Next up is Regulus.
Regulus is one of the most misused characters in Demigod, and he's really not all that bad but because he's often used poorly it makes him seem worse than he really is. Maybe it's the tool tip's fault with their misleading "Regulus is good against other Demigods" nonsense. He's also not that hard to use, and a good regulus can make all the difference in a big map - such as Leviathan or Zikurat.
If you're not on a big map, then building a snipe-less Reg might be preferable, since you won't be getting much distance anyway. If you're also facing tanky characters on a small map then snipe becomes even more useless.
An AA reg is one that doesn't get mines, if you get mines then it's technically not an AA reg no matter how hard you want it to be. It's simply not a viable build but it's definitely a fun build, because it works wonderfully against weak players. But these guides are not guides on how to destroy beginners, if that's what you're looking for then this is not the right place.
When to choose a Regulus
So in my UB guide, I didn't have this section - why? Because choosing UB is appropriate in any situation. It's helpful to know what counters what so you can get an idea of who to avoid laning against or maybe even choose a different character altogether. Like I said before, it is advantageous to have a regulus when you're on a big map, especially on Leviathan with the extra mana regen. The map is pretty much designed for you to constant snipe heavy damage and the mana regen pretty much means you can constantly snipe.
Regulus is also great against Sedna and QoT because of the heavy AoE damage he does with mines and mark. Although Sedna can heal mark away be heal III, at least you'll force her to use a heal. The heavy AoE damage means that you'll give them a lot of trouble trying to heal themselves and their allies at the same time. Mark also pretty much destroys a QoT.
Many players mistakenly believe that a Regulus is a good counter against a Rook becauase he can take towers down quickly. That's simply incorrect. All the Rook would need to do is to build his towers spread apart a bit more and it'll take Regulus quite some time to actually destroy the towers. Any Rook player would tell you that a Regulus doesn't scare them.
So there are 3 different builds with Regulus, and I'll go over each one. The 3 builds will have the same item order so that'll be chunked into one section. I'll write up the first 2 and the Snipe-less Regulus will come later, I won't have the time to write it all.
Heavy Damage Regulus
This is the build I'd recommend on a map like Leviathan where you can spam your skills.
Favour Item: Staff of Renewal
Heaven's Wrath is one of the most popular items with Regulus. I remember stealing the idea from m7md455 a looong time ago but I have no idea where the idea originated from. I've played my fair share of HW Reg and yes they are lots of fun. It's fun to get the extra experience, the extra gold, be able to hit that extra damage, use the HW for vision to snipe etc. but it's not the best favour item with Regulus. It's actually a lazy choice. The argument I often hear is "Yeah but if you had HW you could've killed him, and that one, and that one" - but that's because you never notice something like cooldown reductions. When was the last time you heard someone say "You could've killed him if your cooldown was a few seconds shorter" - most people don't pay attention to such a crucial detail that they mistakenly believe HW is the better choice.
Skill Order:
Level 1 - Snipe I
Level 2 - Mine I
Level 3 - Save
Level 4 - Snipe II & Mine II
Level 5 - Mark of the Betrayer
Level 6 - Tracking Device
Level 7 - Snipe III/Mine III*
Level 8 - Whichever skill you didn't take @ Level 7
Level 9 - Save
Level 10 - Shrapnel Mine & Mark of the Betrayer II
Level 11 - Snipe IV
Level 12 - Angelic Fury I
Level 13 - Angelic Fury II
Level 14 - Angelic Fury III
Level 15 - Mark of the Betrayer III
Level 16 - Angelic Fury IV
Level 17 - Vengeance
Level 18 - Enhanced Attributes I
Level 19 - Enhanced Attributes II
Level 20 - Enhanced Attributes III
*The skill you take depends on what you need the most. If your opponent has lots of minions, then prioritize mines. If your opponents are sticking together often, get mines. If you have a Rook who's just tower farming in one spot (incorrectly) then get mines.
Reasoning:
I'd only recommend this build on Levi because you get enough mana regen to spam your skills. It's not really viable otherwise, unless you have a lot of early kills to buy mana helms.
