i am sick of this

This guy is the perfect example of why we should, as a planet, test everyones intelligence. If you fail, you're either killed or sent to a colony with your own kind. Your choice.

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+1

Teseer to president! u got my vote mate

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hmmm very strange. Iz is the one who started this conversation (he insulted first) but everybody blames Maker

why?

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Regulus - Angel Build Guide

By LordGloom - 24th April 2009 - 18:58 PM

LordGloom here and today I am going to discuss my Angel DPS Regulus Build and go over some general tips that I use while playing Regulus. With your crossbow in hand, and your sniper scope sighted, you will go forth and leave a wake of destruction in your path.

Regulus

Much of Skel's body was later found in and around the cage in which Regulus had been held. The bodies of his henchmen turned up in improbable places, pinned to rafters, hung from arches, impaled upon statuary in the marketplace. Not a single Groffling had heard any commotion during the night. Being Grofflings, the deaths went unmourned, though some added that there was probably a lesson here about angering the Thelara.

Introduction:

The way I choose to play Regulus is one that I think most people will find very enjoyable. It offers great early game harassment as well as very powerful late game potential. I call it the Angel DPS Build.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Unrivaled DPS late game
High HP Regen through Lifesteal late game
Almost no mana problems once your helmets are acquired
AoE acheived through Mark of the Betrayer for lane control
Once you engage someone they cannot effectively run away because of snares
Outrange towers

Cons:

Glass cannon early and mid game, need to play defensively using hit and run tactics
Damage weak in early game (it scales fast however)
Little money is spent upgrading citadel
Little money is spent on potions, you must be smart and not let the enemy hit you.

Theory Behind the Build:

My build focuses on using Regulus's own +damage from being in angel form as well as many "Chance on Hit" items in order to synergize with giving him a very high attack speed from items. Most of these items are Chance on Hit to crit, however wyrmskin gloves give Chance on hit to slow. Which is very useful. Also I get only a single rank of Angelic Fury at low level just for the damage boost early on, At about level 6-8 you should have your two helms and your mana problems dither away letting you stay in this form for a while.

Build Order:

1 - Snipe I
2 -Sniper Scope I
3 -Maim I
4 -Snipe II
5 -Tracking Bug
6 -Angelic Fury I
7 -Snipe III
8 -Maim II
9 -Mark of the Betrayer I
10 -Snipe IV
11 -Mark of the Betrayer II
12 -Maim III
13 -Angelic Fury II
14 -Angelic Fury III
15 -Deadeye
16 -Impedance Bolt
17 -Mark of the Betrayer III
18 -Angelic Fury IV
19 -Sniper Scope II
20 -Sniper Scope III

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Item Build Order:

Starting 1000:
Boots of Speed: Once someone is maimed they will not escape unless you let them go.

Starting Favor:
Furious Blade:
100 HP
5% attack speed
15% chance on hit to increase atk speed by 30% for 5s

Other Optional Favor Items
Symbol of Purity:
Cooldown: 30 seconds
+250 Health
On Use: Purge all negative effects. Cannot use while stunned or frozen.
I use this when fighting multiple Unclean Beasts

Wings of the Seraphim
Cooldown: 45 Seconds
Use: +200 Health Per Second Aura for 10 seconds. Any damage will break this effect. The effect works only on Demigods.
In 5's games I will sometimes get this item to help out my team

Note About Optional Favor Items: These will all decrease your dps DRAMATICALLY however your DPS is 0 if you are dead. Be smart if you need to take Wings/Purity to keep yourself alive then do so, its not the end of the world!

Rounding Out the Build (Get these in this order)

Plenor Battlecrown
Wyrmskin Handguards
Vlemish Facegaurd
Mageslayer (Will be Sold Later)
Sell Mageslayer and buy Ashkandor.
Sell Wyrmskin Handgaurds for Slayer's Wraps (Crit Stack Technique) Optional
Orb of Veiled Storms
Rebuy the Mageslayer
Bracelet of Rage

Gameplay as Regulus:

Greatest Allies:
Rook - Huge tank can take alot of the heat off you, Boulder roll stun
Oak - Probably your GREATEST ally, Excellent survivability, Can Penitence people to up your dps
Unclean Beast - Can slow down the enemy

Worst Enemies:
Unclean Beast - By a long shot your worst enemy, Can burst tons of DoT's on you and can chase you down easily
Vampire Lord - Quite a bit of burst damage and a stun. He is able to warp in, stun and bite.
Torchbearer - In fire form he bursts very hard

Start of the Game:
The strategy for playing Regulus this way is very fun in my opinion. At the start of the game buy boots of speed and start running towards the flag which you want to capture. Capture it. Chances are you will be alone. On some of the larger 5v5 maps I will buy a scroll but usually i'll just leg it.

