God is the newest and most exclusive species in Dota Auto Chess. Although they are fun to use and extremely powerful if you know how to promote, but God is very difficult to play and easy to lose before your squad “airs”. God is limited by Species and requires possession of Legendary troops (Zeus) to reach its full potential.
God’s Tactics Synthesis
The goal is to take advantage of (1) the God bonus in the early-mid game with Mars and finish the squad with the second God (Zeus) in the late game. (1) bonus 50% cooldown reduction, (2) bonus – another 50% reduction (ie 75% total in the presence of two Gods).
However, you CANNOT use any other Species combos. Example: Warrior/Mage/Mech/Assassin work with God, but Orc/Troll/Human/Goblin not! This means that you need to be more careful when building this squad.
Strength
- Extremely powerful AoE damage spells with rapidly decreasing cooldown
- Powerful AoE control moves with rapidly decreasing cooldown
- The summoning skills are pretty good too
Weakness
- It is very difficult to build a squad due to the limitation of the Species combo
- Some pieces are more valuable when combined with God than others, and if you are unlucky, you may have to use a formation that does not fully exploit its power.
- Cooldown is fast, but you still need mana to cast
Mars: 1 Gold, God, Warrior
Mars is also a Warrior, making it the easiest to generate bonus (3) Warriors in the early-mid game. This piece is quite strong, but you need the God bonus to activate for Mars to deal high damage. Because this hero can’t hit hands – Mars has to use AoE nuke, so the cooldown is reduced to use it more often. Let’s put this hero in the front – Mars takes a good hit thanks to Bulwark.
Zeus: 5 Gold, God, Mage
Zeus opens combo (2) God, so this hero plays an extremely important role in God’s strategy. In addition, Zeus is quite special in the way it interacts:
- Zeus casts an attack on all enemy units with a 50% chance to hit. This means that if you’re lucky, the hero can hit the entire opposing team with a tremendous amount of AoE DPS. If unlucky, Zeus can hit exactly one piece, which is really weak compared to a Legendary.
- Zeus deals a certain amount of damage + a percentage of that piece’s current health. The sooner Zeus casts the move, the higher the damage.
- Zeus also deals a percentage of damage to the enemy courier if you win and Zeus is still alive.
If you are winning, Zeus will punish the opponent quickly. However, if you have difficulty: bad luck in Thundergod’s Wrath will cause you to lose rounds as well as lose a lot of health on the courier.
Early and mid game
Razor: 3 Gold, Elemental, Mage
Razor is considered the best damage-dealing hero in the God lineup. Razer’s mana regeneration is fast, which means it can take advantage of the low cooldown very well. Try to upgrade Razor to 3-star. Even when unsuccessful, two 2-star Razor still gives good effect. But remember not to have any more Elementals because (2) Elemental bonus will deactivate the God bonus.
Necrophos: 4 Gold, Undead, Warlock
Necrophos is also strong in the God lineup. This hero will continuously spam his heal/nuke AoE, dealing damage, and most importantly – helping your squad to last longer. Place Necro around tankers and high damage heroes, Necrophos will help you through the mid-game.
Crystal Maiden: 2 Gold, Human, Mage
In addition to reducing the cooldown, you also need mana to use them. Not to mention, CM + Razor with one more mage unlocks (3) Mage bonus
Venomancer: 3 Gold, Beast, Warlock
Venomancers that add some mana regeneration or damage (for faster mana regeneration) items are also very strong in God’s lineup, as this hero can spam Ward faster. This not only increases your DPS, but also allows you to deal a lot of damage to the opponent squad.
Queen of Pain: 2 Gold, Demon, Assassin
With God, QoP’s Scream has an extremely low Cooldown (3 seconds/1.5 seconds). The highlight here is that QoP restores mana with his previous Scream, so it’s almost as if the hero can launch the move as soon as Cooldown ends. The minus point is that you need to add another Demon (ie lose bonus damage), to not deactivate God.
Timber: 2 Gold, Goblin, Mech
Timber is very buff and his AoE nuke can be used as soon as the cooldown is over because the hero regenerates mana very quickly thanks to his ability to withstand attacks. This not only makes Timber a good tanker, but also a high-damage hero in God’s lineup. You can combine another Mech to get (2) Mech, but make sure you don’t have (3) Goblin.
Tinker: 1 Gold, Goblin, Mech
Can be combined with Timber to get Mech bonus. If you add a Void Stone to this hero, it will allow Tinker to launch frequent high damage rockets. You can later exchange Tinker (or Timber) for Techies.
Juggernaut: 2 Gold, Orc, Warrior
The low cooldown means the Juggernaut can rotate almost endlessly. In addition, Bladefury deals magic damage, which can be combined with the (3) Mage bonus if you follow this formation. However, Juggernaut is an Orc, so you need to sell him if you want to pick Disruptor.
Witch Doctor: 2 Gold, Troll, Warlock
Witch Doctor controls the game well with his moves with low cooldown, but don’t drop another Troll. You definitely won’t want a Witch Doctor if you go in the direction of (6) Warrior + God.
Late game
Disruptors: 4 Gold, Orc, Shaman
Disruptor is extremely powerful late game – 75% cooldown from Mars and Zeus means Static Storm has no downtime (as long as it has mana). However, you need to remove any Orcs that were previously used (Axe, Jugg, Beast).
