SMITE Counterbuilding Guide

SMITE Counterbuilding Guide by Justifis

Links and Resources

http://smite.gamepedia.com/List_of_offensive_items – Items that offer an offensive bonus.

http://smite.gamepedia.com/List_of_defensive_items – Items that offer a defensive bonus.

http://smite.gamepedia.com/List_of_utility_items – Items that offer mana, cooldown, and movement speed bonuses, as well as aura items.

http://smite.gamepedia.com/List_of_active_items – A list of all actives within the game.

http://www.mobacounter.com/smite/gods – A website that can help with counter god picks and item builds, but does not explain why you buy those counter items or what those items do.

Introduction

What is counterbuilding?

Counterbuilding is the process of changing your standard build to better fit the team you are working with and the team you are facing in ANY gamemode. When counterbuilding, don’t think “What can I buy to do more damage,” think “What can I buy to make this game harder on my opponent(s).” (While still doing some damage, of course.)

Is counterbuilding necessary?

Counterbuilding is always necessary in my opinion, however, if you are using the same build every game, getting frustrated with the amount of CC keeping you in the enemy’s control, or getting angry with how quickly you die, counterbuilding is absolutely your answer.

I’m fairly new to smite/I don’t know what all the items do.

You should definitely check out the Smite Gamepedia links I left in the above section. These pages offer every bit of knowledge you need in order to know exactly which items give what bonuses (Passives are super important!).

What do all these stats mean?

Magical Only Stats:

Magical Power – Determines how much damage you do overall. Caps at 900.

Magical Lifesteal – Determines what percentage of damage you deal is given back to you in health. Caps at 65%. (Dealing 300 damage at 50% lifesteal would grant you 150 health)

Magical Penetration – Determines how much damage penetrates enemy magical defenses. The higher this is, the more damage you will do to heavily armored enemies. Caps at 50.

Physical Only Stats:

Physical Power – Determines how much damage you do overall. Caps at 400.

Physical Penetration – Determines how much damage penetrates enemy physical defenses. The higher this is, the more damage you will do to heavily armored enemies. Caps at 50.

Physical Lifesteal – Determines what percentage of damage you deal is given back to you in health. Caps at 100%. (Dealing 300 damage at 50% lifesteal would grant you 150 health)

Critical Chance – Your percent chance to land a critical hit (double damage). Caps at 100%.

Stats Used By BOTH:

Attack Speed – How many attacks you do per second. 1.5 = 1.5 attacks per second. Caps at 2.5.

Mana – Your resource that allows you to use abilities. The higher this stat, the more abilities you can use without having to refill your mana at base or through potions. Caps at 4000.

MP5 – The amount of mana you regenerate every 5 seconds. 25 MP5 = 5 mana per second. Caps at 100.

Cooldown % – Percent reduction on ability cooldowns. Caps at 40%. (8s cooldown ability with 25 cooldown % would be ready in 6s rather than 8s)

Physical Protection – Your resistance to physical attacks. You will take less physical damage. Caps at 325.

Magical Protection – Your resistance to magical attacks. You will take less magical damage. Caps at 325.

Health – How much health you have. Caps at 5500.

HP5 – Amount of health you regenerate every 5 seconds. 25 HP5 = 5 health per second. Caps at 100.

Counterbuilding – The Absolute Basics

Enemy Team Structure and Your Defenses

The process of counterbuilding begins the exact moment you can see the enemy god picks (If you are playing Ranked, counter god picks are VERY important and will not be covered here). Let me give some examples of what I mean by this. Let us say you queue for a Conquest match and the first team you face looks like this:

Geb
Artemis
Janus
Chaac
Thanatos

This team is more physically inclined. Artemis, Chaac, and Thanatos all do physical damage, not to mention that two of those three (Artemis and Thanatos) will hit extremely hard. Geb has some CC, but he is certainly not a hard hitter and while Janus can do quite a lot of damage, he can be very predictable. Therefore, if you were to counterbuild in this game, you would opt for some physical defense over magical defense.

