Witch Doctor has taken the spot of the strongest support in this patch: a 53% win rate at the highest pick rate among the heroes the community is watching. For a hero with a low skill floor, this is a rare combination. Below is what stands behind these numbers and how to make use of the hero.
What a 53% Win Rate at a Record Pick Rate Means
Pick rate is the share of games in which a hero is picked. Win rate is the share of wins in those games. Usually a popular hero slides toward 50%: thousands of people pick him, including those playing him for the first time. If a hero keeps a plus of three percent at mass pick levels, he wins not thanks to a handful of masters, but thanks to the very design of his ability set.
Witch Doctor is exactly such a hero. He isn't required to carry the game through farming: he is valuable from the first minutes and stays useful when the team runs out of gold.
How He Helps the Team
His ability set covers three tasks at once:
- Paralyzing Cask — a cask that stuns the target and bounces to nearby enemies. In the lane, it is the basis for kills together with the carry.
- Voodoo Restoration — a toggleable heal around the hero. It drains mana while active, so it needs to be switched on and off, not kept running constantly.
- Maledict — an area curse: the damage accumulated over its duration is returned to the enemies in a single burst. The more health they trade in a fight, the stronger the hit.
The ultimate, Death Ward, is a summoned guardian that fires as long as the hero channels it (a channel means the ability works while the hero stands still and is not interrupted). In a teamfight, it is an additional source of damage that needs neither items nor kills.
How to Play Witch Doctor
In the lane, the cask and Maledict work as a combo: the stun holds the target in place, and the curse accumulates damage over the course of the trade. First the cask, then Maledict on the spot where the enemy will be after the stun.
In a fight, the order is different. It is better to place Maledict before the trade begins, rather than as a follow-up: the burst is calculated from lost health, and the earlier it is on the opponents, the more damage it will collect. The cask is worth saving for a target the team has already focused on.
With Death Ward, the main thing is not the mechanics but the positioning. The ultimate should be placed behind your allies and at a point the enemies are forced to walk into, not in the center, where it will be the first to be destroyed or silenced along with the hero. Also remember that any stun or silence interrupts the channel, so it is worth using the ultimate when the enemy has already spent their interrupting abilities.
Where the Hero's Weak Spot Is
Witch Doctor has little health and no way to escape quickly. Enemies who can jump into a fight usually get to him first. At the same time, the ultimate depends entirely on whether the hero survives for the duration of the channel, so he needs protection from the carry and the initiator. If neither of them manages to cover his back, the hero's entire potential goes unused.
Hence the main practical note: a high win rate in public games is explained not only by the hero's strength, but also by the fact that in ordinary matches teams rarely know how to punish his weak spot. Against a well-organized opponent who goes for the hero right away, the value of Death Ward drops, and with it the appeal of the pick.
Therefore, when choosing a support, it is useful to look not only at the patch numbers, but also at how the opponent can punish the chosen hero. Statistics show the average game, but in a specific match, everything is decided by whether the ultimate manages to fire off before the first interruption.
