Erebus mist/minion Build

Very mana reliant, and mit is fairly lackluster until you can get it going. But combine with batswarm, and a heavy mist Erebus would definitely be something to worry about, I think.

why not take Morale though? If you're sitting in Mist, you really need your minions to be doing more damage.

Immediate problems I see with this build is a very weak early game, which can be a crucial time for Erebus. Mist doesn't scale well and will chew you mana up very badly, and it doesn't look like you're making room for Bite among all those minion skills, so the famed erebus survivability, well...

The funny thing about mist is that all it takes to beat it is a halfway smart player on the opposite end. It'll be great for the creeps, but not much else. Oh, and you'll do great against hammer slam and venom spit... I guess..

The problem with the mist build is that, since it takes so much mana to do, you can't get armor/attack items, and you're pretty much stuck only using mist... which won't kill human players... which means you're stuck with just using creeps for your xp/gold. On the plus side, if you're on a map with a big creep bottleneck, you can rack up some crazy kills using that strategy.

The one thing I'd change is to not put points into the things that give your minions more hp. Your mist will already give them hp/hp regen, and if you're camping a good spot you'll be killing enough things you won't need the extra chance of getting minions. I'd put the spare points into... say... vamperic aura, or something that'll make you not dead meat outside of mist.

Well, if someone is using Mist in the open against another Erebus (which I know you play), they are most likely noob, and I'm not surprised you maul them, as you should.  Mist used within crowded areas during team clashes against debuff/DoT DGs (yes, I realise Erebus has a debuff of his own) can be highly effective for a variety of reasons.

I've begun experimenting with an Erebus build that slowly maxes Mist and takes the first level of Coven, because while Nightwalkers are basically gimps, an extra four of them is actually quite a bit of utility for a single skill point.  Overall, I've liked the results this has yielded, although the biggest problem with all of Erebus' pets is that they're never as fast or as manueverable as he is.  Nevertheless, the Nightwalkers are quite useful in set pieces early to midgame and a quick burst of mist is often enough to ensure a "creep win" and therefore superior DPS to an opponent when your surviving creeps turn their attention to the DG.  I'm beginning to think that a more balanced assassin/general build is the optimal way to play Erebus.  The only thing I'm truly sure of is that Mass Charm is shit.

Mass charm has its uses. Especially with muddle. Although it's a heavy investment to get that far. I mostly use it to get 3 seconds of stun time to recharge bite. It's also a useful tool for letting your minions catch up to a fleeing enemy. It's definetly one of the worse skills in the game, but that doesn't mean its inherently useless.

Oh, and by the way, I play my Erebus as a mixed build. No mist though. Doesn't feel right if I'm not moving.

I have had some success playing a similar mist/minion build against human opponents.  I originally tried it as a joke/gimmick but I have not lost a game yet with this build so I will mini-guide it here for you. 

Quick Request: If you want to post: "This wont work against skilled opponents", please try this strat or at least defeat it in the hands of a good player first so that you have some experience to base that on, then phrase your post "This wont work against skilled opponents because they will counter you by ____________".

Mini-guide to Mist/Minion Erebus:

Rule 1:  Mist is not your damage source.  Mist is not to be used as soon as the battles start but only when you think you may die without it or need to dodge/debuff.  Mist is only for dodging damage until late game.  If you dont need to mist, just use your basic attacks alongside your minions.

Skills:

1. Mist
2. Conversion Aura
3. Coven
4. Morale
5. Conversion Aura
6. Coven
7. Poisoned Blood
8. Conversion Aura
9. Coven
10. Morale
11. Morale
12. Morale
13. Morale
14. Poisoned Blood
15. Army of Night
16. Vampiric Aura
17. Then max mist.

Items:

• Idols (priests to bishops first, then others)
• Hauberk of Life
• Gloves of Fell-Darkur
• Gladiator Gloves
• Other minion-boosting armor/hp

