Experienced Oak players - advice please

first, http://www.gamereplays.org/demigod/ is a much better site to upload your replays.  Downloaders don't have to wait 45 seconds to get it, or type anything into the box.. and can also comment directly on the video

You build and your items don't match up.  Also, you go a minion build yet don't take a point of soul power until level 12 or so, instead taking a rank of DJ.  Switch your point in DJ to Soul Power, and your attack will be much higher.  But, as minion oak, you want items that will support your minions.  Hauberk of life and the gloves that increase minion dmg are great.  Swift anklet is great for making your minions faster so your opponents cant outrun them and also allows for you to escape easier.  Horn of the Battle is awesome for keeping your minions alive while they take down a tower or if an enemy is trying to take out your minions.

Also, I would not have gone minion oak against 2 erabus.  But.. disregarding that.. around 22 min in you literally carried no consumables.  You went deep into their base, asking for a gank without having any escape plan, and you got ganked.  Mid game ALWAYS have at least 1 teleport to support your teammates or to escape (make sure you have a valid escape route).  Preferably caplocks, and a sigil or potion of some sort (I prefer the sigil.. but with shield and a rejuv pot it can be great as well). I see you did this after you were ganked.. still though, something to keep in mind.

Watching more into the game, I see your team let them dominate those mid portals often, even though you had acquired a 4 level advantage or so.  Reg can't do much about it.. but you should always save your penitence to interrupt the caplock on those flags (they turn to look at the flag - BAM penitence), and caplock portal flags that you leave.  You probably would have won 20 minutes sooner.  You bought cloak of flames yet never used it to help clear out creeps.  You had the gold for an ashkandor, I would have bought that instead of groffling and cloak of flames.  Combine it with orb of veiled storms and / or mageslayer for ridiculous results (which you also had the gold for).

Your style however looks like you'd be much better off going assassin oak.   You don't use your minions to their fullest, and it does take a bit of micromanaging to do this.  My general build for assassin oak is this:

Favor:  Blood of the fallen.  You are there to fight, and cloak of the night is an escape measure.  You can catch up to almost anyone later levels with just penitence and surge.  800 hp allows you to buy more mana items yet maintain good staying power.

1. Pen I

2. Shield I

3. DJ

4. Pen II

5. Surge

6. Shield II

7. Pen III

8. Shield III

9. Save

10. Surge II + Pen IV

11 - 13 - > DJ

14. Save

15. Rally + Surge III

I don't like to run back for a long time.. just my style I guess.  I saw you run back often, and as a result you were the same level as the erabus or a little below.  The less you run back, the bigger your level advantage, and as oak, level advantage is huuge (level 10 you change dramatically).  If I concede a little bit of the early game, that's fine.  I typically wait until I can afford vlemish, plenor, and a teleport scroll before I go shopping (no kills.. this is a little before lvl 7.. any kills reduce this time obv.).  The blood provides the health you're not getting.  Now you harrass people with rank 3 penitence.. and then go fight them or push them out after you wear them out a little bit.. and you still have plenty of mana.  Also, now you can teleport gank (not going to cover this really.. but very valuable).  You should always carry a scroll now, and you are literally unkillable unless you mess up.  Shield III covers you long enough to teleport out of a bad situation, or pop a full potion without fear of interrupt or dying for the full duration.  You even have enough time to caplock and teleport.  It's awesome.

My usual item build is this:

Vlemish + Plenor

Unbreakables

Bishops or high priests (no generals on my team - bishops.  Another general.. make sure one of you has bishops and the other high priests).

Nimoths + Banded armor if I really need it.. often times forego the last 2 item slots and save for creep upgrades.

That's it.. very rarely I'll get rank 4 seige minions as they're great on towers and do decent damage.  If it's a serious game that goes into artifact stage (almost never except on zikurat.. but even then, a serious game one side will almost always dominate those middle portal flags and win by 4 streams of giants every wave), Mageslayer, ashkandor, orb of veiled storms are great for assassin oak.  Godplate is nice as well, although not an artifact.  W/e.  GL

Always depend of ur style with oak if u go minions or assassin. I prefer assassin. So this is my build if u want to try,

1. Penitence I

2. Shield I

3. Divine Justice I

4. Penitence II

5. Surge of faith I

6. Shield II

7. Penitence III

8. Shield III

9. save

10. Penitence IV and surge of faith II

11. Divine Justice II

12. Soul Power I

13. Ward I

14. Soul Power II

15. Surge of faith III

16. Shield IV

17. Divine Justice III

18. Soul Power III

19. Ward II

20. Last Stand.

You almost never reach the lvl 20 and from lvl 16-20 u can switch some skills. I take the 3 ward to get more damage at the end with soul power. And with last stand, you have one more chance to finish an ennemy before the dead. Sometime i will exchange soul power II for ward to get more damage, depending of my ennemy.

get soul instead of dj, also get ward IV earlier than pent IV.

Shield 1 first people, not Penitence 1!

One thing to note, is that Shield 3 makes the target IMMUNE to Debuff effects. That includes stuns. If you are up against a gank squad (Erebus with charm, beast with grasp, Rook with Roll) it can be the strongest effect to counter them. I would really consider it in these situations.  Also pretty awesome vs a 'slow' regulus, since you can shield and just walk away.

Ive seen a minion build on a replay that runs with Ward and Moral and Pen II until lvl 10. For items velmish + haurbek + minion attack gloves. This actually destroyed UB ooze + spit by spamming Pen and sending a all types of minions + spirits. The Oak never actually got into melee range. I would like to know if this is a good playstyle for Oak.

Thanks for your input, guys. Especially for that playstyle advice, Rawr. I know that's another area where I can use improvement.

A few questions:

Anklet says that it gives a 15% speed boost, but doesn't mention minions at all. Does it give the boost to both your DG and minions? (If so, that'd be nice to note in the description >_>)

Yeah, I suppose calling that first build a minion build is a bit misleading. I really do play both as assassins. I just use the minions for a big damage boost on a single target with Penitence + Surge late game. The shield build is more for when I'd need to survive a gank-oriented team. Is this a viable way to play, or am I gimping myself by trying to mix the two styles?

Milo, all speed buffs and debuffs affect the demigod's minions as well.

If a Erebus minion swarm is chasing you, penitencing him will make his swarm go slower so you can get away easily. Need to get a speed burst on a running demigod. Use Wand of Speed and watch your minons chase him down for the kill...

I wasn't aware of that. Since some items give +minion damage, or HPS, or dodge & etc, I always assumed that move speed was also a seperate mechanic.

agreed

How about this?

SAVE YOUR POINT. If you feel like you're goign to die (eg, you're dropping to 1k hp and you aren't going to make it, bring up your level system click Shield, use it.

If you think your opponents are about to overextend, click Pentitence.

It seems like that would bring the end to this whole Pentitence/Shield debate.

I do the same thing with Spit/Ooze for UB depending on who I lane with and what it looks like their build is.

Good point!