Dark Willow/Guide

Support

 * Cursed Crown and Bramble Maze should be prioritized first to protect your team and lock down enemies.
 * Shadow Realm can be an excellent tool for zoning out the enemy in lane, but it's also your main defensive tool.

Roamer/Ganker

 * Remember to grab s while roaming, as Dark Willow isn't much of a farmer.
 * More tips needed.

General

 * Dark Willow is usually played in the safe lane.
 * Dark Willow's magical burst damage requires her to get relatively close her target, exposing her to counterattacks.
 * Enemies with short ranged AoE abilities are especially good at counterattacking, and can severely harm Dark Willow if she tries to gank them.
 * Be careful when attempting to gank enemies like, , , , , and.
 * More tips needed.


 * Use Bramble Maze to block off narrow points, such as stairs or the Roshan Pit.
 * Bramble Maze has a very long cooldown in the early game. 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, and can be maxed 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.
 * supplements Dark Willow's low natural health.
 * 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:
 * is needed on all heroes.
 * helps Dark Willow keep up with enemies during ganks.
 * can save Dark Willow in an emergency.

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, a fully channeled Shadow Realm may allow Dark Willow to bypass the 3 second cooldown and blink to safety.
 * gives a core Dark Willow high damage and kill potential with her own nukes. It also provides a healthy combination of defensive stats through laning phase and midgame.

Late game:
 * provides a large damage boost and a strong undispellable single-target lockdown to complement her natural AoE lockdown.
 * protects Dark Willow from counterattacks when she is ganking with Bedlam.
 * increases Dark Willow's burst damage, and reduces some of her high mana costs. It is also very cost-effective for a support to purchase.
 * 's passive triggers very often with Dark Willow picks her level 25 attack speed bonus talent, and its active dissuades her targets from counterattacking during gank.

Situational items
 * can be considered to keep up with enemies while using Bedlam.
 * facilitates runes control, offsetting the high mana cost of Dark Willow's abilities.
 * helps Dark Willow stay next to enemies during Bedlam, or push a fleeing enemy with Cursed Crown into their team.
 * allows Dark Willow to strike enemies continuously with Bedlam without retaliation.
 * makes Dark Willow more durable, and its active adds to her nuke damage.
 * keeps enemies within range of Bedlam.
 * protects Dark Willow from disables, which can quickly kill her in the late game.
 * protects the fragile Dark Willow from high damage nukes and initiations. It also gives Dark Willow 2.5 seconds to cast all of her abilities in a teamfight or disengage safely.
 * in combination with Shadow Realm allow Dark Willow to teleport and split-push safely.

Dark Willow/Руководство