Hero
Witch Doctor
    18 + 2.3
13 + 1.4
22 + 3.3
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Zharvakko, the Witch Doctor, is a ranged intelligence hero who can take on the role of a support or a ganker. A master of voodoo curses and healing arts, he possesses several positioning-dependent crowd control/damage spells as well as a heal that scales well into the late game. Maledict is one of the most powerful damaging spells in the game, and is fittingly enough quite hard to hit properly – but when applied at the right time, Malediction can curse someone to suffer a slow, humiliating death as they limp back towards safety. Paralyzing Cask is a somewhat-unreliable stun that requires multiple enemies to bounce between to be effective, but can provide a barrage of stuns to the enemy team if they are grouped together. Death Ward has the potential to be one of the most damaging ultimates in the game as long as he is able to channel the spell uninterrupted.
Contents
Bio[]
Zharvakko, the Witch Doctor▶️ "Malpractice makes perfect."
Lore:
A wiry silhouette hitches forward—uneven of feature and limb, bizarre of gait, relentlessly criss-crossing the battlefield in search of that vital weak point where his talents can do most good, and most harm. Whether broken or mismade it is not clear, but still, none can doubt the power carried in his twisted physique. A long staff thumps the earth as the Witch Doctor advances, deploying a terrifying arsenal of fetishes, hexes and spells. It is a body of magical knowledge learned over several lifetimes in the island highlands of Prefectura, now wielded with precise accuracy against his enemies. Witch Doctor is your best friend, or your worst enemy--healing allies and laying waste to all who oppose him.
Voice:
Abilities[]
Launches a cask of paralyzing powder that ricochets between enemy units, stunning and damaging those it hits.
Cast Animation: 0.35+0.37
Cast Range: 700
Bounce Distance: 575
Number of Bounces: 2/4/6/8 (
4/6/8/10)
4/6/8/10)Hero Damage: 50/60/70/80
Creep Damage: 75/100/125/150
Hero Stun Duration: 1
Creep Stun Duration: 5
20/
80/
Cannot directly target spell immune enemies. Can bounce to spell immune enemies. Does not stun or attempt to damage spell immune enemies.
Blocked fully when primary or secondary target. Blocked upon impact. Does not stop bouncing when blocked.Modifiers
modifier_witchdoctor_cask_thinker: Undispellable. Persists death.
modifier_stunned: Dispellable with strong dispels.The Witch Doctor recycles the bones of fallen friends and foes, using the powder as part of his arsenal of charms and alchemy.
Notes:
- The cask travels at a speed of 1000.
- The projectile bounces in 0.3-second intervals.
- Cannot bounce on invisible, invulnerable or hidden units, but can bounce on units in the Fog of War.
- The initial target is not counted towards the bounces, resulting in a total of 3/5/7/9 ( 5/7/9/11) instances.
- All bounces together can deal up to 150/300/490/720 ( 250/420/630/880) damage to heroes (before reductions).
- Can deal up to 225/500/875/1350 ( 375/700/1125/1650) damage to non-hero units (before reductions).
- Can bounce on the same unit multiple times, but only when another target was hit between the bounces.
- This means it may hit the same target a maximum of 2/3/4/5 ( 3/4/5/6) times.
- Can deal up to 100/180/280/400 ( 150/240/350/480) damage to a single hero (before reductions).
- Can deal up to 150/300/500/750 ( 225/400/625/900) damage to a single non-hero unit (before reductions).
- The damage treats illusions, clones and creep-heroes as heroes as well.
- All bounces together can deal up to 150/300/490/720 (
- The stun treats clones, creep-heroes and Roshan has heroes, but treats illusions as creeps.
- The cask first applies the debuff, then the damage.
- If Paralyzing Cask is cast multiple times, the previous cast's bounce counter gets reset.
- All instances coming from the same hero use the same bounce counter, instead of each instance having an independent counter.
