Witch Slayer Guide 1600-1800 PSR non-em

[Stallown]

Table of contents

Version 1.0 : remarks - will upload some pictures in later version

1. Introduction
1.1 Why you are reading this? And what to expect after reading this
1.2 What separates Witch Slayer from other int
1.3 What are the disadvantages picking Witch Slayer

2. Hero responsibilities
2.1 Where does Witch Slayer position in the meta game of 1600-1800
2.2 What to do in order to change the current flow of the game
2.3 Laning responsibilities

3. Skill/Item Builds
3.1 Skill/item builds
3.2 Execution tips

4. when NOT to pick Witch Slayer
4.1 What heroes to watch out for in BD/RD mode
4.2 What to do with heroes that are hard counters against you


1 Introduction

1.1 Why you are reading this? And what to expect after reading this
you are reading this guide because
-you want experienced player information to improve your game, not copy and pasted tooltips.
-youre fed up of relying on other pubs to carry your game
-even more fed up when other pubs cannot carry your game
-conceded pre 20m in game
-cannot stop enemy carry farm because your team mate wouldnt/couldnt gank him
-interested in playing more decent Witch Slayer :witc:
-wanted to continue the Lion madness from dota
-you are constantly fluctuating between 1650+/-

what to expect after reading this guide
-YOU contribute/be part of the game more
-more control of the early game situation
-more insight of early hon meta game
-make carries cry because they just spent 30m farming in a losing game.
-get higher PSR

1.2 What separates Witch Slayer from other int
-free target/target aoe stun (if targeted it is 100% hit or he wont cast at all)
-fastest mana regeneration in game
-most effective mana drain in game
-2 non channeling REAL disables (where enemy cannot cast or attack)
-does not require bottle to be effective
-effective against many top tier heroes

1.3 What are the disadvantages picking Witch Slayer
-no evasive escape mechanism (not like invis/blink/dash etc)
-low hp gain compared to str (since he is int)
-shrunken head totally owns ALL 4 abilities
-low base dmg (since he is int)

2. Hero responsibilities
2.1 Where does Witch Slayer position in the meta game of 1600-1800
-he is a strong CC partner
-has good reliable burst dmg on 1 key target
-good baby sitter and solo laner
-good carrier of astro (mek)
-good initiator with blink

in general he is a good ally and you will not be scolded at for picking him(unlike agi carries) unless your team mate insist on picking him instead of you, so in general in the 16-1800 bracket he is a very reliable pick, since in those games winning and losing are almost determined in the first 30m of the game in which Witch(pun not intended) excels most.

2.2 what to do in order to change the current flow of the game
-call ganks, YOU ARE THE ONE, well you should be the one to call ganks, evaluate who there carries are/highest killing streak, who are most threatening to a lose for your team at the moment, then hunt him down you only really need 1 team mate if it is not 1v1 situation to kill your key target when you have your ult up.
please remember the easiest target may not be the most favourable target.
-get vision either from consumables or hero abilities
-for goodness sake dont KS(last hit hero) with your ult, it wont matter if you have good KD ratio if you lose
-dont stay too long in the lane to farm, (some farming tips coming in the items section) you want to be the one seeing enemy in lane and not the other way round, since you have no evasive escape early.

2.3 laning responsibilities
If you get SOLO MID lane:
-you get higher level advantage (earlier ult duh)
-you can get to top/bot with relative ease
-control rune
-get uninterrupted mana drain if opposing enemy is solo also
-high chance bloodlust enemy solo once you get your ult(if not BLed already)

If you dont get SOLO MID:
-work with your lane mate to deplete thier mana (probably lvl 4+)
-work with your lane mate for a BL gank (lvl 1 or lvl 3+ depending on lane mate)

If you get Top lane Hellbourne:
-you should lane it up while your partner pulls 2xNC

If you get Top lane Legion:
-buy ward so they cannot double pull :P or interrupt them

If you get Bot lane Hellbourne:
-try take advantage of those ancient pulls since your ranged
-help with bottom rune since its a short trip
-1 ward it up bot where it is save from ganking AND have vision on bot rune.

