Sunny Wolf on Sep 14, 2014 wrote:

I've been testing out the new witchunter talent to my privateer companions and to my dismay its been mostly disappointing the fact that they have to target them specifically makes it so it never triggers and they get defeated by swashbucklers or buccaneers instead or any other enemy unit. What I think might be a good change for them would make witchhunter trigger off aoe that way if a witch uses a aoe and tries to hurt a large group of allies that Privateer can be useful and reduce that damage (if he or she is in range of course) on top of the fact most are melee range and only a few have more range like emmet who lets be honest isn't exactly the most powerful companion out and the kurgha captain. I think it would be very reasonable change.

What are your opinions on this?

I've avoided giving it to any of my companions who didn't come pre-loaded with it because as far as I could tell it never triggered anyway, so I didn't notice any particular changes to it.

Witchunter is only useful against enemies who use magic powers and staffy weapon attacks against your team. Such enemies are rare, so far in P101. Because of this rarity, witchunter is rarely chosen as an Epic, even though it is the most powerful epic talent per use. Also, Witchdoctor enemies usually are accompanied by Buccaneers, Swashbucklers, or Musketeer minions. Mixed unit types are usually harder to defeat, because you can't just bring 3 companions that are tailored to defeat one type of unit. However, there are 3 notable exceptions in PvE I can recall. The Tengu in MooShu, Satyrs in Aquila, and Fire Cultist ophidians in AQ fight you without melee support. In these fights you can bring in 3 companions who have maxed out their witchunter epic slots. I call such companions my "witchunter team". Since the latest update (Sep 2014), Kzinti Singh, from Marleybone, has become the premier granted witchunter in the game. Now that he can learn Witchunter 2, Kzinti is my privateer's first mate in fights against all Dr's. If he could learn Witchunter 3 people would be complaining on this forum about how overpowered Kzinti is. I gave him Double Tap for his third Epic Talent choice and he starts with Parting Shot. In fact, recently I sent him into battle against Moo Manchu in the final fight of the tower. My Swashbuckler buddy cast Black Fog on most of our team; Kzinti Singh moved up to attack Moo alone; The rest of our team attacked Moo's Melee minions; by the time we defeated Moo's escort, Kzinti had Moo in red health. Emmet is just too good generally for me to relegate him to the witchunter team.
In response to your suggestion, I agree that any power, talent, or staffy attack that magically damages the witchunter unit should automatically trigger Witchunter talent if the attacking enemy unit is in the witchunter's range. After all, that's the whole point to the Epic talent, and we would be tempted to use our witchunters in a few more situations.