Overview
A culmination of over half a decade of savoir-faire decorated with thousands of hours with a single goddess, Hel. I’d like to personally share this journey – with all its secrets and understanding, with you. This is the first full guide on Steam for Hel, Norse Goddess of all those who did not fall in battle ( So when you die to dots after you believe you got away ).
Disclaimer
Hello there, cheers for peeking at my guide! Whether you’re curious as to what immaturity wrote this latest guide, or genuinely fascinated by Hel, open those energy drinks, down that coffee, grab your favourite snack – and let’s begin!
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Hello all. After a long, difficult, and dark uphill struggle in my life these last few months, I’m headed downhill, and have been sliding, gaining momentum. I know these last few months have been difficult on everyone, each, in their own way. I’m no exception. I regret to inform everyone this guide will no longer be checked, updated, or moderated. It is out of date, ( up-to-date as of Smite Season 6 ), and will no longer be updated. While a lot of the information here may remain relevant and / or interesting, the numbers and statistics are likely to change, and the items will be incorrect. I sincerely apologize to all those who were interested in an updated version of the guide, and to those have been waiting on my promises to do so. Additionally, I no longer play Smite, nor intend to return, due to personal reasons.
It’s been a long 5 – 6 years playing Smite, starting in Season 2. The game grew, and so did I. Unavoidably, the game reached it’s peak flame in my daily life and inevitably faded into ember, no longer interesting me – all the while less and less content drew me back into the game. Ultimately, due to personal hardships, I’ve decided Smite no longer has a place in my life or my day, and needs to go. My passion and love for Hel remains, however, and I will miss playing her, and doing the “Stance Dance” – which I originally dubbed myself, in Season 2. ( I’m not claiming to be the origin of the saying – however I am saying it was a completely original term I began using myself with my friend group in Season 2 ).
With a heavy heart, omitted smile, and fleeting mood, I want to thank each and every one of you ( you know who you are ) who were a part of my life throughout the nearly 6 years I played Smite, and who helped me progress as a player, a person, and a human throughout that time. I want to thank each and every one of you Strangers who have visited this guide, or who will come across this, in a future time past the date of this writing. Your interest and support in my guide means so much to me, and I truly appreciate it. Hundreds of hours of writing, data compiling, testing, and editing went into the construction of this guide, in addition to the over 15 people who helped me proof read this guide and who provided me their opinions and suggestions. You are still more than welcome to reach out to me through Steam, or through my Discord for questions and comments! Thank you all again so much for your support, your love for Hel, and most importantly: stumbling across my Hel Guide, and taking the time to read this final farewell. Thanks again, Stranger. Stay safe, and have a better day today than yesterday ~
– Nitelyte, Hel Master
Friday, February 12th, 2021.
35,000 Worshipers. Over 7,000 hours in exclusive Hel gameplay.
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This is a real guide! I may throw some jokes around, but this is a project I’ve spent hundreds of hours working on into the wee hours of the morning! I’ve decided it’s finally time after all the urging from the public and friends alike to create this masterpiece – an epitome of my ingenuity and creativity brought to life in the form of this guide.
The title says it all. This is a comprehensive guide. For those interested.
Your thoughts and perspectives are always welcome in the comments, however please be mindful I’m not presenting this guide as a set-in-stone example of Hel players, their methodology, and as fact – rather, my personal take on a character in the form of a guide for which I feel qualified to write.
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I have a personal connection with Hel; she was an outlet for me to escape reality’s carnage. Going through some dark years in my early life, Hel gave me confidence, and a reason to take pride in my ability and wit as a person. This, along with the anonymity being online provides, allowed me to feel “normal”, which aided greatly in overcoming my earlier struggles. Since she’s played such an integral part in my life she’s personified a bit throughout this guide due to this. This recurring theme may seem strange to many, but to me she’s more than just a few animated pixels 🙂
Thanks for understanding, and please enjoy the rest of this guide. I hope it helps those it was intended to inspire, and it provides a helpful degree of understanding from my unique perspective!
Forward ~
Throughout this guide I disclose all my tips, tricks, secrets, and thoughts on Hel I’ve accumulated throughout the years. My hope is my experience will aid those looking to pursue the incredible journey to master one of the most complex and unique immortals in Smite.
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You’ll experience a lot of frustration, and plenty of satisfaction in your journey, but I hope you come to love her as I do. She takes dedication, remarkable skill and guile to master, and you must rise to the challenge. Personally I believe she’s best suited for new players who do not yet have a full comprehension of the game – this allows you to learn with Hel, developing an advanced, familiar comfort zone bridging game experience with the consistent complexity of her abilities. This is critical when playing her, as the two of you must form a team – She’s the muscle, you are the conduit bridging your intellect with her ability.
