EPTSmite is a MOBA (or whichever term you prefer) in overview, but with a third person action gameplay that is more reminiscent of WoW’s gameplay. Your camera is locked into third person behind your character unless you’re dead, and you have to aim your abilities from this position, with only the minimap to guide you otherwise.
Smite’s “lore” is based around gods from different mythologies coming together to fight for two opposing armies. There are several game modes:
Conquest is basically Summoner’s Rift, with minor differences. The standard 3 lane and jungle layout with bases on either end.
Arena is a brawling mode where you have a counter that ticks down from 500 whenever you kill a creep, kill an enemy god, or get your creeps across the arena floor.
Assault is basically Howling Abyss. One lane, random picks, no jungle.
Joust is a 1v1 or 2v2 mode with one lane and side jungle. A good way to learn new gods by yourself against other people without worrying about a full Conquest game.
Domination is Dominion. I actually haven’t played it a whole lot.
All my notes here will be on Conquest, since that’s what most people end up playing as the “normal” game mode.
Mechanics notes, Or: Things that they don’t tell you the first game in
- Your autoattacks are “skillshots”, in that they fire off of your left click button and shoot straight in front of you. They can be blocked by terrain and minions, so positioning is very key in this game.
- Cripple is a new mechanic, which still allows you to move, attack, and cast, but prevents you from using any dash or jump moves.
- Minions will fuck your shit up. Seriously, 3 archer minions can do more damage to you than the enemy god if you’re not paying attention.
- Minions draw aggro on any damage to the god, including spells.
- All (I think) Magical Damage gods gain a portion of their Magical Power on their auto attacks baseline.
- The power level in this game is very high. Many champions will have the equivalent of LoL ults on their basic abilities.
What do I need to know about Conquest?
Since there is no isometric view (the control scheme you’re used to from LoL), the minimap will always show your team coming from the bottom of the map. However, the map is asymmetrical, moreso than League. Aside from the two big minion camps (Dragon and Baron equivalents), the side lanes are also not the same, one side having a shorter distance between outer towers. Since the minimap flips, and “left lane” for Invaders is different from “left lane” from Olympians, these are colloquially called “long lane” and “short lane” for purposes of the meta, or “FG lane” and “GF lane”.
There is no River going between lanes, so you’re always in the jungle if you want to roam. The jungle can be a dangerous place to be, as Fog of War actually limits your vision and hearing within it.
At the end of each lane is a Phoenix, which serves as both Tower and Inhibitor, and will respawn with minimal health after a certain amount of time before regen-ing. This means that if you’re near a Phoenix when it respawns, you can kill in relatively fast.
The enemy “Nexus” and turrets is replaced with a Minotaur. It’s big and beefy and hits hard, but you can also damage it with spells, meaning mages can do significant damage to it as well.
I’m not entirely up to spec on the meta just yet, but the gist is that you have a Mage go Mid (can be replaced with anyone with high pushing power), a Jungler (which are varied), a Hunter and either a tank or utility Mage in the Long Lane, and the Short Lane/Solo Laner can be pretty much anyone but you want them to be able to hold their own and fill out your team. When leveling, of course, who cares who goes where.
Gold Fury is the Dragon equivalent, and is located in the middle of the jungle on Long Lane side. Similarly, Fire Giant is the Baron equivalent and is located in the middle of the jungle on Short Lane side. Fire Giant isn’t nearly as deadly to teams as Baron is.
Terminology
- Physical Power = AD
- Magical Power = AP
- Physical Protection = Armor
- Magical Protection = MR
- FG = Fire Giant
Role Names
- Hunter is the term for ADC, that is, physical carry that does high damage with auto attacks
- Mage is Mage. While they do most of their damage with spells, they do have Magic Power scaling on their autos (some more than others) and there are multiple items that give extra magic damage on autos.
- Guardian is the general term for utility tank. These gods do magical damage, but generally are more focused on CC/defense than damage. They build protections and bodyguard.
- Warriors are Bruisers/Fighters/those terms that LoL GD always fights over. They have some defenses built in, but also do a large amount of Physical damage. Not as much CC as Guardians, but more punch to compensate.
- Assassins are exactly what it says on the tin. These gods are physical in nature and bring mobility, high single target burst, and low utility (usually).
Gods/Characters
Here I’ll give a quick rundown of each god and what they do. These won’t be too in depth, but should give you an idea of what to expect.
