Witch

Note: the will not be playable in  game modes once the  expansion comes out, and instead will be reserved for games modes that are not apart of the  expansion.

Basics

 * Witches are immune to bites. To a, they will show up as "immune".
 * Witches are immune to role blocks caused by the and/or.
 * If the is the only faction remaining and there is only one Witch, the game will usually end automatically and the Witch will lose.
 * The first time the Witch is attacked, they will not die. The attacker will receive an immunity message. Note that attacks and  ignitions will bypass this, as the defense value gained by this is only Basic.
 * However, if there is at least one living who still has bullets, the game will continue.
 * If only one remains who has shot a  member the previous night, the game will still end in victory for the, even though the  would commit suicide on the same day. (This may be a bug.)

Controlling a target

 * First target: the player who is controlled. The Witch will visit them.
 * If the Witch's first target is role blocked by a, , or , the control will have no effect.
 * If the Witch's first target has no remaining uses for their ability, the control will have no effect.
 * The Witch will know the role of their first target.
 * The message the Witch will receive is the same message as the.
 * However, the is affected by anyone doused by an, which has them show up as so. However, you receive the exact role despite that.
 * If more than one Witch wants to control a target, the Witch who entered the lobby last will get to take control.
 * The controlled target will be notified if multiple Witches attempt to control them.
 * If a player has left the game, they cannot be controlled by a Witch. The Witch will still see the player's role, however.
 * Second target: the controlled player will use their night ability on the second target, if the control is successful.
 * If the controlled player has a visiting night ability, they will visit the second target. They will be seen by a and may die to the alerted  or the.
 * Witches will not visit the second target. They will not be affected by the, the , or visiting that target.

Controlling a target - effects on different roles
If Visit is yes, then a can see the Witch's first target visit the second target, even if the visit does nothing.

If Veteran is yes, then the first target can be controlled and can be attacked by visiting a who is on alert as the second target.

If Werewolf is yes, then the first target can be controlled and can be attacked by a who is the second target during a Full Moon night. 1 Note: The will not be detected by a  or forced to visit a  or, but his  can be, assuming the  is not role blocked. If the is role blocked, the  can be detected by a  and die to a  or.

2 Note: If the is not role blocked, the  will not visit the Witch's target. If the is role blocked, the Witch will be able to control the. The can be detected by a  and die to a  or.

3 Note: If the youngest is controlled, the youngest  can be detected by a  and die to the. If any of the other alive are controlled, none of the  will be detected by the  or die to a  or.

4 Note: The will stay home and attack himself, but he will not die. He will see that he has attacked at least two people which would be the Witch and the himself.

5 Example: Witch2 will instead control the to visit the.
 * Witch2 wants to control the to visit the.
 * You control Witch2 to visit the.

6 Note: If Witch2 doesn't select to target anyone that night, then Witch2 cannot be detected by a or die to a  or.

Strategy
The Witch is an odd and possibly devastating role that has the ability to control someone's action. This can cause events such as a making a and  kill someone that will make them more obvious, or causing a  to heal themselves instead of somebody else.

Messing with Town Roles

 * If someone reveals they are a, it's a good opportunity for you to control someone you want dead and make them target the ; if the goes on alert, whoever you controlled will die. If your first target is a killing role, however, they may end up killing the  instead if they did not alert.


 * You can avoid a, , or a from investigating you by having them investigating someone else in random or maybe themselves! However, always beware that if you control a  to watch themselves, your identity will be known.


 * If an calls you out you are forced into two positions, claim you were being transported or are a  (if available). The  is one of your biggest foes, so making sure that s aren't targeting you is one of your highest priorities.


 * Abuse a . If one is revealed, forcing him to kill another, such as a revealed , will be sure to anger the and may help you win. Make sure you don't visit a sudden  though since claiming  is one of their tricks.


 * If you know who the is jailing, you can force them to execute their target by controlling the  to target the person in jail. That can be devastating if the jailed target is an important  role, particularly the.
 * This also works the other way around; if you do not want a to execute someone, such as someone in your friendship, you can force them to target someone else, and they will not be executed.