Early Game 1-5:
At this point in time you will probably be seeing your first opponent. Depending on who they are you will engage them differently. NOTE: For all of these people you want to take little to no damage during your engagement.

Lord Erebus: Harass with bolts if he approaches back away towards towers (his bite hurts!)

Rook: Harass and push him out of the lane (He won't be able to put up a fight)

Regulus: Probably just sit back and creep. If you can hit him he can hit you. With this build you want to take little damage

Sedna: Harass but do not let her get close try to make her burn mana on heals.

Queen of Thorns: Harass and kill her minions

Oak: Harass and kill minions

Torchbearer: Sit back and kill monsters try not to get hit too much by him.

Unclean Beast: By far your worst enemy. Try not to engage at all. Stay very far away.

Now based on that strategy you hold back the enemy at the point you are at. During this whole ordeal you will gain a few levels. Remember if no one is in the lane against you feel free to attack towers at level 2! With level 1 sniper scope you out range the towers! This is especially good with your favor item which will increase your attack speed and let you burn these towers faster!

Mid Game
Once I hit level 5 I start looking around the map at my friends. I try to see if there are any weak enemy heroes if there are I will usually take a sniper shot at them. If it doesn't kill them it will force them out of the lane which is just as good!

Start of Late Game:
At about level 10 or so (When I have my Wyrmskin Gloves) That is when I will start going around with my friends and ganking. The maim will be a consistent slow of about 10% on the target then when wyrmskin procs they start crawling at -25% movement speed. This lets my friend catch up and help kill. If they get away. No problem we got Tracking Bugs! Simply back up to max range (This is important) then snipe.

This is a common mistake I see people make while sniping. Snipe does Significantly more damage at max range than at close range. This is why you want to be as far away as possible when you channel the snipe! I will go over this more in the sniping section later.

Late Game to End Game:
Finally we start progressing towards late game. Depending on how well you farmed you could have your Ashkandor sword (Sometimes I will sell of all of my current items just to get this... and yes... it is totally worth it). Once you have your sword in place you are a huge threat to the other team. In Angel Mode you will be critting for 2000+. This will make any player wet their panties against you... At this point in the game you stay in angel mode all the time and start to wail on the other team with your amazing dps.

Remember always open with Mark of the Betrayer! It will help you aoe their creep waves down!

At this point the game should be drawing towards an end. And if you got this far... Chances are you will be victorious!

niping Tips:

Snipe is a very powerful move. Need I say more? I guess I should.

Here is now Snipe works. You target a player in range of snipe (about 1/2 the map in Cataract to give you an idea, or 90 yards if you can visualize that better). Then you take a few seconds charging up the shot and WHAM they are hit for Snipe Damage + Range of Snipe.

A Fun Fact about Snipe:
-If a player runs out of LoS when you have issued a snipe then you will continue towards them then execute the snipe once you get in range...

Hey! What a second...
At first glance this does not sound like a big deal... Let these pictures show you how amazing this is.

This is my poor friend the Rook. He currently has a tracking bug on him which is why I can see him. Look at the minimap and the orange line I drew. This is way to far to snipe and my tracking bug only has a few more seconds... Not a problem. I issue the snipe.

Gameplay as Regulus:

Greatest Allies:
Rook - Huge tank can take alot of the heat off you, Boulder roll stun
Oak - Probably your GREATEST ally, Excellent survivability, Can Penitence people to up your dps
Unclean Beast - Can slow down the enemy

Worst Enemies:
Unclean Beast - By a long shot your worst enemy, Can burst tons of DoT's on you and can chase you down easily
Vampire Lord - Quite a bit of burst damage and a stun. He is able to warp in, stun and bite.
Torchbearer - In fire form he bursts very hard

Start of the Game:
The strategy for playing Regulus this way is very fun in my opinion. At the start of the game buy boots of speed and start running towards the flag which you want to capture. Capture it. Chances are you will be alone. On some of the larger 5v5 maps I will buy a scroll but usually i'll just leg it.

Early Game 1-5:
At this point in time you will probably be seeing your first opponent. Depending on who they are you will engage them differently. NOTE: For all of these people you want to take little to no damage during your engagement.

Lord Erebus: Harass with bolts if he approaches back away towards towers (his bite hurts!)

Rook: Harass and push him out of the lane (He won't be able to put up a fight)

Regulus: Probably just sit back and creep. If you can hit him he can hit you. With this build you want to take little damage

Sedna: Harass but do not let her get close try to make her burn mana on heals.

Queen of Thorns: Harass and kill her minions

Oak: Harass and kill minions

Torchbearer: Sit back and kill monsters try not to get hit too much by him.

Unclean Beast: By far your worst enemy. Try not to engage at all. Stay very far away.

