en
God’s are the newest and most unique synergy in
the game. Although they can be very fun to play and can feel extremely
overpowered if you make them work, they are actually relatively hard to build
and it’s easy to lose games before your lineup “comes online” because of the Species
restrictions and because it requires a specific Legendary unit (Zeus) to reach
its full potential.
The goal is to build around the (1) God bonus in the early-mid game with Mars and to finish your lineup with the second God (Zeus) in the late game. The (1) bonus gives 50% cooldown reduction, the second – 50% more (diminishing returns make it an effective 75% CDR with both Gods).
The catch is that you CANNOT use any other SPECIES synergies. E.g. Warriors/Mages/Mechs/Assassins work with Gods, but Orcs/Trolls/Humans/Goblins don’t! This means you need to be extra careful when you’re building your lineup compared to all other strats.
Mars: 1
Gold, God, Warrior
The early-game God is also a Warrior, which makes the (3) Warriors bonus the easiest one to go for in the early-mid game. The unit itself is very tanky, but you need the God bonus active so that Mars deals decent DPS. The reason for this is that he doesn’t attack – he just uses his AoE nuke on cooldown, and you need the CDR to help him use it more often. Place him at the frontline – he is a great tank because of Bulwark.
Zeus: 5 Gold, God, Mage
Zeus unlocks the (2) Gods synergy, which understandably makes him key for the strat. Besides that he has unique (and a bit counter-intuitive) interactions:
All of this makes him a “win harder” unit. If you are already winning battles, Zeus will punish the enemy players fast. If you are struggling, however, a bad roll on Thundergod’s Wrath could lose you rounds and cost you lots of HP.
Razor: 3 Gold,
Elemental, Mage
Razor is arguably the best damage-dealer in a Gods lineup. He generates mana fast, which means he can use the lower cooldown very well. Try to upgrade him to three stars. Even if you don’t succeed, you can use 2 two-star Razors with great effect. Make sure you don’t have another Elemental because the (2) Elements bonus will disable the Gods bonus.
Necrophos is also amazing in a God’s lineup. He will constantly spam his AoE heal/nuke, which will damage enemies, but more importantly – it will provide a lot of sustain for your lineup. Surround your Necro with tanks and damage-dealers and he can carry you through the mid game.
Crystal Maiden: cooldown reduction is great, but you need mana to utilize it. Moreover, with CM + Razor you need just one more mage to unlock the (3) Mages bonus.
Dazzle: 3 Gold, Troll, Priest
Shallow Grave with the cooldown reduction is great on Gods - you often have frontline problems with Gods lineups, and the almost permanent Shallow Grave helps your few frontliners survive for much longer than they should. Another reason Dazzle is great is his Priest racial - Gods often have problems in the early-mid game, which means you often need to play on a losing streak. Dazzle makes this streak much less costly in terms of HP and lets you comeback in the late game.
Venomancer with some mana regen or attack damage items (to help him gain mana) is also great in Gods lineups because he will spam his Wards very fast. This will not only increase his DPS, but it will also let you deal a lot of damage to the players you beat in rounds.
With Gods her Scream has an insanely low CD (3sec/1.5sec). The great thing is that she fills her mana with her previous scream, so she basically uses it on CD every time. The downside is that you need another Demon, otherwise you’ll disable the Gods synergy.
Timber is very tanky and his AoE nuke can be used on CD because he gains mana rapidly from taking damage. This makes him not only a tank but also a damage dealer with Gods. You can use another Mech to give him the (2) Mechs bonus, but make sure you don’t have (3) Goblins.
The CDR means he can be spinning almost permanently. Moreover, Bladefury deals magic damage, which means he benefits for the (3) Mages bonus if you go for it. He’s an Orc, though, which means you might need to sell him if you want to go for Disruptor.
Witch Doctor: 2 Gold, Troll, Warlock
Witch Doctor gives decent control with his spell with the CDR, but make sure you don’t have another Troll. This means you don't want WD if you're going for (6) Warriors + Gods.
Disruptor: 4 Gold, Orc, Shaman
Disruptor is extremely good in the late game – the double CDR from Mars and Zeus means that Static Storm has no downtime (if he has the mana). However, you need to remove any previous Orcs you were using (Axe, Jugg, Beast).
Medusa: 4 Gold, Naga, Hunter
With the two Gods, Stone Gaze has 5-sec CD and 3-sec duration, which needless to say is insane. The downside is that you cannot use both Medusa + Tide. Give her mana generation items – Stone Gaze doesn’t deal damage directly, which means it doesn’t generate mana by itself, and if she doesn’t have the mana she wouldn’t utilize the low CD. She is great with Maiden because of this reason, or alternatively frontline her with tank items.
