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A beginners guide to the roles and etiquette of SMITE (conquest)

154 10 544,233
9.4
by Pentargonite updated February 11, 2015

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Introduction

Hello there! I'm Pentargonite and I'm level 30 in SMITE. You might be asking yourself why I made this guide and why it's useful to you. Short answer: I am really tired of people not knowing what to do in their roles. It is very frustrating when you do know what to do.

Note: This is all about conquest

I will try my best at keeping this short and useful. This will not contain any information for ranked, although a lot of information in this guide is also used in ranked. If you want to know about ranked, check out Subzero008's guide

The Roles

There are 5 roles in SMITE:


The Support

Good beginner supports are Guan Yu, Ymir, Aphrodite. For more about Supports check out MysticBadger's guide about supports

The Jungler

Good beginner junglers are Thanatos, Kali, Bakasura. For more about Jungling check out Subzero008's guide about Jungling

The ADC, or Attack Damage Carry

Good beginner ADC's are Apollo, Cupid, Neith

The Solo Laner

Good beginner Solo Laners are Chaac, Ra, Chang'e. For more about The Solo Lane check out CrazyBerry's guide

The Mid laner

Good beginner Mid Laners are Kukulkan, Ra, Zeus



The Short Explanation Of The Roles

In this section I will briefly try to explain all the roles


The Support
In the current META the support secures mid camps and helps mid lane when needed. The support also protects the ADC at all costs. The support does not "steal" jungle buffs and farm from the jungler, especially not early game. Late game it doesn't matter. MysticBadger has written a great guide about supports


The Jungler
The jungler tries to get ahead of the enemy jungler and ganks, defends and pushes lanes when needed. I strongly recommend you read Subzero008's guide about Jungling
It has a lot of information about what a jungler does.


The ADC, or Attack Damage Carry
An ADC tries to get as fed as possibly for late game. Since the support usually is roaming (or he should), you are left with the enemy ADC a lot of times. Do not get so far behind that you reach late game way later then everyone else, you're the damage of the team (hence the Attack Damage Carry)


The Solo Laner
The Solo Laner stays in his lane as long as possible (preferably untill he has destroyed the enemy tower) and doesn't die. After that he, just like the support, roams around the map and helps lanes. Make sure you have good ward coverage to prevent ganks so you can stay in your lane longer. CrazyBerry has written a very good guide about the solo lane


The Mid laner
The Mid Laner fights in his lane like any other laner, but it's important to secure mid camps together with the support and the jungler to get a lead on your enemy. He also rotates to other lanes to gank. Make sure you keep an eye on your map so you know when to rotate

Which God Fits In Which Role?

In the roles section, I already gave a few examples of what gods to pick in what role. Here are almost all the gods for every role. Ofcourse, the META always changes.


The Support

Bruiser Supports:
Sun Wukong Guan Yu Tyr Chaac
These are the Bruiser Supports I think are used most often. For more check out MysticBadgers guide.


Traditional Supports:
These are the Traditional Supports I think are used most often. For more check out MysticBadgers guide.


Tank Supports:
Basically all the Guardians. I personally think Hades isn't a great tank though. There are also other tank supports, but if you're new I recommend sticking to guardians
For more supports check out MysticBadgers guide.




The Jungler
Here basically any assassin will do. Common non-assassin junglers are Freya Poseidon and Zeus. There are also "unconventional" junglers. These are junglers you wouldn't expect in the jungler like Athena Ymir Odin Geb and mages like Vulcan or Anubis. Zeus Poseidon and Freya also fall under this.



The ADC, or Attack Damage Carry
Any hunter will do. There are a few non-hunter ADC's, but if you're new, I recommend sticking to hunter ADC's.



The Solo Laner
All warriors an mages are solo-laners. ADC's like Ah Muzen Cab Neith and Artemis are also found in the solo lane, just like Thor Ne Zha Loki Mercury and Bakasura.



The Mid laner
All mages are found in the mid lane. Sometimes you also see some hunters in the mid lane, but I recommend sticking to mages if you're a beginner.

The "Unspoken Rules" Of SMITE

This is basically the chapter on how not to be a douchebag. I will cover 2 areas: What to do before the match starts and what to do/where you are supposed to be when the minions spawn.


When you get into the match lobby (where you can pick your gods) you always have to call what role you are going to play. This is very important, to prevent confusion and to build a good team. You don't want to end up with 2 ADC's, 2 solo laners and 1 mid laner. Believe me, I've been there. If there was someone who called it before you, you have to pick another role. NEVER lock in before everyone has chosen his/her role.