Now based on that strategy you hold back the enemy at the point you are at. During this whole ordeal you will gain a few levels. Remember if no one is in the lane against you feel free to attack towers at level 2! With level 1 sniper scope you out range the towers! This is especially good with your favor item which will increase your attack speed and let you burn these towers faster!

Mid Game
Once I hit level 5 I start looking around the map at my friends. I try to see if there are any weak enemy heroes if there are I will usually take a sniper shot at them. If it doesn't kill them it will force them out of the lane which is just as good!

Start of Late Game:
At about level 10 or so (When I have my Wyrmskin Gloves) That is when I will start going around with my friends and ganking. The maim will be a consistent slow of about 10% on the target then when wyrmskin procs they start crawling at -25% movement speed. This lets my friend catch up and help kill. If they get away. No problem we got Tracking Bugs! Simply back up to max range (This is important) then snipe.

This is a common mistake I see people make while sniping. Snipe does Significantly more damage at max range than at close range. This is why you want to be as far away as possible when you channel the snipe! I will go over this more in the sniping section later.

Late Game to End Game:
Finally we start progressing towards late game. Depending on how well you farmed you could have your Ashkandor sword (Sometimes I will sell of all of my current items just to get this... and yes... it is totally worth it). Once you have your sword in place you are a huge threat to the other team. In Angel Mode you will be critting for 2000+. This will make any player wet their panties against you... At this point in the game you stay in angel mode all the time and start to wail on the other team with your amazing dps.

Remember always open with Mark of the Betrayer! It will help you aoe their creep waves down!

At this point the game should be drawing towards an end. And if you got this far... Chances are you will be victorious!

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Another Fun Fact about Snipe:
-You will do significantly more damage when sniping at max range!

You can get up to about 300 bonus damage from sniping from the furthest possible point! Yay!

Final Thoughts:

This is a very fun way to play Regulus and the most important thing to remember is that the build is NOT static. Sometimes I will pick up Mines instead of Mark of the Betrayer. Sometimes I will pick different favor's if I need to be more defensive. Sometime I will get some Absorption and Dodge items to increase my survivability. The build is tweaked depending on the fight. However this is what it is 80% of the time for me!

I hope you had fun reading this guide! Come back and check frequently to see more of my guides.Another Fun Fact about Snipe:
-You will do significantly more damage when sniping at max range!

You can get up to about 300 bonus damage from sniping from the furthest possible point! Yay!

Final Thoughts:

This is a very fun way to play Regulus and the most important thing to remember is that the build is NOT static. Sometimes I will pick up Mines instead of Mark of the Betrayer. Sometimes I will pick different favor's if I need to be more defensive. Sometime I will get some Absorption and Dodge items to increase my survivability. The build is tweaked depending on the fight. However this is what it is 80% of the time for me!

I hope you had fun reading this guide! Come back and check frequently to see more of my guides.

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Whenever this guy posts, it makes me so very glad to actually be a conscious, thinking human being.

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To Be Or Not to 3v3

By pendrix - 3rd August 2009 - 15:20 PM

All right. Today we are talking about 3v3 team compositions and how these games usually turn out. 3v3 is the predominant format as well occurring on Cataract. So what we need to think about are: what the enemy team is running, what demigods we are good at playing, the synergy amongst our Demigods, and how we can stop what the other team is attempting to do.

We will begin with the basic premise of no doubling Demigods and provided is a sample team that is quite good. A good team has two support and a DPS (damage per second) Demigod. The DPS Demigod will not buy any Citadel upgrades, but instead focus on eventually getting artifacts.

Sedna (hybrid; support and later DPS)
Unclean Beast (DPS/tank --- ooze, which means mass HP armor, no helms!)
Frost Torchbearer (purely support, late game 3000 burst; our solo)

It is important that Sedna gets Healing Wind to help support the HP regeneration an ooze build necessitates. Have a Demigod from the 2 person lane grab middle when needed, and maintain the solo in his lane for as long as possible. Against minion teams, the Torchbearer and the Unclean Beast must use effective AoE, as well as make good use of Frost Nova's extended stun on minions. Against push teams, you need to rely on staying in the lane. That means not having to go back to crystal to heal unless they are as well. You also need to use Universal Gadgets and invest in tower upgrades quickly. The game becomes you versus the clock in such a game. Once you survive the first 15 minutes you should be okay, barring a misplay that allows them to capture and hold your portals.