If you get Bot lane Legion:
-can pull 1xNC
-can setup ganks easier via forest

3. Skill/Item Builds
3.1 skill/item builds
I mixed these 2 category together since they complement each other but it does depend on laning and situation of different type of builds/items, here I will list my favourite builds.

If solo mid
Set A:
Skill
Stun 1/3/5/7
Hex 10/12/13/14
Mana 2/4/8/9
ult 6/11/16

Item
initial
-pretenders crown
-minor totem x2
-monkey/wards (depending on who get the other if not get monkey first have it bring u the wards later)
-hp pot/rune (get rune if u think solo mid is weak nuker/get pot if heavy nuker)

sequence
-mana battery
-ghost marcher (gm early is key to getting targets stunned even if they see it coming)
-fort bracelet
-portal key (fix your positioning/escape/assist wtf best item EVER)
-OPEN OPTION

as you maybe aware, I prioritise mana over hex and I do not have bottle in this build, reason being
-Ganking frequently need fast mana regen

-why no bottle
ult requires alot of mana which even bottle sometimes fail to provide, also it requires 600g which will hinder your stats/speed to get ghost marchers which again is your key item for early chase/escape.
Witch slayer only needs health potions which are 100g for 400hp which is 1 full bottle worth of hp, so with 600g u can burn through 6 of them but in the current meta game 6-8 is what is usually consumed the entire game hence why hinder your progression of other core item(ghost marcher/blink) for a bottle which can be replaced with small chunks of 100 gold carried to you via courier.

bottom line, between mana battery and hp pots, hp regen is shouldnt be a problem.

-why no hex
because hex does no damage and lower level heroes generally have weaker damaging spells (even % based) for the hexed duration (hex scales as stun factor which your dps mates get more spells and higher dps later in the game so it is more effective later game than early damage scaling-wise), BUT sometimes you may require to get it at level 7 or 8 due to the situation calls, always remember theres no HARD CODE I WIN SKILL/ITEM BUILD, thats why dota/hon is so fun because of the unexpected combination of events.

if not solo mid
Set B
Skill
Stun 1/3/5/7
Hex 2/9/10/13
Mana 4/8/12/14
ult 6/11/16

Item
-pretenders crown
-minor totem x2
-monkey/wards (depending on who get the other if not get monkey first have it bring u the wards later)
-hp pot/rune (get rune if u think solo mid is weak nuker/get pot if heavy nuker)

sequence
-mana battery
-marcher
-portal key (compensate your lack of movement speed from late gm)
-ghost marcher complete
-fort bracer complete
-OPEN OPTION

-hey you said no hex why now?
ok since you do not have the level advantage and you will be ganking with your lane mate+ solo mid(if he/she comes), you'd be saving your spells(instead of spamming stun) for critical ganking points hence the extra stun for everyone to dps on, plus being not solo mid meaning you wont get marchers as quickly for a chase, hex is great for getting a stun in due to the range and accuracy factor

-blink before ghost marcher
it gets harder to farm if you aint solo, so if you gonna do it, lets make it count and buy the most game changing item in game which is portal key before the other initials

OPEN OPTIONS
while these are not game changing they very effective items for Witch to carry

-astro(mek) due to his mana regen 8/10
-nomes wisdom due to his mana usage 7/10
-kuldra more cc! 7/10 (you waste the mana regen on it)
-cyclone more cc! 5/10 (you waste the mana regen on it)
-staff of master more KS!, no but its good vs those invis heroes later 8/10 (you waste the mana regen on it but theres hp and slightly increased ult)
-tablet of command more positioning! 9/10 (combat escape but waste mana on it)
-void talismen 9/10 (great vs pred or bkbed rapers)
-barbed armor 7/10 (you aint no tank but the effect will get those high dps off your back)

3.2 Execution tips
tbh execution like most things comes with experience, and unlike most things cannot be taught, its the combination of movements/judgements/micromanagement etc.