 * Control a known to role block dangerous  roles, particularly  or  roles.
 * Even better, if you send an after a  or (on a Full Moon night) a, they will die and whoever they wrote in their Last Will as their target will come under suspicion (rather than the actual  or ); this can be particularly advantageous if you want to keep a  or  from targeting you or another evil buddy. Be cautious and to not do this to a  (unless you're certain you want to side with other evils.) Note that you will survive throwing an  to a  in this manner.
 * If a role is being repeatedly role blocked by an  and is unable to kill, you can liberate them by forcing the  to target someone else.


 * Using your powers to kill is not the only strategy a Witch can use! If you discover someone is a  or, have them target you. You guarantee yourself protection every night until your unwilling victim is put out of commission. An added advantage of controlling a  to protect yourself is that if the  tries to kill you and hits your bodyguard instead, and the  indicated (in their Last Will or in chat) that they were being controlled, then the  will learn that you're a Witch and will avoid attacking you in the future.

Controlling evil roles

 * If you find a role, you have to decide between controlling them continuously or focusing your attention elsewhere. Controlling them continuously has the advantage of ensuring they won't kill you, but it has the disadvantage of mostly wasting your capabilities otherwise (since you're not actually helping them win). If they're a member of the, this can be even worse, since there's a constant risk that you'll make them target their own teammates.
 * Controlling the is dangerous, since if they're role blocked, they'll stay home and kill all their visitors, including you.
 * Controlling the is dangerous, because if you have been doused without knowing and you force the  onto itself, it will ignite and kill you.

Revealing yourself to evil roles and teaming up with them

 * If you find who the other s or who the are, or it would be best to team up with them because you can win with any non- roles. Sometimes it would be best to make friends with both to avoid being killed at night. The best way to find out who anyone is by who you tell your target to kill for example, you can do this by telling person A to target person B. The next day, target B died from the . Then, you can find a quiet way of talking to them, such as a whisper to target A, "I know what you are; we can work together." This has its risks, though. The last thing you want to do is let the  know who and what you and the  are if you want to win. If they don't work along with you, then you can always rat them out in your Last Will.
 * It's generally not to your advantage to kill off the, since you can win with them; however, remember that unlike actual members of the , you always lose if you die and are capable of winning with the . Therefore, you can kill a member of the if you intend to side with the  and the  somehow becomes a threat to you. This isn't gamethrowing, provided that you legitimately believe killing them increases your chances of surviving. Similarly, since you have no victory condition after you die, it isn't gamethrowing to name them in your will (doing so can even be a useful threat to keep them from killing you). Part of playing the Witch is about building trust and cooperation with other evil roles, and having that trust fall apart is a legitimate part of the game. That said, siding with the  is usually your best path to victory, so killing them should be avoided whenever possible.
 * Another strategy is to whisper to the person you controlled that you visited them last night. As your visits leave a notification in chat, they should realize you are the Witch. The good thing is that this doesn't necessarily tip off a.


 * One way to identify yourself to an evil killing role the night after controlling them is to announce you were controlled the next morning. Assuming there's only been signs of one Witch up until now, they will ideally realize you're lying, which will hint to them that you're the actual Witch.
 * You could try and remain silent the whole game and not control anyone. This makes it so can't see you and people may think the  slot is another role. However, keep in mind that many evil roles tend to kill quiet people because they are often important  members.
 * It is generally a better idea overall to team up with the or  rather than the, if you have the choice. If it comes down to you, the , and the , the  will likely kill you in order to secure their victory, whereas the  needs you alive in order to lynch the.
 * While you can win with the as well, you're often better off siding with someone else and trying to get them hanged. This is because the  is both unique and a visiting role. You're at risk of being killed by the  even if they know you're on their side (except the ).
 * are another possible ally; they can't convert you directly and can have a large team. Be warned that will often mistake you for an enemy when they discover you're immune to conversion, and may out you as a result. As of 1.5.9, you can now easily identify, making them probably the best role to team with. Their numbers will help prevent you from being lynched and they have no way of backstabbing you. The only thing you need to be careful about is the  or a  discovering you. They will probably view you as a threat and kill you.
 * The Witch is unique among evil roles in that (unlike the ) you generally need to cooperate with someone else to win, yet (unlike the and Vampire) you lack a reliable way to communicate. You should be careful when whispering; not only does this expose you to a, but the simple fact that you're whispering a large amount can arouse suspicion, especially if anyone you're talking to gets exposed. At the same time, your lack of Night Immunity means you need to alert anyone you intend to cooperate with at some point or you'll likely end up killed by them.
 * If you've decided on one evil role you want to side with, it can often be advantageous to throw other evils at a confirmed . Either they'll kill the for you, or they'll die and won't be a problem anymore. This can be a particularly useful way to rid yourself of a  and Arsonist, who can be dangerous to side with (and beneficial for you to kill) for the reasons outlined above.
 * Publicly claiming Witch is dangerous, since it exposes you to, the , and any evil role who fears you'll side with someone else, not to mention the mundane danger of being lynched. However, it's also often necessary when you have failed to identify your allies; waiting too long to claim is equally dangerous, since evil roles will very likely kill you as they wrap up the game.