Some people argue that Sniper Scope is useful. I would have to argue otherwise. Sniper Scope lets you hit towers without getting hurt, but 1) it only helps with the first set of towers, because the 2nd set of towers are more heavily protected and secured by your opponents and 2) your autoattack damage is too low, so if your opponent gets FS1 it will take you a long time to take down a tower. Because you will have a healthy flow of mana, it's better to just hit the towers with mines, and autoattack with creepwaves so they can take the damage for you. Some might argue that Sniper Scope helps you run away, but really, once you get slowed, you really can't do much and that extra range doesn't help at all. There are better abilities to choose from.
Some might suggest sniper scope against a Rook so you don't get hit by his tower farms. But really? You're going to stand there and autoattack 6 of his towers one by one? Do yourself and your teammates a favour; get stronger mines and just bomb those things down.
I've seen many Regs sacrfice Mark of the Betrayer for Sniper Scope. That is an incorrect choice. Mark is what's going to help you run away and help your teammates gank. Always get Mark of the Betrayer.
Independent Regulus
This is the build I'd recommend to for your typical 3v3 battles on Cataract. It's a very similar build to the first one, except instead of saving in Level 3, you get Maim I.
Skill Order:
Level 1 - Snipe I
Level 2 - Mine I
Level 3 - Maim I
Level 4 - Mine II
Level 5 - Mark of the Betrayer
Level 6 - Snipe II (Tracking Device in certain situations)
Level 7 - Mine III
Level 8 - Snipe III
Level 9 - Save
Level 10 - Shrapnel Mine & Mark of the Betrayer II
Level 11 - Snipe IV
Level 12 - Angelic Fury I/Maim II/Enhanced Attributes I*
Level 13 - Angelic Fury II/Maim III/Enhanced Attributes II*
Level 14 - Angelic Fury III/Impedance Bolt/Enhanced Attributes III*
Level 15 - Mark of the Betrayer III
Level 16 - Angelic Fury/Enhanced Attributes*
Level 17 - Angelic Fury/Enhanced Attributes*
Level 18 - Angelic Fury/Enhanced Attributes*
Level 19 - Angelic Fury/Enhanced Attributes*
Level 20 - Angelic Fury/Enhanced Attributes*
*So yes, the guide gets a bit confusing after level 11. Here's the deal, if you have enough mana (preferably a Hungarlings but Plenor & Vlemish would do), then start building Angelic Fury. If you don't have money for your mana helms, then build up your Maim or Enhanced Attributes until you do have the money. Choose Maim if you find that slowing your opponents is helping you run away or help your teammates gank - this typically means a DG that does not have a jump (so exclude Erebus and Occulus) or extremely fast (Fire TB) - it's really helpful, for example, if you have a UB on your team and a UB on the other team - the maim will prevent that UB from running away. If your opponents have bought Journeyman's then don't skill up maim, it becomes useless by that point. Usually one level of main is sufficient and optimal, but if you feel adventurous, go for it. Impedance Bolt will drain your opponent's mana really fast.
Reasoning:
This build is less mana intensive because you can use maim to occupy our opponent. You want their attention on you, so that your teammates can farm/gank while the opposing DG on your lane is being distracted by you constantly autoattacking them. Yes the autoattacks probably won't kill them, but it's irritating, and you want your opponents to be irritated so that they'll make mistakes. With maim, you can usually run in, shoot once, run out, and repeat without getting hurt. It's kinda fun actually. Also, because you're getting maim early in the game, most DGs aren't that fast, so maim will do an excellent job. It just doesn't help as much later in the game.
The other thing is, maim does a better job than sniper scope to help you run away. Maim & Mark is a massive slow, and most likely you should be able to run out safely. The other thing is, with maim and level 1 mark, you will slow your opponent down enough to actually land all your mines beneath them to deal heavy damage.
This is why this is called the independent build - you can hold your ground with maim. You can use maim to help you run away, and you can also use maim to harrass. You can also use maim, paired with mark and mines to deal heavy damage that your opponent probably won't expect because they usually assume Regs can't do anything by themselves, but if they get careless, by level 7, they'll lose ~2k of hp in a matter of seconds.
Item Build:
You'll notice that my item builds are similar for most of the characters, simply because there really are only a few good items.
