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Demigod Basics Compendium for Newbies

By on December 17, 2011 5:52:57 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Morgwyr

Join Date 12/2011
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Since the game is getting a huge influx of new players, I figured we could get together and flesh out some of the lesser-known and  undocumented parts of the game. I've learned almost everything I know about the game from word of mouth, or just figuring it out on my own, and in an effort to ease the learning curve I'll compile it here. 

 

Feel free to add to it in the comments, I'll edit this in the future and compile it in the main post. 

 

Note: After beginning this, I realize I'm going to have to put a LOT more time into it. I'll post and add in sections a time permits.

 

Online resources:

http://demigod.wikia.com/wiki/Demigod_Wiki

Replays: http://www.gamereplays.org/demigod/replays.php?game=51&tab=popular&show=index&tab_new=upcoming&display_mode=standard

Any of the replays labelled v1.30 work with this client. The older version won't, so don't try. 

Put the replays in C:\Documents and Settings\(your name)\Demigod\Replays\(your profile)

Then open the replay through the main menu of the game, the replays tab. 


 

I. MOBA Basics/How to Play

            Demigod is a MOBA type game (read: Action RTS) If you've played any games like DOTA, or LoL, you should know exactly what I'm talking about and you can skip to the more general sections like Beginner's Demigods and Favor Items. 

            MOBA gameplay typically revolve around a tug-of-war model until the late game. The tug-of-war is based around the game's creeps, or grunts, the tiny soldiers that constantly spawn and traverse the map. Watching the push and pull of these creeps, the individual waves of which will be referred to from here on as a creepwave, is ESSENTIAL to being successful at any MOBA. The creepwave is the single most important aspect of the MOBA in that it determines your experience and when to push. 

            Demigod is a different take on MOBAs. Warscore, and flag along with their bonuses, change the game a bit. Always try to have at least one flag; flags increase warscore which determines the level of Citadel upgrades you can get. 

 

II. Demigods Overview


Note: Generals are typically harder to play than Assassin type Demigods. Any item builds in this guide are targeted for Assassin types, since Generals starting builds are a little different. 

I'd recommended Torch Bearer and unclean beast for beginners. 

  • Torch Bearer: Great beginner Demigod. Squishy at first, but does a ton of damage in the mid game. 
  • Unclean Beast: All around good DemiGod. Leveling spit and movespeed makes for a high damage, very mobile character, perfect for the Demigod beginner. 




III. General Item Insight:

HP Items are king. Get enough mana to push whomever out of your lane (or push towers) and stack up those HP items. 

A lot of items in the game are useless. Don't even touch the Ring tab or the Gauntlet tab until you've played a bit and want to branch out. Gauntlets serve no purpose unless you want to do hella damage all the time, and leave you squishy all game; the Ring items are situational at best. 


IMPORTANT NOTE: Items stack! This means, you can have 2 breastplates and 3 helms, and they all stack. Almost NEVER sell your starting items unless you need the slot for a better item. Some games I'll still have my Banded armor, even with my haulberk and 3 helms. 

 

1) General starting build; this'll give you some extra HP and Mana and some much needed regen to stay in lane. 

  • Banded Armor (500g)
  • Scaled Helm (550g) note: you'll have to wait a second for your gold to tick up


2) After this, your next item choices will depend on if you need more HP or Mana. This could depend on your DG, but try to fix whatever you happen to be running low on. 

  • Unbreakable Boots (1500g) is a great pickup also, a needed boost in hp and mana for early-mid game. 
  • For Mana: Plenor Battlecrown (1500g) or Vlemish Faceguard (1750g). I like Vlemish if you have a lane partner; Plenor gives mroe mana so if you find yourself needing a burst of mana with less regen get that. 
  • For HP: Haulberk of Life (1750g) is a good and cheap pickup, for 1750 a decent amount of HP and regen


3) This is your basic gear that should last you to mid game. After this, focus on making sure you have your Citadel upgrades (Currency 1 and 2) and perhaps even saving for minion upgrades. However, if you have more cash than you can handle (especially if you're winning) then these are great late game pickups: 

  • Groffin Warplate (5200g) Decent HP and hella armor. 
  • Vinling Helmet (3300g) This, combined with Vlemish, should fulfill all your mana needs. If it doesn't you can get this:
  • Hungarling;'s Crown (6500g) Expensive, but worth it. Excellent mana and regen, with a -25% mana cost AURA. Helps you and your team. 

