Vl'Jin, the Witch Doctor Guide

Vol`Jin - The Witch Doctor Range: 600 | Move Speed: 305 Primary: INT Str: 16 + 1.8 | Agi: 13 + 1.4 | Int: 19 + 2.9 Damage: 51-61 | HP: 454 | Mana: 247 HP Regen: 0.73 | Mana Regen: 0.77 Attack Speed: 1.5 | Armor: 1

Vol'Jin is a risk-taker. Anyone who has ever crossed paths with him can tell you that. As a voodoo priest, you need a certain degree of it. It's too bad he never learned the value of discretion. Vol'Jin's experiments in jungle magic yielded brilliant results- the ability to mend wounds, casks filled with paralyzing combinations of herbs that could scatter for miles, and even a curse capable of stripping the life force from a living being. Of course, no amount of power gained goes without notice. As Vol'Jin's experiments became more and more unstable and destructive, the Lich King made his move.

Hi everyone. I'm a fan of this crooked hero. I’ve played him hundreds times since he was firstly introduced in 6.28. I started with some trials against AI, moved on to playing him in pubs with some friends, until I finally had the chance to try this hero in tournaments. You might be able to imagine how many times I have played this hero.

Before move on to the guide, let me say it myself that Witch Doctor might be not as strong as Zeus, Lina, or SK to be used in high level games. Why? Vol’Jin is not a very good lane controller (no harassing skill). He is not a good supporter (needs items to be effective). He is not a true ganker either (Cask/Maledict alone without allied stun/slow can’t catch a good player). And the saddest part, Death Ward is channelling and with no Scepter it does unimpressive damage compared to another AoE ultimate (Echo Slam, Epicenter).

So, what’s the good thing about this hero? Well, this is the use of a guide. This guide is now designed for more organized games. It’s not meant that we can walk around with this hero in leagues and such, though. I just try to conduct the build and strategy to be viable against competent teams. That is it.


A. Hero Information

::. Description:



Vol'Jin, the Witch Doctor - He sank of the superiority of those true nukers (Zeus, Lich, Lina) and those true gankers (BM, NA, Venge). He wants to gank but he needs gold. He has short-casting-range spells but doesn’t have enough health to survive it. He is, however, given the strongest damage amplifier spell in the game and an extremely good kiting (orb walking without orb) capability. His stun and ultimate - although they look silly - are actually quite strong if casted at the right time.

::. Statistics:

Range: 600 Move Speed: 305 Primary: INT
Stats Summary Stats:

::. Pros and Cons:

[+] Maledict rocks
[+] Great attack animation
[+] Combo costs fixed mana

[- ] Incredibly fragile
[- ] Stun works limitedly
[- ] Ward is channelling
[- ] No nuke



B. Suggested Builds

B.1. Quick Reference




B.2. Skill Build

::. Skill Order:

Level 01-06: Paralyzing Cask* Maledict* Maledict* Paralyzing Cask* Maledict* Death Ward*
Level 07-11: Maledict* Paralyzing Cask* Paralyzing Cask* Stats* Death Ward
Level 12-16: Stats* Stats* Voodoo Restoration* Voodoo Restoration* Death Ward*
Level 17-25: Voodoo Restoration* Voodoo Restoration* Stats* Stats* Stats* Stats* Stats* Stats* Stats*

::. Skill Build Explanation:

Paralyzing Cask, Maledict, and Death Ward are maxed asap as they are your main spells. Putting even just a single point of Stats or Voodoo somewhere between will weaken your ganking power by a lot. I recommend you to pair with a stunner/slower or at least a nuker hero, soMaledict becomes priority.

You’re set after maxing [color=white]Cask and Maledict, so you can take some points of Stats. Voodoo is to be maxed at level 18 because that’s generally the time when big pushes frequently occur. I regret it very often when I turned onVoodoo at level 18 just to find it giving me nothing but a poor 6 hp/sec regeneration.


B.3. Item Build

::. Core Items:

Boots* Bracer/Null* Bottle* Vitality* Dagger*

Boots, Bracer/Null and Bottle are typical basic items. Bracer or Null is player perseverance. Don’t bother getting Null if you’re positively able to exploit WD’s kiting potential (i.e. you take solo lane). Just complete one Bracer/Null as you’ll get Vitality Booster shortly afterwards. Completing second Bracer/Null isn’t too good unless you’re facing very hard problem surviving since you need the slot for TP/Wards and you’re not supposed to get Crow.