here are just some of my tips.
-take advantage of ghost marcher speed and no unit collision
-when you have lvl 4 stun, hit once on caster creep then twice on melee before stunning a creep wave, should net u quick 2/3 creeps a shot
-mana drain can act as an effective manaburn and can be cast IMMEDIATELY after a stun, meaning enemy will still be in the air and you can still drain him to get the fullest duration.
-no hero at lvl 9 can have enough mana for major dmg spell after a full stun/drain, and they will not stay and fight usually since they know ur cds will be up anytime soon.
-mana drain can also bait very effectively, meaning there maybe a stalemate in mid 5v5 and either side can initiate without bearing the disadvantage, you can throw a long ranged drain to lure enemy into initiating as it is a high threat spell psychologically speaking.
-mana drain on neutrals is also very safe/stealthy way of mana regen
-remember stun aoe have a bit further range than targeted so in desperate measures just throw a free target one in his direction against further ranged targets rather than them getting away(atleast you've tried).

4 When NOT to pick Witch Slayer
4.1 what heroes to watch out for in BD/RD mode
-Predator, theres simply nothing you could do to avoid him and he recks you like no tomorrow AND he can jungle until he is strong enough to rape you
>best counter is void talisman after your blink and try not to lane him

-Jerry, repel just as bad on a carry hero with stun (Hammerstorm comes to mind T_T) but all in all you can drain this fella so he repels himself XD and you hope that Hammerstorm doesnt have bkb on his own yet
>otherwise void talisman it is

-Pebbles, while not hard counter but his blink stun/toss combo does get you one shotted, so try initiate on him rather than the otherway round

4.2 what to do with heroes that are hard counters against you
-ok you found out you first picked Witch Slayer and they've just picked pred and jerry on opposing team(if jerry is not banned), in which case you just need to hope your team mate is reasonable with their respective choices since your control/effectiveness of the game have significantly lowered.
-get the items in the OPEN option pool which are rated 8+/10 (astro/void/tablet) to stay alive long enough
-in such circumstances you may not even get blink as core due to better off in team pushes (rather than caught alone in the woods with predator) hence astro and cyclone is great in those situations aswell as tablet for escape.

hope I give enough insight as to what Witch Slayer is about in the 16-1800 meta game of hon, this guide will be updated as the game progress onto live.

[Stallown]

Reserved +1

[Zato2022]

Ive never tried to buy portal key with him, but usually I find that i cannot afford more than plated greaves (I prefer them to marchers) and 1-2 fortified bracers because nobody in a pub game would ever buy a ward/dust.

Between wards and homecoming stones cost you shouldnt be having extra money and when that moment arrives its probably 30+ min (and this is having kills and maybe 1-2 deaths) in the match so I?ll prefer to save for kuldra and let real initiators do their job.

I usuallly only take 2 levels of power drain early on, its enought keep you up time to time and to harass in the lane with infinite mana.

[scarekrow1]

you dont need more than 1/2 levels of mana drain.

[Jemohr]

you dont need more than 1/2 levels of mana drain.

definitely. as far as items I usually get boots, mana battery/power supply, bracer or two, portal key and sac stone.

[Stallown]

you dont need more than 1/2 levels of mana drain.

at max level it provides you with offensive mana drain for heroes who have decent escapes but low mana pool
tree/mb/dl comes to mind, also from disabling ult like temp/jerry from happening mid fight.

also you spend less time draining nc

[scarekrow1]

at max level it provides you with offensive mana drain for heroes who have decent escapes but low mana pool
tree/mb/dl comes to mind, also from disabling ult like temp/jerry from happening mid fight.



then leveling it up would be situational, however i believe that the levels in hex are still superior.

[akitoes]

Hex is standard build

But manadrain is actually pretty good if solo mid or against low mana heroes (hammerstorm etc)

Personally wouldn't level it past 2 though, hex is just too good to have:witc::witc::witc:

[Vulpes]

You really need at least one level of Hex at 7.

Mana Drain is nice to have in the laning phase,
and will provide fast Mana while ganking (drain the ranged creep),
however - for both, Level2 MD is enough.
Wouldn't ever get lvl3 MD before Level 13.