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- Agni
Mage. He has a dash and his ultimate drops meteors on you from very long range, like an AP Kog ult. He has this AoE gas thing that does damage if you stand in it, and if any of his fire spells hit it, anyone in the gas gets stunned. Try to stay out of it. His ult has an ammo system that you can see around his head if you’re close enough. - Ah Muzen Cab
Hunter. His passive applies a DoT on his abilities that hurts pretty bad. His hives give him passive boosts to AS, MS, and Hp5, and make his Honey apply his passive as well. His ult is a big nuke skillshot. Hives can only be killed with autos. - Anhur
Hunter. Has Vayne’s Condemn (which also goes through minions so works as a waveclear), Trundle’s Pillar, and a jump that also knocks back. His ult is kind of like Lucian’s, but he can turn while using it. Standing on his Pillar’s sand will slow you and also makes you take more damage from him. - Anubis
Mage, high damage. Has Elise’s stun skillshot, 2 AoEs, one a cone in front of him and one a long range ground circle. The latter slows, both hurt badly. His ult is like Malz’s on steroids that he can aim. Both his cone and his ult root him, though, so he’s high-risk high-reward. - Ao Kuang
Mage, high damage. Has a skillshot nuke and a sprint that are nothing special, but be wary of his tornadoes. Standing in one applies (and reapplies if you stay) a DoT that does a stupid amount of damage baseline and also scales hard. His ult is a giant line nuke that deals high damage and knocks everyone aside (if they don’t die). Being in either is almost entirely a death sentence for all but the tankiest gods. - Aphrodite
Mage, high utility. She links herself to an ally, giving them healing, mana regen, and incresed damage. She can also stun/slow/knockback enemies situationally. Her ult makes her and the connected god invulnerable and CC immune for a short duration. - Apollo
Hunter. Has strong AS from his passive. His dash knocks aside, and he has an AoE stun centered on himself. His ult lets him fly into the air after a short delay, and then he can land anywhere in a large radius. Slippery to lock down: if you don’t CC him and burst him, he can get away easily. - Arachne
Assassin. Strong jungler. Summons spiders, has an AoE slow. She can jump on a target’s back, doing damage and healing herself while silencing them. Her ult is Blitz’s pull that also stuns, on a relatively short CD, making her ganks rather scary. - Ares
Guardian. Gains Magic Power from protections, so gets pretty scary later on. Chains will cripple and slow enemies, and he can fire them in succession if he lands them on a god. Has a cone fire ability. His ult is very powerful, chaining everyone in a radius and pulling them to him after a short delay if they don’t use a defensive maneuver. - Artemis
Hunter. Kind of a mix between Ashe and Cait. Gets free Crit and AS from Passive + 2. Has traps that root and a Hail of Arrows that slow. Her ult makes her CC immune and summons a Boar that charges and stuns enemies. - Athena
Guardian. If Shen and Leona had a baby it would be this chick. Melee, but after casting a spell gets a ranged attack. Blocks autos. Has an AoE cone taunt. Her ult gives an ally 25% DR and then she globally teleports to them, dealing AoE damage when she lands. - Bacchus
Guardian. Decent damage, has an AoE slow, an AoE stun, and his ult makes enemy gods drunk (blurry screen and wobbly walking). CC depends on his drunkenness, which is a meter that fills and drains as he drinks. - Bakasura
Assassin. Good jungler, can get really hyper-carry if you let him go, thanks to AoE autos on his ult and true damage on autos from 3 (which yes are applied to the AoE). He eats minions and then laters throws them up with his ult. Has a long range jump. - Bastet
Assassin. Has 2 nukes, and LeBlanc’s jump (in that you can jump back after using it). Her ult summons cats that will seek out enemies that have recently been damaged by her. She has good damage, but you can kill her cats and CC her pretty easily. - Chang’e
Mage, high utility. Has heals, mana regen, and protection buffs for her and nearby allies, basically making her Sona-esque. Her ult is basically Sona’s, a line stun. Her passive lets her send back her bunny as a courier to buy an item for her every now and then. - Chronos
Mage, mix of damage and utility. Has a high damage but difficult AoE nuke. Also shoots out a line that stuns anyone caught in it, and his ult rewinds him to his position/health from 8 seconds ago. The big mechanic is Accelerate, which gives him MS and AS while also providing a buff depending on where his clock is at (difficult to explain, it’s a UI thing for him). - Cupid
