This breakdown revisits a BSJ coaching session focused on a Witch Doctor match played by Reviview, a player who has spent more than a decade in the Herald bracket. The session highlights the most common low-rank habits holding players back and explains how fixing a few core fundamentals can drastically improve performance.

Below are the major lessons from the session, organized to help players apply them immediately.

Level One Skill Decisions and Why Timing Matters

One of the simplest but most important adjustments is to avoid skilling an ability before the game begins. BSJ stresses that players should wait until they are actually in lane or fighting at the rune before leveling their first spell. The correct choice depends on what is developing in front of you.

If your ally has a stun and you see a potential rune fight, skilling Maladict on Witch Doctor can secure an early kill. If there is no fight, a defensive or sustain-focused spell may be better. Holding your point gives you flexibility and prevents wasted early-game potential.

Key Points

• Never level a spell before the lane or rune fight begins.
• Evaluate whether a fight is forming before committing to Maladict, Voodoo Restoration or Paralyzing Cask.
• If an ally has a reliable stun during a rune fight, Maladict can secure a kill.
• If there is no engagement, prioritize the spell that best supports lane stability.

Delaying the decision gives Witch Doctor the freedom to adapt to the opening seconds.

The Mandatory Sentry Ward and Starting Item Discipline

In Herald games, supports frequently skip essential starting items. BSJ is clear on this point. Every support should begin with a sentry ward. After collecting the initial bounty rune gold, purchase tangos and queue up another sentry.

This is foundational to the opening minutes of the game. Sentries allow you to block enemy camps and ensure your own remain available. Without this, you give the opposing support complete freedom to pull waves, reset equilibrium and relieve pressure from their core.

Key Points

• Always start with at least one sentry ward.
• After collecting early bounty rune gold, immediately buy tangos.
• Queue up an additional sentry after your regen purchase.
• Sentries determine early lane control by enabling or preventing pulls.

Early item discipline creates structure in the lane before the first wave arrives.

The Support Minigame: Blocking and Maintaining Camps

The early laning stage contains a strategic minigame between supports centered around neutral camps. Your objectives are to block the enemy’s small camp while keeping your own available. Doing so achieves two major advantages.

It prevents the enemy from pulling to fix their lane and denies them early experience. It also allows you to pull your own lane when needed, giving solo experience to your offlaner and creating a resource advantage. Herald supports often ignore this layer of strategy, but winning this minigame can decide the lane before the five-minute mark.

Key Points

• Block the enemy small camp to deny them lane resets.
• Ensure your own small camp is never blocked.
• Pulling your small camp gives your offlaner solo experience in lane.
• You gain experience and gold from the pull, helping you scale into the early mid game.
• Winning this minigame often matters more than early trades or spells.

For Witch Doctor, efficient camp management amplifies his strong trading potential.

Understanding Lane Equilibrium and Setting the Terms of the Lane

Lane equilibrium is the anchor of the laning phase. BSJ breaks down the two ideal offlane equilibria that players should learn to maintain.

The first option is to shove the wave into the enemy tower. This is not random aggression. It is a calculated push that creates time to pull the large camp, contest the Lotus pool or pressure the enemy heroes under their tower. When used intentionally, it provides the offlane with tempo and initiative.

• Creates time to pull the large camp.
• Opens the possibility of contesting Lotus Pools.
• Enables pressure or dives when conditions allow.

The second option is to keep the lane static near your own tower. This positioning keeps your offlaner safe while forcing the enemy carry to overextend for last hits. It opens windows for punishing mistakes without committing to unnecessary risks. Herald players often allow the wave to drift without purpose, but understanding these two states gives structure to your lane.

• Protects your offlaner from early deaths.
• Forces the enemy carry to overextend.
• Makes Paralyzing Cask and Maladict punishes more reliable.

Witch Doctor feels powerful when the lane is stable and suffocating when the enemy dictates equilibrium.

Playing Aggressively Only When You Control the Lane

If you are dictating the lane and the wave is where you want it, you can pressure, trade and look for kills. If the enemy controls the lane, aggression becomes a liability.

Recognizing who has control determines your posture. When you are ahead in the lane equilibrium, you can act. When you are behind, your priority is to minimize losses, avoid feeding and recover your lane position through pulls and resets.

Key Points

• Aggression is only correct when you control the lane position.
• If the enemy controls equilibrium, your goal is survival and stabilization.
• Resetting the wave through pulls is often more valuable than a risky spell trade.
• When you regain control, shift into decisive pressure with Cask and Maladict.

Aggression without wave control often leads to feeding and lost pressure.

Mid Game Support Responsibilities Between Minutes 8 and 15

Many Herald supports lose relevance after the laning stage because they drift without purpose. BSJ highlights a simple but often ignored job. From minutes eight to fifteen, no mid lane creep wave should die to your tower uncontested.

This experience and gold are critical for maintaining support levels and ensuring that rotations from your mid hero are not punished by lost farm. Picking up this farm is low risk, steady income and prevents you from falling behind.

Key Points

• No mid creeps should die to your tower uncontested during minutes 8 to 15.
• Mid waves provide easy, efficient experience and gold.
• Collecting them prevents a level deficit that many supports suffer from.
• Holding the mid wave also protects your structure when your mid hero rotates.

This single habit dramatically increases support impact in the mid game.

Benefits of Queuing With a Like-Minded Partner

BSJ suggests that coordinated play accelerates improvement, especially for players trying to escape Herald.

Key Points

• Pairs can coordinate pulls, lane positioning and early aggression more reliably.
• Shared understanding of tempo creates stable early-game patterns.
• One knowledgeable partner can elevate overall team structure.
• Consistent communication leads to more effective map movements.

Even one disciplined teammate can transform your lane outcomes.

Stacking Camps and Making Use of Downtime

When the lane is static near your tower and you do not need to be positioned defensively, stacking neutral camps becomes one of your most productive options. Stacks provide long term value for your core, especially heroes like Sven, Luna, Leshrac or Timbersaw who can clear them efficiently.

Instead of idling behind your offlaner, convert your time into future resources. Proper stacking is one of the easiest habits a support can develop to increase their impact across the entire match.

Key Points

• Stack camps when you are not needed in lane.
• Stacks create efficient farming opportunities for your cores.
• Heroes like Sven, Luna, Leshrac, Bristleback and Timbersaw benefit greatly.
• You gain experience when the stacks are cleared, helping maintain levels.
• Stacking during downtime is one of the highest-value habits for supports.

Smart stacking turns unused minutes into long-term resources.

Closing Thoughts

This Witch Doctor game illustrates issues common across the Herald bracket. Mechanics are rarely the problem; fundamentals are. The session reinforces that climbing requires structure, not improvisation. When players understand lane equilibrium, respect camp control, delay level-one decisions and use downtime productively, their impact improves immediately.