I've read many times now from players that are avoiding the Priest upgrade because all it does is feed your opponent gold and XP. Essentially players have overblown the costs of this upgrade and have made buying creep upgrades a bad idea. That's not an accurate assessment of the upgrade.
Priests aren't always a good or bad upgrade to get. They just shouldn't be your first priority. When buying upgrades you really need to assess how you are doing against your opponent. Consider the map and game mode and buy accordingly. In some cases Priests are a great purchase. In other cases Priests should be low enough on your priority list that you won't be buying them.
On the plus side, Priests allow each wave to deal more damage to towers. They also allow each wave to last much longer before getting wiped out, unless they go up against demigod AoE abilities. Left alone, Priests make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your creeps. Priests also heal allied demigods at regular intervals, extending the time your demigod can stay on the front lines without retreating. This isn't something to underestimate. The key to outlevelling your opponent is to stay in your lane as much as possible and not retreat back to your crystal. Using Priests to do this can help win the game.
In general you're in good shape with Priests as long as you've got multiple creep waves going and you're trying to wear down your opponent's towers. Maps like Leviathan, Mandala, Zikurat tend to be good, because you can get creep waves that are unopposed by enemy demigods. When you're in control of the map and you have more spawns than your opponent, Priests are awesome. Even if you don't have more spawns than your opponent, Priests are very helpful if you leverage them to take down enemy towers. They are extra bodies that the AI will shoot before your demigod, and they keep your health up while you stay on the attack.
The downside to a Priest purchase is that you're spending money for the upgrade that you don't put into something else. And if you're not advancing your map control with your creeps then it's wasted money. Plus there's the possibility that your opponent is killing more creeps than are dieing to towers. And if you buy Priests you really want to invest in the Attack and Defence upgrades for creeps. That starts to add up.
You're not likely to get much benefit from a tight game on Prison or Crucible from your Priests. Those maps have tight lanes that are easily farmed. Creeps rarely make it to your enemy's towers unopposed, and most players end up dueling it out in the same space. This is where players who cry about giving your opponent XP and gold have a point. That's especially a problem if you're losing map control.
Cataract and The Brothers are maps where Priest MIGHT help against towers, but can also help out if you steal one of your opponent's portals. Those aren't worth taking unless you have upgraded your creeps, but can be devastating when you have powerful creeps. But they are also maps where you can easily get your creeps farmed if you're not supporting them properly. So if you're being bottled up by your opponent or facing good AoE demigods, go spend your money on Defensive Upgrades or items.
Overall Priests aren't nearly as bad as some people have been claiming. If you support them with your demigod and maintain portal control Priests are a great investment. But if you're not doing well, on a map with tight lanes, or against good AoE powered demigods, you can think about staying away. Overall you should use your brain and assess the whole situation. Overall the statement that 'Priests are just free XP and gold for your opponent' only applies to players who don't know what the hell they are doing.
I agree, there is a time and a place for priets, buying them at the correct time can net you some of the more lightly defended 'enemy' flags and give you the war score buff you need to win. If you want to break down towers early then priests are for you. but as said if both sides are just farming creeps, then obviously giving the enemy more valuable creeps= lose.
For people who can easily aoe the priests they do give a lot of gold (and exp) to the enemy.
Ironically you don't WANT your creeps to barely win the wave on wave fights, because if the enemy demigod isn't near your creeps when they die they don't get exp. As such you don't want waves building when they can't really overwhelm the enemy when they get to the tower.
This is why no one really likes getting priests *by themselves*. The more popular strat that I also subscribe to is waiting until war rank 8 then getting all creeps at once. You want both priests and catapults simultaneously (angels are mostly useless but whatever). Now your creeps get a big punch, they can quickly overwhelm the other wave and then the towers after them (because catapults remain out of range of towers)
Priests need something done for them. Reduced gold for killing them, reduced exp, something that doesn't penalize you for getting them immediately - it should be a good thing, not a bad thing.
Priests are fine all by themselves on Leviathan and Zikurat. You just need to hold the extra portals. I don't buy Priests early but I definitely get them before war rank 8. They make a significant difference in advancing your position on the sides of the map. They also help you hold the center flags. My opponent can farm creeps all he wants off to the side. It's not like I'm messing around and not advancing my position.
So like I said above, it's situational. Those maps are better for creeps overall. Prison and Crucible are pretty bad. The enemy DG matters too. Torchbearer and QoT are great at clearing creep waves. Rook, Oak, and Erebus can be ok. Regulus, Sedna, and Unclean Beast tend to not be very good at clearing creeps. You can use Priests to push right through the less effective AoE demigods and either kill them or bust towers. You should be more reserved against TB or QoT. That kind of balance is what makes this game good. It's better than some players think it is.
Well, I'm one of those people who swears that it does more harm than good in most cases but yes, you're right. There are situational positives to it.
In my experience, the situation where the other team doesn't have one or more good AoE's and the game is being played on a massive map like Mandala just don't seem to come up very often. Perhaps I've just been unlucky in my matchups and map choices. Most of the time, I'm pleased to hear that my opponent decided to throw priests on the field.
As TB, early enemy priests gladdens my heart and springs forth a fountain of joy as I surf towards level 20.
