Does an Oak need Spirits?

I usually start with shield, then pick up spirits, as they add some DPS and a psychological effect that is encouraging and discouraging to my enemy.

Since you can't get Surge until level 5, I'm not sure why it's a tough decision.  

getting only one lvl of spirits seems stupid to me

also even one level in spirits is one level less in Penitence, Soul Frenzy, Shield, Surge of Faith at low lvl

Try list what order you get your skills. The communit ywill probably give a 3 page assessment of all the different kinds of oak then

don't know the exact order

I always get penitence directly when it's available
next I get Soul Frenzy
after that Shield or Surge of Faith depending on the game

I never save a skill point

having some spirits around lvl 1-5 might be better, but they'll be useless after that unless I put more points in spirits
so basically you'll have a wasted skill point, most of the game takes place past lvl 5

I've seen Assassin Oaks play without any minions at all. One of the reasons they do this is because they want to get as much out of Divine Justice as possible. Minions do not trigger Divine Justice.

Spirits also don't work as well unless you do plan to spends a little bit on minion gear and moral skill. Without minion hp gear, Spirits get shot down by towers pretty easily. AoEs will also toast Spirits if you don't boost their HP.

That's a good question, i'm sure you will be getting plenty of responses.  (I'm also assuming you mean soul power as opposed to soul frenzy.  Please note that it is only worth getting Soul Power I)

Anyways, up to and at level 10 you have 3 choices to choose from.  Burst* damage, DPS damage and HP Stacking. I think everyone is in agreement that HP stacking (ie shield) tends to be more effective than DPS stacking. Levels 10-15 you can select another "choice" most games end before hitting 15 as i'm sure you are aware of.

*note burst damage for the oak is not typical burst damage but is essentially leveling up pen and sof to supplement autoattack damage

First off read this thread for a nice heated discussion:

http://forums.demigodthegame.com/366608

For my typical build I like to get Shield I, Pen I and Divine justice in the first 3 levels.  I wait to make my selections until I need to. Shield I at level 1 when in doubt.  (And never ever post anything different than that on the forums

For games with higher experienced players on the other side i usually get shield at 1 and pen at 3 however sometimes i try to wait to get shield if possible. My Favorite build doesn't use shield until late levels and is Pen, SoF & Spirits based but i dont get to use that one too much since it is DPS focused.

So in answer to your question.  At levels 1, 2 & 3 a minion oak with monks and BoF will be able to push you off of a flag (assuming you have monks & BoF as well).  I find that competing with the sustained DPS to be challenging at that time.  I find that at level 4 pen II & shield will help push a minion oak off the flag.  However the tide really turns at level 5 and up where SoF takes out a lot of spirits and armor mitigates their damage.  From levels 5-10 a minion oak poses little threat to the "assassin" oak.  At level 14 (reserving 15 for SoF) I typically have either spirits IV or (shield III & spirits II) depending on what's needed throughout the game.  My preference is spirits if possible.

Numbers in parentheses are for total spirits at that level

A single spirit at level I does 13 DPS (39 dps), with SoF I enabled it does 14.3 dps each (42.9) , SOF II it does 14.95 (44.85)

Spirit level II does 15.6 DPS (78)  with SOF I enabled it does 17.16 (85.8) SOF II it does 17.94 (89.7)

Spirit Level III it does 18.20 DPS (127.4) with SOF I enabled it does 20.02 (140.14). SOF II it does 20.93 (146.51)

Spirit Level IV it does 20.8 DPS (208) with SOF I enabled it does 22.88, (228.8) SOF II it does 23.92 (239.2) and SOF III it does 24.96 (249.6)

To sum up everything my opinion is that Yes the Oak needs spirits at some point.  The question is do you go for an assassin build at the beginning or a minion build at the befinning.

Another fun build (for shitz and giggles) is shield at level I and then full spirits + morale with either Ring of Divine Might or Horn of battle as your favor item.

j

I was writing my response when other posted so I wanted to point something out. I always get soul power I before I get Spirits I, this guaratees a +20 to weapon damage.  Therefore spirits I is beneficial by adding an additional +20 weapon .  However, i like to park those spirits back at the citadel so i constantly have the weapon damage bonus without them dying too much.  (typically until spirits II or III).

How soul power works:

http://forums.demigodthegame.com/350419

j

sounds like a good plan

just one lvl in spirits, doubling the effect of Soul Power
and just keep your spirits at the citadel the entire game

http://forums.demigodthegame.com/357347

thats why you want spirits, they do mad dmg, they buff your wpn dmg by a ton. and they are tower fodder.

No Spirits

1. Penitence
2. Shield
3. Divine Justice
4. Penitence
5. Surge of Might
6. Shield
7. Shield
8. Penitence
9. Save
10. Penitence + Surge of Might
11. Shield 4

This is my assassin Oak Build.  Second point in Penitence is better than second point in Shield, but third point in shield better than third point in penitence.  And then back again, fourth point in penitence better than fourth in shield.  I know, it creates an odd staggering of skills at a glance, but it really is true.  Been running this with a pretty high success rate.  The more aggressive your team is, the better it results, since you give them the 'way out' after a suicide gank, and also help them get in with Surge of Might.

You don't get the massive damage of Spirits + Soul Power, but you do get the massive power of Shield rank 3, which is hard for anyone to ignore.

to put it simply no general needs there minions, which ironically kind of destroys the purpose of them being generals in my eyes.

Every general needs priests.  

I agree with Zechnophobe up to the shield IV part, I dont' really think that's worth it, I'd much rather get a secpond point of divine justice since you'll be taking out swaths of minions with surge of faith II at that point. I'm confident that you'll get more health out of justice with surge II, not to mention it's more mana as well.