Guide to the not so General Oak
Introduction
Hello all. Ill be writing this guide about the Oak, one of the 4 generals available at Demigod release. This guide will not focus on minions and will explore the assassin variant and close support abilities of the Oak. First of all, I wasn’t a beta player, so, as more experienced players give their feedback, so i will try to update this guide.
What can you expect from the Oak?
Weaknesses:
Base stats
Health: 1700
Mana: 832
Armor: 400(13.8%) Weapon damage 152-168
Range Melee
Movement speed 6.0
Attack time 1.45
Abilities
Raise Dead Ward
Oak places a ward that attracts the souls of the fallen. Units that are slain near the ward have a 30/45/60/75% chance to be converted to a spirit under Oak's control
5 yard range, 0.2 sec cast, 5 sec cooldown
Mana: 200 all ranks
Level 1: 3 spirits/ 1 ward
Level 2: 5 spirits/ 2 wards spirits have +4 damage/ +75 hp
Level 3: 7 spirits/ 3 wards spirits have +8 damage/ +150 hp
Level 4: 10 spirits/ 4 wards spirits have +12 damage/ +250 hp
Soul Frenzy
Instant (passive)
Oak has a 5% chance of inciting his Spirits into a berserker rage, increasing their attack speed by 25% and letting their attacks throw smaller units into the air. This effect lasts for 10 seconds
Last Stand
The spirit of Oak refuses to leave a battle unfinished. Should he fall, he will enter an invincible berserk fury, increasing his damage, move speed, and Attack Speed by 30/50% for 10 seconds before finally dying.
Soul Power
Oak’s determination to his cause grows, increasing Weapon Damage by 20/40/60. Also, Oak gains additional Weapon Damage based on the number of spirits he has.
Penitence
Oak fills a target with holy remorse, dealing damage, reducing their movement speed and increasing all damage taken.
20 yards range, 0.1 sec cast, 7 sec cooldown
Mana: 450/550/650/750
Level 1: 200 damage, 7% move speed/7% increased damage taken/ 5 second duration
Level 2: 400 damage, 10% move speed/10% increased damage taken/ 6 second duration
Level 3: 600 damage, 13% move speed/13% increased damage taken/ 7 second duration
Level 4: 800 damage, 16% move speed/16% increased damage taken/ 7 second duration
Divine Justice
When Oak kills a target, he and his allies receive Health and Mana equal to 10/15/20% of the unit’s maximum Health
Rally
When Oak kills a Demigod, he and his allies receive +500 Armor and heal 1000Health over 5 seconds
Shield
Oak grants a shield to a target, making them immune to damage.
20 yards range, 0.1 sec cast, 35 sec cooldown
Mana: 400/500/600/700
Level 1: lasts 3 seconds
Level 2: lasts 4 seconds
Level 3: lasts 6 seconds. Removes debuffs
Level 4: lasts 6 seconds. Removes debuffs. Heals for 600
Purity
When Oak uses Shield on an ally, all of his negative effects are removed, and he is immune to all negative effects for 6 seconds.
Surge of Faith
Oak releases a wave of holy power, dealing damage to enemies. Increases allied unit Attack Speed and Movement Speed for 7 seconds.
1.0 sec cast, 10 sec cooldown
Mana: 500/675/850
Level 1: 300 damage, 10% movement speed/ 10% attack speed
Level 2: 450 damage, 15% movement speed/ 15% attack speed
Level 3: 600 damage, 20% movement speed/20% attack speed
Morale
Boost is the same for all levels
+50 Minion Health
+0.5 Minion Health per second
+2% Minion Attack Speed
+50 Minion Armor
+4 Minion Weapon Damage
Skill Order
Level 1 - Penitence
Level 2 - Shield
Level 3 – Divine Justice
Level 4 - Penitence
Level 5 – Soul Power
Level 6 – Soul Power
Level 7 - Penitence
Level 8 – Soul Power
Level 9 – Last Stand
Level 10 - Penitence
Level 11 – Raise dead ward
Level 12 – Raise dead ward
Level 13 – Raise dead ward
Level 14 – Raise dead ward
Level 15 – Last stand
Level 16 – Soul Frenzy
Level 17 – Surge of faith
Level 18 – Surge of faith
Level 19 – Surge of faith
Level 20 – Shield
Explanation
Your first two abilities should be penitence and shield. While penitence at this level does only 200 damage, it still provides two debuffs that can help the first blood, and gives you the much needed ranged capability you lack.
