Comprehensive Guide to Vamana, the fifth avatar of Vishnu!

Hello, I go by many names and accounts but my main account is on SMITE PC under the IGN “Supportable”. I’ve been floating around Diamonds/Masters for the past 4 seasons in multiple game modes (Conquest and Duel) and my main god of choice (Especially in Duels, but especially recently also Conquest) has been Vamana. I’m assuming now that he’s been buffed to the point of being very strong in every game mode that many people will be looking for a good guide on him, so I’m here to explain the in’s and out’s of this character and why you should play him.

What is Auto Cancelling? I’d recommend watching the below video to have some base knowledge. While Weak3n doesn’t personally show us Vamana, the idea stays the same. In the downtime of your auto attack animation (after the damage applies, where you’re waiting for the next attack to start) you can use an ability and then your auto attack’s animation after that ability will reset and you’ll essentially cancel out that added aftercast, leading to more attacks in less time than holding down the attack button.

Weak3n's video on Auto Attack Cancelling Play Video

Important sidenote, whenever I say Clear The Path in these combos, you’re supposed to cancel the ability (right click on PC) after you hit the opponent, don’t let the ability continue channeling after hitting your opponent. This enables you to throw out an auto attack before your opponent lands.


Max Damaging Combo:

Auto Attack → → Auto Attack → → Auto Attack → → Auto Attack


This combo relies a lot on the auto attack cancels to produce the most damage. The idea is that your Umbrellarang will slow them initially, making it a lot harder to miss your abilities, and then your Clear The Path will knock them up to stop them from dodging the second part of the Umbrellarang. The Armored Umbrella is just there for more damage.

Reduced version of full damage combo that doesn't use your escape:

→ Auto Attack → → Auto Attack

Poke Mini-Combo Againt Gods without Displacements ( Hercules, Tyr) - explained in video:

(Walk up to the opponent) Auto Attack → → Auto Attack

Otherwise Vamana combos aren’t really defined in order or anything, the big point I want you to take away from this section is that, if you want the most damage, you need to practice your Auto Attack cancels during his abilities. It’s not imperative to succeed on Vamana, and while you’re new I’d bet that you would feel more comfortable not Auto Attack cancelling (which is completely fine!!), but it really is a great skill to learn over time.

My Video on these combos + How to fit Colossal Fury into them: Play Video

Here's why I build the items in my cookie cutter build:

• Gladiator's Shield: Every one of Vamana’s first three abilities can proc this item's passive, providing great early sustain, which Vamana lacks.
  
  
• Warrior Tabi: You need boots, and Talaria Boots aren't horrible but I tend to stick to solo lane so I can't make much use of the speed for rotations, and I also tend to have good Totem/Mana Buff control so the MP5 isn't needed.
  
  
• Void Shield: This item gives you everything you could need: Health, Power, Protections, and Penetration. You tend to face physical junglers and solo laners very often so this item can help you survive and even turn ganks much more easily.
  
  
• Shogun's Kusari: Attack speed is great on Vamana (and your carries who also get the passive!) as it really increases the damage you can output during your ultimate. It also provides some MP5 and cooldown, also great stats. And of course, while physical defense is amazing, you need some magical defense too.
  
  
• Hastened Katana: I think you can understand why I love this item. It allows you to really stick to opponents during your ult and it’s a ton of fun. It gives you good mobility with the movement as well.
  
  
• Hide of the Nemean Lion: this item gives you mana, a ton of physical defense, and more survivability against hunters who have to decide if autoing you is worth it when they're taking retaliation damage. It also works very well in conjunction with Shield of Thorns, which is also very good on Vamana!

Gladiator's Shield

Warrior Tabi

Mantle of Discord

Oni Hunter's Garb

Elixir of Speed

I'm super new to writing guides, so I definitely have some errors lurking around here. I'll be scouring the guide for the next few days to see how I can improve but otherwise leaving a comment or messaging me in SMITE would be greatly appreciated! Thank for your reading my guide and I hope to see more Vamana on the battlefield!

Supportable

Hello! As of last patch, a few new items were added into the game that benefit Vamana. I'll only be including items that I would consider viable on Vamana, if you want to know the effects of other changes to Vamana feel free to leave a comment in the Discussion.

