Steelb_l_ade
07-04-2008, 02:33
~Demon Strategy~
The Demon has two highly effective playing styles depending upon which enemy heroes he is going to be pitted against. The Demon can either adopt defensive or offensive tactics and has two effective builds for each of these purposes. Against dedicated casters such as Elven Rangers or Elementalists defensive tactics work best and it is advisable to put a few points in Infernal Shield and Blessing of the Gods early on to protect you from their dangerous hero-killing spells. This will raise your hitpoints and provide you with the magic protection needed to allow you to get close to them without sustaining too much damage where you can gain the upper hand in melee combat.
When squaring off against enemy melee heroes it is far better to spend points in Rending Claws and Demonic Zeal over Infernal Shield. As enemy melee heroes cant really cause great damage at range you should be able to run straight in and use your Rending Claws, this combined with Demonic Zeal should easily give you the upper hand.
If you prefer to focus on enemy heroes early on in the game it is a better option to focus your skill points on both Rending Claws and Infernal Shield. This will allow the Demon to cripple an enemy using Rending Claws and continuously swipe at it while using Infernal Shield to remain immune to any counter abilities being used.
This gives the Demon a big advantage in damage done in the duration of Rending Claws. This combination can be complimented with a low level Demonic Zeal as it will give the Demon an extra boost in combat but it can often be seen as a skill point that should have been boosting one of the other abilities.
If you prefer to focus mainly on creeping early on Infernal Shield is not really needed as few creeps will be casting any spells on you to make activating it worthwhile. The better option for creeping would to be to split skill points between Demonic Zeal and Rending Claws with a few points allocated into Blessing of the Gods.
This will allow the Demon to focus on the toughest creep first and cripple its attack using Rending Claws. Once the higher damage unit has been dealt with the remaining creeps should be straight forward with the additional aid of a chance to miss and deal damage from the Demonic Zeal.
Once the Demon reaches level 6 it is a must to acquire his Apis Mellifera ability as this is a huge addition to either style of play as it can destroy an entire creep camp with a well placed blast or be used to clear enemy heroes off the Ritual of The Gods mini-game.
~Defeating Demons~
Demons, despite being powerful melee heroes often rely on their magic to overwhelm a foe as without it they can be easily defeated by focusing them down with powerful spells. Spells such as Mana Burn and Cursed Arrow work very well against a Demon as at early levels they only just have enough mana to activate their ultimate. Cursed Arrow followed by a series of high damage nukes can damage a Demon enough to force it to retreat before it even makes it into combat where it can make usage of its advantages. Caster heroes need to attempt to keep a Demon at range for as long as possible using spells such as Ice Blast, Vine-Wall, Web, Quicksand, Paralysing Shot, Polymorph and summonables. Demons have no dispel, or spells that interrupt casting so channelling ultimates such as Freeze, Mana Cataclysm and Soul Drain also work well against them. With melee heroes you can negate the effects of Rending Claws effectively by usage of Storm Hammers or stuns until the duration of Rending Claws wears off. Demons with Infernal Shield can be defeated by using summoning heroes such as the Arcane Summoner, Pit Daemon, Diabloist or Death Mage to surround the Demon with summonables to keep him away then hit him with a series of high powered spells once the shield has run out.
~Suggested Item Build~
Good item combinations for the Demon include items such as the Silver Seal which reduce magic damage and improve mana regeneration, items that improve mana and items that protect from spells such as SpellShatter Armour. Weapons that improve strength (Ogre Blade) combined with Attack Speed Upgrades are also useful to make the most of Demonic Zeal. Demons need to be fast to close distances so items like Lord Mandhammer's Iron Shell and items that increase magic damage taken like Shadow Armour are poor choices for a Demon.
The Demon has two highly effective playing styles depending upon which enemy heroes he is going to be pitted against. The Demon can either adopt defensive or offensive tactics and has two effective builds for each of these purposes. Against dedicated casters such as Elven Rangers or Elementalists defensive tactics work best and it is advisable to put a few points in Infernal Shield and Blessing of the Gods early on to protect you from their dangerous hero-killing spells. This will raise your hitpoints and provide you with the magic protection needed to allow you to get close to them without sustaining too much damage where you can gain the upper hand in melee combat.
When squaring off against enemy melee heroes it is far better to spend points in Rending Claws and Demonic Zeal over Infernal Shield. As enemy melee heroes cant really cause great damage at range you should be able to run straight in and use your Rending Claws, this combined with Demonic Zeal should easily give you the upper hand.
If you prefer to focus on enemy heroes early on in the game it is a better option to focus your skill points on both Rending Claws and Infernal Shield. This will allow the Demon to cripple an enemy using Rending Claws and continuously swipe at it while using Infernal Shield to remain immune to any counter abilities being used.
This gives the Demon a big advantage in damage done in the duration of Rending Claws. This combination can be complimented with a low level Demonic Zeal as it will give the Demon an extra boost in combat but it can often be seen as a skill point that should have been boosting one of the other abilities.
If you prefer to focus mainly on creeping early on Infernal Shield is not really needed as few creeps will be casting any spells on you to make activating it worthwhile. The better option for creeping would to be to split skill points between Demonic Zeal and Rending Claws with a few points allocated into Blessing of the Gods.
This will allow the Demon to focus on the toughest creep first and cripple its attack using Rending Claws. Once the higher damage unit has been dealt with the remaining creeps should be straight forward with the additional aid of a chance to miss and deal damage from the Demonic Zeal.
Once the Demon reaches level 6 it is a must to acquire his Apis Mellifera ability as this is a huge addition to either style of play as it can destroy an entire creep camp with a well placed blast or be used to clear enemy heroes off the Ritual of The Gods mini-game.
~Defeating Demons~
Demons, despite being powerful melee heroes often rely on their magic to overwhelm a foe as without it they can be easily defeated by focusing them down with powerful spells. Spells such as Mana Burn and Cursed Arrow work very well against a Demon as at early levels they only just have enough mana to activate their ultimate. Cursed Arrow followed by a series of high damage nukes can damage a Demon enough to force it to retreat before it even makes it into combat where it can make usage of its advantages. Caster heroes need to attempt to keep a Demon at range for as long as possible using spells such as Ice Blast, Vine-Wall, Web, Quicksand, Paralysing Shot, Polymorph and summonables. Demons have no dispel, or spells that interrupt casting so channelling ultimates such as Freeze, Mana Cataclysm and Soul Drain also work well against them. With melee heroes you can negate the effects of Rending Claws effectively by usage of Storm Hammers or stuns until the duration of Rending Claws wears off. Demons with Infernal Shield can be defeated by using summoning heroes such as the Arcane Summoner, Pit Daemon, Diabloist or Death Mage to surround the Demon with summonables to keep him away then hit him with a series of high powered spells once the shield has run out.
~Suggested Item Build~
Good item combinations for the Demon include items such as the Silver Seal which reduce magic damage and improve mana regeneration, items that improve mana and items that protect from spells such as SpellShatter Armour. Weapons that improve strength (Ogre Blade) combined with Attack Speed Upgrades are also useful to make the most of Demonic Zeal. Demons need to be fast to close distances so items like Lord Mandhammer's Iron Shell and items that increase magic damage taken like Shadow Armour are poor choices for a Demon.