Witch Handbook (Classic All Any)

[Randyxpxp]

My favorite three roles are serial killer, executioner, and witch. I am unlikely to write any extensive analysis of SK as I do not want to discuss core facets of my strategy, both in relation to play as and against SK. Executioner speaks for itself to a large extent, I feel, and if I were to ever write a stand-alone guide for executioner, it would mainly cover what is already widely known and practiced. Executioner is also a different kind of neutral evil than witch. Executioner only needs to lynch its target, and at that point, it wins whether it lives or dies and whether town wins or loses. Witch, in contrast, must both survive until the end of the game and ensure town loses to win. Witch is one of the more complicated roles in the game, and is the only neutral evil that must under all circumstances survive until the end of the game to win, and can never win with town. Witch is also, in my consideration, the most powerful neutral evil, given its ability to both identify roles and control targets. This power is balanced by its one-use mystical barrier, and its requirement to both survive and orchestrate the demise of town. In this handbook, I’ll describe various facets of witch gameplay, with a particular focus on Classic All Any, going from the relation between witches and other roles to day and night strategies for witches. As in other threads of this sort, this post is especially meant for new players, who usually haven’t played that many witch games or interacted with that many witches. As stated, this is primarily designed for Classic All Any, as opposed to Ranked. All Any involves a different set of permutations and strategies, and is naturally more chaotic and evil-oriented than Ranked, which is far more structured and town-centered. In AA, witches can coordinate with multiple NE and NK, as well as vampires and NB. This handbook illustrates some of the possible scenarios and strategies witches can encounter and employ, including some of my personal preferences.

First, it’s important as witch to know which factions you win with. However, although you win with any of these factions, you can often choose which faction to side with, and may even deliberately orchestrate the demise of another evil faction. This is, in fact, a natural part of witch gameplay, as witches must resolve the faction disputes to end the game, even if all town are already dead. If, for example, both mafia and vampires still remain, a witch must ensure one of these factions dies in order for the game to end, even though the witch wins with both factions. (An exception to this is if the evil factions kill each other off and only the witch remains, in which case the witch wins.) Which faction a witch sides with is dependent on the witch’s strategy and preference, which can vary from town to town.

For other evils, it’s also important to know that, when a witch is attacked by a basic attack and this attack is absorbed by the witch’s mystical barrier, a defense message will not be shown to the attacker. This means the person attacked is either a witch or was healed by a doctor. This lack of a defense message is one way in which evils can identify witches. Bear this in mind when you attack someone and receive no defense message. As mafia, don’t assume that your MK (i.e. mafioso/godfather) hit an immune target in the normal sense. They may have attacked a witch, and you can discern whether your MK hit a possible witch by asking your MK whether they received a defense message. If they saw no message, their target could be a witch.

Witches win with:

Mafia
Vampires
Serial Killers
Werewolves
Arsonists
Survivors

Witch Claims:

Currently, my preferred fake claim as witch is doctor. I select this role for multiple reasons. Firstly, if you witch an evil and specify to them in whisper that you “healed” them (i.e. imply your fake claim is doctor), this evil can “confirm” you as a doctor at some point by claiming they were attacked and healed on the night you claimed to heal them. This is, of course, a lie, but it should provide you a nice cover, as you will appear to be a doctor who healed this person. Secondly, if you publicly reveal as doctor, and you still have your barrier, you can claim that you will self-heal tonight. If you claim you are going to self-heal, you probably won’t be attacked. Now that you’ve used your “self-heal” you will still have your barrier left if someone decides to attack you on a future night. This should also have bought you enough time to find/coordinate with evils in order to not be attacked by them. Claiming doctor is also less aggressive in some sense than claiming TI. Evils are often afraid of being investigated, checked by a sheriff, or seen by a lookout. They are also less likely to attack a doctor claim who claims it will self-heal tonight. Furthermore, witches often claim TI, and lookout and investigator claims become suspect. (You may still have a lookout will as a backup in case you are investigated, in which case I suggest you have at least one visit in your will, rather than "nv" for all nights. You can use a dead person's will for a visit, use a dead person with no will or a cleaned person, or use a fellow evil's name. You may also make something up, or use the name of a person you controlled and have them as visiting the person you witched them into.) I highly recommend that you never align fake investigator results to your witchings, as this should out you as a witch to observant players. I also like veteran as a fake claim, and other claims such as survivor and amnesiac can work as well. As discussed later, claiming witch also has possible benefits, and in some scenarios, it is the best claim you can make. In All Any, it is less likely there is a jailor to execute you or a vigilante to shoot you, and even if there is by the time you claim witch, there are ways to counter these roles. One way to counter being executed by a jailor is to have another witch or a consort visit the jailor when you are jailed. If you and a witch or consort each know the jailor’s identity, you may each visit the jailor in case one of you is jailed that night. You will not know if the other witch or consort is jailed, and they will not know if you are jailed, so it’s safest to prevent the jailor from executing in case one of you is jailed.

