Note: Pretty pictures and skills to be added later, don’t ask about them. This is also a work in progress as I am doing this from work, I plan to start with the actual strategy first and move on to the more basic stuff after.
The Demonologist
Full Metal Smackit
Pros
-Has the most powerful titan hunter in the game.
-Has many summons, made more powerful by enhancing upgrades
-Has a teleport-like escape
Cons
-Extremely fragile
-Nether occasionally sends you to dangerous locations
-Difficult to use effectively without gold
I Introduction This guide is not intended for new demon players. You should have at least a working knowledge of what the demon is and how his skills work as I will not be covering the basics in this guide. I certainly will not be dumbing you down with pictures on how to wall, if you can’t wall properly, you really should not even be using the demon. And you damn sure had better know what I’m talking about when I say merchant units. This is geared toward a particular style of play that keeps you on the offensive as much as possible. There are a few general rules to follow in order to be a Full Assault Demon:
Thou shall gold at every opportunity – Without gold, you are going to be heavily crippled and near useless until the gold penalty.
Thou shalt never base within thine walls – Wall bases, while amusing until the titan is around 6 or gets a few super regens, are nothing but massive gold feed for a titan. Unless having a wall base is some sort of clever trap you plan to utilize whenever the titan eventually decides to walk into it ten to twenty minutes down the line, you are wasting your time. If you are simply using it as a place to put your buildings, you are not playing the demon properly.
Thou shalt not wall thy allies – You should be spending every second of your time hunting, or in preparation for it. Let other races walls, your time is better spent elsewhere.
Thou shalt not copulate with thine succubi – Sure they are sexy. Sure there are three of them. Sure a group of scantily clad, large breasted women with horns on their head who secrete green poisonous fluids at their enemies when aroused is every mans fantasy… but you should probably check into the Leisure Suit Larry series instead.
Thou shall always be aware of thine Nether regions – No, not your crotch. Always be aware of how much cooldown you have left on nether as this will save your horny little behind on more occasions than can fathom. Nether also has very particular set points where it will move you, know them. Be prepared for the moment when you are ported to a wandering titan, or god forbid, right into the mine with two minions staring you down.
II Important Skills of the Demonologist Note: To be added later
III Units Note: To be added later
IV Placing and Denying your gold buildings I always recommend not building any of your gold buildings unless you can afford to get all of your summons and upgrades from them. This way you can destroy them immediately after you are finished with them, never having to worry about someone finding and destroying them. If absolutely necessary, ask a baser with tons of free space if you can build there.
However, if you have enough gold go to an easy to wall off spot and build your buildings there. A series of 6 or more walls will ensure that you can research in time before a titan or minion can get to your buildings. I recommend the base spots on the far right center, or top right center, as they are easy to wall off and rarely checked. They are also very easy to wall more should you find you need an extra few seconds to research.
Again, kill your buildings when you are done. You only need your merchant for the summons, wall upgrade, and Balth. You should have the lumber on hand to get all of them at one time.
V Early Game – Get that cash money, dolla dolla bill y’all The first thing you are going to need to do is set up your lumber camp. Simply go to one of the many hiding spots which can fit you and your succubi. My personal favorite is the far right as it’s the least checked by minions carrying spawns, plus it puts you into easy access for setting up your other buildings later on. I typically lumber solo with the demon until 170 wood, as this prevents most early surprise attacks from a wandering titan feeding from your pools. Run out, build all four of your pools then summon your succubi to start working. Deny your pools immediately. Never, NEVER leave them out.
Now you must gold. This is the most critical point in the game for you. Your focus should be getting at least 85 gold, enough to summon Balthazar, but of course the more you get the better off you will be. If you cannot get 75, at the very least try to get 50 which will net you your dual summons. You should spend every waking second of your time golding, safely, until the titan gets their first minion.
VI Mid Game – Killing is my business and business is GOOD So it finally happened, some one died and now golding isn’t so easy. If player controlled, and leaving you opportunities to gold, by all means do this. If not, it’s time to kill a minion. Depending on how much gold you have, you have a lot of different options and it would be impossible for me to cover every possibility in this guide, so instead I will go with the most common themes only.
Trapping (Less than 50 gold) - If the minion is punished, or titan controlled and camping, it’s time to trap. Trapping refers to walling a corner of the mound in such a way that you leave a clear tunnel for a minion to fit through, but affords you the ability to move around and wall behind it, effectively trapping the minion inside to be killed. This isn’t always easy. Below is one of the better spots and method of setting up a trap. Use your hound to lure the minion into the trap by getting it to chase you, then running up through the end of your trap, to your waiting scorpion. Quickly switch to your builder and wall up the exit. Between your walls and summons, the minion should go down pretty easily at this point. If the minion is trying to bash its way through the wall to safety, repair with your worker. If not, get a slap in with your builder then run back out of range. Repeat this until you have a dead minion.
(Pretty Trap screenshot goes here)
(Pretty shot of a minion approaching goes here)
(Prettier shot of a dead minion goes here)
Base Trapping (Various) - If the titan is seiging a base, wait until the point he takes out a few walls and gets deeper into the base. Summon from nearby and trap the titan between your summons and the base. Make sure you have your gnoll trackers or are ready to shade if the titan goes invisible.
