With the recent influx of players I thought it worth jotting down a few basics. If anyone actually ends up reading this I can update, and if any other experienced players want to add their thoughts I will gladly include. This thread will be a great place for new player to ask any questions they may have.
[Thanks to Schwiegerknecht and AA_reggird for helping flesh out the guide, any more comments still welcome]
-Incidentally, AA_reggird is by some margin the best player in demigod today. Although because he is so good he normally ends up on really bad teams as a way to compensate, so don’t worry that much of you find yourself opposed.
Learning the basics: Do play against AI, don’t play Single player (SP)
The SP AI have not been updated since launch, and since then veterans have racked up tens of thousands of hours of game play experience and we know exactly what equipment, consumables and citadel upgrades are worth having and which are not. The standard AI does not know any of this.
What you need to do is download and install and activate the big four mods. UI mod, AI mod, Balance mod and uberfix mod. Once you have these go to multiplayer, which is where they become active(they don’t work on SP) create yourself a lobby with a password and start practicing with AI 3v3 on Cataract. Your find the AI play far better than on SP, and your learn a lot more relevant stuff about the game.
Get in 50-100 games like that and then try multiplayer. Your find the existing player base are on the whole very welcoming and forgiving to new players that have made an effort to learn the basics, but very unforgiving to players that try to join experienced games without knowing the basics.
Typical Match:
Perhaps the new influx of players will show more variety. However, I can tell you that around 98% of experienced player games play the following settings – 3v3 or 2v2, Cataract map, Conquest victory conditions, default settings except for: High Towers, Low AI Gold, High AI HP. The high towers are so the game is balanced, too easy to roll through them otherwise, the AI settings are to make it easier on a team if one of their players drop.
How do you win:
A lot of experienced players let alone new players seriously misunderstand this. Most assume that kills wins a conquest match they do not. I’ve won games where my team has zero kills and the other team has had 10+ kills. The way you actually win a match is by map control.
Now it is perfectly possible that by conceding a lot of kills to the other team they can buy much better gear and use that to wrestle map control away from you, but it is not a given. You should only concede a match when it is clear that you have lost control of the map, and face no prospect of being able to get it back.
If you have map control or you can get it back you can win by having your creeps demolish the enemy citadel. It is ultimately the creeps that win the game, not you.
I have had games where almost all my towers have been destroyed, and my citadel reduced (in one case to less than 100hp), but my team still won. The reason was that we saw the enemy team although ahead, were overextending in a rush to finish. This meant we could start killing them even with our inferior gear, which meant we could improve our gear and citadel and ultimately turn the table and win.
How do you lose:
If you die twice and then ragequit, your team will almost certainly lose. Not because of the 2 kills, but because the AI that replaces you cannot think tactically and as a result cannot control the map late game. As a result if you get in the habit of ragequitting you will quickly find that no good players will accept you being on their team. At that point you need to uninstall the game or content yourself with single player mode. Ragequitting is one of the worst sins you can commit in this game.
If you think you have lost map control and think it impossible to regain it, you use concede. If your team agrees with your assessment they will concede as well and the game is over. However, a more experienced player may see something you don’t and want to carry on. You probably should. But if you ragequit your team members will likely shun you next time you try to join a lobby.
How to speak:
In demigod being too slow, even if by half a second can turn a rampage into a rout. So people rarely waste time typing they don’t need to. Here is a glossary of commonly used short hand terms.
Fs = Fortified Structures rank 1; an essential early upgrade.
Curr = Currency rank 1; an essential early upgrade.
Xp = Experience rank 1, a useful early upgrade.
Thxs = thank you for having bought that citadel upgrade / for saving my ass etc.
Hp = The +15% Health points flag
Mana = The +15% Mana points flag
Port = One of the four portal flags. When said alone, usually means that someone is about to make an attempt on one of your portal flags and you need to defend it. Or if you have just killed 2 of the enemy team, its an instruction to try and rush one of their portal flags while your unopposed.
B = Get Back; a more experienced players see’s that you can’t win your current fight, and wants to you to get back.
I b = I am going back, when fighting in a group , a player is telling you he has to withdraw, so you can decide if you want to stay without them.
H = help, as in fire up that TP and get yourself over here
omw = on my way, you have to judge the context, but could mean keep fighting because I will join you and we can gank the enemy.
