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Chronos' Pendant is mandatory and should be rushed. Next item is preferred to be defensive, but it mostly depends on the situation:
Spirit Robe if you feel they are doing more damage than you can handle. In most cases its enough protection against a physical team.
Pythagorem's Piece if your team is ahead and you don't need more damage.
Spear of Desolation against 3 tanky players.
Stone of Fal against teams with 3 mages (support not included).
When you get to 40% CDR or if you are struggling with mana, replace healing potions with 2 mana potions. Replenish mana potions at each back or death.
Pick Cursed Orb along with Rod of Healing. Finish Rod of Asclepius first, unless there is a reason not to. If you are not wasting too much mana, Cursed Orb should give you enough MP5 at this point to not need the extra mana potions.
Sell Guardian's Blessing for Rod of Tahuti
Divine Ruin against healers.
Gem of Isolation if you are getting focused in mid - late game. If not, you should not pick it up. Shaman's Ring can be useful if the enemy team has a lot of slows.
Center of attention | |||
Kiss | |||
Back off! | |||
Love birds | |||
Undying love |
Before listing all gods I need to explain about what are threats to Aphrodite.
Aphrodite relies on movement to defend herself, since she needs items with power to heal effectively. This means to counter her the enemy needs items like Gem of Isolation or Abilities like Hinder. She is also very vulnerable to burst damage, since her healing is over time, and basic attacks from hunters with a lot of attack speed.
Aphrodite has non-existent early game. She can only stay in duo lane and can barely defend against 2 gods, and that is true until she gets to 40% CDR with Chronos' Pendant. To add to that, Aphrodite with a "normal build" has very little movement. This means she can't rotate easily, especially in early game. An enemy team can and should exploit that to either push another lane (solo or mid), or just attack the duo lane repeatedly and keep Aphrodite from getting any XP.
Aphrodite will be unable to carry her team if they have trouble succeeding in early game. A good enemy mid will be lvl 20 by the time Aphrodite manages to get to lvl 15 as a support, and that 5 lvl difference can be devastating. She will be able to stay alive in these situations, but she will be unable to heal her teammates at that point.
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edit: I've just added one. The problem with this example build is that it lacks 400 health than going with Pythagorem's + Gem of Isolation. So you should be aware of that before picking it up.
Just find it funny considering you literally put:
!!!! Attention !!! This guide is not viable for normal conquest or ranked conquest. It's just the way I play and it's only effective if your team members are fully aware of Aphrodites capabilities and how to help her support the team without a need for defensive items. - Spoiler - They won't."
Also I see you building doom orb/tahuti/pendant for your heal scaling without pen, but whats happens when you have anti-heal applied to you? That power will have one relevant benefit left (ability damage), and is essentially non-impactful in that scenario without some pen from say, obs shard or magus, or even just a tiny bit from void stone.
I think you should give an alt build that shows what you could build when an enemy team is itemising heavily into antiheal (cursed ankh, beatstick, pestilence, divine), which would cause you to shift to a more defensive build and also consider item's like Lotus Crown.
Also I see you building doom orb/tahuti/pendant for your heal scaling without pen, but whats happens when you have anti-heal applied to you? That power will have one relevant benefit left (ability damage), and is essentially non-impactful in that scenario without some pen from say, obs shard or magus, or even just a tiny bit from void stone.
I think you should give an alt build that shows what you could build when an enemy team is itemising heavily into antiheal (cursed ankh, beatstick, pestilence, divine), which would cause you to shift to a more defensive build and also consider item's like Lotus Crown.
I was having a break from smite and forgot to check Smitefire for updates, just saw your post. Yes, I need to add an alt build for heavy antiheal teams. I like your idea about switching to pen in that case but I will have to give it a try before making an update.
"Susano: Susano is usually not a good soulmate for Aphrodite."
In a similar way to Achilles, it's very frustating to play against a Susano when he's linked to an Aphrodite. His high mobility + high burst makes him hard to lock down, and when you finally manage to do so, Aphro will grant him a free Aegis + Beads and heals. Definetly not a bad link.
