I wasn't content with accepting my dismal performance with QoT, so I thought I'd give her most useless skill tree (not counting Tribute) a try : Uproot
Uproot looks like a really bad deal: It deals as much damage as Rooks Structural Transfer but doesn't give you health. It only works against buildings and has no second use after clearing the map of enemy buildings ... unlike Rooks ST, which is a self made healing potion. And on top of if, it even costs 50% more than Rooks skill!
There are only two minor points in favor of Uproot:
- It's ranged.
- The damage-over-time can't be interrupted.
This might make the skill look halfway good again, but UBs Spit does about the same amount of damage, costs about the same and can be very effective against other demigods.
Sigh. Uproot really does suck, no? Weeell, QoT does have an advantage when it get's to siege: She has two useful siege skills - Spike (reduces building armor, too) and Uproot. And once she uses those skills she - and her army - can keep autoattacking, making short work of most base defenses.
Anyway, I tried. I was determined to play a Siege/Support role and avoid pretending to be an assassin. To my surprise it went rather well. And I SUCKED at QoT before.
I tested it on a hard difficulty single player tournament, so I can't really claim that it works in "real life" as well, but I discovered a rather efficient playing style.
- Shield your allies to deny the enemy kills and to improve staying power.
- Shield is at least as good as Sednas heal. Always be prepared to shield your own ass in case the active shield fails.
- When in a minor duel without quick kill opportunities (like an approaching fresh Sedna), sick your minions on the enemy, ignore the fracas to pop an Uproot somewhere, then return to fight.
- Seek lanes without opposition. Guide creeps to towers, then Uproot, Spike and attack the tower and it will fall quite fast.
- When ganging up, use Spke. Armor reduction sometimes drastically increases dealt damage by everyone hitting the victim.
- Keep your mana up! Your skills are expensive and compensate for low health. Have a LARGE mana reserve.
- When relatively safe, shield your allies first! You can always shield yourself later but your buddy might not be around.
So, what you do is quite close to the Rook Ninja playstyle. You might even consider using an Amulet of Teleportation. You look for a weakness in the enemy's base defense and pop in to waste their buildings. If you can't destroy a tower in one go, do it like a harassing UB. Advance, pop Uproot, retreat, repeat. When the lane gets crowded, search for greener pastures.
Here's the first build I used:
QoT Uproot Build
- Bramble Shield 1
- Ground Spikes 1
- Uproot 1
- Uproot 2
- Bramble Shield 2
- Ground Spikes 2
- Uproot 3
- Bramble Shield 3
- Ground Spikes 3
- Uproot 4
- Bramble Shield 4
- Ground Spikes 4
- Spike Wave 1
- Spike Wave 2
- Goddess of Thorns
- Violent Siege *
- Spike Wave 3
- Morale 1
- Morale 2
- Morale 3
I barely used Spike Wave to good effect ... but I'm not really experienced in using this. So it might work better for you. After all, this skill is even useful in later levels due to the slow effect.
You might have noticed that I really emphasized Uproot and give it priority even over shield (at least after level 3). That's because the amount of damage dealt by Uproot grows staggeringly high. 500 damage at level 1 doesn't seem like much, but 1000 at level 4 looks attractive. Level 4 is the starting point for your siege role ... before that you're strictly support.
At level 15 you get Goddess of Thorns, which is another life saver on top of Shield. With that skill your Spikes grant you a 10 second 15% damage reduction buff, which is badly needed, considering the damage your opponents will deal to you and your shield. Violent Siege has limited use ... but one of those limited uses is against Tower Rooks. They usually plant tower farms in the middle of creep lanes, which is exactly the right place for your Queen. Even better, Rook tends to stick to his towers, which is alright with us in this case.
ShakeNBake inspired me to include Compost, which further increases Uproot damage by a variable amount. To be more precise:
- Compost 1: 0/20/40/60
- Compost 2: 0/40/60/80
- Compost 3: 0/60/80/100
To get the most out of compost you have to kill creeps. Every 3 killed creeps you increase compost effect level by one, giving Uproot the added dps listed above.
Compost 1 gives you the most dps increase for the cost of one skill point, so I'd recommend picking Compost 1 at level 5, basically shifting the other picks one level down.