Shield is there to provide the invulnerability for you or your teammates early game, if your opponent is sure that he will get a kill, using it can and will mostly shift the tide of the battle. Use it wisely as its cooldown is quite big. Also, time your shield usage. If you’re facing a torch bearer and you see he’s going to shatter combo you, pop up shield for him to blow his mana and cooldowns on a brick wall. Also, if needed, don’t be afraid to shield and teleport out.
Divine Justice at level 3 is there to provide a bit of staying power. It will heal around 40hp and 40mana for each of the early melee creeps you kill.
Priority will be to max up Penitence and Soul Power. You will hit hard due to Soul Power, and when your opponent notices you hit hard, he won’t be able to outrun or escape due to Penitence damage and slow. On team fights, Penitence the focus target to make sure the extra damage debuff is maximized.
Last stand at level 9, well, you’re not expected to die a lot as an Oak, but when you do and Last stand activates, make sure you bring at least 1 down with you. You have 10 seconds of invulnerability and increased attack speed/move speed to pursue your opponent.
From here on, you will start to really get noticed on the battlefield. From 11 to 14 take points in dead ward and maximize your spirits. Each spirit will increase your damage, and soon enough you’ll start hitting quite hard. Remember that keeping your spirits alive will keep your damage up, but do not be afraid to suicide them if you can bring a tower down with it.
If the game reaches level 17+, start using Surge of faith on your creep waves. Waves pushing harder (better with catas) and hitting faster will make short work of towers and be quite a nuisance to enemy demigods.
Starting Items
Scroll of teleporting
Combat healing potion
Banded Armor (requires a few seconds of waiting, but you’ll be able to accompany the first creep wave)
Item Progression
Each match is diferent, item order will depend on your needs and what enemy demigods are present.
-> arrows mean "upgrade to". If you are able to buy the end item without the transition item, even better.
Boots of speed –> Journeyman treads
Scaled Helm –> Vlemish Faceguard
Banded armor –> Nimoth Chest Armor –> Groffling Warplate
Unbreakable boots –> artifact late game (Honorable mention to Belt of the Giants)
Wyrmskin Handguards –> Doomspite Grips
Heart of life
Item explanation
Boots of speed – treads - Use these as you see fit. Upgrade from boots to treads if you see your being outrun by fleeing enemies. Penitence helps in this, so, most of the games, boots are enough.
Scaled helm is a transition you might well skip. Vlemish faceguard will provide you with enough mana and mana regen for this Oak build.
Banded armor – Nimoth – Groffling will keep your armor and health high enough to survive a melee death match
Unbreakable boots are a cheap boost to hp, health and health regen, a great item overall for stat boost.
Wyrmsking Handguards gives a solid damage boost and an amazing proc on pursuing enemies. Endgame, Doomspite will guarantee a dps boost that will make opponent demigods afraid of meleeing you.
Heart of life - when you use shield on yourself during a close combat, use your Heat of life. Youl will gain around 1000 hp and 1000 mana during the thick of battle, no interruption or cast time, enough to throw your opponent off balance or allow an extra penitence. Also, you’ll never have to return to base to heal/get mana with this trinket.
Belt of the giants - Granting you a cleave attack and a huge boost to hp to boot. Cleaving attack allows you be hitting an enemy demigod, and still hitting troops around, making sure you proc Divine justice healing you and those around you
Idols
Expensive items that allow you to summon minions under your control. This Oak build is not dependant of idols, as it focuses much more on battlefield staying power, killing power and close combat support.
