Hey All,

This is my first post, so be gentle.  I thought I would hash out my new regulus build/strategy on these boards, and would like some feedback.  I'm by no means a great Regulus player, in fact, I play mainly Erebus/Oak, but have gotten bored of them lately and as there are already several great build guides on them, I thought i'll write a build guide on Regulus that I haven't really seen much of.   I've played this regulus build with several pick-up groups and have had good success with this build leading my team to some pretty cool wins.

So this Regulus build is all about support and running away.  For those bravehearts out there, play something else, like Beast/Oak/Erebus/Sedna.  This is all about harrassment/skirmishing/and support.  You will be running away a lot because frankly, you just can't go 1v1 heads up any DG without some trickeration.   So without further ado, here is the build:

1.  Snipe 1   (will get you some gold early, either with kill or assist, or at least help a teammate control a lane by giving some support snipe)

2.  Sniper's Scope 1   (very important to get out of tower range, now you can take down towers, and harrass opponents better without getting into too much trouble)

3.  Mines 1   (very weak, so didn't get early)

4.  Mines 2   (now we're talking, this will be your best way to level and now you can potentially take down certain DG's 1v1)

5.  Snipe 2   (could switch with maim 1, you probably won't be sniping that much, and you shouldn't be sniping that much)

6.  Maim 1   (with your speed, you can now chase down anyone, and you can help your friends escape, although you have mines/mark for that as well)

7.  Mines 3  (you can probably hold your own against most DG's now, but still, don't melee vs beast/sedna/oak)

8.  Mark of the Betrayer 1  (some people say take this earlier, but I don't think you have enough mana to use mark/snipe/mines that early without always be low on mana, by lvl 8 you should have 2 mana hats)

9.  Snipe 3

10.  Mines 4

11.  Mark of the Betrayer 2

12.  Snipe 4

13.  Sniper's Scope 2

14.  Sniper's Scope 3

15.  Mark 3

16-20... who knows... you're still playing??

Flavor Items:  Swift Anklet.  You can't escape easily, you need speed, this is your meal ticket. Other options: HW's: more gold/faster leveling since you can get on most assists now and maybe get a lucky kill, I would probably only get his for Ziggurat.   Blood of the Fallen:  Maybe for Prison?

Items:  Your first items should be scaled helm and banded armor.  If you don't want to wait, get scaled helm and a combat potion.  Additional items should be (in this order, more or less):  Unbreakable Boots, Vlemish Faceguard, Plenor BattleCrown, Boots of Speed (replacing scaled helm), mid range armor (replacing banded armor, anything that costs like 1500-3500? depending on how much kills/gold you got). 

This order of item getting should get you enough mana to last through numerous battles.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't be conserving mana anyways.  I find the difference between a good player and a okay player is basically how he manages his mana/and if he knows when to run and when to fight. 

Strategy:  So your basic strategy is going to be laying mine traps, harrassing DG's, and giving support snipes to other battles.  Try to always save enough mana for one more snipe, because that could mean a big difference in your kill count.  You never want to be in the situation to be able to get a kill snipe and no have enough mana.  You will, for the most part, be running away a lot, but you aren't RUNNING AWAY, you are really disengaging.  Once you are clear (no one is attacking you), you should get back into the fray.  Your speed will help you here.  You should also always carry at least one combat potion always to prevent that snipe/spit that could kill you.  You don't have a lot of HP, so you might need to run back to base quite a bit, but that doesn't take you out of battle.  The good thing is you have incredible range with snipe, so you can always lend some help.  If you're playing 3v3, you should be the 3rd person getting the flags while your 2 teammates are battling it out/taking down towers, this way you get flags and you give snipe support.  Of course this is always situational, don't be afraid to get into the fray.  Your mines will hurt people and people should be afraid of them.  Don't snipe point blank, unless you have high lvl snipe and you can get a kill in.  Since you will be getting more gold than most of your teammates, and you don't really need items that badly, you should be getting citadel upgrades a lot.  Most of your damage will be coming from your skills, not your auto attack.  In fact, your auto-attack will be completely inept, and you are basically using it in between mine cooldowns. 

