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Breastplate and Genji together is a little overkill for mana in arena but I personally like it because I'm often switching between weapons a lot especially early game so I can get the most of damage and clear from hammer as well as the crowd control from the other weapons. You might disagree and want to change it which is totally fine, this is just what I find works for my current playstyle.
Reinforced Greaves
Breastplate of Valor
Genji's Guard
Bulwark of Hope
Pestilence
Mantle of Discord
Spirit Robe
Shogun's Kusari
Masamune
Void Shield
Midgardian Mail
This is a build I usually end up with if the enemy team is fairly balanced and I'm not needing to counter a lot of specific things.
Reinforced Greaves
Breastplate of Valor
Genji's Guard
Spirit Robe
Mantle of Discord
Masamune
Relics are up to you but these two are my preference as they're not only useful to me but can also save a nearby teammate.
Cloak of Meditation
Magic Shell
Y
B
A
X
Hey everyone, I'm DiabolicNutria and this is my first of what will hopefully become many guides. So before I get started I just want to put it out there that as of this writing I'm lv 27 so I'm not completely new to Smite but in terms of builds and the finer details of Smite I consider myself to be a complete beginner. As such I'm fully aware that my build above is probably one big mess to a more experienced player but that's why I'm here :) My goal with this guide is to share my current build with you and after some shared advice it can become a decent guide that will be of some help to those looking for a Bellona build.
Originally this guide was a build for a jack of all trades Bellona where there was a focus on her basic attacks as well as abilities. After some more testing and advice from BranMuffin I've scrapped the original build and made a tank build for Bell and hopefully a bruiser build as well (once I get time to test some different builds). The items in this build were all suggestions from BranMuffin and the resulting build is what I found to work for me.
Thanks for reading this guide and I'm looking forward to your comments :)
So for core items I have Reinforced Greaves, Breastplate of Valor, and Genji's Guard. I always start with boots as they're relatively cheap and the stats are a nice boost for early game. Breastplate of Valor and Genji's Guard I have listed as core as they're usually my next two items but it still depends on the situation. If the opposing team composition is fairly balanced for magical and physical users then I don't change anything and which one you buy first is up to you. Since this is an arena guide I'm making it's not uncommon for there to be a large imbalance and this is where I sometimes change some of my core items. If the enemy team is mostly magic users I will sometimes scrap Breastplate of Valor and go for Genji's Guard second, followed by another magical protection item such as Bulwark of Hope or Pestilence if they have healers. If it's mostly physical users I don't change anything and get genji's guard third for it's health, MP5 and CDR.
The rest of the items I have listed are all situational because I find that it really depends on how the fight is going and who I'm fighting. If I have some basic attack users on my team or against me I like to use Shogun's Kusari and Midgardian Mail respectively but otherwise I don't get them. If the enemy team is fairly balanced and I'm not suffering in any particular area I like to get Mantle of Discord for the protections and CDR and Masamune as a 6th item for it's hybrid stats of protections and power. I enjoy Masamune as an endgame item as I find it helps clean up and give that little extra aggressive push at the end of a match and that little extra damage can make all the difference in a close match.
So far this is my build for a tank bellona but as I use this build more I'm sure there will be more to add/update.
Below is a link to the match stats of a match I had using this build. I think I could've done better in that match but our Neith disconnected before the match started and never returned so it was 4v5 the entire time and all things considered losing by 5 tickets isn't too bad. The main thing I wanted to point out is that with this build you can absorb a lot of damage which for this match turned out to be 82,000 damage mitigated.
http://smite.guru/censor/match/53024
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So far I have only tested your tanky bell and still not as much as I'd like but enough to know that it has a lot of promise and that I really enjoy it.
It's worked wonders for me so far, haven't lost a match yet and maintained a decent k/d/a, and as of right now there's only a few items that I'd scratch off my list for sure. Two of which are the boots warrior and ninja tabi (I apologize but I haven't figured out how to put in the item link yet). While both good, I found that they just didn't work as well for me when trying to build bull tank while reinforced greaves did a much better job in my opinion.
Everything else I found to be pretty situational in one way or another. Breastplate of valour and genji's guard I found to be my two other cores but even those depended on the other teams composition. If the team was fairly balanced in terms of magical and physical users I get both as my second and third item but if the team was more magical I found it helped more to scrap breastplate of valour and get genji followed by another magical protection such as bulwark of hope or pestilence if they have healers.
The rest of the items you mentioned for tanky bell I have ready in my build but are used more as the situation demands and for counters though masamune is starting to become a favorite 6th item for me as it still provides protections but the power boost I like for late game arena as it's in the last few minutes of the match where both sides can get desperate when it's close and the extra power provides that little extra push to help clean up (from what I've found so far). Shogun's Kusari is a nice addition that I like to have in there but have rarely used as of yet since I don't usually have enough basic attackers to make it worth getting in my opinion.
All in all though your suggestion for a tanky Bell has worked really well for me so far and I plan on updating the guide with what I've found. Haven't tested bruiser bell yet but it's something I plan to do so I can add that to the guide as well :)
Yeah, choice of boots is definitely something to consider. Even for tanky gods,
Yup, I can see you're already figuring out how to adapt to enemy comps, and finding out already what you prefer. My suggestion of BoV being listed before magical protection options is not a specific order thing...I would get it first if facing 3 physical gods, but as you mention, if facing more magical threats, I would probably delay, or even bypass it. I was giving a general example, but it's good to see you are adjusting as needed.