Valor items
Dependant on your account and personal preferences. But if your able to pick, blood of the fallen is a great pick for its hp boost and regen, as is cloak of night, providing oak a cheap teleport to get in and out of battle.
Quick mention
I can’t end this guide without giving credit to ViridShaman and his Lord Erebus guide( you can find it here: http://forums.demigodthegame.com/346497).
Nice guide ty!
Let me just say this- Belt of the Giants (or whatever its called, its an artifact) is superb with Divine Justice. It gives your hero's attack an area, meaning you can attack demigods and still end up killing troops, which keeps you healing.
Added belt of giants, thanks ilikepiez, perfect item for this build alright
Lemme just say that i have also been playing Oak as more of an assasin than general but i would disagree with this build. I would put heavy points into Raise dead ward and Soul Power first, with a few into Divine Justice. That way my Oak hits hard early and is good for a few early kills... In the mid game ill throw a single point into Penitence. Normally once i first get surge, im hitting hard enough to kill...
That said Ill try your build, but from what ive already seen, Oak without Raise dead soul power is much weaker
Another Oak player here, I dont agree with putting points into Raise Dead Ward early on because it requires dead troops to get the spirits. Compared to the other generals, its not worth it early game. It takes longer to get the spirits out and they're rather fragile early on (compared to Yeti's, and the tree guys QoT gets). The setup I use for Oak is similar to this guide, a few changes in the order of when I get which skill, but Oak becomes extremely powerful if you set up the debuff + shield correctly. Ive managed to 2v1 Erebus and TorchBearer with my build using a combo of shield timing, Penitance and a few other aspects of my setup.
Everyone's got different strats though, the only bad strategy is not having one at all.
MY main concern here with dead ward is mana management. Early mid game i find it hard to have enough mana and mana regen to mainain penitence + shield + dead ward, but with an earlier Vlemish faceguard it can be an option yes.
Aborted_Fetus, if you want, pm me your skill and item build and ill add it to the guide.
I prefer a bit of a glass cannon build of Oak. Using Penitance+Soul Power+Raise Dead Ward (To max Soul Power boost) to get heavy damage. Add Divine Justice/Rally to keep health high (First level initially, adding more when you can), and Last Stand to really smash something if you die. Sometimes hitting enemy DGs for 300-400 damage a swing.
This build worked particularly well in a couple of fortress games in Beta, where I could smash the armorless buildings quite fast without creeps. I imagine it'd work better now.
Haven't really settled on the items, (Cloak of Night likely as favor item) but Wyrmskin, crit gloves, cheap speed boots, and Vlemish Faceguard likely.
Hi again... I just cant see how you guys are thriving at low levels with penitence and shield. Those skills seem really futile at low levels, cant imagine you get beefy with them until later in the game. I've tried going penitence and shield builds early but it seems much weaker to my raise dead/soul power/surge/divine combo.
My early points into raise dead help me farm exp, and harrass enemy heroes. True this is a mana sink, but i normally get a few +mana items and it works out ok.. i just dont put money and mana into icons.. I need to think my build out more and get the specifics down for you all, but im tellin ya when i hit my second skill point into soul pwer w/ surge goin i hit and chase like a killer, no penetence needed.
Ill work on the details and report back..
P.S. I dont like the idea of dieing so i cant see myself putting points into last stand.. This thought will probably change once multiplayer gets more ironed out and functional and i can find a good team, then last stand sounds viable..
i've been experimenting with some different strategies for Oak and i think i'm starting to agree with the author of this guide.
Penitence is the best skill Oak has, in my opinion. but not for the reasons you'd expect. its so great because its an ideal ganking tool. its damage isn't as high as pure damage ranged attacks like Torch's Fireball but it has a similarly long range. unlike Fireball though, its more or less an instant cast. you can just wreck people with it if you've got good timing. Penitence them at low life as either an outright kill shot or to get them unexpected low so they'll be finished off by creeps or towers. they'll never see it coming.
second best skill is Surge of Faith. its how you bust through late game creep waves and it also helps your gap closing against ranged heroes. its extra sick if you manage to buff another heavy hitter like Beast or Rook with it.
the spirit wards i thought were neat at first but they seem more and more to be doing almost nothing. they combine nicely with Soul Power but thats really about it. i've kinda dropped both of those skills from my build entirely at this point.
at the moment i'm really focusing on Penitence, Surge of Faith, and Shield as main skills. i pick up some Divine Justice as a passive ability to help bust creeps and speed up regen in between confrontations.