Hel is a Norse Mage, utilizing two stances to inspire allies and hinder enemies.
Hel is quite user friendly as she has a very diverse and yet specialized kit that allows for multiple play styles. She’s relatively easy to pick up, if you limit your knowledge intake! For me, starting out, I played hundreds of matches with her just in a single stance. This allows you to focus solely on just a few abilities at a time, and you’ll have an easier experience familiarizing yourself with Hel.
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Please note this guide is structured around an already established basic understanding of Smite.
My Philosophy
Hel’s surname frankly is quite literally – fate. She can break a sweat rescuing you from impossible situations, although, she may just as likely break out the popcorn and drinks, resulting in you becoming very familiar with the fountain while Hel watches on gleefully.
Everything in this section outlines my thought process and “where I’m coming from”, as all comments and thoughts sprout from this. Please keep this in mind while reading!
I am a firm believer in Smite as a team game. No single god, goddess, or player can stand alone and defeat the odds. If you send me a link to a 1v5 penta kill, you’ve missed my point. I take a massive amount of pride that I can work well with Hel, and our ability to work as a team. A god or goddess is only as strong as his / her user. This belief contributes heavily to many of my views throughout this guide.
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Hel takes an incredible amount of skill and patience to learn, work with, refine, and one day, master. This entire process is incredibly rewarding allowing you to gain knowledge of not just her, but allows you to view scenarios with from a hidden perspective and with stored knowledge that you knew, but never thought about. From simple benefits such as refining your target acquisition, accuracy, and reaction times, to more complex subconscious benefits such as the ability to analyze situations quickly and effectively, through her fast-paced gameplay, which requires quick thought processes and decision making.
With the plethora of benefits comes sacrifice. Hel players are incredibly overlooked. She’s received various nerfs over the past few years and her potential has been cast to the wind. Personally, years ago when they removed her ability to heal off enemies with her light primary ability was when her path began leading definitively downhill. This said, as with all discouragements we’ve all pushed onward due to our love for Hel. I’ve thrived off of this general lack of respect and attention to her and my greatest strategy is her perceived weakness.
Thoughts on “Meta”
Is the current Smite meta important? Yes, but it won’t effect you. By hard definition you need to understand the “meta” from a different perspective. The meta is designed to be a perfect utopia of checks and balances. This god counters this one, this item is used to counter build this one, and the sphere continues indefinitely. You are the exception. By ignoring the meta, this allows you to break that cycle of balances and counter balances, and all previously thought efficient tactics to counter Hel now fade into nonexistence, giving you that edge in engagements that you so desperately need. Play the way you want to play, build the way you want to build. Is it important to have a firm understanding of Hel initially? Certainly, but you need to be able to find your own path with her. It’s not a bad idea to scout out builds, items, and strategies, but ultimately it’s critical to use your own ingenuity to play her. This is the only way to stand out and utilize her abilities to the fullest.
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Personally, I use a simple equation to gauge my progress and faults with Hel. Find a control variable, or dependent variable. This will be an element that remains constant, allowing me to figure out everything else, or the experimental variable(s). Here’s an example. Since I began the game all those years ago I’ve used the exact same build, well roughly – I’ve tweaked items as necessary as the game and its focus changed. But throughout my experience, I won’t change my build to suit the current state of the game, to counter build others, to address a change in objective focus, or due to the game mode. Using the same build at all times for consistency allows for focus on external factors. Not only does this allow me an unparalleled familiarity with Hel, but additionally allows me to focus on issues surrounding my set variables. I can easily troubleshoot and solve those issues by being able to easily identify them. If I enter a scenario where I’ve died I can rule out my play style and my build as contributing factors, and focus on the possibility of a bad decision-making process, or the behavior of the enemy. This allows me to quickly analyze this situation and come to a solution on how to proceed. Using a current meta belief or conscription of gods to specific roles make for excellent control variables.
An interesting thought a friend mentioned brings me to present you with this scenario. Let’s say we have two players, Player H and Player I. Both players are equally versed in the game and have the same talents and ability. Let’s say Player H goes up to Player I and says, “1v1 me bro”. Obviously Player I is now honor-bound to accept this donkey’s challenge. Both players play as Hel. Now Player H builds throughout the game using a preset build, and will not change items throughout the match such as my personal build ( Refer to “Builds – Continued” below ). Now Player I uses a meta build, using items that change throughout the match according to the flow of the fight, and items that are accepted as “Acceptable items for Hel”. Who would win? Of course, ultimately it would come down to who is the superior player in terms of intellect and familiarity with Hel, however we’ll pretend it’s strictly reliant on items. In this case, I would firmly believe Player H would rise over Player I. Here’s why. Player H is using a build they are very familiar with, allowing them to focus simply on outmaneuvering and outplaying their opponent. Player I on the other hand will be utilizing builds they may not be as familiar with. This player will be counter-building player H, decreasing kill potential and combat effectiveness of Player H, however simultaneously weakening their own. While I believe Player I would likely be more successful in engagements, Player H would have more consistency, and be able to focus objectives and ultimately win the match.
