Pit Lord

**Pit Lord** is a Evil Hero in Dark Deeds. Pit Lord is the one of the hardest Evils to kill due to his durability. He will demolish everything in his path and is a force to be reckoned with. Whilst Pit Lord is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) Evil, there are many drawbacks to Pit Lord. As such, Pit Lord is a difficult Evil to play as, especially for new players.

Pit Lord is a unique hero where he does not transform until the 3rd night. Once transformed, he will start at Level 2 and cannot transform back into a farmer. The colour of Pit Lord will also be immediately revealed to other players, and neutral town units (including Uther) will now deem the player hostile. Pit Lord also has slow movement speed, which means it can be difficult to chase players who are running away.

Pit Lord cannot enter tightly build bases, however Pit Lord can easily destroy buildings and defences using his Fireburst ability. Whenever Pit Lord walks at night, he will blight the land beneath him. Whilst it is nigh time and Pit Lord is on blighted land, he will regenerate 20 hitpoints per second.

## *Abilities*

### **Howl of Terror**

Emits a terrifying howl that reduces nearby enemy units attack damage by 50% for 10 seconds

### **Demonic Rush**

   Quickly rushes toward a target unit or location. Upon reaching the target unit or location, Pit Lord gains a 60% movement speed buff for 3 seconds. Pit Lord will end the rush if he collides with a structure or un-pathable terrain. If immolation is learned, Pit Lord leaves up to 7 additional flaming trails behind.

### **Cleaving attack (Passive)**

The Pit Lord strikes with such force that 20% of his damage strikes through to enemies near the primary attacked unit

### **Charged Blade (Passive)**

When not attacking for 10 seconds, allow Pit Lord to land an attack that procs bash if hitting non-structure units, or deals additional damage to buildings. Note that Pit Lord spawns with Charged Blade fully charged up.

### **Descendant of Chaos (Passive)**

Reduces the mana loss by Mana Burn and Feedback by 25%. If the damage taken crosses a threshold of 800 damage, all negative debuffs on the Pit Lord will be removed

### **Fireburst**

   Conjures a blast of flame which damages ground units in a target area over time. Effective against buildings, dealing 50% extra damage. Can destroy certain trees.

Passive: Shoots a hellfire flame to a random nearby enemy unit or building, dealing small damage

Level 1: 45 damage a second for 3 seconds

Level 2: 90 damage a second for 3 seconds

Level 3: 135 damage a second for 3 seconds

### **Immolation**

   Engulfs the Pit Lord in flames, causing damage to nearby enemy land units. Drains mana until deactivated.

Passive: Leaves a flaming trail on his wake every second. The flaming trail does small damage to all nearby enemies and lasts for 12 seconds.

Level 1: 15 damage per second

Level 2: 20 damage per second

Level 3: 25 damage per second

### **Doom**

    Marks a target unit for the manifestation of a Demon. The afflicted unit cannot cast spells and will take damage until it does, Upon its death, a Demon will spawn from its corpse. Level 2 reduces mana cost and cooldown, deals more damage per second and doubles the Demon's lifetime.

Demon can cast Rain of Fire, Cripple, Dispel magic, and has Resistant Skin.

### **Reincarnation (Ultimate)**

When killed, the Pit Lord will come back to life. Reincarnation has a 10 minute cooldown.

### **Rain of Chaos (Legendary)**

Summons an infernal from the sky, causing area effect damage where it lands.

Passive: Rains down a Lesser Infernal every 30 seconds in a random location on the map.

## *Perks*

### Brute Strength

Increases attack damage by 15. Additionally, Cleaving Attack splash damage is increased by 5% and area of effect is increased by 50.

### Demon Incarnate

Damage threshold for Pit lord to dispel negative buffs is improved to 700. Additionally, when the damage threshold is reached, Pit Lord gains undispellable magic immunity for 4 seconds.

