameplay reports detailing any usage of this skill.

Previous Versions

See the Witch Doctor skill archive for more details on previous versions of Soul Harvest and other Witch Doctor skills.

Media

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

References

The Barbarian - Barbarian skills - Barbarian traits - Fury - Barbarian skill archive [e]
Tier One/Clvl 2	Tier Two/Clvl 3	Tier Three/Clvl 6	Tier Four/Clvl 10	Tier Five/Clvl 14	Tier Six/Clvl 20	Tier Seven/Clvl 26
• Bash • Rampage • Cleave	• Ground Stomp • Ignore Pain • War Cry • Weapon Throw	• Frenzy • Revenge • Hammer of the Ancients	• Leap Attack • Sprint • Threatening Shout	• Ancient Spear • Battle Rage • Rend • Seismic Slam	• Furious Charge • Taunt • Whirlwind	• Call of the Ancients • Earthquake • Wrath of the Berserker

The Monk - Monk skills - Auras - Combos - Monk traits - Spirit - Monk skill archive [e]
Tier One/Clvl 2	Tier Two/Clvl 3	Tier Three/Clvl 6	Tier Four/Clvl 10	Tier Five/Clvl 14	Tier Six/Clvl 20	Tier Seven/Clvl 26
• Hands of Lightning • Lashing Tail Kick • Long Reach	• Circle of Wrath • Lethal Decoy • Serenity	• Blinding Flash • Crippling Wave • Holy Aura	• Dashing Strike • Dominate Aura • Way of the Hundred Fists	• Exploding Palm • Inner Sanctuary	• Breath of Heaven • Retribution Aura • Sweeping Wind	• Resist Aura • Seven-Sided Strike • Wave of Light