Ghost Widow is a mid-ranged Helix-type Nuker in MXM. Specialized in long-ranged harassment, she is capable of collaborating with allies in teamfights with her various CC skills, and also excels in 1v1 combat with a considerable amount of skill damage.

Her skills deal constant damage to enemies. After the first strike, her skills remain as debuffs on enemies which deal damage over time. Her ultimate is used to bind enemies and deal critical damage with the help of allies. There are also a couple of skills such as Life Drain and Tenebrous Tentacles that are convenient targeting skills.

Her survivability is not that great, thus she needs to maintain a certain distance from her targets. Because her survival skill only creates the smallest of gaps between her and her enemies, many choose Ethereal Images as a supplemental survival skill.

Recommended Master options

Recommended Augment

Ghost Widow has relatively long cooldowns and therefore her weapon attack is a crucial part of her damage, especially due to her passive. Equip Weapon Damage to increase the damage.

Recommended skills combinations

This combination consists of targeting skills that can easily be used and also deal critical damage over time with debuffs.

This combination improves Ghost Widow’s survivability by allowing her to invincible for a short period of time with Ethereal Images. Although the damage might be weaker than other combinations, the playstyle is much easier and safer. You can choose skills other than Life Drain if you so desire.

Nodes

In the Offensive Node sockets, Weapon Damage is favored in order to enhance her weapon attack damage. Cooldown Reduction also works well with Ghost Widow as her cooldowns are relatively long.

Recommended Auxiliary skill

Recovery Pulse is recommended to increase survivability in Titan Ruins. The skill can still be cast concurrently with Life Drain, providing her a better chance of survival.

Traits priority

Depending on your taste, you can either choose Skill Power or Weapon Damage, as the damage from her skills and weapon attacks is formidable. Skill Power is specialized in dealing burst damage, whereas Weapon Damage may be effective when skills are on cooldown.

Summary of Ghost Widow’s skills

Ghost Widow’s first active skill is Life Drain. It steals life from a target foe for 7.5 seconds, damaging them every 1.5 seconds and healing Ghost Widow. Upon casting the skill, a purple tether is created between Ghost Widow and the target, and it will sever if your target moves too far away. You can still move while using the skill, so you need to be careful of maintaining the distance so that the tether is not cut off.

Her second skill is called Fearsome Stare. Ghost Widow fires a projectile of negative energy that strikes the first target in a line, terrorizing the target for 1.8 seconds. The affected target becomes uncontrollable. The projectile automatically explodes upon impact or when it reaches the maximum range.

Tenebrous Tentacles is also a targeting skill. The target affected by this skill receives a debuff that deals constant damage for 5 seconds. In addition, a small circle is created around the target, and other enemies in that circle are dealt 50% of the damage over time. It is easy to use with splash damage as long as the target is within the range.

Upon using Ethereal Images, Ghost Widow changes into her Ghost form and summons 3 copies of herself. The ghosts roam around randomly for 3 seconds and explode when they disappear. The biggest merit of this skill is that Ghost Widow becomes ethereal during this time, gaining immunity for 3 seconds. This is why players often choose this skill to have more solid survivability. While ethereal, Ghost Widow cannot use weapon attacks or skills and is unable to jump.

Her ultimate is Soul Storm. When used, Ghost Widow enraptures a target for 3.5 seconds and unleashes 3 blasts of necrotic energy and generates two missiles of dark energy each time Ghost Widow deals damage. The binding effect works quite effectively with allies during teamfights.

Note that moving or attacking will cancel Soul Storm. Ghost Widow must not move while casting her ultimate in order to maintain it. You may become exposed to enemies if you stay for too long, thus it is recommended that you cancel the skill in dire situations and only use the skill when there are allies nearby who can help you out.

Ghost Widow’s passive is called Consuming Darkness. It increases her weapon damage by 12% per debuff on her target. This passive makes Ghost Widow’s weapon damage very powerful, even though her primary role is a Nuker. All active skills aside from Ethereal Images inflict debuffs on hit. Her survival skill is Dark Passage, which allows Ghost Widow to dash 3 meters and strips buffs from all targets she collides with.

Using Ghost Widow - the use of debuffs and weapon attack is crucial

The biggest merit Ghost Widow holds is that she possesses many targeting skills that will definitely strike the target as long as they are within range. Those skills are Life Drain, Tenebrous Tentacles, and Soul Storm. Therefore, players do not usually stress about whether they can strike their target or not with Ghost Widow.

The use of weapon attacks is also very important. While using Life Drain, you can still use weapon attacks. The skill inflicts a debuff on the target, which empowers Ghost Widow’s weapon attacks due to her passive, making her even more powerful.

The same logic applies to Fearsome Stare and Tenebrous Tentacles. Both inflict debuffs on the target. However, Fearsome Stare is a non-targeting skill, and therefore Tenebrous Tentacles is more favored than Fearsome Stare. If you are confident that you can land Fearsome Stare, it may work even better since it terrorizes enemies.

In the case of Tenebrous Tentacles, you can use the skill first on the target, and use weapon attacks constantly from a distance. The damage done through the combination of the skill and weapon attacks will surely make your foes fear you.

Soul Storm needs to be used when you are certain the time is right. It is a powerful CC skill that enraptures the target for 3.5 seconds, but Ghost Widow cannot move while casting the skill, which leaves her exposed to enemy attacks. Therefore, it is ideal to use the skill when there are allies nearby who can help you out while you cast the ultimate, or when you and your target are isolated and there is no chance that more enemies will come.

You need to know whether the target’s tag system is on cooldown or not when you play Ghost Widow. This is because the debuffs inflicted on the target by Life Drain or Tenebrous Tentacles disappear when the affected Master switches. Therefore, it is recommended that you use these skills when the enemy’s tag system is on cooldown.

Even though her skill and weapon attack damage is considerably good, she is not capable of surviving focused attacks. Ethereal Images is the skill that supplements her weak survivability. This grants invincibility, allowing her to nullify any enemy attacks in dire situations. 3 ghosts summoned upon casting the skill explode after 3 seconds, but they are uncontrollable so you do not need to worry about them too much. Use it when you are under focused fire, and distance yourself from your enemies using the survival skill.

During teamfights, you need to place yourself at the backline and keep using skills and weapon attacks. When the fights last longer than expected, you will most likely use more weapon attacks than skills since their cooldowns are usually more than 20 seconds. If a battle looks like it might last a while, try to concentrate your skills on the closest single target rather than spreading them out.

However, if the enemy team’s main damage dealer is in the frontline, use Dark Passage to get close, then ult and have your team finish them off. Taking out the biggest threat will make the rest of the teamfight much easier for you and your teammates.