If the enemy teams masses armor, it becomes important for Sedna to get pounce up quickly, as it ignores armor. This team is very strong on disables; you have one on each character. This means that you are calling out when you are going to Foul Grasp or use Frost Nova. What will really win fights is when you disable the enemy Sedna's Heal or Regulus's Mine throw. Late game, stopping Surge of Faith will win group fights. Do not expect any good teams to be using Rook, but it goes without saying that you should interrupt his Hammer Slam should it rear its head. Beyond using your disables as interrupts, it is a good idea to use them preemptively when you expect Queen of Thorns or Sedna to be popping a Bramble Shield or Heal (i.e. when the cool down is close to done and/or an enemy Demigod is hurt). Say we just knocked out a shield, and you think the Queen of Thorns is going to recast it soon. That is when you Frost Nova or Foul Grasp her. Furthermore, you can use Deep Freeze on guys who spam skills to prevent them from doing so.

It is beyond important that your team carry Teleport Scrolls as the game leaves lane play and enters a more free flowing game, where demigods move around the map without the constraints of having to level as much. Teleport Scrolls should be used to move quickly across the map for ganks and/or rapid defense of a teammate being chased or a flag about to be captured. Teleport Scrolls are most effective WHEN THE WHOLE TEAM IS USING THEM! Using other consumables like potions or Capture Locks could bleed you dry and leave you under-equipped or under-upgraded. That is not to say you should not use them but only do so sparingly or with a clear strategy in mind (like race to War Score 10 and Giants so buy lots of Capture Locks).

So something that has been happening more often is teams and/or individual teammates chasing kills. They wound one of the enemy Demigods close to death during a group fight and then chase without regards to what the other two enemies are doing. Should the nearly dead demigod be able to maintain distance, then your team is wasting DPS and allowing the other 2 enemies to attack with impunity. You must change targets here. You as a team must select focus targets and call out the usage of disables. Torchbearer using Frost Nova as the Unclean Beast is Foul Grasping. is redundant. Thus, any true premade must use VOIP software, such as Ventrilo, Teamspeak, or even Xfire. Xfire offers free voice chat even.

I hope you have found these insights into team play useful, and anyone wishing to discuss individual team makes (aka comps short for compositions) and matchups should feel free to PM me. Later I hope to deconstruct some of the more archetypal teams like a push or mass armor reduction setup.

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Quoting UnknownShadow,

reply 78

hmmm very strange. Iz is the one who started this conversation (he insulted first) but everybody blames Maker

why?

read all posts with "view edits"? im pretty sure a "smart" guy like u can understand.

ps: I would like to see some RED guy (i wonder who) put his feed in the toylet and press flush.

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Tip of the Week #16: Universal Gadget

By Texonater - 6th August 2009 - 23:06 PM

"Those who are skilled in Combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win."
-The General Zhuge summarizing a point of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Here is the Universal Gadget:
IPB Image

Cost: 500
Cast: 2.0 sec.
Cooldown: 10 sec.
Range: 15 yd
Use: Heal an allied unit for 2000 or damage an enemy unit for 650.

Below you will see the casting radius and animation for Gadget. It looks like a Teleport.
IPB Image

Universal Gadget Healing:
With Universal gadget you can heal for 2000 HP your
-Self
-Towers
-Allies
-Citadel
-Forts

Also, from an efficiency perspective, it heals 2000 HP in 2 seconds, while the Combat Health potion heals 750hp in .5 seconds and Robust Health heals 3000hp in 3 seconds. This puts it right in the middle efficiency wise as a heal, with the added ability to target others or deal damage.

Universal Gadget Damage:
The universal gadget can do an instant 650 damage to a target. Once targeted, there is no range limit. They can teleport away and you will STILL hit them. This will allow you to chase an enemy to the point of a gadget kill, without having to follow deeper into their defenses.

At level 1 each Demigod has the following base health.

Torch Bearer- 1450 HP
Unclean Beast- 1550 HP
Regulus- 1420 HP
Rook- 1900 HP
Queen of Thorns- 1450 HP
Oak- 1700 HP
Erebus- 1650 HP
Sedna- 1600 HP

This means Universal Gadget will kill a stock level 1 Demigod with over 1/3 health left.

Combine with the following moves for even more damage:
Level 1 Snipe (250+) and Gadget (650) for 900 damage (max 1150)
Level 1 Spit (50+450 over time) and Gadget (650) for 1150 Damage
Level 1 Penitence (200) and Gadget (695.5) for 995.5 Damage

Universal Gadget can almost do anything.

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LOL!

Edit: BTW, you can't watch a picture.

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3 Things To Know: Zikurat

By Polynomial - 22nd July 2009 - 17:37 PM

Of the dedicated "10 player" maps Zikurat is by and far the most popular. A symmetrical map it is often considered Cataract's larger, older brother. Here are this week's tips on Zikurat.

