Loki-Tricks of the Trade

This is my Loki guide, it has proven itself useful with a number of different laning partners. Most successfully for me with thus far with offensive Hades, and Tanky Ymir. Using Loki as a jungler off the start similar to those who would take Baka I like to have a lane partner who can take care of themselves while I'm hitting a quick jungle. Not as successful IMO with Anubis, Ao, or other non-escape characters who are easily doubled up on.

[VVVJ] Going into the Jungle!

Level 1
Grab Hand of the Gods along with heartseeker, and Decoy.
Scout from around the corner to reduce chance of being early game-ganked. Attack blue minion @ 10 seconds, use hand of gods to finish off minions, use Decoy to distract blue harpy and backstab as hard as possible, go to lane to help ally.

Use your decoy as needed in archer range as it will help with aoe clearing of waves early on.

Level 3: Unless you've gotten an early kill, you should be ~level 3 when your hand of the gods comes off cooldown, leave lane to grab either red(or if pushed, orange) buffs. Attack red ogre with 1-3 combination and use hand of gods, distract if needed as you should still have mana buff for long enough to regain mana, otherwise just beat down and use potion if needed.

Earlier level 5 than enemies! Early gank if possible coordinating with lane partner!

Grab buffs as your HoG cooldown comes up and head to base as soon as you get in 1250-1350 gold range to top off heartseeker and start building stacks!

Passive
Behind You!
Loki deals 20% more damage from his basic attacks when hitting enemies from behind.

Excellent assassin passive as he already hits pretty hard! Get some physical penetration, crit, attack speed, etc... this will rock their socks.

#1
Vanish
Loki disappears in a puff of smoke for 3s. While invisible, he is immune to slows and moves 50% faster than normal. His next basic attack from invisibility (or for 2s after) applies a bleed to his target, dealing 30/45/60/75/90 (+25% of your physical power) physical damage every .5s for 2s and reveals Loki.
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 mana.Cooldown: 15 s.

I like to use this as my first priority skill, as the damage done is usually more than his #3 ability. In the end this ability does 90 dmg x 4 ticks=280 damage, +25% phys power per tick x 4 =100% phys damage. Although it costs more mana than his #3 we aren't looking to conserve mana whele you're using both skills anyways.

#2
Decoy
Loki spawns a decoy version of himself that taunts all nearby enemy minions. After 3s, the decoy explodes dealing 90 / 155 / 220 / 285 / 350 (+80% of your physical power) physical damage to all enemies in the radius
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana. Cooldown: 14s.

Use this ability to bring minions together(cast on archers, melee will run back to it), especially useful while laning with aoe partners such as hades who is able to heal off of all minions while congregated as well as clear them all, also benefits Anubis, Ao Kuang, etc...

#3
Aimed Strike
Upon activation, Lokis next basic attack does an additional 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+80% of your physical power) physical damage within 5 seconds. The enemy hit is also slowed by 25% for 3 seconds.
Cost: 50 mana. C ooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 s.

Useful to combine with #1 for heavy damage situations. Another possible skill to prioritize if considering. Cooldown is lowered which is nice although most situations the enemy should be dead by 8 seconds(except maybe large group fights when re-engaging).

#4
Assassinate
Upon activation, Loki teleports to his ground target location. If an enemy god is within the radius, Loki will backstab that target doing 250 / 325 / 400 / 475 / 550 (140% of your physical power) physical damage and be stunned for 1s.
Cost: 100 mana. Cooldown: 90 s.

Awesome! Just pure awesome! Use the indicator to make sure you're on target for the kill. When combined with Ymir, have ymir combo an enemy with freeze + Ult, then use this as they get out of the freeze to delay them just enough that they won't escape. Also may be combined with #1 and #3 for ultimate decimation. I believe the other 2 take effect on first melee after stun if I've noticed correctly.

Hand of the Gods:
Use for quick jungling, use whenever it's up to gain some quick buffs and move onto the next. After level 1 it's best used on ogres as they take more to kill.

Heartseeker:
A love/hate item on Loki. Depending on enemies...this may not be the item for you. The speed increase and stacking damage is awesome though!

Boots:
Warrior Tabi is my preference but you may decide to rock the Boots of Celerity instead if you feel speed is an issue. I see definite benefits to each, use according to playstyle.

The Executioner:
Definitely an awesome item to add to Loki's arsenal. His already heavy damage is increased, attack speed, and best of all physical penetration! Great to assist in taking out tanks, and definitely makes quick work of squishier gods.

Ankh of the Golem:
I like this one because it's a good well-rounded item increasing health +300 which will help Loki immensely, 15% lifesteal which is nice for 1v1 heavier armor enemies, and attack speed by 15% which is another benefit to Loki. Some may consider a crit item but IMO this is a great item, the +attack power based on health is another perk of this one.

The Last Item Slots

Voidblade:
One of my personal favorites, tired of getting ganked by Anhur, or the physical damage output of enemy teams getting to be too much? Grab this for some phys protection while lowering theirs even more! Great on tanks as you should have -100 phys penetration with this equipped and executioner.

Soul Eater:
Usually a good addition to get 30% lifesteal total as Loki, depending on build you may prefer attack speed or crit, both seem to work well. Adding life this will increase damage done with ankh of the golem as well.

Qin's Blades:
Not my #1 choice normally but if you're having troubles with some tanky gods you may wanna get this. Attack speed and straight % damage to heavy health/armor characters is definitely a plus.

Deathbringer:
Who doesn't like this item? Massive damage and crit all in one! I like to pair this with the next item to synergize effects.

Brawlers Beat-Stick:
+lifesteal, +crit, +health, and reduces enemy healing! How much more could you ask...how about more crit and more crit damage when combined with Deathbringer! When considering this combination these add +35% crit chance and +50% crit damage, along with physical penetration in this build and potentially 41% crit total from boots this is insane!

The ability Items are In Situ items as well, used to counter certain gods such as:
Aegis Amulet for Ares
Purification beads for Hades, Anubis, Cupid, etc...
Creeping curse for slowing enemies in teamfights and chasing moments
Heavenly Agility in cases where your team may benefit in catching an enemy or group.

Pros
-Instant Pwnage!
-Massive single target damage, especially if combined with another character who can immobilize, do short burst damage.
-Great cross laning!

Cons
-Don't get trapped, the only escapes are items or your ult, and I'd rather use the ult for a kill... His vanish can be used as a speed increase but this won't get you out of most situations.
-As all the guides state, squishy...this is no understatement either, if you don't get the kill quick, get out.
-No tower diving! General rule, but with Loki especially. If you can't kill them in 1 hit you don't wanna be in there... No jump means no real escape.

Thanks for taking a look at this guide! I hope you enjoyed it and I plan to make revisions in the future as needed. Remember when playing Loki to combine skills for maximum damage output! 1-3-4 [VG2] Gank Middle Lane!