NEVER, EVER Insta-lock. It's the absolute worst thing you can do. Please don't be that guy


Your start depends on where the solo lane and duo lane is (the "long" and "short" lane or where the Fire Giant and Gold Fury is. The solo lane is at the Fire Giant side and the duo lane is at the Gold Fury side).


If the solo lane is on the right side, then the solo laner and mid laner take the right mid camps, while the jungler solo's the damage buff. The jungler could also help take the mid camps and take the damage buff with the solo laner. The mid laner goes to lane. After you take the damage buff, you proceed to the blue buff.
The duo laners take the blue buff for the ADC and go to lane.


If the solo lane is on the left side, the duo laners and mid laner take the right mid camps. After that the mid laner goes to lane while the duo laners pick up the blue buff for the ADC again.
The solo laner and jungler pick up the speed buff and blue buff.


I know the colours are hard to see but here are the routes:


Pristine side:
Green = Jungler
Yellow = Solo Laner
Blue = Mid Laner
Red = Duo Laners

Destroyed side:
Purple = Jungler*
Olive Green = Solo Laner
Pink = Mid Laner
White = Duo Laners

* I accidentally switched colours purple and yellow in the solo lane

The 5 second rule

What is it?
The 5 second rule is a 'rule' where you look at the minimap every 5 seconds. It is a very good rule and it will improve your gameplay greatly, as I will explain below.

Why should I use it, sounds kind of overdone...
Well, that's 100% WRONG. Why? You know where people are, if you need to rotate, when jungle camps will respawn, when you need to defend lanes which are being splitpushed, you know when you can invade the enemy jungle when he's on the other side of the map, you can call enemies who are missing (VFF in the voice command system) and if you know enemies are missing, they might be coming to gank your lane!

How to improve your gameplay

So.... You want to improve your gameplay...?


This is not guaranteed to improve your gameplay, but most of the time it will help.

  • Watch streams! I personally think Smitegame and Smitepro are the best.

  • Play with other people! Playing with other people lets you communicate better and you'll listen to their criticism better. There is a 'Looking for group' chat channel in Smite, and here we have an 'Introductions and Matchmaking' section. Go take a look!

  • Ask for a mentor! Here on Smitefire we have a 'Mentoring' section. If you want to learn a role, don't be afraid and ask for a mentor there! I learnt how to jungle there :)

Stats in Smite

Stats
I remember, when I first started playing Smite, I had no idea what things like penetration or physical lifesteal meant. I will try and explain it to you.

Physical/Magical power
This is your damage. Let's take a look at a skill ;
If you hover it, you can see that is says Damage: 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 / 800 (120% of your magical power). Say you're Kukulkan and you just bought Shoes of the Magi, you are level 3. At level 3 you have 20 magical power. Because you bought Shoes of the Magi, you get 50 more magical power. So, you now have 70 magical power. 120% of 70 is 84 (this isn't entirely true because of his passive, but this is just for demonstrative purposes). So if your Spirit's Tempest would work at level 3 with Shoes of the Magi, it would do 400+84(120% of your magical power) damage!

Physical/Magical protection
SURPRISE! This is your protection. There is a formula for the amount of damage reduction you get from protections, but you don't need to know that. What you do need to know though, is that physical protection protects you only against physical damage, not from magical damage.

Health/Mana
Also very straightforward. Health goes down the more damage you take and abilities consume mana.

Attack speed/Movement speed
How fast your god attacks and moves. Such difficult. Very explain. Wow

HP5/MP5
HP5 is your health regeneration. MP5 is your mana regeneration.

Physical/Magical penetration
The more penetration, the less armor affects you. Armor decreases damage, penetration ignores armor (in a way) so gives more damage. Every god has base armor so penetration is always needed.

Critical Chance
How much you crit. When you crit you deal double damage.

Physical/Magical lifesteal
I am not 100% sure what all the formula's are, but what I do know is that lifesteal gives you health when you do damage to something. Say you're Bakasura and you bought Asi, when you attack someone (with basic attacks only) you get health back! For magical gods you get lifesteal for abilities and basic attacks.

Conclusion + Link!

Thank you very much for reading my first guide! I have put a lot of time and effort in it. If you have any suggestion please tell me in the comments. If you see any grammar/spelling mistakes make sure to let me know! I look foreward to hearing your constructive critisism.





Special thanks to Subzero008, Mysticbadger and CrazyBerry for letting me post their guides!

Another very good guide you should definitely check out if you are new is Firraria's Complete Beginners Guide To Smite!