Hunter. Has a skillshot stun and an AoE suppress on his ult. He throws out hearts that can be picked up to heal himself and teammates, so he can work as both a damage dealer and a semi-support. - Fenrir
Warrior. Has several jumps and a situational stun. Really high sticking power and sustain from free lifesteal. His ult makes him big, gives him extra protections, and makes him CC immune. During this time, he can grab an enemy in his mouth and carry them with him (usually to his team). - Freya
Mage. Think Kayle. She’s melee normally, but her 2 makes her autos ranged. Her autos scale super hard with Magic Power, making her scary later. Has an AoE banish (enemies caught are CC’d but can’t be hurt). Her ult makes her fly up in the air, immune to damage and CC, and shoot fire down on enemies. - Guan Yu
Warrior. His kit is all about giving himself CDR. Has an AoE heal, a dash that slows, and a frontal line attack that does damage and gives him extra protections. His ult lets him charge in on a horse, slowing and stunning enemies. - Hades
Guardian. Ranged, with decent damage, so he’s like half Mage half Guardian. His autos apply a debuff that make his other abilities have special effects. He can fear, slow, and heal allies. Has a dash. His ult pulls in enemies around him (impossible to get out of without CC immunity or a jump) and does damage, like a Galio ult on steroids. - He Bo
Mage, very high damage. Has a line nuke and a ground circle nuke that also knocks up, both with high bases and scaling. He drops a river that slows enemies and speeds up allies, kind of like Galio’s gust. His ult turns him into a wave and does a lot of damage to anyone he dashes through. He does just a dumb amount of damage. - Hel
Mage, high utility. Switches forms between Dark (damage/debuff) and Light (buffs/healing).
-Dark Stance: Debuffs enemy Magic Protection and has 2 nukes. Gets free Magic Power.
-Light Stance: Self healing, team healing, team MS, and team CC removal. - Hercules
Warrior. Gets free healing and physical power. Can knock enemies back, and then his 2 also can throw enemies back towards him at a certain range. His ult throws a boulder that does a large amount of damage and bounces off terrain. - Hun Batz
Assassin. Kind of think Riven, has her passive (extra physical damage after ability cast) and high damage, and 2 jumps, all abilities AoE. His ult is like a placeable Hec ult, does damage and forces enemies to run away from it. - Isis
Mage, good damage and utility. Her main nuke is 4 bursts that shoot out of her while she can move, also gives her MS. Has an AoE that lowers Magical Protections and slows. Her 2 is basically Anivia’s stunball. Her ult is Maokai’s on steroids, reducing damage taken inside of it and then explodes dealing damage but also healing your teammates inside of it, more damage/healing from more damage absorbed. - Kali
Assassin. Good damage, high sustain, no CC. All her nukes are AoE and she has good MS boosts, so she can run in and kill people pretty well. Lack of CC or a jump/dash makes her kind of mitigatable. - Loki
Assassin. Your basic assassin, really. Has stealth, a next-hit auto nuke, and a jump that nukes the person he hits and stuns them. Does more damage from behind, so better to face him. His decoy taunts minions and does AoE damage. Can jungle fairly well, also very slippery as the game goes on. - Mercury
Assassin. Goes fast. His AoE nuke increases in radius as you level. If his dash hits you it stuns you and he can throw you in a direction of his choosing. Scales Physical Power off of MS and can ignore slows. Does a lot of damage on his autos. His ult is a huge range dash that spins around and stuns enemies caught in it. - Ne Zha
Assassin. Has Amumu’s Bandage Toss. 2 gives him a AS+Crit steroid, making his autos a nightmare. His bouncing ring gives him MS and debuffs enemy Physical Protections. He gets really dangerous as he gets items. His ult charges forward, grabbing an enemy and dragging them into the air where he kicks their ass. - Neith
Hunter. Line snare, AoE nuke that heals her, and Cait’s Net but without the slow and with huge range on the jump. She leaves these little glowy things on the ground, if you’re near one and she hits it with an ability, it does extra effects. Her ult is like Ashe Arrow + Cait Ult, as it locks on and stuns the target it hits. The longer she aims, the longer the stun and more damage. If the ult hits a glowy weave, everyone nearby is stunned and nuked. - Odin
Warrior. He’s Jarvan. Like, Jarvan without the line knockup but with more free protections and a massive jump. His ult is basically Jarvan ult but can’t be dashed out of (can be jumped out of), and he gets massive offensive+defensive steroids and CC immunity within the ult. - Poseidon