Claiming a role

 * Publicly claiming to be a early on can reduce the chance that you'll get killed at night, and neither  nor  can falsify that claim. However, if you use your powers, a  might spot you visiting, so if you're going to use this claim it might be best to hold off on controlling anyone early on. Additionally,  is a common claim by  roles, whom both the  and the  want dead.
 * Acting like a or  is another way to reduce the risk that the  will target you, since they don't need to kill those roles; however, you face the risk of being killed by a  or, or hung by a  that misreads your signal. Additionally, this clashes with your Investigative results; since a Survivor or  wouldn't generally pretend to be either, Investigators are likely to assume you're a must-kill evil.
 * A good claim is, since you know the role of the target you claimed, but remember to write an 's type of Last Will. Your ability gives you a degree of information, which (in an emergency) you can use to try and confirm yourself as an Investigative by outing a night killer you previously controlled. This can be particularly useful for discarding one evil role when you've decided to side with another (eg. getting rid of the or  when you intend to side with the ,  or .) This should be done with caution, however, for a variety of reasons. You ultimately need to side with one evil role or another to win; worse, convincing the evil roles that you're an investigative might get you killed by the people who are supposed to be on your side. Additionally, the target you controlled will know they were controlled and might figure out that that's how you identified them, outing you with their last words or in their Last Will. If you are making an 's Last Will, make sure that you put the right results and the roles in the right order. Otherwise, you could be seen as a struggling.
 * A way to get around this is to scramble your night visits of whom you controlled. Of course, a smart player could crack the code and you can be busted by a.
 * If you are going to claim a role, one easy one to choose is . Not only is a  will easy to make up (much better than ), you can also use who you controlled to write down visits. If you control person A to visit person B, write in your fake  will that you watched person B and that they were visited by A. Any accurate info besides writing "none" in a fake  Last Will will often be the difference between you getting lynched and being pardoned by the.
 * You should always declare your true role the moment you think the no longer has a majority to protect yourself from being killed or lynched, especially if there's an . Even when the  still has killing roles or still has a majority, it can often be safer to declare your true role than you might think; first, many people will take you for a, and second, you're low-priority from the 's perspective -- you can't kill directly, and they don't actually have to kill you to win. This doesn't mean it's safe;  and the  in particular are a huge danger to an exposed Witch. But you have to weigh this against the protection you get from the  and from  roles.
 * This is especially useful in Rainbow Mode where the has only two members, maximum three counting the Any slot in the role list. However, distrust is especially rampant in Rainbow Mode, due to the massive amount of different teams. The killing roles may just kill you because they are afraid you will side with the rest of the evils against them, while the  may kill you just because they may think you are lying. The  has a valid reason to take you out and most importantly, there is nothing you can do to keep yourself safe, since every team is made up of 2 killing roles with the exception of the . So even if you try to keep a confirmed  from killing you, there is always the second member of that team to worry about.
 * Like Investigator, a viable claim is . Using what you find from other people's investigations, you can help side with the team you want to win with as well as making the Town trust you. However, Last Wills are easily made, so even if you claim you found a  role and are siding with the, the  may suspect you as an  and lynch you. This is because  is a common  claim.  Another advantage to the  claim is that, if you should discover a non- member of the Mafia, you can signal to them that you are on their side by publicly stating that they are not suspicious.  Be cautious, of course, since this will put you under suspicion if they later get caught!
 * Another good fake claim is . After finding another evil role that you want to team up with, you can tell the person that you roleblocked them, and in general, this information will give them enough info to know your role while still making town trust you. Similarily, you can claim and tell your ally that you transported them.