### Hellfire Flash

Demonic Rush has lowered cooldown and no manacost. Additionally, flaming trails created by Demonic Rush lasts 33 seconds longer.

## Strategies

### **Strategy as evil**

#### Pre-transform Phase

* Start gathering resources and lumber as fast as you can. You will need to research ensnare as well as burning oil for your Spearthrowers. Their burning oil will allow you to kill structures easily and the ensnare will help you kill farmers since Pit Lord is so slow.
* Consider using your farmer to gather herbs and fungi to sell, to help increase your gold income before you inevitably transform.
* Keep a tab on other players, as it may be a good idea to place your farmer inside/outside another player's base before you transform.
* If it is possible, hide the location of your buildings, as once you transform, you will not be able to remake key buildings such as your Farm or Blacksmith.

#### Post-transform Phase

* If you have an army of units, make sure you properly micro your units so that you minimise your losses. This is because you will eventually lose the ability to create more units for your army.
* If you have Spearthrowers, use their ensnare ability to assist in trapping farmers who run away.
* Kill as many units and tech buildings as you can. Pit Lord can only lose to a massive army with trapping abilities such as the Sorceress's Frostbite ability. Delay other players as much as possible.
* Do not be afraid of minor armies, as you are durable and your abilities such as Immolation and Cleaving Attack will quickly dispatch enemies.
* Remember to purchase Boots of Speed at the townshop to boost your abysmal movement speed.
* Doom is a key ability which will allow you to summon a Demon. The Demon's rain of fire ability deal massive damage if channeled long enough.

### **Strategy versus evil**

#### Pre-transform Phase

* If Evil has not struck by the first night, there is a possibility that Evil is Pit Lord. If this is the case, scout all other players immediately.
* During the 3rd Day Phase, Pit Lord's farmer will turn red. This is a indicator that a player is Evil. This is the most vulnerable time for Pit Lord
* If you discover the identity of Pit Lord before transformation, make a quick army using militia and an armed farmer, and kill Pit Lord before he transforms.

#### Post-transform Phase

* If playing defensively, be prepared to build a defense as quick as you can. Towers with poison and cold upgrade will definitely buy you time versus Pit Lord but in the end your buildings will fall.
* If playing to tech, build your buildings all over the map. Also consider building in hidden areas or areas where Pit Lord has already been. This ensures that not all your buildings/tech will be wiped out if you are discovered.
* The key like many evils is to buy as much time as you can for the other players to tech to get heroes and an army.
* Be prepared to sell your buildings so you can get a quick getaway once things start looking grim, research craftsmanship as soon as you can to be able to repair.
* If Pit Lord does not have the appropriate tools or an army, using your Panic ability to run away from Pit Lord is quite easy.
* Ensure that you destroy Pit Lord's base as once you destroy it, Pit Lord can not rebuild it.
* It is easy to know where Pit Lord has been and hasn't been, as he will blight the land beneath where he walks, Use this information to your advantage.

### **Strategy as minion**

* Pit Lord's minion is the most difficult to deal with if left alone long enough. As such you should ensure that your portal is safe. Place your portal in an area which you believe other players will not find it.
* Slowly build up your army and assist your master in locating or harassing other players.
* Fel Guards/Overlords are useful in destroying enemy buildings. Overlord's cleave damage is also useful in assisting your master in damaging larger armies.
* Eredar Sorcerer is a strong unit which can both easily dispatch enemy buildings using Rain of Fire, as well as deal instantaneous damage using Finger of Death.

### **Strategy versus minion**

* The source of power for the minion is the Demonic Portal. The minion will always get a new unit every 30 seconds so it is important to destroy the Demonic Portal. Scout and find the Demonic Portal as soon as possible. Once found, quickly destroy the portal using units with siege damage such as the Spearthrower or Huntress.

## References

1. ↑ Version B37 change - Pit Lord now only blights land at night.
2. ↑ Version B37 change - New ability added, Charged Blade.