Witch Doctor is a support hero of the fifth or fourth position. Most often, he is taken in the fifth position, since he does not need many artifacts, and on the line, in most cases, he provides comfortable farm for his carry. At the same time, Witch Doctor can independently take solo heroes without escape in the early stages.
Witch Doctor Dota 2 Character Review
Let’s talk in more detail about its advantages and disadvantages:
Advantages
- Brings a lot of impact to the lane. Thanks to the combination of his own skills, good starting characteristics and long attack range, VD can simply strangle opponents.
- A very strong nuke in the person of Maledict. The enemy under the effect of this spell can quickly go to the tavern if he makes a mistake. Maledict deals simply unfair damage not only in combination with damage from allies, but also with Death Ward alone.
- There is a good heal – Voodoo Restoration, which, despite not having the strongest HP regen, is effective due to the lack of a cooldown.
Flaws
- The hero suffers from a small increase in strength and agility. If there are no problems with intelligence, then the lack of HP and armor is a significant disadvantage.
- Death Ward can be interrupted. If Witch Doctor gets stunned or silenced after barely casting his ult, his contribution to the fight drops rapidly. That’s why one of the best counter picks for Death Ward is Silencer.
- Damage from Maledict can be reduced by healing. That is, any hero with vampirism or Morphling with its pumping is almost not afraid of VD.
Witch Doctor Gameplay Tactics
Initial stage of the game
At the beginning of the game, take more consumables for the lane. By the way, mana regen items are not so useful for VD himself, since he does not need to spam skills. From the third level, you can start making frags, pumping Paralyzing Cask to 1 and Maledict to 2. At the first level of pumping, Maledict does too little damage, but at the second it is already enough for kills. Voodoo Restoration is usually ignored, since it eats up too much mana for a small HP regen.
When standing on the easy lane, do not forget to pull creeps, harass opponents and place wards. If your carry can stand alone for some time, no one is stopping him from moving to other lines to make frags or stack the forest.
Before the 20th minute, try to buy Arcana, Sticks, Urn of Shadows and Glimmer Cape. If the lineup allows you to make frequent frags, it is worth rushing the Urn, and only then take out other items.
id-game
The midgame for VD is characterized by constant participation in fights and helping allies. Paralyzing Cask is very unpleasant for enemies standing nearby, as is Maledict. A successful Death Ward can cause huge damage to heroes with a small amount of armor, and Voodoo Restoration can regenerate allies and creeps.
If a vulnerable enemy shows up on a lane near creeps, and his team is far away, then VD can kill him alone. It is enough for the helmets to bounce off the creeps into the hero a couple of times, and then Death Ward and Maledict will do their job.
In 5v5 skirmishes, due to the short cast range of skills and the attack range of Death Ward, Witch Doctor can have a hard time holding his position. Therefore, in a fight and when using the ult, it is better to use Glimmer on yourself, not forgetting to turn on a second skill if necessary, which does not knock down the ward.
Typical artifacts in the mid-game are Spirit Vessel and Black King Bar. You can also buy Medallion of Courage to them, so that Death Ward deals even more damage. If the enemy does not have effective stuns against Witch Doctor, then you can ignore the purchase of BKB and rush, for example, Aghanim’s Scepter.
Another important item is Aghanim’s Shard. It does not replace Death Ward, but it also allows you to deal damage and dodge enemy attacks and skills.
Late game
Witch Doctor spends the late game close to the team, since it is almost impossible to get solo frags. If VD gets Aghanim, he becomes dangerous for the entire enemy team. A well-timed Death Ward in a good position can turn the fight around.
In addition, Maledict remains extremely dangerous even in the late stages of games. Keep in mind that it does not deal damage, but it also does not fall off heroes under the effect of BKB and does not dispel. That is, even after Black King Bar ends, enemies will continue to take damage from it.
What talents are better to take?
- Level 10 – +75 Maledict radius will allow you to hit more enemies. The mana cost reduction from Voodoo Restoration is almost useless.
- Level 15 – Both talents are good, but the extra bounces on Cask and therefore more stuns are more useful in most cases.
- Level 20 – Death Ward’s attack range is useless unless you’re playing with Aghanim’s Scepter or you’re facing heroes with mass stuns and BKB silences. So take Maledict’s damage.
- Level 25 – again a very situational choice. If you need a good bonus to healing, choose the right talent. If you need to do more damage in a fight, then take the left one.
What subjects are preferable to take?
For the early game, everything is extremely simple: consumables for the lane, Magic Stick, wards and then purchase Arcane Boots and Urn of Shadows.
Without forgetting to buy wards, dusts and smokes, we save up for Glimmer to hide ourselves and allies. To protect ourselves from control and magic damage, we buy Black King Bar. If absolutely necessary, the urn is upgraded to Spirit Vessel, and then Shard is bought. If cutting the HP regen of enemies is not so important, then we upgrade the urn later.
For positioning, you can buy a Lens by disassembling Arcana. If you have too much money, you don’t even need to disassemble the boot for the sake of Energy Booster.
To ensure that the impact in skirmishes does not sag over time, Aghanim’s Scepter is taken.
What heroes does VD go with?
Witch Doctor is almost universal in any pick, but you shouldn’t take him against, for example, Morphling, Silencer and Tidehunter. If we talk about what allies Witch Doctor is more effective with, then, of course, Faceless Void immediately comes to mind (the main thing is not to put Death Ward in the dome) and Legion Commander. Other good characters are Magnus, Puck, Enigma, Invoker, Lina and other characters with an abundance of AoE control and nukes.
Conclusion
Witch Doctor is slowly making a comeback in the meta, despite his low popularity at The International. He is a frequent guest in pubs now, as he doesn’t have many counter picks. In the right hands, Witch Doctor can be a killing tool and a very effective support hero.