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Collapse All Comments

1
Lucid Sully | July 12, 2018 3:58pm
Sorry for the late reply but you mixed up the solo and duo lane. The blue buff goes to Solo and purple goes to ADC and Red goes to Mid and Gold goes to Jungle. Also is that map up to date?
1
Tlaloc1050 (17) | July 12, 2018 10:39pm
LOL
2
Branmuffin17 (400) | July 12, 2018 4:10pm
Holy blast from the past. Lucid, if you'll note the date this was last updated, it was in 2015. This guide should be considered WAY outdated, as we've seen major changes to the map itself, the meta in terms of buff pickup, etc. In 2015, this guide was accurate.

If you're looking for a general guide for Conquest, I suggest checking my Conquest guide, found here: https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/the-overarching-conquest-guide-12069

(ALSO...Purple buff often goes to the Support, not ADC as you've said)
1
Pentargonite (62) | February 11, 2015 7:17am
Zbee wrote:

Hi, first off thank you for making this guide! It is really helpful but my one question is what sort of role should a god like Artemis play? Thanks.

Hey ZBee,
Sorry for the late reply, I'm not really active anymore. Anyway, if you still look at this Artemis should definately be played in the ADC role, especially if you're a beginner :)
1
Zbee | January 24, 2015 6:13am
Hi, first off thank you for making this guide! It is really helpful but my one question is what sort of role should a god like Artemis play? Thanks.
1
Pentargonite (62) | December 8, 2014 10:34pm
Zilby wrote:

Great guide, but you might want to update everything mentioning Ao Kuang to Kukulkan. Oh how the times have changed.

Thanks! I edited it :P
1
Zilby (132) | November 29, 2014 11:54pm
Great guide, but you might want to update everything mentioning Ao Kuang to Kukulkan. Oh how the times have changed.
1
ATeamM | September 10, 2014 12:46pm
I have read that Physical lifesteal only works with physical basic attacks and not abilities but Magical lifesteal works on Magical basic attacks and abilities. Your guide says Physical lifesteal works on both. Which way is it?
1
Birdramon | June 23, 2014 9:25pm
Love you for making this!
Really hate bunches of ignorant players that autolock fenrir when the only role left is mid.
U have my upvote ><
1
Greenevers (105) | June 23, 2014 6:43am
Wafflebob wrote:

So I've noticed a few holes in this guide. And it's not your guide specifically, It's been a general hole in guides period.

The duo lane is the big one. It's not really mentioned here at all but it's an important part of conquest. I've noticed in other threads and in my games that the duo lane ends up stuck with the ADC and the support. MysticBadger's guide says that traditional supports should stay with ADC all the time. Should they still roam or should they stay in duo lane? For that matter if you are the ONLY support but not traditional, do you still want to roam or should you protect the ADC as well? ADCs, particularly in early game are very weak. Their damage output isn't enough to do much yet and they NEED gear and exp to shine. Plus they are super fragile. It usually seems ok if the other team has a similar pair of gods but in situations where you end up with like, 2 mages in duo you can get pressured back to your towers early game where you just kind of wither and fall behind. I'm looking for more general answers here, most of my support specific ones will be directed towards MysticBadger's guide.
Thank you for your time!


Well, the duo lane is made up of the support and adc which Pentargonite clearly writes about :P
1
Wafflebob | May 30, 2014 11:52pm
So I've noticed a few holes in this guide. And it's not your guide specifically, It's been a general hole in guides period.

The duo lane is the big one. It's not really mentioned here at all but it's an important part of conquest. I've noticed in other threads and in my games that the duo lane ends up stuck with the ADC and the support. MysticBadger's guide says that traditional supports should stay with ADC all the time. Should they still roam or should they stay in duo lane? For that matter if you are the ONLY support but not traditional, do you still want to roam or should you protect the ADC as well? ADCs, particularly in early game are very weak. Their damage output isn't enough to do much yet and they NEED gear and exp to shine. Plus they are super fragile. It usually seems ok if the other team has a similar pair of gods but in situations where you end up with like, 2 mages in duo you can get pressured back to your towers early game where you just kind of wither and fall behind. I'm looking for more general answers here, most of my support specific ones will be directed towards MysticBadger's guide.
Thank you for your time!
1
muffyblue | May 6, 2014 1:15am
Excellent guide it helps a lot ;)
1
Pentargonite (62) | April 22, 2014 4:41am
festive1 wrote:


I just didn't want to miss out on any juice info.


Hahaha yeah now I added a bit more :P
1
festive1 (14) | April 22, 2014 3:05am
Pentargonite wrote:


Thank you!
Yeah I updated it with a very very small update, like one sentence :P.

EDIT: Yay I added a map :)

I just didn't want to miss out on any juice info.
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