IT'S WITCHING HOUR - A GLOSSARY TO THE THEME AND RELATES

So I did this witch thread are really popular nowadays don't know why. I'll use spoilers for a better understanding. I hope you guys appreciate it as I appreciate doing this.

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Spoiler: Champions

Common

• Accursed Scrofula - Little nora, nice range, alt damage, Sunder 1 and also Elsarin Coven base, a nice addiction but not auto, existe better options.
• Cackling Witch - Deafening Aura. The most irritating witch from afar, this one distracts everyone and help contesting fonts thanks to Cackle. I recommend run at least 1x for alt damage and distract/rabid, or run her the cheapest, works too!
• Maleficia - Great ranged unit! Dark Healing comes in hand and almost every match, also, Censure is better than it seems;

• Mysian Necromancer - Out of theme, don't run her.
• Rip Witch - Even with the nora nerf on her, she still good enough to run 1x even 2x (they combo well together) for maximum damage Deep Wounds and Sunder is great!

• Stitched Seamstress - Nice champ if you run some stitcheds in splits, I see no use on a FF FW witch as Reconstruct: Mangler sandbags it.

Uncommon

• Archfiend - One of the best font contesters we have thanks to Frightful Blows and Life Siphon, I recommend run 2x on splits with UD, he's a beast with Ally: UD.
• Dark Seductress - Her cheapest form is the best, she brings lots of synergy with the theme, Shadestrike is great to apply Curse and she is great to 1v1 on DMZ.

• Elsari Siren - This little mirefolk is just worst on everything but range over Cackling Witch. Bodyjumper is a bad designed ability that ain't worth the run of this one.
• Elsari Votary - Pain Curse. Run atleast one, only drops the second if you're already winning ^or stalling^ (I love it).
• Forsaken Follower - Great cost x benefit, Ritual of Power (or Destruction) comes in hand against summons.

• Stitched Anathema - Run it if you hate summons, want alt damage, aaand if you're having trouble with melees on your ranged champs.
• Undead Crone - Punishing Aura and and Drudgery, nice addictions for a stall type of gameplay, worth the slot!

• Wailing Banshee - Awesome champion, vaporize is awesome for not getting one-shotted and Deafening Aura + Fascinate is a killer combo.

Rare

• Dark Enchantress - Same as Wailing Banshee, Vaporize comes in hand, but Enchantress is a more utility champ, not worth it, IMO
• Elder Bloodbinder - Greater Vampirism sandbag this one out of Vampyres, not worth it.
• Elsari Swordmage - Everytime I see changes on Swordmage I see him becoming worse than the older version, run him if you want Teleport (which is great), great damage (buffed!) and pseudo 7 SPD.
• Fleshweaver Witch - Zombie Herder, Summon: Corpse and Disease Eater sandbag this one outside of zombies. Not worth it.
• Frostvein Witch - Nice range, alt damage, also, Artic can be good against some BG's and certain maps.
• Necromancer - Out of theme, don't run her.

Exotic

• Coven Claw - A fancy option to Dark Seductress, she is a good harasser with shadowstrike, and a decent beater on his cheapest form.

• Croma Visionary - Nice champ that could do wonders deployed on the right time against the right enemies. No necessary, though.

• Experimental Warspirit - Great but not necessary champ, Ignorance and Dispell can do wounders.

• Inkblight Witch - The best tank option it the theme. Run 2x, no exceptions.
• Matriarch Sarinda - If you're going on a Split BG, she is a must, but I'm will not enter on stitched domain on this post, hehe.

Legendary

• Demonologist - Can be used but independent, he brings no synergy to the theme.
• Mysian Lamia - Nice addiction if you're having trouble with melees on your champs, she brings great protection thanks to Sentinel.
• Sarinda - Too costy for what she does.

• Tortun Bokor - Try it on a stall/atriction BG, you won't regret it.

• Wretched Witch - Nice and cheap (in terms of nora) champ, a nice addiction if you want invest a lot of shards, but not necessary.
• Croma Extinguisher - The only shatter option the theme has, she's like Wretched Witch, good but not the best, run her if you're looking fancy and rich haha.

Added @kalasle, @Netherzen, @Vorian and @fattyy2k quotes

Spoiler: Not witches

Common

• Executioner - Now he have Curse back, I found it pretty nice on a budget BG.