For threats, I'd add any god with anti-heal on their kits: Chang'e, Bacchus, Cerberus (this is a big one), Cu Chulainn, etc.
For threats, I'd add any god with anti-heal on their kits: Chang'e, Bacchus, Cerberus (this is a big one), Cu Chulainn, etc.
Yeap, I will add these today, and maybe more, since I will have some free time today.
Any tips about the soulmate analysis chapter are welcome. I can copy from another guide because I'm not great at designing :D
I know the placing is very volatile so I'm more happy with the Diamond frame which I couldn't even get in S5 for some reason.
Still, even if you are No.1 and have a good Aphro record that doesen't mean we're going to change our opinion on the builds. AzureBlaze was Masters on PC Ranked Conquest and his builds were trash, and he was misinforming new players to use builds that weren't good.
Still, even if you are No.1 and have a good Aphro record that doesen't mean we're going to change our opinion on the builds. AzureBlaze was Masters on PC Ranked Conquest and his builds were trash, and he was misinforming new players to use builds that weren't good.
Well I never said it's a good build for new players. I've also added many warnings on the guide about it. Maybe it's an "end game build" when you are pretty proficient with this god, maybe it's just about having fun.
Now I just need some ideas for the threats / soulmates table, and maybe some positive words to counter all this negativity in this thread :)
Well I never said it's a good build for new players. I've also added many warnings on the guide about it.
So, who IS the build for then? Just yourself? Why even go through the effort to upload to Smitefire then? Surely you know the build by memory, or use the in-game item builder?
Maybe it's an "end game build" when you are pretty proficient with this god, maybe it's just about having fun.
End game build? You mean lategame? Or since you don't seem to be very sure about the purpose of the build, then... there is no purpose?
So, who IS the build for then? Just yourself? Why even go through the effort to upload to Smitefire then? Surely you know the build by memory, or use the in-game item builder?
I'm very against people locking their profiles and not sharing their builds. Just that is enough for me to share it. Also discussing other builds is important, which helps me improve my build. By end game build I mean, when you are absolutely at your best with playing a God, then that build will benefit you, while it will probably not benefit others. Aphrodite has healing, so staying alive with 10hp is enough for her, and in the process she will have done more damage, or mitigated (taken) more damage, than running away with more health. To do that you have to have a great feel and experience about the abilities of a God.
I've also found another build that looks very promising for a solo Aphrodite, from another player that shares his build. Maybe I will try it when I feel like playing Aphrodite solo, but I don't really need to try it to understand it's working, the numbers are very revealing. I will probably add it to the guide soon.
edit: damn just got demoted to #2 :p
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In case I want to make this the default in the future (if it proves to be a good build), is there any way to reorder the builds? or I will have to delete the first one and create it again?
p.s I'm subscribed to this guide but I see no notifications, any tips why are welcome!
thanks!
As for reordering builds...unfortunately you can't do that either. You'll have to delete or alter the first when you want to reorder. I find it helps to keep 2 windows open. 1 with the page as it's viewed, and 1 with in the editor. You can then quickly reference and recreate in a different order.
Thanks, that would be great if possible :)
As for reordering builds...unfortunately you can't do that either. You'll have to delete or alter the first when you want to reorder. I find it helps to keep 2 windows open. 1 with the page as it's viewed, and 1 with in the editor. You can then quickly reference and recreate in a different order.
It's OK, not a big deal, I will probably do it anyway to make it more friendly to new Aphrodite players.
AFAIK, you can't reorder the builds, so the only way I know is to swap the builds manually (deleting and re-adding items).
You're subscribed here in the comments section? I don't think anybody commented on the guide since the last time you logged in, but you can test now to see if you get notified.
You're subscribed here in the comments section? I don't think anybody commented on the guide since the last time you logged in, but you can test now to see if you get notified.
Yes, I'm subscribed in the comments but I get nothing, I only count the comments each time I log, how do you get notified? by email? Or in the top right corner? I get nothing in both :(
I've also tried to unsub and resub but nothing changed. Thanks anyway
I'll be sure to pass on that there are people looking forward to the feature though. It helps the devs to know what kinds of features community members are looking for so they know what to prioritize.
