I've been working on a pet project recently. Basically it has started to really hit home that the best player combo is Beast and Sedna, and that quite generally, but the best two DG's are those two as well.

So, thinkest I, why am I tailoring builds around opposition that isn't that big of a threat? Why not try to make myself a silver bullet vs the two big bads?

Favor Item: Horn of Battle or Symbol of Purity

1. Shield
2. Soul Ward
3. Soul Power
4. Soul Ward
5. Surge of Faith
6. Penitence
7. Soul Ward
8. Divine Justice
9. Save
10. Soul Ward + Surge of Faith

So, this is a Minion build for the most part, with a side of Invulnerability.  Depending on the opposition, and style of the opponent, Horn of Battle or the Symbol is your go to item.   The Horn allows you to be a more focused Minion General, and swamp over sedna.  The Symbol + Shield allows to you fairly well negate the effects of spit.

The general thinking is that minions are strong vs sedna, and shield is strong vs beast, doubly so with symbol of purity.  So if you can combine these two effects, it doesn't necessarily make you the best DG out there, but it is at least going to make you a strong battler against them, especially one on one.

Items and other In Game Strategies:

This build actually has one of the more diverse item usage lists, mainly because depending on your edge, or lackthereof against the opposition, different things become important.  Let's distill it down to a few cases:

1) You have a slight advantage against a UB/Sedna pair

Your team is on the 'winning' side.  Slightly more kills, slightly more war rank. What items do you pick up to keep, and/or increase this lead?

• Minion health buffs (Hauberk of Life, sigil of Vitality, Gladiator Gloves)
• Mana buffs (Scaled/vlemish, maybe just a few mana pots)
• Minion Idols (low ranks at least. You can spend~1000 on the two lowest level archers and minotaurs).

With more minion support, and more castings of Surge of Faith, you can rip apart structures, and keep harrassing enemy dg's even while you Lane elsewhere. This is strong at generating war score, and relies on the fact that you do not need to win a HP race, or are already winning it. Minions, especially if you went with the Horn, are very hard for these two DG's to handle (Even with ooze) so walk all over them.

2) You have a slight advantage against a non UB/Sedna pair

For instance Torch Bearer, Erebus, QoT. These may be strong minion-ers in themselves, or possessive of great AoE abilities.

• +Health Items. AoE Effects are notoriously bad at doing strong single target damage, and also cost a lot of mana for that damage.  +Health will almost always extend your lead more than anything else.
• Gank Items. Teleports, wand of speeds, etc. Items that let you get extra kills against a weaker foe.  You have an advantage against DG's that are probably simply not as strong as you are, increase it by killing them more often.

This is geenrally the no brainer scenario, and I think the one people default to.  Even against non AoE effects, HP are a good route to pickup. Point is though, you can't tele-gank someone stronger than you, so don't try this when losing!

3) Slight disadvantage against a non UB/Sedna Pair

Disadvantages are rough, and dealing with them takes patience, especially if they get big.  You need to not feed the opponent more, so survivability is key, but you also need to close the gap, meaning you need tricks and surprises.

• Consumables. Saving up for another 2k item isn't always an option in this case, so you need to make the best out of your piddly pool of personal pay. Sigil of Vitality can work, but is costly, and no economical if you have no other HP ites. Healing Pots, Universal Gadgets, capture locks are all key here.  Sometimes you just need to make up a war score deficit, or NOT lose another gold mine, so keep locks in consideration.
• Citadel Upgrades. This can be a good thing to get right when you notice a downward trend.  Tower health or damage, grunt strength, or additional waves of grunts (Priests) can often give you a fighting force that will help you in holding lanes, and driving opponents from them. I would generally upgrade grunt HP before getting more though, against AoE'ers like TB and QoT.
• The ENTER key. Often times you are losing, and getting low on team morale, and then playing poorer, or not coordinating well.  Keep communication up and coordinate your attacks.  Call out your in combat targets, or notify others of a weak opponent.

4) Slight disadvantage against UB/Sedna

How do you deal with being outmatched by the best DG pair in the game?  Here's a few quick pointers:

• Hit F10
• Click on 'concede'
• Okay, I kid, I kid. They are strong, but not unbeatable. Keep your wits about you, and do most of what is suggested above.
• Difference here being that it is likely that you will be unable to kill them, especially if they are good, unless you can level up and item up.  It can often be that the worst decision you make is fighting fair with these two.  They heal, and have massively scaling damage output.  An ooze/spit beast does significantly more damage at level 7 than 6, so getting a level behind can be huge problem.