Mb = monk back; if you’re playing a general you should set a monk or bishop to follow your main tanks or damage dealers. However monks have a callous disregard for their own wellbeing and if your team member gets to close to the enemy tower the monk will wander around under it getting blasted to death. When a team member tells you ‘mb’ they are telling you to move the monk to go stand further back, maybe somewhere near your own tower.
TP = use a teleport scroll, either to get away, or to come help. Or sometimes in a coordinated gank of an enemy near one of your flags.
S = either a Regulus Snipe or an Oak Shield is needed urgently.
On sigil = a teammate is either telling you that they are on a sigil and most of their HP is about to disappear, or that the enemy is on a sigil, and will should not be allowed to withdraw.
GG = a Good Game. Basically any balanced game that went the distance whether you win or lose.
Sry = Sorry I just died in that unbelievably stupid way.
NP = No Problem
IDM = I don't mind
FFS!! = used to indicate that a player appreciates how skilful an enemy player was to slip away with only a handful of HP left. Or when a player is killed by some sly regulus snipe 2 inches from the health crystal.
Noob = A player is fondly recalling when they too were new to demigod, and wishing you an enjoyable experience in learning the game.
Citadel upgrades:
Here follows a brief description of key citadel upgrades.
Fortified structures: Rank 1 is absolutely essential, as it allows your towers to regenerate. Sometime if you’re on the backfoot it can be worth getting additional ranks but only really need 1.
Building firepower: WARNING this is bugged without uberfix mod, and will actually reduce how dangerous your towers are. Even with uberfix, most people never buy.
Currency: Rank 1 must be bought as soon as you get war rank 3 (WR3), no exceptions. It will generate a huge amount of extra gold, likewise Rank 2 at WR5. If you have the mods on your want to get rank 3 at WR7 as balance mod increases the amount of gold it generates, otherwise don’t bother with rank 3.
Experience: I always buy rank 1 at WR2 as it gives a nice 10% boost, some people don’t, very few people bother with ranks 2 onwards. I find a 10% boost if bought very early in the game can be quite meaningful by late game.
Graveyard: Your want these in a close game near the end, as being back alive earlier makes all the difference, not much point early game.
Trebuchets and Finger of God: If your ahead on kills with loads of gold, but behind on warscore and they are bringing creeps up u can use this to hold back the creeps for a while, don’t bother otherwise.
Creep Armour/ Creep Blacksmith: used to boost your creeps power late game, its what you put your gold into at the very end game. If you don’t and the other team do, their creeps will push back yours and you will not make progress.
Priests: You can buy these at WR3, but unless the other team does and your losing map control DON’T. The reason is those juicy Priests will give the other team +20% gold and xp every wave. So if you get and they don’t they can out spend you and out level you by farming those fat creep waves.
If you’re playing perfectly what you should do is as a team save up 16,000 gold as you turn WR10. Then buy Priest/Angels/ Catas/Giants all in one go and they will storm the enemy citadel. Some people like to save 10,000 gold and buy Priest/Angels/ Catas at WR8. However, without giants your creep wave will suddenly give a huge boost to xp and gold but may not be able to get past the towers and enemy demigods, unless you are also able to kill their demigods easily. I suggest you only do the WR8 creeps if you are already winning easily, and just want an extra push to finish. But the danger is you hand the other team all the xp and gold they need to make a come back.
Shop Guide:
Many players are more than a dozen games in before they realize you can buy more than 1 helm etc. You can indeed, and should indeed double on some classes of gear and ignore others. Here is the concise KB shopping guide.
Minions (Healers): If you’re a General buy monks at the start of the game, these will heal you and are invaluable. Later sell them and buy Bishops. If you have another general on your team one of you buy Bishops and the other High priests. Because you can get a heal from a bishop and a High priest one after another, but if you both have Bishops as soon as you get a heal from them you need to wait a full minute for another heal from that class of minion. Mixing your healing minions makes group fights easier.
Btw: if there is a Sedna on your team they always get the bishops, because Sedna’s minions get a +10% healing bonus.
Minions (demolishers): Ignore the lower ranks, buy the rank 4 when you can and use them as a great damage boost and/or leave them to destroy a tower.
Minions (grunts): Buy them if you have spare gold and are bored. Some people buy the lowest rank only and use them to clear Regs mines.
Helms: The helms that cost 550, 1500 and 1,750 are all good. Never get more than 2 unless you’re an erb that likes to mist a lot.
