muusbolla

Join Date 04/2009

Dear move speed lovers: Swift Anklet is not always the best

this game is not that other game

Let me preface this by saying that I love move speed. I played that other game for about 6 years, in which move speed is hands down the best stat. So I have been using Swift Anklet since I got 2985493703 favor with the beta, and I was of the opinion that it was always the best choice for favor items.

Today I join a 5v5 game and my Swift Anklet is gone. I only have 205 favor. Owned. However, I have a few random favor items... including Amulet of Teleportation. So I say "what the hell" and buy it. I start by teleporting up and capping the first flag, and continue teleporting around capping every flag. I was playing hybrid-spec Torch Bearer.

As the game continues, our opponents become very strong. We are able to hold them off but they get tougher every time. I just continue teleporting everywhere and capping all available flags, taking potshots at the enemy towers in each lane. We are playing Zikurat so I focus on the middle 4 flags. After a while, things are starting to look very bad for us. Their Erebus chases me everywhere, and I can't run away from him because I don't have Swift Anklet. Every member of the enemy team outlevels every member of our team by at least 3.

Then I notice that we are about to hit war rank 10 and the enemies are only at war rank 7. All of my frenetic flag-capping made a difference! My teammates buy Giants and I purchase max rank Armory and Blacksmith. The war is on.

This is when things get really intense. We (TB,Rook,QoT) begin a push in the right side of the enemy base, by the gold mine. As they are working their way in toward the portal flag, I am forced to teleport back to base and to the side flags constantly to stop Erebus who is attempting to capture enough flags that his team can get Giants. By teleporting, I am able to assist my team in pushing the enemy base while protecting mine simultaneously. We successfully cap the enemy portal flag.

This leads to about 15 minutes of me chasing Erebus all over the map in a flag control battle. Meanwhile, my teammates are pushing the enemy base, VERY slowly gaining ground. I am able to prevent him from getting 10 war rank, and we eventually win. I have 26 flag caps. Erebus has 27. Our teammates have about 16 each.

By the end of the game, our opponents were almost all level 20. Our highest level player was 17. They had far more gold than us. And they had Erebus. They "should" have won. And they would have won, if I had had my Swift Anklet.

Using Amulet of Teleportation instead allowed me to turn his game (up-close combat) into my game (map control). This turned a losing game into a winning game, by changing the rules of the game itself. Erebus was beginning to seriously threaten our survival while he was allowed to farm and attack us. By forcing him to move to flag control, I neutralized his threat to our offensive push.

I learned a lesson from this: this game is not that other game. People constantly compare the two, but Demigod has many levels of gameplay that have yet to be explored by the community. I think we will find a complex web of strategies, counters, and counter-counters involving the use of many different gameplay aspects, including favor items. There is no one "best" strategy in this game - only by adapting to your opponents and their playstyle can you win.

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I nearly always use amulet of TP. It saves me money from having to buy TP scrolls so is by far a better value.

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Agreed, I have had many matches at this point where using capture locks and teleport scrolls toward mid game, despite thier initial lead was what garnered us a win. Having Giants first can also be highly advantageous as you point out.

While Swift Anklet is ok, I find that more often than not if I were to be ganked....15% move speed wouldn't have helped anyway *just keeping in mind where the enemies are versus me and how tough they are at that point*.....teleports are awesome. Don't forget the capture locks.

War Score matters, getting some of those upgrades early can make a huge difference (economy upgrade, priests can heal you and help you control the map...) while they may level faster in that event it's a trade off, it'll be much easier for you to control the map/take down thier towers and thier advantage in one section of the terrain.

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just think about how many times you teleported and multiply that by 250.

all that saved gold

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Movement speed is useless, by late game, if you're running away from me, I really dont mind, because i'm about to walk into your base and trash it anyway

I can see how its an early advantage enabling you to chase people and get out, but its not that great, and I feel there are much better favor items available.

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Small maps and I buy swift anklet (usually only on 2v2). For the larger maps the Amulet of TP is so much more valuable I don't see how you can pass it up.

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I recall every time I tried using the amulet that it bugged out or something but given all the recent patches I'll have to go back and try it again. What is the range on it? Like I said I have never managed to actually get it to work.

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Quoting Opeth101,

reply 5

Small maps and I buy swift anklet (usually only on 2v2). For the larger maps the Amulet of TP is so much more valuable I don't see how you can pass it up.

i agree with opeth101, ive used telepot item on zikurat map also but for small 2v2 3v3 maps the gain seems to be much less.

wingedweasel the amulet of teleportation works like a teleport scroll you just need a freidnly structure tower/flag/turrent to target then you teleport there instantly takes 1-3 seconds to cast same as scroll. 45seconds cool down until you can use it again. not to be confused with the short ranged cloak of night which lets you warp a few centemeters on the screen instantly and do 100+ AOE damage on arrival.

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Well, it would be nice to be able to by the teleportation item except that favor is still screwed up. I have earned a ton of favor in this epoch but last night after playing a custom game in which favor items were not allowed, I returned to the pantheon tournament and had zero...yes, zero favor points. The favor system is screwed up and unbalances the game if it is not working for everyone. The need to get rid of it until it is unbugged.

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Quoting StAcK3D_ActR,

reply 3

just think about how many times you teleported and multiply that by 250.

all that saved gold

Well let's say that the anklet gave you an extra 3 DG kills for another 4000 gold. So you could have bought 16 scrolls with the extra kills + the extra XP from the kills + the exp from the flag caps. And there is a good chance that it prevented your own death 3 times so thats 4K gold the otherside is out on. I can certainly see the advantages that teleportation can give you on certain maps, but speed means the difference between a DG kill or not in so many cases.