Same as a regulus with mines.
That's not reasonable unless you are putting no pressure at all on your opponent. I don't expect my creeps to smash a tower down all by themselves. But they make great cover against tower autofire. Every wave that makes it near a tower lets me make free attacks on that building. Over time I can wear out a defence without taking significant damage if my creeps are there. I can't do that on my own for most of the game. Priests make this much easier, among other things I explained above.
That's unlikely. Are you really going to waste all your mana farming creeps with Regulus's mines? You better be playing a moron opponent. I love it when Regulus wastes his mines on my creeps because it's damage I'm not taking. Now his mines have to recharge and he's down mana, making him much more vulnerable for a kill.
Back to what I said in my OP: If I am taking Priests early it means that I already have an advantage over you with portals and map control. If you REALLY think that you're going to get ahead by farming creeps you aren't following along with the conversation. It's not bright to purchase Priests first as if they are going to win the game for you. It's moronic to assume that "Priests give me free XP and gold." Priests are there to assist me in pushing you into your base and wear down your towers. You can use up your mana to farm Priests all you want. If you have to run away every time I engage you I will still have map control, War Score advantage, and benefits from all the flags I'm holding.
Priests are good if you plan on actively pushing against your opponents towers. That's where most people make their mistake. They buy the priests but don't help them take down towers and allow the enemy to farm them. Buying priests is generally a good idea around mid-game when you're strong enough to do significant damage to towers without taking that much yourself.
Not sure you can say moron more in a paragraph, but it doesn't make your arguement look better.
Um...he only said moron once. Moronic doesn't really count since it's a different form of the word, but even then it's only twice. Also....
There you go.
Why can't Reg use mins on creeps, what if all the other DGs are at their heal crystal?
Automatically assuming that someone is wildly chucking mines around is a little silly. They can be used on creeps if the lane is unchallenged.
Priests are still pretty much a bad choice on any of the popular played at the moment. Only when you are sure of a quick win are they useful. Against any even team, they will lose the match for you.
LOL. Not only can't you formulate a reasonable argument, but apparently you can't count. 'Moron' was used a single time. Even if you count 'Moronic' as another example, it's still in another paragraph. Apparently you have trouble counting to 1.
Anyway, my point is solid enough on it's own: Priests have their place in the game. They arent always good or always bad. There's been a lot of comments lately that Priests are just free XP and gold for your opponent, which is a pretty stupid stance to take.
I would say priests become very least effective in terms of Xp at level 10. I've been in matches where one side at priests and one side didn't and we were so evenly close in terms of levels.
Anything below is pretty damn stupid though considering they do help a lot in the early run. It kind of makes me wish Priests weren't so available early in the game. I would consider increasing the war rank requirement, so players can focus on the xp, currency, towers, and the reinforcmeent upgrades.
I'm not assuming that Regulus is wildly chucking mines around. Trigeminal specifically pointed out that he would be surfing his way to level 20 using Regulus's mines.
And it seems like you didn't read my original post either. I already made the point that Priests are situational. That's the whole point. You seem to want to make Priests out as a bad investment but even you are admitting that they have their place.
Yeah, but at the moment the situations when they are a great upgrade is about 2% of games. The rest of the time, they are just a stepping stone to cats or giants. They would be useful if they didn't make each wave worth 40% more xp and triple the gold value. More like 20% XP and 50% gold increase per wave. Then they would be useful and more in line with their overall worth.
OP: That definately needed to be said.I'm a bit sick of team mates saying "YES!" when the opposition gets priests. The "mental" map control is often taken for granted. People tend to feel free to move up until they get to where their creeps are fighting. If their creeps are constantly at my tower, I've got a lot more shakey ground to cover to knock you down that last 500 hp. If priests were a free upgrade, I'd take it almost every time.
But they're not. I'd rather spend the cash on items and potions, but it just depends.
Hm.... Nope? Priests allways feed yopur enemys with exp + gold and I have never seen a situation where priests helped to push into the base. Hell I have barely seen games where one side won in conquest without catapults and beeing under lvl 20!
Even if priests were free, I wouldn't take them, if only to deny my enemy XP, until I was ready to push to cats.
Early Priest = Noob Feeder
Worst upgrade that could ever be purchased early
Priests are pretty good if you get them at the right time, they also heal your demigods which is very helpful. Sure I get the items I need first and currency and the first towers regeneration upgrade, but in most games I get priests and angels before Catapults are available and get the catapults as soon as I reach the needed warrank.
Also Angels aren't that bad either.
Please give me lots of yummy tasty priests if you are in the opposite team.
When each priest wave is giving out 300g a pop there is never a good reason to get them with out getting at least angel and cata at the same time. The just feed TOO much. It only takes abotu 8-10 waves with priests to be able to buy say a HoL. The little bit of tower damage you get and the small amount of extra on feild time for your DGs is mitigated by the HUGE amount of gold the other team gains from popping priests like little zits.
As Vladesch said, priests are yummy and feel free to feed them to me, just dont' get annoyed when I have a HoL and Mage Slayer at lvl 10
Actually I would like to see the upgrades unchained so you can upgrade to catapults alone if you have enough money & war rank.
Or to buy a finger of god straight
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