Cast Animation: 0+0
Heal Radius: 500
Base Heal per Second: 16/24/32/40
Mana Cost per Second: 8/12/16/20
Aura Linger Duration: 0.5
Max Health as Heal per Second: 1.5% 0 35/Modifiers
modifier_voodoo_restoration_aura: Dispellable with death only. modifier_voodoo_restoration_heal: Undispellable. Persists death.Zharvakko's hocus pocus is not limited only hexxing his opponents and is quite adept at curing ailments.
Notes:
- Voodoo Restoration does not interrupt Witch Doctor's channeling abilities upon toggling On / Off.
- Disabling Witch Doctor does not toggle Off Voodoo Restoration. However, he cannot turn it off himself while disabled either.
- Heals for 5.28/7.92/10.56/13.2 health ( +0.495% of max health) and costs 2.64/3.96/5.28/6.6 mana in 0.33-second intervals, starting 0.33 seconds after toggled on.
- The heal is provided by an aura. The buff lingers for 0.5 seconds.
- The mana cost is also bound to the aura.
- This means when toggled Off, the ability still heals and drains mana for 0.5 seconds before stopping.
- The ability toggles Off if Witch Doctor does not have enough mana to support another heal instance.
- However, the lingering buff continues healing, despite the lack of mana, providing up to 2 possible heal instances for free.
- It does not affect invulnerable or hidden units.
Curses all enemy Heroes in a small area, causing them to take a set amount of damage each second, as well as bursts of damage every 4 seconds based on how much health they have lost since the curse began.
Cast Animation: 0.35+0
Cast Range: 575
Radius: 180 ( 280)
280)Damage per Second: 7/14/21/28
Lost Health as Burst Damage: 16%/24%/32%/40% ( 31%/39%/47%/55%)
31%/39%/47%/55%)Burst Damage Interval: 4
Curse Duration: 12
30/ 105/ Cannot place the debuff on spell immune units.If already placed, the debuff stops applying the damage over time if the unit turns spell immune. The burst damage pierces spell immunity.
Modifiers
modifier_maledict: Dispellable with death only. modifier_maledict_dot: Dispellable with death only.Certain voodoo magics can make an enemy regret engaging the Witch Doctor.
Notes:
- Checks the affected units' current health 4 times, once as the curse is applied, and then every 4 seconds for the duration.
- The burst damage is entirely based on the difference between the hero's current health and its health as the curse got applied.
- This means the bigger the difference of current health and health upon receiving the debuff gets, the more damage the bursts do.
- Vice versa, the lower the difference gets, the lower is the damage of the bursts, so getting healed during it reduces its damage.
- It also means it does not matter how affected units lose health, as it directly compares its health values, not damage values.
- This is how much of the lost health is re-dealt as damage by Maledict, depending on when the health was lost during the curse on each level (before reductions):
- 0–3.9 Seconds: 48%/72%/97%/121% ( 94%/118%/142%/166%)
- 3.9–7.9 Seconds: 32%/48%/64%/80% ( 62%/78%/94%/111%)
- 7.9–11.9 Seconds: 16%/24%/32%/40% ( 31%/39%/47%/55%)
- 0–3.9 Seconds: 48%/72%/97%/121% (
- Deals its own damage in 1-second intervals, starting 1 second after the debuff is applied, resulting in 12 damage instances.
- Together with the bursts, it deals a total of 15 damage instances.
- The bursts happen 0.1 seconds before each 4th damage tick, so the bursts happen after the 3rd, 7th, and 11th damage tick.
- With no other sources of health loss or heals, Maledict can deal up to 109.9/249.6/423.1/634.8 ( 138.9/312.8/526.1/783.5) damage to a unit (before reductions).
- The debuff can be placed on illusions and creep-heroes.
- Does not affect invulnerable and hidden units. Affects invisible units.
Voodoo Switcheroo
Ability
No Target
No Target
Affects
Self / Enemy Heroes
Self / Enemy Heroes
Turns Witch Doctor into a Death Ward for 2 seconds. Death Ward has -30 Attack Speed. He is hidden during this time.
