Class Guide: Witch Elf Overview

The Witch Elf is a lightly armored melee DPS class for the Dark Elf race of Warhammer Online. They specialize in stealth and assassination, carefully choosing weaker targets that their blindingly fast ambush attacks can bring down quickly and quietly. Witch Elves in Warhammer lore are known as the Brides of Khaine, being chosen at a young age among from among their peers during the Death Night, where Witch Elves roam the streets, break into houses, and capture Dark Elf children. The girls are taken to be trained to become Witch Elves themselves, while the boys are tossed into cauldrons of boiling blood.

Witch Elves are easy to distinguish, as their meager scraps of heavy clothing wraps vital areas, but leaves them free for highly dexterous meneuvering. They are silent assassins who prey on the weak, brandishing dual poison coated daggers. The Witch Elves can choose to lurk in the shadows, inaudible and invisible, until the time for attack is right. Their attacks are lightening fast, and often in a flurry of motion that destroys their targets before they even have the opportunity to mount a defense. As they fight, they're bloodlust grows, granting them higher power and the ability to perform special deadly attacks.

There is no such thing as a male Witch Elf, so when you are creating a Dark Elf character of the Witch Elf career you will only be able to choose the female option. Witch Elves are very lightly armored starting off, with just a few scraps of armor and two meager daggers, but as they grow in power they earn more powerful weapons, the ability to use poisons, stealth, and more complete armor for their exposed areas.

Playing a Witch Elf

The Witch Elf is the ideal class to play for people who enjoy stealthiness, assassination, close combat, and fast paced action. They are very much like the Rogue, Spy, or Assassin classes often found in other popular games. However, the Witch Elf pays a price for their ability to deal massive amounts of damage quickly. In return, they are very lightly armored, and susceptible to attacks. If caught, a Witch Elf isn't very difficult to kill, which is why they must always stay hidden, or one step ahead.

Playing vs a Witch Elf

Most lightly armored caster or ranged classes live in constant fear of the Witch Elf, because of their ability to sneak up from behind and inflict devastating attacks that cripple or stun their targets. The best way to avert Witch Elf attacks is to stay as close to a group as possible, and take advantage of AoE attacks that could cause the Witch Elf to lose their concentration and therefore their invisibility. For most low-armor classes, if the Witch Elf gets the jump on them then they often will not survive. Highly armored classes stand a much better chance, and should be on the lookout to protect their low-armored allies.

In the next article of this series we will consider some of the specific abilities of the Witch Elf class, their available Mastery Paths, and how to use them effectively.