General notes

 * When using your power to try and sound out who people are, remember that your primary goal is to impede the and to support evil roles; above all else, you want to avoid harming the evil roles you need to win. Therefore, try to make sure your second target is, or at least non-evil, and try to avoid deliberately controlling evil roles unless you're certain you can benefit from it or if you're worried they'll attack you if you don't. If you've identified someone as evil, don't target people at them unless you know what you're doing, since you probably don't want to kill them by accident.
 * When you're experimenting, never make your victim self-target (unless for achievement purpose or if you're absolutely certain you know what you're doing). There are several ways it can go wrong:
 * If they're a, you'll kill an ally.
 * If they're a on a Full Moon night, you'll kill yourself.
 * If they're a, you'll be outing yourself.
 * Most won't have any special effect when self-targeting; you'll waste their turn, but you generally do that by targeting them anywhere else, too.
 * The only who will really benefit you to self-target (the ) is even more effective when they target another.
 * You can make a known or suspected self-target in order to make them ignite, which can be useful if you think they've mainly doused Town members and not the . However, if you have been doused yourself, you'll die; to avoid this, you should make  target someone else every night to prevent him from igniting his victims, including you. If you feel like the  is the last obstacle to other evil roles' victory, rat the  out as an,  or  or even (when everyone else is evil) a Witch.
 * ,, , , and will not know who they are looking at if you tell them to look at a certain person. For example, if  A looks at target B, who is , and  A is controlled by witch to look at target C , the result would be the same as if they were originally looking at target C. For  roles, however, because the user knows they are controlled, they will usually end up scrapping the data for that night, regardless of the outcome, since there is no way of finding out who they ended up actually looking at.

Friendships

 * If you found the or  and want to make sure they do not attack you if you stop controlling them, you should whisper to them not to attack you. However if there is a  lurking around, then you would have to be a lot more careful in what you whisper, especially if someone is a proven . This is because if  discovers you whispering to someone suspiciously, then they may record it in their will, thus when they die you will be under suspicion. If the  is proven, and you control the  or  attack them, then they may be protected and not die (protection), wasting a night or you would lose your killer (protection). Additionally, if the  is proven, they will probably have no qualms in just telling the town what you whispered. If what you whispered is even slightly suspicious, most experienced  will simply jump the gun and attempt to have you lynched, which is quite annoying to deal with.
 * However, most of the time, if you can see that there are only 2 roles and none of them are, then you may want to whisper, as it will help guarantee your friendship with a killing role, leaving you time to create havoc among the rest of the . If you are checking the role list for spies then make sure to also check  and Any slots. However factor in that most of the time. taking the risk is important and very beneficial to you. Even if a  does call you out, the  will likely go for your ally instead of you, which could buy you enough time until the end of the game.
 * Whispering to a killing role that you have found is incredibly beneficial and most of the time they will accept your help. After all, you both have basically the same goals in mind and killing roles are usually alone, with the exception of unless all of the  have died, thus partnering with you ensures them your support and another vote, which can be devastating.
 * However in the unlikely event that the killing role that you have found decides, "Lets kill the Witch!", then you may want to "inform" them that their names will be in your Will, along with their roles and also the reason why you believed they were bad. This will most probably either enrage them and make them kill you out of spite, in which case you may as well screw them over, or make them cooperate. This is a bit of a dodgy, unwanted friendship, but still needed.
 * While you can't directly use them to win, you can impede the town by assisting s and you discovered through your ability.  In All Any, you can even side with an Executioner by backing them up when they make an accusation (claiming another Town Investigative role if necessary), then claiming to be a second Executioner yourself to protect yourself from being killed at night - it's not unusual to have multiple executioners with the same target in that mode.

Who to control and when
You want to ensure as many members die as possible and that your killing friend is not suspected. As a Witch, more attention to the roles is needed as you need to ensure that your allies survive. Townies are always the first killing priority because if worst comes to worst, they are the only group you cannot win with.

