Dark Willow/Guide

Support

 * Put value points into Cursed Crown and Bramble Maze early to protect your team and lock down enemies.
 * Shadow Realm deals heavy damage to zone out the enemy in lane, as well as helping Dark Willow escape.

Ganker

 * Focus on leveling Shadow Realm, Bramble Maze, and Bedlam to deal magical damage in ganks.
 * More tips needed.

General

 * Dark Willow excels as a support due to her numerous disables and nukes.
 * Dark Willow's magical burst damage requires her to get close to her targets, exposing her to retaliation.
 * Thus, enemies with short ranged AoE abilities can counterattack and harm Dark Willow if she tries to gank them.
 * Examples include, , , , , and.
 * More tips needed.


 * Use Bramble Maze to block off narrow points, such as stairs or the Roshan Pit.
 * Bramble Maze has a long cooldown in the early game, so try to use it sparingly.
 * Use Bramble Maze as an initiation tool, centering the inner circle of brambles around the target.
 * Bramble Maze's formation is always the same, meaning that casting it slightly off-center can put a single bramble directly in the enemy's way, or block off a narrow path.
 * Use Bramble Maze as a protective zone for Dark Willow and her allies. Its long duration means it can be cast pre-emptively before a teamfight.
 * Zone out last-hitters or set up early kills by placing Bramble Maze directly on the enemy hero.
 * More tips needed.


 * Shadow Realm's damage scales well in the early game, so max it out first.
 * Use Shadow Realm to harass enemies in lane.
 * Shadow Realm should not be treated like a disjoint, as abilities that targeted Dark Willow before she uses Shadow Realm will still hit her.
 * Because of this, Shadow Realm needs to be used earlier than a disjointing ability like to avoid being hit at all.
 * Remember that Shadow Realm does not protect from AoE abilities, meaning that heavy area nukes like can kill Dark Willow very quickly.
 * When ganking, use Shadow Realm in conjunction with Bedlam to deal high burst damage, and to avoid being disabled by the target.
 * Use Shadow Realm before channeling to increase Dark Willow's chance of escape because the ability protects her from unit-target disables, such as.
 * However, disables that do not target unit, like, can still ruin the combo.
 * More tips needed.


 * does not dispel Cursed Crown, and can be used to prevent enemies from running during the stun's countdown.
 * Use Cursed Crown in the middle of teamfights, or after placing Bramble Maze to stun multiple enemies.
 * Use Cursed Crowns to protect vulnerable allies.
 * In the late game, heroes with will have plenty of time to activate it before Cursed Crown's stun goes off. Try to save it for heroes without spell immunity.
 * More tips needed.


 * Bedlam is much more effective against a single target, as the damage output is high.
 * Stay on the edges of enemy clusters to have Jex focus fire on the outermost enemy.
 * Stay on top of the enemy for as long as possible to deal maximum damage.
 * Moving in circles around the target will keep Jex firing on the enemy for almost the entirety of the duration. This method is especially deadly against stunned or rooted enemies.
 * Use Bedlam to clear creep waves or go all in on a target.
 * Bedlam combos very efficiently with Shadow Realm, allowing you to remain close to enemies without them being able to retaliate.
 * Use Bedlam with when Shadow Realm on cooldown to deal damage while avoiding in coming damage.
 * More tips needed.


 * Creative use of Terrorize will not only nullify ganks and pushes but actually turn the tables in your favour. During a gank/push, try to aim Terrorize such that some heroes are affected while others remain unaffected; the affected heroes will run away while the remaining ones will become easy prey for your team.
 * If the enemy team is attacking a tower, the separation between the attacking ranged and melee heroes gives a natural opportunity to remove either from the fight.
 * Supports tend to remain at the back of a fight; Terrorize them to put enemy carries at a disadvantage. Similarly, Terrorizing carries will allow you to focus on the helpless supports.
 * Keep in mind that Terrorize does not last forever. Opt for these tactics only if you are sure you can kill the unaffected heroes within time; otherwise it's better to simply terrorize all heroes and escape from the fight.
 * If Dark Willow is behind the enemy team, Terrorize will push them towards her. Set up a Bramble Maze in the enemy's path, and nuke them with your abilities.
 * Be careful not to Terrorize enemies out of the radius of ally AoE abilities like or.
 * Use Terrorize to protect allies and disengage from a losing fight.
 * Use Terrorize to counter-initiate, pushing enemies away from your team if they're caught in powerful AoE disables like, , , or.
 * Use Terrorize to stop enemy channelers like, , or . This works even if they go invisible with.
 * Use Terrorize to waste the duration of powerful enemy abilities like, , , , , and.
 * Since Terrorized enemies cannot spread out, use Cursed Crown's AoE stun to disable multiple targets as Terrorize ends.
 * More tips needed.

Items
Starting items:
 * helps Dark Willow play more aggressively in the early game with supply of mana.
 * supplements Dark Willow's low natural health with regeneration.
 * restores health to keep Dark Willow alive.
 * combines with Tango to heal more, or builds into Magic Wand.
 * restores mana for Dark Willow to use abilities in the early game.
 * provides vision on the enemies so Dark Willow and allies can gank.
 * ferries items to teammates.

Early game:
 * increase movement speed to chase or escape.
 * helps Dark Willow keep up with enemies during ganks, and builds into Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
 * can save Dark Willow in an emergency by restoring health and mana.

Mid game:
 * gives Dark Willow a quick mana and health restoration.
 * help Dark Willow use her magical nukes more often, as she has five active abilities with high mana costs.
 * works well with Bramble Maze and Cursed Crown, setting up long disables. It also synergizes with Shadow Realm, giving Dark Willow 7.5 total seconds of untargetability.
 * helps Dark Willow get close to enemies to land as many Bedlam hits as possible, and allows her to get behind enemies for Terrorize. If trying to escape from enemies, Shadow Realm may help Dark Willow survive the 3 second cooldown and blink to safety.
 * grants Dark Willow a layer of protection with invisibility and magic resistance, so she can stay on top of the enemies when using Bedlam.
 * gives a core Dark Willow high damage and kill potential with her own nukes. It also provides bonuses to defensive armor and attributes.

Late game:
 * provides a large damage boost and a strong undispellable single-target hex to complement her natural AoE disables.
 * protects Dark Willow with dispel and heal when she is ganking with Bedlam.
 * 's Chain Lightning triggers often when Dark Willow picks the attack speed talent, and its active ability dissuades the enemies from counterattacking.

Situational items
 * allow Dark Willow to keep up with enemies while using Bedlam.
 * facilitates runes control, offsetting the high mana cost of Dark Willow's abilities.
 * increases Dark Willow's burst damage, and reduces some of her high mana costs.
 * helps Dark Willow escape, stay next to enemies during Bedlam, or push a fleeing enemy with Cursed Crown into their team.
 * sustains Dark Willow and teammates with heal, and it can also help in ganks by countering enemy healing and dealing some damage.
 * applies root to keep the target within range of Bedlam.
 * protects Dark Willow from single target disables, which can kill her in the late game.
 * protects Dark Willow from high damage nukes and initiations with strong dispel and damge reduction, giving her 2.5 seconds to use all of her abilities to contribute in teamfights or to disengage.
 * , in combination with Shadow Realm, help Dark Willow teleport and split push.

Dark Willow/Руководство