If you’re outed by an investigator, your main options are to claim lookout, claim investigator and find your accuser as sheriff/exe/werewolf (implying your accuser is executioner), claim veteran and say you alerted, claim escort and say you RBed them, claim vigilante and say you shot them (implying exe), claim transported, claim transporter and say you transported yourself with someone else (works especially well with a dead lookout, dead witch, or cleaned role), claim another role and call the investigator fake, or claim witch and attempt to divert attention to another evil, or even frame someone you know isn’t evil as being evil. Sometimes, none of these options will work, and you will be lynched or executed anyway. That’s part of the game, and you can’t really control that.

If you’re seen visiting by a lookout and your target claims witched and you’re the only visitor, your options are similar, and once again you don’t really control whether you’re lynched or executed at that point. You may even confess to being a witch and simply ask evils not to vote you, although in many instances this is unlikely to work even when evils have a majority.

Suggestions:

1. Do not claim TI and out an evil unless you have established coordination between yourself and an evil faction who will secure you victory. Claiming TI D2 and outing a mafia you found N1 is more than likely going to make you a target of mafia and other evils.
2. Ensure you are about to whisper someone without making a mistake and revealing the contents of your whisper to the town. Ensure the person you are about to whisper to is the person you intend to whisper to. For simplicity, I use the “/w #” format.
3. Make a habit of checking survivor claims at some point if you can. These are usually either survivors or evils. If you find a survivor, this confirms them, and you can confirm them to others and gain their favor. If you find an evil, you may coordinate with them or perhaps get them lynched in the case of werewolves or arsonists, NK who can get you killed if kept unchecked. Survivor is a popular arsonist claim.
4. It is entirely at your discretion whether you out the roles of others in your will. I personally tend to make a witch will in case I am killed by evils, as I usually avoid being killed by a vigilante or a veteran, and if I’m jailed, I can delete my will before I’m executed so the jailor doesn’t gain any information from me. Evils also know that if they kill you, they may be exposed in your will. This can deter them from attacking you.
5. It is not gamethrowing for you to rid of other evils so long as your intent is to ultimately see town lose and see evil win. You do not have an obligation to keep every single evil alive and unexposed. Nor do they have an obligation to keep you alive and unexposed. In some instances, it is gamethrowing to let the last evil die, particularly instances in which you knowingly rid of the last evil in the knowledge that town will win if you do. Generally, though, there are multiple evils present, and it is entirely your discretion which evil faction you side with.
6. Be neutral within reason. Don’t aggressively push others needlessly. If you don’t say anything and you don’t vote, this is more likely to make you look like a possible witch in the eyes of observant evils, who may notice that you aren’t claiming anything or voting against anyone at all. Saying anything or voting against anyone risks making you a target.

Witches and Town:

Doctor/Bodyguard – If you find a TP, you may use them to protect yourself, or to witch them away from other targets such as jailors or mayors. Using a TP to protect yourself is particularly useful when you have no barrier and your life is in danger. Be advised, however, that if your target is turned into a vampire the night you witch them and the vampires now have a full clan of four, witching them into you again will cause the vampires to attack you unless the youngest is prevented from doing so. Be careful when witching any target to you.

Vigilante/Veteran – Witching vigilantes is a common strategy of witches. Vigilantes can be used to kill other town, resulting in the suicide of the vigilante unless the vigilante is turned into a vampire the night they kill the town member. If you aren’t sure who’s town, it may be better to simply witch the vigilante into itself. If you know a veteran, witching town (or even a werewolf or arsonist) into them can be very effective in getting rid of people. Many veterans will still alert even after they’ve been revealed, and this can kill important town like vigilantes, TP, and TI.

