Strategy's not to try

There's only one strategy (that everyone SHOULD follow, not the other way around), actually.

"Do not die."

Kills brings enormous amounts of gold (and quite a good exp) for killer/supporters. Also, you'll be staying dead while opponents are building their exp/gold/map control. So, you'll be

1) Outleveled;

2) Outfarmed;

3) Deprived of war score;

if you'll keep dying.

PS: Everything else like "do not chase behind towers" is just consequences to this.

Also, unless the game's Fortress, BUY SOME GOD DAMN FLAG LOCKS! They're 250 a piece, but they can change a game dramatically. This is especially important for the dark DGs, as they don't have a pusher as OMGWTF as Rook.

In a half hour game with respawn timer set to high, don't average one death per minute.

guildford,

i do believe that certain builds of Queen of Thorns make amazing lane pushers. i often used a close mode Shield + Shamblers build to do this. its bad at killing DGs but very good at killing buildings and creeps. 

alternatively a pure Fire build of Torchbearer is also extremely good at lane pushing. Circle of Fire and Fireball can both be used to cause large amounts of damage to towers with relatively little damage sustained by the TB himself (just a few seconds getting in and out of range). and obviously TB excels at blasting creeps. 

regarding the OP:

1) DO NOT play a build for your DG that "kicks the crap out of the AI as soon as I buy my Mageslayer". humans are so much less forgiving and so much less farmable. if your build can't function on HALF the gold income you're normally used to than you need to try something different. 

I never said Dark never had good pushers. I just said they're not as good as Rook. The fact that his towers manage to stick around even after he's dead is just a big 'fuck you' to your entire defense. Once he's in your base, he's like a freaking cancer.

Do those towers still benefit from citadel upgrades? Really, I only want rook nerfed in two ways. One, remove citadel upgrades from the towers. Two, make them go away after he dies. My minions don't stick around when I'm gone(but it would be so freaking sweet if they did), so why should Rook's?

in that case, i'm still waiting on buff to Uproot....

You know that the noobs aren't gonna read this, because they are what they are: noobs.

...oh, right.  That'd be because in multiplayer, other players occassionally will buy citadel upgrades.

On that note: If you're allergic to the citadel, go back to DOTA.

They don't receive benefit from tower upgrades and such the way a General's minions seem to be effected by the creep setting in game opitons.  The towers also stick around after death because they are on a timer.  When you summon something as any other char, they dont automatically disappear after 90s at max rank.  His towers staying aorund after death is paltry to what it would be like if my towers had unlimited duration after a summon, but disappeared when I died.

Bad Strategic Moments:

Ally: "I'll flank them!" - as he runs around past the experience flag, through the fortress, archer towers, and other towers set up there... dying shortly thereafter.

Ally: "I'm going to grab him!" as he runs after a faster demigod, within spit range, for most of the FREAKING GAME.  If you aren't catching up, it isn't going to change suddenly... go back to your lane, or spit first.  Uggh.

Ally: "Lol-nub, flags are more important than xp" - the teammate who diligently captured any available flag... but was level 3 when everyone else was level 6.  Sometimes you need to stay in a lane, or just ask a teammate to cap that flag close to them.

Ally: "Saving for Ring." - Yes, he meant the all father ring.  We were about level 8 at the time.  He had no kills and 7 deaths, and got his precious ring about a minute before the game ended.  Early item advantages should not be ignored.

It's simple. Rook's towers are not minions. They are stationary and cannot be controlled. I don't understand what the big deal is about Rooks... yes they are good at controlling an area, but they can't really do much else. They are not Demigod killers (unless you walk into his towers and on his terms), they are not fast, can't zip around the map capturing flags, and don't have any kind of effective long range attack.

I think towers are fine as is. I agree however, that citadel upgrades should not improve his towers. THAT I totally agree with you on.

This.