I get points in all the activated abilities except Raise Dead Ward, plus divine justice + last stand. Oak is actually very powerful as an assassin. Penitence is excellent to finish running enemies or just for extra damage.
It adds to much higher survivability and will give you the upper hand at the first confrontation. Penitance lvl 1 does 200 dmg plus a 7% reduction to speed and 7% increase in damage taken for 5 seconds. At such an early level, 7% increased damage is HUGE, and its for 5 seconds no less. That spells disaster for other demigods who are unlucky enough to get caught with it. When you throw the shield in there, timing on your part is essential to make it work properly. 3 seconds of blanks on their part at the early stages combined with the Penitance debuff is an efficient killer.
As for Last Stand, I usually throw a point in there mid-late game for kicks, and just in case I get caught in a bind and want to surprise the enemy.
I dont think penitence its a lame skill early game and specially late game...
Slow targets,and lower his defense(well,u hit harder after that) and sort off like a ranged atack too...
im using his build...with bots lol...but...i think some stuffs could be changed.
I would go,for penitence,Soul power,dead ward,divine and Surge*...
but,surge increases your speed atack too dont ya?well,if it does,would be a good thing..
And,about shield,and,this is my opnion,i dont find quite usefull..
and a question,since,i really dont know how to build him...
should i build him for Atack speed and movement speed? or movement speed+dmg?
You wont need that much of movement speed as penitence already debuffs your oponents speed for quite a bit
so guys, I'm not going to post my full build here, but I'd be happy to Oakduel all and any Saturday or Sunday morning (EST USA) to test this out a bit more.
Since we are talking about solo Assassin rather than team builds duels would show what works pretty well...
A few teasers
- Penitence is a great fight beginner and fight ender. Its most important characteristic in team games though, is the instant interrupt.
- Shield is the best defensive skill in the game, bar none. Putting at least one point in shield and then learning when to use it is a big part of any Oak build, imo. Also, while the tooltip says this starts at level 3 of the skill, did you know that level 1 shield will purge any negative effects?
- Minions are your friends, even when you are looking at a damage build. Try them out and actively manage them and you will find them very effective
- Regardless of your demigod, if you are using any mana at all get the 1700 gold helmet first (flat rate of 11 mana per second) and then if you need it the 1500 gold one (percentage increase).
I'll check this thread again to see if anyone wants to play this weekend
so...if i go with like,a "Slower" DG build(investing points on penitence),i should aim for Atack speed+Dmg rite?cuz,im didnt really like to play with him as a full suporter,he can be a good mage slayer aswell a tanker/killer against all DG's,well,a mage killer once u get ur Cloak of Night...well,at least,like i said,i've been playing with bots(hard ofc) and always do like 20-1 b4 atacking the citadel to win the game,and hey,its effective at least..but,lest see online huh?hehe
every build should consider at least one point in shield, it is essential
also a protip: buying and casting monks and then selling the talisman and buying minotaurs and archers works pretty well if you can micromanage them early on
You might not need it, but having a speed buff will make your Oak that much more of an efficient killer. Today I was playing around with the boot sets and I managed to catch-up to each enemy DG I hit with Penitance 1 and kill them outright.
The shield for Oak is really a great skill, but it seems like it doesnt get enough love. Ive ended in success each time Ive used my shield build, mostly because it saves my teammates and makes the heavier hitting teammates invunerable which really scares the enemy team.
really good (tested online anways) suggestions for oak players:
1. take cleric->bishop idols, this is a must! (*don't rely on the exploit)
2. take surge of faith when you can over whichever skill, as the surge is the 'belt of giants' you can't afford.