Strategy vs. other DG's:

Beast:  Your nemesis.  His grasp can prevent your hasty escape, and he usually will have too much health to scare him/take him down with 1 or even 2 mine groups (6 mines).  You should be mainly harrassing him, and if hes a spit beast, thats even worst because he can harrass you!  And since you have low HP in general, a few spits can take you down/scare you off.  Remember, your snipes can scare people off, and that is a decent strategy.  It takes them out of battle of a few seconds while they run to heal up.  Try to avoid the Beast 1v1.

Oak:  Your other nemesis.  He can't hit as hard as Beast, but petinence can slow you down (prob not enough for you not to escape), and he can speed himself up (which might be enough to chase you down if you don't mark him).  You can usually mark him/mine him to avoid being chased.  The reason why hes your other nemesis is because he can usually have a lot of armor and a lot of HP, and if hes smart, at least lvl 1 shield.  Shield will mess up your snipes, and your mines.  Since you are mainly a burst dmg DG you will get annoyed that you can't chase him down and snipe him like most other DG's.  I wouldn't say avoid the Oak 1v1, but don't do it in open field (stay near towers, teammates). 

Sedna:  Mark her, mine her, kill her.  Usually if they have high HP, i will attack another lower HP DG in a battle because most Sedna players just aren't that great healers.  They will throw a heal or two, but will heal themselves more alertly than any  of their teammates. She usually have good enough speed to threaten to chase you, so always run as soon as you see her 1v1, unless you have mines set up.  Your mark will help you escape, and she will surely try to pounce, or heal. 

Erebus:  Erebus, like other generals can be a hassel because they have minions.  They can usually clear your mines (if they're smart) with their minions, and Erebus is usually supberb at this because they have tons of nightcrawlers.  They can also batswarm over your mines, which is annoying.  They can bite you which will slow you down, and be careful of the spike dmg a swarm/bite can do.  make sure you mark him to avoid being slower than him to be chased down.  Otherwise, you are his pain in the butt as well.  You can clear his minions, and most Erebus will have tons of minions, with your mines.  This will leave him vulnerable and alone, and that will shut down a good chunk of his dmg.  Don't be too afraid of Erebus, just be careful of the gank, as he will get you faster than you think.  Hes a great ganker, believe me, I know. 

TB:  Easy pickings.  Tb's are more susceptible to mine traps because of their low HP's.  They cast spells often, so mark will hurt them.  And you can always chase them down, even ice TB's, which will eventually led to a snipe kill.  They also have very little escape ability like you, and their freeze usually will be not within range of you (as you shouldn't be too close because of sniper scope anyways).  Chase these guys for kills.  But they can also spike dmg you easily, keep combat potion handy. 

Rook:  Easy pickings.  Rook is your best friend.  He's slow, uses towers, and generally will be a target of many of your friends.  You can mine him mark him easily and snipe him.  Your sniper's scope will keep you out of range of his towers, and you should do a lot of early harrassment.  Obviously he's tough if he stays behind his tower farm as you will just waste time mining/attacking his towers.  But hes not too bad.  Watch his boulder roll cuz that can get you stuck while running away from his friends (don't worry if hes chasing you 1v1). 

Queen:  Easy pickings.  While they have bubbles, they usually also have low HP.  Mark her, mine her, and she won't know what to do.  She'll be slow, and you can usually take her out easily.  Also like most general DG's, you will annoy her with your mines killing her priest. 

Regulus:  Angel wing Reg will hit you harder, so you have to do some trickeration.  If he has wings and mine, then don't go 1v1.  You'll have lead in with a far away snipe, then run in to lay some mines behind you, and get him chasing you.  He won't need to use skills much so a mark might not do you any good.  But in general you will probably have more gold them him and kills so you should have better stuff.   Mine/Snipe reg will be like any other DG, mark him, mine him, and harass him.   You should always know how much your snipes will do from certain ranges, and you should know how much his snipes will do as well (by level as well).  Have combat potion ready just in case you have close calls, that will save you a lot. 

I'm up to debating any build order, as I am not really set on the one I have.  I just know you should get mines first (except for lvl 1) whenever possible, and get sniper's scope and maim at least to lvl 1, and mark 1 & 2 when you have the mana (ie, you have many mana hats). 

I always practice new builds taking on 1v 4 or 5 nightmare DG's in prison single player.  Try that out if you don't wanna try this out on a Multiplayer game.