They likely checked recent comments.
But Bran already said that it's bugged, so I don't think there's a fix for it :/
To quote myself:
I'm saying that compared to the previous build, this is more defensive. There is no Shaman's ring, no Spear of the Magus, and no Spear of Desolation. So that's -45 magic power (minus passive from shaman's, -25 penetration (also minus passive from magus), -3% movement. Instead there is +600 health, +12% lifesteal, bonus to healing etc. This is indeed a more defensive build.
There are many ways to support your team with Aphrodite. Having a more defensive build will let the enemies fight as a 5man group against your team longer. They probably have a guardian support so team fights are not what you should be after. With a more offensive build you can make fast a lot of damage and separate the 5man group into smaller groups, which are easier to defeat.
Also having a more offensive build can finish a game in 15-20 minutes in your favor, but with this build I think it will take more than 33-35 minutes in general, unless you are hard carried. The only reason I started looking at more builds is that I've noticed very long games (45+ minutes) that the offensive build can't keep up with anti-healing and enemy teams end game builds, so I need something different. The good thing is that they have the same core so you can basically choose your build depending on the flow of the game.
Your reluctance to build Lotus Crown on Aphro in a support build is also foolish, especially when considering your build has a lack of aura items. Doesen't really look like a functional build for support role.
"With a more offensive build you can make fast a lot of damage and separate the 5man group into smaller groups, which are easier to defeat." - yeah im calling ******** on this one. "Make fast a lot of damage", English please?
These builds are on caliber with the enemy support Aphro that I encountered a few times last season in duo lane that ended up feeding to me, feeding much more than any duo lane matchup i've faced. In fact I felt sorry for the ADC they were partnered with that match.
With a 57,3% win rate in 300 games (including experiments), I'm fine with her success.
I do think Shaman's Ring is out of place in this build (shouldn't be in the build at all IMO), and I think Shield of Regrowth can be an option, along with Lotus Crown (even though I still don't personally like it on him, the physical protection and passive is helpful).
Thoughts?
*That's a joke. Don't kill me.
Void is situational (maybe great early against a magical duo). Don't like Jade here. Rod as I also stated in my other comment is an obvious option. I'd probably stick with Focus over Reinforced, honestly, cuz the CDR and mana early is gonna be important.
Pythag's is definitely better than SG if she wants to go that route, but it's probably a bad choice as it just screams for even more anti-heal to be built by the enemy, unless you're playing against people that don't counter-build at all (in which case damage Support Aphro is probably okay, LOL).
Binding is an interesting one, and something you could activate mid-game if you're roaming with the Jungler and looking for ganks.
Mentioned Mantle. Ethereal is also interesting. Don't like Traveler's. And again, don't really like Bumba's unless trolling.
Bumba's Mask is a strange item :) It's not easy to find out if it helps or not. I've used it a couple of times in mid successfully, but I'm still afraid of using it more regularly.
Mantle of Discord is always on my build page, but I rarely use it :) One scenario which helps is if a bursty enemy Zeus or Ra is on the enemy team.
Rod of asclepius is a nice item. I used to use it all the time, but the damage scaling nerf to Aphrodite makes this not so appealing any more. I will have to calculate the math to see if I'm right or wrong though :)
Rod of asclepius is a nice item. I used to use it all the time, but the damage scaling nerf to Aphrodite makes this not so appealing any more. I will have to calculate the math to see if I'm right or wrong though :)
As you said it was a scaling nerf. Her base healing values are unaffected. Again, as has been suggested multiple times, Lotus Crown exists.
In that vein, not sure you'll agree, but I would have these points:
- Aphro is NOT a meta Support, and this build is NOT meant for higher levels of play (e.g. serious ranked games, etc.).
- This build is for a very specific and aggressive playstyle (as you briefly stated but could expand upon). This playstyle's success also depends in part on your ADC (god choice) and being aggressive to take advantage of the sustain Aphro brings to outlast or force the enemy to back/lose on farm.