And in all honesty, I like BoV and Genji, but not often together...BoV has a high mana pool, while Genji has high mana regen. Both of those in a mode like Arena is just not that needed...almost overkill, unless you're at max CDR and just absolutely spamming abilities. So often, I'll get BoV but then get Pest, or I'll get Genji and then
I'm guessing you've mostly tried tanky Bell so far because you end up being the only Warrior or Guardian on your team...but if you have an obvious tank (that isn't going bruiser), use that opportunity to get a bit more damage in the build just to see how that also feels. When you do go bruiser, just make sure you get one or two items with pen/protection reduction, or a lot of that damage potential will be mitigated by the enemies.
I see what you're saying about the BoV and Genji combo and you're right, it probably is overkill in arena but I like them both just because together they give a nice boost to magical and physical protections early on. The mana is a little overkill but I find especially early on I'm switching between weapons a lot to get the most of the damage and clear from hammer as well as the CCR from the other weapons. 1v1 I don't as much but when I'm against multiple I find this to be the case a lot of the times. That's not to say though that after some more practice and experience I won't change it for something more effective.
It's true that I don't often get another tank on my team so I usually end up going tank but the next time I have time to play I'll try bruiser regardless if I have another tank just to get a feel for it and see how things go.
As always, thanks for the comment and advice
Welcome to the site and awesome that you're looking for feedback/willing to listen.
Okay, Bellona in Arena is a flexible one, to a degree. In Conquest, she's a solo laner and will usually be built almost fully tanky, but with perhaps one or two items that have bruiser potential (by which I mean items that have both offensive and defensive function...your choice of
Firstly, understand that
In response to some of the comments you made in the writeup, yes, Bell doesn't deal the most damage, but her base damage is solid. Warriors often rely more on their base damage (rather than building a lot of power items. An indication of this can be seen with ability scaling. With abilities, scaling in the range up to around 60% is considered average. When it starts getting closer to 100%, that's where you see that higher power/pen is often best.
With your current build, I would say it's not necessarily bad overall, but it just doesn't have much focus to take advantage of any specific qualities. The issues I see:
Also, in your writeup, you talk about getting Jotunn's 2nd because enemies won't be leveled enough to melt you. Trust me...they can melt you. You have to be in close to deal all your damage, so you'll often be a target. In most cases, you'll want a protection item 2nd, not a pure offensive one.
Tanky Bell:
For safest application, you'd probably want to build more on the tanky side in more of a support-type role, with protections, health, some CDR, and counter items. In this case, your focus will be ability use, and you want to avoid 100% offense items, such as
A common build in this case would be something like:
Warrior Tabi (more offensive), 
Ninja Tabi (added basic attack function), or 
Reinforced Greaves (more defensive)
Breastplate of Valor (physical defense, high CDR, mana pool)- Magical defense options:
Pestilence (anti-heal), 
Genji's Guard (all-around magical tank + CDR item), 
Bulwark of Hope (selfish protections), or 
Shogun's Kusari (basic attack team function if you have multiple basic attackers on your team)
- Fill the rest of the build with situational defense/counter/bruiser, including things like
Masamune, 
Spirit Robe, 
Mantle of Discord, 
Midgardian Mail, 
Void Shield, 
Witchblade, etc.
You would probably only useBruiser Bell:
If you're not the only tank, and can focus a bit more on offense, you can then consider inserting any of
Basic Attack Bell: This one is sort of what you did, due to adding
Here would be a build I might consider running with that basic attack focus:
Ninja Tabi
Void Shield
Shogun's Kusari
The Crusher
Stone Cutting Sword- Situational defense
This build incorporates enough attack speed to give her good function that way, has 3 sources of penetration (Void's 20 prot reduction, Crusher's 15 pen, SCS's situational 30 prot reduction), some protections through the 2nd and 3rd items, and possibly more with the last item. You could consider better control withIf you try out both of these directions, let me know how they work out. Remember you'll want to give them multiple tries. You're at an early account level still, and that means your games will be littered with various skill levels in teammates and enemies, and these can have a huge impact on how effective you can be. Each match is different.
And also remember, Bell can deal good damage from her base damage, without the need for pure offensive items. It's about how often you can engage, and how well you choose the right situations to go in.
After some more testing I've found that it's more hit and miss in terms of success which makes it difficult to find a good build at my early level because I end up playing against all ranges of skill level and it's hard to know how much of your success/failure is due to the build versus the skill level of people you're playing with/against. It's for this reason though that I'm excited to test some of your suggestions and see how things work out.
You said that for Bell it's about how often you can engage and how well you choose the right situations to go in and I think that's spot on. Sometimes I forget that each class has it's role to play even in Arena where there isn't as big of an emphasis on roles (I say this as it's not uncommon to get three or more of the same class on a team). So in light of what you said and just looking at your suggestions I feel like a tanky Bell where she can survive better and therefore engage more often might be the best way to go for Arena where it's more combat orientated but it will most likely depend on team balance.
I look forward to trying both your bruiser and tanky bell and letting you know how they worked out for me so that after some more discussion I can update this build and make it much better for those looking for a good Bellona build.
Excellent, glad I was able to provide some helpful feedback. Glad also that my evaluations seem to align with what you're seeing (though as you play her more and get more experience, you'll probably develop your own further opinions, which is always best).
Not sure if there's anything in the guide that can help you, but you're welcome to check out my general Arena guide: https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/the-overarching-arena-guide-11968
Anyway, good luck, and keep playing to get that experience!