Bastet - Toying with your Prey

Welcome to my first Smite God Guide.

I am by no means an expert of the game at this point in time, but I am learning. One thing I like to do when starting in a new PvP game is to find one of the most underrated classes/heroes to play and become extremely proficient playing them. In Smite, this gives me the added edge of playing a god that others have little experience playing against. This helps counter the overall experience that others have in the game.

I have found that in Bastet.

Bastet is a god that is all about opportunity and mobility. She is an excellent partner in a lane and surprisingly is a highly effective solo laner. Mid game, she makes for an great jungler and ganker due to her quick strike capability. Late game, she is a pure hunter, able to bring down moderately to lightly armored targets very quickly.

I have to give HiRez some props here. Bastet captures quite well the essence of how a cat would fight. You must remain alert, patient, and once the opportunity presents itself, you strike with incredible ferocity.

Hover over the icon for the details.

Nine Lives - Passive
Awesome late game passive ability, as this can shave nearly 20 seconds of respawn time each time you die.

Pounce
Excellent for harassment, quick strikes, and fleeing/evading opponents.

Razor Claws
Razor ClawsSignificant bleeding damage, perfect on low health opponents that are fleeing. Fire and forget and more importantly, survive!

Nine Tails
Nine TailsProbably the least useful of all skills. Decent when clearing out mobs, jungling, or striking a fleeing opponent.

Cat Call
Cat CallAn awesome ultimate early and mid game, since you can be halfway back to base to spend your new loot before even landing the killing blow. Late game, it does do some damage, but it's more useful to cause some chaos in the opponents' ranks.

While Bastet has a nice set of abilities, her strength will be in her basic attacks. All her abilities are meant to prepare you for and to supplement your basic attacks.

Primary Focus: Physical Power, Attack Speed, Movement Speed
Secondary Focus: Physical Penetration, Health, Critical Hit %

Hand of the Gods - Quick minion kills equates to quick XP and gold.

Warrior Tabi - Addresses all three of the primary focuses.

Ankh of the Golem - Added survivability while addressing 2 of the primary focuses.

The Executioner - Again, addresses all three of the primary focuses, particularly since you will be ganking employees and landing basic attacks on them while they are trying to flee.

Qin's Blades - Once this item is at it's final tier, you will have the ability to dominate the game. The increase in weapon speed, physical power, and damage will strike fear in their hearts.

Frostbound Hammer - What makes your opponents slower makes you faster.

Jotunn's Wrath - Now you can do everything more frequently.

Optional Items
Aegis Amulet - Although I have never used this yet, I see that it could be a very useful item for Bastet. Pounce in --> pause a moment or use Razor Claws when you land to get opponent's attention --> activate Aegis Amulet when they are about to use an ability --> Pounce out. Late game, you could replace Hand of the Gods with this, as you will quickly go through minions without needing to use the item.

Rage - An optional late game item to replace Jotunn's Wrath if you want even more critical strike % and attack speed.

Focused Voidblade - An optional late game item to add if you need more physical penetration. The power and protection is an added bonus.

Golden Bow - This is an awesome option if you are going to be doing jungling, late lane pushes, defending towers and phoenixes, or partaking in group fights. Think about using this for Arena.

Laning for Two
Bastet may be the best harasser and taunter in the game. Pounce allows her to leap in from a great distance and leap back out within 4 seconds. Beyond the damage that Pounce does, it frequently changes the focus of your opponents onto you. Often they will attack with abilities, spending mana in the process, only to find their attacks fail miserably because you have leapt back to whence you came.

One thing that is important here... When you are laning with a partner, make sure that you tell them what you are going to be doing. The last thing you want to happen is for them to think you are initiating when you are just taunting.

Solo Laning
Yeah, I know. It surprised me, too. I was asked to solo mid a couple of nights ago. I was reluctant and warned the team that it wasn't a good idea. I landed 4 kills against Ao Kuang without suffering any deaths by the time I hit level 8. How?