Blink Dagger is staple for many heroes in DotA, Witch Doctor is no exception. One click that curses life, one click that saves life. Always bring a TP Scroll or two in your inventory. As I said before, you can provide some Observer Wards if needed, but you shouldn’t be the main support. You’re not Venge, you’re not Veno. You NEED items to be powerful.

::. Adv Items:

BoT* Aghanim* BKB*

These three tiers items (in no particular order) are the best expensive items for Witch Doctor. [color=darkorange]BoT is for jumping lanes, Aghanim is worth gotten due to its upgrade and health/mana boost, and BKB is to shield yourself from hard-to-dodge stun/silence.

I don’t expect you to finish all these three items in a game. Decide it yourself what you need most. There’s no point of getting [color=#F57B05]BoT if your team gets owned very bad and loses map control. Finishing Soul Booster and then Aghanim would be better. Prioritize BKB if you face that Silencer who crushes your combo in every fight.



C. Skill Overview

C.1. Paralyzing Cask

Disabling and farming tool in one skill. There’s nothing bad about its slow bouncing speed, that’s just what makes the stun lasts longer. If it doesn’t stun your foes effectively, yell at your timing, not the skill.

::. Important Notes:

* The longest disable that can be achieved against a single hero is when there are two creeps nearby, while if there are two or more heroes is when there are no creeps nearby. Try to fulfil (or nearly fulfil) one of these conditions.
* Paralyzing Cask’s speed is slow, around 600. Always target it from a good range.
* Paralyzing Cask stuns non-hero units for 5 seconds. Syllabear with his Spirit Bear or Chen with his 2-3 creeps can be foods.
* Neutrals, Golems, and Roshan CAN bounce the Cask. Take advantage of it, e.g. ambushing a roshaning or neutraling hero or getting a battle advantage when being ambushed in the forest.
* Golems and Roshan do bounce the Cask but do not take any damage. The mechanics have been changed in the latest patch.
* The Cask WILL NOT bounce if you don’t have clear vision of it. It’s the only ‘bug’ remaining on Vol'Jin’s spells.


C.2. Voodoo Restoration

Witch Doctor uses this just like how Juggernaut uses Healing Ward - to lengthen his team’s pushes. If you’re the kind who likes to skip Healing Ward until level 22-25, then don’t get this. At all.


C.3. Maledict

A major reason why we pick Vol'Jin. After magic resistance, Maledict will increase the damage dealt to a hero before the fourth second by around 120%. It is like Reaper Scythe with different mechanics: we curse someone, we deal a half of his HP in 5-6 seconds, he dies. Its long cooldown (35 seconds), super tiny AoE (150), and short casting range (450) make this skill balanced enough for a non-ultimate spell.

::. Important Notes:

* It’s quite difficult to land this spell well. Here are some tips.
:. Be familiar with its casting range. It’s actually easy to visualize. Imagine a Maledict target circle in front of your hero, the real casting range is exactly ahead that circle. Take a look at this:

The second circle is the real casting range, or the furthest you can cast Maledict directly. Always get under Maledict’s range first then click in. Don’t reverse the order. It will just decrease the chance of hitting.
:. The safest way to cast Maledict is when your target’s stunned (either by your own Cask or your ally’s stun). All you need is just waiting until the Cask hits. It’s not a difficult task.
* Maledict does NOT affect images.
* Maledict is NOT a debuff. Purge and Mirror Image do NOT dispel it.
* Maledict is NOT a poison. The cursed hero cannot be denied.
* Always look at the animation after casting Maledict at a single hero. If the cursed animation does not appear, don’t waste your Ward. Either you missed or the hero is an illusion.
* Heal can immensely negate Maledict's effect as long as the hero doesn't receive a lot of damage again after healing.
* Maledict will increase the damage dealt to a hero before the fourth second by 120%. If the cursed hero receives small/no damage until second 4, Maledict will increase the damage dealt before second 8 by around 70%. If he still receives small/no damage until second 8, Maledict will increase the damage dealt before second 12 by 30% (view this Maledict’s Increased Damage Table for the calculation).
* The easiest way is to make sure killing blow is by looking at the cursed hero’s health bar at second 4 (which is when the first tick damage pops out). If he has lost 60% of his hp at the beginning of the curse, he would die. The other killing blow numbers are 45% hp lost before second 4 and 77% hp lost at second 8. With this piece of information you’ll be able to share Death Ward’s damage more effectively (view this Maledict’s Killing Blow Table for the calculation).