Let’s sum this up. Player H is utilizing a build that is uniquely tailored to suit their style and effectiveness. Player I is using a build that is more generalized, focusing on counter-building their opponent, but not necessarily focusing on any other elements. Of course, draw your own conclusions on this, but I believe firmly that using a build tailored to you, coupled with the fact you’re exempting yourself from the “Meta utopia” will tip the scales in your favor. Of course, time and experience have supported this belief for me.
Abilities
This section is all about numbers! Here I simply reiterate all the metrics about Hel, summarizing her plainly in technical terms.
Hel is a stance switcher. This means instead of the classic 3 abilities, passive benefit, and ultimate ability she effectively has 6 abilities, a passive benefit, and a stance switch that relates to her passive.
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Basic metrics
– Basic attack damage begins at 34, increasing by 2 and 1 in chronological order ( ie: Level 1 -> 34 damage, Level 2 -> 36 damage, Level 3 -> 37 damage, Level 4 -> 39 damage, Level 5 -> 40 damage ) totaling at 63 at Level 20
– Attack speed begins at 0.87, increasing 0.01 every other level ( beginning the cycle from Level 2 with a 0.01 increase, then alternating onward ) totaling at 1.01 at Level 20
– Physical protection begins at 12, increasing by 2 and 3 in chronological order ( refer to basic attack damage example ) totaling at 61 at Level 20
– Magical protection begins at 31, increasing by 1 every level with the exception of Levels 5 and 15 ( ie: Level 4/5 both grant 34 magical protection and Level 14/15 both grant 43 magical protection ) totaling at 48 at Level 20
– Health begins at 477, increasing by 77 every level totaling at 1,750 at Level 20
– HP5 begins at 5, increasing by 1 every 2 levels with the exception of Level 2, Level 6, Level 13, and Level 20 ( ie: Level 1 -> 2 is increased by 1, then pattern resumes. Level 6 -> 8 remains the same, Level 13 -> 15 remains the same, and Level 19/20 is increased by 1 ) totaling at 14 at Level 20
– Mana begins at 357, increasing by 57 every level totaling at 1,440 at Level 20
– MP5 begins at 5, increasing by 1 every 2 levels, with the exception of Level 2, Level 8, and Level 20 ( ie: Level 1 -> 2 is increased by 1, then pattern resumes. Level 8 -> 10 remains the same, and Level 19/20 remains the same ) totaling at 14 at Level 20
While Hel holds a particular stance, she gradually attunes to the benefits of the respective stance, up to 20% bonus damage in her Dark stance, and 20% healing in her Light stance.
Decay – Dark stance – A damaging ball projectile that passes through minions and explodes in a 12 unit radius upon contacting with a map obstacle, player-made obstacle, god, or reaching maximum range.
Restoration – Light stance – A healing ball projectile that passes through minions and all obstacles healing friendly and damaging enemy gods upon contact; this effect returns to you shortly after healing you.
Dark damage – 70/120/170/220/270 + 50% of your magical power
Light damage – 70/120/170/220/270 + 50% of your magical power
Light self heal – 60/90/120/150/180 + 30% of your magical power
Light ally heal – 60/90/120/150/180 + 30% of your magical power
Mana cost – 70/75/80/85/90
Cooldown – 8 seconds
Hinder – Dark stance – A circular projected target that reduces magical protections of all enemies within the radius and slowing them for 3 seconds.
Cleanse – Light stance – A circular projected target that cleanses ally gods of all crowd control effects after a slight delay ( this includes yourself ) and protecting them from future crowd control effects for 1.5 seconds.
Dark protections debuff – 5/10/20/25
Dark slow – 20/25/30/35/40%
Radius – 20 units
Mana cost – 60/65/70/75/80
Cooldown – 16/15/14/13/12 seconds
Repulse – Dark stance – A circular projected target with you as its origin that discharges dark energy dealing damage.
Inspire – Light stance – A circular projected target with you as its origin that discharges light energy healing yourself after a slight delay, and healing all allies over time ticking every 1 second. All targets affected are graced with 10% increased movement speed over 6 seconds.
Dark damage – 80/130/180/230/280 + 70% of your magical power
Light self heal – 60/90/120/150/180 + 30% of your magical power
Light ally heal / tick – 10/15/20/25/30 + 5% of your magical power
Radius – 30 units
Mana cost – 60/65/70/75/80
Cooldown – 12 seconds
Dark Stance – Abilities are amplified with increased magical power every level.