1) Forts Are Very Important
IPB Image

More than any other map the forts are essential to a clean victory. They protect your important gold flags. On a gold rich map like Zikurat you need to ensure your income is at least equivalent of your enemy's. But that is not the main reason you need to keep these forts alive. Once you reach war rank 7 trebuchets become available at the citadel. When you upgrade your forts with these, the trebuchets will actually begin taking down the enemy fort by itself. After the forts are down it then moves onto towers. This is an essential piece of knowledge to know when playing Zikurat.

2) Priests/Angels Are Not A Bad Idea
IPB Image

Before the last patch, getting priests early was always laughable. But give these units enough time and towers will begin to fall. On a map as large as Zikurat, you cannot possibly expect to have Demigods covering every spot at all times. Not only will your creep will overpower the enemy's but you may force the other team to recognize your creep upgrade. One wave of base creep only does this amount of damage:

IPB Image

Anyone who has played the game long enough knows if priests and angels are left alone on one side long enough, towers will begin to fall. So consider buying priests and angels earlier than you normally would. Your team should have enough money on this map.

Keep in mind late game that Zikurat is one of those capture lock maps when giants and catapults come out though. So keep your capture lock synergy going for as long as possible.

3) The Center
IPB Image

There is a lot to say about the center. This is one tip with multiple parts. The center is pretty much a way for any team to gauge who has the advantage. Having general Demigods actually play as generals on this map is extremely advantageous. The towers do not only block creep, no, they block your team from chasing. Its most important to take out your enemies "triangle" of towers in the center. This allows you to not only chase, but to even flank as you can run through their side of the center with relative ease.

Also, control of the center allows your team access to the artifact shop. So many people run by the artifact shop when dieing. When you need to run, pick up one of these and keep fighting.

IPB Image

Those tips alone are not difficult to determine though. The reason the center is the most important is because of the double creep wave. Its a Torchbearer's dream. Rain of Ice and Fire Nova will reign supreme and any Torchbearer will begin to dominate if your team can control the double creep wave. It comes often enough too that it allows for easy levels. And while your team is pushing the center, did you buy those priests and angels to add more worry to the other team?

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lol.. it's funny you think that your record means anything. But if stats matter to you, I was rank #1 on the ladder with ~80% win ratio when 30x more ppl played this game, and I think teseer is better than you

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The people who passed the test that was previously mentioned, understood the joke.

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strange fact: The amazing god known has your_maker refused to play against me even if he was obviously going to rape me with his amazing stats. why? we might never know.

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Wondering what Favour Items you should be getting? Which ones suck, and which ones don't? Heres a short list of the most useful ones and what build you should use them for:

Blood of the Fallen

This is usually best when playing as Rook as you will want to hit the highest HP as possible with him. Also viable with the Unclean Beast. Best favour item to take if you want your HP as high as possible.

Swift Anklet

This Favour Item provides a very useful +15% movement speed boost from the very start of the game. Already, you can outrun any Demigod (providing they haven't got it as well) which you will find can be very, very handy. Buying Boots of Speed as your first item too (cost 1k) will mean your base speed will start off with a +25% movement speed boost. Now you're definately the fastest Demigod on the field!

Staff of Renewal

Can definately be one of the most useful Favour Items avalaible - if used correctly. You will find this most useful with Demigods who use stuns as their main weapons - as you can now stun lock even more easily than before. A good example of a character who is good with this would be The Rook. Being able to throw a boulder stun every six seconds followed by a 2.1k Hammer Slam can be an enemies worst nightmare, as thats an quick 4.2k+ damage.
Wings of Seraphim

Lovely Favour Item that is usually most effective with the Heroes that are less mana dependant. Will most of the time heal your HP to full as long as you are not hit by anything while activated. Can save you a hell of a lotta time as you are not required to go back to the HP crystal (unless you need mana - hence how I mentioned is most effective with heroes who are not so mana dependant). This is especially useful on big maps.

Mard's Hammer

Nothing amazingly special about this item - just gives you a very useful passive effect of +40 damage and 5% attack speed. Most effective with Demigods who have high DPS- e.g. Regulus and Unclean Beast. This can really give you that extra edge in battle - especially early game.

Furious Blade

This item is definately one of the best and is a good alternative to Mard's Hammer. Definately recommended with Heroes that have high DPS so that the 50% increase in attack speed has a higher chance of being activated. Can catch other heroes off gaurd and get you a easy kill.

Cloak of Night

This item is only avalaible to generals. Definately one of the best Favour Items in the game. Provides some extra mana that doesn't hurt, a quick extra 200 damage (which is very useful for killing fleeing enemies on low hp) and a free warp. Useful with all generals - especially with Lord Erebus. Combine this with his bat swarm and you have a free 800 damage and two warps (total of 45 range).

