Artemis S3 Guide: Prepare to leave, full of arrows! (Updated 3.20)

Hello fellow SMITE players! This is a guide to help you all build and play Artemis. Artemis is by far my most loved godess in the game. I find her playstyle very enjoyable and she's a capable and strong godess.

Artemis was my first ever Diamond godess. I don't claim to be the best at her, but I do have a lot of experience with her and I do well with her in most of my games and carry the team, like you should... most of the time.

This update contains the following:

- Completely visual revision of the guide.
- Completely new updated information.
- S4 content.
- High amount of information.
- Potential in-depth information.

The updated guide will contain information to represent Artemis as of S4, presumably from start to finish. When S5 rolls around, no plans are made yet to continue further support.

Artemis is a strong godess. Unfortunately the "easy" part about her only shows at the very late game. During early and mid game, Artemis is rather weak and, let's face it, worse than other hunters. That does not make her any less lovable, let's see what you need to do and when you need to do it!





Early game:

The early game is by far the hardest. You'll find yourself needing to return to base quite frequently due to health or mana shortage.

The mana problems are quickly solved by building Transcendence, but health will still be a problem, and Artemis has no (real) escape either.



Here are a few tips to not die:


#1: Stay behind your teammates, but not all the way at the back either.
-> Remember how everybody says: "Hunters are supposed to be at the backline, because they're so squishy." Well, wrong!
Now, I'm not saying you should be standing all the way at the front or heck, even at the enemy tower, defenitely not, you need to be in the middle.

You may ask: "Why?"
Simple, really. Let's explain this in points, to make it more visible and understandable:

-Front: If you're found out in front of your team, you're going to get hit. Alot. You'll then get CC'd, hit, and die.
-Back: The back isn't safe either. If the enemy assassin comes around and finds you behind your team, you're an easy kill. We all know that Loki that killed you 10 times because he found you all alone behind your team.


#2: Never stay in the jungle to long. The only times you should be found in the jungle is:

- Grabbing damage or mana buff.
- Quick XP camp clear.

Attempt to never be alone while in the jungle. If the enemy assassin catches you, you're most likely dead.


#3: Never over-extend. Do not go further than half the lane, ever. Unless you're pushing lane, there's no reason for you to be there. Why?
If the enemy jungler (or anybody else, really) ganks you at that point, it's game-over. Artemis has no escape, so if you're caught half the lane, you're a goner. Heck, even 1/4th of the lane is allready to far.


#4: Allways place wards.




Mid game:

At this point, you'll start to become stronger. You'll be able to survive on your own, so your support can go and help others now.
However, do not forget about the points for the early game. You're still fairly weak compared to others, so keep those in mind.

Here are the things you'll need to know for mid-game:

#1: You can enter the jungle for longer periods of time now. However, do take care not to hang around. It's a good idea to place Sentry wards while you're here. You may happen to find an enemy ward, which if you destroy it, can save lives.


#2: Now this isn't only for you, this is for the entire team, but should nobody on your team do it: Start warding Fire Giant and Gold Fury. Not only will you be able to sneak up on enemies and kill them, you'll also be able to know when an enemy tries to get this objective, and counter it.





Late game:

This is probably what you're really excited about. And for good reason. The late game is where Artemis shines and is by far the most dangerous hunter. She can melt enemies in an instant, from mages to even some tanks.

However, do keep in mind that this does not mean you're going to get Godlikes through the roof, or be invincible.

There are still a few things to keep in mind. They are the following:

#1: Do not over-extend. Again, the same thing as early and mid game. If you're caught somewhere you shouldn't be, the entire enemy team can jump you. If you're either:
- Lucky
- Very Skilled
- Or your enemy is stupid
you'll get out alive. Otherwise, you're most likely dead.


#2: Do not attempt to solo. You should allways be in close proximity of teammates. Sure, it's annoying when they "steal" a kill from you, but it's better that they're nearby to help you, should you get in trouble, than them not being nearby when you get in trouble.