Mage, high damage. His passive stacks on auto attacks and drains on spell cast, the higher the stacks the more MS and damage he has. Has an auto steroid that makes his attacks AoE. Has a line nuke that knocks up, and a Pool that pulls enemies in and cripples them. His ult RELEASES THE KRAKEN, which nukes and knocks up enemies. - Ra
Mage, high damage and utility. Lasers. Has Lux ult. His circle is AoE healing and damage, making him a good pick for both solo and duo lanes. His 2 is a self-centered slow and DoT that also blinds any enemies looking at him after the full duration. High bases, sustain, and utility lets him build semi-tanky and still be awesome. - Sobek
Guardian. Singed + Renekton. His cone nuke sustains him, so he can solo lane as well as play support in a duo. Has a charge + Fling, and an AoE knockup. His ult makes him CC immune and regens mana, while slowing enemies in the radius. When it ends, he jumps up and does a bunch of damage. - Sun Wukong
Warrior. Really strong and hard to kill. His passive gives him power and defense if under 50% health. He has a line nuke on 1 and a mini version of LoL!Wukong’s ult on his 2. His dash has 3 forms: Bird is fast and CC immune, Tiger will stun and damage the first target he hits, and Boar is CC immune, does damage, and knocks aside. His ult makes him jump in the air, leaving behind a clone that fights for him. On the cloud, he heals, and then can jump off in a direction of his choosing. - Thanatos
Assassin. Heals off minion and god kills. Two AoE nukes, one of which silences, the other does %health damage and slows. Has a MS and slow immune buff. His passive is WW’s Blood Scent, but map wide, letting him see low health targets. His ult lets him fly in the air, if he lands on an enemy god under a certain health threshold, he kills them instantly. - Thor
Warrior. Garen’s spin with a gap closer, a line stun, and a semi-global teleport (that also stuns on landing). His line stun leaves a wall, allowing him to cut off retreats even if it doesn’t land. Can jungle fairly well, as his ult ganks are super long range and unexpected. - Tyr
Warrior. Semi-stance changer. His 1 is a dash and his 2 is a cleave in both stances, but the different stances have separate CDs and different effects. Offensive stance (red) gives free Physical Power, Defensive stance (blue) gives free protections. His ult is a jump that does AoE damage and slows, nothing special. - Vamana
Warrior. He can steer his dash and it knocks aside anyone he hits, has an AoE and line nuke, the latter of which slows and reduces AS. His ult makes him big, giving him huge offensive/defensive/regen steroids and making him CC immune, but removing his ability to cast spells. - Vulcan
Guardian. Half mage, really. He’s the Turret god, one is a cannon that shoots in a direction (doesn’t turn) and the other is an AoE slow and damage field. Think Heimer, as he gives regen and health/protections to his turrets. He also has a nuke that makes his turrets prioritize the target hit. His ult gives him a defensive steroid and MS boost, while allowing his cannon turret to turn full 360 degrees and auto-target gods. - Xbalanque
Hunter. Has a toggle that makes his autos do extra damage and AoE, and an AoE slow/poison nuke as well. His dash does extra damage to enemies poisoned by his nuke. Kind of a Twitch/Ashe hybrid, but with a dash. His ult is like, half of a Nocturne ult as it removes vision on every enemy, but at the end of the duration anyone who is moving is stunned. He gets MS while his ult is active. He gains permanent Physical Power after the first 6 kills, giving him a very strong snowball early/mid game. - Ymir
Guardian. If Nunu and Anivia had a baby. Has an AoE slow field that does damage when it hits. Has a cone shaped nuke. Anivia’s wall is his 1. His ult is Nunu’s ult, but with CC immunity so it can’t be cancelled by enemies. One of the best duo-lane bodyguards. - Zeus
Mage. Think Kennen but without needing to get into melee. His passive applies a mark on all his autos and spells. His 3 detonates any marks on any location on the map, including enemies that are in the air such as Thanatos/Freya/Sun Wukong. Enemies with three marks are stunned upon detonation. His ult is a big AoE field that applies damage and marks over a duration. Also has a nice MS/protections buff/slow immunity on his 2. - Zhong Kui
Mage. Sort of half-Guardian as well. Interesting kit, he marks enemies and then eats demons out of them, the more demons he eats the higher his protections from his passive. He marks enemies with a tag that does a DoT, then removes it with an AoE that heals him if the targets hit had a tag. When he ults, he gains double his protections and does AoE damage as well as healing allies, but after the ult is over his passive demon count is reset to zero.