My usual build for both Solo Mid and Dual Lanes is
Stun / MD / Stun / MD / Stun / Ult / Hex / Stun / Hex / Hex / Hex / MD or Stats, depends

If I can not use MD effectively (ie dual laning against Magebane/Demented), I see no Reason picking Witch over eg Polly

[Stallown]

well hex is great dont get me wrong, just that in most situations low level hex isnt as effective as max level md when around 7-9 lvl.
assuming the following situations
1- you likely wont be ganking alone
2- your gank mate have 1 snare/stun

in that situation hex lvl 2 will not stop a hero retaliate with thier defensive/offensive spell but md lvl 4 will actually shut down a hero mana-wise, and if you ask me a hero without mana at lvl <9 is more taxing to the enemy hero than lvl 2 hex, should gank fails he is forced to bk fountain or spend money on manapots.

hex is great if your ganking alone with the extra cc, but in the current meta game its risky to gank alone with enemy wards at runespots etc guess its matter of preference :P

[eof]

Draining 3-400 mana level 9 is huge. If I am able to solo and get ahead, I like to have mana drain maxed. 20,40,60,100 afterall.

I know this is a 1600+ guide, so it might be a bit ballsy and I don't play high level games really, but starting out with boots/runes generally serves me well.

The boots early give you the move speed that your oppnent probably doesn't have, and most match ups are powerless against your stun -> immediate mana drain. I am usually waiting for my mana drain cd just so I can do it again. You can really rush ghosts this way and just run around the board causing mayhem before anyone knows what is going on.

Also, I am not sure of the mechanics but I am pretty sure you can target the ground near an opponent to get a slightly longer range than targeting the opponent directly. That is, if they are running and you can't quite reach them but it's close, you can stun 'toward' them and get another few tens of units.

After ghosts, depending on how well it's going, I will generally stack bracers or go for a staff. Generally only if I am raping will I get a blink, but maybe I should get it more.

Tablet of command seems like a really solid choice on him. If played right, he doesn't need much HP until pretty late in the game, as he is fast and should be engaging in ganks, either killing or forcing their carry not to farm while yours farms.

Wards are huge. Ward their woods, catch one moving around and go kill him.

By level 16 the cd on the ult is much lower but you wont' have enough mana to cast as much as you want without significant mana pool increase, your ult is just too expensive.

[Extreme_Cake]

I'd always go hex over mana drain.

[sHoWTiMe]

Dark lady is quite a counter too, same goes for magebane. Good guide though.

[Stallown]

Dark lady is quite a counter too, same goes for magebane. Good guide though.

those guys are food for Witch, they should be in hiding during the first 20-30m of the game in which the game is probably decided by then since the gold from towers pushed or the team already had kongor advantage.

[Stallown]

You really need at least one level of Hex at 7.

Mana Drain is nice to have in the laning phase,
and will provide fast Mana while ganking (drain the ranged creep),
however - for both, Level2 MD is enough.
Wouldn't ever get lvl3 MD before Level 13.

My usual build for both Solo Mid and Dual Lanes is
Stun / MD / Stun / MD / Stun / Ult / Hex / Stun / Hex / Hex / Hex / MD or Stats, depends

If I can not use MD effectively (ie dual laning against Magebane/Demented), I see no Reason picking Witch over eg Polly

polly does provide more CC but at the cost of channeling (hex not in comparison since both have the same ability)
and channeling spells are so aggro intensive that you instantly make urself priority target in the battlefield, with Witch graveyard can be used as escape/help allies and farm by compairson (plus some damage), and shackle you rely alot on your team mate for dps.

with Witch he can ult down a target quickly and get out, be reminded that your team mates cannot always arrive quicker than theirs, so polly sometimes have that disadvantage being team reliant, not saying he is better or worst hero because his wards is great pusher/ team dps by comparison just stating they offer different utilities to the team.

witch
-more single target burst
-mobility
-better non-sacrifical support

polly
-team push
-team dps

[Stallown]

