Swashbucklers can get a crab witch doctor for their crew in Valencia, who does not seem well liked by many pirates. Has anyone figured out a combination of talents and epics for him that works well? Is there a specific situation that he seems most useful for? Right now he is last on my list, and usually doing crew tasks. Perhaps I trained him wrong and haven't figured out his purpose. Maybe he works better if I'm with a witch doctor pirate? Ideas, anyone? I don't expect him to be like Old Scratch, but at least useful for some situation.

Like with Nurse Quinn, Crab Witchdoctor is useless. His summon is pretty awful compared to Scratch's and his accuracy is so abysmal he couldn't hit a brick will even if he tried. He's best to use for tasks and/or as a sacrifice to your enemies. Or as a troll companion in practice pvp. That's fun

Calamity Finch on Mar 23, 2017 wrote:

Swashbucklers can get a crab witch doctor for their crew in Valencia, who does not seem well liked by many pirates. Has anyone figured out a combination of talents and epics for him that works well? Is there a specific situation that he seems most useful for? Right now he is last on my list, and usually doing crew tasks. Perhaps I trained him wrong and haven't figured out his purpose. Maybe he works better if I'm with a witch doctor pirate? Ideas, anyone? I don't expect him to be like Old Scratch, but at least useful for some situation.

Ironically, there are only 3 companions that I absolutely refuse to use - Crab Hermit, Weasel Gambler and Crazy Monquistador Crossbowman.
I have used them in combat and they were so lacking in even basic battle skills, I put them permanently "on task".

anecorbie on Mar 27, 2017 wrote:

Ironically, there are only 3 companions that I absolutely refuse to use - Crab Hermit, Weasel Gambler and Crazy Monquistador Crossbowman.
I have used them in combat and they were so lacking in even basic battle skills, I put them permanently "on task".

I trained my crab hermit in 3 witch hunter,1 mojo rising 1 agile 4 will, 3 accurate, 1 dodgy, 3 rough, 1 officer
I have trouble getting the witch hunter to trigger though. Any tips on that?
As for the Weasel, I trained mine to be a sniper, 1 Quick adjust 3 burst fire, 4 agility, 4 rough, 2 will, 2 accurate, 1 pet wrangler. He can work that way for fights where it is dangerous to start shooting randomly, because of too much return fire.
The crazy monkey, I like as a goofy character, as you might know from a long ago role play, when they were allowed, "Night in Padova". Mine I gave 3 return fire and1 over watch,1 will, 4 rough,2 accurate,4 agility,1 pet wrangler,1 plunder. I was seeing what extra talent would come with return fire. He uses the over watch more. I thought to make him narrowly specialized, like the weasel.
I like to use the first mate setting and let the other crew be random. So even the weak crew, I like to make them the best they can be. Also a fight where there are 3 Ratbeards and 4 Hawkules gets a bit tedious. I even switch first mate when others are using the same one. Can be nice to have a spread of classes and abilities. I find it funny the times newly met pirates tell me I should be using Hawkules, or whatever their favorite crew are, when they know nothing of my style of play. Often it is when I have my top team up that works for me. I thought part of the trouble with Crab hermit and Quinn is that I can't boost them well. I have a couple clothing items that let me boost will, that do help with them. Maybe if I was teaming with a witch doctor, who was boosting his team a lot, mine would also do much better.

I got mixed up about the old role plays. It was Roleplay- A masked Ball in Padova and Roleplay- a Night in Prison that I mentioned about the Crazy Monquistan. Some of these weak crew members can be fun to imagine as comic relief on the crew. I liked the idea of the monkey doing occasional strange and unexplained things, like wearing a boot as a hat. Somehow I never really did that with the crab hermit, other that imagining him as generally grumpy.

Calamity Finch on Apr 1, 2017 wrote:

Over on the thread about Nurse Quinn, Stormy Jen picked her up for her witch doctor, from the crown shop. With the witch doctor boosts, Quinn did a bit better; she is still testing it. Has any other witch doctor picked up the crab hermit and tried him out? I'm assuming that he is available that way, apologies if I'm mistaken.
Maybe swashbucklers can find a witch doctor friend and see what the crab can do with lots of spooky and will boosts on him.
How do I get witch hunter to trigger on him?

He is available in the Crown Shop, Idk if any WDs have bought him. He's more expensive than the Inoshishi Necromancer.
He needs to be near ( very near, his range is horrible ) an enemy casting a WD spell for Witch Hunter to trigger.

Calamity Finch on Apr 4, 2017 wrote:

Strange that the crab hermit would cost more crowns than a MS witch. I was trying to put the crab right next to the opposing witch doctors, not always easy to do, but even if I do that, they seem to target other crew instead. I have more luck getting musketeers to trigger, moving Rooster ahead first to get targeted and respond with true grit. Even with one of the monkey musketeers that shoots the ones that walk away, I position him ahead and to the side of where the rest of the team is. Witch hunter, very rarely can I get it to trigger. Is there a particular enemy witch epic that I should look for that would tend to make the enemy target him and get an exchange going? I so agree that the hermit's range is too short. He ought to at least be able to fire back when he is in the middle of a hit the whole team attack.

If the WD enemy is using a targeted spell ( like Soul Reaver ) on the Crab and is in the Crab's range then it should activate. If it's an AoE and they're targeting someone else - it may not activate. I'm not sure about the Crab, I'm basing this on what happens when my WD pirate attacks with spells.