Light Stance – Protections are increased every level.
Passive Effect – MP5 is increased every level and half of the current stance’s strengths are shared to ally gods within a 30 unit radius.
Dark magical power – 20/30/40/50/60
Light magical protections – 5/10/15/20/25
Light physical protections – 5/10/15/20/25
MP5 – 15/20/25/30/35
Cooldown – 2 seconds
Hel’s Styles
Here I’ll outline what I believe her designation to a match environment could be, and how she can optionally be implemented into a team structure.
I will specify this text to fit the Joust and Conquest game modes.
Joust, A 3v3 endeavor
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In a team context, Hel can fulfill one of three functions.
– Glass Cannon, Hel could be built with high magical power, thus a heavy focus on her dark stance and damage potential.
– Support, Hel may be built with supporting or hindering auras with a hybrid focus utilizing Hinder and Cleanse to aid allies with engagements and recoveries, while passively harassing enemies through items, abilities and actives ( Relics ).
– Guardian, Hel is kitted with protection and health items, with a heavy focus on self-durability to in turn support her team through the use of her light stance.
Conquest, A 5v5 armageddon
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In a team context, Hel can be utilized in 5 different roles, with various subfocuses for each role.
– Attack Damage Carry ( ADC ), Hel can be built with a heavy emphasis on penetration and cooldown.
– Support, Hel will focus on her cleanse and heal potential. This involves auras, and high power to scale the healing.
– Middle ( Mid ), Hel resides in the most heavily contested lane. She could be build hybrid due to this, allowing for a certain threshold of self-sustain while allowing her to dish out noticeable amounts of goodness.
– Solo, Hel will be going against players who are generally tankier than her capable of dishing out respectable damage. I strongly recommend stacking, and starting off with items boosting her mana.
– Jungle, Hel flourishes with an open jungle allowing her to build in regards to camp clear and personal taste rather than against a lane opponent. My personal role of choice for Hel; not only is she constantly moving about and farming allowing her to passively mitigate chances of frontal confrontations where she lacks in, but allows her to quickly rise in level and build towards becoming that late-game killing goddess.
Strategies
Here are all of my shadowy strategies that have proven themselves time and time again.
Focus on her weaknesses, and make them your strengths. Not literally, but use that concept! I’m sure we’ve all heard that phrase before, but here’s what it means to me.
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What are Hel’s flaws, and how can we make use of them?
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Oh she’s got many. She’s incredibly susceptible to anti-heal gods and items, pales in the face of burst-damage abilities and ultimates, and has a relatively low movement speed. Because of this and other reasons many disclose her as a queen of the past. What can we use here?
Let’s begin with the anti-heal. How do we counter anti-heal? Well, you can’t really. So we circumvent it. Don’t heal 🙂 Or put more specifically, don’t focus on healing. Allowing enemies to believe you’re a fish on land without your healing, they’ll push you without a second thought given the opportunity expecting you to emit those bright particles from your light tertiary just to see negligible healing has been done. Once they get close, burst them down. Focusing on damage rather than healing will immediately give you a one-up on the enemy team, throwing them to a certain degree of confusion as it’s a common misconception for healers to always, well, heal. Simply heal when out of combat. Healing in my opinion should be used as an auxiliary function, thus rendering you just like every other god or goddess in the game without healing in their kit.
No ultimate! Not quite! The “ultimate” is the ingenuity of the player. The game is your plaything and the enemy your personal pocket *****s. With 6 abilities and an incredibly flexible passive, you can easily dominate the battlefield. Many players rely on that “ultimate combo” or other players to combo their ultimate abilities with. You? No, you’re completely self-sufficient. Everything you need is right at your fingertips. Dark secondary, dark tertiary, dark primary, light primary and wash, rinse, repeat. Hel’s true strength relies in her burst potential. It’s critical that in engagements you open up with her dark secondary if time allows, but make sure to use her dark tertiary before her dark primary. This is because if the enemy begins to flee, you’ll still have the range of her dark and light primary to hit them as they flee in terror, rather than be stuck chasing them with only a small radius around you to damage them.
Her light primary is such a flexible ability. Moving past my reservations on it’s history, it’s the end-all doomsday MLG24/7hipfireheadshottrickshotskillshotdropshotlelkekcross-mapultimatequickscopeofdoom ability. And here’s how: it can fire through, well anything. Fire through walls because you feel like it, fire through walls because you don’t. Fire through titans, towers, the Gold Fury, the Fire Giant, walls, phoenixes and minions to hit that guy trying to play ring-around-the-rosie with you. Throw it through walls to make that quickscope of healing happen, healing that near-death ally through the wall putting yourself in Inuki’s latest episode of Smite Top 5 Plays. You can heal allies and yourself simultaneously, damage enemies, and revel in the majestic glowing orb of pure white that can help you win at life.