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Tip of the Week #4: Offensive Combos

By Gnats3 - 7th February 2009 - 01:07 AM

This week I'd like to look at some good offensive tactics. In a lot of games what I see is one player trying really hard to beat up his opponent on one side of the map, while his ally is trying equally hard to beat up his opponent on the other side of the map. Spreading thin has its place, but if you work together, pool your resources, and use combinations of your team's abilities you will be far more successful.

You have front-end combos and back-end combos. A good front-end combo doesn't necessarily kill the opponent instantly. Instead it induces a sort of panic: "Oh look, they just took half of my hit points in 2 seconds, I had better run away." Get them running and you can either pursue at your leisure or consolidate the lane without opposition. If they don't run (or at least not quickly enough because you keep snaring/stunning them) you can always kill them with standard attacks.

Back-end combos involve grinding down your opponent's life and then trying to combo them for an instant kill before they can run. This works best when the opponent thinks he's only fighting one of you and the other one ports or warps in late in the duel or snipes from across the map.

A few of my favorites -

Lifesteal + Mines - Regulus and Unclean Beast work well together as a gank team because they both inflict alot of damage quickly and can use various abilities to slow their opponents. One I like is Beast using his Lifesteal to keep an opponent from dodging Regulus's Mines. This combo will take a huge chunk of life and at high levels slow the opponent for the subsequent Bestial Fury + Diseased Claws + Angelic Fury + Snare + Snipe (though the snipe probably won't be necessary)

Penitence + Pounce - Sedna and Oak can use their various heal and damage abilities to leapfrog all the way to the enemy citadel. One very nice combo is Oak's Penitence, which massively slows and debuffs the opponent, followed by Sedna's Pounce, which carves out a bunch of HP. Sedna and Oak can then walk at a leisurely pace after their grievously wounded enemy and swat at him until he dies. Or just send their minions to do it for them.

Hammerslam + Ground Spikes - in the current build Rook and Queen of Thorns have some of the most effective area damage spells. When they use Slam and Spikes together they can start any fight with a bang or finish multiple enemy Demigods instantly.

There are any number of useful Demigod combinations and synergies. The trick is to try to anticipate your allies as well as your opponents. The best teams seem like they are being controlled by one player; chaining combos effortlessly. Nothing will teach you how to do this but practice and the knowledge that you can work more efficiently together than you ever will seperately.

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Tip of the Week #5: Making Sacrifices

By Gnats3 - 9th February 2009 - 01:30 AM

Demigod, like any competitive game, occasionally requires that you make tough decisions. Sometimes you can keep your forces alive and defeat the oppponent. However, you typically lose some in battle along the way. At times, you will also need to sacrifice your loyal troops to obtain victory.

Units in Demigod are fairly easy to summon. You can get one-half of the maximum number of a particular General unit with a single spell, and unique units are also easy to find. Thus, it makes sense that you can afford to sacrifice them. One example of a situation where a unit can be useful is Regulus's mine fields. Each mine can do a lot of damage to a Demigod. However, your units have high health and somewhat low damage. Running a single unit through a mine field will trigger the mines while keeping your Demigod alive, at little cost to you. Remember, minions are cheap as dirt after the initial price for the idol since you can quickly regenerate mana at the health crystal.

Another opportunity for sacrifice comes in the form of towers. Normally, you don't want to lose your own towers; they provide a safe haven for your Demigod and cannot be rebuilt. However, if a tower is almost destroyed, you can use the Rook's Structural Drain ability to finish it off, healing your Demigod and denying your opponent the gold from destroying the tower.

You should always try to be efficient with your gameplay. These are just a few instances where sacrifices are actually the best way to attain victory.

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Tip of the Week #3: Defensive Abilities

By Gnats3 - 1st February 2009 - 23:22 PM

This week I'd like to look at defensive abilities that can really change a battle.

The best defense is a good offense - something we hear often in any game with tactical and strategic elements. In Demigod, however, I have seen several games with otherwise skilled players who take this to the extreme - abandoning caution and throwing themselves into the meatgrinder combos of their opponents again and again. You might find you kill better if you live longer, and with that in mind I'd like to look at some abilities that can really make a difference:

Oak's Shield - this is the best defensive ability in the game, making Oak or his target invulnerable to all damage for a short period. Possible applications include clearing a minefield and deflecting finishing combos from your opponent. An Oak who can time his shield well is the one of the best counters for Regulus, in my opinion. Be careful though, this shield dissipates quickly, so if you mistime it you will take all the damage you were trying to avoid in the first place.

Queen of Thorns' Bramble - this shield will absorb a given amount of damage before dissipating, but it has the advantage of lasting far longer than Oak's ability. It is incredibly useful for bypassing your opponent's towers with minimal damage, and will soften a blow that would otherwise kill any Demigod. As a support ability cast on allies at the right time it can completely change the course of a battle.