Cast Animation: 0.1+0.73
Death Ward Attack Speed Reduction: 30
Duration: 2
70 250
Modifiers
modifier_witch_doctor_voodoo_switcheroo: Dispellable with any dispel.Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.
- Turns Witch Doctor invulnerable, hidden, and unable to act for the duration.
- The Death Ward is summoned at Witch Doctor's location. It is based on Death Ward's current level.
- If Death Ward is not learned, Voodoo Switcheroo does nothing on cast.
- Same notes as for Death Ward fully apply.
- The Aghanim's Scepter upgrade affects Voodoo Switcheroo as well.
- Voodoo Switcheroo cannot be canceled earlier, but it is dispellable.
- However, since Witch Doctor is invulnerable and hidden for the duration, most dispels cannot target him.
- Only continuous dispels such as Demonic Purge and Nullify can remove the spell if the debuff was applied before Voodoo Switcheroo was casted.
- In these cases, the spell ends immediately, wasting its mana and cooldown.
- The Death Ward has its attack speed reduced by 30, attacking slower than a regular Death Ward cast.
- With its 0.22 second attack rate and the 30 attack speed slow, it can attack up to 7 times.
- Can deal up to 270.45/429.55/588.64 ( 461.36/620.45/779.55) damage per second to a single hero.
- Can deal up to 595/945/1295 ( 1015/1365/1715) damage to a single hero (before reductions).
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Death Ward
Affects
Enemy Heroes
Enemy Heroes
Summons a deadly ward to attack enemy heroes within it's attack range. Lasts a maximum of 8 seconds.
Cast Animation: 0.35+0
Cast Range: 600
Max Channel Time: 8
Bounce Distance: 650 80 200
Death Ward attacks have True Strike and bounce between nearby enemies.
Grants a new ability: Voodoo Switcheroo.
When disjointed by the primary attack target, it does not bounce. When disjointed by a secondary target, the disjointing unit is not registered as hit, meaning the attack can immediately bounce on it again if within range.Modifiers
modifier_witch_doctor_death_ward: Dispellable with death only. modifier_phased: Dispellable with death only. modifier_stunned: Dispellable with strong dispels.Witch Doctor performs a ritualistic dance, one that haunts the dreams of those who live to recount it.
Notes:
- The Death Ward automatically attacks enemies within its attack range, using ◉ Standard auto-attack rules.
- It is possible to manually give the ward an attack target with A or Right Click an enemy in range.
- With Unified Orders with Ctrl, Ctrl+ Right Click an enemy in range commands the ward to attack the target.
- It is also possible to stop the ward from attacking with S (only works when the auto-attack option is ◎ Never).
- It is possible to manually give the ward an attack target with A or
- Can only attack heroes, including clones and illusions, excluding creep-heroes.
- The damage source is the ward itself, meaning certain on-damage effects react on the ward rather than on Witch Doctor (e.g. Blade Mail).
- With its 0.22 second attack rate, it can attack up to 37 times.
- Can deal up to 386.36/613.64/840.91 ( 659.09/886.36/1113.64) damage per second to a single hero.
- Can deal up to 3145/4995/6845 ( 5365/7215/9065) damage to a single hero (before reductions).
- Death Ward's attack damage is not reduced by Damage Block.
- Provides 1200/800 range ground vision for 5 seconds at its location after the channeling stops.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, attacks from Death Ward have True Strike and bounce towards the closest enemy heroes within 650 range.
- Does not perform instant attacks. The bouncing projectiles are entirely spell-based.
- This means they do not trigger any attack modifier or on-hit effects, ignore evasion, and count as spell damage.
- However, damage block still affects them.
- The bouncing attacks deal damage based on the damage amount calculated for the leading attack upon attack begin.
- Does not bounce on invisible units or units in the Fog of War. One projectile can never hit the same unit twice.
- With Aghanim's Scepter, the Death Ward gains True Strike, so that it can no longer miss.
