I have to disagree. XP 1 and 2 are needed for maximum effectiveness. The early game sacrifice is ok, because towers will protect you for a while. Being half a level ahead of your opponent in a conflict means that you will reach the next level sooner. Levels are discrete variables, so it's as if you were an entire level ahead (for half the time).

They translate into nearly a full level advantage for your entire team at level 10, and over an entire level advantage thereafter. If it was just one person getting the XP bonus, it would not be worth it, but it's certainly a huge advantage having your entire team being 1 level above the other team. It makes it easier to push your opponents off of flags, which translates into better farming, which translates into better leveling. XP upgrades are certainly within normal budget constraints.

Skill being equal, a team that does not buy XP 1 & 2 will lose to a team that does. It's happened in tons of my games. As UB, I sink my first 3600 gp into XP 1 & 2 before buying gear. You'll get pushed around a bit in the early game, but you will come back roaring in the endgame.

I've tried buying XP a few times and I never feel any significant difference. I see your point, Epi, but:

- "That means that a 20% boost of experience is a little less than one level's worth, from the start of the game, by the time you get to level 10."

From the start of the game! Which is never the case; XP1 is at best bought at level 2 or 3, and XP2, around level 5. So you will never realisticly be a little less than one's level worth at level 10. And all along the game, the little more xp you're accumulating is really not significant.

- Between level 3 and 8 (let's say), you will be, skill being equal, unable to deal with a DG with, for ex, Nirmoth & Unbreakable; you'll be less efficient to stand a lane (less WS), to farm (less xp and gold) and maybe unable to defend a tower against one or two DG.

- Even if you finally got one level more than opponents (between level 11 and 13). It's not such a big deal imo. It's not a fact that is going to reverse a huge battle.

- 3600 / 250 = 14,4. What about, on cataract, buying 15 locks to always keep central flag on your side? Advantages: you can easily divise the costs between allies, and you can buy locks from time to time and not in one shot.

To me this upgrade is situationnal :

If your opponents make the mistake to buy priests very early, get the XP 1&2 and make sure you keep the xp flag (using locks if necessary). Then you got 40% more xp PLUS the additionnal xp from priests that the ennemy wont get. Also try to get the armory upgrade for creeps to deny gold to ennemies.

Problem is that without creeps you might by force to defend, and give up some war rank, but you will overlevel them. Other point is you need less items because having 2 or 3 level more ; that gold can be put in blacksmith/armory isntead.

Then you have to time the moment when you buy priest and make a push, and let this 'xp strat' aside (meaning you can give up the xp flag and concentrate on gold/portal flags).

IMHO xp boost have a role mid game.

Actually this is a point AGAINST the value of the upgrade.  Consider that the 20% xp flag is controlled by your team roughly half the time, granting you 10% xp on average. That means that the incremental value of another 10% on top of it is smaller compared to the experience the other team is getting.  That is, if they are getting 110% experience on average, and so are you, and you increase that to 120%, the actual boost compared to the other team is only 1/11th, not 1/10th.

The only time I have seen XP being useful is when you strive to get as much of the boost as possible.

• Take the favor +10
• keep the xp flag capped and locked +20
• xp 1 citadel upgrade +10
• xp 2 citadel upgrade +10

I have had some fun games doing this on cataract, I have ended up being +6 levels on other players as TB, the only way this works is if as a team you agree to use flag locks on the middle whenever possible, buy xp citadel upgrade over other upgrades and take the favor item.

try it out in your premade game sometime you might like it. Unfortunately I don't have a replay of this to show otherwise I would link it here.

try your math with a constant +50% xp increase.

Each 10% is equivalent to an extra level. That doesn't seem much until you get 20 or 30% xp boost.

Now what if you got magical coin purse favor item and used the money saved to get the first citadel xp upgrade? Get both the benefit of the Brilliant Bobble and Coin Purse for 1200 gold.

Edited the Table to make it super easy to read. Now shows where you get bonus levels with varying different xp bonuses. Read the notes.

Yes I know you can't get an xp bonus from the start unless you have Brilliant Bobble but the amount of xp needed to level is on a curve and it takes only 8% of the total xp to get level 20 to reach level 6. Which would mean you still had 92% to go with which to benefit from an xp bonus. My example with the magical coin purse was to illustrate that you'd be better off with the purse and buying the citadel upgrade versus getting the brilliant bobble which is kinda tangencial to the topic. I uses 1 level per 10% because it is a reasonable approximation that is easy to remember instead of having to explain all the detailed math.

I'd set the table as follows to show how much base xp you'd need to level if you had a certain percentage xp bonus.

Example: If you both had 10000 base xp but you had a 20% bonus to xp you'd be 541 xp away from 14 and they would be 900 xp away from 13.

Sure, you can't get it right from the start, but you can get XP 1 and 2 by War Rank 4. It takes very little XP to level up early on, so missing out on the first few levels doesn't delay your overall experience bonus that badly, because experience grows exponentially. Like I said, levels are discrete variables, and they don't cost that much. In my practical experience, it helps out a lot, especially if the other team buys priests. You'll earn 46% more experience if they do. I chalk up victories to these upgrades.

ehhh that can't be right.

maybe you only gain 1 level with xp 2 if you sit in base and never creep, but whenever i get xp 2 my team is 9 levels ahead of the enemy collectively (3 levels each).

Makes a big difference considering most heros get an AOE / Creep killing move at level 5-6. So the sooner they get that, the sooner they can power through creep waves and level faster.

Not to mention there is a tactical advantage to having xp2. If the enemy caps the xp flag, your teams are now even on xp bonus if they do not have any xp upgrades. If you have the xp flag, you now have +40% hp while the enemy has 0......

Replay Of This (sort of I got exp when I realized that we were leveling faster cause of ooze and oak)

 http://www.gamereplays.org/demigod/replays.php?game=51&tab=popular&show=details&id=98784

looks at it from another side:

you don't get xp 1 & 2 but you get some better equipment instead
this gives you a bigger advantage over the other team than having some extra xp and the advantage is instant, you don't have to wait till lvl 10

now with this advantage you can push the other team back easier than with some extra xp
pushing the other team back in return gives you extra xp & gold from the creep waves and from some easier kills

I've never noticed a diffrence in levels when getting xp 1 & 2
I always notice the diffrence in levels (2-3 levels) when my team kills the other team often