- Contagion: This is my favorite new item in the Mid Season patch. Some of Vamana's rough matchups include Guan Yu and Hercules, where Vamana doesn't have easy access to antiheal because Pestilence, the previous pretty much only tank antiheal item, was magical defense, and Toxic Blade leaves you defenseless against their physical damage. Contagion not only aids those matchups but also aids Vamana's passive, making it a great, cost effective item even if the enemy solo laner isn't a healing concern. I'll have to consider if Contagion's stats make it a better pickup against a magical solo opponent like Zhong Kui than Pestilence if the enemy has a decent amount of physical Gods. While not providing Magic defense, it's stats are really nice for the cost.

- Arondight/ Pridwen: Unfortunately these item's passives only take place AFTER Colossal Fury is finished casting. That means no speed boost/shield as you enter Giant form. In my opinion this makes Arondight pretty bad for solo lane Vamana, and situational in Jungle, and Pridwen could be considered an alternative to Spirit Robe for Solo lane if the enemy doesn't have too much hard CC. However with Pridwen you're picking it up for the stats mainly, the shield won't be incredibly useful considering you gain health/shields in Colossal Fury already.

- Hastened Katana: The 200g increase is a pretty hard hit, and makes the case for Frostbound Hammer a lot stronger. A lot of the time you are already pushing it by trying to fit in a pseudo damage item into a solo lane build outside of Gladiator's Shield, and so these cost increases make it even harder. I think I'll always pick up Hastened Katana because it's my habit, I've ran it on Vamana since I started playing him years ago, but the most viable option will probably shift to Frostbound Hammer the majority of the time if you are looking for the ability to stick to an opponent.

- Talaria Boots: A decrease in physical power by 5. This doesn't really affect what made it great on Vamana in Duel specifically, but also potentially Conquest, which is the much needed mana sustain and increased movement speed. Vamana's high movement speed and high mana costs just mesh too well with Talaria Boots meaning that these boots are still highly viable.

- Ninja Tabi: I'd really never recommend this boot choice. If you're running a wacky attack speed based build I guess you could consider it. The mana is already found in Talaria Boots.

- Qin's Sais: This doesn't really change when you would pick it up, but it's a nice little buff to Vamana if he's facing multiple tanks.

- Runic Shield: I really like this item and I think it's been sleeper viable this whole time. If/as magical solo laners like Jormungandr become more popular, this item will become the Void Shield equivalent.

And now onto balance changes. These will include any changes that impact Vamana.

- Various Hunter Changes ( Anhur, Ah Muzen Cab, and Apollo): Hunter meta is always a great meta for Vamana because he gets plenty of value from his passive by building lots of physical defense items. Vamana mains rejoice!

- Chaac: Neither of the changes, (Cooldown reduction on Torrent and Storm Call knocking straight up) really effect the matchup. Make sure you space yourself from his Thunder Strike as to not give Chaac value from either of his abilities.

- Erlang Shen: This changes nothing pretty much.

- Nike: The big one, the rework! I think Nike has ultimately become a harder matchup for Vamana. She has easier access to good wave clear, and an overall better escape than before. However, her Barrier Formation is completely useless outside of cheeky pushing-into-tower plays, and she still has no sustain in her kit. It's hard for a Vamana to outclear or poke out a Nike though so I predict this lane will be a stalemate. Later in the game Vamana will have a stronger presence diving the enemy backline whereas Nike will have a stronger presence disrupting the front line and soaking up a lot of damage. I'll need time and experience to see how this matchup fully plays out.

- Odin: Changes nothing, the plan is still the same to punish Odin right after he uses Raven Shout, and since Vamana usually does burst poke damage until after he gets his Hastened Katana and can start auto attacking, the cooldown change doesn't have a massive impact.

- Skadi: I know I said hunter changes are good for Vamana but that ult change just seems so ANNOYING to play against. She's been a 100% pick/ban in my games pretty much.

That wraps up about everything that impacts Vamana in the Mid Season patch. TL;DR: Overall I'd consider him a bit stronger than he was before despite a lot of the items Vamana likes being nerfed. We might see a slow shift towards a more tanky version of Vamana utilizing items like Frostbound Hammer and Contagion. This is aided by the hunter buffs which will incentivize a high physical damage build, and the attack speed slow on Frostbound Hammer.