::. Calculating Maledict:

Maledict checks a cursed hero's hp difference between the beginning and the 4th/8th/12th second of the curse to decide how much bonus damage would be dealt (I call this tick damage). For example, if a hero having 5 hp regeneration/sec loses exactly 400 hp just before the fourth second of the curse, then:

the 1st tick = rd[400 /100] *40 = 160 => 120 dmg inflicted
the 2nd tick = rd[400 + 120 + 0.75*4*20 - 4*5 /100] *40 = 200 => 150 dmg inflicted
the 3rd tick = rd[400 + 120 + 150 + 0.75*8*20 - 8*5 + /100] *40 = 280 => 210 dmg inflicted

So, all in all, he loses 960 HP (400 + 120 + 150 + 210 + 120 - 40) in 12 seconds.

(rd = round down. The pink numbers are the damage over time after magic reduction and the green numbers are hp regeneration. Same colours indicate same source and description.)


C.4. Death Ward

Death Ward deals 200 / 300 / 2*400 / 3*500 DPS at appropriate levels. It’s as good as double-cast Mass Serpent Wards in term of DPS. The casting range (350) enables you to channel it from a hidey-hole. A side note: chaos damage does NOT ignore value of armor, only ignores armor type (so it’s negligible since Death Ward only attacks heroes).

::. Important Notes:

* Against a single hero, place Death Ward at the hero’s escape route OR at his feet if there are many possible escape routes.
* It is very annoying to see the ward stop attacking before dealing any damage due to fog of war. To avoid this, if your target stands at the frontier of the fog of war, place your Ward at the blurred spot behind him.
* Death Ward attacks random targets, including images. Mass-select your Ward immediately after channelling it and control it by yourself when you’re against more than one target. Remember to hit F1 or 1 (your hero key) to reselect your hero once the Ward’s up.


C.5. Range Analysis

Cask has very long casting range of 750, but we just can’t utilize it since the Cask travels very slowly. Maledict is even worse. It encourages you to get beyond 450 range to land it, bringing you into vulnerable position. Death Ward is 100 range closer from Maledict, not allowing you to easily chain both spells unless you’ve got into 350 range from the first. I’m still be thanking them, however, they didn’t make it 150 range .



D. Other Thingy

Lothar only works in games where no one knows how to use 200 gold Sentries (you can’t even move while channelling! May I say too easy to counter?). EarlyDagon is overkill as you can already kill with your spells, while late game Dagon is pitiful compared to your Death Ward and your 500 DPS ally. ‘But man Death Ward is easily pawned so you can’t rely on it. You shouldn’t always rely on your allies either.’ Well, if you can’t use Death Ward then you haven’t read this guide. If you can’t trust your allies, just play Street Fighter.

Support items are for support heroes, so I don’t rank Mekansm/Orchid/ Shiva/Guinsoo too high. Heart is just wow. All you can do is Cask/Male/Ward even if you have 5k health.



E. Strategy

E.1. Basic Combo

The essence of Vol'Jin’s combo is to curse someone and damage him as much as possible OR until you are sure that he will die. You have Paralyzing Cask to set up and lengthen the combo, Maledict to increase damage and Death Ward to do the actual damaging. It will be stronger when you have Blink Dagger as the element of surprise gives your enemies less time to react.

a. Cask/Male/Ward (460 mana)

This is Vol'Jin’s full combo. Most heroes are killable with this combo.

* Attack creeps manually OR wait beyond your prey's sight until there remain a few creeps;
* Throw Cask from a good range and move forward quickly to cancel the second half animation;
* Get under 450 range, cast Maledict when your target is stunned, then plant death Ward.

In some cases, it’s better to follow and attack-move him to hasten his death, thus giving you the experience. You can skip Cask if your mana is below 460 and the hero is in front of you (he wants to fight you).

b. Cask/Male/Whack (260 mana)

You could use this combo if your Death Ward is still on cooldown or when you are sure you can kill a hero without Death Ward e.g. because his hp is too low or you are with an ally.

* Attack creeps manually OR wait beyond your prey's sight until there remain a few creeps;
* Throw Cask from a good range and move forward quickly to cancel the second half animation;
* Get under 450 range, cast Maledict when your target is stunned, then attack-move him to the death.


E.2. Walkthrough

E.2.a. Early Game (Level 1-7)

::. Items Progression:

Gauntlet/Mantle, Circlet, 2*Branches, Tangos (540)
Bottle, finish Bracer/Null, Boots (1400)

::. General Gameplay:

Choose Vol'Jin and buy your starting items. Do creep blocking if needed. As a Witch Doctor you should either solo or lane with a strong stunner/nuker allies. You’re not a good babysitter.

