Overview
New to SMITE? Want to improve your skills at the game and get toxic players to stop bad mouthing you? This guide will go over the five best tips that I think will help you improve your SMITE skills.
Introduction
Despite being easier to learn how to play than most other games in its genre, SMITE is still a MOBA and for that reason, it can be hard to adapt to what is still a relatively new type of game. Along with the astoundingly toxic community, SMITE can still be difficult to get into for those new to the MOBA genre. In this guide, I will give you a few simple tips you can apply when playing SMITE to get better and keep the toxic players off your back. Keep in mind that knowledge can only take you so far however and be prepared to practice a lot if you really want to get better at SMITE.
Tip #1 -Know when to chase and when not to chase
One of the most frequent mistakes I see new and even relatively experienced players make is sacrificing everything just to stop a single enemy player escaping on a slither of health. While this can be frustrating, sometimes chasing an enemy god to the ends of the earth and dying yourself in the process is not worth it. In some cases you may not even finish them but still die. When you are presented with a situation like this you should take the following into account:
- How much health do I have left?
- How far away am I from the enemy?
- Are there any structures like towers that could make finishing them difficult?
- Are there any other enemy gods nearby that could provide a problem?
- Are there any allied gods nearby that could aid me?
- Do I have any other teammates like Neith who could finish the enemy without putting themselves or others in immortal danger?
- How many of my abilities are not on cooldown and do I have a reliable escape ability ready?
Take a moment to think before deciding whether to chase or not chase. If your health is in the red or yellow and the enemy is behind a tower with another enemy god ready to stop you then chasing is downright suicidal. If your health is relatively high, all other enemy gods are dead and you have an ally on hand to help you THEN chasing is a good idea. It’s key to remember that while kills do play a part in winning, SMITE is STILL a team game at heart and losing one or two kills is much more preferable to flinging yourself into enemy ranks on low health to get a single kill.
Tip #2-Work WITH your teammates, not against them
As I mentioned earlier, SMITE is a team game at heart, not some kind of free-for-all or team deathmatch. This means that you need to keep your allies in mind when playing as well as yourself even if you’re a role that is mostly based on getting kills and improving on your own like assassins or hunters. Some degree of teamwork is still required if you want to win. Let me give you a bad example of teamwork or rather lack thereof. I was playing an arena game one day as Zhong Kui. For those who don’t know, Zhong’s passive is stacks(kill minions and enemies to increase power) and allows him to gain protections and increase the power of his ult for every enemy he exorcises. I explained this at the start of the game so my allies would know that I needed stacks so they shouldn’t build stacks and let me build up my power so I can further aid the team. A Scylla on my team however, build stacks even after I said this and proceeded to kill all the minions and continued to even after I said this to her once again. We went on to lose that game by a mile.
Like it or not, you’re in a TEAM and how are you supposed to defeat the enemy if you can’t even work together with your allies. Therefore, you should listen to your allies and help them out whenever you can. Sort out what you are going to build at the start of a game, alert your allies to any suspicious enemy movement(e.g. tell them “Enemies incoming left” so they have ample time to retreat), congratulate them upon getting a kill or doing a nice job at something, body block enemies(if you are on high enough health to take it) to allow them to escape e.t.c. The point is that teamwork is key if you have any hope of winning.
Tip #3-Adapt your builds
When you first see all the items in you can buy in SMITE during a game it can be quite overwhelming. Because of this, a lot of people get ‘perfect’ builds from the Internet and just use them. While there is no problem with that if you are new, you should still learn to adapt to the game by counter-building your foes. In some games it may be perfectly fine to stick to the build you’ve got but when you are against certain gods you should make changes to be more effective against them. If you are new then you won’t know how to dodge most of the abilities in the game so if you are getting your ass kicked by a hunter or assassin you should build physical protection items like Hide of the Nemean Lion. You should do likewise if you are getting owned by magical enemies(Magical enemies are guardians and mages, physical enemies are ever other role). This will make it harder for enemies to kill you and feed off you meaning you have effectively countered them. If the enemy team has a lot of healing, for example, an Aphrodite and a Sylvanus it is almost a requirement to build Pestilence and Brawlers Beat Stick to limit their healing.
Even if you are an offensive role like assassin there is NOTHING wrong with building defence. If you are feeding, the problem will not just go away if you continue to build normally, you should make an active effort to try and adapt to the game. If you don’t know how to adapt then the enemy team can easily predict and beat you.
Tip #4-Learn to move unpredicatably
This is only a small tip but it can make a world of difference. While you are being chased and are on a slither of health, every hit you dodge matters. Whatever you do, do NOT move in a straight line. Constantly move diagonally and left and right while running away to make it as hard as possible for the enemy gods to hit you. If you are against a Loki you should also run backwards because of his passive(extra damage if he hits someone from behind) to negate it. This gives you a higher chance of escape which depending on the situation can completely change the outcome of the game. For example, if you are the last god remaining and your phoenix is down, you will be able to defend your titan which can lead to a possible comeback. This is also not hard at all to learn so this is probably the easiest tip you can apply to your games.
Tip #5-Know your relics
Relics are an important part of SMITE. They are like extra abilities with large cooldowns that can completely change the outcome of a team fight or skirmish. You can select one at level 1 and another at level 12 but you can not change them once you buy them and leave the fountain. Different relics work well with different gods(e.g. Hades with Thorns) but there are a few that work well universally if you are not sure. Sanctuary is simple and works good as a first option, giving you 2 seconds of complete invulnerability once activated. Meditation is another good starting relic that instantly gives you some health and mana which is good for quick saves and outsustaining the enemy.
The enemies you face should also affect which relics you pick. Purification is a must for enemy gods with high crowd control(abilities that can severely affect the outcome of a fight that can often target several gods at once). If you are not sure whether purification or sanctuary is a better option then here are some gods you should remember to get purification for. Ares for his ultimate, Xing Tian for his ultimate, Nox for her shadow lock and Hades for his ultimate. If you are against an Odin, phantom is a good idea to escape his ultimate. Frenzy is a good relic if you plan to go on the offensive and quickly destroy structures and I recommend it as a second relic in most cases. If you play guardians like Ares, Xing Tian, Sylvanus and Geb that have high CC area ultimate’s then blink is a good idea to catch your enemies by surprise.
The rest of the relics are a bit more complicated to use and should only be bought if you know what you are doing. This is just a general guide to relics and you will probably learn better through playing the game.
Conclusion
That was my five main tips for beginners and new players who want to improve on SMITE. I hope you enjoyed reading it and get use out of it. Feel free to post any criticisms in the comments.
Also check out this guide on my blog here[gamersguildblog.wordpress.com]: