Overview
Have you ever wondered why the enemy got so far ahead of you in levels or builds, or how you were able to make that amazing comeback despite being down so badly? Why, exactly, is being too aggressive detrimental, and what is the reasoning behind being patient in a match? How do you increase the pace of your match, and how do you slow the enemy’s pace? This guide will delve into pace (referred to as tempo), why it matters, and how to obey the rules of pacing to win games more easily.
Introduction
Let’s begin this by defining the subject we will talk about in this guide, tempo.
What is tempo? In music, it is the speed or pace of a musical piece. In Chess, it is the advantage or disadvantage that a particular move gives you over your opponent. What about in Smite? I propose to you that Smite’s definition of tempo is very much a combination of the two.
In Smite, tempo is the speed or pace of the match which determines what actions will give you an advantage over or a disadvantage to the enemy team.
What do I mean by that? Well, this guide will explain that in detail, and when you walk away from reading this, you will understand that definition in a such a clear way that you can use it to win your games.
For the sake of simplicity, throughout this guide I will be referring to tempo as pace. So please do not be confused by the change in terminology.
Let’s begin with what I typically do in my guides, and highlight the most important aspect of the subject, which I commonly refer to as the golden rule of the subject.
The Golden Rule of Tempo
You are a slave to the pace of the game. Don’t like it? Tough. You don’t get a say in the matter. However, the pace isn’t harsh or cruel, it will listen to you and reward you for obeying what it wants you to do, including rewarding you the win of the match, allowing you comebacks for obeying it after not doing so for the first part of the match, and allowing your team to overpower the enemy for obeying it better than they did. Victory in Smite rests in the hands of time. I could make a Chronos joke, but I’ll leave that to the comment section.
The pace of the match will listen to you, slowing down or speeding up based on what you do. Ultimately, you determine the pace of the game, but the pace determines the actions that you should or should not do. Obeying the pace usually speeds it up, disobeying the pace usually slows it down. In other words, obey it and it will obey you.
So learn to listen to the pace, and figure out what your options are at at any given time. If you don’t, you will lose the game to anyone who obeys the pace better than you do.
That Silent, Deafening Voice
Ever hear the phrase ‘Actions speak louder than words?’
Look at what is happening in the match, what actions are taking place. Pace is deafening. Are you losing? Your pace is slower than the enemy team’s. Are you winning? Your pace is faster than the enemy team’s. Are you about even with the enemy? You are currently vying for the pace advantage. Did you have advantage before but are currently losing? You are no longer obeying pace better than the enemy is. Were you losing the game, and now suddenly gained a comeback? You started obeying the pace better than your opponent.
Look at your team’s health as the primary resource which determines your overall tempo. The more health you have, the less likely you are to die, need to retreat, or play more cautiously than normal. You are also able to collect gold and exp at a faster rate because of the above reasons. This gold and exp is what gives you the ability to set your build up, strengthen your abilities, and eventually overpower your enemy. However, if your enemy has pace advantage, they will be overpowering you faster than you can overpower them, which is why pace is so important.
And don’t think that grabbing a whole bunch of defensive items will give you the advantage. You will also need to be able to drop the enemy’s health to slow them down, or they will overpower you regardless given enough time. Look at percentage of health rather than strict numbers; take into account how much of the total percentage of health you can take from the enemy team compared to how much of the total percentage of health the enemy can take from your team.
Knowing When to Hold, Knowing When to Fold.
Do you push the lane? Retreat to your tower? Hold the line? Attack the enemy, or their minions? Understanding the pace will allow you to properly figure out which of these things to do at any given time, and which to NOT do at any given time. Doing something you are not supposed to do will reward you negatively, up to and including defeat. Doing something you are supposed to do will reward you positively, up to and including victory.
At the start of the game, the two teams will be relatively close in terms of tempo. There are variables that I cannot go into detail in this guide, as it would take far too long, but some matchups are simply better against other matchups, and give a strong starting tempo advantage to the enemy team – these are the games where you are most likely going to lose – however it is not an impossibility to win these, you just start at a disadvantage. Without knowing how to obey pace, you are unlikely to make any headway in these matches.
I will recap each of these lists at the end of this section for easy reference.
