Witch Doctor

The Witch Doctor is a type of enemy in the upcoming DLC, Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt. They were first officially revealed in a 20 minute gameplay preview released on youtube.

Overview
Witch Doctors are a type of Savage that populates the continent of Aegrus. Visually they are distinguished from other Savages by their particularly large, decorated headmask and glowing staff. According to Borderlands 2 producer James Lopez, Witch Doctors were specifically designed to provide a more significant challenge to the player.

Witch Doctors are a much more significant threat than other types of Savages, both in terms of overall health as well as in terms of the methods they can use to attack the player. Witch Doctors are also capable of supporting other Savages with special abilities, including healing them and directly increasing their level.

Witch Doctors can come in elemental varieties, with Fire and Shock Witch Doctors seen in the preview video.

Behavior
Unlike their more common Savage brethren, Witch Doctors have a wide variety of attacks, as well as a number of support abilities. All attacks seem to match the elemental alignment of the Witch Doctor.


 * Staff Blast: Releases a moderate-damage projectile from the glowing tip of the staff. Often used rapidly in succession.
 * Staff Beam: Does constant damage to targets within range and line of sight, similar to an ION Loader's electric beam. Can strike multiple targets at once.
 * Living Tornado: Surrounds himself with a whirling, elementally charged tornado, moving quickly across the battlefield and causing damage to any targets it comes in contact with. While in this state he is "pretty impossible" to kill, according to James Lopez, although he elaborates that players may be able to get in a "lucky shot". Maya's Phaselock will also stop a Witch Doctor in this state.
 * Level Up: Increases the level of any nearby Savages within a certain radius. This effect is permanent, and is accompanied by the "violin strike" noise heard when a Goliath levels up.  Witch Doctors may also heal themselves while doing this.
 * Debuff: Applies an unspecified "debuff" to a target. This attack is indicated by a tight "swirl" effect surrounding the target.  Killing a Witch Doctor in the process of causing a debuff will stop the effect.  The nature of the debuff itself is not known at this time.