Take advantages of your range, high damage, and great attack animation to last-hit and harass one of your enemies. Any hero will become free food for Maledict once his health drops below 300 (exceptions: heroes with Blink, Windwalk or heals). Coordinate it well so that your ally’s nuke comes after your Maledict, not before it. This way, you should be able to earn some kills before level 6. If not, just save your mana for an easy kill at level 6. Refer to Early Game Tricks for other techniques.

If your lane opponents’ chain-spells out-class yours, serve Cask/Maledict to counter-chain them. I mean if they try to chain-stun you or your partner, always curse the closer one (offensive unit is easier to hit), then throw Cask and kite him while backing off. Get a Bottle asap if you’re at side lane.

::. Early Game Tricks:

Attack-Move:

This technique is also known as kiting, orb-walking without orb. Ways are simple. Hit your prey, once you see your attack’s projectile released, quickly move closer, hit him again, move in quickly, rinse and repeat. If you try it, you should notice that the attack bullet is released even before the first half animation. It really gives WD great advantage in chasing and also harassing.

Unexpected Cask:

Decent enemies will always run back when they expect you to throw your Cask so you can't catch him. You can do Unexpected Cask against them. Set up the creeps with manual hits while moving closer then throw a Cask to the last creep (or the second last if you face a single hero). It would be less expected than usual throwing.

Invisible Heal:

Find an invisibility rune while needing some health and mana? Don’t want to back to your base? Don’t want to waste the rune? Don’t worry. Store that rune in the Bottle. Press the Bottle key twice. You get healed and become invisible at once.

Pay My Death:

You must have faced situations when you was sure that you’d die. Don’t just give your life for free. Throw Cask, hit Maledict, spam Bottle, plant Ward. It’s even better if you can find good blind spot to plant Ward from (uphill, behind a tree, juking spots). Running straight isn’t always a good choice.


E.2.b. Mid Game (Level 7-16)

::. Items Progression:

Vitality Booster (1100)
Kellen’s Dagger (2200)
Wards, TP Scrolls (435X)

::. General Gameplay:

This is ganking time. Kill any lone hero and help your allies kill their lane opponents with your combos. Make sure that both river hills are warded. They save lives, spy runes, avoid you from counter-gank. If the opposite team also wards the typical spots, try to avoid those routes when ganking. You can, for example, come from front and ask your ally to stun a target. It’s always better if someone at your team gets sentries and destroys the opposite wards, but it’s not your duty.

There’s (almost) no reason for not ganking. Maledict is an ultimate-worthy spell with 35 seconds. 120% amplifying damage! All you need is wait your ally to set up the creeps for you, throw a Cask, land a good Maledict and own. Ask your ally to initiate with stun if available.

However, don’t forget to earn some money in between ganking. You should get at least a Vitality Booster and a Dagger before level 16. You might consider to play less aggressively if the opposite team badly has upper-hand map control.

::. Mid Game Tricks:

Surprise Attack:

Basically, when you find TWO enemy heroes stand or walk closely each other with a few or no creeps and you are with an ally (or you’re alone but out-level them), you always want to blink into them and perform your Cask/Male/Ward combo quickly. Control your Ward manually to share its damage to both heroes and use the 60% HP lost principle. Your ally(es) should back you up as well. An exception is if your targets are both too-hard-to-kill heroes.

Team Battle:

The number one rule in big fight is do not go first. Ever. You should always stay behind and wait the best moment to strike. The best scenario is if the opposite heroes are clustered up, you quickly blink in (if you have it), throw a Cask, and land Maledict on top of them. Plant your Ward only when you’re sure it will last quite long.

Drawing Blink/Stun:

What you need to do this is a Dagger or a Haste rune. The concept here is simple. You just perform usual Cask/Male/Whack combo to force him to use his blink/stun, then, once he use his blink/stun, you follow him with Blink/Haste and plant your Ward. You should make sure first, though, that you aren’t going to give up your life only for doing this trick.


E.2.c. Late Game (Level 16-25)

::. Items Progression:

Soul Booster
BoT/Aghanim/BKB

::. General Gameplay:

Late game is when team battles happen frequently. Finish your late game items ASAP. Stick together with your allies in every push or defence. Read the Team Battle section just below for more details. Whenever your team wins a big battle, activate Voodoo Restoration and ask all of your dying allies not to retreat. With you becoming a walking mini-fountain, your allies will be at full HP in no time and the remaining enemy heroes will not be threats.

Remember that big battles, big battles, and big battles are the ways you win the game. You’re a big asset in every team fight. Don’t let the game drag too long as Death Ward will become weaker and weaker as the game progresses. If you and your allies do the right things, your team should win at this point.