3. consider taking that rod that lowers spell costs (for 5-7? seconds).. toggle it, use pennance, surge, resummon your minions.. whatever, it's useful though as your spells are expensive! (sell heart of life at some point or skip it with this instead)
I'm also a big fan of Oak, and, for the most part, have found the guide to be very helpful.
I would agree that Penitence is a great first skill because it increases all damage taken by target (especially nice if you can lure the demigods to the towers), and it has a decent movement speed debuff which stack well with the glove speed debuff. I would rate Penitence as the second most important skill Oak has.
I would rate Shield as the most important skill. I've denied 'many' demigods a single kill on me because of the Shield skill, and typically will only die once or twice in a match (which denies the opposing team a lot of money, and keeps me fighting for my side longer). Later in the game it becomes a nice heal and cleansing skill.
I would rate Soul Power as the third most useful skill because it makes us a formidable opponent, Oak actually does very respectable damage (so long as the opponent doesn't stack armor like crazy).
Surge of Faith is the next most useful skill because it helps break up the creeps, and can help your creeps attack faster, although it's a very mana intensive skill.
I typically only invest one point in Divine Justice to help keep my mana and health.
I typically will not invest any points into Last Stand (my objective is to not die, although I could see how it could be effective to suicide on a tower and take down a nearby demigod if Shield is down and you are low on health).
Sadly, the biggest issue that i have with Oak at the moment would be Raise Dead Ward. I would rate Raise Dead Ward as one of our least useful skills. Not only is it a mana sink, our wraiths do very little damage, die extremely quick, and provides the enemies with enemies to level up on. For the cost and skill point investment in Raise Dead Ward, our wraiths (and general controlled minions over all) need a very large boost in hitpoints, damage, and armor. Having minions scale with their demigod would be a good option, as items with minion upgrades are very lackluster and not as desirable as the alternatives.
Over all, I am happy with Oak, but our minions need some serious help.
interesting tidbit: Surge of Faith combines very very well with Divine Justice.
if you've got Divine Justice ranked up to 2 or 3 you can blast a creep wave with Surge of Faith and get back pretty much all the mana that you spent to cast it. and it buffs your own creeps speed and damage. needless to say this makes for super fast pushing down a lane.
Minions provide neither gold nor xp for kills.
Spirits are fine, imo. They magnify Oak's direct damage, take very little maintenance to generate (plant your wards in the center of each lane - even if you enemy AoE's the whole wave you get a fresh batch) and are really effective at drawing tower and grunt fire away from Oak. Think of them as the krill surrounding General Kraang at the end of Gears of War 1 (just replayed) - they serve a different function from yetis but are just as effective if you use them right...
Spirits seem to give you +13 weapon damage per spirit. Once you get the max of 10 spirits, that's +130 weapon damage. Add the initial +60 and you have +190.
It doesn't seem very worth it to get soul power without spirits.
After some solo play and avoiding this style of play, I tried it and am amazed... absolutely dominated one match purely on penitence kills.
I agree that penitance is a handy skill, but I actually tend to leave it alone. I take raise dead ward first, then soul power, divine justice, and then keep those strong, upgrading surge of faith whenever possible. Excess points go into morale. It seems crazy, but with a few good items you can have spirts clear 1700 health. Not too shabby. Throw in a few idol minions to add more DPS and you have a very effective force. Also, one thing you seem to have missed is that Raise Dead Ward at lvls 3-4 have an additional benefit: Guardian Aura, a area buff that provides 250/500 armor. That can be a life saver. General plan for my build is to get ward up to 3 asap, plant a flag in the ground and not move. Spirts are quick and cheap to replace, and endgame a flock of 10 plus minotaur kings can just about handle DG's on their own. Plus, when in doubt, throw the minions and pop SoF and run. Free distractions while you beat feet 20% faster, with 500 additional armor until you are clear of the flag.
I like the build, but I get Soul Power and Spirits to max ASAP. The damage you get helps a rediculous amount early on.
IIRC, you can have 250+ top end by level 5.
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