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Deity/GM Thanatos Jungle

5 1 5,052
7.7
by AutoSpeed updated February 14, 2025

Smite God: Thanatos

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Thanatos Build

STARTING ITEMS

Build Item Bumba's Cudgel Bumba's Cudgel
Build Item Axe Axe
Build Item Health Potion Health Potion
3
Build Item Blink Rune Blink Rune

FULL BUILD

Notes Focuses on high ability damage, and hard hitting auto attacks. We have a deceptive amount of mobility with Scent of Death and movement speed items.

CDR% = (1 - (100 / (100 + CDRate))) Ă— 100

This build offers 28.57% CDR

Notes

Focuses on high ability damage, and hard hitting auto attacks. We have a deceptive amount of mobility with Scent of Death and movement speed items.

CDR% = (1 - (100 / (100 + CDRate))) Ă— 100

This build offers 28.57% CDR

Build Item Bumba's Hammer Bumba's Hammer
Build Item Jotunn's Revenge Jotunn's Revenge
Build Item Stampede Stampede
Build Item Void Shield Void Shield
Build Item Oath-Sworn Spear Oath-Sworn Spear
Build Item Heartseeker Heartseeker
Build Item The Crusher The Crusher

Optional Items

Build Item Titan's Bane Titan's Bane
Build Item Brawler's Ruin Brawler's Ruin

Thanatos's Skill Order

Death Scythe

1 X Y
Death Scythe
2 4 6 7 9

Scent Of Death

2 A B
Scent Of Death
3 8 11 12 14

Soul Reap

3 B A
Soul Reap
1 15 16 18 19

Hovering Death

4 Y X
Hovering Death
5 10 13 17 20
Death Scythe
2 4 6 7 9

Death Scythe

1 X
Fling a scythe projectile that deals Physical Damage and Slows the first target hit.
  • You Heal for 50% of the total damage done.
  • Gods take 10% of their Max Health as bonus Physical Damage.
Damage: 95 / 165 / 235 / 305 / 375
Damage Scaling: 70% Strength
Slow: 20%
Slow Duration: 3s
Slow Duration: 3s
Range: 11.2m
Radius: 0.5m
Cooldown: 12s
Cost: 6

Additional Notes:
  • Projectile stops on walls.
Scent Of Death
3 8 11 12 14

Scent Of Death

2 A
Sense death, becoming Slow Immune and gaining Movement Speed and Penetration.
  • You also deal bonus damage to and run faster towards enemies at low health.
Movement Speed: 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24%
Bonus Movement Speed: Up to 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24%
Flat Penetration: 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24
Bonus Damage: 5 / 7.5 / 10 / 12.5 / 15%
Cooldown: 13s
Cost: 4

Additional Notes:
  • Bonus Movement Speed scales from 0% effectiveness to 100% effectiveness. 0% when the targets health is at Execute Threshold and 100% when the target is 1 health.
Soul Reap
1 15 16 18 19

Soul Reap

3 B
Swing your scythe, dealing Physical Damage and Silencing enemies in front of you.

Damage: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300
Damage Scaling: 80% Strength
Silence Duration: 0.8s
Silence Duration: 0.8s
Cone Angle: 110 degrees
Cooldown: 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12s
Cost: 4
Hovering Death
5 10 13 17 20

Hovering Death

4 Y
Fly into the sky, then dive to a location dealing Physical Damage and Stunning enemies hit.
  • Enemies at low health are Executed instead
Damage: 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 / 250
Damage Scaling: 80% Strength
Execute Health %: 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40%
Stun Duration: 1s
Cone Angle: 2.4 degrees
Cooldown: 90s
Cost: 6

Additional Notes:
  • Thanatos gains 125% Movement Speed while flying.
  • Execute kills enemies even if their death would normally be prevented by other god abilities.
  • If Thanatos is aiming at an invalid location when the ult expires, he will land on the last valid aimed location.
  • Thanatos is fully CC Immune during buildup, ascent, flight, and descent.

Introduction

Hey, my name is AutoSpeed and I have been a Grandmaster + 3500 (MMR cap) in Conquest, Joust, and Duel in every recent season and I have hit Deity in Smite 2. I'm happy to share my knowledge of the game with everyone, and I appreciate any and all feedback!

Here are my channels:

Twitch

Twitter

YouTube

Discord

Thanatos Basics

Thanatos' Abilities


Passive - Harvester of Souls

Thanatos heals each time he kills an enemy, and if he kills an enemy god his abilities get their cooldowns reduced by 5 seconds.

Enemies within the execute threshold of his ultimate Hovering Death are revealed to Thanatos at all times, until they die or regain health.


Ability 1 - Death Scythe

Thanatos throws his Scythe in a straight line, dealing massive damage to the enemy hit, slowing them, and healing Thanatos based on the damage dealt.

Death Scythe is Thanatos signature damage ability, used to clear camps and hit enemy gods with. It's a difficult skillshot to hit, but is one of the strongest non-ultimate abilities in the game in terms of damage.

Death Scythe is a dangerous ability to miss, and it's accuracy will determine the outcome of almost every fight.


Ability 2 - Scent of Death

Thanatos gains movement speed, penetration, and becomes immune to slows. If Thanatos is running towards an enemy within the execute threshold of Hovering Death, the movement speed gained is doubled.

Scent of Death gives a large amount of movement speed and a deceptive amount of bonus damage through penetration. Use this ability before every fight.


Ability 3 - Soul Reap

Thanatos swings his Scythe in a cone in front of him, silencing and damaging enemies hit.

