Witch Strategy

[TheTrueFinalBoss]

How do you win with Witch? I aim to get extra dice in my 6 slot, put ice in my 3rd, magic missile in 4, and magic armor in 5. I get the lightning bolt etc (spells that use 2 dice and deal damage equal to the total) if I can but in half a dozen runs i've only run into those once.

Everything just ends up killing me if I can't get the magic shield, and even then I end up losing before the boss. Poison gets me every time.

[derw4tz]

play her 5th episode; in this poison can praktically not kill you but everything else does....

no honestly i am lost i played so many games but i can not for the life of myself get the witch to work; she just doesn´t do anything and is completely reliant on having a lucky run;

[Escha]

You need more support spells, like Double Dice. Also, are you using your 3rd and 5th Level features for upgrades or Prepared Spell Slots? I'd recommend grabbing that extra slot early, it helps to begin every battle with an offense and defense spell.

For the poisoners, focus on ice attacks. With some exceptions, most poison users need high-rank dice, and freeze will keep them from building up on you.

[Curry]

Witch is really all about combos and managing limit breaks. I just cleared her bonus round hard mode after starting with Brass Cauldron (Even only, reusable, does 2 damage and gives back an odd die) and Snapdragon. First floor chest contained Magic Shield, and level 2 bonus spell I picked was Cold Snap (MS gives 3 shield for an odd die, Cold Snap does a flat 5 for an odd die.) Scaled perfectly. Floor 2 rule was Paper Knight, which gives you +2 dice to start and steals one per round after until you're down to one. All prepared spells, mostly Cold Snap but occasionally Magic Shield based on the upcoming foe. MS on 2 (overwrote Snapdragon) and Cold Snap on 3. Didn't really use much else ever. Golden run if ever I've seen.

Edit: Brass Cauldron builds are my favourite in general, and Paper Knight is probably the absolute best rule to see as Witch, with Wolf Puppy as a distant second. Snowman and Bounty Hunter can make or break a run based on your build, but for people just trying to brute force her bonus round I'd almost recommend restarting if you don't get Paper Knight as the first rule.

Edit 2: Lucky 7 and Sine Wave can also be a sustaining combo if you've got some other means of dice manipulation or regeneration. Hall of Mirrors or Mirror Cauldron builds can work too, but only if you're also investing in heavy defensive abilities to keep yourself alive while building stock.

[Valore]

She has one top tier skill, which is drain life. With that one stuck in upgraded slots you should be able to outlast pretty much anything in the game.

The other builds that are reliable or interesting are things like upgraded Magic Missile, and the magic dagger machine gun builds.

She's my favourite class, and the main problem I have with her is that runs with her are really hit and miss. She has a lot of lousy skills, so if you get them, your run is pretty much over.

[PKPenguin]

Get upgraded slots, get Hall of Mirrors in an upgraded slot, cast a lot of freeze spells so that they can't hurt you/can only hurt you a little bit every turn. I love leaving my first slot available for a cauldron or a cauldron analogue. Golden Cauldron is really, really good, since a lot of Witch's cards rely on getting Evens, and you can also stack spells you want to get more often onto your even slots (I don't think Golden Cauldron is a guaranteed card though).

[Mahaveez -WRITE mode-]

If you don't get the right gear, you can't beat episode 4 or 6 with Witch. Period. I will not accept anyone telling me otherwise. If the respectable Mr. Cavanaugh told me that to my face, I'd tell him he doesn't play his own game enough.

[itssirtou]

1. Only replace Cauldron with a better Cauldron type effect. You need rerolls.

2. Duplicate is your god. Hall of Mirrors+ is your king. Together they lead you to victory.

3. Go for upgraded slots not prepped ones. Slots are given to you for one dice. Upgrades aren't available otherwise, and she has some amazing upgraded spells. For perspective, a prepped spell slot is worth one dice on turn one. Upgrades are worth at least one dice for the entire combat through HoM+, and then whatever value you get from other spells.

4. There is a 'best' dice slot for every spell. EVEN goes on odd dice, ODD goes on even dice. Duplicate goes on 2-3 and HoM goes on 5 or 3 (since it's upgrade is Even, and 1 is dedicated to rerolls).

[Mahaveez -WRITE mode-]

If you have two good accessory spells and a top-tier attack in slot 3, HoM is borderline acceptable to put in 4. Also, if you haven't picked up from the rest of this conversation, you really need to get an upgraded slot first. You won't get another prepared slot/upgraded slot until after clearing Floor 4, but you probably won't even survive that long in episode 4 or 5 without it.

[Iron Cookie 53]

In a bind or you really want to get the fight over with while wanting to win with Witch, use the all Enchanted Bolt Strategy. If you have active spell slots and Enchanted Bolt in Witch's arsenal, there is a possibly good chance you will win with Witch dice

[Iron Cookie 53]

And I do not know which items can block out the poison.

[TheTrueFinalBoss]

Thanks for the advice. But you guys are mentioning spells that I've never even seen before :P, probably don't show up in the first Witch episode.

[Iron Cookie 53]

Oops! Sorry.

[MegaBlues]

The Witch definitely relies a lot more on luck than other characters, I think. I just beat all of her rounds, and here are some tips I've come across/have developed.