Investigator/Sheriff/Lookout – If you find an investigator early, you may want to keep witching this person until they’re dead (or control a killer into them), as if they happen to find you, they are likely to try to get you lynched on suspicion of being a witch. Sheriffs are less dangerous to you, as you show as non-suspicious to them, and lookouts will only find you if they happen to watch the person you witched. Lookout is also a classic witch claim and can be used to deflect suspicion onto a real lookout. Be sure to tell other evils if you find a TI.

Spy – A spy can see whether its target was witched. The spy can use this information in several ways. For one, it can observe whether the target claims witched. It can also observe whether the target is whispered to by anyone, and whether the target whispers back. The spy itself can also claim to be the witch who witched the target, and can use this deception to get the target to reveal information to the spy, which the spy can then use against it. This is a rather advanced play and one rarely seen in actual practice, in part due to the risks claiming witch can incur. A spy can also see whether its bugged target was attacked and healed, so if you falsely claim you healed this target, a spy may out you as a liar.

Escort/Transporter – You cannot witch transporters, but you can witch escorts. If an escort is preventing an MK from killing or a vampire from converting, you can control the escort away from their target. You may also witch an escort into a jailor to prevent the jailor from executing an evil without you being seen by a lookout on the jailor. If the jailor has an SK jailed or a werewolf jailed on a full moon, this can kill the jailor and even the escort. Transporters in particular are a nuisance to witches, as they can disrupt witch results (among other issues), and if evils have majority, parity, or near-majority, I often try to get a transporter lynched first to prevent any mishaps.

Jailor/Mayor – If you find a jailor, it is likely than any unknown player you control into them will benefit you, unless the player is a TP. If you know an evil killer’s identity but you don’t want to whisper to prevent suspicion, you may control this killer into the jailor you found. If you find a mayor, controlling unknown players into them is likewise a potentially useful strategy, as you don’t care if they die. If you find a jailor and you suspect they are trying to execute an evil, you may want to control them to prevent them from doing so. This can get you seen by a lookout however. If there is a revealed mayor and a revealed jailor, consider calling for the jailor to jail the mayor to keep them safe. This can make you look like town trying to protect the mayor, when in reality what you’ll usually want to do here is witch the jailor to execute the mayor. This can easily result in the demise of town, particularly when the jailor is killed the same night.

Retributionist – If a retributionist reveals itself or you find a retributionist before it revives, it is usually the optimal strategy to prevent this player from reviving someone unless 1) the only player they can revive is a relatively innocuous role like a medium and you don’t want to risk being seen by a lookout, 2) there is likely to be a lookout on them, or 3) there is an active werewolf and you fear the werewolf will attack them. If a jailor dies and a retributionist reveals itself or you know one’s identity, you will almost always want to prevent the retributionist from reviving the jailor, as this can easily spell doom for evils when the jailor returns from the grave and the retributionist is confirmed town. The same applies to mayor to a lesser extent. If a retributionist claims ret and fails to revive, this can also result in it being lynched.

Vampire Hunter - I don't usually control vampire hunters until they become a vigilante, although you won't always know when they've become a vig. One reason I'm okay with VHs killing off vampires is that there tend to be other evils I'd like to side with anyway, and I don't want vampires around who may attack me. Once they're dead, I can also control the VH turned vig. Besides this, the VH may not even find vampires at all, and their wills can confirm I'm not a vampire. In most towns, I'd rather witch an arsonist than worry myself about a vampire hunter.

Witches and Mafia:

If you find a mafia member at night, it is usually in your interest to whisper this person, reveal you are a witch to them, and request they tell you the names of their mafia members. Some experienced mafia members will tell you the names of their mafia even if you don’t ask. One of the reasons it is useful to both witches and mafia for a witch to know the mafia’s identities is so the witch can know who is not mafia, which both makes it easier for the witch to find NK and other roles and prevents the witch from unintentionally witching mafia into mafia or other roles into mafia. Witches can then coordinate with mafia members going forward, both with respect to day actions and night actions. As mafia, it is critical that you tell your fellow mafia when you have found a witch, as it is typically better for mafia to not attack, blackmail, or frame a witch and to instead target others.

