sigils are your best friend and ally, also a wand of speed is helpful for catching speedy little devils.

counter oak than get its natural enemy....a chain saw.

I do get Wand of Speed if I can, but it is lower on my priority list. I don't use Sigils enough.

All these are helpful tips, but I was actually looking to see if people had some DG specific, or build specific strategies that they employed.

For example, I was facing a ice TB who had maxed his Freeze early. So I pretty much gave up on minions and went all Penitence. But that one is easy and obvious.

The DGs I have the most trouble with are Minion LE (surprise), Beasts with 7k+ Hp (surprise) and annoying as hell Mine-Regulus. What are people doing against these?

Is the parasite egg worth it? I always mean to use it but by the time I can afford it it is GG either way. Should I get that earlier? And how do these Beasts have so many Hps? Is it just standard equip, BotF and Sigil? Or am I missing something? Why is Regulus so annoying? (Well I know why, but why does it have to be that way? Why? Why? : )  )

I have less trouble with (unless the player is really good) Tower Rook and (heavy shield) QoT. I tend to not give up much ground to them, but they are a pain to kill when you want to.

@ RAAWWRRRR

Yeah. It's been a while since I tried a straight assassin build. It never worked for me, but that was also when I was a noob. I'll give it another shot.

Coz rankings mean anything.

Bad,

I play Oak most of the time, he's my favorite demi by far.

One thing i saw in your build is that you just list it up to level 20 and don't provide specific upgrade paths.  To be able to look at how you build your oak we'll need to know what skills you get and when you get them.

RawrrrrrrRrRrRRRrrrs strategy is a good one, but as oak you will most likely be on the health flag in a 3v3... unless your teammates are (sedna or qot) AND (rook or UB).

Always get monks first, it also doesnt hurt to grab a totem of revlation for the site distance and it's cheap.

TO agree with rawrr here, going to the citadel means you aren't gaining gold and xp as fast as you could be.  Make sure you go as few times as possible.  Don't ever leave a tower unguarded and make sure that if you are engaged in battle and you think you are going to lose the 1v1 fight, back off early so you dont have to return to the citadel.  it is better to farm creeps and regain the flags than to run back.

As far as armor I pefer to get (in order): Banded - scale - vlemish - nimoths - plenor - bishops - hauberk* - L4 siege - groffling - narmoths*

Artificts: mage slayer* - girdle of the giants* (this is great with narmoths and or mage slayer.... it's a helluva lot of fun lol), bulwark*

*deontes rarely or situational dependant.

After your first visit to the citadel always keep a teleport scroll on hand.  Flag locks help too.  Sigils are also your friend, be sure to keep one on hand as much as possilbe.  Universal gadgets are just plain fun too.

My preferred build is a hybrid:

Favor item:  Blood of the fallen

1. Shield 1
2. Pen 1 (unless im a bit low on health then i will get DJ 1)
   
3. divine justice 1
4. Pen 2 (chances are you are mana weak until this level or level 5 which is when you can afford vlemish + banded etc)
   
5. SOF
   
6. Shield 2
7. Shield 3
   
8. Pen 3
9. hold
10. Pen 4 SOF 2
11. soul power 1
12. Soul ward 1 (spirits)
    
13. spirit 2
    
14. spirit 3 (most games are over by now)
15. sof 3
16. spirit 4 (i find that spirit 5 is a bit of a waste)
    
17. Divine justice and then whatever
    

Here is my preferred minion build:

Favor items:  Ring of divine might, swift anklet, horn of battle (although i prefer the other two)

Not good against TB or ooze ub.

(i will get hauberk earlier for this build, and if i get ring of divine might i will get boots of speed)

1. shield
   
2. soul ward 1
3. Divine Justice 1
4. Spirits 2
5. SOF
6. Pen 1
7. spirit 3
8. soul power 1 (or shield 2)
   
9. hold (or shield 3)
   
10. SOF + spirits 4
11. Shield 2
    
12. Shield 3
13. DJ 2
14. DJ 3 (most games are over by now)
    
15. SOF
16. pen2+ .... 

My all time favorite shits & giggles build gets rid of shield altogether, and gets DJ 1, soul power 1, pen 3, spirits 3 & sof II in the first 10 levels.  However this is not a "teamplay" build and getting rid of shield essentially eliminates escaping bad situations for you and your teammates.

I know you are looking for more specific answers to your questions so here is what i have found:

Against a tower rook - i find the minion build most successfull.  Chances are the tower rook is in a creep lane, gather your minions, plant a ward in the lane, wait for a creep wave to get somewhat close to replenish the spirits that are about to die,  send your minions to the rook first then follow up with yourself & surge of faith, the minions will take most of the aggro from the towers.  Use the penitence for interrupting any teleports or slams. Hit a sigil when necessary, shield + port at the last second.  (be wary of any other demi's porting in, especially if they have interrupts)

Against an ice TB the hybrid build is most effective.  Wand of speed also helps get you out of the firing zone, although it is useless when already slowed.  Shield, used offensively in this case, works well too.  Just be careful not to hit shield when you are already frozen or the cool down time will screw you up.  I hate this new influx of ice TB's.  Fire TB's aren't nearly as much of a problem.  The biggest thing here is never go against 2 demis when you are by yourself, especially against a tank + ice TB, you'll just get frozen and dead.

