Dark Willow is a very squishy caster who excels at crowd-controlling. Cursed Crown, Terrorize and Bramble Maze are very strong AoE disables and she has a lot of strong magical burst as well from Bedlam and Shadow Realm.
However, she has very low HP and is very vulnerable to AoE spells, as these are capable of dealing damage and disabling her during Shadow Realm. Dark Willow is also very countered by magic immunity, as almost all of her damage is magical.
@ Valve
[/column]What Skill to Build on Dark Willow
- Shadow Realm
- Bramble Maze
- Shadow Realm
- Cursed Crown
- Shadow Realm
- Terrorize
- Shadow Realm
- Bramble Maze
- Bramble Maze
- Talent
- Bramble Maze
- Terrorize
- Cursed Crown
- Cursed Crown
- Talent
- Cursed Crown
- –
- Terrorize
Dark Willow creates several Bramble bushes that spawn in a pattern as shown by the targeting indicator. When an enemy walks into one of the Brambles, they will be rooted and take damage over time. This spell is usually maxed secondly as it helps you to get solo-kills and gank more effectively than Cursed Crown.
The Brambles do not provide true-sight, but do trigger upon an invisible enemy walking into them. The spell has a very long duration, which means it can be cast preemptively if you are trying to take a tower or Roshan. When ganking or fighting, try to place the center of the tightest area where people are most likely to walk through, or through which your enemies can more safely escape. The spell has a very long cooldown in the early levels, so try no to use it unless you are going for a kill or need to save yourself. It has quite a long cast time as well, so try to predict where particularly fast enemies are likely to walk when casting.
Dark Willow becomes untargetable for 5 seconds, during which time she gains bonus magical damage as well as increased attack range to her next attack. The amount of damage increases up to 3 seconds, at which point it reaches the maximum bonus damage. If Dark Willow does not attack within the 5 seconds, she will lose the bonus damage. This is maxed first because each skill point in the spell decreases the cooldown and increases the damage. Shadow Realm is your main ganking and escape spell, as it helps you to nuke enemies down and evade targeted spells respectively.
Using Shadow Realm will not interrupt channeled abilities such as Town Portal Scroll and will disjoint projectiles when cast. This makes it a strong spell against spells like Storm Hammer incoming attacks. Shadow Realm also applies a phase to your movement when you cast, meaning that you can walk through creeps to escape or chase enemies more easily.
Read Also: Green Dota 2 Heroes and Why People Hate Them
Dark Willow curses the target, stunning them and any nearby enemies after 4 seconds. This is usually maxed lastly after getting one value point in it because it’s the least effective ganking spell in the early game. In the mid and late game, it offers a lot of control in team-fights, where enemies are usually fighting in close quarters, but in the early game it’s usually easier for enemies to spread out and avoid stunning each other.
In addition to this, it does not deal any damage which also makes it less effective in the early game. Even if the target enemy manages to evade the stun through a spell like Nightmare for instance, it will still stun enemies in the nearby area. Just keep in mind that it is dispellable with any basic dispel.
@ Valve
Dark Willow’s pet is unleashed upon nearby enemies and deals damage as it circles her for a few seconds. This spell is linked with Terrorize and levels up at the same time as the other. Bedlam can deal a massive amount of damage if you are near an enemy who is alone, and especially if you can stand very close to them. This is a lot easier to achieve with Shadow Realm, as it will protect you from most damage and you can get very close to enemies, even being able to phase through them. Bedlam cannot be cast if you are casting Terrorize, and will only be available when Jax has fully returned to you. The spell has a very low cooldown which means you can use it to farm large creep-waves if you have the mana to support doing so.
Dark Willow’s pet sends fear into all enemies in the target area, sending them running back to base. This spell cannot be used while Bedlam is active, and in addition to this, the spell is linked with Bedlam. The duration of Terrorize is the same as Cursed Crown which makes it a strong spell to combo with. you can follow Terrorize up with Bedlam either by Blinking near fleeing enemies or by approaching them from behind as you cast it. Terrorize is a very strong spell that can be used on enemies who are chasing your allies or casting channeled spells and is also very strong when it comes to kiting strong carries.
The extra cast range is almost always a strong option because almost all of her spells benefit from it. Almost all of her damage is magical as well, and she doesn’t right-click very much as her attack range is below average for a ranged hero. However, if you need more physical damage on your team or if you find that you are able to attack enemies a lot in fights then the extra damage could be decent.