However, before you whisper an apparent mafia member, be sure to take a few possibilities into consideration. Firstly, it is possible that your original target was actually transported with a mafia member, and, as a result, you did not witch your original target but the person they were swapped with. If your original target is town or someone who is against witches, and you whisper this person and claim witch to them, they may out you immediately, which can result in your death. To counter this contingency, wait to see whether your original target claims transported. If they claim transported, it is likely that you didn’t witch them, but someone else. If they don’t claim transported, they may still have been transported, but if they don’t claim witched, that lends to the likelihood that they are the target you witched and have not claimed witched in order to conceal the fact they were witched. Generally, mafia and NK should not truthfully claim witched, as this can out the witch who visited them if a lookout saw them visit. If a witch is outed in this way as a result of an evil claiming witched, the witch is likely to out the evil either to prevent themself from being lynched or to spite the evil who outed them. So, if you witch someone, and your target claims neither transported nor witched, it is likely the person you witched last night is this person, and you are safer to whisper them than if they claim transported.

If you find a mafia, I would suggest it is normally safer to whisper them during the voting period, especially when at least one person has been voted against. The votes combined with the chat are more likely to make your whisper less noticeable, and in any case, it is stereotypical for witches to whisper evils at the start of the day, which provides town members plenty of time to develop suspicion of both parties and vote against them, or worse. (One risk in waiting to whisper a mafia member is that the mafia may not know you’re a witch until it’s too late and may vote you up for any reason, which can result in you being lynched.) Often, players may not even notice a whisper between a witch and an evil during the voting period, although this depends in part on how active the voting period is. If the town is quiet, and the voting period is quiet, it may not be worth the possible suspicion to whisper your target, as this whisper is very likely to be seen, and deemed suspicious by observant town members. On the other hand, if you don’t whisper the evil and reveal your identity to them, you may be attacked or otherwise harmed by their faction. An added benefit to whispering an evil comes in the form of signaling to other evils that you are a possible witch whispering to a possible evil. It is more likely, generally, that the person who initiates a whisper is a witch as opposed to another evil, especially a whisper in the latter part of the day. Observant evils, such as serial killers, should notice that you whispered to someone, and should deduce the likelihood that you are a witch instead of another evil. As a result, other evils may attack the person you whispered to, and when this person turns out to be evil, this can silently confirm to other evils that you are in fact a witch. I’ve done this several times before as NK. I’ll see someone whisper someone D2 or D3, I’ll attack the person they whispered to, and when the person they whispered to turns out to be an evil, I’ll deduce that the person who whispered first is likely a witch, which they usually are. Evils can then use this information to their advantage to stay away from the witch and gain the witch’s favor.

Another aspect of witch and mafia interplay is the particular role of the mafia member you witch. If you witch a consigliere, for example, and you decide to whisper them, tell the consigliere whom you witched them to, as they will have investigated this person’s role, and they can also tell you what this person’s role is. If you witched a mafioso/godfather into someone and the target did not die, you may tell the MK whom you witched them into so they can determine whether this player is immune, is a possible witch, was healed, or was jailed. If you witch a consort into someone in an SK game and the consort doesn’t die to SK, it is unlikely the person you witched the consort into is an SK. The same applies to a werewolf game on a full moon. Bear in mind that if you control a godfather, you generally cannot be attacked by mafia even if the mafioso or the godfather targets you. The godfather overrides the mafioso’s target, and a witch overrides the godfather’s target. There are possible scenarios in which it is safer for you to control mafia to ensure they don’t attack you, especially scenarios in which mafia express hostility to you, although, generally, mafia who know your identity should not visit you, and do not pose you a serious threat. If you can do so effectively, it is beneficial to both parties for witches to coordinate with mafia as to whom the witch will control tonight and whom the mafia will target. This becomes easier as you learn the roles of others and share those roles with the mafia. As the days progress and evils take control of the town, whispering more also becomes less stressful. Although witches will often side with and win with mafia, there is a risk that even a witch who has sided with mafia up to now will ultimately side against them. Despite this risk, it is normally not in the mafia’s interest to kill or lynch a witch, as this can easily result in the demise of the mafia itself, especially in games with multiple NK and/or vampires present, or a powerful town member such as a protected jailor.

Witches and Vampires:

The witch/vampire dynamic is comparatively simpler. In my experience, vampires are less likely to reveal their names to a witch, partly given the risk a blackmailer overhears the conversation, and partly given the risk the witch itself may side against the vampires. If the vampires at least know the witch’s identity, however, they will be unlikely to visit you. Again, if vampires do not reveal their identities to a witch, this makes it harder for the witch to find dangerous NK such as werewolves and arsonists, or targets like sleeper jailors, and the witch may also unintentionally control targets into the vampires themselves. There is a delicate balance between the witch’s knowledge of your faction’s identities and the witch’s ability to more clearly identify roles. As witch, I’m more interested to find NK such as werewolves or arsonists than to worry about screwing over a couple of vampires. If I know who the vampires are, this makes my picture of the role list clearer, and can ultimately benefit the vampires in the end. Vampires are less of a threat to witches than NK, and witches are less of a threat to vampires than NK. If you find a vampire, be careful as to how much information you reveal, as, if you reveal any identities of mafia members, a blackmailer may overhear this and try to get you killed in retaliation. Be aware that, currently, if you control any vampire, this overrides the votes of all vampires and forces the youngest vampire to visit your secondary target, so you don’t need to find the youngest vampire in order to control them.

