SMITE Sorbek Basic Guide

SMITE Sorbek Basic Guide by zanam00

INTRODUCTION

Hello all, MichaelMayhem here, relatively new Smite player (started 1st weekend in June), but a long-time League of Legends 1400-1600’s player. In one single game, the first one after I purchased Sobek, I knew I had found my god. Although probably not many of you have seen me in-game, those that have know I play a very mean croc. I haven’t found a Sobek guide yet, so I figured I would write one!

SPELLS

Armor of the Nile (Passive)

This grants Sobek a thrice-stacking physical/magic protection buff, up to 30 with 3 stacks. Overall, this isn’t an outstanding ability, but fits well into Sobek’s theme of a disrupting tank. Remember that you do have it during teamfights, so try to land a few autoattacks if, for no other reason, to gain some tankiness.

Charge Prey (Ability 1)

This is what makes Sobek, in my opinion, the most valuable asset any team can have. Nobody can initiate like the croc can. Charge Prey simply charges Sobek forward, briefly stuns the target, then flings him backwards. This can also be used as an escape mechanism to clear ganks or ultimates from gods such as Hades and Ymir.

Tail Whip (Abililty 2)

This is Sobek’s highest scaling damage ability, as well as being an aoe crowd control and dispersal effect. Use carefully, as your target will go flying away from you at the time of cast. Do not fling assassins towards your squishies, or low-health targets away from chasers in an attempt to finish them, unless you are 100% certain the Whip will kill the target. Do not Tail Whip (or Charge) enemies out of your friendly Hades, Zeus or Ymir ultimates. Always be mindful of both your allies and enemies current positioning.

Sickening Strike (Ability 3)

Sustain is Sobek’s greatest strength in lane, and he does so with Sickening Strike. It gains Sobek a rather large amount of health and deals moderate damage in a cone in front of him. This is Sobek’s staple harass, sustain, and damage spell, and as such I recommend leveling it first.

Lurking in the Waters (Ultimate)

Sobek’s semi-confusing ultimate, he dives into a pool of water, swims around for awhile, then jumps up and bites anyone who is remaining in the water. During this time, Sobek takes less damage, is immune to all crowd control, slows enemies, and regenerates his mana pool. That’s a lot of utility in one spell. Do not be afraid to use this to chunk an enemy down when you have low mana, just to regen the mana back up and continue to sustain/bully the enemy in lane. In teamfights, remember to use this spell only AFTER you have used your other three, as you will be in the water for a long duration and cannot use those spells anyway. By the time you leap out, your spells will be close to coming off of cooldown if you have 20% cooldown reduction. You may also activate the ability again to come out early for reduced damage output, but this is situational. Deactivate early if you are getting surrounded and need to use Charge to escape, to finish off an enemy who is faster than you and is escaping your radius, or need to Charge to get back into the fight.

LANING

Sobek should be in a side lane, ideally in a solo jungle lane or with a heavy damage dealer such as Artemis, Bastet, Zeus, etc. In laning, carefully watch your allied minion aggro. If an enemy pokes you and gains a few archers on them, react quickly and go in for a charge. Your minions will stay on the enemy, and will do far more damage than you can at early levels, so merely walk away to avoid getting minion damage yourself. This is the most efficient way to win trades in lane during the early levels. For this reason, I take charge at level 1. Take a point in Tail Whip at level 2 to further disrupt your target after a succesful charge, pushing them into your minions more. If the enemy is autoattacking and pushing their lane, let them. Once they have reached your turret, charge and Tail Whip a target into turret range, and watch their health disappear. Beyond level 2, prioritize leveling Sickening Strike, with points in your ultimate as available, with Tail Whip being the 2nd priority, and Charge last.

Once you have your ultimate at level 5, make a decision as to how you want to use it, because you should be casting it as frequently as possible. If you are low on mana, dive into the pool and chunk away at your enemies health, and by the time you come back up, you should have regained enough mana to either use your other 3 spells to finish off a god, or return to normal laning and continue to sustain with Sickening Strike. If you have no need to use the ultimate for harass, killing your lane, or mana regen, see if your mid lane has been pushed, and could use a gank. Sobek’s crowd control and dispersment can secure gank kills. Start by coming at your enemy from behind, initiating with Sickening Strike into Tail Whip, then go into the pool. Stay in for as long as possible (ideally the full duration) while staying right on top of the enemy. If they have an escape move, save Charge for when they have retreated, to launch them back into you and your mid laner’s range. Do not be afraid to charge underneath an enemy tower if you have sufficient health and physical resist, unless that enemy can lock you up under the turret (Odin, Anubis, an enemy Sobek, etc.)

