Witch Doctor/Guide

Hero

 

Strategy

 

Equipment

 

Gear

 

Talents

 

Relics

 

Responses

 

Sounds

 

Animations

 

Lore

 

Old Abilities

 

Changelogs

 

Known Bugs

 

Gameplay

Playstyle
Witch Doctor is a strong support that scales well throughout the game. He can easily disrupt opponents with Paralyzing Cask during team fights if they happened to be grouped up. Voodoo Restoration is an useful ability that can heal allies and help with pushing. Maledict can potentially do large amounts of damage if enemies aren't careful. If well positioned, he can change the flow of battle with his Death Ward. However, he is relatively fragile, and Death Ward is a channeled ability, making him vulnerable to disables.
Pros	Cons
Ultimate provides high damage with a short cooldown. Maledict can be very damaging if used correctly. Paralyzing Cask can stun enemies for long time if they're grouped together.	Low durability. Death Ward is a channeled ability. Maledict is hard to use efficiently.

Ability Builds

Build 1
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Build 2
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Build 3
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Talents

Hero Talents
+45 Death Ward Damage	25	+2% Max Health Voodoo Restoration Heal
+25% Maledict Burst Damage	20	+75 Death Ward Attack Range
+300 Health	15	+2 Cask Bounces
+75 Maledict AoE	10	-25% Voodoo Restoration Mana Per Second

Notes:

• The health talent increases the max health capacity and keeps the current health percentage.

Tips & Tactics

General

• Witch Doctor is great with Blink Dagger for quick positioning as it allows you to blink in between trees and on top of cliffs to channel Death Ward safely. Also, it makes up for the short casting range of Maledict.
• It can be a good idea to build a Shadow Blade and use it exactly after casting Death Ward. Activating Shadow Blade does not interrupt Death Ward's channeling and makes it harder for the enemy team to interrupt your channeling. However, be cautious about enemies buying Dust of Appearance, Gem of True Sight, or AoE stuns such as Warlock's Chaotic Offering.
  • Alternatively you can save gold by simply buying the Shadow Amulet alone. During the 1.5 second fade time you are able to issue any orders without hindering the invisibility from occurring. This is easily achieved with the double tap to cast on self option. When you are ready to place the ward, double tap the hotkey for your amulet, as you are about to fade place the Death Ward. Soon after, you turn invisible while still channeling the spell. It is best to practice this technique with Maledict before attempting in a proper fight.
• Consider getting an Orchid Malevolence as it combined with Maledict can bring any damage done to the affected enemy to massive proportions.
• The Witch Doctor's early game damage and utility from Paralyzing Cask and Maledict are extremely strong in the laning phase. Consider skipping points in Voodoo Restoration until you reach level 10 to maximize lane pressure and damage output. Having Maledict at maximum level as soon as possible allows you to pull off shorter duration Death Wards to secure important kills.

Abilities

Paralyzing Cask

• Paralyzing Cask can be used to continuously stun two heroes with 200 distance to each other.
• Paralyzing Cask is most effective when there are just two enemies close together. Under ideal conditions you can stun two enemies for up to 4 seconds each with this ability.
• Paralyzing Cask stuns jungle creeps for five seconds, allowing the Witch Doctor to jungle effectively from around level 7 onwards. This is especially useful if you are falling behind or need to speed up a key item such as your Black King Bar or Aghanim's Scepter.
• Paralyzing Cask stuns units in the fog of war, meaning if you use a high enough level Cask on foes near jungle camps, there is a good chance it will bounce back to your enemies.

Voodoo Restoration

• At level 1, Voodoo Restoration is one of the most efficient AoE heals in the game based on mana-spent-per-health-gained. It is often a good idea to invest a single point into this ability during early laning and then max it later after your other abilities once you have the mana regen to support the higher cost.
• If there is a Rubick on the enemy team, keep in mind that you can cast Voodoo Restoration even while channeling, which prevents him from stealing Death Ward.
• If you plan to pick up an early level in Voodoo Restoration, it is often more effective to buy additional Clarity Potions instead of a set of Tangos or a Healing Salve.

Maledict

• Casting Maledict on opponents often immediately forces them to retreat for fear of taking crippling damage while under its effects. You can use this to make enemies flee who would otherwise easily kill you or your allies. If they do not flee, then at best they're trading themselves for you.
• Maledict is a very weak and expensive spell at level 1, and its damage only starts to kick in once you get it to at least level 2 or 3. In very early game fights, do not worry about landing a level 1 Maledict unless you're sure you can curse multiple enemies or you have enough burst to follow up.

Death Ward

• Casting Death Ward from a hidden position such as the trees, or uphill in the fog, makes it much harder to disrupt.
• Try to wait on casting Death Ward in teamfights until the enemies have already used some of their stuns, making it less likely that you will be interrupted.
• Death Ward is an extremely effective spell against carries that typically rely on spell immunity to stay relevant in teamfights, such as Luna, Gyrocopter, Lifestealer, Sven, or Dragon Knight.
• Although Death Ward is easily interrupted, it is an effective zoning tool in teamfights that either draw immediate attention from foes with important crowd control spells or forces enemies to retreat from the area which the Death Ward resides in.

Items

Starting items:

• Tango sustains health so Witch Doctor can stay in lane.

• Healing Salve also restores health.

• Clarity sustains mana for Witch Doctor to use abilities.

• Observer Ward provides vision that may prevent enemy ganks or catch enemies when they are off guard.

Early game:

• Magic Stick is a useful health/mana restoring item if the enemies in lane are casting many spells. It can later be built into a Magic Wand.

• Boots of Speed give a speed boost, offering better escape and catch-up. They can later be built into Arcane Boots.

• Urn of Shadows gives early healing and damage for participating in ganks, and can be built into Spirit Vessel.

Mid game:

• Magic Wand is good for burst healing and mana while providing bonus attributes compared to the Magic Stick.

• Arcane Boots provides Witch Doctor with an increased mana pool, as well as the ability to supply himself and nearby allies with mana.

• Glimmer Cape can also be a good item which grants invisibility while casting Death Ward. Good support item which can be cast on allies/self while in danger.

• Medallion of Courage is a cheap item which reduces an enemy target's armor. Since Death Ward deals physical damage, using the Medallion of Courage on a low armor hero greatly increases the damage dealt by your ultimate.

Late game:

• Spirit Vessel lets Witch Doctor keep allies healthy in combination with Voodoo Restoration, and the percentage-based damage is devastating with Maledict.

• Black King Bar provides Witch Doctor with an increase to his low health pool, as well as spell immunity, preventing most enemies from cancelling your ultimate.

Situational items:

• Rod of Atos can be good as a pickup item for Witch Doctor support. It helps root enemy heroes, setting them up for a Death Ward.

• Scythe of Vyse gives Witch Doctor a large increase to his mana pool, as well as additional attributes and the ability to hex an enemy target. The ability to disable an important enemy target is crucial in the late game.

• Linken's Sphere is a useful item for Witch Doctor for the same reason as Black King Bar. While it only prevents one single target stun, its cooldown is much shorter and can be used on priority allies to increase their survivability.

• Refresher Orb will give great health and mana regeneration for Witch Doctor. And will also allow him to use his abilities and items twice in succession.