Also do not attempt to solo Fire Giant or Gold Fury. Believe it or not, it's possible to solo these 2 as Artemis alone. But if the enemy finds you while doing it...


#3: Keep warding.





Wards


Now that we've got that out of the way, let's show exactly where you should ward, as Artemis.

Note: to ward, you'll need to buy Ward or Sentry Ward first, obviously.

Warding map

Note: the map presented is when you start from the Chaos side, and is Conquest only. If you play any other gamemode and would like some warding tips, feel free to ask. If you are on the Order size, simply turn the map 180 in your mind. (Or download the image and use some editing program)

Legend:

Text:
"Your lane": The lane where you (ADC / carry) should be.
"Mid lane": The lane where your middle laner should be.
"Solo lane": The lane where your solo laner should be.
"Jungle A": The jungle next to your lane.
"Jungle B": The jungle next to the solo lane.

Colored circles (aka warding points).
Green: The green circles represent the wards you place in the early game. These wards should be placed throughout the entire game.
Yellow: The yellow circles represent the wards you should place in the mid game.
Red: The red circles represent the wards you should place in the late game.

Note: A player can have a maximum of 2 wards up at a time. Ask your team to help ward these crucial points. The wards next to your lane, however, are your responsibility!

The items are probably what you really came for, right? Come on, I know it is, don't be so shy! :P

As far as items go, you want to build these things:


- Attack speed items
- Physical Power items
- Crit chance items
- Mana items
- Penetration items
Alternatively, you can also build the following, if necessary:
- Defense items
- Health items
- Cooldown items
- Regeneration items


The recommended items can be found atop the guide. Now, you probably want to know:

"But xZeroStrike, why do we build these items and not just paste some random things there?

Well, Timmy, if you really want to paste random items there, go ahead, maybe you'll come up with something usefull, but here, I'll be explaining why to build these items!





- Transcendence
Categories: Mana, Physical power, MP5


Transcendence, the item that looks like this: , is BY FAR the most necessary item on Artemis.
Without it, you'll run out of mana quicker that you can say:
"Johnboy, get the beer out of the freezer and let's get the party started!"


Transcendence doesn't only give you flat mana increase, it'll also gain stacks, which will hold other benefits:
15 mana / stack gained, with a max. of 50 stacks.
- God kill: rewards 5 stacks. 10 kills will max out your stacks.
- Minion kill: 1 stack. 50 kills will max out your stacks.


Not only that, but 3% of your mana (!!), is converted to physical power!

With the Mana also comes Physical power, resulting in harder hits, and also MP5, which will make your Mana regenerate faster!


To summarize Transcendence:
35 Physical power
300 Mana
6 MP5
Conclusion: You NEED this item!





- Ninja Tabi
Categories: Physical power, Attack speed, Movement speed.


The Ninja Tabi is Artemis' go to boots. As Artemis, you'll want to make most out of your Vengeful Assault, but you need attack speed for that skill to actually do something. Thus you pick Ninja Tabi over Warrior Tabi


Ninja Tabi gives, ontop of the attack speed:
Movement speed, ... Hold it right there! Isn't that the point of boots? Then why did I.. nevermind, carry on! ... so you'll run faster! Ya..y!
And also some physical power!, and now mana aswell! Hallelujah!


To summarize Ninja Tabi:
20 Physical power.
20% Attack speed.
18% Movement speed.
+100 mana
Conclusion: You'll want to get Ninja Tabi!

Tired of reading for a sec? Open this one!

Hold on Jim! All this reading is makin' me neck stiff and me eyes hurt. Can I have a small break, boy?

Why ofcourse! Here, have some funny picture I found on the internet!

Okay! Let's ... wait what? You still don't want to read? Okay, fine, here, look at Artemis' beautiful face:

Enough now! Let's carry on!

- Qin's Sais
Categories: Physical Power, Attack speed.


Qin's Sais may just be the best item when dealing with those pesky tanks! Here are some examples from happy customers:

Our customer reviews in here!