Tide: 5 Gold, Naga, Hunter
If he is tanky enough, with the double CDR he can cast multiple Ravages in a fight. Make sure you don’t have (2) Nagas.
Kunkka: 4 Gold, Human, Warrior
Great with the CDR, but the downside is that he is a Human. Crystal Maiden is also a Human, which makes this a hard decision.
If you have a strong-enough frontline, Enigma can cast his ult twice in a fight. That said, it means you need to sell Razor (if you have him) because they are both Elementals.
The first important part is to make sure you don’t have an active Species bonus. Keep an eye out for:
Again, you can use all Class synergies as normal, but bear in mind it’s quite hard to build a high Class bonus because of the above restrictions – e.g. building (6) Mages without having (2) Humans or (1) Ogre is impossible, which means you can reach (3) Mages max.
On the other hand, building (6) Warriors is possible, but you have to be careful about 2 Orcs (Axe or Jugg or Disruptor), Humans (Kunkka or CM), Elements (Tiny or Razor), Beast, and if you’re using Doom you need another Demon (QoP or SF).
(3) Warriors (Mars, Jugg, Tusk/Tiny, etc.) or (2) Mech (Timber, Tinker/Clock) are your usual openers. Bounty is also great (could throw multiple Shuriken’s), but make sure you don’t have (3) Goblins.
Two Demons from early on can also work – Chaos Knight and Queen of Pain/Shadow Fiend all benefit from the CD reduction. Make sure you have two, however, because a single Demon will disable the Gods bonus.
Druids are also decent because of the quick upgrades. Furion with mana items could cast multiple Treants. Make sure you don’t have two beasts.
The units you are usually searching for in the mid game are Razor, Necro, and CM. You can add Puck to get to the (3) Mages bonus. That said, it’s possible to go for other options.
You need Zeus to unlock the full potential of the lineup. Since Zeus is a legendary (5-cost) unit, you need to reach lvl9/10 sooner rather than later. This suggests you need a decent economy, which means success in the mid-game is very important – Gods is not a good “comeback” strategy. If you see that you are not in a good position to do this, you can think about scrapping Mars and building a more traditional lineup in the mid game that can come online faster.
In the very late game get Medusa/Tide + Disruptor to secure enough control.
You go for a Warrior opening and try to get to (3) Mages immediately after that. The drawback is that the lineup is not that durable (although the Mars + (3) Warriors do a decent job). The advantage is that it deals great nuke damage – the nukes from Razor come often and this should secure the mid-game rounds.
The disadvantage of this lineup is that you don’t have the (3) Mages bonus and CM in the mid game. Of course, you can still get them in the late game. Zeus is a Mage, so Razor + Zeus + CM will provide you with the bonus.
The advantage is that you have a very durable lineup in the mid game. Necro’s spam + the Mech/Warriors are very hard to bring down, which buys everybody time to use their skills multiple times.
In the late game, after (3) Mages + (3) Warriors, you don’t go for additional synergies, rather you focus on getting Zeus + other high impact units.
Tide/Medusa + Disruptor are the most important ones for control in the late game. If you go for Disruptor, you need to sell Jugg.
Doom + SF are also a great combo because SF benefits a lot from the Mages bonus, while Doom keeps the Warriors synergy active and benefits a lot from the Gods bonus.
In the late-game, you can go for (6) Warriors (not having CM means you can use Kunkka) + 2 Demons (Doom + 1).
In this example, in the backline you go for Enigma – you don’t have Razor, and with the very durable frontline of (6) Warriors and the CDR Enigma will be an amazing damage dealer (give him mana items if possible).
If you think you need more control, however, you can go for Tide/Medusa/Disruptor. The insanely low CD QoP will deal plenty of damage if you give her enough time.
If you have Shadow Fiend instead of Queen of Pain, you’ll also have the (3) Warlocks bonus, but in this example, the tankiness of the (6) Warriors + Necro’s heal spam should be enough sustain. The choice, of course, depends most on what you’re getting from the shop.
Thanks for reading! I hope you found this guide useful and enjoyable. If you did, you can check out our other Dota Auto Chess content in our blog or in this Auto Chess guide collection.
Special thanks go to our sponsors, EGB, who make publishing free content like this possible. If you are into esports betting you should visit them - they offer great live odds and many bonuses on professional Dota 2 matches as well as all other popular esports titles!
Thanks also go to Matt and other high-level Dota Auto Chess players whose games I study to write these guides as well as the QIHL and Reddit community for the feedback, memes, and opinions.