Now, in the next match you queue for Siege and the enemy team looks like this:

Freya
Sylvanus
Scylla
Zeus

Realistically, this will not happen too often, but it does happen from time to time! This team is exclusively magical damage and has a fair amount of CC. Therefore, you should absolutely build magical defense. It might not be smart to build physical defense in a game like this. Building physical defense will give you NO advantages in this scenario aside from passive effects or auras on defensive item and some tankiness for minions and structures. If you play around having to tank towers and phoenixes, physical defense shouldn’t be needed.

The list of items that give defensive bonuses is way too long to cover here, so go to the list of defensive items and read up for yourself!

Counterbuilding – Helping the Team and Yourself

Shutting Down CC

Getting tired of that Vulcan meatball tossing you around? Getting tired of Scylla rooting you? How about Freya banishing you repeatedly? First you need to learn more about the different forms of crowd control. As far as combating CC, your salvation comes in a few forms:

Magi’s Blessing – Arguably the most useful counter CC item in the game, if you are getting tossed and pushed around, this item might just be for you. With 15 physical and magical protections, 350 health, a 40% reduction to almost all (if not all) crowd control effect durations, and an immunity to one HARD CC every 45s with a 1s CC immunity immediately afterward, this is a magnificent counterbuild item.

Reinforced Greaves – This one is a little more iffy. These greaves offer 25 physical and magical protections, 50 health, an 18% movement bonus that raises to 26% out of combat, and a 30% reduction to all CC durations. Should you buy these? I honestly would not recommend it unless you are building a tanky warrior or you are a guardian, but to each their own.

Winged Blade – This is more or less an honorable mention item. Winged Blade gives you 350 health, 10% cooldown reduction, 10% attack speed, 10% movement speed, and you are immune to one slow every 30s, which triggers a 20% increase to movement speed for 4s. Winged Blade tends to be very situational. Unless the enemy team is just filled with slows and those are somehow getting you killed, this may not be worth item slot.

Fast Attack Speed Enemies with High Damage

Both Assassins and ADCs rely heavily on their basic attacks to do damage. If you find these gods are shutting you down, I have two items for you:

Witchblade offers 45 physical protections, a 15% attack speed increase, a 15% movement speed increase, and an aura that applies to all enemies with 55 feet, reducing their attack speed by 15% and their physical power by 25. This item gives you the physical defense you may need while boosting your stats and lowering your opponents, making this an excellent counter to both assassins and ADCs.

Midgardian Mail gives you 350 health, 60 physical protection, and has a passive effect that has a 30% chance to slow an enemy that hits you with a basic attack by 30% for 2 seconds. This slow could potentially give you the time you need in order to escape an assassin gank or a quick hunter, making this a better overall defensive choice than Witchblade.

Hide of the Nemean Lion offers 200 health, a whopping 80 physical defense, and a passive that reflects 20% of basic attack damage back to the attacker as magical damage. With Hide of the Nemean Lion, you will not only be tankier, but you will punish any physical attacker that tries to basic attack you.

Mystical Mail gives 300 health, 60 physical protection, and has an aura effect that deals 40 magical damage per second to enemies within 25 feet. WhileMystical Mail won’t completely deter an enemy from attacking you, it will make them a bit more cautious about getting close to you, especially when they’re low on health. This item is also great for dealing passive damage to enemies in a teamfight and may be able to turn a fight.

WHY WON’T THEY DIE?

Enemy warriors too tanky? Penetration is your answer. There are far too many penetration items for me to go into detail on each of them. But I will list them and their penetration stats (Keep in mind that they have more stats and bonuses than their penetration!):

Physical Penetration:

Asi – 15 Physical Penetration

Warrior Tabi – 15 Physical Penetration

The Executioner – Basic attacks reduce target physical protection by 8% + 6 points for 3s (Max 3 stacks)

Brawler’s Beat Stick – 20 Physical Penetration

Jotunn’s Wrath – 11 Physical Penetration

Void Shield – Aura: Reduces physical protection of enemies within 55 feet by 15

Titan’s Bane – Penetrates 33% of the target’s physical protection (Simply ignores 33% of enemy physical defense, will NOT change your stats on the in-game scoreboard menu.)

