Speeed on Witch Doctor: “The hero’s main weakness is the range of his abilities.”
GamerLegion support player Paul “Speeed” Bochicchio discussed the Witch Doctor hero on his YouTube channel.
About Witch Doctor
Witch Doctor is one of the most popular heroes in Dota, and historically, he has a very high win rate. Currently, his win rate stands at 51.4%, which is actually quite low for him. This hero usually hovers around the 52–53% mark, but he has been nerfed quite heavily.
Nevertheless, Witch Doctor has recently started appearing even at the highest levels of Dota 2. In particular, Dukalis, the offlaner from PARIVISION, picks this hero quite often. It seems that Witch Doctor pairs well with some heroes in the current meta—for example, Tiny or Kez, for whom healing is crucial during the laning phase.
On early items
When it comes to items, I personally really like to stack as much mana regeneration as possible if I want to win the lane. That’s why items like Infused Raindrops, Magic Stick, and Clarity are very important. However, the hero also needs Boots of Speed, just like any support, because Maledict Witch Doctor has terrible spell range—only 600, plus a weird cast animation. So Boots of Speed really help. The same goes for Paralyzing Cask—that ability also has a range of only 600. In general, the hero’s main weakness is the range of his abilities. All three of his active skills have a pitiful range of 600 or less.
On the approach to the hero
I really like the following build for this hero: start with a defensive item, then Blink Dagger, followed by Aghanim’s Shard and another defensive item. Sometimes you can go with Glimmer Cape, Solar Crest, Aghanim’s Shard, and Aghanim’s Scepter, or Glimmer Cape, Solar Crest, and Blink Dagger.
I believe that Blink Dagger becomes a very strong item for this hero at some point. Especially if the enemy is playing from a long range or you need to help kill, for example, Sniper. Witch Doctor really shines with Blink Dagger—the item allows you to effectively utilize his very clunky abilities.
So yes, I really like Blink Dagger on this hero. It also has great synergy with Aghnim’s Shard—the hero becomes something like Puck. If you use Aghnim’s Shard about 0.5 seconds after taking damage, you can then use Blink Dagger right out of Voodoo Switcheroo. And that’s actually really powerful. I’ve done this so many times—it’s not some meme trick, but a genuinely practical mechanic.
- Read also: Speeed: “When you lose 10 games in a row… No amount of talking will make you feel better”
Earlier, GamerLegion support Paul “Speeed” Bochicchio discussed the power of Zeus in the mid lane in Patch 7.41c, highlighting the hero’s consistency, his damage, and important changes to his ultimate, as well as laning strategies and the basic principles of playing the hero.
Photo — Paul “Speeed” Bochicchio.