Medusa: 4 Gold, Naga, Hunter
With two Gods, Stone Gaze has a cooldown of 5 seconds and duration of 3 seconds. The disadvantage is that you cannot combine Medusa + Tide. Add mana regeneration items – Stone Gaze doesn’t deal direct damage, which means it doesn’t restore mana on its own, and without mana Medusa can’t take advantage of its low cooldown. Medusa is effective if there is an additional Crystal Maiden (for quick mana regeneration), or put this hero in the front but remember to add tank items.
Tidehunter: 5 Gold, Naga, Hunter
If enough tanks, the cooldown reduced by 75% can help Tidehunter use Ravage multiple times in battle. Note that do not use (2) Naga.
Kunkka: 4 Gold, Human, Warrior
Combined with God, Kunkka can launch the boat faster, but the minus point comes from the fact that Kunkka is Human. Crystal Maiden is also a Human, which makes picking this hero quite difficult.
Enigma: 5 Gold, Elemental, Warlock
If you have a strong squad up front, Enigma can cast his spell twice. That forces you to sell Razor (if you have him) since both are Elemental.
How to promote God:
The first important point is that you cannot activate any other Species bonus. Keep an eye on:
- 1 Demon. If you have two, the Demon bonus will be lost
- 1 Ogre or 1 Dwarf
- 2 Human, Undead, Beast, Orc, Troll, Naga, Elemental
- 3 Elves, Goblins, Dragon
Again, you can use all bonus Class as usual, but be aware that it is very difficult to get high level bonus because of the above limitations – eg: (6) Mage can’t be without (2) Human or (1) Ogre, synonym you can only max (3) Mage.
But (6) Warrior is okay, but you need to be careful not to have 2 Orcs (Axe or Jugg or Disruptor), Human (Kunkka or CM), Element (Tiny or Razor), Beast, and if using Doom, you need to add another Demon (QoP or Shadow Fiend).
Early and mid game:
(3) Warrior (Mars, Jugg, Tusk/Tiny, etc.) or (2) Mech (Timber, Tinker/Clock) are usually the opening combos. Bounty is also strong (tosses many Shuriken), but don’t let (3) Goblins.
Two Demon early game can also operate – Chaos Knight and Queen of Pain/Shadow Fiend both benefit from low cooldowns. However, always have two demons because one Demon will deactivate the God bonus.
Druid is also quite good due to the quick upgrade. Furion with mana item can create many Treants. Remember never to have two Beasts on the table.
The pieces you usually find in the middle of the game are Razor, Necro and CM. You can add Puck to get (3) Mage bonus. With that said, you have the right to go with other options.
Late game
You need Zeus to unleash the full potential of your squad. Since Zeus is a Legendary (5-gold), you need to reach level 9/10 as soon as possible. That means you need a stable economy, so success in the mid game is important – God is not a good “comeback” tactic. If you feel like you’re not doing well, leave Mars and use the traditional mid-game lineup to stabilize.
In the “late game” stage, get Medusa/Tide + Disruptor for good control of the board.
Examples:
Early & Mid game:
WARRIOR + MAGE
Hero: Mars, Tusk, Juggernaut, Razor, Puck, Crystal Maiden
Bonus: (3) Warrior, (3) Mage, (1) God
You start with Warrior and try to get (3) Mage as soon as possible after that. The minus point of this formation is that it is not strong enough (although Mars + (3) Warrior still takes a temporary hit). The advantage is strong nuke damage – nuke from Razor will help you control the rounds mid game.
WARRIOR + MECH + NECRO
hero: Mars, Tiny, Timber, Juggernaut, Tinker, Necrophos
Combo: (3) Warrior, (2) Mech, (1) God
The disadvantage of this squad is that you don’t have (3) Mage bonus and CM in the mid game. Of course, you can still get them at the end of the game. Zeus is a Mage, so Razor + Zeus + CM will add a bonus.
The advantage is that your squad is extremely strong in the middle of the game. Necro spam + Mech/Warrior are hard to beat, giving you enough time to use the moves multiple times.
Late game
GOD + MAGE
Hero: Mars, Tusk, Razor, Crystal Maiden, Puck, Doom, Shadow Fiend, Disruptor, Zeus, Tidehunter
Combos: (3) Warrior, (3) Mage, (2) God
At the end of the game, after (3) Mage + (3) Warrior, you don’t need any other bonuses, just focus on Zeus + influential troops.
Tide/Medusa + Disruptor are the most important pieces that help control the late game. If you choose Disruptor, you need to sell Juggernaut.
Doom + SF also a great combo because Shadow Fiend takes advantage of the Mage bonus, while Doom keeps the Warrior bonus and takes advantage of the bonus from God.
GOD + WARRIOR
Hero: Mars, Tusk, Juggernaut, Necrophos, Queen of Pain, Doom, Kunkka, Troll, Zeus, Enigma
Combos: (6) Warrior, (2) God
At the end of the game, you can choose (6) Warrior (no CM means you can use Kunkka) + 2 Demon (Doom + 1).
In this example, the formation behind is Enigma – you don’t have Razor, while the front is very strong thanks to (6) Warrior: low cooldown from Enigma will be the main source of damage (if Enigma has a lot of mana regeneration).
However, if you need more control, you can choose Tide/Medusa/Disruptor. Queen of Pain’s extremely low cooldown will deal continuous damage if the hero stays for long.
If you have a Shadow Fiend instead of a Queen of Pain, you’ll need the (3) Warlock bonus, but in this example, the durability of the (6) Warrior + Necrophos’ healing spam is long enough to live. However, the choice depends on what you have from the shop.
According to Dotahaven
Summary of the Dota Auto Chess manual
Source link: Dota Auto Chess: Guide to playing God
– https://emergenceingames.com/