- Best success is likely to be seen in a pre-made team where you can balance the Aphro support choice with specific picks in other roles.
When building her with no major protections and lacking a strong escape ability (the increased MS does help some but isn't a true solution against high mobility junglers or hard CC), she can easily be the target of any fight/gank. It also imbalances the team in that there's a lack of a frontline tank typical to that role.
Also, her greatest strength can be very easily countered by both god abilities and items, drastically reducing its effectiveness.
Obviously, her strength is in her healing and buffing. She is the definition of a complimentary utility god. High single target healing (along with herself), situational damage increase from Jealousy, increased MS for her and her soulmate, and a get-out-of-jail Beads/Aegis rolled into one. To take advantage of this, you AND your partner need to be aggressive, take some hits to deal some hits, and try to outlast them in lane with the healing. Unfortunately, with this build, you can't take too many hits...you can take a couple, then back off and heal, but you can't take multiple shots.
Since she can't really dictate the flow of the game herself, she's going to need to rely a good amount on the skill of her ADC, and also on their choice of god. She also will need to hope that her Jungler can keep tabs on the enemy Jungler (Ward and warn of incoming danger), or keep them occupied and off her back.
Those protection reduction stacks CAN be extremely effective, perhaps if you're paired with a magical ADC or Jungler, or you have 3 magical gods on your team (including yourself). But in a squishy build, unless you're absolutely steamrolling the enemy, I find this a hard item to suggest.
I've also started playing ranked again. I was Platinum II in S5 for a while, but I doudb't I can make it this far in S6 with the current meta. This will help me make better adjustments and write guide suggestions about ranked as well - which you should never try with this build anyway -
I've also started playing ranked again[. I was Platinum II in S5 for a while, but I doudb't I can make it this far in S6 with the current meta. This will help me make better adjustments and write guide suggestions about ranked as well - which you should never try with this build anyway -
Here's a tip, don't play Aphrodite support. Then maybe you will climb higher in ranked.
Don't make me start calling you Donald Kriega.
Calm down, Boogie. Kriega may be British, but I have Irish and Native American in my background and I can butt heads with the best of them. I try to moderate my comments because I have a lot of respect for Bran, but our word play hasn't contained any real insults, so I'm not worried about it. As I told Kriega before, I respect his knowledge, but he severely lacks social skills and I'm gonna beat 'em into him even if it kills him.
****tishBritish, I'm legitimately wondering why he'd call himself a filthy swine?:P
I actually meant Messenger's mask, the idea is to spend only 1200 gold and have both CDR and MS. At that point of the game you are usually still at duo lane so it also gives you the ability to rotate to mid and follow the enemy support. It's just the cheaper item for this job, and it gives you the early boost that Aphrodite lacks. Soon after buying it you will probably be near mid lane at that point of the game, and you can start slowly buying Chronos pendant and run back to mid without losing any fights. You can replace it later with a spear of desolation or a similar CDR item. But I could also investigate how selling boots later in the game and upgrading it to a bumba's mask can affect the build, but I'm not confident I can take 10% more damage as a squishy support.
I will probably phase out Shamans ring and replace it with Gem of isolation as a 5th item, it's something that I haven't been able to try yet since all the games today finish before 25 minutes :)
Not having wards is a big disadvantage, but Aphrodite is in a very bad state at the moment and this is the only build I've thought of that looks slightly viable for a damage support.
Interesting that you don't build fully into Bumba's. Cuts out a lot of danger in one sense (10% more damage), but also doesn't give you that huge MS boost that can make you dance. I think, and this is only theorizing as I usually do, but I think it's something where, if you're not willing to go into the full T3 item, it's questionable to be purchased in the first place. T2 items, unless replaced late, just don't have good enough stats to hold up in the later parts of a build. The question then becomes...is Messenger's Mask worth it to not have a full T3 item through the majority of the match? 1,200 gold for 10% CDR and 10% MS (and a piddly amount of power) seems almost worth it (mostly for the CDR), but...I would just have reservations about choosing a T2 item without planning to go into T3. I'd prefer to build toward a T3 item always.
