Epiphenomeon's Guide to the Rook (and why most other builds won't work)

By OMG_Epiphenomenon on June 8, 2009 8:40:46 PM from

Epiphenomenon’s Guide to the Rook

Why should you read this guide?

If you look at the stickied guides on how to play the Rook, you will see a plethora of strategies. Most of them are not really viable. None of them demonstrate an understanding of the dilemma a Rook faces. As I play rook almost exclusively, I’ll try to set the record straight. I am rather certain that there is only one way to effectively play as a Rook, but I’m always open to new ideas.

The Rook’s fundamental dilemma

The Rook’s towers are very strong early game, but they are nearly worthless towards the end. Trebuchets, catapultasauri, and giants are all excellent endgame counters. Towers will not do much against level 15+ demigods. Plus, setting up eight towers usually takes 64-80 seconds. You simply will not be able to hold a tower farm in the endgame against good players.

Rook towers are relatively stronger than anything else at the start. This will give you an early game advantage. However, if you are playing against good players, it usually is not enough to decisively win before the endgame arrives. This means that you need to change from a “tower Rook” to a “Boulder Roll/Hamer Slam” Rook midgame. This is something that I feel most tower Rook guides miss. Strategy guides that focus on Hammer Slam miss the fact that towers are a strong advantage in the early game. You're very strong in melee combat with two towers up at level one.

Here is my build for the Rook:

Level 1: Power of the Tower I

Level 2: Archer Tower

Level 3: Hammer Slam I

Level 4: Hammer Slam II

Level 5: Boulder Roll I

Level 6: Power of the Tower II

Level 7: Hammer Slam III

Level 8: Tower of Light

Level 9: Save Point

Level 10: Hammer Slam IV and Boulder Roll II

Level 11: God Strength

Level 12: God Strength II

Level 13: Trebuchet or Save Point

Level 14: Save Point

Level 15: Dizzying Force and Boulder Roll

Level 16: God Strength III

Level 17: Poison Arrows

Levels 18-20: Stats

Build Notes:

Taking “Power of the Tower” at level 1 is a must. If your first point is spent on towers, there isn’t a single Demigod that can take you on singlehandedly at Level 1. This allows you to control flags longer and farm creeps unhindered.

If you aren’t good at Boulder Roll and Hammer Smash, then get “Power of the Tower II” earlier. You will probably need to manage your mana wisely, so keep that in mind. Your targets are stunned longer at higher levels of Boulder Roll, so it should be easier to perform a Boulder Roll/Hammer Slam after level 10.

In the endgame, the only purpose of your towers is to give you and your allies a place to teleport to.

I never take anything beyond “Power of the Tower II.” It takes too much time to create your tower farm, and when the endgame hits you have spent 4 skill points in a talent that is worthless in the endgame..

Items:

Scale Helm (550 Gold)

Banded Armor (550 Gold)

Vlemish Faceguard (1750 Gold) This build uses a lot of mana, so a second helm helps.

Unbreakable Boots or Plenor Crown (1500 Gold) If you need more health, go with Unbreakable. If you need mana, go with Plenor.

Hauberk of Life (1750 Gold)

Narmoth’s Ring (Replace Banded Armor) (4000 Gold)

Groffling Warplate (Replace Unbreakable Boots) (5200 Gold)

Favor Item:

The Amulet of Teleportation is the best favor item for the Rook, in my opinion. The Rook is so slow that he needs to be able to teleport from place to place. Cutting your travel time in half when leaving to go shop is a great. It lessens the Rook’s main disadvantage, which is a lack of speed.

A few strategies:

I usually throw up my towers on one side of the map, and then teleport to the other side to fight. The “squishy” players on my team farm creeps from the safety of my towers while I am busy elsewhere. It’s as if you are two places at once.

Being a “ninja” is a great tactic. Teleport and immediately boulder roll/hammer slam an opponent. This requires significant situational awareness. Don't start "ninja-ing" until you get Boulder Roll.

A final word:

If this is your first time trying the Boulder Roll/Hammer Slam thing, please keep in mind that you are going to die a lot. You will lose a lot. It takes a lot of time to master this build. Ultimately, however, I think it is the Rook’s strongest skill in the endgame. Thanks for reading! Please ask questions or tell me what I’m doing wrong.

+38 Karma | 18 Replies

nice guide, thanks for sharing.

i have 2 questions:

1) Light Turret at level 8? I'd have imagined it would be higher priority than that. i don't play much Rook so maybe i'm wrong, but it seems like one of the strongest Harassing abilities Rook has. also one of the best ways of getting pot-shots (potentially kill shots if they're low enough) in on runners. am I wrong?

2) Nimoth Chest Guard? Rook suffers from naturally low armor anyway. i would have figured you'd prefer Nimoth over Hauberk of Life to try and make up the deficit.

The Rook has too many cool skills to get in the early game. In general, I've found that going for "Power of the Tower II" and "Hammer Slam III" are more important. The basic ninja build takes 3 skill points ("Hammer Slam I + II + III", "Boulder Roll"). "Power of the Tower I + II" take two skill points. To get the "Tower of Light," I need to get "Archer Tower" first. This means that I can't get the tower of light until level 8. Throwing up 4 towers at level 6 and doing 1300 in damage with "Hammer Slam" at level 7 seems to be more effective than getting the "Tower of Light" upgrade earlier.

2) Nimoth Chest Guard? Rook suffers from naturally low armor anyway. i would have figured you'd prefer Nimoth over Hauberk of Life to try and make up the deficit.

That's a good point. I'm usually more concerned about direct damage than auto-attack. I probably should switch out Hauberk of Life for Nimoth.

I'd have to agree with transitive's implication: Tower of Light is better early game than Hammer Slam. Until you get Boulder Roll II (2 second stun), it's too difficult to land a Hammer Slam on a DG and your Hammer goes to waste. Tower of Light, on the other hand, will definitely do some damage.