Every account has Ra, Guan Yu, Neith, Ymir, and Thor unlocked, and there are 5 more gods on free rotation. Gods can be unlocked via Favor (IP) or Gems (RP). You can also spend $30 for the God Pack, which unlocks all current and future gods and refunds you for any gods you’ve already purchased.
Skins are also in this game. Every god has at least one recolor skin that you can purchase with Favor, but any “cool” or “unique” skins are Gem only. Golden Skins are unlockable through Favor and also require you to have played that god enough times to have rank 1 mastery with them. At rank 10 mastery, if you have the Gold skin you also unlock the Ultimate skin, which is Gold and Black.
You can also unlock Voice Packs with Gems, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Voice Packs? aka VGS
VGS is a system in the game that allows quick relay of information without typing. If you hit V, you open up a choice tree that has different options. With this, you can call out things like MIAs, ganks, or general commands quickly.
Voice packs will make it so, if you're playing a god you have the pack for, you hear the calls in their voice instead of the default announcer, as do your teammates.
Some examples follow:
To Read: If you see a #, pressing 1 will indicate Left Lane, 2 will indicate Mid Lane, and 3 will indicate Right Lane. Pressing the previous button again will indicate a general call. So VG1 is “Gank Left Lane!”, while VGG is “Gank!”.
- VF# - Enemy Missing!
- VG# - Gank!
- VA# - Attack!
- VH# - Help!
- VD# - Defend!
Note: Adding an S after the V in any of the above will change it to “I’ll do X!”. So, VSG1 is “I’ll gank left lane!” and VSDD is “I’ll Defend!”.
- VVB - Be Right Back!
- VVA - OK!
- VVX - Cancel That
- VVGN - Nice One!
- VVVG - Group Up!
- VVVR - Ultimate is ready!
- VVVT - It’s a Trap!
- VEG - I’m the greatest!
- VEW - Woohoo!
- VER - You Rock!
You can find a full list here: http://smite.gamepedia.com/Voice_Guided_System
How does Jungling work?
Same is it does in League… sorta. You pick a god with sustain and ganking prowess, then you farm the jungle and gank. You generally get help on your first 2 camps.
Bumba’s mask is the jungling item, as it gives you healing when you kill a jungle creep, gives you increased Mp5 in the jungle, and extra gold from killing jungle monsters as long as you’re by yourself. Junglers will start with this and then either another item or an active.
Any god can only ever have 1 jungle buff at a time, so what a lot of junglers do is start red (damage) or orange (MS/AS) and then do Blue (mana regen and CDR) and give the buff to a teammate. Coordinate with your teammates to make sure no buff ever gets wasted.
Gods that are currently good junglers as of this guide: Thor, Bakasura, Anubis, Arachne, Loki, Thanatos, Sun Wukong, Tyr, Fenrir, Bastet, He Bo, Hun Batz, Kali, Ne Zha.
More Coming Soon
Items
I’m not going to do a full rundown of items, but you should be able to figure out what items are at least useful. Ability focused people want CDR. Hunters want Physical Power/Pen/AS/Crit. Assassins want MS/AS/PPower. Guardians want a mix of Protections and Health, maybe MPen if they can get it. Mages want MPower/MPen/CDR.
There are of course gods that are different. Certain mages (Chronos/Zeus/Freya) like AS because of their mechanics. Ah Muzen Cab likes CDR to an extent. Certain gods want more MS because they have no mobility options.
A good way to get started is to open up the item tab labeled Popular. This gives a list of highly bought items for that god across all players. The recommended items also aren’t horrible either.
All items, aside from the 4 starter items, can be upgraded twice, sometimes with multiple paths. If you’re just starting, getting boots and another item and then finishing boots is generally a good way to start.
There are certain items that don’t take up your 6 item slots. Consumables have 2 slots, these are wards, potions, elixirs, and one-use teleports.
Actives also have 2 separate slots. These are abilities that would be Summoner Spells or active items in League. These are very powerful and are necessary to counter some gods. For example, good Aegis (which is basically Zhonya active) use can negate Poseidon’s combo completely. You need at least one Creeping Curse if they have a big Bakasura or Ne Zha on their team. Certain ults become amazing with Blink (Flash that can’t be used in combat).
General Tips/Other
When you first install, there will be an option selected labeled “Auto Level Skills/Auto Buy Items” or something similar. You can leave this on for a while until you get a hang of the gods you like, at which point you should know what you want to level and when, which may be different from the recommended options.
For the first while, don’t worry about your team. Play who you think is fun. Teamcomp matters, but not as much early on. Don’t be afraid to play against bots either.
More to come