Also, with a planned 30% CDR in Focus + Chronos, I think it's important to consider the final 10% CDR. Later, you can always pick up a Potion of Magical Might, or you might want the CDR from another item, but you probably shouldn't need to rush max CDR that quickly.
What do you usually do once you break off from the ADC? Are you clearing camps and staying next to the mid? Are you tagging along with the Jungler? Are you wandering between Mid and ADC and just helping where needed? Curious to hear what you typically do.
Generally, from mid to late game I will pair up with the more aggressive person on the team. Usually it's Jungle -> ADC -> Solo -> Mid. I like healing a lot so I will switch targets fast and heal up whoever has the lowest health. This is an important part of this playstyle.
I try to stay away from Solo lane if possible because it makes it harder to rotate back, and also makes it very obvious where Aphrodite is, so the enemy team can rotate and kill her.
For me, Aphrodite needs to act as a bait - Center of attention. She can rotate to mid lane at level 7 for example but if the enemy support don't bite, she will have to be very fast to return to duo lane. She can bait offensive ults so your team doesn't have to deal with them (Kukulk, Ares, Hades). She will have problems with more bursty and fast ults like Scylla, Ra, Mercury, Bakasura, and probably Anubis, Zhong, Anhur because their ults last longer than her ult. In these cases your soulmate needs to help you, it's a symbiotic relationship.
Thanks Gulfur for your suggestion. I usually select my builds by trying items, so I'm not sure about the math on Magus. There is possible there are items that I might miss that can improve Aphrodite. So I'm always open to suggestions. So far I find magus pretty good for peel. Along with a soulmate, one combo (Kiss - Birds - Back off) can reduce a tanky solo or a support to half health or less.
The "easy to miss", is also part of this guide. I try to make this guide based on a near perfect Aphrodite game, so it's not expected to work on someone with little Aphrodite experience. I think of it as the end goal build. Meaning there are a lot of things you need to do perfect for this playstyle / build to have a slight chance of succeeding. I always initiate with a stun kiss, then hit the enemy with birds. This way it's almost guaranteed it will make damage, or it will force an enemies ult / relic to defend it.
I'm not trying to kill people with Aphrodite, I'm trying to force them into panicking and making mistakes. This will help my team to chase and kill them (your kiss gives them movement speed so it's easier to catch up). There are a lot of things I need to add to the guide, and I also need to record a youtube video as an extra step.
Also keep in mind that these items are not the optimal build for Aphrodite. Most of these items are forced on Aphrodite because of the recent nerfs to her power / damage, recent released gods, and the meta. I've been using Lotus crown since S3, but I can't find a place for it at the current meta. Gods like Chernobog and Jurmogandr can out rotate you easily, gods like merlin, hera and arthur will make you super squishy, so there is a need for improved mobility that wasn't needed in S5 for example.
I'm not trying to kill people with Aphrodite, I'm trying to force them into panicking and making mistakes.
And you're going to achieve that by building squishy and get instantly deleted unless you have your ultimate? The delusion is strong with this one.
That's your problem and self-difficulty then. Others are more capable.
Well no suprise there, look at the build! Of course you're going to be super squishy built like that.
Also, it enchances the damage of her combo ( Love Birds > Kiss > Back Off!).
Do ADC builds like I suggested? And clarify you have a Warrior or something in ADC lane?
I’m thinking about something like Deathwalker’s builds for Freya in solo.
Well, that’s exactly what she is, a powerful single target healer. The build won’t change that.
I listed all of the items I consider viable/worth mentioning for Aphro, that’s why there are so many options. If you want a “cookie cutter” build, check the “example build” section. I’d also recommend that you read the notes of each section.
As boogie said, if you want to build her full damage, play her in Mid. In Solo/Support she needs at least 3 defensive items.
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This is exactly my point. “Full power” and “support” on the same sentence doesn’t add up. Supports doesn’t build damage items. Period.