Bastet's mobility and harassment traits makes her an excellent solo laner. Stay out of range of your opponent, of course. Wait for them to use an ability, avoid it, then Pounce, Razor Strike, and Pounce back. Once you mark your territory, they will keep their distance because they will quickly realize how dangerous you are.

Typically, you will be going up against a mage, so they should be incredibly squishy. Kill at every opportunity. Mages can NOT solo against Bastet at half health or lower. This is almost guaranteed death to Pounce --> Cat Call --> Razor Strike --> Pounce. NEVER tower dive. Send your cats in for the easy kill.

The hardest part about soloing with Bastet is convincing your teammates that you can do it. But I still would not attempt it until you are moderately experienced playing her.

Solo vs. 2 Opponents
I have soloed with Bastet quite well against two opponents. Actually, I prefer it, because I will frequently get a double kill early on, as I will reach my ultimate quicker than they will and they are usually unsuspecting of the carnage that is about to ensue.

Whenever solo laning in either situation, always let your opponents think they have the advantage. Let them push you to your tower frequently.

Hand of the Gods

Bastet will undoubtedly get pushed back to her tower when soloing. Use Hand of the Gods to clear the mess quickly. Easy XP and easy gold.

Mid game, Bastet can really shine. By now, you should have your Warrior Tabi and Ankh of the Golem, so your survivability factor is greatly increased.

If you are soloing a lane, stick to the lane until you have a tower down, but drop into the jungle on occasion to get buffs, extra XP, and extra gold. By now, your opponent should be incredibly frustrated by underestimating Bastet, and may make mistakes and leave themselves open. Again, kill players at every opportunity, but don't tower dive to attack a low health opponent. Instead, send your cats in for the kill.

If you are partnering in a lane, now is the time to go jungling and ganking. Get buffs for you and your teammates (ping the map when a buff is available!). Watch the minimap for opponents that have overextended themselves and are at 50% health or less. Mages are especially good targets, even at full health. Pounce in from a concealed area, unleash, pounce out.

When I first started getting proficient at Bastet, I found that she plateued late game. She simply could not keep up with the damage needed for late game battles. So I toyed around with item loadouts until I found the above build (which is most assuredly not a perfect build, but I will tweak it as necessary). I then chose to focus on attack speed, and the late game just opened up for me.

One of the key factors in late game is to not forget what got you here. Bastet is all about mobility and opportunity. Never commit to a situation that you do not have an escape plan for. In group battles, hang along the edge of the battle, wait for the perfect target, then strike fast and furious and then get out.

This build will have you attacking extremely fast and hitting like a truck late game. Bring down those perfectly delicious targets quickly. Use Cat Call to cause chaos in their ranks. Towers and phoenixes will crumble quickly to your attacks as well, so if you have the opportunity to push a lane, do it, but be careful doing so.

Arena
A wide open arena is a great playground for Bastet for all of the same reasons as described above. Look for your targets of opportunity, then strike. Do not fear using Pounce to leap into the middle of a group of opponents. Many will turn to focus their attention on you, and by the time they react, you have already pounced back.

Other Notes
Against other carries, one on one, Bastet will most assuredly lose. Her game is not to stand toe to toe with anyone, although if you are properly fed and ahead of the curve (which you probably should be), you can handle a punch or two.

Other than that, don't waste your time attacking tanks late game unless you're in a group fight and the tank is an opportune target. It's just not worth the time and effort and it is time that you can be spending much more effectively and efficiently on other targets.

The more and more I play Bastet, the more and more I enjoy it. She is most assuredly a force to be reckoned with when the right playstyle is applied. Everyone may underestimate her when the game starts, but by game's end, they have a whole new respect for her. Her reputation will assuredly increase, so strike while the iron is hot!

I hope you enjoyed the guide and hope you find it helpful. Constructive criticism and advice is welcome.

Enjoy!