This is the build I typically go with when pugging or in games against highly skilled opponents.  There are a few alterations to my build, but I’ll provide 1 somewhat static build that is generally very good.  The overall goal is to max out bite/mass charm/ and hit level 2 bat swarm as quickly as possible.  The build’s greatest strengths are (in no particular order) getting in and out of situations safely, capturing portals, saving teammates, and getting kills. 

Ability Build:

1-bite 1

2-coven 1/mist 1

3-stun 1

4-bite 2

5-bat swarm 1

6-stun 2

7-bite 3

8 – stun 3

9 - save

10 – stun 4

11 – bat swarm 2

12 – bite 4

13 – poisoned blood 1

14 – poisoned blood 2

15 – muddle

16 – Vampiric aura

17 – mist 1/2

18 – mist 2/3

19 – mist 3/4

20 – bloody haze/bat swarm 3

Favor item:  Blood of the fallen

Item Build:

Monks (buy at start) 
1 small mana potion (buy at start – you typically have to wait a few seconds to be able to afford this on default settings)

The rest of my build varies with regards to timing and what I buy varies based on what is happening in the game.  Ideally, you won’t be back to base to shop until lv 5.  I’m going to break things out in simple increments, though.  Understand that if you want to stick to shopping when I mention here, you need to adjust your playstyle so you don’t have to run back to base at different times, etc.  And also note that I don’t list buying citadel upgrades in this build.  You should contribute to your team as appropriate.  Be that buying tower regen or currency 1 for the team if needed early game.  Ideally, someone else on the team will handle buying currency 1 unless you’ve gotten a kill or 2. 

Trip 1 (1700 gold)

Scaled helm
Scalemail
Banded armor
1 tp scroll (ONLY USE THIS TO SAVE OR GANK – and ONLY IF YOU ARE 90% SURE YOU ARE CAN SAVE OR GANK)

Trip 2 (3250)

Vlemish

Nimoth armor

Trip 3 (3000)

Sell banded armor

Sell scaled helm

Buy unbreakable

Buy Plenor Battlecrown

Buy a sigil

Buy another TP scroll

Buy a lock

This is what I consider my complete low/mid level item build for Erebus.  I try to have 1 sigil and as many ports/locks as I can afford (but at least 1 of each).  The remaining items vary based on how you are doing in the game, what you need, what the team needs, etc.  Here are a couple of options though:

Trip 4 (3500-4800 gold)

Sell scalemail and buy groffling or sell unbreakable and buy narmoths ring.  Anyway, there are plenty of options at this point, but you will likely need to buy something for the citadel. 

I generally find that its quite the rarity for me to hit level 15 with this build due to the general ease of getting in and out when going for the other teams’ portals (eg the game is over before I hit 15)… you can keep tremendous pressure on the other team to defend their portals over and over… if you are fortunate enough to have a teammate that is putting pressure on the other portal while you are hazing one side, the other team will crumble before too long. 

Why is my standard build like this?  Well, I find it’s what works best for me generally speaking, but I mostly wanted to provide a simplified build that someone could follow dogmatically if desired.  Realistically, I end up choosing going with one of my alternate builds on the fly to compensate for what’s happening in game.  Anyway, here are some reasons for what I chose in my standard build: 

• Coven 1 when u hit level 2 is good because it adds additional dps and can lead to you looking a little more threatening if anyone wants to 1v1 you early game and the additional minions can take damage that would have hit you when you go after towers. 
• Getting stun 1 at level 3 is a little silly as you almost certainly don’t have enough mana to use it more than once, but it can save your teammates (and you are going to be leveling it up anyway).  In practice, it’s somewhat rare for me to be able to choose stun 1 so early though, but if I’m not having any real issues or concerns of getting killed or having to save someone early, I almost always grab stun here. 
• The decision to get stun 4/bat swarm 2 at level 10 instead of bite 4/bat swarm 2 is that I find the extra second to stun to be MUCH more useful than an additional level of bite.  More info on why later.

Strategies:

Early game

Monks and Clerics – I’ll be posting another thread that goes into details on the exact mechanics behind this re: the benefits of stacking monks/clerics early. 

Discuss before the game if possible – are there 2 or more generals on your team?  If so, decide who will buy priests immediately and who will buy clerics.  If you are the priest guy, then you don’t need to modify your build (you just need to micro a monk for whatever flag you aren’t on.  If you are the cleric guy, you have 2 options – 1) you either save your money and buy NOTHING immediately, then make a quick trip back to base to purchase them 2) buy banded armor + scalemail at the start and you’ll have more staying power initially as long as your teammate micros a monk on you – then buy the clerics when you are able. 

If you are the only general, you need to micro monks immediately and be good at it.   Because my build has you waiting a moment to get a mana pot, buy your monks, summon them immediately, and send them out.  Then, buy your mana pot as soon as its available. 

Lane strategy – you can be on either mana or HP.  Make the best call based on what players are on your team. 

Mist:

If you are up against a ub or a reg that is sniping you, get mist at level 2.  Mist is a life saver and changes the flow of a battle, but you need to use it intelligently.  Plenty of people DO NOT use it intelligently.  First, keep in mind that if you use mist in a GROUP battle and have an ok amt of hp, you are no longer a target… now your teammate is… and he might die precisely because you used mist to try to escape.  Additionally, you will still be the target if your teammate is nowhere nearby and you misted… it gets even worse if there is a reg who decides it will be fun to throw mines underneath you while you are in mist form.  You must use mist intelligently or you will die like a chump and/or get your teammate killed.  Don’t use mist to avoid death unless there is no other option.  Don’t get into spots where you have to mist with like 50hp and then HOPE you get away.  Your team will likely TRY to save you and quite possibly get killed trying to do just that. 

