User:NormalPerson7

This page lists my opinions on Species, Backgrounds and Gods tiers.

Gods

Tier 1: Excellent

Gozag > Nemelex > Kikubaaqudgha > Okawaru > Ru > Hepliaqlkana > Yredelemnul > Trog

Gozag: He gives access to an immediate burst of potion effects as a panic button as soon as you convert. This continues to be exceptional throughout the game, along with the access he gives to equipment, and bribe branch which, if used carefully, can make areas, including Zot:5, free.

Nemelex: He gives you a deck of cards almost instantly upon worship, which is guaranteed to have 4 cards which help you deal with nasty situations. Once you have a few decks, you have enough cards to use in every dubious situation Nemelex throws your way. Later on, Deal Four on any deck of summoning is going to instantly remove the threat from your situation, and on better decks, deal with every enemy you need to.

Kikubaaqudgha: At 1* you get a book, and Receive Corpses. This lets you spam the corpse-using spell(s) in your book, which is strong. At 3* you get spells that take you through the game, and if you're lucky enough to get Simulacrum (about 70% chance I think) you can win the game with only his spells and corpse delivery. Hence Kiku is

Okawaru: Super fast piety gain gives you access to heroism very rapidly, which is a huge increase in power and lets you deal with most enemies. Also the only god to properly facilitate ranged, and because ranged is strong, so is Okawaru.

Ru: Sacrifices can be rough early on, but once you reach 3*, you become super strong. Her abilities only get better - power leap functions as a 3 tile controlled blink, and apocalypse is both a panic button and ridiculously powerful.

Hepliaklqana: Gives an ally as soon as you start worship, and that is always worth the frailty, because allies are really strong. You can sacrifice your ancestor if necessary, and fight with it to boost your damage. Contrary to popular belief, knight is slightly stronger than hexer, and both of these are very significantly better than the battlemage, in my opinion. This is because you want a tanky ally that can take damage for you.

Yredelemnul: Upon reaching 1* of piety, you only have to kill about three enemies on a floor to win that floor. On reaching 3*, you are pretty much carried to depths by his allies which are incredibly strong. You also get drain life, which is an excellent panic button with more than about 2 enemies visible. Unfortunately he has the problem that you still have to kill those 3-4 enemies in the early game, and that can be an issue.

Trog: Lack of magic is a relevant problem, but as soon as you get a weapon and 1*, you have some of the strongest god abilities, notably trog's hand means you never have to worry about MR again, and BiA's allies are absurd.

Tier 2: Good

Jiyva > Makhleb > Elyvilon > Beogh > Fedhas > Zin > Lugonu

Jiyva: Fastest piety gain in the game. Rarely an option, but a good option - her only problems are losing items to slimes and requiring 4* for slimify (but realistically you should be at 4* immediately after worship), which is Usk's grand finale but doesn't require invo or a fight beforehand. You also get good mutations and better stats as a bonus.

Makhleb: Suffers slightly from not doing much until 2*. At 2* you get minor destruction which almost nobody uses even though it's free and really good. Later on you get allies as well - Makhleb will solve all your problems at 3* for a very long time.

Elyvilon: Piety gain is fast and from exploration. Upon reaching 2*, you have a way to deal with all living enemies provided you have about 10 invo, in heal other. You also get free curing potions. Elyvilon's 4* and 5* abilities are also amazing - +HP and MP is ridiculous and so is heal wounds.

Beogh: Does absolutely nothing until 2*, which takes a while, and smite is not spammable. Can only be worshipped by HO, and its strength makes Beogh a non-issue. Smite is good, allies are good, but the lack of abilities before 2* is a problem.

Fedhas: The most tedious god, and should be removed. The only abilities that do very much are evolution and growth, and even though wandering mushrooms are fairly strong, you take 3 times as long to do anything because positioning is a nightmare. Fedhas also suffered heavily from the food changes recently, making his later power completely dependent on turncount and spellcasting.

Zin: Recite doesn't deal with what you need it to deal with. Vitalisation is also mediocre. It's not until imprison at 3* that this god becomes good, but it then becomes very good. Imprison is a great panic button, and sanctuary is the best in the game. You are removed from the mutation game, which is helpful.

Lugonu: Does nothing until 2*, and bend space is almost a worse Hep transference that is unreliable. Banish, corrupt, and enter the abyss are ridiculously strong abilities (offense and escape), but you can't use them as much as you want because you don't have the piety.

Tier 3: Mediocre

Wu Jian > Uskayaw > Ashenzari > Sif Muna > Dithmenos > Vehumet > the Shining One

Wu Jian: The martial attacks themselves are mediocre - the only remarkable thing is whirlwind pin allowing for a guaranteed 1 tile gap for escaping, which is why it isn't even lower on this list. At 3* you get a worse Ru power leap after roughly the same amount of time - it does slightly more damage, is slightly worse as an escape option, and also gives Exh. And Serpent's Lash is by far the best thing about Wu Jian; the noise on Heavenly Storm makes it a bad ability.

Uskayaw: The strength is line pass, which does something immediately. The weakness is that he doesn't actually do very much - the paralysis doesn't last, pain bond is exciting but not necessary, and by the time you can use grand finale you don't need it - it is such a niche case.

Ashenzari: Instead of giving more freedom early on, Ash gives less freedom by requiring curses. His skill boost is not irrelevant later on - notably this makes Ash competitive for gnolls. Scrying is very helpful in certain situations, but it isn't a make-or-break ability.

Sif Muna: Does something at 1* which is better than Vehumet. That something still really isn't significant though, however channeling at 3* is some attempt at an emergency ability - it isn't very good, but it's better than nothing. Her book gifts come far too late in my opinion - if they were at 2* or 3* Sif would be much stronger.

Dithmenos: Fairly good god for a stealthy character, not much good otherwise. Your umbra starts at 1* and shadow step at 2*, which complement a stabber very well. It's not until shadow mimic at 4* that he does anything non-stabber, and recently it was made that this is completely rubbish anyway on anything except spells. Shadow form is a pretty good escape ability, but a 5* ability isn't enough to pull Dithmenos out of tier 3.

Vehumet: Vehumet reliably gives you the conjurations spells to make it through the game. However, you're only likely to get a worthwhile gift on the third gift, which takes horrifically long. Even worse is the lack of any active abilities, and so Veh falls down to even Sif.

The Shining One: A very good option for melees in extended, but gods aren't ranked by their performance in extended. Divine shield and allies are good, but your piety gain is painful - you struggle to make it to 2* even, and only at 4* does he do anything significant. SDW can be compared to Trog BiA, but SDW is going to take half the game to get to.

Tier 4: Detrimental

Qazlal > Cheibriados > Xom

Qazlal: Bombards you with enemies because of the noise. I believe his abilities are good, and if played carefully is very fun, but the noise makes Qazlal a poor god before you get upheaval at 2*.

Cheibriados: Gods are supposed to provide escape options; instead Chei takes the cheapest and most reliable one, walking, away (let alone haste), and immediate bend time comes nowhere near making up for this. Until you get step from time at 5* and you can use it, you are basically in the hands of your enemies. This god can make mincemeat of even the best races.

Xom: Can just kill you. Not sure that the potential for banishment after 20 turns of picking him up needs much explanation.