The GPM can be good if you’re playing a support Dark Willow, as it will help you with your item progression and keep you buying support items. It can also be good if you think the game will last into the late game, regardless of your role, as it will help you to afford big items such as Scythe of Vyse. The movement speed is better to get in a core role, as it helps you to get kills and survive fights more easily. It will also help you to end the game sooner, as it gives you another edge in fights.
If you really need another edge to help you survive in team-fights, or if you already definitely have enough damage as it is, then the spell lifesteal can be helpful. However, in almost every situation the extra damage is a significantly better talent option. It’s a very significant amount of damage on a 12 second cooldown, which will massively help you to secure kills and deal much more damage in team-fights.
Usually the extra 1 Terrorize second doesn’t do much and is quite underwhelming. Unless you really need the extra control it provides or if you can make good use out of the extra kiting space, then the attack speed is almost always a better choice. Although most of your damage comes from your abilities, the massive increase to attack speed gives you the possibility to be able to dish out a respectable amount of right-click damage in the late game.
Read Also: Broodmother Dota 2 Guide to Striking Fear in Your Pubs
Dark Willow is most commonly played in either the mid lane or as a support, and can buy slightly different items depending on her role. Stat items are very good on her if she’s played in the mid lane as they give her more damage to last-hit with and because her base damage is quite low. On the other hand you can get Boots of Speed to help you gank more easily in the laning phase if you’re playing as a support/roamer. Regen is more important for mid as you’ll need it to sustain yourself and stay in lane for longer.
Arcane Boots are preferable on a support Dark Willow as they help her team more and allow her to cast more spells in team-fights. You can also get them in the mid lane if your teams needs the mana they provide because no one else has purchased them.
Phase Boots are very strong on a mid Dark Willow as they give her more right-click damage to farm and last hit with as well as more movement speed to chase and escape from enemies. The extra damage also helps her to scale into the mid game a bit better as her right-clicks will be more significant than they would be otherwise.
A Veil of Discord is a great item on Dark Willow because almost all of her damage comes from her spells. The 25 % magical damage amp will make all of her spells much more potent and give her much more kill potential. The stats from the item are also great on Dark Willow because although her intelligence gain is quite high, her strength and agility gain are quite low and she’s very squishy. This makes the armor and the HP it provides quite helpful.
A Blink Dagger is almost always a strong item on Dark Willow because it works very well with Shadow Realm. As she becomes untargetable, she’s much more likely to not take damage for the 3 second cooldown and be able to blink away from danger. Even if there is some AoE damage on the enemy team, it will be very effective in many fights and situations where you won’t be affected by it and can still make use of the strong escape capabilities it provides. A Blink Dagger also lets you close the gap on enemies who are out of position and on their own and use Bedlam on them. This is strong because the spell deals a lot of damage to solo enemies. A Blink Dagger will also allow you to position Bramble Maze and Terrorize more easily, although they do already have quite a long range. This would be an insta-pick for many of the best Dota 2 players.
A Glimmer Cape can be a strong item for a support Dark Willow because it’s a great defensive item for her and her allies. The magic resistance is also very strong against lineups with lots of magical damage. It’s not as good for a mid Dark Willow because it doesn’t really help her to scale into the mid game as it doesn’t make her hero any stronger.
A Kaya is a good item on Dark Willow because almost all of her damage comes from her spells which means that the damage amplification effectively increases all of her damage output. The manacost reduction also helps because all of her spells have quite high mana costs and the extra intelligence provides more mana to cast spells with in fights. Overall, a Kaya is a great item on a mid Dark Willow as it’s quite cheap and helps her to scale into the mid game very well.
A Rod of Atos can be a very strong item against heroes with Blinks or similar spells that make them hard to lockdown. You can chain together your Rod of Atos and Bramble Maze for 4.5 seconds in total which is long enough for them to be hit by a Cursed Crowd to keep them stuck for even longer. This is very strong, as it gives you lots of disable for a single target and gives you a window to deal a large amount of damage with Bedlam. The extra strength helps to tank you up and the intelligence helps with the high mana-costs of the spells as well.
A Eul’s is a strong item on Dark Willow because it can be used very effectively defensively as well as offensively. By using Eul’s after Cursed Crown on an enemy, they will be immobile for 2.5 of the 4 second cast time making it much harder for the enemy to escape before it stuns them. The stats from this item also greatly benefit Dark Willow. It’s a great purchase if you’re facing silences or projectile stuns as it will make you much harder to kill and give you a much better chance to survive as you may be able to cast Shadow Realm afterwards.