Analyze your opponent(s). By noticing small patterns or behaviors, you allow yourself the unique ability to chart out their mindsets, psychology, and reactions giving you a vast opportunity to learn and predict. For me, every game is won with psychological warfare. You need to mind **** your opponent more than they can to you. Figure out their mental state and behaviors, and use that against them. Here’s an example. Notice in a joust how Player A pokes out just a bit more than the others? He’s likely the initiator, the one with the b*llocks to attack first. Not too difficult of a conclusion to draw, but then you notice when he moves forward, only Player B moves with him. Certainly not to the same degree, but advances with him nonetheless. This signifies a couple of things. They could be a premade, or the other player may simply have a bit more awareness than his counterpart on the team. Regardless, a solid conclusion may be drawn: Player C is not willing to play as aggressive as his two team mates, and plays a bit more passively. You can utilize this knowledge in team engagements – expect him to be late to the party, or not participate at all, allowing you to either single him, or his two teammates out during a fight.
This thought process isn’t just limited to player behavior. Take a good look at their builds, team compositions, and every little element in the game. All this information is laid out for you, it’s up to you to piece together conclusions.
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Be sure to build her with plenty of magical power! If you’ve skimmed through her abilities, notice how not only does power increase her damage output ( Duh! ), but it additionally increases her healing output as well! This not only allows for a full focus on slaughtering anyone standing in your way, including walls ( Refer to above section ), but allows you to heal incredible amounts ( Provided you’re safely away from an engagement or there is no anti-heal present ).
Hel’s Combat Triangle
It’s quite simple really, hence the shortest chapter in this guide.
Hel is most effective against squishy gods. This includes but is not limited to assassins, mages, and hunters.
Hel has difficulty against hybrid and tanky gods, such as guardians and warriors who build as such.
Adding some penetration to her builds will mitigate her weakness to the latter, but will also significantly lower her potential against the former. The choice is yours.
Builds
Here I’m going to break down various items into categories, then designate those categories functions. In turn I’ll recommend certain functions based off of your play style.
A few quick mentions before we begin. I do not believe in mana / health potions. As such those will not be included. I am a firm believer these are a waste of gold as I frequently back, allowing me to stay on top of items thus eliminating the need or use for potions – which can be a costly fault in the heat of the moment.
I carry a similar mindset regarding starter items. I do not believe they are necessary and are largely a waste of gold. This said, I understand they are widely viewed as mandatory or strong elements in builds, and again I stress the decision is up to you. This said I do tend to bring along Assassin’s Blessing when jungling 😉
Actives ( Relics ) are largely based off of personal preference, and as such I will again refrain from including those as they should be used based off of play style and preference. This said I can not stress enough do not use Purification Beads unless your play style calls for this, as you have them in your kit – beads are situational as they can aid in countering multiple hard crowd control situations. As a jungler I rarely find myself in such a position, as such I find no use for them.
I will not include gold prices in this guide as in my opinion they are not important. I focus on the overall effective output of a build, rather than avoiding a perfectly good item due to its high cost at a certain point in the game.
As a quick note, the order of the items in your build is equally as critical as the items themselves. Choose the order carefully – a few factors players consider are the price of the item at a certain stage in the game, effectiveness of the item at a given stage of the game, and how an item helps amplify other items in the build ( ie: Using a mana-heavy item with Book of Thoth ).
I do not include every single item in the game ( Actually, I include most of them … ). These are simply items that I frankly believe to be the relevant to this guide. Again, please use items that you synergize with, these are merely strong recommendations.
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General
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With any build I believe it’s integral to include boots. Hel’s base movement speed is negligible, and boots are a great way to amplify base qualities that set a strong foundation for a powerful build ( Later on these may be traded out for a more powerful item substituting in the Elixer of Speed ).
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Shoes
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Shoes of the Magi
– 55 Magical power
– 10 Magical penetration
– 18% Movement speed
Shoes of Focus
– 55 Magical power
– 250 Mana
– 10% Cooldown Reduction
– 15% Movement speed
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Classified under “Offensive” items, these include all items over 100 base magical power, or that exceed this through stacking. There is vast quantities of items providing substantial magical power, but these are the items that quite literally are the tip of the spear.
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Offensive
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Staff of Myrddin
– 100 Magical power
– 10% Cooldown reduction
– Passive – After the completion of your ultimate ability, up to once every 45 seconds your next non-ultimate ability will cast with no cooldown dealing 70% of the normal damage and healing.
Bancroft’s Talon
– 100 Magical power
– 15% Magical lifesteal
– 150 Mana
– Passive – Magical power and lifesteal is gained passively scaling from lost health. This caps at 25% health for a maximum bonus of 100 power and 20% lifesteal
Book of the Dead
– 100 Magical power
– 200 Mana
– Passive – Dropping below 40% health results in a shield equal to 20% of your maximum mana, lasting 6 seconds for a maximum of once every 90 seconds.