Armour: The armours that cost 400, 550, 1500 and 1750 are all good. Take as many as you need. Late game if you have cash the 5,200 armour is also very nice. Don’t bother with the 10,000 armour, go to the artefact shop and get the 16,000 shield instead.
NB: The standard combo at the start of the game for an assassin is the 550 armour and helm,The standard for all generals is Monks. Later both classes usually get the 1500 armour and helm.
Gloves: Don’t bother, your damage come from mana -> special abilities; not flailing your arm around in a fight. The exception being a Regulus played a certain way. In which case consider the 400, 1500 and 3750 gloves.
Boots, Some people like the +10% speed from the 1,000 boots, but it’s not vital, the 1500 boots are a really good halfway job between a helm and armour, lots of people use them when they can’t deicide if they want mana or hp more. The 6,750 boots give +15% speed and sometimes trigger +50% speed. For late game these are more or less crucial for some players.
Rings: The 4,000 ring gives HP and lifesteal as you fight. Awesome for Rook and UB, optional for everyone else.
Consumables:
Totem, 50 gold, is overlooked but I always buy if I have the space for one. It gives a +5 sight radius which can make a difference as to how quickly you spot a gank coming. Also if I am a reg or have a reg on my team in the early game I buy these and drop them in the middle of a flag. That way the other team can’t see your using a totem, and it lets your reg score some amazing snipes while the other team wonders how you saw them.
Teleport Scroll, 250g, VITAL, use to escape an enemy, to tp to a friend in need, or to defend a portal. Late game always carry 3 of these.
Lock, 250g, Locks a flag for 1 minute. Vital late game to either control their portal or to defend your own. Sometimes worth using mid game as well, for example if you capture the enemy gold flag.
Sigil, 500g, instantly gain 50% of your hp for a few seconds. You should always have 1 from mid game onwards, as you will not win a fight against another player of similar skill if they have one and you don’t. A sigil will save your ass a half a dozen times in some matches.
Pots, 200g for mana and 275g for HP, I’m not a fan of using these as I would rather adapt my play style to avoid spending this much gold early game. However, you might want to carry some early game and just sell them later if you did need. They're more effective than sigils early game (the small ones) and mana pots can be used for that last penitence or snipe.
Artefact Shop (located in the middle of the map):
The short answer here is that if you can afford anything from this shop you probably don’t need it as you are going to win anyway, So I won’t cover much here, just to say.
The 8,000 gold sword gives a good damage boost, but I only ever use as Regulus. The 18,000 Sword gives an insane damage boost and is great for most demigods. The 25,000 ring is just insanity squared.
Some players also like the 16,000 shield as a great damage reducer.
A very brief guide to the demigods and their expected role in a match:
Regulus: Reg is usually played as a support demi. This means you are not a front line fighter, instead you buy all the citadel upgrades so that your team can buy gear. And you run around helping out and capturing the middle flag. You max Snipe and Mines. These are powerful support tools. As the snipe helps a friendly demi at a distance and mines when used creatively can really blunt an attack or leave a great trap. A well played support reg usually has the worst gear but the most kills. Crucial level: Level 1, With snipe you can get some amazing kills straight away, this is amplified at lvl 5 when you get Tracking Device, which allows you to see an enemy demi even in the fog of war. A great tool for killing with Snipe. Best Favour Item: Heavens Wrath (HW), being support you’re have a hard time being in lane enough to level up, this will let you kill creeps and level. It’s also great for finding a snipe target as they run. Staff of Renewal is also viable, since you snipe 2-3 times in fights. Coin Pouch can also be nice, since you're buying cit upgrades (pretty much guarantees xp1).
Unclean Beast: UB is a damage machine that if allowed to gear up can become unstoppable. The whole skill with UB is learning when to chase and when to hang back. Your job will be to go solo in the mana lane, and hopefully gear up and level up to the point you cannot be stopped, you maximise spit, Inner beast and Ooze. Crucial level: Level 5, you get Grasp which lets you stun an enemy, if you’re a level 4 UB you really don’t want to fight a level 5 UB until you have got grasp yourself. Grasp is deadly for stopping another demi from using a TP or from healing etc. Best Favour Item: Vial, gives you 33% of your HP back, Grasp the other beast and activate Vial at the same time so he cannot stop your vial.