Witches and Serial Killers:

I would suggest that serial killer is the most potent evil for a witch to side with. There are several reasons for this analysis. Firstly, the SK can kill role blockers such as escorts, consorts, and jailors on both odd and even nights, and the SK’s attack is both basic and cannot inadvertently kill a witch in the way that werewolves can when they rampage. If a witch controls a werewolf and the werewolf is RBed by an escort or consort, the werewolf will stay home and maul all visitors, including the witch. If a witch controls a jailor who has a werewolf in jail on a full moon and the werewolf is not executed, the werewolf will maul both the jailor and any visitors to the jailor, including the witch. Arsonist is also more dangerous to witches than SK, as arsonists bypass the witch’s barrier, witches generally cannot know if they are doused, and there may be more than one arsonist in the game, which can cause a witch to be ignited even if the witch prevents another arsonist from igniting. In essence, werewolves and arsonists are more dangerous to witches than SKs, SKs always attack escorts, consorts, and jailors who visit them, and SKs do not rampage like werewolves.

Secondly, the SK can be used as a bargaining chip by the witch, in the same way that a witch can use a werewolf, arsonist, or other evil as a bargaining chip to prevent themself from being lynched. Rather than lynch a witch, a town is more likely to lynch a neutral killer or mafia member, especially in late game when several people are already dead. Town, mafia, vampires, and other NK all want the SK dead at some point. Even NE and NB may want the SK dead. If you find a serial killer in AA, I would suggest that it is in your interest to not out this player unless you yourself are outed as a witch or suspected of being some other evil, in which case you may deflect attention from yourself by claiming witch and outing the serial killer. Sometimes, the SK is the last evil alive, and you need them alive to win, in which case the scenario differs. In those cases, you will want to maintain both of your covers, or otherwise use the votes of others to your advantage, such as the votes of neutrals like survivors or executioners.

SK also has basic defense, unlike most mafia members and all vampires. It cannot be killed by mafia, vampires, vigilantes, or other SKs. If you find an SK, I would suggest you claim witch to them and reveal the information you have to some extent, keeping mafia members a secret unless you know there isn’t a blackmailer. Letting a serial killer know your identity allows you to divert their attention to others and give you the space to witch others instead of the serial killer. Even a solo SK is a powerful ally for a witch, especially in towns in which mafia/vampires are dying off and the witch needs another evil to secure a win. I also personally favor SKs over mafia typically, and will play both sides until I can safely doom the mafia. Although it is probably safer and easier to simply side with mafia, I like to side with SKs, in part because SK is harder to win as than mafia, especially as solo SK. SKs also have less capacity to cross you, as their numbers are usually lower than mafia and they are usually more desperate for an evil to side with. If you find yourself flanked by two or more serial killers, however, they can force you to side with them under the threat that if you don’t, they will both attack you, and you can only control one of them. There are various possible scenarios in which evils can effectively force you to take their side or else risk dying.

Witches and Werewolves:

As stated, although witches win with werewolves, a werewolf is one of the most dangerous evils for a witch. There are a number of reasons for this, the main reasons being that, even if a witch finds and controls a werewolf, the werewolf may be distracted by an escort or consort and forced to stay home, which will kill the witch unless the witch is healed. In addition, if a witch controls a jailor who has a werewolf jailed on a full moon and the jailor is prevented from executing the werewolf, the werewolf will inadvertently attack the witch. Other possibilities include the potential of another witch controlling the werewolf or a witch controlling the witch who is trying to control the werewolf, as well as the possibility of a transporter who prevents the witch from controlling the werewolf or who inadvertently transports the witch into a werewolf attack. So again, although witches win with werewolves, and although there are some scenarios in which the werewolf is the last evil and the witch must keep them alive to win, in the majority of instances, it is safer for the witch to get the werewolf killed sooner rather than later to prevent the possibility of the werewolf intentionally or unintentionally killing the witch. Your barrier only absorbs a single basic attack, not a powerful attack like a werewolf’s. A town is also more likely to lynch a werewolf you’ve found than you, whether you’ve revealed yourself as a witch or not.