Spear of Desolation
– 100 Magical power
– 15 Magical penetration
– 10% Cooldown reduction
– Passive – Killing or assisting on an enemy god reduces all cooldowns by 1 second.
Warlock’s Staff
– 65 Magical power – 115 Magical power maximum
– 200 Health – 500 Health maximum
– 200 Mana
– Passive – Every stack yields 3 health and 0.5 magical power permanently. Maximum of 100 stacks; god kills yield 5 stacks and minion kills yield 1.
Book of Thoth
– 80 Magical power
– 250 Mana – 1,000 Mana maximum
– 15% MP5
– Passive – Every stack yields 10 mana permanently. 6% of your total mana from items is converted to magical power; maxing the stacks boosts this to 9%. Maximum of 75 stacks; god kills yielding 5 stacks and minion kills yield 1.
– 90 Magical power bonus when fully stacked, giving this item a total of 170 magical power ( Only taking this item’s mana into account ).
Soul Reaver
– 130 Magical power
– 300 Mana
– Passive – Abilities deal 2% additional magical damage scaling to your target’s maximum health. Targets exceeding 2,000 health have this effect scaled for a maximum of 7% additional magical damage with 2,750 health.
Doom Orb
– 135 Magical power – 165 Magical power maximum ( 15 seconds )
– 200 Mana
– 25 MP5
– 6% Movement speed – 11% Movement speed maximum ( 15 seconds )
– Passive – Kills and assists on minions grant 1 stack; gods yield 5, each providing 1% movement speed and 6 magical power. Maximum of 5 stacks, lasting for 15 seconds.
Rod of Tahuti
– 150 Magical Power
– 30 MP5
– Passive – Abilities and basic attacks yield additional 25% magical power when used against targets under 50% health.
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I’ve compiled items with useful effects that can drastically amplify performance when used correctly, and hinder when used with incompatible play styles. I think it would be incredibly rewarding to add one or two of these to your build, if your play style allows.
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Passive Offensive
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Void Stone
– 150 Health
– 20 Magical power
– 60 Magical protection
– Aura – Enemy gods within 55 units are debuffed for 15 magical protection.
Obsidian Shard
– 70 Magical power
– Passive – Magical damage ignores your target’s magical protection by 15%, scaling for targets with over 40 magical protection to 45% magical penetration for 200 magical protection or greater.
Polynomicon
– 75 Magical power
– 300 Mana
– 12% Magical lifesteal
– Passive – Abilities cause your next basic attack to deal 75% of your total magical power as additional magical damage. This can only take effect within 8 seconds of using an ability, and only occur once every 3 seconds.
Typhon’s Fang
– 80 Magical power
– 200 Mana
– 15% Magical lifesteal
– Passive – Healing from magical lifesteal is increased by 40%; additionally magical power is doubled by the percentage of your magical lifesteal ( ie: 15% Magical lifesteal yields 30 magical power ).
Divine Ruin
– 80 Magical power
– 15 Magical penetration
– Passive – Enemies hit by abilities have their health regeneration and healing reduced by 40% for 8 seconds.
Chronos’ Pendant
– 90 Magical power
– 20 MP5
– 20% Cooldown reduction
– Passive – Every 10 seconds, all abilities receive 1 second cooldown reduction. This effect begins once you leave the fountain.
Telkhines RIng
– 90 Magical power
– 20% Attack speed
– 10% Movement speed
– Passive – Basic attacks deal 10 + 10% of your total magical power as bonus damage; thius does not effect structures ( ie: At Level 1 with no items basic attacks normally deal 32 damage – with the same conditions with this item, basic attacks deal 63 damage ).
Builds – Continued
Ethereal Staff
– 90 Magical power
– 200 Health
– 20% Crowd control reduction
– Passive – Damaging enemy gods with abilities steals 8% of their maximum mana and 5% of their maximum health. This status remains in effect for 45 seconds and can occur once every 15 seconds; this effect can stack ( ie: “Stealing” stats reduces their maximum stat potential, so with 100 health and 100 mana, with 1 stack of this effect in place the target could only regenerate up to 95 health and 92 mana ).
Gem of Isolation
– 90 Magical power
– 200 Health
– 10% Crowd control reduction
– Passive – Enemies damaged with abilities have their movement reduced by 25% for 2 seconds.
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With thousands of possible item combinations, here are some useful items I’ve used in my travels to help scale down the landslide of items into a sizeable suggestions.