Magical Penetration:

Dynasty Plate Helm – 15 Magical Penetration

Shoes of the Magi – 15 Magical Penetration

Spear of the Magus – 15 Magical penetration and enemies hit by damaging abilities have magical protection reduced by 10 + 10% for 5s (Max 2 stacks)

Demonic Grip – Basic attacks reduce target’s magical protection by 7% + 5 points for 3s (Max 3 stacks)

Void Stone – Aura: Reduces magical protection of enemies within 55 feet by 15

Obsidian Shard – Penetrates 33% of the target’s magical protection (Simply ignores 33% of enemy magical defense, will NOT change your stats on the in-game scoreboard menu.)

So what do all of these numbers mean? Without getting into the math of damage calculation, which can get fairly complicated, the higher your overall penetration (And/Or the more you reduce the enemy protections) the more damage will get through the enemy defensive items.

Stopping Strong Healers

So now what do you do if you’re up against a Ra, Chang’e, Aphrodite, Hercules, Chaac, or Hel? All of these gods can heal a lot of health, whether it be their own or their teammates. Luckily, there are items intended to combat these exact gods!

Brawler’s Beat Stick (Physical only) – 40 Physical power, 20 physical penetration, and enemies hit by basic attacks have their healing reduced by 40% for 8s.

Divine Ruin (Magical only) – 50 Magical power, 15% magical lifesteal, 150 mana, and enemies hit by abilities have their healing reduced by 40% for 8s.

Brawler’s and Divine are pretty much the same item for the two different attack types. If you are getting tired of that one god getting away because they heal mid battle, these items should help you a lot as a 40% reduction to healing is a considerable amount.

Pestilence – 65 Magical protection, 300 health, and an aura that reduces healing of enemies within 55 feet by 20%. Pestilence is a great item to get if you are not only concerned with the healing of your opponents, but the magical damage that they are outputting as well.

Where Can These Items Fit Into My Build?

General rule of thumb, always build at least 3 core items. Boots are almost always a good idea, so that would be part of your core. From there, decide on 2 more items. For example, if I was playing Scylla mid, my core would consist of: Shoes of the Magi, Book of Thoth, and Bancroft’s Talon. After deciding on that core, my other 3 items would be devoted to counterbuilding. If I get an early lead, I may build a Chronos’ Pendant and then build Rod of Tahuti andObsidian Shard for late game. If I am losing my early game, I might opt for some early magical defense since I’m in middle lane. Void Stone would be a good early pick and I may even build Breastplate of Valor if I find that the enemy team has a lot of physical power.

To give a broader sense of exactly what I’m saying, just go with the flow of the game. If you’re getting shut down by the enemy physical power, go for physical defense. If you’re getting CCed to death, consider Magi’s Blessing. If a mage keeps stomping you, grab some magical defense. If there is a healer on the other team, be the one to step up and build an item to shut them down.

Stick with the 3 item core and save your other 3 slots for counterbuild items. There is no necessary order for purchasing ANYTHING, even your core. If you think you need Void Stone first, get it! If you think you need boots first, buy them! (HOWEVER, IN CONQUEST, PLEASE ALWAYS BUILD A STARTER ITEM WITH BEGINNING GOLD)

Counterbuilding – Know Your Role

Should I Counterbuild as Solo Lane?

The answer is simple: absolutely. Look at your laning opponent and think about their strengths. Determine what they are going to be good at and counterbuild accordingly. Solo is arguably the second most important role to counterbuild as, next to Support.

Should I Counterbuild as Jungle?

The answer to this is situational I suppose. I recommend doing at least one counterbuild item. Junglers can be considered a killer for the team along with ADC. I would say that if the enemy team has a lot of CC, Magi’s Blessing might not be a bad idea at all. Too many times I have seen a Thanatos with full damage build and Magi’s Blessing utterly destroy my team in a teamfight. If you feel that a larger counterbuild is necessary, I encourage you to do it and experiment as you will be dealing with the entire enemy team on a regular basis.

Should I Counterbuild as Mid?

At least some, yes. As mid, you want to be a force to be reckoned with, but buying one or two counterbuild items would be wise. Laning against another mage? Buy Void Stone! Enemies have a lot of physical damage? Buy Breastplate of Valor instead of Chronos’ Pendant! You will have less damage overall, but you will not die as often if you are smart in the way you play.