Annie says: "Ymir kept breathing on me. Ever since I bought Qin's I haven't seen him again".

Hercules says: "Everytime I was fighting Geb and ripped a boulder from the ground, it turned out that Geb was that boulder. Ever since I bought Qin's I sent him back to the fountain before picking my rock".

Hold on! Isn't Hercules a god in the game? Did we just break the 4th wall? Whatever! Continue to our last review!

Duck says: "Kwack".

That were our Qin's customer reviews, as you can see, they're all very satisfied!

Qin's Sais gives you Physical power and Attack speed. Like stated before, Attack speed is very important on Artemis!

But Qin's Sais beauty comes with its passive!
The passive lets you do 4% of your target's health (after your initial damage), regardless of any defenses.


If that sounds to complicated, here's some mathematical presentation to help you understand better! Now, math sucks, so open at your OWN risk!

Math's presentation. I mean, mathematical

Scenario 1: You deal 300 damage to a target without defenses. The target has 1.000 health. 4% would then be: 40 damage.
Result: 300 + (4% =)40 = 340. You would thus do 340 damage to that target.

Scenario 2: You are facing a tank. Your damage against a target without defenses is 300. The defenses of this tank, however, makes you deal only 110 damage. This tank has 3.000 health points. 40% of 3.000 is 120.
Result: 300 -> 110 / 110 + (4% =)120 = 230.

Here you can see why Qin's Sais helps alot against tanks (and well, other targets to).

And to simplify it again, since you deal 4% of a target's health as damage/hit as MINIMAL damage (because your base damage comes on top of that, to), you'll never have to hit a target more than 25 times! (because 4 * 25 = 100, so if you damage a target for 100% of it's health, that means death! Ofcourse, there's lifesteal and shields and healing, so "max 25 hits" is not entirely realistic, but you get the point!)

To summarize Qin's Sais:
40 Physical power.
15% Attack speed.
4% of target's health as damage/hit. (!!)
Conclusion: You NEED Qin's Sais for tanks. And even if there's no tanks, this item is super usefull, as you'll be hitting like a small truck!

- Bloodforge
- Asi
Categories:
Bloodforge: Physical power, Lifesteal, A nice shield upon killing an enemy!
ASI: Attack speed, Physical penetration, Lifesteal.


Now, you need to decide what to get, okay? I'll summarize both items, just to help you understand them a bit better, but after that it's up to you to make a choice.

Bloodforge This item gives: Physical power. Lifesteal. The physical power lets you do more damage, and while you are hitting enemies, you'll also steal their life, mwuha.. sorry. You'll be restoring your own HP. How cool is that?! Now Bloodforge's beauty comes from its passive. The passive is: Whenever you kill an enemy (god), you get a shield. The shield has 200 hp + 10 hp per level. So if you're level 20 that's another 200 totalling a 400 HP shield! While the shield is active, you'll also get 10% movement speed, allowing you to escape easier after you've killed somebody and the other 4 enemies are now chasing you trying to get dat booty.

Asi This item gives: Physical penetration. Attack speed. Lifesteal. Asi doesn't have physical power, but instead empowers your attack speed even more. However, since Artemis' buff in SMITE V1.14, her base attack speed is higher, so this items is less of a necessity, allowing for the replacement to Bloodforge. Now, that doesn't make this item useless. It still has Flat penetration, allowing you to ignore some defenses of your enemy and do more damage this way, and it also has Lifesteal. This item also has a passive, which simply gives you increased lifesteal for 5 seconds when you drop below 35% health, so if you get in a bit of a pickle this item is there to help you climb back out of it. That is, ofcourse, if you aren't dead by the time you get to use it...

To summarize Bloodforge and Asi:
Bloodforge
+75 Physical power.
+15% Physical Lifesteal.
A nice shield after a kill to help you fight even more or escape easier.
Note: expensive. :c

Asi
+15 Physical penetration.
+20% Attack speed.
+15% Physical lifesteal.
Increased lifesteal (5s) when dropping below 35% health. Only every 15s.
Conclusion: You'll need one of these items. Either Asi or Bloodforge, whichever sounds cooler to you.