• Not every run is a winning run. Sometimes you just don't get the skills you need to win, and this is true for every character, but even more so for the Witch. Savescum as much as possible; if you don't like how a fight is going but like your setup, exit and reenter. To change your die seed, open and close your equipment menu.
  
• Freeze is your best friend, Shock is your second best friend. Locking down enemies is the best way to succeed.
  
• Enchanted Bolt is the best parallel spell. I beat round 5 by filling my board with it, and round 6 by abusing it and freeze/shock.
  
• Put your cauldron on 1, damage spells on 2/3, die manipulation/utility spells on 4/5, and hall of mirrors on 6.

[Crusher Von Splattenheim]

The fundamental problem with the Witch is that she's heavily dependent on luck and it's very easy to start building a strategy with her only to find that the crucial missing piece to that build just isn't in the shops and just isn't offered as a spell on level up.

Too bad, so sad. Gotta restart or get clobbered by the minions.

That said you can attempt to stack the odds in your favor:


In most episodes you're best served immediately prepping Infliction and ditching Cauldron for floor 1's enemies. That guaranteed 3 damage every turn is better than hoping to fish with Cauldron to set an Infliction down and then use it. It's just nice in general. It's absolutely crucial on Elimination Round and Bonus Round: Hard Mode (albeit maybe Snapdragon as an Infliction equivalent).


On your first level up in most episodes you're offered your choice of two of the following three spells:

Ice Shard (ice elemental -- accepts all odd dice. Accepts any dice when upgraded)
Electric Shock (lightning elemental -- accepts all even dice. Accepts any dice when upgraded)
Burning Light (fire elemental -- accepts dice of 4 or higher. Accepts any dice when upgraded)

On average, ice wrecks more enemies than it doesn't. You're *usually* better served from picking Ice Shard over the others. That said, there are a couple enemies that damn near hard counter ice on ER/BR:HM so keep that in mind.

Lightning is better in some situations than ice. If the spell in the chest on floor 1 is a Magic Shield, there's certainly an argument for choosing Electric Shock over Ice Shard since it's better to have spells that don't compete for the same kinds of dice in general -- Electric Shock takes evens while Magic Shield takes odds.

Burning Light, on the other hand, is the glass cannon build and you're gambling on dealing more damage instead of controlling how your enemies use their dice. The upshot of that is that when you roll high? You will devour floor 2 enemies. The downshot is that if you *don't* roll high? You're doing like no damage and getting slapped in the face. Doubly so on EM/BR:HM.


I'm of the opinion that while it's fine to peek at what's in the chest on Floor 1, I never take the spell inside until I've taken and slotted my spell from level up first.

IMO, Ice Shard is best slotted on either 2, 4, or 6 in the spellbook. Electric Shock 3, 5 (or a begrudging/foolhardy 1).

I pretty much only ever slot Burning Light on 3. I don't have the cajones to get rid of Infliction because some fights you just don't roll high and Infliction can carry you to a slow victory if nothing else. I don't like slotting over Cauldron unless I'm sure I no longer need it.


After all that? It really just depends on what you find in the shops and on level up. If you happen to pick up Magic Key? And you then happen to come upon Magic Dagger? Pick up an upgraded slots and you can chuck dice into Magic Dagger and deal some decent damage midgame.

Find Life Drain? Instant purchase, no question about it.

Glass Cauldron? Very few reasons not to pick that up if for no other reason the ice effect.


General battle tactics? You have to stop and study your Spellbook. Like take for example a Magic Missile: it only takes even dice. So clearly if your aim is to chuck even dice into a Magic Missile you don't want to be short even dice once you summon it, right? So it makes the most amount of sense to put it on an odd slot in your Spellbook, a 1, 3, or a 5. If Magic Missile happens to be your bread and butter spell? Make sure your even slots on your spellbook aren't where other amazing spells you might want out in the same combat.

Like if you're running both Ice Shard and Magic Missile? Nothing wrong with that, but realize you're going to want to chuck every 5 you roll into an Ice Shard. *Bad Idea* to then put Magic Missile on slot 5 in your spellbook -- it necessarily restricts your options.





That all said, let's talk about Parallel Universe and Bonus Round: Now in these modes the game adds a new mechanic to the Witch: Mana. There's certain spells that give the Witch Mana which activates certain secondary effects on some Spells. You will only find these types of spells in Parallel Universe. In Bonus Round? You'll find all the plain jane stuff and the Parallel Universe stuff.

The thing about both suites of spells is often they have little synergy with each other. Like a Magnifying Glass is, for all intents and purposes, just a better Doppledice (except in those situations in which you have Mana and you need that Mana for later in your turn, but dammit if you don't need to use Magnifying Glass first to make all the magic happen and you're kicking yourself for not picking Doppledice).

Point is that instead of Ice Shard, Electric Shock, and Burning Light, there's also Cold Snap, Lucky 7, and Sun Beam.

Lucky 7 is both easier and harder to set up than you'd think, but when it sucks? It *really* sucks.

Sun Beam is alright.

Cold Snap is where it's at because it only requires your Mana be at a certain level. It doesn't actually consume Mana -- I mean it's still little recompense when you can't roll a 6 to save your life for Snapdragon, but at least it's there.