Rook: You’re very slow, but if played correctly very powerful. Usually played as a lane holding Tower rook that maximises towers and gets the shoulder and hat upgrades. Your job will be to sit on the HP flag and not let it go, you then want to get the Hat trebuchet at which point you can slowly roll down the lane destroying towers. However, if you over extend yourself you will get ganked by the other team as you can’t run. Never go past the enemy junction just after the HP flag, as your Hat can hit the further towers from there, and any further and your over extended. Crucial level: Level 8, you get the Hat trebuchet. Best Favour Item: Vial to get your HP back. However, if I am playing against another Rook I take HW as that way I can out level him and get my Hat and better towers faster, then push him out of the lane.
Demon Assassin: In my view the second hardest demigod to play well after Ice TB, but devastating if done right and you have a good team with you. The DA has tremendous burst damage, his whole job is to suddenly appear and do a lot of damage quickly. His swap ability can swap other demis out of TP’ing away, onto mines, or under a rooks hammer. Max warp, mas tail strike, 1 rank of swap is all you need, max warp area so you can help clear creeps late game and finally work towards assassins speed after you pick up all the speed and dodge talents. If you’re playing with a poor team it’s very hard to make an effective DA, as your best staying mobile and finishing someone else fight rather than starting your own and expecting to be a tank. Crucial level: Level 15, you get the double damage on your warp attack. Best Favour Item: HW, you need lvl 15 urgently, and you’re a poor creep killer.
Torch Bearer: Two demis in one this, Fire TB and Ice TB, I hardly ever see player go hybrid so I treat them as two different demis. The only thing they have in common is whichever one you chose whenever you can switch forms and then back again. This will give you a temporary boost to mana regen and damage which is far too good not to be used whenever you can.
Fire TB: early game you’re a tank, get circle of fire rank 1 and you can hold a lane and kill creeps. Mid game you’re a damage dealer as you rank up fireball and speed. Put 1 rank in fire circle lvl 1, which is the strongest lvl 1 talent in the game, then max fireball and Fire aura, this makes you fast and along with the 1000 gold boots turns you into a hit and run specialist. Drop a point in fire nova at lvl 5, and don’t worry about the rest of circle of fire until after 10 as you approach lvl 15. And then your back to being a tank again. Crucial level: Level 1, Circle of Fire rank 1 really is awesome, later rank 7 fireball combined with chasing speed from fire aura makes you deadly support. Best Favour Item: Vial.
Ice TB: a hard demi to play and only really great in a good team and then only in late game. Best avoided for new players. But you will discover that late game against a high level Ice TB is annoying as hell as they shutdown your every move. Excellent crowd control and can really transform a fight between good players the way no other demi can. Crucial level: Level 15, Nothing really changes, but the duration of your interrupts and stuns go from a slight annoyance to crippling for the enemy. Best Favour Item: Vial or Staff of renewal.
Sedna: Excels as a supporter and can tank quite a bit because of her hp regeneration if you don't get bursted down quickly. She's not much of a damage dealer though, don't play her if you want kills (other Demigods do it better). With Heal and Healing Wind 2 maxed, her regen with Monks (and later Bishops) is huge. She can hold lanes easily. You usually also get Silence, but it's hard to use and noobs might want to level Pounce instead. Silence can work like Oak's shield though: Silence, TP away when in trouble. Maybe a point in Inner Grace early on. Sedna is the only demi to make good use of Nature's Reckoning which costs 1,500 from the shop. Crucial levels: Sed is strongest level 5-11 or so. Best Favor Item: Blood of the Fallen or Swift Anklet (Speed is important on Sed)
Occulus: He is a general, but plays much like an assassin. Basically, you max your Chain of Lightning and Blast Off (and one point in Brainstorm) and do lots and lots of damage. One of the best AoE-dealers. Blast Off can be used to flee/catch up and does damage when you leap off and land, respectively. Crucial levels: He's strong at lvl 7, 10 and especially lvl 15, with Electrocution and maxed Ball of Lightning. Best Favour Item: Blood of the Fallen, Cloak of Night (useful to jump to enemies and then Blast Off on top of them)
Erebus: Very strong early game if you max Bite and put 1 point in coven (minions do lot of DPS), only has trouble with Rook and Queen of Thorns. Very mobile, great for capturing portals late game with Bat Swarm and has an awesome AoE stun (max until late game). Erebus is very strong and useful throughout the whole game, being good at holding lanes early and getting portals/creating diversions with Mist and Swarm later. With max Mass Charm, you stun long enough to lock down a portal. Best Favour: Blood of the Fallen
Oak: weak early game, being beaten by more or less everyone but Regulus 1v1. But he grows stronger the longer the game goes, pushing waves with Surge of Faith, recovering health and mana with Divine Justice, and protecting himself and allies with a 6 second shield (only skill shield to third rank, rank 4 just consumes more mana and is bugged). With shield lvl 3 and a TP, you can get out of almost any situation. Shield 3 prevents interrupts, so just shield and TP out. This can also be used for locking portals. Just always watch how much mana you have. And watch the map. When you have a TP, you might be able to save allies. Best Favour: Blood of the Fallen or Swift Anklet or Amulet of Teleportation (for saving allies).