 

IV. Favor Items: WTF should I pick? 

  • Blood of the Fallen: First item you should buy. Gives you some much needed HP early, as well as some regen. There are other favor items that do well, but if you're new like me this is what I'd recommend. 


  • Dark Crimson Vial: Perfect for Rook to stay in a lane while making a tower farm. This was the second item I bought. 



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December 17, 2011 6:14:38 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

A useful short reference sheet for the new players who want to jump straight into the action.  

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December 17, 2011 7:13:36 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Stickied this thread for you in the Demigod forum.

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December 17, 2011 7:16:24 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

If you wanna be nice, post this on the steam forums:)

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December 17, 2011 7:53:14 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I'll see about making a general FYI post over there.  I think the best plan is to direct everyone to the demigod forums here as there is quite a bit of content already here (instead of replicating in 2 spots total).  Anyway, just activated my account over there.  Waiting for posting rights and then I'll get something up.

Glad to see the DG forum was finally created over there, though.

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December 17, 2011 8:27:27 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Pacov,

I'll just repost it over there, just in case. I don't want to take the off-chance of someone not reading just because it's in a different forum. 

Thanks for sticky!

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December 18, 2011 9:41:40 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting ,

For HP: Haulberk of Life (1750g) is a good and cheap pickup, for 1750 a decent amount of HP and regen

You might add Nimoths as an alternative. The extra armor is good against AA, GS and Minions and the price of 1500 allows for an extra teleport or pot. 

 

For Mana: Plenor Battlecrown (1500g) or Vlemish Faceguard (1750g). I like Vlemish if you have a lane partner; Plenor gives mroe mana so if you find yourself needing a burst of mana with less regen get that. 
Unbreakable Boots (1500g) is a great pickup also, a needed boost in hp and mana for early-mid game. 

Depending on the Demigod Id recommend Unbreakable Boots before another helm as the extra HP are quite helpful in defending lanes.


Groffin Warplate (5200g) Decent HP and hella armor. 
Vinling Helmet (3300g) This, combined with Vlemish, should fulfill all your mana needs. If it doesn't you can get this:
Hungarling;'s Crown (6500g) Expensive, but worth it. Excellent mana and regen, with a -25% mana cost AURA. Helps you and your team. 
Vinling Helmet is imho usually a good addon if youre going 3 helmets and want to replace the 550 one. With 2 helmets i think that the extra cost does not really warrant an exchang of Plenor for Vinling. You dont really gain anything but have to pay 2k.

 

Some other advice might regard laning and going back to citadel. I notice a lot of new players going into fights they cant win and then going back to the citadel when on low hitpoints, therefore leveling at a very slow rate. As a rule of thumb Id usually say to not engage into fights or defend flags if the enemy has more hitpoints (or if youre going against a beast. if youre a new player never ever try to fight a beast on your own . If you just see a beast, run away). In that case its just better to try to get the middle flag on Cataract or to wait behind the tower to kill creeps for xp. Always try to have at least 1 player on each creep lane. If someone goes shopping, wait until he comes back, so the team wont loose creep waves.

 

Then of Sigils might be mentioned, as they are together one of the most important items from mid game on. It using sigils and TPs might be a bit much but players might get warned not to follow low HP-Demigods if the are not sure if a sigiil has been used already. 

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December 18, 2011 9:48:56 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Oh and regarding Cit Upgrades, it might be important to clarify that in the beginning only FS1 and Cur1 are needed. No other Cit-Upgrade should be purchased. In noob-games Cur2 might even be debatable as the kill count usually is much higher as in more experienced games. Just communicate who buys fs1/cur1 and then get items until warrank 8 when you have to decide who buys creeps.

 

Oh, and the most basic advices might be:

1. Do not die.

2. Do not engage in 2v1.

3. Do not fight Unclean Beast on your own.  

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December 18, 2011 10:52:53 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting LordPoekelfleisch,
Oh and regarding Cit Upgrades, it might be important to clarify that in the beginning only FS1 and Cur1 are needed. No other Cit-Upgrade should be purchased.

I'd also add the gold cost.  I think getting currency at war score 3 (and making sure someone has been saving for it) is critical.  1800 gold and it gives each person on your team 4 more gold per tick.  This is a pretty big deal.  Then someone also needs to get tower regen 1 (600) gold when possible or as a soon as its needed.  Eg, if you just lost a tower and don't have it... it was needed.