TEAMFIGHTS

During the mid to late game, Sobek becomes a crowd control and initiating machine, as well as protecting his squishy teammates. Ideally you want to initiate on the enemy, by charging at a high priority target, flinging them into your team. However, you must trust your teammates to follow through, because directly after the succesful charge the enemy team will try to engage. You MUST land a Tail Whip on as many enemies as possible to disrupt that engage for a couple of seconds while your team picks off the charged target. Then, join the team fight with a Sickening Strike on as many as you can hit, then go into the pool, charging it to maximum capacity, staying in range of as many targets as you can. Once finished, your spells should be off cooldown again, and you will need to evaluate the situation. If your squishy is in trouble, charge at the pursuer to get them off, or use Tail Whip, or a combination of the two if necessary. If your team has won the fight and is pursuing targets, use Charge to either fling a target, or get in range for a finishing Sickening Strike.

ITEMS

Open with a Lv 2 Reinforced Boots and 3 Mana Potions. Sobek’s Sickening Strike combined with the HP5 from the boots will heal him enough to keep him in lane, so long as he has enough mana, and 3 potions should let you stay in lane until you hit level 5, gain your ultimate, and can get most of your mana pool back at any time.

In most cases, I like to get a Doom Orb as my second item. It gives Sobek the mana regen he requires, and lets him snowball into higher damage outputs. As Sobek, you should not be dying frequently, as he has plenty of escapes between knocking chasers back, charging out of harm’s way, and the ultimate to reduce damage and prevent crowd control.

Since Sobek is a tank, you will want to evaluate what type of damage your enemy has. For dealing with Physical gods such as Wukong, Artmis, and Kali, I recommend Hide of the Nemean Lion and Mystical Mark. The Hide provides the highest armor available, and returns damage to attackers, which can end up hurting more than your own spells will. Mystical Mark provides Sobek with constant damage output, which is useful since his spells have a moderate cooldown.

Against Magic gods such as Zeus, Anubis, and Agni, I recommend Void Stone and Stone of Gaia. Void Stone gives Sobek a higher damage output and assists your other magical gods by reducing resistances. Stone of Gaia provides a huge amount of magical resist, and synergizes well with other +health items you may be getting. Hide of Leviathan is also another strong option if the enemy has a well mixed composition of damage types.

Other options include Breastplate of Valor for reduced cooldowns and more tankiness, Gauntlet of Thebes if you are confident you will be able to maintain the stacks (or Silverfox Girdle if you are not so confident), and of course Rod of Tahuti if you feel the need to start carrying your team with higher damage output. I almost always recommend the Rod if you have managed to fully stack a Doom Orb by mid game and are tanky enough to survive teamfights.

Do not forget to continuously use your consumable slot if you have some spare gold by purchasing a Potion of Magical Might, they are well worth the gold spent in most cases due to the 5 minute duration.

ABILITIES

Here are my recommended item abilities for Sobek:

Meditation (Required) – Sobek is extremely mana hungry, and if you run out of mana during a fight, a smart enemy team will capitalize on that and swiftly end you. This should always be taken in case of emergencies.

Heavenly Agility (Required) – As an initiator, this should always be taken on Sobek. Agility has a much lower cooldown than Sprint, and affects your team. Use it just before charging a target, or to help teammates escape a bad fight.

Creeping Curse (Optional) – For post-initiation, pop this after a charge but before Tail Whip to add a couple more seconds before the counter-engage can begin on a teamfight. Can also be used if necessary to chase down enemies. In most games, I take Creeping Curse.

Sprint (Optional) – If teamfights are not happening as frequently, you are taking on a carry role, or are facing swift but dangerous targets such as Bastet or He Bo, you may want to take Sprint to secure succesful charges.

JUNGLING

Sobek is not a jungler. Leave that to other gods. However, from level 4 and upwards he can clear camps with relative ease, so if your jungler is not using a health or mana regen buff, you can easily take it (with their permission of course.) In mid to late game, try to secure a Cooldown reduction buff as often as possible if you are not building a Breastplate of Valor.

CLOSING

I hope this guide has educated you on the fine arts of croc combat. There is something very satisfying I get from playing Sobek, similar to the inner joy of playing Singed, for those of you that play League. May you all be charging, slashing, and OM NOMING your way to victory.

-Michael Mayhem