Uncommon

• Dark Familiar - Good champ after Elsari Dusk, you better expect being rushed if you play it.
• Fallen Hero - A good addiction on a Foul Rite module, he brings great stats for his cost.
• Elsarin Reaper - Great champ even out of Foul Rite module, auto include on this module, though.

Rare

• Death Harvester - Run it if you want Detection, which is not really needed on Witches. It's not good on Foul Rite because it's undead too.
• Utterdark Leviathan - Soulseeker is awesome, and all his Soultap abilities brings back a nice amount of nora.
• Corruptor - Great on Foul Rite module, he can get lots of nora back thanks to Soulharvester.

Exotic

• Deathcaster - a cheap and useful unit on a Foul Rite BG. Goes handy with Reanimate.
• Whisperghast - Shadestrike, nice range, cheap, and his "relocate: ally" can be handy sometimes.
• Xulos, Undead Sage - Dark Favor is great on witches, as they already have lots of global damage and is very thematic.

Spoiler: Spells

Common

• Chains of Corruption - It's nice as mostly all witches are humans, I mostly run 1x to lockdown targets. Still good even with the nerf, as the spell was OP.
• Dead Zone Voodoo - We have lots of DMZ on this theme, so it have his space.
• Drain the Earth - No.
• Soulbane - 15DMG loss of life and curse all enemies if it destroys the champ spreads curse to every enemy, combo well with Votary.
• Festering Wounds - You actually can deal damage to all enemies pretty easy thanks to pain curse, awesome combo.
• Foul Rite - If you want to buff your human witches, the cons about it is that you can't run Votary and play around graveyards/cheap meat.
• Steal Life - Combo well with Frostvein Witch and Undead Crone, with Drudgery.
• Soulreave - The same thing than Soul Reaver, run one of these.

Uncommon

• Ritual of Ashes - A nice setback damage spell and curse spreader, his niche is very low.
• Witching Hour - A self-explanatory spell, once ago it was the theme enabler, it now helps key witches to get healed/buffed, run at least one in every themed BG, it is now a little too costy, run just if you want, nice include but not necessary.
• Essence Drain - The best single target damaging spell we have, awesome to powerturn that annoying hero.

Rare

• Arcane Enervation - 5RNG plus curse to enemies, really good spell.
• Darkweave - Spot DMZ, it's a nice Curse spreader and combo well with Undead Crone.
• Dark Rising - This is a little tricky, those Skelies procs Revel in Misery from Witching Hour, a good combo, but expensive.
• Despoil - Awesome spell to protect frontlines, spread curse and gather some nora.
• Haunt - A nice relic destroyer, it's a shame how it is slow.
• Reanimate - Works wonders together with Deathcaster and useful if you want to stay with your witches alive.
• Mobilization - A well-know spell to anyone, awesome to powerturns.

Exotic

• Doom - You can't deal with a Colossal unit? Against 20DEF dwarves? Doom his life it works.
• Domination - Once a more used spell, it can be handy on some maps with cliffs to instakill enemies.

Spoiler: Relics & Equipment

Relics
Common

• Defiling Spinel - This relic have no real power than font contesting, we have more efficient ones.
• Grim Well - Awesome to stop rushy opponents, as witches lack a tank to stop by themselves.

Uncommon

• Witches' Hourglass - Forsaken Exploit to all witches on 8RNG is great with all curse we have on board, at least one recommended. Almost too costy to be good.

Rare

• Ark of the Elsari - Too costy for what it does, a buff would be nice!
• Sacrificial Altar - Use it together with Dark Rising only.

Exotic

• Unholy Tomb - With its nerf it became better to witches, so yea!

Legendary

• Elsarin Vex - Self-explanatory.

Equipment
Common

• Ghost Pendant - Defensive equipment, same as Bracelet, I never found a space to run it.

Uncommon

• Enervating Collar - Spot Dispell is awesome in witches, worth 1x at least.

Rare

• Bracelet of Mirrors - Nice defensive equip, I usually don't have space to run it.
• Cursed Blade - Besides its name it don't have synergy with witches.
• Stitched Hex Doll- Awesome equip for his cost, sometimes it can be handy.
• Soul Reaver - The only spot clean we have on FW, great equip that can also Defile enemies.
• Reaper's Blade - The bread n' butter against tanks and Arrow Eaters, I always run 1x, in any BG.