The same way ADCs and Mids doesn’t build full defense, supports doesn’t build full damage. Like it or not.
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How about we consider an actual, possibly viable support build?
Shoes of Focus, Lotus Crown, Genji's Guard, Rod of Asclepius/Shield of Regrowth, Pythagorem's Piece, Winged Blade/ Witchblade?
It has CDR, has movement, and power from boots/pythags/asclepius is over enough for healing.
Another example of another possibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1joRk0N8WH0&t=190s
Winged blade is actually nice and I should add it as situational in pretty bad situations, and start using it more often.
You are so confident I will change my playstyle, I've been playing like this since S3 and I don't find anything exciting into building a Defensive Aphrodite. I don't get how someone would find it exciting. Also Aphrodite solo is boring for the same reasons.
p.s Is there a way to get notifications about new comments? I'm only seeing them by luck.
So you just argued against building damage on her? Ok. A bit different to your previous stance.
The point isn't if it's "exciting" or not, it's whether it's viable. If you really want to contribute a bit of damage get Spear of the Magus only and leave it at that. No Spear of Desolation or Shaman's Ring or Doom Orb, which is absurd to build on a support.
Click "Subscribe" under the discussion tab. Should be right next to "Quick Comment".
So you just argued against building damage on her? Ok. A bit different to your previous stance.
Actually I didn't. The reason I get power items is because healing and damage scale with her magical power. Also because every item in the list gives something more than damage. Shaman's gives power + movement. A Back Off! with evolved Shaman's Ring will slow an enemy while cutting his health in half. That's a support move, this will help your soulmate kill an easy target.
Spear of Desolation Gives you power and cooldown reduction, it's not just about the damage. You could get a Pythagorem's Piece in it's place, but it would not scale as well.
The point isn't if it's "exciting" or not, it's whether it's viable. If you really want to contribute a bit of damage get Spear of the Magus only and leave it at that. No Spear of Desolation or Shaman's Ring or Doom Orb, which is absurd to build on a support.
It's viable, but not in every game. Check this recent one, even against a very meta team - where their numbers are insane, and while we got destroyed in early game, it almost turned in our favor. We actually got 2 Fire Giants and with a little more luck it would be our game.
Click "Subscribe" under the discussion tab. Should be right next to "Quick Comment".
Thanks :)
Lumiel, since you provided the match details, I'm going to go through my evaluation of the match, if you don't mind. This will include a lot of the things I consider when looking at things from just a numerical standpoint.
As I said in a previous comment here, playing Aphro Support puts the team at a disadvantage (not just due to it being Aphro Support) unless the team balances somehow by going a bit tankier elsewhere...and this wasn't the case here.
King Arthur: reasonable build. Probably should replace Glad shield late, but it does retain some function.
Agni: probably reasonable build?
Rama: assume Elixir of Speed was purchased, and Shifter's Shield replaced Tabi late-game. Double-lifesteal is a bit questionable. Toxic Blade wasn't a terrible choice due to countering healing by Aphrodite and Neith and lifesteal from Discordia and Hera, but would probably prefer Brawler's Beat Stick, personally, especially since you don't need as many Qin's procs due to generally lower health of Lumiel's team, and the flat pen being good due to only facing one tank.
Scylla with Spear of Desolation first? Or did that replace shoes late? Soul Reaver 2nd? Bancroft's Talon? Not an optimal build, at least with regard to order. At least they got anti-heal. BTW, who was the jungler??? Scylla or Agni???
Ne Zha with the hot tanking. Generally reasonable build, and tanked a ****-ton. This guy did his job from what I can tell.
Hera with Obsidian Shard 3rd is too early. Build isn't terrible, I guess, though I'd prefer Pythag's or SG for lifesteal over BT. I'm honestly not sure on optimal builds for Hera, and I'm not going to bother looking it up. I don't like the god XD And I'm not sure, but again, which god was Jungler??? Hera or Discordia???
