Rook the Weak?

If you want join the GR channel in irc and we can arrange something.

(Community->Chat->Type in your nickname and join demigod channel->type /join #GR)

I idle in there and can help you out.

Rook is all about map control. Taking and holding an area is his specialty with a slow march forward. He is not weak at all, you just can't play him as agressively as a lot of people do. He's a walking castle, so be a castle! His towers ability is great in the early mid-game and if you get proper mana regen you can slowly take a lane and keep pushing forward. Keep spamming towers and create a farm of them around you. As the old towers die, you keep moving them up the map while slowly forcing your enemies back. Late game tele scrolls and flag locks can be really annoying. Create your tower farm, lock a flag, and jump away. Can easily turn the tide.

A lot of people tend to over extend themselves as rook, if you do so you will probably die without support. Rook simple isn't fast enough to escape. Make the enemy come to you and force them to drive you back. I know you're asking for a good rook player (I'm far from one). I just thought I'd give you some points so you know a good rook player.

Rook was overpowered in beta.  I think they nerf him too much or buffed up the other demigods too much.   I stop using rook now, as he isn't as powerful as he once was.

A tower-spamming Rook with Hammer Slam makes Unclean Beast a very unhappy pooch.

rook is not good at going out into the open and taking on lots of enemies by himself, if he gets in trouble he's pretty much dead cause he's so slow.

i make towers rook's primary method of attack in the beginning.  support your troops with your towers (and your archers once you get them) and don't go too far forward.  little by little get his upgrades until he's beefy enough to take on units by himself.  boulder is really good as well as it gives him a nice range attack against creeps.  i just use him to mass kill enemy units and i usually ignore other demigods until mid to late game.

the heart is a must item for him as i run through mana in a flash, i get the heart as soon as possible (sometimes as my first item even) so that he can stay in the fight constantly.  i just move him behind my troops and towers whenever i need to use it, it's not too hard.

Rook only scares me when he's controlled by a person.  AI rook or any other DG for that matter just sux.

Sorry to say but Rook owns. As much as I love playing him I hate seeing people play him. Makes me so jealous when hes munching away on my friggin towers.

Now I'm new (bought yesterday) but there are 2 helmets I get that can keep me mana buffed fully. If I do find myself needing more mana I buy the heart trinket. Then I just go straight hard dps as late game he attacks fast. For skills I go for the towers, munch on tower, and increase the attack power. Sometimes 1 into the roll boulder to stun.

If you are going with mana regen with rook, you are doing it wrong. Rook does not have very good stats, it justifies in no way his ultra slow movement. He he has low armor but high max HP (seriously, who care about max HP? It's good for tower hunting and fighting TB and Regulus early when their nukes are powerful, but by the end, all you want is max damage, max armor and max hp regen). His towers would be good if they didn't go down by themselves after 1 min or so. 

Past level 10, the beast is superior to him in almost every way possible. Superior armor, superior movement and attack speed, melee attacks that slow down (something poor rook only get with his poison arrow at the very end). Both get a stun attack, rook's is ranged and is AoE, but beast's is stronger and drains hp.

You simply do not need a character specced for tower destruction. You do not grind into towers early, you go for the flags until mid-game and hit the towers only once you are strong enough to kill them quickly and have priests for healing.

I play Rook, and I die alot, I just like to charge out with him, I know its foolish

Aye.  They might of overnerfed him SLIGHTLY.  All I think he needs is +100 more base armor(it was reduced 200).  But he's not like unplayably bad or anything.

I think you completely left out his towers, which is what makes mana regen extremely important.

Heh. I just played a game (sadly 3v2) with Rook. Well, I'm pretty sure the enemy was rather surprised as I took down 4 of their towers and stole one of their spawns (map was Prison). I was only level 8. :]

Rook is all about where you setup shop.

Ranged character is generally the bane of rook, good thing that there aren't many of them.

Rook is an excellent diversion character to keep attention on you, because everyone spend alot of time watching you until you walk away from your tower; they want you to feed them. Except regulus, he would just out range your tower.

im just gonna go ahead and say it: they nerfed his armor too much. rook is a bit too delicate these days for a character designed as the biggest tank in the game. 

Rook "looks" like a tank.  You think, when you see him, YIKES!  But he does not seem to make up in HP/armor what he lacks in speed.  I just played a MP online, and there was a Rook player.  I was playing Catwomen, so I was affraid of him at first.  I'd do a pounce on him when I could, then run.  But after a while, I realized he could not kill me.  I dodged the hammer easy; I could pounce and even get an attack or 2 in, and run before the hammer.  I kind'a felt bad for the guy, cause I thought my DG (speced for healing/assist) was just running rings around him, and that I should'nt have been able to.  It just "feels" like I should'a been afraid of him. 

I actually kind'a tried to move to the other side of the map from him (since we were pretty sure to win, and I saw no reason to torment the guy).  But he sure seemed UP to me. .   Wish I could show you the replay.

purplepaladin

yeah, exactly...and twice i played as erebus with rook in my team and lost just because it was me vs 2 DG...he didn't do anything

A properly played Rook can dominate the map. Like any other properly played character. And if played by people who have no idea what he's about, he'll suck. Like any other badly played character.

Eh, none of the characters are so badly balanced that a good players can't do well with them. Jut like any other DG, The Rook has a certain role to play in the game, as is determined by his strenghts and weaknesses. If you can understand them, you will do well.

That said, balance could always be better, and the Rook is slightly but definitely under-powered at this point compared to other DGs. I'm sure that balance will be further tweaked along the way,

We think rook is the 2nd best (OP'd) character after Regelus. A good rook will absolutely dominate anyone else to date in our games. 

Who is "we," and what about Erebus or Oak, or even Sedna as a healer/support?

Ok, I tried Rook myself and totaly Roocked, seems those teammates simply didnt know to use his abilities.

After playing it several times I think it's one of the best chars

Hammering is waaay too slow to effectively use on anything but point blank bouldered targets. Now, since there is only the UB and the odd melee assassin Erebus that will ever come close to the Rook, and they have potent stuns of their own, I deem the combo absolutely useless. LAME, as we GW players would call it.

He's great at holding flags and seiging but when it comes down to duking it out with other players I can never seem to catch those overwhemlingly popular ranged heroes. Even with the + speed favor item, boots of speed and a wand of speed I just can't lay a finger on them. All I can do is get assists with boulder throw.

You have to come play with your PA comrades to learn how to play Rook to his full killing potential there Red Arremer.