I'd always go hex over mana drain.

mana drain is what is unique about witch slayer :P

hex over md pros and cons
pros
-longer disabled duration in early game
-good chase with hex
-2 channel canceling

cons
-require mana items (bottle/mana pots)
-hex is not a dmg stun and sometimes could countered by hasted heroes (since early>mid game could be rune intensive)
-rarely more than 1 channeling spell to interrupt early game

as mentioned in the guide, getting hex early is situational since your lane mate can be good dps, but with the abilities witch have its almost certain that early ganks will be overkill for it to matter, not to mention physical dps is so weak(due to heroes with no dps items yet) even during hex the dmg incurred it not game breaking (unless its those tree guys XD).

[jdt]

hoog

[Anla`Shok]

chuday, great guide! Granted, I'm nowhere near that PSR level, it does follow my go-to play style for Witch Slayer pretty closely. I agree with you on Hex vs. Mana Drain: it's situation, but MD is much more effective mid. Target it on the enemy ranged creep, and you won't ever have your stun off CD.

I was wondering if you could clarify the gameplay mechanics you employ with the Portal Key. I've never bought one for him. Is it just an escape mechanism? Positioning the stun seems like a no-brainer, especially with Ghost Marchers.

[chofeV]

Staff of the master ? where is it ?
why didn't you mention it
reason to it ? or did i miss the parts ?
am i a noob ? T.T

[PistoIero]

Staff of the master ? where is it ?
why didn't you mention it
reason to it ? or did i miss the parts ?
am i a noob ? T.T

SotM is terrible on him (and pyro) compared to proper support/babysitting (that means wards and counter wards), sheepstick and puzzlebox.

[Stallown]

chuday, great guide! Granted, I'm nowhere near that PSR level, it does follow my go-to play style for Witch Slayer pretty closely. I agree with you on Hex vs. Mana Drain: it's situation, but MD is much more effective mid. Target it on the enemy ranged creep, and you won't ever have your stun off CD.

I was wondering if you could clarify the gameplay mechanics you employ with the Portal Key. I've never bought one for him. Is it just an escape mechanism? Positioning the stun seems like a no-brainer, especially with Ghost Marchers.

my mate changed my nick during the KS stage T_T, anyway portal key is one of those items which will raise your level of play by a big step.

lets break down the uses for an easier digest.
- chase advantage, witch initiating is much preferred since that he has lots of mana, 2 of his spells have disable properties, decent cooldown and mainly good range.

- support advantage, as witch becomes more supportive later in the game, arriving at your team mates offense/defense creates extra edge when it comes to clashes. Ever blamed your mates arriving later than enemies? well dagger dramatically turns that around by blinking quickly to close proximity of the action.

- escape mechanism, with witch native spells, getting away is much more effective with blink, not to mention later addition will get :Stormspirit::VoidTalisman: making u almost impossible to lock down despite the lack of hp as int hero.

example: Hex>drain>blink away

- Clash Positioning, since witch stun is longitudinal at times you can only stun most heroes at the most impossible position, which portal key can help solve that problem.

only problem is the 2150 cost, which maybe of challenge at times.

[Stallown]

Staff of the master ? where is it ?
why didn't you mention it
reason to it ? or did i miss the parts ?
am i a noob ? T.T

as mentioned, its best to spend money on supporting items first, as witch will contribute the team more by playing his main role as support.

scepter increases his ult and +hp +mp
the +mp is less effective for him as he have mana drain.
increased ult dmg is good but the cost of the item is too great by comparison, same with the +hp.

as for survival :Stormspirit::VoidTalisman::Portalkey: is much more effective alternative.
as for dmg :Puzzlebox: or :FrostfieldPlate: are better alternative.

granted scepter is a good item in pubs due to variance of team mate, and that it can ensure a better K:D:A ratio at the end.

[STORTSPIL666]

Hex goes through predator's immune ability. Pop that when he goes immune and you have your stun ready afterwards. That's some pretty damn nice cc, and as a frequent predator player I find WS to be 1 of the most annoying heroes to be against.