Witches and Arsonists:

Like werewolves, arsonists bypass a witch’s mystical barrier. Arsonists are especially dangerous to a witch when there are multiple arsonists alive. Even if a witch controls a single arsonist to prevent it from igniting, there may be one or more other arsonists who ignite and incinerate the witch. As such, I would suggest that any arsonist is generally a top priority for the witch to get lynched or executed. The only real exception to this is when arsonist is the last evil, and the witch needs them alive to win. Normally, however, there will be mafia, vampires, or other evils for the witch to side with, less dangerous evils, whose attacks can be absorbed by the witch’s barrier. Be sure to tell other evils when you find an arsonist. They will be more likely to vote to lynch the arsonist than if you simply silently vote against the arsonist without telling anyone why. Although witches win with arsonists, this witch/arsonist dynamic is deliberately designed into the game as an evil vs evil interplay that tactical witches must take into account if they are to operate safely in a chaotic town.

Witches and Survivors:

If you witch a survivor, the survivor will not claim witched if they are smart. If they do claim witched, they likely are less experienced, as, if a witch is seen visiting them and is outed, the witch is now more likely to frame the survivor as an arsonist in order to prevent themself from being lynched (or simply to spite the survivor after the witch is lynched), a contingency that could have been avoided altogether had the survivor simply stayed quiet. (An exception to this is when a survivor asks to be witched to confirm themself or a witch says they will witch a survivor claim to confirm them.) Often, in late game situations, most or all of the town will be dead, and mainly or only evils/neutrals will remain, in which case it is more likely to be safer to claim witch to a survivor to let them know you know they’re a survivor and to get them on your side. If you know someone is a survivor and you are friendly to them, you can get them to vote with you and other evils. The survivor can effectively become an extra evil for you to use in your evil endeavors. Letting other evils know the survivor is a survivor can also prevent them from wasting abilities on the survivor, which can in some circumstances even be key to an evil victory.

Witches and Amnesiacs:

If you find an amnesiac, this places the amnesiac in an odd predicament. They know a witch knows they’re an amnesiac, and if the amnesiac remembers a town role, this risks them being targeted by the witch or other evils whom the witch is in coordination with. An amnesiac who is witched is more likely to remember an evil or neutral role even if the witch doesn’t claim to them, unless town has a strong presence or the amnesiac is determined to remember town despite the dangers. If you want an amne to remember an evil or neutral role to benefit you, you may whisper them to remember a certain graveyard role. This implies that if they remember a town role, you will get them killed. Asking an amnesiac to remember a non-town role reinforces their motive to not cross the witch who found them, whereas if you simply say nothing, they may remember a town role instead. Bear in mind, however, that you don’t need to say anything to them, and they should recognize that you know their identity and that you pose a threat to them if they side against evils.

Witches and Witches:

As with many other evils, if you find a witch, you’ll want to whisper to them to let them know you’re a witch, and to both give them your witch will and ask for their witch will. You may ask them not to visit you, as witching you can screw up your results at night. Other witches should know this already, but it may be safer for you to explicitly specify this to the witch so they know that you don’t want to be visited. You may also coordinate with the witch to determine who will witch whom tonight. Again, your priority targets are arsonists, werewolves, jailors, and vigilantes, as well as mafia. If you find yourself in a situation in which you can either A) risk your life to save a fellow witch or B) keep yourself safe at the peril of the witch, the latter option is, unfortunately, probably your optimal strategy, as you must in all cases survive to the end of the game to win. If you die, you lose even if other witches win. Don’t sacrifice yourself to save others. (Note: If a witch controls another witch, the first witch’s secondary target becomes the second witch’s primary target. The second witch’s secondary target stays the same. For example, if a witch wants to control a serial killer to kill a vampire, and another witch controls the witch into a mafioso, the witch will control the mafioso into the vampire instead.)