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Honorable Mentions
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Shield of Regrowth
– 300 Health
– 15 HP5
– 15 MP5
– 10% Cooldown reduction
– Passive – When healing with abilities, you gain 40% movement speed which lasts 4 seconds; cannot occur more than once every 10 seconds.
Stone of Gaia
– 400 Health
– 25 HP5
– 15 MP5
– Passive – Being hit with a pull, grab, knockup, or knockback results in 15% of your maximum health restored over 5 seconds, occurring once every 45 seconds.
– Passive – Regenerate 0.3% of maximum health every second.
Bulwark of Hope
– 60 Magical protection
– 200 Health
– 20% Crown control reduction
– Passive – Taking damage under 30% health results in a shield for 150 + 10 / player level lasting 20 seconds; occurs once every minute ( ie: At Level 20, your shield is 350 points strong ).
Magi’s Cloak
– 15 Physical protection
– 15 Magical protection
– 300 Health
– Passive – Every 70 seconds absorbs a hard crowd control effect or root when hit, granting crowd control immunity for 15 seconds.
Mantle of Discord
– 60 Physical protection
– 60 Magical protection
– 10% Cooldown reduction
– Passive – Once every 90 seconds you will emit a shockwave upon being damaged below 30% health that stuns enemies within 20 units for 1 second; gaining crowd control immunity for 1 second.
Sovereignty
– 250 Health
– 45 Physical protection
– Aura – Provides 15 physical protections and 25 increase to HP5 to ally gods within 70 units.
Breastplate of Valor
– 65 Physical protection
– 300 Mana
– 10 MP5
– 20% Cooldown reduction
Hide of the Nemean Lion
– 70 Physical protection
– 200 Mana
– 20 MP5
– Passive – Reflects 25% of basic attack damage as physical damage.
Spectral Armour
– 70 Physical protection
– 300 Mana
– 10 MP5
– 20% Crown control reduction
– Passive – Critical damage received only deals 50% bonus damage ( Relative to the normal 100% ).
Bumba’s Mask
– 30 Physical power
– 65 Magical power
– 10% Cooldown reduction
– Passive – 35% Movement speed increase at the cost of 10% additional damage taken from all sources, and all damage output is reduced by 10%.
Lotus Crown
– 30 Magical power
– 60 Physical protection
– 20 MP5
– Passive – Ally gods affected by healing abilities have their magical and physical protections increased by 20 for 5 seconds.
Rod of Asclepius
– 90 Magical power
– 200 Health
– 7% Movement speed
– Aura – Healing is increased by 10% for ally gods within 70 units. If damage has been taken or dealt within 5 seconds, this effect increases to 25%.
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I recommend items from “Offensive” and “Passive Offensive” if you’re an aggressive player, often finding yourself in a brawl. Likewise, “Honorable Mentions” are great items for fine tuned game play that may uniquely suit you.
Important notes I’d like to cover are mana usage and ability progression. As far as mana usage, Hel is not the “Mana *****” she is labeled. Mana simply needs to be regulated properly, and abilities used wisely. This said, it never hurts to have too much mana, but it’s also crucial to balance out the elements you wish to incorporate into the build.
When leveling up her abilities, again it’s largely based on your personal preference and play style. Maybe you like to support allies or are pitted against some heavy crowd control. In this case you’d focus Anhur secondary ability. Or Maybe you’re finding you need quick wave clear; both the primary and tertiary abilities present apt opportunities. Her primary would present low-risk wave clear at a distance, however would lack in the heavy damage potential if enemies tend to close the distance. The tertiary would provide not only exceptional wave clear, but also aid in warding off potential tower divers. This comes at the cost of range, and your predictability.
Personally, I focus leveling her tertiary and primary abilities, again with the focus for damage potential. This additionally allows for higher sustain and flexibility throughout the course of a match. I do not generally focus on “maxing” an ability necessarily, however I do again like to bump up the level of my tertiary as a priority.
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Notes
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This is one of the most powerful secrets in my arsenal. My build. And now, I’ll share it with you. This is a culmination of thousands of hours of testing and failing with hundreds of combinations and ideas. After years of trials, here’s what works for me.
Actives
– Bracer of Undoing
– Blink Rune
Items
– Elixir of Speed
– Shaman’s Ring
– Warlock’s Staff
– Soul Reaver
– Doom Orb
– Book of Thoth
– Rod of Tahuti
All gold following the completion of this build is funneled towards Potion of Magical Might and Elixir of Power.
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A brief analysis of this build.
I play jungle, and build with emphasis for burst effect.
Bracer allows for risky plays and objective dives, providing a quick block of health and instant ability cooldown recovery when upgraded. Blink provides an alternate escape option provided I can leave combat if I’m being chased. This is critical for enemies that believe I don’t have an escape option. My build focuses heavily on stacking and magical damage output. Building Shaman’s Ring early allows me additional burst damage in the later stages of a combo, quickly leading into health and additional power over time with Warlock’s Staff. I then capitalize my mana with the following items concluding with the crown jewel, Rod of Tahuti. My build provides a great balance for movement speed in the jungle, a large mana pool to siphon from indefinitely, and immense burst damage gank potential.
