Yeah I'm not even going to reply cause everyone else is doing all the talking for me. It's just a waste of words.

QoT is thorns, shield, spike wave till 10, concede at 11.  thanks.

(p.s. I'm joking.)

(p.p.s. your bed is a car.)

http://www.gamereplays.org/demigod/replays.php?game=51&show=details&id=124287

Well it's under a different name.

There is that one then one more when you had Orcun and my team had some scrub Oak. But actually you had Ninki too so never mind I guess it was a pretty impressive win, good job!

Yeah, but its a fuckin sweet car.

Herp derp I spend the game healing myself for 750 instead of switching out into spikes. Herp derp for that is the smart thing to do, for 750 basically means you will live herp derp, everyone knows when fighting 3 v 3 healing yourself is priority one, who needs DPS? Herp derp.

Tesser you are like the only guy on this forum who has watched more replays then played games.

I have a replay fetish, sue me.

I'm going to reply a little less aggressively this time:

I understand different playstyles have different builds. This might be how you feel most comfortable. 

That being said, even if you won the next 1,000 games in a row, it still doesn't make this the best way to go skill selection wise. Denying yourself an ability, regardless of what it is, is not the most effective way to skill.

In summation: It might be how your most comfortable, that doesn't make it any more efficient.

Edit: So the forums fucked up the last 8 times I tried to reply, ugh.

technically bugger's comment is valid lol.. and the only reason I'd think to side with everyone against koush.  But.. in reality.. the extra dps before it does to a tower or the other person in lane.  However, you still have to wait to summon it at the crystal (ya it might be an extra 3-4 seconds to change forms /summon and wait for the mana back!), which might not seem like a lot of time, but put it in comparison to what the shambler will actually do for you at that point (a couple attacks ftw), and it still doesn't really seem worth it.  

you change forms as you walk to the crystal, you summon them right before you shop, you buy what you want, then you shield yourself, then you summon the second one, then you leave. It costs maybe 1-2 seconds of time at most. Even then, you can always leave them at the crystal so they don't run around and die in the AoE fest of level 10+ engagements and you don't have to madly search for them when you DO level up and get a few points in mulch. 

Also, Mulch does damage~ moar DPS for the win. Plus, what do you do if your GS is on cool down? Everyone knows the skill cycle: Close, Shield yourself, Open, Ground Spikes, Spike Wave, Close, Shield yourself or someone else, mulch if necessary, Open, Ground Spikes. 

Plus, I'm not really saying that Mulch I is going to be efficient or keep anyone alive level 12. But, it's still the much more efficient way of going about it. 

port back out of form and it's a lot longer.  But yes.. 2-3 seconds to summon / get mana back.

They also don't do dmg if you leave them @ the crystal so then it's still doesn't matter which skill you get @ 11

^He said you can leave them at the crystal, althought I wouldn't.

That's the most common build but I don't think it's the best build.

Delay shield, prioritize mulch is better imo.

But I have to go so I can't even explain extensively.

No the 750 heal is only used for when you are running away for survival if you succumb to a gank it makes QoT pretty unkillable,  I have taken her all the way from the enemy's gold flag which I wanted to lock with their entire team on me all the way back to the crystal being constantly attacked but with mulch, cloak, shield and monks was easily able to survive.  There is really no pt in not having an extra heal to use in none 3v3 situations when shield is on cd....

This is what I've been doing lately as well. 

1. Shield I

2. Shamblers I

3. Ground Spikes I 

4. Ground Spikes II

5. Mulch I

6. Spike Wave I

7. Ground Spikes III

8. Shield II

9. SAVE

10. Mulch II + Ground Spikes IV

11. Shield III

12. Shield IV

13. Spike Wave II 

14. SAVE

15. Goddess of Thorns + Mulch III 

16. Spike Wave III 

Option 1 (against people with low AoE)

17-19. Entourage I - III

20. Tribute

Option 2 (against people with lots of AoE)

17 - 18. Summon Shamblers II - III

19. Morale I 

20. Morale II 

I don't prioritize Spike Wave much because it is very low damage/per mana and typically you only use it when someone is trying to back up, or when you port and trying to catch someone running. I know that the range of the ability extends per level, but I tend to get Cloak of Night which helps cover the distance. 

You could easily make the argument of swapping levels 1 and 2. If you get Shamblers level 1, you can summon both of them at the crystal which is nice. Plus, everyone hits level 2 so quickly, you rarely will know the difference. However, shielding at the crystal seems to have a more noticeable early-game impact since it guarantees you the XP flag. 

There are a few advantages to leveling up mulch instead of shield: 

1- You can Shield someone else and then Mulch for yourself to keep both of you alive. If you just level up Shield, you have to make the choice of protecting yourself or an ally. Against teams with high single-target damage (UB, Oak, Erebus) this may not be quite as desirable, but against teams with lots of AoE (Oak, Occulus, UB) then this becomes more desirable. 

2- Keeping Shield low level means you always have mana for it, which makes you a cheaper build overall since you need less helms

3- Mulch marks creeps like Cirlce of Fire and Heaven's Wrath. Regardless of where you are in the map, any creep that's been tagged with damage from this ability rewards you with full xp and gold. You can kill creeps in the mana lane while capping XP flag, for example. This works especially well on Prison. 

4- Mulch gives you hp, which has armor. It also does a little bit of damage (mostly only useful against Erebus). 

5- Your opponents can't tell what level shield you have by looking at it. If you shield your UB, they'll probably assume that he has the highest shield available when he may not. This means they might back away with him because he looks scarier than he might really be. 

^Stop reading my mind!

But because that's generally the build I follow, I put QoT lower on the list for currency - it's very mana intensive.

I don't know who you are fighting but, anyone who can't gank a QoT stopping every few seconds wouldn't of killed you with or without the mulch. Shield would of done fine on it's own.

With regards to Teseer, sure their might of been a more efficient way of doing things, however, my priority is to get back on the field as quickly as possible. So even if I did take out one shambler at like 720-820 health and ran into the enemy, done my damage/slow combo, chances are, by the time I switch out into the mulch/shield form, my shambler would be dead, and I don't really care enough to spend 2-4 seconds taking it out again and eating it. I'd rather just cast shield, go back into damage mode and take it from there. So my whole argument has been who cares about the order of skills when I won't use it to a certain level anyway? At least at level 13, running and mulching will be a bit more feasible, justifying the 1 second waits for mulching.