Witches and Executioners:

If you find an executioner, although you may be tempted to whisper them to ask them whom their target is, don’t do this. Once you see this player push someone, you’ll know whom their apparent target is, and you can decide then whether to push their target or not. I personally recommend not voting against anyone in early game as witch, as this decreases your neutrality, and can easily make you a target of evils (or even jailors or vigilantes) who see your name on the voting record. Be advised, though, that if you don’t vote up an executioner’s target, or if you abstain or vote innocent on their target, this may make the executioner side against you later. This is only a slight risk but it’s still a risk. What is more useful to you is to tell other evils you’ve found an executioner so they don’t waste their time attacking or investigating this person. If an executioner who’s already won asks you for a role and the executioner has given no indication it is siding with town, it is probably better to claim witch to them, as if you claim a town role, they may try to get you lynched for being town. If they claim they will side with town, you should probably claim a town role to them rather than witch. Executioners have no obligation to benefit you once they’ve gotten their target lynched.

Witches and Jesters:

Sometimes, when a witch finds a jester, the witch will actively try to get the jester lynched. I highly advise against this. Firstly, when the lynched person turns out to be a jester, this can cast suspicion on you as someone who pushed a jester to be lynched. Secondly, and more importantly, aggressively trying to get anyone lynched at all can, as stated, make you a target of evils or others. Other evils don’t necessarily know you’re a witch. They may only know that you’re trying to get someone lynched, and this can create hostility towards you. You are neutral evil. You have no obligation to help jesters. Not only can trying to get a jester lynched make you a target of others, but if you vote guilty or abstain on a jester, the jester itself may haunt you. I choose to forgo this risk altogether and never vote guilty or abstain on jesters unless the town has made it clear that anyone who votes innocent will be deemed suspicious, in which case I will probably vote guilty rather than abstain, as jesters may be more likely to haunt abstainers. (As a side note to this, never beg a jester to spare you or ask it to haunt someone else if you can be haunted. I recommend you simply say nothing at all if you have a chance of being haunted. If you vote innocent, you may ask the jester to haunt someone. If they appear to be a jester before they die, you may whisper to them during their last words to request they haunt someone. Asking them this the moment before they are lynched is safest, as they will have almost no time to reveal the fact that you have asked them to haunt someone.) As in the case of witches and executioners you find, you may let other evils know you’ve found a jester so they don’t waste their time on this person or possibly get haunted by them.

Witch Gameplay:

D1/N1: In All Any, scrolls are active, unlike Ranked. As such, players may equip evil scrolls, and you can glimpse the presence of scrolls on the role wheel before the game starts. A player’s skin, pet, house, and name can also be used as information to estimate the probability that this player is using an evil scroll. Players who have non-default skins, pets, and houses are more likely to have scrolls equipped. Both the visible role wheel scrolls as well as player appearances can be used to calculate whether someone is more likely to be evil D1 based on their appearance. This is before any analysis of what players say or do. When the game first starts, look at everyone’s names, skins, pets, and houses, and use this information in your consideration of who to witch into whom. Other information you can use includes what players say, whether a player speaks at all, what players claim, whether anyone claims survivor, whether a mayor reveals, whether anyone claims jailor or vet baits. Evils often say nothing D1 in AA in my experience. I highly recommend that you not visit anyone who speaks D1, even survivor claims. Although witches may want to check survivor claims, D1 survivor claims are occasionally veterans, and even if they aren’t veterans, there may be a lookout on them, and they may claim witched. Instead, I like to use survivor claims as a secondary target N1. In my analysis, a survivor claim is the most likely secondary target to be safest, in the sense that it is both the most likely target to be neutral and the most likely target to have night defense. You don’t want to inadvertently control mafia into mafia, or TK into mafia, or something like that. Using a survivor claim as your N1 secondary target provides you a safer, more neutral option to use your primary target on. Once you determine your primary target’s role, you can then decide whether you’d like to continue to use the survivor claim as your secondary target or use different targets. If no one claims survivor, you may instead simply witch someone quiet into someone else whom you hope is not evil. You may even decide not to witch anyone N1 at all, but I personally don’t like to do this in All Any. You can frequently find either an evil or a town N1, and even if you only find a survivor or an amnesiac or you witch someone who dies N1, you at least gain some information. Some witches also like to vet bait D1 to prevent themselves from being targeted, but I actually think that talking D1 in All Any is more likely to make you a N1 target than simply saying nothing. Saying nothing also maintains a higher neutrality level in the eyes of evils such as mafia.

On a side note, if you happen to be jailed, be sure to have a claim and will ready to give to the jailor. Even having a N1 will can be useful to prevent you from being jailed again. Note that if no one claims witched D2 after you are jailed and then someone claims witched D3, the jailor may notice this and decide to execute you. To counter this, try to figure out who’s evil D2 so that when you witch someone N2, you witch an evil and they don’t claim witched.