That being said, I may simply be terrible with Rook. Maybe there are some gifted players who can land Hammer Slam 80% of the time without Boulder Roll II. If you are one of those, it makes sense to take Hammer Slam first.

Minor quibbling aside, great post. I strongly agree that the best way to Rook is to tower early and slam late.

Having played against this repeatedly, It's a good build. Especially as part of a team with good communication.

Two areas I disagree with (and they are probably going to be changed and used to beat me down, but whatever):

A) Initial order. My suggestion is this:

1) Hammer Slam

2) Power of the Tower

3) Archery towers

Reason being, if you have the teleport amulet, even as rook you are highly likely to capture at least one flag, then a single slam gives you L2, even if you have to retreat immediatly after that. (In which case you can pull the tower)

Switching PotT2 and Light tower (also replacing PotT2 with Treb)

I believe that the light tower gives more increase in damage as compared to PotT2 vs LT + PotT1, plus it doesn't cost mana. and certainly PotT2 has less damage than LT + Treb

Making it either:

6: Light Tower

7: Hammer Slam III

8: Treb or Power of the Tower 2

A good guide!

Quoting Epiphenomenon,

reply 2

I'd say that there are two situations where you should go for Hammer Slam III before Tower of Light: 1) Your opponents and too noob to avoid/interrupt your slams, or 2) you have a good stunning partner like UB.

Quoting The_Deathstalker,

reply 4

Having played against this repeatedly, It's a good build. Especially as part of a team with good communication.

Two areas I disagree with (and they are probably going to be changed and used to beat me down, but whatever):

A) Initial order. My suggestion is this:

1) Hammer Slam

2) Power of the Tower

3) Archery towers

Reason being, if you have the teleport amulet, even as rook you are highly likely to capture at least one flag, then a single slam gives you L2, even if you have to retreat immediatly after that. (In which case you can pull the tower)

Switching PotT2 and Light tower (also replacing PotT2 with Treb)

I believe that the light tower gives more increase in damage as compared to PotT2 vs LT + PotT1, plus it doesn't cost mana. and certainly PotT2 has less damage than LT + Treb

Making it either:

6: Light Tower

7: Hammer Slam III

8: Treb or Power of the Tower 2

i would count on this too.. i don't play rook but this build gave me the hardest time... Light Tower really hurts.

Usually when I play Rook my skills look a lot like this, except I swap Power of the Tower II and Hammer Slam II, mainly because I feel just 2 towers isn't enough to save your butt from a HP stacker or multiple DGs, so I feel they need more priority at lower levels.

Quoting IllegalDustbin,

reply 7

Then again, at level 4 hammer slam scares me... past level 5, foul grasp!

I need to start playing less UB. I think of everything as "how can UB affect this?"

At level 13 you say to save the point or buy the treb, but you don't reference the saved point later. At level 15 you buy 2 abilities, but you also save the point at level 14, from then on you buy one per level. Just to save confusion you can probably remove that save.

Your first 5 levels are identical to mine. I however, stop getting power of the tower again until level ~10, as I think more points, but not complete points, in it are not good enough. If you go tower, get it to level 4 by level 10, otherwise a single point is all you probably want.

Thanks for the comments, everyone! I agree with a lot of what you all have said.

Here's Rook Tip #1:

Your archer tower can slightly outrange enemy towers. You have to be faced a certain way to do it. It's free DPS on enemy towers without taking damage. It's really tricky to do, though. Play around with it and you should get the hang of it.

I won't disagree it's the best skill to pick up first most of time, but going so far as to say no other Demigod can take you on 1v1 and force you to retreat is pushing it.

Generals minion builds will win the fight and force you to back off if you pick tower first. A better idea is to wait for your ennemy to appear. If he has minions, pick Hammer Slam and if not, pick tower.

Thanks heaps for this guide, I'm definietely going to check it out

Epiphenomeon's Guide to the Rook

i dont agree with some of the things you say in you build(dont take them too seriously!),

personally i would take structural transfer at lvl 1, for HP and for early game tower pushing(with a full creep wave)

i wouldnt go past getting lvl 1 power of the tower, its only real use is for people to teleport onto(which u mentioned), i would also think about getting this spell later in the game(due to mana).

i would maybe also swap poison arrows with dizzying force, just because of preference

Quoting StAcK3D_ActR,

reply 14

Epiphenomeon's Guide to the Rook
i dont agree with some of the things you say in you build(dont take them too seriously!),

personally i would take structural transfer at lvl 1, for HP and for early game tower pushing(with a full creep wave)

i wouldnt go past getting lvl 1 power of the tower, its only real use is for people to teleport onto(which u mentioned), i would also think about getting this spell later in the game(due to mana).

i would maybe also swap poison arrows with dizzying force, just because of preference

Structural transfer would just then be another skill you take just for early game benefits, but its worth would be lost later on. 4 towers really allows you to hold down a lane midgame w/o sacrificing other skills. W/ 4 towers you can also use some as ToR and tele points, allowing for greater versatility, making the most of AoT. If you are so inclined for health, take BotF instead and discard your hlth woes early on.

I just discovered something cool. The Archer Tower benefits from life steal. Also, the minimum amount of health that can be stolen is 1. So, buy a cheap Bloodstone Ring, and you get +1 health for each arrow that hits. I almost think it's worth it for the Rook to buy it. Thoughts?

i've used that before Epi, it works great. the high rate of fire on archer tower makes the health regen output something like 10-12 hps equivalent while you're plinking away at creeps. its pretty nice.

This is a nice build. I've been more successful with this build then with any rook build before that.

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Epiphenomeon's Guide to the Rook (and why most other builds won't work)