Should I Counterbuild as ADC?

This is an extremely strong maybe. You are called an attack damage carry for a reason: you do a lot of the damage. You should almost always have some form of lifesteal in your build and critical chance is crucial. Other than this, you could maybe experiment, but I do not recommend straying far from the proven formula at all.

Should I Counterbuild as Support?

You ARE counterbuilding as a support and it is nearly your entire purpose in this game. As a support, you should be the most aware player when it comes to the enemies, what items they are building, and what you should build in order to stay alive and better protect your team. Some form of armor is always important, most of the time this will be Sovereignty in order to give your teammates some physical protection with its aura effect. Just being aware of the enemies and knowing the items of Smite should be enough to make sure you are a support that is at least tanky. If you have trouble building as support, my only advice is to study, study, study and the links above to Smite Gamepedia lists are the perfect place to do so!

Counterbuilding – Choosing Actives

There are currently 21 actives in Smite, but you can only have 2 at a time. Therefore, it’s smart to analyze the enemy team and decide on actives carefully. You don’t have to buy actives right away, but it would be wise to put some gold into one fairly early on. If you buy an active on the fountain and feel you would do better with a different one, you can always sell it BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE FOUNTAIN. If you leave the fountain, you’re stuck with it! First, let’s get a misconception about actives out of the way!

SUPPORTS ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BUY ACTIVES THAT BENEFIT THE TEAM. IT IS NOT THE SUPPORT’S JOB TO BUY WEAKENING/ENFEEBLING CURSE. IT IS NOT THE SUPPORT’S JOB TO BUY HEAVENLY AGILITY. TAKE IT UPON YOURSELF TO BUY ACTIVES THAT YOU SEE ARE NECESSARY FOR YOUR TEAM. NORMALLY A SUPPORT DOES THIS BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL AND YOUR SUPPORT HAS ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT AS IT IS.

Combating CC with Actives

Purification Beads – Next to Wrath of the Gods, this is probably the most purchased active in the game and for a good reason. Using Beads will remove ALL CC effects and make you immune to new CC effects for a full 3s while also reducing all your cooldowns by 5s. Ideally, you would buy these to use against a team that will CC you to death. Just make sure you use them wisely as they have a 90s cooldown.

Greater Blink and Combat Blink – Greater Blink will allow you to teleport a short distance instantly, but you must be out of combat. You will also get a 40% movement speed buff after teleporting. Combat Blink allows you to teleport during combat with no movement speed bonus. Greater Blink has a 45s cooldown,Combat Blink is 180s cooldown. Combat Blink is an ideal pick if you keep getting stuck in Odin cage (Or any other form of extended trap) and you have no alternative way out, such as a jump.

Greater Aegis and Aegis Pendant – While Greater Aegis this active won’t let you move, it does have the capacity to save your life if you are being CCed like mad. When you trigger this active, it will make you immune to all damage for 2s and give you a 20% reduction to all damage for 4s after the 2s immunity passes. However, you will be unable to move or attack during the duration of the 2s. Aegis Pendant offers the same bonuses, but you will be able to move (not attack), however CC effects will still apply. Either of these actives could help you to hold out long enough for your team to show up and save you, it’s just up to your preference. Both have a 120s cooldown.

Greater Sprint and Heavenly Agility – Both of these actives offer a 40% increase to movement speed. Differences are that Greater Sprint only applies to the user and also removes the attack movement debuff (You’ll move at 40% increased speed even when attacking with this active), while Heavenly Agility applies to the user and all allies within a 70 foot radius and grants everyone a 25% increase to healing effects, but doesn’t remove the attack movement debuff. Both actives last for 6s and could potentially save you from a CC barrage. Greater Sprint has a 60s cooldown, Heavenly Agility has 90s.

Protected Recall – Simply put, you hardly ever see this active and that’s because there are so many better active choices. If you’re desperate, it might be viable. Protected Recall doesn’t give you damage immunity, but will allow you to recall even while taking damage. 120s cooldown.

Purification Beads should be your active of choice for CC, the others are just listed here as alternatives. None are as good at combating CC as Purification Beads because that is what they are designed to do.