Starting Items:
- Banded Armour
- Scaled Helm
Saved up at least 2000 gold and hit War Rank 3:
- GET CURRENCY I
- Combat Mana Potion
Truthfully, no one cares if you need a mana helm because your job is to support your teammates. One of the biggest advantages with having a Regulus is that because his build is so cheap, he can buy most of the citadel upgrades while keeping his teammates strong.
Whenever you have the money (in this order):
- Plenor Battlecrown & Teleport Scroll
- Unbreakable Boots
- Nimoth Chest Armour/Sell your Scaled Helm for Vlemish Faceguard - depends on what you need more, hp or mana. Same thing with UB - after Nimoth, you can carry a sigil, before that, carry a potion if you need your security blanket.
Same deal with UB, next item (based on the circumstance):
- Orb of Defiance (3750)
Sell your Scalemail first, and then your Banded Armor
Note: Do not get Orb of Defiance if one of your teammates has it - Orb of Defiance takes up one slot, leaving you with 2 slots: one for teleport scrolls and the other for sigils. This means only 1 person will be locking flags, which is not a good situation to put yourself in. Regulus is often the target for ganks, especially if there is an Erebus or an Oak with a cloak - an Orb is an excellent item to give your teammates time to TP in and gank them, or help you run away. The 5 seconds also gives you time for your cooldowns to reset so you can use your abilities right when you come out of orb. You would be amazed at how useful an Orb can be for a Regulus.
If you're not getting orb (or after you get it) then you can get:
- Hungarling's Crown (5500) - Typically this is the next item to get, but if you feel as though you're dying too fast to use your abilities, or that your opponents are running around so quickly that you don't really have the opportunity to use up your mana, then get another item.
- Narmoth's Ring (4000) - If you feel the need for more hp, get Narmoth's.
- Journeyman's Treads (6750) - if the portal game is starting, then these boots can be quite helpful.
There is one big caveat - IF YOU NEED TO GET CITADEL UPGRADES, THEN THAT ALWAYS TAKES PRESEDENCE OVER YOUR ITEMS. Like I said, you're a Regulus and that is your job. You probably won't have the money to buy a lot of nice items, but Regs are not meant to be selfish.
Once again, don't get Boots of Speed, especially against an Erebus or an Oak. They will slow you down enough with bite and pent that it pretty much makes a Boots of Speed useless.
Tips:
DO NOT SNIPE EXCESSIVELY. This is a BIG point. Yes you can spoil yourself on Levi, but especially on Cata, save your mana for the snipes or mines you'll really need. Regs are not meant to stay back in the Citadel and snipe all day long. If you are given one lane to yourself, make good use of it. Don't continously leave to snipe the other lane when they don't need you to. You might think you're harrassing them, but most likely their monks are healing everything off, and what you're doing is wasting mana, losing gold, losing xp, and giving that one lane you left to the opponent who's laning against you. It's such a big waste of time to walk back and forth from the citadel, mind your mana.
JOIN GANKS. Whenever I hear someone say, "Ok I'm a Regulus, that means I can't gank with you guys" they really have no idea what they're doing. Regulus' mines and Mark are probably the best tools for ganks, ESPECIALLY with the mines that slow. Don't be afraid to be bait if you have an Orb of Defiance. You are very delicious looking so it's likely they'll come after you, but the usual pattern is to Mark first, then put down mines, Orb so your teammates have 5 seconds to attack them while you absorb their attacks, and then once you're off from Orb, you can repeat the process because your cooldowns would've almost reset. Continously walk further and further back from the fight to draw them closer and closer towards you, so that they'll have an even harder time running away from your teammates.
KNOW where to place your mines. There is a short delay when you throw your mines, so take that into consideration when you are throwing your mines. If your opponent is running away, throw your mines further up ahead. You don't have to place your mines horizontally, if your opponent is running away and he's passing through you, place them vertically along his path so he'll hit all 3 mines. It's important to predict where your opponent will go and place your mines accordingly. If you know your opponents are coming to gank, then set your mines up for the gank. For example, place a few mines behind your opponent's towers so that if they run away with low health, they're in for a surprise.
PS. Ok I'm done for the night and will add more. I had to rewrite half of this because the window closed on me, so clearly I'm not very happy about that.