D2/N2: If you find an evil and you want to whisper them, I suggest, as stated, that you wait until later in the day to whisper them. This makes it less likely that town will develop the momentum to vote one of you up to be lynched, as opposed to whispering early in the day before voting begins. Try to get as much information from this evil as you can D2 without whispering too much. If you can, limit the whispers to one whisper each. If you whisper too much, you are more likely to be noticed and deemed suspicious. If you find a werewolf or arsonist N1, I suggest you control this player again N2 to prevent them from possibly killing you. You don’t need to do this, but that’s what I personally advise. If you found an evil such as a mafia N1 and you’ve learned the identities of the mafia, witch other players to learn their roles and stay away from mafia unless your plan is to quickly destroy the mafia to favor other evils.

D3: By Day 3, the tone of the game is set, and you should have a clearer picture by now of who’s evil and who’s town, as well as whether there is a werewolf. There are probably at least one or two claims, if not more, and there may be a revealed mayor, a jailor claim, or other revealed town who are trying to lead. Don’t get on these players’ bad sides. Although I recommend you remain neutral and not vote, if the town has a strong presence and not voting would likely be deemed suspicious, you may want to vote to make yourself look like town. Every decision is situational and depends on the various factors at play. Even if you get an evil or two lynched, this may not matter in the end. By D3, you should still have your barrier if you haven’t been too aggressive and/or you’ve managed to coordinate with evils, and from this point, it’s a matter of both making sure town loses and making sure you survive. D3-D6 are the most likely days that you will be in a position to safely claim witch, whether publicly or in whisper, with D4-D6 being more likely than D3. I have even claimed witch D2 before however, when there were clearly several killers on the loose and I didn’t want any of them to visit me N2. Whether you claim witch or not, it’s critical that you not make yourself a target of other evils at night, whether by aggressively pushing evils, asking for roles, or even merely voting against anyone. (Some evils may target you for being too neutral or too quiet, but I think this is unwise and in virtually every instance these same evils will probably lose because of their miscalculations.) I would recommend not voting, not saying anything publicly, and overall being neutral and friendly until you’ve established a solid plan of action, at which point you pick a side either actively or passively. You have to pick a side at some point, unless there is only one evil faction present. The most likely ways that witches can die, in my estimation, are from werewolves, arsonists, transporters, inattentive evils, investigators, lookouts, vigilantes, veterans, and jailors. If you haven’t claimed anything and you find yourself in a mid to late game scenario, you may claim investigator to suspected town in whisper to bait them into giving you their roles. This often works and you can use this information against them.

Conclusion

Ultimately, whether you survive as a witch is left in part to chance, and the chaos of each unique town and the unique players who constitute it. Even if evils know you’re a witch, they may try to get you killed anyway, or otherwise interfere with your plans in some way. They may even think you’re a town trying to trick them into thinking you’re a witch. Whatever the case may be, you normally need evils alive to win, even if you don’t like them for your own reasons. Under rare circumstances, the only evil left will be a witch or two, and it is here that a witch must be especially careful not to out itself or else risk being lynched with no other evils to divert attention to. Witch is a powerful neutral evil, but must maintain a delicate balance between town who want to lynch it and evils who may inadvertently (or even intentionally) kill it. Your best bet is to kill off as many town as you can as quickly as you can without drawing attention to yourself, and then, once evils have majority, parity, or near-majority, you can set plans into motion to finalize the doom of whatever faction you wish to see die, or simply sit back and let the evils sort it out amongst themselves. Above all, I find that narrowing the number of killers in the town to two types is very useful for witch: the witch can get one of the killers to side with the witch and the witch can control the other killer to make sure it doesn’t attack the witch. If you don’t control killers like this and you instead remain completely neutral and allow them to sort it out amongst themselves, you risk one or both of them attacking you intentionally or unintentionally, which can prove fatal.

[GrumpyGoomba]

k

[Randyxpxp]

k

Thank you for bumping my threads in this way. I really appreciate it.

[GrumpyGoomba]

k

Thank you for bumping my threads in this way. I really appreciate it.

Np! Just helping a buddy out. :D

[danihaley]

This is so cool!!! Big thumbs up for the obvious effort put into this. I hope many people will see this and attempt to use some of these tips. I know I will!