Shutting Down Healers – One Active to Rule Them All

Weakening Curse – Why Weakening Curse? 100% healing reduction (OP as Hel). This effect, as well as a 40% reduction to their movement speed, is applied to all enemies within a 55 foot radius of you for 5s! 5 seconds is a LOT of time to shut down that annoying Hel/Chaac/Hercules/Ra/Aphrodite/Chang’e. If there is a strong healer on the enemy team, BUY IT. Weakening Curse has a 60s cooldown.

Slowing Down Your Enemies

Wanna keep the enemies from escaping your team as well as hinder their healing or attack speed? Here are some actives for you:

Weakening Curse – Again, this a good active for slowing down enemies and should still be the active of choice if there are strong healers on the opposing team. Details directly above.

Enfeebling Curse – Has the same slowing effect as Weakening Curse (40% reduction to movement speed), but offers a 30% reduction to enemy attack speed rather than the healing debuff. This active’s effects also last 5s and Enfeebling Curse has a 60s cooldown.

Healing Teammates and Raising Your Defenses

Greater Meditation – This active is appropriate for laning with a poor mana pool, which tends to be quite a few warriors, some mages, and some guardians. Most will argue that Greater Meditation is nearly useless in the current meta if you know how to conserve mana, make good use of blue buff, and recall at appropriate times which I tend to agree with. It has its uses for people learning about mana, but otherwise I wouldn’t suggest buying it. Greater Meditation offers a 75% return of your maximum mana, a 60s buff of 45 MP5, and it will heal 30% of your missing health. 120s cooldown.

Salvation – Similar to Greater Meditation, Salvation will return 35% of the maximum mana to the user and all teammates within a short radius, the owner will get a 45 MP5 buff for 60s, and the owner and all teammates within the radius will be healed for 15% of the owner’s maximum health. 120s cooldown.

Shell of Absorption and Spiked Shell – Both of these actives offer 45 physical and magical protection buffs to the user and his/her allies for 5s. Shell of Absorption also grants a 15% reduction of all damage while Spiked Shell reflects 10% of damage back to the attackers. Both have a 90s cooldown.

Warding – Why it’s Important

First, let’s go ahead and get another few misconceptions out of the way:

IF YOU ARE PLAYING AS ANYTHING OTHER THAN ADC, IT IS NOT ANYONE ELSE’S JOB TO WARD YOUR JUNGLE OR YOUR LANE. SUPPORT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LONG LANE AND THAT IS IT. IF YOU KEEP GETTING GANKED IN MIDDLE OR SOLO, DON’T BLAME JUNGLE FOR NOT HELPING YOU OR SUPPORT FOR NOT WARDING FOR YOU. YOU ARE RESPONSBILE FOR YOUR OWN LANE, NO ONE ELSE. BUY WARDS.

“I NEED MY GOLD TO BUY ITEMS” IS NOT A LEGITIMATE EXCUSE FOR NOT WARDING YOUR LANE. YOU WILL WARD YOUR OWN LANE OR YOU WILL SUFFER THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT DOING SO, POSSIBLY GETTING YOU EVEN FURTHER BEHIND IN GOLD.

Alright, so now that’s out of the way, warding is absolutely crucial to Conquest and sometimes Siege and Joust. Vision is never a bad thing and can even turn the tides of battle. Standard wards only cost 50 gold each, THAT IS CHEAP. When I play mid, I buy two wards and two health potions nearly every time I go back to base. Why? Because I don’t like to unintentionally feed the Jungler. Same goes for solo, WARD YOUR LANE, your team will thank you in the end. Simply put, WARDS WIN GAMES.

Want a map to help ward placement? Here’s a map to help ward placement!

Warding – Know Your Role

KEEP IN MIND, IF YOU’RE ON THE CHAOS SIDE THE MAP WILL LOOK LIKE IT WAS TURNED 180 DEGREES. THIS ADVICE FOLLOWS THE ABOVE MAP, NOT YOUR IN-GAME MAP.

Where Should I Place Wards as Solo?

If you follow the map above, starting Order side, you would ward the two green dots on the right and the yellowish dot on the right after taking the first tower if you’re feeling paranoid. Strongly advised to continue warding the two green dots throughout the course of the game.