Sedna's Heal - this ability has obvious uses, but it's usefulness is directly related to when you use it. Healing an ally when he is on his way back to base might be necessary if an opponent Regulus is zeroing in his snipe, but otherwise you should reserve this ability for when it is needed. Like the above shields, it gives a huge advantage to any ally dueling with an opponent.

All of these abilities are useful for rushing your opponent's flags as well, which won't win the game if you do it early but will certainly knock your opponent off-balance. Successful late-game base-capping usually means you are about to win. So in a way, the best offense is defense.

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Lol, no BotS.

But what do I want from you Your_Maker? Lol! I wish more then anything else on this horrid planet we live on that you're able to realize what a wretch you are. That won't happen, so just keep on with your idiocy.

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Tip of the Week #1: Flags

By Gnats3 - 2nd January 2009 - 22:16 PM

Flags in Demigod function similarly to control points in many RTS games. Any Demigod can capture a flag simply by standing near it until the flag changes to their team's color (either Light or Dark). Flags are very important as they give often substantial bonuses to whoever controls them. However, flags are given names like "Celerity Flag" that don't have a clear meaning. So, here is a list of all the flags currently in Demigod, their bonuses, and their locations. Only the flags that are actually found on maps in Beta 2 are listed; any others are only in the game files and will be added to the list if they are actually used in a future update of the beta.

Celerity Flag
Reduces Cooldowns for Demigods' abilities by 15%.
Found on:

Prison
Zikurat

Regeneration Flag
Gives the Demigods on the controlling team additional health regen equaling 15 health/sec.
Found on:

Leviathan

Rejuvenation Flag
Gives the Demigods on the controlling team additional mana regen equaling 15 mana/sec.
Found on:

Leviathan

Valor Flag
Increases the maximum health and damage of reinforcements (portal units) by 30%.
Found on:

Leviathan
Prison
Zikurat

Debilitating Flag
Enemy units take 10% more damage.
Found on:

Leviathan

Experience Flag
The controlling team gets 10% more experience.
Found on:

Prison
Zikurat

There are also flags on all the maps that are simply labeled "Flag". These flags come with a building instead of a bonus. For example, some flags give control of portals in the middle of the map, or additional gold mines.

As you can see, the flags in Demigod can be extremely useful. Increased experience or lowered cooldowns can easily turn the tide of the battle in your favor. Whenever you get the chance, go for these flags. The only exception are the Portal flags, which, if you aren't careful, can just result in more minions for the enemy to kill and gain experience from.

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See?

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An Introduction to Scouting and Stealth

By TheBigOne - 7th September 2008 - 15:42 PM

Imagine the following situation, you are a level 15 rook who has 1000hp left and see a new creep wave appearing. What do you do? You can kill the creeps and risk that some enemy suddenly teleports in using the warping scroll and finishes you off or you can go back to your base, losing the money and XP of the creep wave. Wouldn't it be nice to know if an enemy is nearby or not, so you don't make the wrong decision?

Luckily Demigod features the "Totem of Revelation" which you can buy at the consumable shop for the low price of $100. It removes the fog near the position where you placed it for 5 minutes and it even has the ability to spot cloaked Demigods and other Cloaked things like Mines. The Totem is destroyable but cloaked (and has no model in the current version but that is expected to change). Towers, do have the ability to decloak totem wards and mines so you can't put Totems near enemy towers as they get almost instantly destroyed. Rooks Towers, both the one his shoulder and the ones you can place do have that ability as well.

Buy Totems all game long and place them on important positions to know what is going on and react accordingly, generally it is a good Idea to place them on the position of destroyed towers. Knowing 2 seconds earlier that your enemies are all heading to the mid can make the difference between losing that position and defending it - or you decide to withdraw from that position and grab all the Experience and Money on the other lanes. Intelligence is crucial for coordinated teamplay!

An Example of good Intelligence.

The only way to cloak currently is using the "Scroll of Amrita" which you can get at the consumable shop as well. It costs $8000 , cloaks you for 15 Seconds and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. Being cloaked surely offers some cool advantages: you can sneak upon an damaged enemy and finish him off, you can secretly capture a flag (15 seconds aren't enough to completely capture it but it gives you a nice advantage still) or you can flee from an enemy.

You decloak when using any ability or if you attack, currently being cloaked doesn't prevent your Demigod from automatically shooting so you have to keep him moving when enemies are near. If you get damage from an area of effect spell, pick up items or get healed by the healing crystal or a priest you decloak as well. Towers can't see you when you used the cloak of Amrita, but Totems can.

A cloaked Rook capturing the portal.

That's it for now, hope you enjoyed it and that there will be more Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Stuff coming.