Battlegroups ​

from @Ssharsted
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from @fattyy2k
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from @me (foul rite)
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from @Netherzen (foul rite)​

from @travis
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from @me (stall)
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I will not add older BGs because the expansion mixed things a little

I will not post how-to-play or what you want to achieve playing witches because this is too much a personal thing - e.g. me likes to play them slow and steady, controling the map and using my global damage to grant kills and wins

That's it, I hope you guys likes the thread and get the feeling to test witches out, let's share the BG of ours here and discuss the theme here, feel free to post your opinions and I will easily quote them on the OP

 

Great post. Acursed Scrufula doesnt have surge cursed anymore, but sunder 1 instead. Still recommend including 2 though..

 

Updated to 01/28/15

 

Stickied, keep it updated.

 

For some reason Elsair Swordmage doesn't look like the kind of guy who'd watch Top Gun

 

You are wrong about Sarinda, once you have got off 3 death touches with her its game over! All you need to do with her is keep her deep within your territory behind you defensive line, until she can get off a relocate foe death touch without being 1 turned the next round.

 

quoted

 

"Drain The Earth- No." xD

 

Which is better atm, Croma Visionary or Rip Witch?

 

cursed temple should get pain curse.

 

hmm, this is really outdated. This could us an update or simply be unsticked before the wave of noob PS4 players come.

I was just coming on to see how my bg compared and was completely lost by the information. Then I realized the witch theme must have taken a nerfing since this was last updated

Witch or die! Witches are LEGION! I am legion!

^^ What on earth is this nut job talking about?

 

Brrrp I'm here! I'll gonna update this soon as possible! Do u have BG's to share and add to the post?

 

Why would people run Votary if Cursed Temple has it? I don't think this a good idea cuz then, Temples would be auto includes, and we like some variation on BGs, don't we?

 

Is arroyo riftlord good enough to add to the "other champs" list? Come to think of it, are any of the latest arroyo? Considering their biggest theme also happens to be DMZ I think there'd be some overlap.

 

I'd say Croma Extinguisher falls into this same style of gameplay. I find that Clone Matter is a great way of gaining control of the map by spreading equipment around. Bag of Filth has been a favorite of mine. Croma Extinguisher (Absorb Relic units for that matter) have kind of a Xulos Statue module built into them, of course it's a stretch but HP gained through relics is the general gist of it. Lich(bone staff) can be added to non-witch runes as well considering that Elsari Votary can Command Witches and Lich alike, and a few Lich strongly support Witches imo. A few Lich mixed with Extinguisher/Atelier and Lichbone staff/Vendetta become ok picks for equipment.

The biggest drawback I've found with Witches is heavily relying upon Arcane Enervation, Chains of Corruption as dmg dealing spells but most often I find myself playing witches as a supporting theme to the Lich on the field. If Witches/Humans aren't a majority of the bg both spells can take a toll on rune draws. I play Eternal Lich and more recently Lichling to gain better control of the runes at my disposal but those further push away from a full witch bg and further devalues those spells in a bg.

I've enjoy playing Witches on and off and they definitely have a strong presence when played outside of their theme.

 

Maaaaan. The more I play the more I want to do all of the variations. I need a LOT of runes to do that (separate upgrades and all that). 'sigh' I guess that means I'll just have to play more, such a terrible thing.

 

5/3/17. any one want to give some feedback? This is my 1st attempt at a foul right build. I use visionary 2x hoping to get an early illusions of lies champ to help me stall.

 

the key to witches is to run low cost real units, so you can pull off strong witching hour and witches hour glass plays and so get better curses off. Use 2x wicked witch, remove the expensive coven and inkblight altogether. keep 1 x visionary just for the absorb relic and shatter. remove the deep wounds and sarinda. Add an elsari pain curse horse 2x2 for shade strike, and remove 1-2 of the elsari teleport surge curse guys. add a 69 - 71 point tortun cursed treasure (elsari coven or soul tap) since he is great valuie.

Splash an aarryo eye for opness and a cleric of unrest for rite of regen with ur graveyard units if u run foul rite.

but i suggest not running foul rite. instead add a mystic altier for another source of clone matter, with a bag of filth for double equips and movement control (having low speed makes it harder to avoid traps theoretically),

x out tome of hate and unholy tomb and elsari bazzar, add a execution order or mobi depending on if u have ranged or melee units.

witches are actually pretty strong this way.

 

Is Moragen now viable in witches? what would a bg look like with her?

 

She's viable in meta. Witches are better off played in fw / ud vampire splits, there is no competitive reason to play ff fw witches, which is how I would measure competitive viability of using Morgana in witches.