Diablo III- Skills Article CXVI- Witch Doctor, Voodoo Skills- Fetish Army

Fetish Army (Cooldown 120 Seconds): Summon an army (roughly six) of Fetishes that run around attacking your enemies.  These Fetishes are mostly dagger-wielding (which attack for 20% of your weapon damage as Physical damage) but some will be Fetish Casters (who belch cones of flame that deal 15% weapon damage as Fire damage) and some will be Hunter Fetishes (who fire blowguns for 20% of your weapon damage as Poison damage).

The Fetish Army is the non-summon summon skill of the Witch Doctor.  While the Fetishes can be killed, they also expire after a time, making them more of an uncontrolled damage over time effect and less of an actual summon.  As in Diablo II, Fetishes are fast-moving and small targets, which not only makes it hard for your enemies to pin them down and hit them, but makes it much easier for the Fetishes to crowd around an enemy and carve it up en masse.  The cooldown is a bit of a pain, but the effect is fun to watch and quite useful.  It’s also handy that the Fetishes are summoned right next to you, so you can use them as a sort of impromptu wall as well.

Fetish Ambush (Cooldown 120 Seconds): Summon an army (roughly six) of Fetishes that run around attacking your enemies.  These Fetishes are mostly dagger-wielding (which attack for 20% of your weapon damage as Physical damage) but some will be Fetish Casters (who belch cones of flame that deal 15% weapon damage as Fire damage) and some will be Hunter Fetishes (who fire blowguns for 20% of your weapon damage as Poison damage).  Each Fetish deals 250% of your weapon damage as Physical damage to enemies in melee range when it is summoned.

The Fetish Ambush turns the Fetish Army into a nasty way of dealing out heavy damage to enemies that close with you while you’ve got the skill ready.  This enhances the ability the little ankle-carvers have to draw attention away from you, which can only be a good thing.  A nice useful starting rune.

Devoted Following (Cooldown 68 Seconds): Summon an army (roughly six) of Fetishes that run around attacking your enemies.  These Fetishes are mostly dagger-wielding (which attack for 20% of your weapon damage as Physical damage) but some will be Fetish Casters (who belch cones of flame that deal 15% weapon damage as Fire damage) and some will be Hunter Fetishes (who fire blowguns for 20% of your weapon damage as Poison damage).

This rune drastically cuts back the cooldown for Fetish Army, and when used in tandem with a particular Witch Doctor passive skill, can let you summon a Fetish Army as often as every 50 seconds- not a bad deal at all.  It does nothing about the Army’s overall effectiveness- but having it more reliably and more frequently, particularly almost twice as frequently, is a massive boon.

Legion of Daggers (Cooldown 120 Seconds): Summon an army (roughly six) of Fetishes that run around attacking your enemies.  These Fetishes are mostly dagger-wielding (which attack for 20% of your weapon damage as Physical damage) but some will be Fetish Casters (who belch cones of flame that deal 15% weapon damage as Fire damage) and some will be Hunter Fetishes (who fire blowguns for 20% of your weapon damage as Poison damage).  Three additional dagger Fetishes will also be summoned.

If you find that you need melee tanking badly in your Fetish Army, you can pick this rune and increase the number of deadly carvers available to you by half.  This is a good way to ensure you’re protected when the Army is active, and the added damage is nothing to sneeze at either.

Tiki Torchers (Cooldown 120 Seconds): Summon an army (roughly six) of Fetishes that run around attacking your enemies.  These Fetishes are mostly dagger-wielding (which attack for 20% of your weapon damage as Physical damage) but some will be Fetish Casters (who belch cones of flame that deal 15% weapon damage as Fire damage) and some will be Hunter Fetishes (who fire blowguns for 20% of your weapon damage as Poison damage).  Two additional Fetish Casters will also be summoned.

If you like fire a lot (and who doesn’t around Sanctuary?) then Tiki Torchers may be a good rune for you to pick up.  While the overall damage increase is not as big as Legion of Daggers, this can be a bit more useful when you are dealing with clustered enemies- say from an ally who forces them to group up with Cyclone Strike or Wrenching Smash.  Not a bad thing to have available on the right team.

Head Hunters(Cooldown 120 Seconds): Summon an army (roughly six) of Fetishes that run around attacking your enemies.  These Fetishes are mostly dagger-wielding (which attack for 20% of your weapon damage as Physical damage) but some will be Fetish Casters (who belch cones of flame that deal 15% weapon damage as Fire damage) and some will be Hunter Fetishes (who fire blowguns for 20% of your weapon damage as Poison damage).  Two additional Hunter Fetishes will also be summoned.

If you’re dealing with cramped corridors and other obstructions, though, Head Hunters will make sure you have plenty of ranged Fetishes to strike at a distance- with a not as resisted damage type, too.  Not as strong on area damage, this form of Fetish Army doesn’t need as much repositioning to attack, and so you’re more assured of a constant damage stream, not to mention that there’s less of a chance of the Fetishes getting in one another’s way.