Skills:
ACID COCKTAIL: Throws a projectile that bounces between targets randomly, up to 2/4/6/8 bounces. Non heroes are all stunned for 5 seconds. The first hit on a hero (the hero you click on) stuns for 1.5 seconds, each subsequent stun is 1 second. Heroes suffer no damage, creeps suffer ?/?/?/150. This is the skill you use to set up Cursed Ground/Maledict, as otherwise landing is is somewhat difficult. In addition at level 4 this allows very easy and cost effective jungle farming.
MOJO: Identical to Warlock's shadow word pain. 10/20/30/40 hp lost or regenerated per second for 8 seconds, depending on if the target was allied or opposed. Not imbalanced in of itself, ridiculously imbalanced with maledict.
CURSED GROUND: Curses a small area. For each hero that sustains the curse, every 100 life lost from the beginning of the curse results in an additional 10/20/30/40 magic damage taken every 4 seconds, up to the 12th second (3 ticks). This essentially amplifies all damage dealt to the hero by a huge amount because of the multiple ticks, there are graphs of the amplification effect (150% amp at level 4!). Suffice it to say that it's enough to cut down even the toughest heroes.
SPIRIT WARD: Plants an attacking ward that fires at enemy heroes, doing 60/90/120(90/120/150) physical damage per shot. This spell must be channeled. This ward unloads a very large amount of damage in a short time, but unfortunately the moment enemies see you plant it they will stun you. However, when combined with cursed ground the damage it deals is amplified, and a cursed hero that stays anywhere near the ward for a few seconds is dead. Note that this is physical damage and thus reduced by high armor. (Helm of the black legion no longer reduces spirit ward damage which strengthens the skill greatly)
Witchdoctor is balanced in dota because of his lack of significant direct damage other than his range attack (ward is easily walked away from). Curse->Mojo guarantees easy kills early game and does ludicrous amounts of damage from levels 6 to 11.
Skillbuild
1. Cocktail
Cursed Ground
Cocktail
Cursed Ground
Cursed Ground
6. Spirit Ward
Cursed Ground
Mojo
Mojo
Mojo
11. Mojo
Cocktail
Cocktail
Ward
Stats
16.Ward
Stats the rest of the way
Two levels in cask are typically sufficient to land the maledict in the early game. Ward is unnecessary early because of the strength of Mojo and the difficulty of placing and channeling it in a useful position without being interrupted or killed.
OPTIONAL: Although I believe you need two levels early game, you can pick only one level in cask and put the other into mojo to try and get a very early gank.
Item Build
Pretender's Crown x2 - 185x2
Minor Totem x2 - 53x2
Runes of the Blight - 90Standard +6 stat loadout. Keep in mind Jester doesn't typically have the mana pool to do more than one cask->curse->mojo combo before being completely drained. Do not spam your spells.
Buy/Build
Crushclaws x2 - 150x2
Fortified Bracelet x2 - 175x2
Marchers/Boots - 500DEPENDING ON THE SITUATION
Punchdagger - 500
Novice's Book - 1000
Codex L1 - 1350or
Manatube - 875
Blessed Orb - 2100The choice here is between improving your spike damage and picking up sheepstick for team fights. In unorganized games codex is almost always the better choice, as combined with mojo it's 720 unavoidable damage on the maledict, which kills everyone under 1500 health without a sweat. On the other hand, early sheepsticks allow for very high damage stacking from your death ward, and are invaluable in team fights. The additional all around stats and mana regeneration also help a great deal when babysitting teammates.
Build Late
Acolyte's Staff - 2700g
Build totem of Kuldra if you haven't already
Post-Haste - 2200
Platemail - 1400g Acolyte's Staff - 2700g
Frostfield Plate - 600gThe sheepstick is the go-to disable and crucial for team battling, and its other stats gives Jester the regen and stats he needs. Shivas boosts survivability a great deal and adds another 200 damage to the spike on the maledict.
OPTIONAL ITEMS
Shrunken Head - 3910gGreat item on witchdoctor if you want to get your ult channel off all the way. I personally find it difficult to choose this item over sheepstick early, however, because the hex is that much more valuable, and you likely won't have time to farm both and your shivas. If you pick this item up, pick it up right after sheepstick and pick up the next item - forgo shiva's entirely.
Staff of the Master - 6000gThe stats make it a great survivability booster, and improving the ult is a nice touch. There are better options for raw survivability, though, and the improvement to the ward dps is countered by an assault cuirass.
Hellflower - 5025gCheap damage, good silence, infinite mana, but every item I've listed so far should be higher priority (maybe except codex) because this item does nothing for your survivability and a disabler jester shouldn't be autoattacking that often. Pick it up for pub carry jesters.
Playstyle
Last hit and harass. Jester has one of the highest base damages of any hero and has good lane staying power with his heal. Don't bother going for the kill if solo until level 5 (L3 cursed ground), if your teammate has a direct damage spell a level 3 kill is usually viable. Casking is a superb escape mechanism, and your heal should make you essentially immune to opposing harass and ganks, given proper situational awareness.
Into midgame, the combo is easy enough. Avoid initiating fights, as good opponents will see the cask and spread out. Otherwise, cask->cursedground->mojo->codex->ward if the cask still has them locked down. Remember that cursed ground has a short cast range, if at all possible cask at close range to immediately light off the cursed ground. Whatever you hit should die.
This doesn't change late game, but you need to coordinate with your team in terms of locking down opposing carries, saving teammates with appropriate sheeps and casks, and shredding enemy tankers with cursed ground.
Keep in mind that voodoo jester is one of the more speedy and cost efficient int farmers once his cask is level 4 - one cast of cask will clear a camp while you autoattack stunned creeps. Consider leveling cask to 4 early and ignoring mojo if you had a bad early game and don't have either your codex or sheepstick parts deployed.
BUDDIES
(Icons: Pyromancer, Thunderbringer, Blacksmith) - Standard int heroes with heavy direct damage complement your cursed ground quite well.
(Icons: Swiftblade, Jereziah) - Heroes that require positioning complement your cask and can up your cursed ground ticks.
ENEMIES
(Icons: Jereziah, Demented Shaman, Accursed) - Because cursed ground calculates the difference in hp between ticks, healers will ruin your day and prevent cursed ground from being effective.
(Icons: Predator, Jereziah, Magebane) - Magic immunity and magical damage reduction also hurt your cursed ground's effectiveness.
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