A Scythe of Vyse will give you another disable and a very strong lockdown in the late game. The stats it provides are also very strong and will help you to keep casting spells in the longer team-fights in the late game. It also works very well with the extra cast range talent at level 10 if you chose it. Overall, it’s a very strong late game item on Dark Willow which allows her to contribute much more to team-fights in Dota 2 esports.
Guardian Greaves are a very strong late game item to pickup on a support Dark Willow. The self-purge can remove debuffs such as silences and allow you to use Shadow Realm to survive, or Terrorize to create some space for your allies. The HP and mana heal will also very much help to sustain your allies in fights into the mid and late game. It can be a decent item on a mid Dark Willow as well if you don’t need any more control, if you can get it earlier than any of your allies and if you can greatly benefit from the sustainability and self-purge it gives you.
@ Valve
A Black King Bar can be a great item if you’re facing lots of AoE magical damage, such as Epicenter as well as lots of AoE disables. It will make you much harder to kill, and will also allow you to preserve Shadow Realm against most enemies with targeted spells, as you will be magic immune anyway. This then allows you to use it more aggressively instead.
A Mjollnir can be a very strong item in the late game, especially with your level 25 attack speed talent. The active can be cast on a tanky ally and the magical damage works well with your spell amplification. Usually you don’t really need it because your strength comes from your spells, but if you need more physical damage output, it can be a decent pickup.
A Shadow Blade can be a strong ganking item. If you’re playing against heroes that you need to shut down in the early or mid game who farm either the jungle a lot or who push waves out, then a Shadow Blade will help you to dominate the map and get solo kills on them more easily. It may be better to avoid this item if you already have invisibility heroes on your team or if your team is unable to establish map control in the mid game.
A Linken’s Sphere can be a good item if you are playing against strong single-target disables. Generally, Shadow Realm will keep you alive long enough for these to not be an issue. However, if you find that you are still getting caught out in fights, or if the enemy team have lots of single-target spells, then a Linken’s Sphere could be a good pickup anyway.
A Ghost Scepter can be a good item if you are playing against lineups with lots of physical right-clickers. It’s a relatively cheap item that is particularly efficient on a support Dark Willow and gives her a lot more survivability against farmed carries.
A Spirit Vessel can be a strong item on a support Dark Willow if you’re facing heroes with lots of strong healing abilities. The stats it provides you are great, and the ganking nature of Dark Willow allows her to gain lots of charges throughout the mid game.
A Nullifier can be a strong item on a core Dark Willow as it makes her even stronger in team-fights. The ability to mute and slow a target makes it much harder for enemies with no natural means of escape to survive. That is to say, if they don’t have abilities such as Dark Pact or other defensive spells then Bramble Maze becomes much more effective and you can keep them slowed before stunning them with Cursed Crown.
A Lotus Orb can be a strong item against lineups with lots of single-target spells and/or negative buffs such as silences or slows. The ability to purge silences is often very crucial in allowing you to survive, as they prevent you from casting Shadow Realm. You can also use it after casting Shadow Realm to give you a few seconds where enemies will be reluctant to cast spells on you, keeping you alive for even longer.
An Octarine Core is a great late game item for a core Dark Willow. Since almost all of her damage comes from her spells, the cooldown reduction will allow her to cast all of her spells sooner. Often she will buy items such as Linken’s Sphere and Scythe of Vyse as well, which also benefit from the cooldown reduction. In addition to this, the spell lifesteal will keep her alive and heal her for a lot of HP when casting Bedlam or Bramble Maze.
Heroes with Blink or other escape spells are very easily dealt with through Bramble Maze and a Cursed Crown combo. Although there is a bit of a gap where enemies can escape, Terrorize can keep be used to keep the enemies disabled and prevent them from escaping.
Spells such as Waning Rift or Burrowstrike can still damage Dark Willow even when she uses Shadow Realm defensively. AoE damage is definitely a pain for Dark Willow to deal with, and a BKB may be needed in some situations. In particular silences are very good at dealing with Dark Willow as they prevent her from using any of her spells including her main survivability spell; Shadow Realm. Cleave damage is also very strong against Dark Willow, especially if she is caught of position near an ally who can be cleaved off of.
Terrorize is a very strong spell against Chronosphere and as well as Wukong’s Command, as it can be used to move Void away from your allies as well as Monkey King out of his circle, thus cancelling the spell.
LOL
CS2
Dota 2
Valorant
Fortnite
Call of Duty
Mobile Games
Gaming