Talents[]
| Hero Talents | ||
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| +60 Death Ward Damage | 25 | +1.5% Max Health Voodoo Restoration |
| +15% Maledict Burst Damage | 20 | +100 Death Ward Attack Range |
| +100 Maledict AoE | 15 | +2 Cask Bounces |
| +200 Health | 10 | +60 Damage |
Notes:
- The health talent increases maximum health capacity, and keeps the current health percentage.
- This attack damage talent is added as raw attack damage.
- Does not benefit illusions and is not affected by most percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
Recent Changes[]
Main Article: Witch Doctor/Changelogs
Version
Description
- Increased turn rate from 0.5 to 0.6.
- Increased Paralyzing Cask hero damage from 50 on each level to 50/60/70/80.
- Talents:
- Level 10 left talent changed: +5 armor ➜ +200 health.
- Level 15 left talent: +80 Maledict radius increased to +100.
- Level 25 right talent: 1.2% Voodoo Restoration max health as heal per second increased to 1.5%.
- Added Aghanim's Shard upgrade for Witch Doctor:
- Grants Witch Doctor the Voodoo Switcheroo ability.
- Voodoo Switcheroo
- Summons a Death Ward at Witch Doctor's location and turns Witch Doctor hidden and invulnerable for a short duration. The Death Ward has slowed attack speed.
- Cast time: 0.1
- Death Ward attack speed slow: 30
- Duration: 2
- Mana cost: 250
- Cooldown: 70
- Notes: Disjoints projectiles upon cast.
Recommended 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.
- Town Portal Scroll is essential for cross-map transportation. TP scrolls allow Witch Doctor to return to lane quicker after a death, meaning he misses out on less experience in the lane. They can also be used to quickly jump into a fight or defend a tower in a different lane.
Late game:
- Aghanim's Scepter allows Death Ward to deal more damage, as well as the ability to bounce between each nearby enemy. This allows for far greater damage output, though it is most effective when you are paired with large initiation stuns such as Tidehunter, Faceless Void, or Enigma, which will prevent enemy heroes from breaking Witch Doctor's channeling. In addition, it also provides True Strike for Death Ward. allowing Witch Doctor to counter enemies who rely on evasion such as Windranger and Phantom Assassin.
Situational items:
- Spirit Vessel lets Witch Doctor keep allies healthy in combination with Voodoo Restoration, and the percentage-based damage is devastating with Maledict.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Gameplay[]
| Roles: | Support Nuker Disabler |
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| Complexity: | ★☆☆ |
| Playstyle: | A bizarre figure shambles across the land, searching for any opportunity to apply the morbid arts of Prefectura Island. Filling a skull with noxious powder, the Witch Doctor throws this Paralyzing Cask to stun enemies in succession. To his allies, Zharvakko is a fountain of health, curing ailments with Voodoo Restoration. To his foes, he is the source of curses. The Witch Doctor Maledicts his adversaries, forcing them to relive the agony they will inevitably receive from his Death Ward. |
Audio[]
History[]
Equipment[]
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Trivia[]
- Witch Doctor is sometimes called "The Walking Fountain", referring to his support abilities Voodoo Restoration and Death Ward.
- Witch Doctor's last hit response ▶️ "Pills here!" is a reference to Left 4 Dead, another title from Valve, where the players can notify the other survivors that they found pills. The survivors would say "Pills here" upon finding some.[1]
- Witch Doctor's original name in DotA was Vol'jin, a reference to the character from the Warcraft universe. Vol'Jin is the warchief of the playable race, the Trolls.[2]
- Witch Doctor's fun name in DotA was Moose, taken from the player DL.Moose who played the Witch Doctor.
- His dying line ▶️ "Bad medicine.." is likely a reference to Bon Jovi's popular old classic Bad Medicine.
- The line ▶️ "Ask not for whom the spell tolls." is a reference to John Donne's poem "Meditation XVII".[3]
- Witch Doctor's name, Zharvakko, may be a reference to the popular novel and film Doctor Zhivago.[4]
Gallery[]
Model
Wraith-Night artwork
Concept art
Concept art
Concept art
Concept art
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