Soul Reap has good uses into certain enemies, but is dangerous to use as Thanatos cannot take any action until the ability is finished casting. Many enemies can react to the channel and CC Thanatos or avoid it, so be aware. Soul Reap is effectively used to prevent the enemies from dodging Death Scythe.


Ultimate - Hovering Death

Thanatos soars into the sky, gaining bonus movement speed. He can choose to land at a nearby location within the next 5 seconds, damaging and stunning enemies hit. Enemies below a certain health threshold are instantly executed.

Hovering Death is used to initiate or finish a fight. It's execute threshold increases as you rank up the ability, and it increases the effectiveness of Scent of Death and Harvester of Souls.


Ability Rotations:

Melee Range Damage Combo:

Scent of Death > Auto Attack > Death Scythe > Auto Attack > Soul Reap > Auto Attack

If the enemy is not yet in Melee Range:

Scent of Death > Soul Reap > Auto Attack > Death Scythe > Auto Attack

Blink Combo:

Scent of Death > Blink Rune > Death Scythe > Auto Attack > Soul Reap

Initiation with Ultimate:

Scent of Death > Hovering Death > Auto Attack > Death Scythe > Auto Attack > Soul Reap

If you expect the effects of Scent of Death to expire while in mid-air with Hovering Death, it is okay to save Scent of Death for landing.

Jungle Tutorial

Early Game:
  • Start at the Gold Fury side Speed Buff; once the Speed Buff jungle camp is cleared, head towards your XP Buff right next to your Speed Buff; afterwards, you want to head towards the XP camp right next to the Gold Fury Buffs (this will let you hit level 2).

    After that you want to head towards mid to contest the mid camps in the right jungle with your mid laner. Once that is done, head towards your red buff, and either you or your mid laner can take this buff.

    Then go down towards your scorpion camp and XP camp (this will let you hit level 3).

  • While Thanatos does a large amount of damage early game, if you miss your Death Scythe you become very vulnerable. If the enemy jungler has a form of CC, it's better to back away and let them pressure. It's important you don't risk your early game in the first minute by stepping up too far on the first mid wave.

  • Your fight in the jungle is much stronger, as the enemies cannot hide inside the minion wave to avoid Death Scythe. Path confidently.

  • The standard priority of a jungler should be: Buff Camps > Rotations > Harpies. Thanatos has strong rotations, so if you see a nearby enemy laner pushed up it may be a good idea to fight them.

  • Scent of Death has a low mana cost, so don't be afraid to use it to travel around the map quickly.

  • At level 5, you gain your ultimate Hovering Death. You could use it to execute a low health tank, or to initiate on an enemy backliner. Having a cooldown item at the beginning of your build is important to keep pressure with Hovering Death uptime.

Mid Game:
  • Begins around ~14 minutes, or when most people have hit Level 12 and unlocked their Second Relic. Most enemy teams have gotten around to warding by now, and team fights become increasingly common. Most builds have started to show effectiveness.

  • At this stage of the game, it is important you play around your team. While you have strong fights, the enemy team will counter rotate effectively, and Thanatos has poor disengage outside of his ultimate. Your 1v1s are still strong, so if you out rotate an enemy or find the enemy jungler alone, you could look for the fight.

  • Buff Camps > Rotations > Harpies still stands, but running to a team fight/objective is more important. Use Hovering Death if the fight has already begun. If you spot the enemy jungler mid-air, it may not be a bad idea to land on them as they are most likely waiting for you attack first.

  • Waiting for a enemy frontliner to become low health may be a free execute with Hovering Death, but sometimes your team might loose the fight before you have the chance to go in. Play fights to your best judgement.

Late Game:
  • Almost everybody has hit Level 20, Fire Giant is the most important objective on the map. Starter items become unlocked at Level 20, which results in a damage/defensive spike. This means that everybody dies faster, and Team Fights are the most important thing.

  • You should always initiate fights 2nd. Engage with your Blink Rune, or Hovering Death if it is down. If you have neither of these abilities, it's better you hang back and peel for your backliners. Enemy junglers will try to blink on you to prevent you from diving, so watch out for them.

  • During a Siege fight, it is recommended you split push. Looking to Blink Rune into 5 people is not a great idea, as you have no way of protecting yourself. You are better suited to force the enemy jungler into a 1v1 (or 2v2 with solo laner) at Mid Phoenix, and decide if you want to fight them or use Hovering Death to rotate to the impending teamfight at the other phoenix.

Warding


Blue = Early/Rotational wards, you don't go out of your way to place these wards. Place them while already in the area, they are used to prevent blind spots while you rotate. They also double as objective wards

Green = Late game wards, you want to place them as high as possible without getting caught by the enemy doing so. They cut off chokepoints on the enemies side, which lets you know which side of the map they are on. Good wards for a Fire Giant fight

If you find yourself at an enemy buff camp, feel free to drop a ward for the timer if you plan on coming back!

It is very important to recognize which side of the map enemies are on. If you see the enemy jungler on the solo side, recognize they could counter-rotate if you try to play on that side of the map. On the flip side, it means you are free to rotate on the Gold-Fury side of the map!

Final Advice

Thanatos is one of the most punishing junglers, both for your team and the enemy team. You could hit every Death Scythe and make the game feel unplayable for the enemies, but you also have the chance to miss it. Putting Death Scythe on "Quick Casting" or "Instant Casting" may improve it's fluency, and your accuracy will improve the more experience you have. Also, you are the god of death. Anyone telling you death isn't the best CC in the game is incorrect, it could last over 90 seconds.

Revel in your power! <3

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