Here’s how I typically use mist - I try to get everyone on the other team to target me in a group battle initially by being the guy closest to the enemy.  Then, after a few people have spammed me with abilities, I will mist.  The other team will likely attack the next closest target, I will unmist and then continue the fight with my teammates.  Use mist to drop status effects, etc, primarily or to cause the enemy to switch targets WHEN your teammate wont die as a result.  Think – It’s most effective for an enemy team to focus on killing 1 character, right?  If I’m out front and am the first target, I can cause the enemy to focus on me, use up some of their mana, activate their cool downs, and then I use mist.  Boom… they switch targets if my team is there.  I come right back and continue the fight and odds are they are still focused on their new target.  I can bite and regain some of my hp.  Now, if the other team needs to flee, I can still chase with batswarm or stun the entire team while we chase collectively… and then batswarm + bite again for the kill.  Things won’t quite work that way if I wait until I’m just about dead and then mist.  Even if my teammates were fighting really well, I’d be a fool to chase down the other team if I had very little HP, so I’m forced to run.  But if you do it like I described, you have a nice advantage.  If things are going wrong for your team in the battle, then u just mass charm and bat swarm away. 

Poisoned Blood:

When should you choose poisoned blood?  Sometimes it’s a good idea to pick up poisoned blood at level 5 or 6.  You need to be a good judge of how fast you are losing HP, etc.  Are you holding a lane solo but take a lot of damage?  Maybe you should grab poisoned blood for the +15 HPS you get out of it.  Remember, banded armor is a pretty good item early on and it only gives +400 health and +5 HPS – this provides 3 times as much HPS.  And, ffs, tell your teammates if you choose poisoned blood so they don’t drink it if you die. 

Bat Swarm:

When should you AVOID using bat swarm?  This should all sound like common sense, but I’ve seen some folks doing crazy things with bat swarm.  First – bat swarm should be used primarily for saves and ganks.  Secondarily for getting other places faster.  It shouldn’t be used to wipe out a small wave of creeps into enemy territory.  I generally cringe when I see players with low/mid level equipment bat swarming to kill a wave of creeps.  Doing that frequently enough means you have no mana for a real fight.  That’s a little bit of a problem, but when people bat swarm to kill a wave of creeps in enemy territory when they typically don’t have line of sight on the enemy, they are putting themselves into a dangerous situation.  You certainly can do this from time to time, but its always best to take a quick look around the map to see where everyone is.  The best time to go gung ho towards a portal is when your team is fighting everyone else on the other team or at least is engaging 2 of them…of course, that’s also generally the best time to port in and help your teammates…. Decisions, decisions… I can say I’ve won more games due to portal control because I try to wait for that exact moment when a battle starts and then make my move for the portals…

Flag control:

My erebus build and style of play is GREAT for flag control.  Batswarm 2 + stun  4 make the biggest difference, but here’s the basic strategy. Let’s say I’m at the HP flag – it’s under enemy control and just about to go half capped (just me on the flag, no enemy near yet)… I will stand as close to the enemy tower as I can but still in range to cap the flag.  I will proactively stun if any enemy is coming towards me to keep the flag from capping in my favor.  This is how I dominate at portal control late game.  Position yourself  and proactively stun to stop anyone from getting in range of the flag to cap.  And remember – it’s a 3 second stun which is a LONG time for flag control.  This is a great tactic… and if you fail… in most cases, you can just batswam out safely.   Also – keep in mind that with mass charm maxed out, you can cast a stun with enemy players standing in the flag with you and you can lock the portal uninterrupted.  Or if it really came down to it… you could stun and port back to base… just be sure to stun everyone in the immediate area so they can’t interrupt.  Anyway, what I find unique is that I don’t see a lot of people using erebus this way.  A stun to keep an enemy outside of the flag capture range is a really solid tactic in my opinion and when used properly for portal control, can win the game.  To take this a step further.  Let’s say you are fighting against me and are at your crystal.  You see me bat swarm in.  You are like 2 seconds away from standing on the flag with me and keeping it from going half capped.  If you decide that you will walk to me instead of porting, I will mostly likely stun you while you are outside of the range of the flag and it will go half capped. 

Other tips:

If you are up against an erebus, don’t bite first.  Bite immediately after they do at the start of a battle.  It’s a minor tactic, but whoever bites first simply stays at full hp.  Bite 2^nd and you heal to full first.  This can actually make a difference early game. 

You can try a trick tactic if you want, but it will likely fail or get you killed J  Don’t choose your favor item immediately.  Save BOTF until you need it and then buy it like an instant health potion.  This is perfect if a low hp character is chasing u and thinks he is about to kill you.  You pop botf, turn around and kill him.  Don’t pull this crap if there is a competent reg on the other team.  Because this results in a kill (in your favor) infrequently, I don’t really suggest trying to pull this, but give it a shot if you like.  DO NOT bother with this tactic if you are just getting pushed off of flags or have to run back to the crystal, etc.  It’s an early game tactic that should only be used to try to snag a quick kill.  If you are running back to base because you don’t have enough hp and you could still cast BOTF to get some hp back, you are being dumb.  Cast botf, stick around, and regen using your monk.