Starting Chaos, ward the two red dots on the right (That would be YOUR LEFT in-game) and the pink dot on the right (YOUR LEFT) after taking first tower, if you’re feeling paranoid. Strongly advised to continue warding the two red dots throughout the course of the game.

Where Should I Place Wards as Jungle?

If you want to ward, do it wherever. Keeping Sentry Wards up at the Fire Giant and Gold Fury after 10 minutes might not be a bad idea, but follow your instincts.

Where Should I Place Wards as Mid?

If starting on Order side, ward the two green dots on either side of your lane. I STRONGLY advise warding the two yellowish dots IMMEDIATELY after taking the first tower in mid. You could continue to ward the green dots, but it may no longer be necessary.

If starting on the Chaos side, ward the two red dots on either side of the lane. Again, I STRONGLY advise warding the pink dots IMMEDIATELY after taking the first tower in mid. You could continue to ward the two red dots, but it may no longer be necessary.

Where Should I Place Wards as ADC?

Preferably don’t. You are the one person that can say they need their gold for their build. However, there will be situations where it may be necessary. If your support is in a heavy rotation phase, they may not have time to ward your lane. If this happens, take it upon yourself to ward your lane and place wards in the same locations as support would.

Where Should I Place Wards as Support?

If starting Order, place wards at the two green dots on the left side of the map and the yellowish dot on the left after taking the first tower if you’re feeling paranoid. Strongly advised to continue warding the two green dots throughout the course of the match.

Starting Chaos, ward the two red dots on the left of the map (YOUR RIGHT IN-GAME) and the pink dot on the left (YOUR RIGHT) after taking the first tower if you’re feeling paranoid. Strongly advised to continue warding the two red dots throughout the course of the match.

NOTE: Keep in mind that wards can be placed nearly ANYWHERE and they will be helpful. This map and the role notes are simply a guideline to basic warding in order to stay alive. If you want to ward as ADC and you feel you can manage the gold, I encourage you to do so. The more wards, the more often you’ll know exactly where your enemies are.

Examples of Good Counterbuilding and Laning

Scenario #1: Conquest Solo Lane

You: Vamana. Your Teammates: Bastet – Jungle, Janus – Mid, Athena – Support, and Rama – ADC.

Enemy Team: Ra – Solo, Nemesis – Jungle, Vulcan – Mid, Bacchus – Support, Anhur – ADC.

You’re laning against Ra, a strong healer as well as a heavy damager. A potential core build is Warrior Tabi, Hide of the Urchin, and Qin’s Sais. But, because you’re against a Ra, it might be smart to rush Stone of Gaia to buff your early magic defense and sustain. Let’s say around midgame you’re getting ganked byNemesis and she keeps pushing you too hard or killing you. A good item to get in this situation would be either Mystical Mail or Midgardian Mail sinceMystical Mail could deal damage when she is too close to you or Midgardian mail could debuff her movement speed. Active choices would probably be Wrath of the Gods for picking up blue buff and helping with Fire Giant or Gold Fury and Weakening Curse to guarantee Ra won’t be a strong healer during teamfights.

Potential Final Build (In no particular order): Hide of the Urchin, Warrior Tabi, Stone of Gaia, Mystical Mail/Midgardian Mail, Deathbringer and Qin’s Sais

Potential Actives: Wrath of the Gods and Weakening Curse

Scenario #2: Siege

You: Mercury. Laning Partner: Ao Kuang. Other Teammates: Ymir and Chaac

Laning Opponents: Odin and Poseidon. Other Opponents: Sylvanus and Kali

Let’s say your core build is Warrior Tabi, Golden Bow, and Rage. First of all, Odin and Poseidon can be a scary duo. Handling it however should be fairly simple. Obviously Odin is going to try to trap you and your laning partner within the cage, leaving you helpless in escaping a Poseidon ultimate. In this situation, it would be extremely smart to rush Combat Blink. Your laning partner, Ao Kuang, can escape Odin cage just by using his 1, while you have no “jump” whatsoever. Combat Blink will allow you to escape the cage and potential death. From there, one or two defensive items might not be a bad idea and the rest can be devoted to critical chance and attack speed. Kali can be scary in Siege, so once again Witchblade is a good pick as it will boost your movement and attack speed while debuffing her. If you find that you can handle Poseidon fairly well, opt for one more physical defense item, such as Hide of the Nemean Lion.