Tired of reading again? More pictures here!

A short intervention for some pictures, just to make this whole thing look a bit less.. "wall-of-text-y"

- Deathbringer
Categories: Physical power, Crit chance.


Deathbringer is an item you'll need to get for your critical hits. The critical hits will let you do ALOT of damage and melt your enemies... Provided they don't melt you first.


Now you may be wondering:
But xZeroStrike, why don't you build Rage because that has more critical chance because of the passive!
Well Timmy, we don't build Rage because of Artemis' passive, Still Target, which allready gives her a base 15% crit chance.

Hold on again for a minute, can anybody tell me what the icon for that passive actually is? Here it is:

To me, it looks like broccoli!

Anyway...

Deathbringer, ontop of the Crit chance, also gives a bit of Physical power, AND, it increases your critical strike damage by 50%! 50! Sheez, that's alot, but that's why we love Deathbringer!

To summarize Deathbringer:
+50 Physical power.
+20% Critical strike chance.
Passive: Crit hit damage increased by 40%

Now, you'll have to decide again. This is the last time, I promise. Well, you shouldn't complain just yet, Jim, I've been putting together this guide all on my own and all you need to do is choose twice, don't get mad, please!


Wind demon - Wind Demon
- Malice

Here, you'll have to decide, do you pick Wind demon, or Malice? I'll just list what both items have to offer, to make it easier for you to decide. (See Jim, how nice of me, isn't it?)


Wind Demon
Categories: Physical power, Crit chance, Attack speed and movement speed on critical hits.

The Physical power will again help you to hit harder, and the Crit chance will help you to get more critical hits. However, this is pretty much exactly what Malice does to...

But xZeroStrike, if they do the same thing, then why do you make us choose?!
Well my dear friend, the differnce lies in their passives.

Wind demon's passive increases your attack and movement speed when you get a critical hit by 20% for 5s.


Malice's passive makes it so that whenever you get a critical hit, your attacks over the next 3s will have more damage equal to 75% of your physical power. This effect refreshes with another critical hit.


To summarize Wind Demon and Malice:
Malice:
+50 Physical power.
+20% critical strike chance.
The passive (explained above).

Wind Demon:
+40 Physical power.
+20% critical strike chance.
The passive (explained above).
Conclusion: You'll want to buy Malice or Wind Demon If you've bought Asi, I recommend Malice / If you've bought Bloodforge I recommend Wind Demon.

Whoops! Look like we forgot penetration at first!
But don't be scared, Jim, Asi has penetration!... Oh, that's not enough?

No problem! Here are 2 items you can build to add more penetration and bully even the tankiest of tanks!

The 2 items we're talking about are: *drumroll*

- Titan's Bane
And!
- Jotunn's Wrath
Categories:
Titan's Bane: Physical power, Physical penetration.
Jotunn's Wrath: Physical power, Physical penetration, Cooldown reduction, Mana.

But xZeroStrike, what about my 6th crit item that is lying there shining and calling me to buy it?!
Don't worry, if there are no tanky tanks, you can still buy that, but if the tanks (or anything that has defenses) are annoying you to much, you'll need one of these.

Titan's Bane is, for me, the better choice here. While Jotunn's Wrath has more "benefits" than just Physical penetration, Titan's Bane is the king of penetration because of the passive. Seriously, read it. ... I'm serious it's right there... Okay you lazy punk, the passive on Titan's Bane makes it so that you have 33% physical penetration! So to say that in English for you: No matter how much defenses your enemy has, you'll allways neglect 33% of this. So the more defense your enemy has, the stronger this item is!.