At maximum stacks, Hel has 973 magical power dealing up to 780 damage with her primary dark stance ability and 1,020.6 with her tertiary dark ability. In a perfect scenario with all possible buffs to her power, Hel reigns with 1,422 magical power, dealing 1,061 damage with her primary dark ability, and 1,314.2 damage with her dark tertiary. Basic attacks do 393.6 damage in this state, as opposed to the 274.2.4 with the former scenario. These numbers reflect the average of multiple trials against the Gold Fury.
This said, I focus on keeping my opponents wary and at a length, allowing me to quickly burst them down without allowing them a chance to close the distance. As a jungler this is critical to give the overarching impression of constant lane presence, even if you’re on the other side of the map. By dealing so much burst damage, you cause your opponents to panic with such a sudden strike. You may then take advantage of their hesitation to either press the onslaught or gracefully make an exit.
C.A.T. Methods
A section that is surprisingly absent from many “guides”, it’s important to recommend activities to help learn, refine, and master qualities necessary to play Hel.
Utilize jungle practice to it’s fullest! It’s a great place to learn and play around with Hel ( Plus you can check out all her skins! ).
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I love cats, so I’ve developed what I call C.A.T. exercises. This will involve the 3 main points of mastery.
Focus on Combos. It’s critical to learn different combinations of Hel’s abilities. The primary reason I haven’t listed many, if any combos for Hel is they are incredibly situational. At the end of the day, when in the heat of the situation, the playbook is thrown out and everything becomes on-the-fly decision making. Make your execution of abilities flow. Hel has her own way she likes to operate, you’ll learn to sync with this over time.
Focus on Accuracy. A vast majority of her abilities come at the cost of your ability to hit targets of varying distances, compositions, and speeds. Odin bots are great for this, as are friends 😉
Focus on Timing. Every single ability in Hel’s arsenal relies on near-perfect timing. Work on your reaction times throughout your trials, and learn how to master time ( Alongside Chronos, of course ).
Final Thoughts
Hel is a Norse, ability-based goddess. She focuses heavily on damaging enemies in bursts, and supporting allies to the same degree. She has one of the highest potentials for creative play, with her incredibly versatile ability portfolio, simultaneously yielding amazing results regardless of how she’s fielded.
All practicality aside, she’s so fun to play! You can stance dance to your heart’s content, even if you’re a horrible dancer ( Like me! ). She’s the only immortal in Smite that is able to have a conversation with herself over quick chat, and she has some of the best jokes in the game ( Biased opinion of course )!
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Why should you try Hel?
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She’s different. Not many players play her, and she’s unique in her own way. This means becoming proficient with her allows for a great leverage point over other players due to her perceived weaknesses and flaws.This allows you to stand out; mastering one of the most difficult immortals in Smite is incredibly rewarding.
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Final Words ~
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This was an incredibly emotional past few weeks writing this. For me, this is my own way of thanking Smite, it’s community and gods for the incredible journey that they have played in my life. I don’t have much free time now, and this may be my first and last contribution with the Smite community. For me, this is my form of tendering my resignation from Smite, and all of it’s glory and toxicness from those of you ( You know who you are ) who choose to act as such. Sharing all my secrets with you prevents me from utilizing those once-secrets in battle, rendering me and my skill all but combat ineffective.
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Closing thoughts
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I hope this inspires a future generation of Hel players, and aids the current.
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A Special Thanks to …
freybloodswan …
For years has inspired and encouraged me with my Hel endeavors.
Seminolo …
My best friend and thorn in my side for all these years.
MrMcFuzzyWinkle …
Giving unmatched friendship and perspective.
Adgnor …
Simply being himself … and having a shoulder to lean on when I needed it. All the laughs, the yells, and the sighs. Thanks man.
Lastly, a massive thanks to you for reading this guide. It certainly must have taken a few days and a warehouse of kegs topped off with energy drinks to get this far, but you’ve made it! I always welcome feedback on my thoughts, and please feel free to share them with me in the comments – just keep them constructive if you have anything negative to say 😉 I will continue playing Smite for the foreseeable future, albeit not as heavily, and certainly not to the same intensity. So please feel free to message me for more thoughts and help if you are interested in Hel, I’d be more than happy to help you all! I’m on most days, and could always use some company in my matches.
– IGN – Nitelyte
– Discord – [link]
My Credentials
Just under 6 years of Smite experience.
Around 7,000 hours with Hel.
And …
A burning passion that cannot be tamed.