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December 18, 2011 11:23:26 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I think replays are at:

 

C:\Documents and Settings\{YOUR NAME}\My Documents\My Games\Gas Powered Games\Demigod\replays\{YOUR PROFILE}


Instead of the one mentioned in the OP.

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December 18, 2011 11:49:07 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Sigil of vitality : for bad situations !!!

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December 18, 2011 4:25:26 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting visca_el_barca,
Sigil of vitality : for bad situations !!!

For every situation

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December 19, 2011 1:59:19 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Hi Pacov
I want to BLAT you with my rook.... and ZZZZZZZAP you.

Are we still using the mods, is the mod PACKAGE what I should use as per last time I was around? I uninstalled DG to save space... I'm considering re-installing it...plus I think oo7_warhammer may be too.

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December 19, 2011 2:01:04 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Hey why shouldn't I engage 2v1? I remember many an Ocolus moment chasing your tail and your friend too......

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December 19, 2011 3:23:40 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

is exp not a cit upgrade to get?

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December 19, 2011 3:51:32 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting EntropicSoul,
is exp not a cit upgrade to get?

I'd say no.  In some instances getting xp1 is good for the team, but never beyond that (eg don't get xp2, etc) and most of the time its best not to get it imo. 

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December 20, 2011 8:47:53 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Question about consumables: How much should I be worrying about them, specifically?

 

If I ever have the cash to buy a combat health potion or something, I do, but I tend to favor gear, then citadel upgrades, and then consumables last. This is as Rook, mind you. Is it worth it to start with only one item and a Favor item in order to bring a potion or scroll of teleportation to the battle? Or are these things that you should be getting after you can get yourself situated in lane?

 

Sorry if this is common knowledge or something like that -- I haven't been able to find a very solid answer, but I only have Enhance AI Hard difficulty under my belt. I haven't gotten to try against real players yet.

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December 21, 2011 6:37:21 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

worry a lot about consummables! At start try as pacov suggested good start is scaled helm and banded armour. Try to stay in your lane and hold the flag but do not engage to the death! Level up by farming the creeps. Even damage on a creep will earn you some gold and exp so you gotta hit them. There's plenty of players especially the more damaging heros that will try to distract your attacks away from minions. Stay out as long as possible eating up the minions!!!!!! And don't let yourself turn a flag yellow then the enemy cap it back. You'll give them way too much exp away.

The leveling is subtle and once you realize you've been outlevelled by the enemy it's all over. You need to pay attention to that as the second most important thing in the universe. The first most important thing is DO NOT DIE. Ever. This is not like LOL where dying can make a comeback. If you die before your enemy (and quite often you'll find yourself in a duel with one character most of a match) you will need some serious skill to claw back the gold and exp. You don't earn it when you're dead. Your enemy gets a massive gold and exp bonus for killing you plus the gold per second from gold mines plus the gold from farming while you're looking at a grey screen earning nothing.

 

consummables! You need to carry health,mana or rejuv pots at times. When flag control is tipping back and forth a lot, or you've not held flags and your warscore is behind, you need capture locks. Only use a cap lock when you have to leave the flag (for shop or avoiding death) and the enemy is going to capture the flag. A cap lock will give you time to go back to citadel, regen, buy gear and another lock and a teleport scroll and get back to your flag to hold it and chase off the enemy who's trying to get it.

NEVER teleport to 2 enemies when you're the only one there. ALWAYS watch how your temmate is going and teleport to him to gank enemy or to save him from a gank.

And when you can afford it you must get a sigil of vitality (500g) This is an incredible turner of combat by doubling your health pool for a short time. Effectively it gives you full health when you're near dead. Usually your enemy is near dead at this time but beating you - a sigil will let you finish him of...unless he has one too. Always assume the enemy has a sigil and will use it when ABSOLUTELY necessary. The trick is to make them think that A - you have a sigil. And B: you are about to win the melee. If you can force enemy to use a sigil then escape yourself without using yours, then effectively you're now 500g ahead of them. They'll need to waste another 500 to get another sig. I've won many games by not kills, but getting my enemy to waste 3 or 4 sigils whilst I use none.

Pots are good for lane control (especially slower and tankier heros), but using too many pots can outweigh the benefit. Lane control = more exp and gold, plus greater chance of downing towers, plus the stat boost from the flag control.