Queen of Thorns: Don't play her, she's the most complicated Demigod, even more so than Rook. Very strong early game because of her AoE autoattack and her minions (which almost every QoT player gets). Great pusher with Ground Spikes (GS drops towers in seconds at lvl 10), and nice sustain in closed form (more armor and mana+hp regen when closed). Has little hp though, goes down easily when stunned in ganks. Very strong in 2v2. If enemies don't have a stun, you can just heal up like this: Bramble Shield, Summon Shamblers, Mulch them, Repeat over and over Best Favor: Blood of the Fallen (you have little hp anyway) or Swift Anklet (You have no escape skills, so this might help. Just run away and heal up)
Early game tactics
As soon as the game starts go straight to the shop, if you’re a General buy a 50g totem for the extra vision radius it gives you from the first page, and monks from the last page. Summon the monks next to the crystal. Then heads to one of the flags. If possible assigning a monk to follow one of the other demigods as you go.
If you’re an assassin you buy the 550g helm and 550g armour, your need to wait a few seconds to afford both. You buy the Helm first because it takes slightly long to fill from the crystal.
Typically you will have all three demis go first to the centre flag then spilt out, with 2 going to the HP flag and 1 going to the Mana flag.
Because the demi going to the mana flag will get more xp/gold from killing creeps you send the demi that is more critical to have higher levels. The prime example being UB, who will always get to solo mana. Other characters that really benefit from being able to solo mana if there is not an UB on your team are Occ and DA, because both of those really become powerful at lvl 15.
HP is the more crucial flag as it gives you a very strong advantage, thus why it typically gets 2 demis. A rook should always go to HP, as a team that controls HP has a rook that can usually push away another rook and control the lane.
One of the demis should run to the middle flag and turn it whenever the chance arises. This is never rook but can either be the mana lane demi, or the second HP demi. You will have to judge in the situation which is better to go. However, some points on the middle flag:
1) You get slightly less gold/xp from turning the middle flag as you do from killing a basic creep wave. So don’t leave a creep wave only to run for the middle flag. Its not worth it.
2) An advanced skill in this game is knowing how to time your runs the middle flag and get back in time that you always kill a creep wave, and your opponent always misses theirs. Do this consistently and you will outlevel the other guy by around 20%.
In the early game you are not chasing kills, although they are nice to have. What you should be doing is maximising your level and gold income to set you up for your mid-game. If come warrank 5-8 when the game starts getting spicy you are under levelled it will be very hard for you. So to that end try to never miss a creep wave. If you fight and keep having to withdraw to the crystal or go shopping you are missing out. As a general rule only 1 demi should go back to the shop before WR3 to buy XP1 and FS1 from the citadel. And 1 demi should go back precisely at WR3 to buy Curr1.
After you get to WR3 you should have around 3000-3800 gold if you did not have to buy XP, FS or Curr. If so this would be a good time to go back and buy the next lot of standard gear, which is the 1500 armour, 1500 helm and hopefully a TP and Sigil as well.
The way you stay in lane against a more skilled or better geared opponent is to simply hang back by your tower and cash in on the creep waves and middle flag. If you constantly fight a stronger demi your just waste your HP and be forced to constantly run back to crystal. Early stage of any match should be treated a gentle jog, not a desperate sprint. This is especially true as Rook, you want to hold your position and level, and not waste a drop of xp, if you can dominate the HP flag then excellent, if not just wait until the other rook does something silly or over extends.
Regulus should be alert for any enemy demigod that is impatience and slap them with a snipe, if they are low and run you want to perfect figuring out where they are likely to be as your snipe cooldown is up, then HW that spot and immediately snipe again in the moment you can see them, most likely scoring a kill. For this reason you will probably wantto take a odd route back, or just burn a TP if you are playing against an experienced Regulus player.
[mid game and late game tactics to follow – or if anyone else wants to contribute say]