Against a minion erebus the hybrid build is most effective.  Please note that stacking armor is essential so armor of vengeance can be usefuly until you can trade up to groffling and beyond.  Like rawr said the minion LE is squishier but you'll still have a hard time catching him and killing him, especially if he has a point in pist and batswarm.  Surge of Faith helps clear out those minions.

Yes the parasite egg can be worth it, perhaps moreso than armor of vengeance, unless you have a pist erebus and you cant hit him.

Mine regulus, use your minions to run over the mines.  Then there are no mines to worry about.  You could also plant that totem of revleation.  A minion oak is excellent against the mine reg, especially if you have some sort of speed enhancement (swift anklet, boots etc.)  Regulus is designed to be annoying and they were quite successful in that design lol. 

Yes the UB is stacking standard health items (the most cost effective way to stay alive in this game) and probaby using a sigil as well. The best way to go against this is to use the hybrid build & stack health and keep a sigil on you as well.  You can also use shield as an offensive maneuver but that will eliminate your escape plan so be sure that you know you will win the fight.

The bottom line is that you will most likely equally hate all of the other demigods.  GPG did a helluva job balancing this game to make all of your enemies suck for different reasons.  ice tb, a sedna with anti healing, qot's shield, tower rooks, slam rooks (with a stunner close by), UB in general, mine reg, snipe reg, erebus - everything about him.  If i had to pick the one i like the least though, going up against an erebus is a pain in the ass lol.

If there is one piece of advice i can give always run from a 2v1 situation where both enemies have full health.  If one is really really low you might be able to take him out before you shield port.  WHat happens in a 2v1 if you go against them, even if you dont die, your health will get knocked down too much and you will have to return to the citadel, then your teammate that is returning from the citadel is in a 2v1 situaiton.  Just hang back, guard a tower.  If they approach you at the tower dance with them a bit but try to keep from having to return to the citadel. 

I hope that helps!

j

actually.. I think I'd disagree here in some cases.  I mean.. sure don't run straight into it.. but generally if you beat on someone, someone else will come to help them.  If you can make them waste all their mana trying to kill you after you forced a teleport.. you're distracting 2 ppl who have no chance of killing you.  They waste a teleport, time, and ideally a good chunk of mana / hp so they have to go back after you finish.  Your other teammate(s) can focus freely on something else while you distract multiple enemies at the cost of 1 (you).  I love forcing 2 people to deal with me only to escape them by shield porting out.

i.e. I run for a portal and start fighting off 1 guy.. he calls his friend(s) bcuz he can't handle me bcuz I'm a couple levels up.  They both take me on, I get as low as I can, shield and leave while in the meantime, my teammate is capping the portal on the other side with no resistance.

As for polynomial.. pfft.. IT DOESN'T FUCKIN MATTER I DON'T FIGHT UNTIL LVL 7.  Just for you I'll change my build to save, save, save, save, sof (still use it to creep), save, s1+s2+p1+p2+p3+dj1, s3, etc etc.  It'll end up as the same thing.  Besides.. this has been argued in countless other threads.  Personally, the only time I fight b4 lvl 2 is at the xp flag.. and only if my other teammates are with me.. and we aren't going to take that fight if it's a bad one... sooo what's better - 3 ppl getting the added benefit of penitence (i.e. stunning a fireball, slowing down the tb so he can't run away, dealing 200 dmg, and increasing 3 people's dmg on him) or a teammate getting a 3 second shield?  One of them gets you a kill, the other doesn't do anything because I won't be getting into a stupid fight before lvl 2.  If my other 2 teammates decide to engage 3 ppl in the middle in a battle we will surely lose, I will watch them die or almost die as I go grab the mana flag, then berate them for doing something they shouldn't have done in the first place.

I can tell you that the good Oaks I fear the most have shield and cloak of the night.

They give a little up at the start of the match by not taking blood of the fallen, but make up for it with the ability to super gank later on.

Yea cloak is a good one, i forgot to add that to my list.  I still prefer the staying power of blood though. 

Rawrr good point, keeping two enemies focused on one 1 person definitely provides a map advantage.  Although what typically happens is that after you port back to base they take out the tower.  Whereas playing conservatively and hanging out by the tower, maybe dancing a little bit and killing creep waves, will keep the tower from going down. 

Unfortunatley i've had to use shield on teammates a couple of times at level 1, more for peeling off chasing demi's as my guy flees. I think you know some of these people rawr   99% of the time you are only level 1 for a minute or 2 so it's pretty much a moot point.

@ Bad

Yea that's the problem with the S & G build, it doesnt work so well against better players.

My experience has shown that spirits are great in general and specifically at levels 1-4 in a 1v1 oak situation for the reasons you mentioned.  I've found that levels 5-10 the assassin oak typically pushes back the spirit oak in a 1v1 so it's a tradeoff.

Anyways, i posted the builds earlier because each one helps counter the other demi's that you were talking about.

Also, i heard a rumor that stats are being reset next week.

j

I had never really played oak other than my first few single player games and I'm finding this thread very useful. I've messed around with him a bit more and I'm liking the way he plays, he's got a bit more punch and staying power than I really gave him credit for and I don't think I ever really understood how valuable both shield and penitence are.

Personally I don't like Rally either, but that's more subjective.