Lumiel's Aphrodite build, again, is just something I can't get behind, at least in this matchup. Don't think Spear of Desolation is a good item for a Support. Pythagorem's Piece would have been a much better early item. Shaman's Ring is nice for the MS, but she's not looking to deal damage as her priority, so I'd introduce more survivability by considering Shield of Regrowth maybe...or some protections. Spear of the Magus could be okay due to having 2 other mages on the team (ugh), but that's only if you're able to get in close, confirm the Love Birds DoT, etc. With no protections...guess what, Magus is probably unused, or it just leads to deaths. 13 deaths is not surprising in this case.
Discordia should have switched Obsidian Shard and Divine Ruin. Otherwise, build isn't bad. Discordia did some work for Lumiel's team, with the lowest deaths, highest kills, and highest damage by a significant amount.
Neith was a detriment to the team. Build is horrible, from what I can see. Rush Trans? That's okay if that's what happened. Hopefully replaced boots late, instead of getting O-Bow early. I will never be able to get it through people's heads that you don't build O-Bow early. Asi as an item with no power, for a god that has some healing, AND scales well with abilities? Deathbringer, ahhh, Deathbringer. Of course. Only fitting to round out this terrible build, especially with no 2nd crit item, and DOUBLE FREAKING LIFESTEAL, oh hi Bloodforge, didn't see you there. Stream of thought done.
Bellona also did work for the team. Reasonable damage. Great tanking, but unfortunately lots of deaths. Probably because of the rest of her team. Did get Hastened Katana (probably late?), with 0 pen of any type (like Void Shield at least) to help her actual damage output. Hide of the Nemean Lion and Midgardian Mail counteract each other to an extent, as with Nemean you WANT people hitting you to get that reflection, and Midgardian SLOWS how often they hit you. In addition, Rama didn't even build crit, so Nemean's potential is lessened. Not a great build, but far from the worst.
Aphro is already one of the weakest gods, due to her kit and ease of counter-building. Throwing her in Support without being a normal Support with some tankiness is asking for it, at least when considering players that know how to counter, and know to focus/gank. Despite the high power of the build, in a 46 minute match, I'd consider the 25k teammate healing to be on the low side, but a lot of that is likely due to being dead a lot of the time. Aphro's ADC didn't help matters any, of course.
My suggestion stands. If deciding to play Aphro support, you need the rest of your team to help balance things so you don't have just one front-liner. Magus is extremely questionable as Support, as is Desolation and Shaman's.
Yes, but early deaths are not that important. Respawn timer is fast and there isn't much the enemy team can farm on, and you don't lose enough farm to be that noticable. You are investing in a mid-late game build, which may pay off in the long run.
It was Scylla, I was also confused for a while in game. Hera and Scylla junglers.
Yeap, not only that, but she was nowhere near the towers when they fell. I had to defend alone. You definitely need a good ADC to support with Aphrodite.
Bellona was OK but kinda demoralized from deaths and started feeding. If she could stay closer to Aphrodite she could have done a lot more.
I'm testing Pythagorem's Piece now but I need to find a reasonably hard game to see if it makes a good difference.
Yes, but early deaths are not that important. Respawn timer is fast and there isn't much the enemy team can farm on, and you don't lose enough farm to be that noticable.
Are you joking?
Sorry but, I really think you need to learn the game properly. Here's a blog with useful links, and maybe one day you will laugh at yourself for thinking "damage" aphrodite support was ever a wise choice:
https://www.smitefire.com/smite/blog/kriega1/online-text-link-for-online-linking
2 or 3 deaths early and that's like 2 levels. 2 levels where they have more and stronger abilities to deal more damage, have more base health, etc., etc. I'm not sure when you died in that example match...maybe it was only a couple in the first 10, I don't know. But I will maintain, choosing Aphro support requires team finesse to be effective...you'll rely on others (and if you're not in a team queue you don't know how much you can even rely on them, look at your Neith), and again if they don't choose another tankyish god elsewhere you lose frontline. The higher the skill level, the more they start honing in on you for early ganks, and building anti-heal to shut you down (which means Asclep could help counter that just a bit).