Ambush (Less than 50 gold) – If the minion is being sent at bases, or along with the titan, follow them to the location. Often times, the mini is used to soak up damage and the titan will pull it back from the base with very little life left, and will then ignore it in order to finish the base off himself. This is the perfect opportunity to get the kill. As the titan moves back into the base, immediately summon all available units and attack the mini, with luck, the titan will not notice in the few seconds it takes to finish the minion off. Your builder however, should be moved far away immediately after you summon.
Dual Summons (50 to 74 gold) – Depending on the level of the minion, your dual summons will be sufficient to kill the minion outright, even if they are standing next to the mound, healing. If they are level 4 or above, you will need to enlist some extra help, or pull the mini back to a wall trap in order to kill it. Assuming it is low enough, simply wait until you see the titan away from the mound and summon all of your units, bringing in your succubi to help if possible. While they do not do tremendous damage, any damage they DO add, is always helpful. Send your entire army on a direct assault on the minion, if the titan does not immediately teleport back, the minion will take upwards of 10 seconds or more to die. Be nearby in walls to shade a summons if the minion goes invisible. Be ready to run if the titan teleports back to the mound.
Balth (75 gold and above) – I stress that this is the target you should hope to achieve before hunting. Get all of your research for Balth and equip him with all the merchant units you can afford, at minimum getting the non-gold summons. If possible, go ahead and get the Spearlocs as well, they will pay for themselves almost immediately. Once you have Balth, summon him and buy the summons, placing them directly on Balth so as to keep your builder a safe distance when it comes time to attack. Balth is a powerhouse and with him and the merchant summons, a low level minion will die in only a few seconds. Assuming the minion is camping the mound, even if there are several minions there, summon all of your units and fully assault the lowest level minion. Focus only on killing, if you can’t get the bones immediately don’t worry. If all the minions are low level, it is entirely possible to kill two of them in one assault.
The goal is to use your gold to expand your army as much as possible, get Balth and Dual Summons as soon as possibly as the combination will be almost unbeatable and can easily take a fighting low to mid level titan. As you collect more bones, replace the summons on Balth and move the merchant summons to your builder, or get rid of them completely. The only summons you will truly need are your Gnoll Trackers, these little guys are absolutely invaluable to you in their ability to see fleeing invisible units.
VII End Game – Total Domination or Totally Dominated Depending on your action up to this point, you are either set to take on the titan solo, or you have been completely gold crippled. Your End Game routine will simply be a repeat of your Mid Game routine. Kill minions at every possible chance. Gold when you can.
The only difference is now you should be focusing on killing the titan, which if you have a bone or two on Balth, should not be a problem with your upgrades and army. Your best options are to catch a titan laying siege to a base, to attack him when he’s not expecting it, or to try to trap him much like a minion. Try to trap only in a base spot as you will need the open space to effectively use all of your army against him. If you can only attack with one or two melee units, chances are the titan will simply tear through them.
If the titan is seiging a base, wait until the point he takes out a few walls and gets deeper into the base. Summon from nearby and trap the titan between your summons and the base. Make sure you have your gnoll trackers or are ready to shade if the titan goes invisible.
If you have been completely bone and gold denied throughout the game, and you are faced with a high level titan and several difficult to kill minions, your best bet is to aid a base, praying for a kill when the titan comes to attack. Regardless, in all situations, the killing methods above always apply. Constantly be on the look out for kill opportunities. With a little luck, and a lot of skilled playing, the titan will be running from YOU.
VIII Tips and Tricks If there is a camping mini, and you find you are in need of only a few gold in order to get a major upgrade, there is an easy way to do this. If the minion is on hold, simply run to the opposite side of the mound and start golding with Nether on. The second the minion moves, click it. Repeat this process as needed.
If you see an ally being chased, you can distract the titan by running into the open. If the titan changes direction after you, Nether. You and your ally will live to fight another day.
Strictly as a matter of annoyance, you can run directly at a titan and Nether away when you are close to him. While it doesn't do much, it's always hilarious to see.
Always be mindful of your Nether cooldown. Do not attempt to trap or place yourself in an otherwise dangerous situation if you have just recently used it. You will be trapped with no hope of escape.
Invest in a Teleport Staff if possible. Having a second escape can save your life.
Your scorpion comes fully equipped with a slow poison attack. Utilize it early game by keeping it at the mound. The slow will help ensure you and your allies can run to safety. Often, some titan will be forced to simply kill the scorpion instead. Ignore any "feed" comments from the lesser races. They can not hope to understand the ways of the demon.
Balth comes equipped with Blink. Learn to blink effectively and get in front of where your target is heading. You will net an extra two to three attacks while they are fleeing from from. Blink is also on a very short cooldown, so I can be used as a great chasing tool, or to escape when Balths health is too low. You never want to let Balth become feed.
Sacrifice is a great scouting skill that detects invisible units and there are tons of ways to use it. While trapping and the titan is missing, it may be worth being one less fel hound to use the shade to check around your trap. Use it while golding to help ensure there are no titan sneak attacks. If you are nearby a seiged base and suspect the titan is invisible waiting to catch a builder while rewalling, send a shade over to him to help.
When summoning, ALWAYS ensure your builder is in a safe spot. You can have every single summons and upgrade in the game, but if a smart player sees you nearby they will simply kill your builder thus destroying your entire army in one swift kill.