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Beginners' Guide to Demigod

By Poita_ - 5th September 2008 - 07:05 AM

If you are reading this then you have no doubt pre-ordered and downloaded the first phase of the Demigod beta. Also, if you were anything like me, you would have been a little confused when the game first started. What do I do? Where do I go? What should I buy? If you asked any of these questions then this guide is for you.

Getting Started

First things first, how do you start a game? It’s simple: Load up Demigod, create a new profile, then go to Multiplayer -> LAN. To play against the AI, simply host a new game, select your Demigod, click Ready and then Launch. If you want to play against other humans then you’ll need to refer to our Hamachi guide.

Your First Steps

When you start your first game, you’ll see something like this,

There's lots of information to absorb here. As you can probably guess, the uncovered, bottom side of the map is your team's side, and the other side belongs to the enemy. See that large, almost dome-shaped structure in the center of your back lane? That's your stronghold. The aim of the game is to destroy your enemies' stronghold before they destroy yours.

In addition to their stronghold, and the numerous tower and turrets sprinkled across the map, each player has two portals, which are situated at the corners of the map. From here, creatures will spawn to help you defeat the enemy. These creatures are not under your control. They will automatically run along a predefined path, attacking anything that comes within range. While these "creeps" aren't quite as strong as your demigod, it is utterly essential that you try to protect them, and aid them in any battles they pursue.

Speaking of your demigod, now would be a good time to get him equipped-up so that he can charge into battle.

This is The Rook, he's the demigod that I have chosen for this demonstration. Behind him there are 2 archer turrets, 6 shops, and a healing crystal. To enter shops, simply left click on them. If he isn't already close enough The Rook will walk towards the shop, and you will be presented with the shop window.

This is the Boots Shop. It's the little pyramid-shaped shop on the right that I have highlighted in the previous image. You should take some time to get accustomed to where each shop is, and what they contain.

Before we get buying things, this would be a good time to talk about money. In Demigod you start with $1000. You also control two gold mines, which constantly bring in a steady trickle of cash. In addition to the gold mines you can also collect gold from killing enemy creeps (or more accurately, being in the area when creeps are killed -- gold and experience are rewarded on proximity) and by destroying enemy structures. Bigger creeps give you more money. Simple.

Okay, so what to buy first? While this is by no means a set rule, I always find it to be a good idea to buy the Strengthening Boots (highlighted above in the boot shop, $450 for 15% attack speed and 150 armor), the Armor of Rokkur (from the breastplate shop, $450 for 300hp and 0.6hp/s), and finally a Scroll of Teleporting ($100 at the item shop), which is very handy for quickly teleporting back home to heal after a battle. That will quite nicely cover your $1000 budget, and you're ready to head off to battle!

But wait... what's the flashing "1" on the UI? That's an indicator that you've got a skill point to spend! Click on it.

This is the skill tree window. Every time you level up (and once at the start of the game) you'll get a skill point to spend. You can either use your skill point to unlock a new ability, improve an existing ability, or improve your demigods stats in general. The bottom row of "+" icons is the stat boost, and the rest are skills. You can hover your mouse over each skill to find out exactly what it does, and you simply need to click them to select them.

The horizontal position of the skills tells you what level you need to be to unlock them. The skills in the first column need only a level 1 demigod to unlock, while those at the far right require that you first climb to level 15. Of course, you can only unlock higher level skills of a particular type once you have the lower level one.

Once you've selected your first skill you are ready for battle!

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If you have to ask, you'll never know.

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i am sick of this

next stat whore using desync to keep high rank

Regulus - Angel Build Guide

By LordGloom - 24th April 2009 - 18:58 PM

Regulus

Introduction:

Pros and Cons:

Theory Behind the Build:

Build Order:

Item Build Order:

Gameplay as Regulus:

niping Tips:

Gameplay as Regulus:

Final Thoughts:

Final Thoughts:

To Be Or Not to 3v3

By pendrix - 3rd August 2009 - 15:20 PM

Tip of the Week #16: Universal Gadget

By Texonater - 6th August 2009 - 23:06 PM

3 Things To Know: Zikurat

By Polynomial - 22nd July 2009 - 17:37 PM

Tip of the Week #4: Offensive Combos

By Gnats3 - 7th February 2009 - 01:07 AM

Tip of the Week #5: Making Sacrifices

By Gnats3 - 9th February 2009 - 01:30 AM

Tip of the Week #3: Defensive Abilities

By Gnats3 - 1st February 2009 - 23:22 PM

Tip of the Week #1: Flags

By Gnats3 - 2nd January 2009 - 22:16 PM

An Introduction to Scouting and Stealth

By TheBigOne - 7th September 2008 - 15:42 PM

Beginners' Guide to Demigod

By Poita_ - 5th September 2008 - 07:05 AM

Getting Started

Your First Steps