It's not about the respawn timer or the farm you'll lose, it's about the gold and exp your enemy will gain by killing you.
If you have a lot of deaths in the first 10 minutes, the match won't reach the mid-late stage.
I've only been playing Conquest since S5, but my elo just with Aphrodite damage support was in 2000+ range, and my MMR was matching me with players like Wfly, Dardez, Nika, AlphaJackal, and some other players ranked 1-200 in the world in leaderbords. You know this is true, because I've sent you the games in PM in reddit.
My current K/D/A for all seasons is 5,256 / 8,112 / 22,465 - so it's expected to have more deaths, without that meaning that you can't win the games.
Of course it's much more different now in S6, as Branmuffin17 correctly said, this build is not intended for high level ranked games, and the reason is that Aphrodite can't easily carry like she used to. But it's a fun build, and can lead to some exciting games.
I also posted a hard game example just to show that while their team was stomping us, it was still possible to almost win the game. If you want easy winnable games, I can post some recent ones.
Here is one against all meta gods, and with our team making many mistakes, for example ADC thought he was doing all that magic by himself and started feeding for a while: Link
They had 10+ more kills than us for most of the game, but it wasn't that important in the end ;)
There was also this match from a while ago, but SmiteGuru changed the website and the data is lost :/. I talked about this match here.
p.s I've subscribed to the guide but I still don't get any notification :(
Actually, lets wait, give the author some time to clean up the builds first.
Actually I didn't. The reason I get power items is because healing and damage scale with her magical power.
Everyone knows that. Do you know what also boosts healing? Rod of Asclepius and Pythagorem's Piece which at least give you a bit of health rather than be purely offensive.
Also because every item in the list gives something more than damage. Shaman's gives power + movement.
Rod of Asclepius gives power + movement and boosts healing.
A Back Off! with evolved Shaman's Ring will slow an enemy while cutting his health in half. That's a support move, this will help your soulmate kill an easy target.
Cut their health in half? Not without some pen in the build, and not without using her birds tick ability first with spear of magus. "support move" - if the enemy is chasing your mid/carry sure, but as a pure offensive action? Thats not a support move. The playstyle you're describing seems more like a solo lane Aphro.
Spear of Desolation Gives you power and cooldown reduction, it's not just about the damage. You could get a Pythagorem's Piece in it's place, but it would not scale as well.
As you said get Pythags. You still haven't mentioned Lotus Crown anywhere which is really good on her.
It's viable, but not in every game.
Did I say get Magus every game? No. If it was me I wouldn't even build Magus on Support Aphro.
So you finally go against a team that knows what they're doing and realise your builds' flaws?
Our team composition was not ideal. For example Ne zha is a very bad match up for early game Aphrodite. But it's not that important since the early deaths are not giving much to the enemy. Bellona against Arthur.. hmm? Discordia did a nice job against their mage, and she was my main soul mate for the rest of the game. Bellona could also be my soulmate but she was running too deep and dying alone.
Our team wasn't that good either, Rama was more experienced than our ADC, our adc wsan't even present when both towers fell (I had to defend alone), Hera as jungler was very defensive and died a lot, even when I kissed her she got very hesitant to attack, which would have gained us more kills.
You can see from damage taken that nobody is focusing Scylla, which is also squishy and the main reason we were losing.
Before I moved to mid lane the score was something like 26/9 in their favor, and we managed to push them back and get 2 fire giants, destroy all of their towers and one phoenix, before we make a mistake and lose. This could very well be our game from my point of view, if somehow we have dealt with Scylla sooner.
Yes, but this game is an extreme case, if you look all of the numbers. Even with so many deaths you can turn the game around. The reason is that most of these deaths happen in early game. We could basically win the game at that point, since we got the upper hand with fire giant, but we made an extra mistake before them. (Basically ****ing up in gold fury and me and adc dying by Scylla ult, then the big respawn timer made it gg)
Also keep in mind that I get it as last item after replacing Messenger's Mask, so having it in build is not going to make a lot of difference in the early - mid game.