::. Late Game Tricks:

You should and must know what will happen after you blink in and cast everything. The best situation is when you have an ally with a strong AoE ultimate with special effects (disable/slow) or more. You can blink in with them without worrying about your foes’ disables or stuns.

If you have none, look at your foes. Decent players will give special attention to you after the havoc you wreck where you utterly own them. They will try to break your Ward or turn you into the #1 target in team battle. You have two solutions here, ‘Hiding Ward’ and ‘Delayed Ward’.

Hiding Ward:

Hiding Ward is a technique utilizing map terrain and the fog of war to hide and channel Death Ward uninterrupted. The two things you need to do when doing Hiding-Ward are recognizing the hiding spots and knowing Death Ward’s casting range. I only provide mid lane hiding-spots here, as it is the lane where big battles usually occur. Make sure you’ve explored them. Notice also how far you can channel Death Ward.

Here are some hiding-spots at the Sentinel’s side.

And here are ones at the Scourge’s side.

Let your allies know that these places might be safer than behind the tower due to an uninterrupted Death Ward so your team should try to force the big fight to occur there. The step-by-step guide is as below:

* Don't go first, wait until the two teams engage;
* Walk up to the battlefield, throw a Cask, land Maledict on the most dangerous hero or, if possible, more than one hero;
* Blink OUT to a hiding-spot, and channel Death Ward at about 300 range ahead you;
* Show your nose, throw another Cask.

Delayed Ward:

Go ahead with your team and make your foes think that you’ll soon pull off your full combo, but just throw a Cask and land a good Maledict. The moment they focus-fire you, blink out. There is no way for them to follow you and hunt you down as they’ll be engaged with your allies. Come back to the battle and channel your Ward at a less expectable time. This technique is useful when you can’t withstand the opposite team’s focus-fire in team battles. It’s also a good backup to the Hiding Ward technique when no hiding spots are around.



F. Allies and Enemies

F.1. Good Allies

a. Magnus, Enigma, Dark Seer

Their spells can manipulate your foes together to be cursed. Magnus/Enigma and you blinking in and pulling off combos together are 100% GG for the opponent side. Darkseer’s Vacuum doesn’t have stun effect, so you should throw a Cask first, let him cast Vacuum then follow it up immediately with Maledict.

b. AoE Ultis

By this I mean heroes who have AoE ultimates that disable/slow. These special effects are needed to draw fire away from you. You should always blink in and pull off your combo together with them. A side note for Chronosphere: Death Ward CAN still attack when it’s planted inside the Chronosphere.

c. Disabler, Nuker

Disablers and nukers are your best friends early-mid game. Maledict plus a nuke/disable can kill every hero easily. Any disable will also enable your Death Ward to deal more damage. The most powerful one is Huskar’s ultimate. Coupled with Maledict, it rocks even against a 5k-hp tank. Unfortunately, I’m still too lazy to make a new picture for him .


F.2. Bad Enemies

a. Silencer

You can't do anything if those heroes silence you in team battles.
Anti-Counter: Use Hiding Ward technique while building up a BKB. After getting a BKB, silencers are less of a worry because avatar counters most of these spells.

b. Heal, Magic Immunity

Heals and magic resistance reduce Maledict's amplified damage while magical immunity completely negates Maledict's damage.
Anti-Counter: Heals and magic resistance only reduces Maledict damage, not megate it. If you and your allies keep attacking the cursed heroes, they will still suffer a lot of Maledict, but it’s better if you curse another hero instead. Special anti-counter to BKB: if for some reasons you must target a BKB holder, curse him 2-3 seconds after he turns avatar on. He woun’t expect that he will still receive 2nd and 3rd ticks, which still means 70% increased damage.

c. Disabler, Basher

Any stun/disable screws up your Death Ward. Physical disables and bash/mini-stun go through BKB. Unless they target your allies instead of you, your Death Ward will always be a waste.
Anti-Counter: Use Hiding Ward or Delayed Ward method (which fits the situation), while building up an Eul's Scepter or a BKB to counter them. If you’ve an ally with an AoE ultimate like I stressed before though, you shouldn’t worry anymore.



G. Final Words

G.1. Conclusions

Hooooraaaaaay, it’s mostly finished. I’m really sorry for this oh-my-so-late update. I did some competitive games weeks ago, but now I have to take a rest again (from playing) to be more concentrate on my study, Hope this guide helps you guys to understand and play Vol’Jin. If you notice this guide has not been completed yet. I’ve tried to spare some of my times to work on it and this is all I could do. Replays, screenshots, and shiz are to be included asap. Criticisms, ideas, suggestions, and comments are all appreciated.