I'm sorry, but witches are far away from being competitive, yes you might win som games, but thats it, lets stick with zombies and spirits if you dont want your asz kicked in ranked gameplay.
Yeah, witches by themselves aren't amazing but I was thinking of finding some non-witch runes that could help fill in the lacking areas. Maybe a tank that can support them in some way. I'll try and find one.
Yeah i tried looking for that also since foul rite bg's just arent possible right now with all the cheap unit spam other factions have now. If you find a good tank for fw let me know also.
So, Utterdark Leviathan is a good tank, especially with Tempest Crown (so far, at least). Corrupted Guardian isn't terrible either (so far).
Meta split faction bgs last patch (tiny and rath) used stitched tyrant supported by...I believe shaman? And maybe one/two others, 5-6 stitched total. Tyrant is incredibly tanky for the cost, and the stitched witch is solid. There is some potential for a stitched module, but the problem is that witches are a "geometric" theme (I.e. each one of then makes the other components more powerful reciprocally, so the difference between 2 witches and an hourglass and 3 witches and an hourglass is greater than the value of one non witch champion generally...) meaning that any non-witch investment means you might not reach that critical mass of synergy that is the whole point of playing the theme (speed dmz stuff and hourglass mostly). In other words, if you have to reach outside the theme too much you will quickly realize that you would be better off meta.
Seems like key to witches is spacing and finesse. If you are looking for a tank you might be trying to force witches in a direction they aren't equipped to go.
If you want something to gum up the front lines, 2x Cackling is a good bet. Cheap with a lot of control. Also, consider running Stitched Hex Doll. That tech is straight from Yobanchi - great way to lock down opponents.
Witches, if you play them in a mix with DMZ rely a lot on it to protect themselves from single-target spells. They also exploit Curse, which combined with other damage reduction abbilities, it can potentially render a killer champ almost unnusable. Another thing is the fact they play a lot using ranged attacks which allows Elsari Coven + DMZ to be heavily exploited. I found that summoning spells such as Haunt and Dark Rising have a toll on an unprepared opponent by making it difficult to move champions, making them easy targets. Another thing is that witches rely a lot on Witches Hourglass and Witching Hour for damage increase and healing.
Iv seen many bad witch bgs in ranked,its was painful to watch.I feel as if most players arent fully exploiting all that witches have to offer and play then with a wrong playstyle and run too many pet/weak runes. However what bothers me a lot is that witches have zero benefit from the faction bonus,in all my witch games i was not once in a opportunity to take advantage of the cooldown and somehow benefit from it.Imagine playing minotaurs without damage bonus or fairies without bonus speed.
Sokolov has faction bonuses in his sights right now. Seems like a lot are getting nerfed down, like 5hp on ff st with 2hp on split st, kf getting no speed bonus anymore, etc. Sadly he seems to like the cd reduction on fw with a nora refund on death.... I for one hate it. It offers no bonus up front, and sometimes you never get to take advantage of it at all. It kind of pigeon holes you into WANTING to get your champs killed, or rush them to get the bonus into use. Problem with that is that most witches seem to be highly over costed compared to a lot of the other fw champs. I have a feeling that all things will come around to get their due justice though. Sok seems to have a pretty good idea of where to take the game in terms of balance/themes/factions. Thinks are looking up imo.
This is exactly what i mean witches are way over costed and i am not even sure why 90% of the time. All the half decent witches are 70 nora and up then are best witch which is either inkblight or rip witch are well above 70. This is an issue when your opponent is deploying the same runes with the same ranged and damage for 15-20 less nora it's an issue that needs fixed and soon.
Witches crutch off of their curse and pain curse abilities and in order for this to be effective you need to get out a few witches. The problem is witches are to expensive to get out every turn.
@super71 as to inkblight, revel in misery is very expensive, and for full witch somewhat redundant. A bit more defense or blind on base would go a long way.
I'm glad witches are terrible and we get expansion after expansion of total dog Bane Shift and no one seems to mind
Think that the faction bonus relook might help. That said,I look at veilwalker which is the one fw flavored is champ...and it gets vaporize tariff hex 3 6 range 13 damage for 77 Nora, which is easily better than all comparable witches and... Super jelly
I just tried witches for the first time... and i won against a 14 limited player... It was a big map, i was probably also lucky, but they seem fine...
You have a lot easier time on large maps than on small. Witch isn't a fast deck, small maps basically get your Nora cut terribly add they rush your font asap.