Now there are times when the enemy tanks aren't there, they took vacation, and instead you have a warrior with just Breastplate of Valor. Only 1 defense item. So, you could buy Jotunn's Wrath now together with Asi and still deal considerable damage. In this scenario, Jotunn's Wrath will be better, as it has more than just penetration, such as cooldown reduction, allowing you to use your abilities more often. Again, the choice between these 2 comes down to the situation. If the enemy tanks are that bad that your crits even don't do anything, Titan's Bane is your go-to friend. If there are "light" tanks (aka 1 defense item or something), Jotunn's Wrath + Asi will do fine.

If there's no defense at all (entirely possible)... well just ignore the penetration, get crit and go ham!


To summarize Jotunn's Wrath and Titan's Bane:
Titan's Bane:
+30 physical power.
33% physical penetration.

Jotunn's Wrath:
+40 Physical power.
+10 Physical penetration.
+150 Mana.
+20% Cooldown reduction.

You may be wondering: Why place relics seperate from items, since they're sort of the same thing?
They're not. Relics are, in my opinion, different than items. While items are there to enhance your character's strenghts, relics are used not to enhance your strenghts, but as a last effort to save you or your teammates' lives. Well, most of them, anyway.

A relic may look usefull. For example, when you look at Sanctuary, you'll think: "OMG, 2s immunity to EVERYTHING?".
This will, obviously, look amazing to you. It's not, unless used in the right situations. Here, I'll try to explain best when and how to use these, and hopefully save you a few deaths.

Recommended relics
Purification Purification	Purification is probably the most common relic you'll see in SMITE. For good reason. The relic grants the player CC immunity for 2s. This will allow you to escape those heavy CC nukes your enemy throws at you. As Artemis, this relic is a must have. If you're trying to escape, the enemy will want to CC you to keep you in place and kill you. This cannot happen, as we want to avoid death. As soon as you get CC'd, or you are in absolute danger and are absolutely sure an enemy is going to CC you, use this relic.
Sanctuary Sanctuary	Perhaps another relic you'll see pretty much every game, Sanctuary can be an absolute Lifesaver. When you're getting beaten to death and need a quick vacation, you can start running. Your enemy obviously won't let you get away that easily. If you're about to die, use Sanctuary and get out of there. It's recommended you use this only when near "safe zones", such as towers, because this relic runs out pretty fast and after that you can still be killed. Warning:This relic does not make you CC immune. The enemy can still CC you while this relic is active and kill you afterwards, be careful!
Situational Relics
Sprint Sprint	Sprint is a nice relic to have. It is, however, situational. This in the way that you'll need to see if any of your teammates allready have sprint, preferably your support. If this is the case, you don't need to get this relic, as it is activated in a radius, thus affecting teammates aswell. Incase you do get it, here's when to use it, it's fairly simple: When you need to run. You're low on health? Pop sprint, and run back to a safe zone.
Curse Curse	Curse is situational in the same way that Sprint is. If an ally has it, don't bother grabbing it. Curse can be used to escape danger somewhat effectively, but also catch up to an enemy. You can use this relic to slow enemies, as to create some distance between you and the enemy when you're escaping, or to catch up with the enemy when they're trying to escape.
Note: You'll need to be careful when using these relics. Relics have long Cooldowns, so using one at the wrong time will waste it and render them useless for a long time, and if they're down when you need them...	A huge thank you to Smitefire user Papa murmz. It's thanks to him you're seeing this beautiful table! Check out his Anubis guide (which is amazing), Here

Now, if it's not the items you came for, then what is it? ... Wait! Is it? No... no.. nooooooooh! Impossi.. Oh, he's here for the skills and not to kidnap me for my amazing guide creation skills? Whew! Okay, let's get into the skills section, then!

PASSIVE - Still Target

Artemis' passive, Still Target, gives her a 5% critical hit chance per stack. She gains stacks by hitting basic attacks. You can only have a max of 3 stacks.

ABILITY 1 - Transgressor's Fate

Youtube video

Play Video

How to use?
-Place the trap on the ground and wait for somebody to run into it. They'll be rooted and you can land easy basic attacks.
-If you're feeling competent enough you can drop the trap right under and enemy (take note of casting times) and trap them, so you can also land easy basic attacks.
-This ability can be used well with your ult, Calydonian Boar. After the pig stuns an enemy, drop a trap on them to keep them in place for even longer!

