well I only just got this game a few days ago and I know that the heart of the game is multiplayer but I didn't want to start playing as a complete idiot so I've been playing against the ai. Now I'm not totally inexperienced as I used to play DotA occasionally(not very well mind you, but I was a bit younger then). So I've done fairly well against the AI and my only problem is beating them on nightmare level, the hard tournament was easy enough but the nightmare level is just ludicrous in the amount of buffs they get. So can I play online without being yelled at every five seconds or should i play singleplayer some more?
Also strategywise I normaly play Unclean Beast, since his abilities match up with my favorites in games, namely good speed, good dps, good dot, and overall great hit and run potential with the ability to also focus on heath and mana regen to make myself almost invincible if the situation calls for it. So I normally go mainly for spit and inner beast with one level in post mortem, one level in diseased claws, and whenever I have points available I dump them in foul grasp so I can stop demigods trying to teleport away.
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Unfortunately SP doesn't teach you much apart from the bare basics of Demigod, the AI in this game is pretty much the opposite of how humans play, so as others have said, MP is the only way to get better at MP.
The best way I've seen Demigod described by a reviewer (CO-OP for those who care), was that picking up Demigod after playing Dota is like riding a bike, I was in the same boat as you in the beginning, even as a veteran Dota player, I was terrified I'd get raped online. After 1 or 2 SP games I took the risk and jumped into my first "Noobs Only" Custom Game (great way to start btw) and dominated it, in less than a week I've now moved up to almost exclusively "Good/Best Players" games. Obviously it depends on the person, but take it from me, don't avoid it, you'll have a hell of a lot of fun.
Venom Spit is extremely powerful in every aspect of a game, but especially early, if your opponent doesn't have healing items, you can pretty much lock down your lane and get ahead in exp/gold. Personally I play a heavy speed/reduce speed UB, but I'd say there's at least 3-5 very viable builds that work in MP, so feel free to play around with it. I'd give you some more specific advice, but I think you'll find like I did that it's sort of a trial by fire situation in games, there are too many variables to follow a static build or order.