Introduction

Being the god of wine, Dionysus has a knack in controlling his opponents. Just a few drinks with him, and you will find yourself jumping down, erasing a few turns of effort. So how to use his ability to the fullest?

God Power

Each time a worker you control creates a complete tower, you may take an additional turn using an opponent worker instead of your own. No player can win during these additional turns.

Category

Opponent forcing (he is forcing his opponent to build and move according to his own will)

Explanation

This happens at the end of your turn if you have built a dome. When taking your additional turn, you may control your opponent’s workers for more turns if domes are built in those turns. Moreover, they are still your opponent’s, so they are not affected by Athena’s power if the controlled workers are hers.

Game Strategies

Early Game

Start by building in the corners. The idea behind this is that you will try to complete a tower in the corner, since if you don’t try to build towers, you almost have no power. Completing towers is usually very good for Dionysus, so your opponent will have to stick around, guarding corners. So doing this in several corners/zones of the board can help you to complete towers in various zones, which your opponent can’t defend them all. Of course, by doing this, you are only defending and annoying your opponent, so you should also try to get in a better position by moving up whenever you can. Consider the following example of a misplay by Dionysus:

Dionysus recognizes that he can win in A1 in 3 turns but completely overlooks the opponent’s plan. He moved to A1 and built on B1, giving his opponent a chance to secure a win in E1. He completely forgot that he has his god power, which can be used to defend his position. This is a common mistake made by beginners. Better would he had if he built on A1 and activates his power when the opponent threatens to win. This way, not only did Dionysus successfully defend against the attack, but he also accomplished two level 3s, which is good because you have more possibilities to use your power. If the opponent doesn’t want to be controlled whenever Dionysus wants to, he will have to spend some time completing the towers before Dionysus does, giving time for Dionysus to either improve his position or continue building towers.

A key takeaway is that your opponent needs to stick around with you and dome the towers first if he doesn’t want to suffer. That’s why building on opposing sides of the board is usually good.

Mid Game

When the number of blocks has grown, so has the power of Dionysus. More blocks means more possibilities to build complete towers, but things are not that simple. As in the early game, I suggest that you try to build in the perimeter/corners so that your opponent can’t go too far. But is defending the only thing Dionysus can do? Pretty much… But Dionysus does excel in it, and if you are able to control the opponent from a level 2 to the ground then you may suddenly be ahead.

A common problem facing Dionysus is that you usually can’t allow him to block your level 3s--you have to threaten the win, and then win. An example is like this:

If you are a mortal, the opponent can easily win by threatening wins on D2, then E1. Yet this normal looking strategy doesn’t work against Dionysus as he can just respond by doming D2 and pushing the worker on E2 down to D1. Now, the game is amazing for Dionysus. But if the opponent reconizes this and let Dionysus move to level 2, he can still create a level 3 only accessable to him due to the structures in the perimeter. Everything is then defended in 2 turns and Dionysus has a very good position on the right side, thanks to that level 3 in B5 and the fact that the opponent cannot threaten wins with Dionysus being able to block them.

Late Game

As said before, more blocks means that Dionysus is stronger. However, something that you may not have thought about until now is that sometimes controlling the opponent might not do anything good for Dionysus, which can also happen in previous phases of the game. For example:

Due to the bad positioning of the workers, even a mortal can win by moving to E1 and building on D2. Since the opponent moved to the corner, and the surrounding squares are all level 2, controlling means nearly nothing to him (although it almost saved him if there wasn't a dome in C2).

In this example, you are able to see that Dionysus can use his power several times in the same turn. This is interesting and can bring great damage to your opponent (for example, eliminating the winning threat in A2) but you have to be careful when or how you do it because you might not want to spend all of your towers in the same turn.

Specific Matchup

Aphrodite

Aphrodite is a very annoying goddess and very tough to beat. But against Dionysus, the tables have turned. Having control over Aprhodite’s workers, Dionysus is very good in this matchup. Furthermore, if Dionysus threatens to win, Aphrodite can’t just ignore this as she could usually do by restraining the worker who was about to win. This is because Dionysus can just dome that threat, move away with Aphrodite, and be very happy with that.

Ares

Ares does exactly what Dionysus doesn’t want to be done, since he weakens Dionysus’s power by removing blocks. This is a bummer and that’s why Ares should be preferred here.

Domers (e.g. Asteria, Atlas, Selene)

Asteria might not be exactly the same as with the other two, but the fact that these gods can build a dome at any height might ruin the plan for Dionysus’s towers. That’s why I would choose them over Dionysus.

Chaos

This is an interesting matchup but I’m afraid Chaos is better.

Chronus

There is no reason to be afraid of Chronus. After all, he has the worst power of the game, isn't he? Though Chronus will be happy to build one or two towers, five towers will be too much. Dionysus should have this game under control, although I’m not denying some light at the end of the tunnel for Chronus.

Circe

This is an interesting matchup in the sense that your workers might be far away but Circe cannot make use of the power since there are no domes to build. This is a balanced game but maybe better for Dionysus.

Eris

Once in your life you will probably play this game. The powers are similar and it is natural to test them against each other. Although the game should be quite balanced, I can’t ignore that it should be better for Eris. This can be justified by the fact that she might control Dionysus’s workers to dome towers which they would like to dome themselves in their turn.

Gaea/Hydra

Gaea will be extremely happy to help you build the first two towers (but there’s not much you can do with Dionysus to avoid it). Once Gaea has more workers, it should not be difficult for her to convert the win. Notice that Dionysus is able to control 4 workers, which is slightly better, but the problem is that it won’t be easy to use the power because Gaea is usually first to dome the towers. You can do a similar analysis with Hydra.

Graeae/Proteus

Having 3 workers gives Dionysus an extra choice. But anyway, this shouldn’t be a problem for any of these gods.

Hades

Hades is a weak god in general but he is a possibility to defeat Dionysus.

Limus

Limus makes it harder for Dionysus to use his power but there are still some possibilities. Still, don’t get your hopes up for Dionysus in this matchup.

Nemesis

A strategy usually done by Nemesis is to expect the opponent to move to a comfortable position and swap workers. With Dionysus, you are not necessarily interested in doing this right away. You can first try to reduce the board (in order to weaken Nemesis) and only start to create threats when Nemesis can’t use her power. That’s why I would choose Dionysus here, although this matchup should be more or less balanced.

Europa & Talus/Harpies/Hera/Hermes/Iris/Pan/Persephone/Zeus

These powers should be balanced against Dionysus.

Conclusion

Dionysus is a resourceful power, but he can only use his power if the opponent lets him do it. What I mean by this is: whenever Dionysus builds a level 3, you should immediately block the tower so that you don’t let him have any power. If Dionysus spent 3 blocks in this tower and you only spent 1, then you should have done something good in another part of the board. If the opponent plays carefully, it won’t be easy for Dionysus to use his power to provide him a good advantage and that’s why although it might not be easy to win against Dionysus (you need to threaten wins in unachievable squares), he is not one of the strongest powers.

Tier ranking: C

This is an interesting god and although I’m classifying him as weak, you need to be very careful because even a single tower that he builds can ruin your entire progress.