 

So IMHO the 3 most important consummables are  sigil of vitality. Teleport scroll. Capture lock. Early game not much, mid game absolutely needed, late game very helpful.

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December 21, 2011 6:44:48 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

As rook! I recommend Dark crimson vial as favor item. It's a 30% health regen every 45 secs from memory. Very VERY good for lane control.

Buy the two items at start as I recomened for a noob build. When you shop you need a player to replace you to hold your lane until you get back. A good time to shop is at about 2000gold, then walk back to cit get the nimoth armour and a tp scroll and I'll usually get a robust rejuvenation. Time your rejuvenation for when you're dark vial is on a long cooldown, your health and mana are low. Be wary of interrupts on your comsummables! You need to be relatively safe to use your robust, not for mid combat or you may well be dead.

From there seek advice ingame. Good players should help you if they want DG to live.

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December 21, 2011 7:47:15 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Do not buy health, mana or rejuv pot ever. waste of money. save for gear. and get them asap. Items you can combine: at start : scaled helm, banded armour and scale mail. if you play general get monks first. later get unbreakble boots first, then plenor, vlemish and nimoth depending on your build. The only consumable you should get is sigil, lock and teleport. only use locks on gold flag and portal flags. as you gain expereince you will be able to tell what fights can you and cant you win. also when to run and when to gank

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December 21, 2011 9:42:17 AM from JoeUser Forums JoeUser Forums

I disagree re: buying pots.  It's more of an advanced topic and quite situational, but that can make the difference in 1v1 duels, rook battles, etc.  For instance, against 2 evenly matched ub's with the same items and a sigil and the same build, the guy that wins is quite probably the guy with the pot. 

As a general rule for new players, though, I'd agree.  Don't buy pots UNLESS you are up against a reg that is sniping.  In that case, always make sure you have 1 small pot on you when possible.

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December 21, 2011 11:41:53 AM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting pacov,
As a general rule for new players, though, I'd agree.  Don't buy pots UNLESS you are up against a reg that is sniping.  In that case, always make sure you have 1 small pot on you when possible.

Or a UB w/ spit too, I've found, unless you have monks as a gen.

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December 21, 2011 6:38:09 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting pacov,

Quoting EntropicSoul, reply 14is exp not a cit upgrade to get?

I'd say no.  In some instances getting xp1 is good for the team, but never beyond that (eg don't get xp2, etc) and most of the time its best not to get it imo. 

I'll expand on that. You buy XP1 when...

1) You have a Rook on your team, who is not going to be getting any flag XP if he is doing his job right.
2) You get a Kill while playing a character who gets currency 1, and does not need much itemization early (mainly Erebus and Reg) at which point 1200 gold does not put you behind in your itemization plan, but does put your team ahead in XP for the long run.

Other than that, you usually cannot afford to pass up purchasing a 1500 gold item to get XP1, without putting your team behind in lane power...

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December 21, 2011 7:35:17 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

I am here to yell again

CURRENCY 2 IS NOT A GOOD INVESTMENT! STOP DOING IT.

It costs 3000 gold

You recoup that at +2 gold per tick. it takes the purchaser 25 minutes to recover that cost in itemization.... in the mean time you are a useless git in lane, and will probably die in every 2on1 you get caught in.

You cannot give up filling out your itemization for a team advantage 10 minutes down the road when the game will probably be over in 10 minutes anyways.

Seriously really... life and mana items instead....

Unbreakable Boots
Nimoth Chest Plate
Vlemish FacePALM
Plenor Battlecrown

These are all good things to sink that 3000 into.

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December 21, 2011 8:46:09 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Ye but if you already have  3 of those 4  items and u have enough gold for cur 2 you shud get it unless you are past warrank 6. Its a huge help when u get to warrank 10 and trying to get creeps on the field

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December 21, 2011 9:57:31 PM from Demigod Forums Demigod Forums

Quoting visca_el_barca,
Ye but if you already have  3 of those 4  items and u have enough gold for cur 2 you shud get it unless you are past warrank 6. Its a huge help when u get to warrank 10 and trying to get creeps on the field

The best case scenario is 3 people on the team, netting 6 gold per second for the cost of 3000 gold.
That is still 8.5 minutes before you break even.

There is no possible way that helps you in a normal game.

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