For example: You have found the early in the game (this rarely happens) and you know who the rest of the  are. If one of the eg. and are found out by an  then you may want to attempt to destroy their plan or ensure that town forgets about it. You can do this by telling the Godfather to attack someone who was supporting the /'s accusation and you, yourself can control a to heal the accused, this ensures that a) the /'s accusation is weakened and you can simply brush it aside without too much suspicion and b) The accused is not shot by a.

The reason why you should not be attacking an or  themselves is that this generally enrages the  more and most people will make the connection that whom they have accused has killed them to try and get rid of any suspicion. The or  may become a matter and in most likelihood, the accused will get lynched.

Dangers
The Witch can be incredibly powerful and incredibly damaging; however, it is up to you to use your mind and figure out what to do. But be aware of potential dangers.


 * Does it really need to be said? A can quickly and easily take you out if you're not careful. One suspicious whisper towards a potential ally and  will call both of you out, if not directly, then in their Last will, unless you side with  and a / does their ability on the . Even if you avoid getting lynched by claiming, if there's a good  in that game, they will shoot you, and you will die. Since your only way of getting in contact with an evil role is whispering, the  is potentially the biggest threat to a Witch's success, as well as a  being able to be discredited as an  if you're lucky, and an  may be fooled by a  claim if there is no  in game, a  is quickly and easily proven through the "-test", leaving you and your potential ally up the creek without a paddle.


 * If you have been consistently controlling a role to heal yourself then a smart  might visit the  to see who has been visiting them. Ignore this danger if the  role has not been saying they are getting repeatedly controlled or if you desperately need protection that night. Also, if you control a Lookout into themselves, a smart Lookout could notice this and call you out.


 * Pay attention to who this role has killed and guess/estimate how many alerts they have left. If they have used all 3 then do not bother kill them as they cannot do anything anymore and are not worth your time. However, if they have confirmed their role as, they do not have any alerts left and will trust them. Then, it will be best to kill them off and ensure a  role does not guard them. This way, you will have more leverage and a better chance to convince town that you are good.


 * An will see you as, Witch or ; since this has one  option, many of them will likely call you out. Witches are low-priority from the 's perspective (since you don't kill directly), but you could still be killed. Claiming  after an  has accused you is dangerous, since the  loses little by hanging a . Sometimes, the appropriate thing to do is admit to being a Witch; this may get the evil roles on your side, and late in the game (when they're at risk of losing the majority if they don't hang a killer), the  might not be able to spare the time to hang you. If it's early in the game, you can accuse the  of being an , but this is dangerous, since they can often prove themselves by posting their will.

Others: are not a huge danger to you, since you show up as not suspicious; if you are accused by one, either you were framed, or it's a  or other evil roles trying to stir up suspicion. React the way an innocent would; ask for their will or other details to prove their role, suggest you may have been framed (which a  may be able to confirm), call them out as an  when they fail to provide corroborating information and so on.

Early game: You are most vulnerable early game because you do not know any roles and you will be discovered immediately if someone simply points out that there is a Witch. In early game pay attention to how people act and what that may mean their role is. Discovering an important role early is your precious key to winning the game, so use whatever you can to protect it (without getting yourself lynched, obviously). However, if there seems to be solid evidence that your potential ally has been discovered... It would be smarter to add to the prosecution and completely ignore them. Early game is when most Witches will fall short.

Last Will: In your Last Will, you can keep a record of who you control and what. This is useful for your own records, and the knowledge that your will likely incriminates them will keep smarter night killers from killing you if they've identified you. If you wish, you can blank or edit your will if you expect to be hung in order to avoid incriminating evil roles; however, note that you're not required to do so. Witches have to be alive to win and always lose the game when killed, so (unlike actual members of the and ) it's not gamethrowing for you to incriminate your fellow evil roles when you die.

Trivia

 * The will retain their ability to know the roles of their target and they will gain a magical barrier that defends them against their first attack in the 1.6 update.
 * After the 1.6 update, if a chooses to attempt to bite the, the  will die and the  will be able to bite the next night.
 * Prior to 1.5.9, the would not know the role of their target.

Sorcière