ABILITY 2 - Vengeful Assault

Ability video

Play Video

ABILITY 3 - Suppress The Insolent

ability video

Play Video

How to use?
-Use this ability to clear minion waves.
-Use this ability to damage your enemy a few times while clearing (=poke).
-If you're being chased, you can use this skill to slow your enemy down.
-After you used this skill, use your 2, Vengeful Assault to get some easier basic attacks in, or to escape even easier from chasers.

ABILITY 4 - Calydonian Boar

This ability is your Ultimate. Artemis will summon her companion boar, commonly known as Tusky. The boar will charge at and stun enemy gods in his area once.
If he has stunned every god in his area or there are no gods in the area, he will start attacking minions/objectives, untill he dies or the time runs out. The stun lasts for max. 1.5s and it deals 150 - 450 +100% of your physical power as damage. This ability also makes you CC immune.

ability video

Play Video

This will conclude the end of the guide!

Let's quickly summarize what we've talked about in this guide. This guide is focused on Artemis solely, and not gameplay in general. If you want to learn more about that you'll need to find another guide.


These are the points we've talked about:
- Pros / Cons of Artemis
-> Found in the Pros / Cons chapter.

- The items you should build on Artemis
-> Found in the Items chapter.

- The Relics you should get and how to use them.
-> Found in the Relics chapter.

- Artemis' abilities.

- How to use Artemis' abilities.
-> Found in the Abilities chapter.

Credits
Without these people, this guide would not be possible/be what it is now.

- Hi-Rez, the creators of SMITE

- SMITEFIRE and its creators

- Artemis, for existing, yay my bae!

- The people from who I've taken the pictures/art in this guide. Your art is astoundingly amazing!
Please take a second to copy the image url's, use them to search the images on Google and check out other potential work from these people!

- 'Zeus Tube', the person who made the ability videos.
His channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2J6S6n_Pjn6RMvvax6aySg

-SmiteFire users, for providing feedback:
-> #1: GameGeekFan! Thank you!

- A nice thank you to these people! They let me know that my guide is good and that they like it, which gives me the... uh, "willingness" (is that a word?) to continue expanding and improving this guide!
-> #1: Papa Murmz! Thank you! Also shoutout again for providing the code to create tables. Check his guide, Here

- Last but not least myself. Yes, I did included 'le me', because I wrote (or typed, to be correct) all of this, after all!

Changelog, for those interested

-V1.4
-> Updated information to represent latest information. (As of 3.20)

-V1.3.1
-> Visual update to the relic chapter table.
Thanks to: Papa murmz.

-V1.3
-> Added complete chapter: "When what to do as Artemis?"
# This chapter explains how you should behave during every stage of the game, in an attempt to avoid deaths as much as possible. It also explains the Wards you should be placing throughout the entire game.

-V1.2
-> Added complete relic chapter.
# This relic chapter will explain everything about the relics that you can find in the build. From what they do to how to use them.

-V1.1
-> Removed certain images.
-> Placed 2nd picture "bundle" in a spoiler.
-> Added penetration items as possibilities.
-> Sprint is now a situational relic, along with Curse.
-> Sanctuary has taken the place of Sprint.
-> Added spacing to make the guide look better, less bunched up.
-> Added more information to the items section regarding the penetration items.
-> Edited: "Summary -> Credits" to represent the latest contributors to this guide.

-V1.0
-> Initial guide release: "Artemis S3 Guide: Prepare to leave, full of arrows!"

Future plans, for those interested

- Add a relic chapter to explain why and when which relic should be used.
Done (Comes with fancy tables)

- Improve the general guide overview, pictures/spacing/BB-coding if needed.
In progress

- Add a chapter explicitly to show in what "team" scenario's Artemis can be effectively used
Not started