This is straight-forward, no talent in the strategy, only in the application (i.e. its all about map control with this).  You get a ton of minions, these minions, combined, do an absurd amount of damage, very quickly.  Between your priests and mist you shouldn't really die with this unless you get chain-stunned.  Whenever you mist, micro your minions (select all minions with "N" I think is default) to attack enemy DGs nearby.  Selecting all your minions and DG, try to surround an enemy before you click to attack them when battles start.  This wont prevent them from getting away, but it will ensure your minions begin attacking all at once and the DPS will be a surprise to your enemy, sometimes netting you a kill if they arent aware how powerful this is.  Focus on capping flags and pushing down towers.  I promise you, if you play smart, not much can out-damage/outlast this strategy early game.  You should easily be able to start pushing down towers at level 3 or so (assuming you bought/summon/sold monks at start).  Use potions (hp, you shouldnt be using a lot of mana) early game if needed.  Basically, you should use your early advantage and melee range prowess to win all flag-battles and score easy tower kills.  This is just basic stuff but I feel the need to repeat it: Using a build like this you should be trying to win before anyone reaches level 15 or at least you should have a huge level/tower advantage by then.  This is not a late game strategy, if anyone in your game buys Ashkandor, you failed (with this build).

This is not a chaser build, you may need a partner to get kills on flight-prone enemies or you will just have to trick them.  Remember that sending them back to heal is often equivalent or better than a kill because it costs them more time/exp. This build is not effective against heavy aoe builds, usually found on TB but sometimes also on Mine-Regulus.  Oak's aoe, and QoT's aoe dont count and wont wipe your minions that quickly (unless combined with other aoe DGs).  Basically, if someone picked TB, go for a more mainstream Erebus Build.

TB's fire aura and, to a lesser degree, Oak's surge of faith buff, make this build dominant.

I have used this strat several times in online games, its very effective to mist and let your minions do the work.   I was never able to stay in mist form forever, I did not think mana regenerated while I was in mist form.  But with 2-3 helms I could mist for 5 minutes, which is often very effective.

I only used this strat on Catarak so this will probably not work on other maps.  In Catarak all the grunts from both portals go past the CIT.  At around level 10 you can mist in this area to kill all the waves of grunts.  This gives you a full army of nightwalkers every wave, you can then use the nightwalkers to kill the towers and eventually the CIT. 

Doing this often attracks attention from the other demigod, and I have died several times when I ran out of mana with 3 demigods between me and retreat.  But if there are 3 demigods waiting for me, my team is probably controling the map. If i do die, I can just respawn and go back to work.  It is very effective at killing buildings, leveling, and taking out the citidel.  You can get kills on demigods with the minions but it usually requires one of your teammates to stun a demigod your minions are attacking.

It is by no means an unstopable strat.  If the grunts do not stop in the mist they will run past you without dying, if grunts do not die you get no nightwalkers.  So killing all the minions as quickly as possible is key.  For that you need tower damage upgrades, and one player to AOE and attack the minions.  Also melee minions are slow, never stop with them around you and you will not die to minions.

I have not lost on catarak using this strat and I have used it over a dozen times.  Ppl just do not know how to counter it, and if they leave you alone because you are in mist form you will kill all of their buildings with ease.  The more ppl that use it the less effective it will be. (UPGRADE YOUR TOWERS, and Grunt armor)

Playing with it a but, I've found that Mist doesn't nessasarially have to replace Erebus' normal strategy, but lets you do one very cool thing- you only have to invest in mp items, basically; since you're invincable in mist form you don't really have to pay for armor the way every other character has to.

EDIT: Also, Mist is basically Erebus' only aoe attack, so if you plan on farming creeps well you basically have to use it.

Bat Swarm's an AoE. Also, Mist doesn't work as a substitute for HP, as Erebus can't gain HP in mist form, and any opponent with half a brain will just walk out of mist and wait for you to reform when you're out of MP. A smarter player will also make sure to block your exit when you can't move in mist form. It's pretty much handing them a free kill.

That would be why I said basically. And do you honestly use bat swarm as an aoe?

Also, if you park over a creep path and have three mp items, you can be in mist form basically indefinately. If they wait for you, well, you're not comin out, can send over minions, and probably are getting more kills. Or else you just unmist and batswarm out past any attacks.

Not 100% sure that's all english, but you didn't exactly poke a hole in my plan to sit in a creep path for five minutes or so, then port out the instand I demist.

Ocassionally... when no one's looking...

I think I'd kind of get the point after a while. You don't give me enough credit. If you decide to perma mist, I might just move on to greener pastures.

Well, exactly. Either you waste time while I kill creeps, or it works just fine as a defensive technique.

I'm not a fan if I can't capture flags while I do it. I usually just disperse my minions around the map while I go back to the crystal if I want creeps while I'm out to lunch.

Don't get me wrong, it's a viable stratagy when you want to block minion lanes, and you'll level fairly fast, but at the point where it's most effective, is usually the point where your opponent will probably try to back door your ass. Erebus can only block so many lanes at once.