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I think they're both some of the best items to get, which one to use depends on the demigod you choose and what map you're playing. In a small map, not much reason to tele; in a huge map, it really saves you some time. Quick melee characters (Erebus, UB) are massively helped in combat by the speed boost, supportive/defensive characters (Rook, Sedna, QoT) need it much less.

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Hmmm.....I'll have to try this, I like the idea about move speed for small maps and teleport for large maps.

But as Erebus, many kills come from enemy not being able to get away.

Hmmm.....

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The "best" favor item may depend on the map, but it also depends on the demigod. As UB, I would never get anything besides the anklet. The reason is that they are essential in early game when you're harassing enemy DGs with spit. A lot of the time, whether you can get several spits on them (and thus kill them) depends on whether you can catch them as they run. I do it all the time, and it is usually followed by them quitting after they die several times in a row.

Could I perform well with the teleport item? Probably. But I like getting early kills and making people quit.

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Call me crazy, but I usually get Mard's Hammer for my UB. +40 weapon damage and +5% attack speed can be devasting early game.

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Yeah its not always about the kills. I have had so many games like yours, capturing flag and locking. But if your oppenent is good and knows how to distribute his gold properly it will be hard to make a come back.

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i use more then 1 favor item on my UB. i used to be a anklet only ub never took anything else till last week

i use the anklet, the amulet or hammer it all depends how long you think the game will last and wich type it is.

when i go into domination i use the teleporter no matter how small the map is nothing better then to cap a flag on 1 side lock it then teleport onto a enemey DG on the other side of the map thats trying to solo and instandly spit and rip him a new 1.

now when you have to kill the enemy citadel games can go on for longer then 30min if you got a good vs good team then i go for the speed since i need to get in maby run past a tower to get that last spit in and then get out of there alive.

now in elimination were you have to kill 20 demigod thank god i almost never get that i use the hammer with the attack speed proc on it i forgot got the name

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Also I notice that most people buy favor items at the very beginning.

It's a much better idea to see which DGs you are playing against before making the investment.

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I myself never use the swift anklet. I always take the blood of the fallen, as the extra health usually gets me an edge in the first round of combat. But I'm not sure if this is a good move or not. Any other blood users out there that can comment on how it stacks up?

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Quoting OhLordE,

reply 11

Hmmm.....I'll have to try this, I like the idea about move speed for small maps and teleport for large maps.

But as Erebus, many kills come from enemy not being able to get away.

Hmmm.....

I tried this versus AI as not not have it blow up in my face online ranked, and I liked it. Granted it was versus AI, But I was able to teleport home whenever I wanted to, and it made it easy to teleport to the enemy demigod if they were trying to take a flag, which would sometimes end in a kill.

I was able to stay on top of Demigod's on all side of map rather than just the side I was farming creeps on, and we had a war score of 10 when the enemy's was 4.

So, overall I liked this, I think I'll tinker with some other favor items as well rather than sticking to swift anklet all the time.

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The favor item system is utterly bugged ive looked at the items and it just unbalances the game =/

Sad to take away from your epic win muusbolla but im upset with the favor items next patch they either need to get rid of them or balance them out.

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Mana Dagger fo' me

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Hi Logan, it's Wacky.

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I play sedna exclusively, and now that favor items are fixed, I've had a chance to try out a few.

Honestly, I do use swift anklet about half the time. Being a short range melee class it allows me to dart in and out of combat easily, and close in for the kill. Also I play with another fast melee class as a partner, UB.

My favorite alternative is the +800 hp blood of the fallen. It effectively adds 50 percent to your health, and it'll win a lot of early game battle for territory even if your enemy can retreat.

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I just tried out the Amulet of Teleportation. I like it. A lot.

One unmentioned advantage: with a normal scroll of teleport, you have a cooldown. Either you waste time around base until cooldown completes or you run back to the front after teleporting home. Not an issue if you get home by dying, of course, but... Generally, dying is suboptimal (Invincible Oak on Fortress Mode is the only exception I can think of). The amulet has the same issue, except... It doesn't share cooldowns with the scrolls. So, if you teleport home and buy a scroll, you can instantly teleport back to the front. Not a bad deal at all, if you have the 250g to spare.

I was playing around with a tower rook, and the amulet-scroll combo meant I was pretty much garunteed to get back to my farm before (m)any of my towers expired. If I clicked fast, I could almost be home and back in between tower cooldowns. And as a bonus, for less than the cost of a potion, I'd top off my HP and MP at the crystal.

A group with one or more tower rooks using this method to be an absolute dervish on the battlefield. With the ability to instantly hop back to base, or move en masse between the front and flags under attack, a coordinated team of a Tower rook paired with a couple of strong Demigod hunters (UB and Erebus, I'm looking at you) would be simply terrifying.

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Quoting WingedWeasel,

reply 6

Range is listed as 5000 I seem to recall.

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Always try to get favor disallowed, but if I cant, I'll take the anclet, because its useful all game. I think all favor items should give a scaling buff or even a buff/debuff combo.

It would make all favor items useful beyond the first few levels and therefore make them more wanted.

With scalable I mean stuff like "+20% ability damage/-20% mana and mana regen" or "removes all harmful effects, can be used while unable to use items or abilities, CD 1min". Stuff like that that are good all the game. Instead of +800hp, which is broken at lvl 1 and pointless at lvl 20.

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