When you are close to the same tempo, there are a few things that will help you gain advantage over the enemy team: clearing minions, holding the line, and poking at their health bars (not focusing too heavily on kills. The point is to slow them down as much as possible through small measures, forcing an eariler retreat and allowing you freedom to continue to gain gold and exp while they are trying to heal up. If you get opportunity to get a kill, without endangering your own life or the life of a teammate, then absolutely go for it – it will give you a strong early advantage in pace over the enemy team, because you get increased gold, exp, and that player is removed from the game until they respawn, giving your team a number advantage. This is why First Blood is so beneficial.)
What if the enemy has managed to gain a strong advantage over you? Retreat to the safety of your tower, focus on their minions, and wait for them to make a mistake. Feel free to poke at their health bars, but under no circumstances should you try to push against them. Stand your ground, but don’t get arrogant and think you can overpower them in a team fight. Respect the fact that they have advantage. If it’s 1v3, and you have the 3, go for the kill. If it’s even or if you are outnumbered, by no means should you attempt to push them for a kill. Try to crowd control them in your tower if they tower dive, try to bait them into tower diving if the opportunity to do so arises, the tower is going to be what evens out your tempo right now, so you need to retreat to safety and slowly build up your tempo. Make sure you have healing in your kit or in your build, and make use of it.
What if you have advantage over the enemy? Push them back into their tower. Wait for them to make the mistake, and clear their minions to continue to grow advantage. Your minions will allow you to poke inside their tower area, but be very mindful of the fact that getting inside the tower’s range means you can be crowd-controlled and get hit by that tower. This can mean losing your advantage, so play safe, and play smart. The goal here is to continue to overpower the enemy’s advantage. Focus on poking at them to get them to retreat sooner so you can take the tower, keep clearing their minions to provide gold and exp for you and your team, and under no circumstances should you allow yourself to be outnumbered by the enemy team while you are at their tower. If you need to fall back for whatever reason, pull back on the line, and push again when your teammate returns. Being outnumbered removes a large part of your advantage and can possibly be what the enemy team needs to out-pace you.
Figuring out if you have advantage over the enemy is something you will have to learn on your own. It becomes very simple when you look at what your team is forced into doing based upon the above explanations, and eventually you will be able to read the situation before the scenarios above are forced upon you and your team.
- When Even or Close To Even In Tempo:
DO: Clear Minions, Hold the Line, Poke at Enemy Health Bars
DON’T: Kill chase unless you can absolutely guarantee both the kill and your safety, Focus Kills, Let yourself take too much damage.
Basically, play cautiously, not defensively or aggressively. - When At A Disadvantage To Enemy Team:
DO: Retreat to the safety of your Tower, Focus on clearing minions, Poke at enemy health bars, Stand your ground, Bait Tower Dives if possible, Crowd Control the Tower Divers so they get hit by tower, Heal up as much as possible.
DON’T: Push unless you clearly outnumber opponent, Disrespect the fact they are stronger than you, Be arrogant.
Basically, play defensively. - When At An Advantage Over Enemy Team:
DO: Push them to their tower, Clear minions (Don’t focus on minions), Focus poking their health bars to force a retreat, Wait for them to make a mistake, Use minions to poke at their health inside tower radius.
DON’T: Tower dive unless you have minions to take the hit, let your team be outnumbered while at the enemy tower, be stupid, forget that you can be crowd-controlled inside the tower’s range.
Basically, play aggressively, while maintaining your advantage.
Patience Wins The Pace Race
Obeying the pace usually means that you must develop the core characteristic of patience. The pace often wants you to control yourself and not get too greedy, not be too aggressive and try and force a faster game. Forcing a faster game typically results in you losing quickly, which is giving you what you wanted, just not the victory you had hoped for. The tortoise and hare analogy works well in this case, but there is an old proverb that sums it up even better: “He who rules himself is stronger than he who takes a city.”
In my guide “Think Tank” – The Psychology of Support,
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I explained how a tank is basically the wall of a city, and is the primary thing that stands between you and your team getting slaughtered by the enemy team.
Having the self-control, which patience heavily relies upon, to follow the rules of pace effectively makes you and your team stronger than a team that can wipe all of you out. As the sister proverb to the one above states, “He who has no rule over himself is like a city broken down, and without walls.”
Sometimes having no evidence that something will occur or is true, other than pure and simple faith, is exactly what is needed to develop patience. You won’t know until you try. Sometimes the methods above won’t secure a win, because the enemy obeys the pace too well. Other times, it is all it takes to secure victory quickly and effectively. You won’t know which until you try, keeping your patience.
Learn to control yourself, develop patience, and obey the pace, and your experience will improve both in-game and in life, because the pace of life is more impactful than the pace of a game.
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