Shadow of the jungle

Hello SmiteFans!

My name is Johnny (JohnnySixty9) and I love of the wall builds that will confuse the enemy and sometimes even your own teammates. If you have feedback for the build, fell free to share it, so I can make the build even better!

I usually play Conquest (jungle) or Assault.

Maybe we will see each other on the battlefield! May the gods be with you!

How everbody else plays Loki vs. how I play Loki:

Loki and the Smite-Community are the two sides of a medal. You either love or hate him. And to be absolutely honest: I did not like him as well.

Then I startet playing him and combining new and rather off the wall items to match my playstyle.

The differnce between others and myself is the way I play Loki. I don´t care about cooldown reduction, I don´t care about defense items. I either go in and execute you right away (for example with my Ultimate) or I am shredding you away with basic attacks. Either way I normally win.

This playstyle has to suit you, so be sure to test it.

I hope I give you a good insight on how I play him in the jungle because 9 out of 10 times it results in a victory if the team synergy is not the worst.

My build is focusing on

-ticking damage
-speed
-crit damage
-"stealth"

A few things before I tell you something about the skills and the items:

I play my jungle oldschool.

Which means I do not want to place a picnic table on the middle lane and play bodyguard for the lane. I want to bring chaos to the order with my playstyle and split the enemy team up. I will tell you more about this tactic in the chapter "Chaos".

The jungle has changed

The current trend / playstyle is to chill with your midlaner and set up a picnic table. Thats the playstyle I encountered the last 10 rounds when I was playing ADC or Mage.

And to be honest I HATE THIS.

So let´s bring Smite back to 2014.

I usually start the game like this:

]

Speed-Camp: Let your Mid-Lane help you.
Damage-Camo: You help your Mid-Lane
XP-Camp: Do it with your Solo or with your Solo-Lane
Mana-Camp: Do it with your Solo-Lane --> normally our Solo is doing the first minion wave and then we do the mana camp.

After the camps are ready I am starting to gank the first time. Normally the Mid-Lane.
There are only two options: you succeed and the enemy dies. Or he is so damaged, that he has to go back.

The old playstyle is litteraly gank the lanes, damage your enemys, kill your enemys. Don´t just stay around and watch over the midlane. If you play like this then your enemy jungle has to move to. He has to switch lanes and has to be quick to stop you.

And this is where the fun begins: switch up your playstyle. Gank the solo-lane, and then gank the solo lane again. After that go to the midlane and then back to the solo. Confuse your enemy. Most of the times you will notice that they are blaming their own jungle for not stopping you. If you reached that point, the round is as good as over. Because their teamplay will fall apart.

Why is this my preferred tactic?

Because of Manikin Scepter and the fact that your enemy will undererstimate it, you have a good chance against the enemy jungle early on.

I normally start my ganks or jungle fights like this:

1. Locate your enemy
2. Positioning yourself (either on the site of your jungle or in a "walking" distance
3. Use your 1 (Vanish)
4. Go behind your enemy
5. Use a basic-attack
6. Use your 3 (Flurry Strike)
7. Use basic attacks.

The things that are starting a this moment are:
Bonus damage because of your passive
ticking damage because of Manikin Scepter
Quick attacks with Flurry Strike which profits from your passiv

The time your build is finished you do not even need your 3 anymore.

The time your build is finished you can either just use Vanish to walk behind your enemy or use your ultimate and then just use your basic attacks to kill them.

Because of the amount of speed and crit damage the build is actually very good for teamfights and bringing chaos to the enemy team. The enemy movement becomes more plannable, because they do not want to meet you in a 1v1.

As you can see above the items I play with Loki have 3 main points:

Ticking-Damage
Speed
Crit


In a normal round of conquest I usually buy the items in the exact same order as above.
The build itself is focused on basic attaacks in combination with your skills. You could change single items, but the synergy of the build is just right.

And yes I run Cloak as my first relic to use more time in the jungle and and "emergency" heal if I get a first hit from the enemy jungle.

The most important thing is the passive:

If you hit your enemy from behind (backstabbing your opponent) you deal additional damage in the amount of 15%.

This is your holy grail and one of your most used tactic when playing Loki.
Play Video

1st Ability - Vanish

Loki disappears in a puff of smoke. While invisible, he moves faster, removes Slow effects, and gains immunity to Slow effects. His next Basic Attack from Stealth (or for 2s after) applies a Bleed to his target, dealing damage every .5s and reveals Loki. If Loki takes damage while in stealth he will be revealed for.
Play Video

2nd Ability - Agonizing Visions

Loki summons a vision of his tortured past at a target location for 4s. Enemies in range of the vision feel the poison themselves, taking damage and having their Damage Dealt reduced. This effect stacks up to 4 times. If an enemy gets 4 stacks they become Blinded, allowing Loki to benefit from Behind You! from any direction for 3s.
Play Video

3rd Ability - Flurry Strike

Loki unleashes a flurry of 5 dagger strikes quickly in front of him, damaging and slowing enemies by 15% for 3s. After this flurry he winds up for a final heavy strike that deals higher damage and slows enemies by 30% for 3s. Loki cannot be knocked up while firing this ability. This ability can benefit from Behind You!
Play Video

Ultimate - Assassinate

Upon activation, Loki teleports to his ground target location. If an enemy god is within the radius, Loki will slice that target doing damage and crippling them for 1s. After he teleports he will wind up a heavier strike, damaging all enemies in front of him and stunning them.
Play Video