QoT Uproot Compost Build
- Bramble Shield 1
- Uproot 1
- Compost 1
- Uproot 2
- Ground Spikes 1
- Bramble Shield 2
- Uproot 3
- Ground Spikes 2
- Bramble Shield 3
- Uproot 4
- Ground Spikes 3
- Bramble Shield 4
- Ground Spikes 4
- Spike Wave 1
- Goddess of Thorns
- Violent Siege *
- Spike Wave 2
- Spike Wave 3
- Morale 1
- Morale 2
This build gives you a very early siege potential - 1600 Uproot damage at level 4. You sacrifice early attack power by neglecting Ground Spikes, though. Pick more compost instead of Spikes of Morale if you think it's worth it.
However, since we already take Compost we might also consider Shamblers, which profit from Compost, too.
The general consensus is that Shamblers suck. Hell, most players agree that QoT sucks, so let's ignore these preconceptions for now.
The Shambler's standard attack is similar to Qot's Ground Spikes, i.e. it damages everything in it's path. The damage becomes neglegible later, but it's great for early farming. And they are always useful as cannonfodder (which is true for all QoT minions - don't expect to keep them alive, just waste them to reach your goals).
QoT Uproot Wrecking Crew Build
- Bramble Shield 1
- Shamblers 1
- Ground Spikes 1
- Uproot 1
- Uproot 2
- Compost 1
- Uproot 3
- Bramble Shield 2
- Ground Spikes 2
- Uproot 4
- Bramble Shield 3
- Ground Spikes 3
- Bramble Shield 4
- Ground Spikes 4
- Goddess of Thorns
- Violent Siege *
- Shamblers 2
- Shamblers 3
- Shamblers 4
- Morale 1
Taking Shamblers first and summoning two at the start is an effective strategy, too, especially if you buy priest idols to go along with them. You should gain leve 2 quite fast so you'll barely miss the Shield in the beginning. Shamblers enable you to harvest creeps noticably faster than without. Not as fast as simply spiking creeps, but I'd rather save the mana for Shield.
You get your siege power later than with either of the above builds, but you get shamblers which help you with quickly composting creeps without wasting mana. And you gain a bit more staying power.
If you have no problems staying alive, increase Ground Spikes first, then Shield.
I currently prefer the wrecking crew build and I play it with an Amulet of Teleportation. That way I don't spend mana on resummoning fallen minions while in the field, leaving the mana pool for attacking and shielding. Once depleted I port back, resummon all minions, go shopping and start again uprooting the world.
ITEMS
Favor Item:
- Amulet of Teleportation
Great for a fire-and-forget style. Use up all your mana (and minions) to trash one or two towers with Uproot, Spikes and auto attacking, then teleport back, resummon your army, shield up yourself, your minions and wandering allies, then find your next point of interest. When teleporting is free then you can port as much as you want without ruining yourself.
- Swift Anklet
It was all the rage once but fell out of favor. By far not as common as it was before, which means that taking this enables you to outrun almost anyone. And despite your Shield, you DO need to run because most DGs will be stronger than you in later levels.
- Cloak of Night (+280 mana, +4 mana/s, short ranged teleport)
If you can afford that one then get it. I allows you to escape deadly situations as good as the swift anklet does and adds a nice mana boost. The boost is very noticable in early levels and the warp in later levels.
Starting Items:
- Priest Idol
When picking Shamblers at level 1, pick a priest. Without a shield you need other means to improve your Level 1 staying power and priests do just fine.
- Scaled Helm & Plate Visor
Both Helmets together cost 1150 gold and you start with 1000. Depending on the gold mines you have at the beginning your gold reaches 1050 by the time you can actually move for the first time. Wait a bit, buy both helmets, then teleport to the front. This works well with builds starting with Shield 1. Plenty of mana to recast shield over and over.
Later I try to get the Vlemish Faceguard as soon as possible. Then improve the quality of your idols, especially priests. Also get the usual health boosters (nimoths, unbreakables, ...) and the Hauberk of Life - your shield doesn't last forever. A good early artifact is the cloak of flames, which heavily boosts your mana regeneration and attack speed.
But more important: Upgrade your Citadel! 
Bottom line: QoT plays differently, but still interesting. Your main objectives are to keep your team alive and to take down buildings. If you can keep that in mind you might just prove to be an asset to your team ... and not the enemy's team.
Footnotes:
* Violent Siege
I included that skill in every build but let's be honest: In most situations it sucks! I mentioned it above but I'll repeat it here: This skill has very limited use. Might get useful if the map plants fortresses in the middle of creep lanes (and even that use is gone once you trash it) and it might be pretty strong against a Rook Tower Farm build. If none of those conditions apply: Ignore that skill.
- "QoT Siege Build on Nightmare Difficulty. It works!"