I don't know about you, but as Erebus, I'm never comfortable if I'm not moving.

Mass charm stops a group of enemies from moving for a couple of seconds so your team can gank them, they may die before they recover from the stun if you have the right combination of attackers. Why on earth an Erebus player wouldnt take this skill at least to the first level is beyond me. I guess if you're in a 1v1 its not going to be as good, but really, who plays 1v1?

I agree that the mist strat isnt the be all and end all of LE strategy though, its pretty pointless on fortress or domination mode for starters...and any strat that involves you sitting idly farming creeps is certainly not going to work against a good team (Hint: your teammates are going to die).

I forgot to mention this earlier, my friends and I have dubbed this strategy "going full minion."  Whenever I tell them "I am going full minion". they respond in their best Rober Downey Jr, Tropic Thunder impression "You never go FULL MINION!"

if you are worried about getting away after mist, Just make sure you have enough mana to bat away.  Plus if one or 2 ppl are waiting 5 mins for you to unmist, you have already wasted enough of their time to equal one death.  They are not leveling or capping flags, while you are leveling and destroying their buildings.

If they pay attention to you, they waste time while you are out leveling them and you teammates have an advantage.  If they ignore you, all their buildings are destroyed and you still level really fast.

If you want to destroy all their buildings you need to focus all money on minion upgrades(get the 10 minion damage Favor item, the use ability also helps you level- minions one shot grunts for 10 secs) and total mana.  High level mist is important to kill the grunts(rebuilds your army), and every point you put into moral drastically helps your minions do more damage to buildings.  They have to stay alive to do damage.

TB and QoT are your primary obsticals because of their AOE's.

You will get no to few kills, but your team should win most of the time (Assuming you and your teammates are not feeders).

Only game I really feel like my team came back from the brink was using this strategy.  We were behind in warscore by 3 levels, they had giants and were trying to cap our side portals on catarak.  I misted in the channel that both portals funnel through on their side of the map.  I destroyed all their defenses and leveled rapidly getting a 4 level advantage on the other team.  They were forced to come back to their citidel to stop my minions.  My team recaptured the map and our grunts were now pushing on their citidel.  Their citidel was down to 300 hp, when they started getting the building upgrades and the health shot up.  I ran out of mana, and was killed by 3 demigods in the area.  They pushed all the way forward while I was dead (their army was still better than ours).  We fought off the giants attacking our based and when I finally got back to their citidel, it was back to full health.    The game seasawed for a bit until my teammates got giants and capped one of their side portals while I was misted by the citidel.   Victory was ours.

I usually go Full Minion with Erebus and only take Mist if Regulus is using Mark of the Betrayer. I prefer using bat form for killing a large number of creeps because it kills them in one shot. Granted that is only possible late game but in the early game there usually isn't enough creeps to justify aoeing them, the minions pick them off easily enough. The great thing about Erebus is that it is easy to change you skill selections based on who you are going against and how they play. I only take ranks in Mist, Bat Form or Mass Charm if the current game dictates that it is necessary. I also think 1 rank in Conversion Aura is usually sufficient.

Erebus' versatility is why I prefer playing him Full Minion versus the other generals. My second favorite general is Sedna but I rarely deviate from my standard build with her.

I find mass charm works great with a full minion Erebus build depending on the enemy demigod.  The minions DPS quite fast, but they can't chase down enemy DGs.  Start combat with a melee DG, all your minions surround him and he starts to lose (or if you start to lose pop mist and let him fight with just your minions).  When he starts to run, tag him with glamour - and activate the bracelet of rage (which I always try to B-line for with this build).  I've netted 30+ kills in a game with this, the best part is it's an all of a sudden change so your opponent has to really change how they're dealing with you which some people have trouble doing mid-game.  Even on the ball players often give up 2 or 3 deaths before they realize I've shifted gears to be a DG killer.  'course, I also don't use glamour until I get it up to the 3 second stun so it's a complete surprise.

Oh, it also works wonders on big groups of enemy giants late game.  They stand around for quite some time waiting to be killed.

Theguildfordstrangler makes every point I think needs to be made. Also, I've seen less experienced erebus players using mist as a panic button. don't do that. most of time reg leaving a mine right on you is enough to kill you immediately after coming out of the mist, before you can do anything.

This got me once, but as long as you remember to park over a creep lane, your minions can minesweep for you.

just use your minions to blow up the mines while you are misted