Potential final build (In no particular order): Warrior Tabi, Golden Bow, Witchblade, Deathbringer, Rage, and Hide of the Nemean Lion

Potential Actives: Combat Blink (CRUCIAL) and Purification Beads/Greater Aegis/Greater Sprint

Scenario #3: Conquest Mid Lane

You: Scylla. Teammates: Hercules – Solo, Thanatos – Jungle, Artemis – ADC, and Sylvanus – Support

Enemy Team: Hel – Solo, Freya – Jungle, Isis – Mid, Apollo – ADC, and Geb – Support

The first thing you should notice going into this match is that the enemy team is HEAVILY magical damage. Isis cranks out quite a bit of damage early as well, so rushing Void Stone would be a good idea as it gives a bit of magical defense while also giving you some power and lowering the magical protections of enemies around you. From there, build your core, which in this scenario we’ll use Shoes of the Magi, Book of Thoth, and Bancroft’s Talon. Getting Thoth after Shoes or Void would be a good idea as it is a stack item. Assuming Void Stone ends up being enough of a defense, continue to build offensive items. If, however, it isn’t enough magical defense, consider building Pestilence as it will help against Hel in teamfights and it offers fantastic magical defense.

Potential Final Build (In no particular order): Void Stone, Bancroft’s Talon, Shoes of the Magi, Book of Thoth, Rod of Tahuti, and Pestilence/Chronos’ Pendant

Potential Actives: Greater Aegis and Greater Sprint/Purification Beads

Other Gamemodes

Arena

Arena isn’t necessarily a gamemode where counterbuilding is an absolute requirement. While you can probably get away with building pure damage and still win a game, it may be smart to try to slow your opponent’s progress. To deduct points from your opponents in Arena, you either kill enemy gods, get the last hit on enemy minions, or escort friendly minions into the enemy portal. Since god kills count for 5 points each on a 500 point system, making it harder for them to kill you could ensure victory. Look at the enemy heavy hitters and build a counter item or two to slow their progress.

Assault

Assault… is… AWESOME. Don’t know how to play a lot of the gods? Play Assault! You get a random god, but hopefully you’ll get one you aren’t familiar with and you can learn. Don’t know what items or actives to use in a counterbuild? Play Assault! Assault teaches you the importance of making strategic decisions both in gameplay and buying items. If you don’t play Assault, I highly recommend a match or two per day if you’re still learning new stuff.

Not to mention, there are quite a few items that won’t work in many situations other than assault. Some examples:

Salvation – This Active is a must buy in Assault. Why? It can heal you and your teammates for precious health and mana that you can’t replenish otherwise unless you die, have a healer, or have potions. Don’t be that guy that doesn’t buy Salvation. Please.

Mail of Renewal – Offers 40 physical protections, 300 health, 10% cooldown reduction, and has a passive that restores 10% of your health and mana over 5s whenever you get a kill or assist. Considering that as long as you’re in a fight, you’ll get an assist or a kill, this item is quite possibly just OP for Assault. Again, this follows the same trend of that need for health and mana and it does an excellent job.

Spirit Robe – An item that gives you 10 physical protections, 55 magical protections, 125 health, 10% cooldown reduction, and has a passive with a 10s cooldown that grants you 15% more damage mitigation for 3s when you’re hit with a hard CC. While this item may not be at the top of every Assault player’s lists, it has its great uses in Assault. If the enemy team is heavily CC reliant, this may be a great pick for you.

Shield of Regrowth – Offers 60 magical protections, 25 physical power, 15 HP5, and a passive that can trigger once every 20s, increasing your HP5 by 100% for 5s when hit by an ability. This item wouldn’t necessarily be exceedingly great on just any god in Assault. However, if you’re playing a tanky god and building health and HP5 with an item such as Stone of Gaia, this could be really great to build.

Hopefully you guys found this guide to be helpful! If you did, link it to other players who may need some help. Happy Smiting!