Serqet Jungle Guide, Topping Arachnids Since Ancient Times!

Good day my fellow Smite enthusiasts!

Today I want to chat about a very cool Goddess that I have fallen for, that's right Serqet! Even though she has only been out for a few days, it has been a wonderful few so far. I am positive that she will make my top 5 favorite God/Goddess list. She might even give Agni and Ne Zha a run for their money!

My name is Kindran and I started playing Mobas back when Dota was out in Warcraft3. From there I moved to HoN, Heroes of Newerth, and finally Smite caught my undivided attention. Smite has the general Moba feel, but it also has its own unique twist via 3rd person fixed camera and true skill shots. Gone are the days when we select an ability, target an enemy/ally and fire an ability that couldn't miss. This also includes the auto attack function. No more shooting through creeps to auto attack an enemy!

This guide is mainly for jungling and showing how to maximize Serqet's venemous nature.

Catalyst:
Serqet's Basic Attacks apply Catalyst, which consumes her lingering Poisons. If the target is affected by two or three different lingering poisons, they take additional damage.

Ability: Passive
2 Poisons Consumed: 10% of Targets Maximum Health as Physical Damage.
3 Poisons Consumed: 20% of Targets Maximum Health as Physical Damage.

This little nifty, not so nifty, passive forces players to actually think before attacking and using abilities. There are 2 main things one has to look out for when using Serqet
1) Auto attacks always consume stacks per hit including if you only have 1 on the enemy.
2) Blowing all your abilities to apply stacks will ruin nearly all chances to activate the passive.

Problem 1 means that you have to be mindful when attacking as to not waste your stacks between abilities. Problem 2 comes about when one uses all abilities to apply Deathbane, Cobra's Kiss and Last Breath to a target without planning. This creates a problem where Serqet cannot catch up in time to detonate for 20% of the enemies max health in damage.


Deathbane:
Serqet dashes three times from side to side, dealing damage and applying Deathbane Poison to each enemy hit. This ability can critical hit, and Serqet is immune to knockup while dashing. Deathbane Poison reduces a target's physical protection for a short time, after which it remains in a lingering dormant state for 20s.

Ability: Dash
Affects: Enemies
Max Distance: 50
Damage: Physical
Damage: 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 (+45% of your physical power)
Protection Reduction: 15% for 3s.
Cost: 60
Cooldown: 10s

This ability is Serqet's bread and butter. This is also her hardest ability to land due to it's zigzag and extremely small hit box. Upon firing, Deathbane launches Serqet into a forward side to side motion that hits 3 times in a row. It is very easy to not only miss, but disorient yourself upon landing.

Within the jungle Deathbane will serve as your main damaging ability and it will deal massive amounts of damage. It is also a decent initiation/escape tool to use at will. Another nifty bonus is that Deathbane CAN CRIT ON EACH HIT!!! This allows for huge potential burst if the target is right on you.


Cobra's Kiss:
Serqet launches her two blades forward, dealing damage and applying the Cobra's Kiss Poison. Cobra's Kiss Poision drives gods to madness, forcing them to attack nearby allies, or walk harmlessly towards Serqet. After the madness, Cobra's Kiss remains in a lingering dormant state for 20s.

Ability: Line
Affects: Enemies
Range: 40
Damage: Physical
Damage: 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 / 130 (+40% of your physical power)
Madness Damage: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 (+30% of your physical power) per Hit.
Madness Duration: 1.0 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2s
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 18s

Every assassin's wet dream! 2 simultaneous attacks that force the target to attack Serqet as long as they are not near other God/Goddess. A couple of things to know about this ability:
1) It hits the first target in line, including creeps.
2) The 2nd hit auto fires and has a short delay after the 1st hit so you need to constantly aim.
3) If the enemy is near another God it won't be as good.
4) This has a very long cooldown for a regular ability.

Ambush:
Serqet vanishes, rooting herself in place. She may leap once, revealing herself and dealing damage to enemies. She will stay hidden until she leaps or cancels this ability. Enemy gods within range 12.5 will also reveal her.

Abiltity: Area
Affects: Enemies
Radius: 15
Damage: Physical
Damage: 80 / 140 / 200 / 260 / 320 (+50% of your physical power)
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 17s

Most likely the weakest ability in Serqet's kit. Ambush has 2 components, a rooted stealth and a leap. When firing this ability Serqet will crouch down and prompt a target circle for you to leap towards.

These are a few reasons why I consider Ambush the weakest ability in Serqet's kit:
1) Serqet is rooted while stealthed.
2) Enemy gods can still see through stealth if close enough.
3) Canceling the ability before leaping places Ambush on cooldown.


Last Breath:
Serqet leaps to an enemy, stunning them, applying the Last Breath poison, then pushing them 30 units away. The Last Breath poison deals damage over the next 5s, and prevents healing. If an enemy dies while infected with Last Breath, they will explode, applying the poison to all nearby enemies.

Ability: Single Target
Affects: Enemies
Healing Reduction: 100%
Damage: True
Damage: 228 / 342 / 456 / 570 / 684
Stun Duration: 1s
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90

A very unique ability to say the least. Last Breath deals true damage that does not scale with power, but it has 100% healing reduction attached to it. What some people might not know is that Serqet pushes the target in the direction that the camera is facing. This means you can choose which way to throw an enemy, similar to
Mercury and his Special Delivery. A big thing to remember is that if the enemy dies while Last Breath is on them, they explode and apply Last Breath to any nearby enemy!

When looking at Serqet and her passive you may be thinking to unload Deathbane, Cobra's Kiss and Last Breath followed up by an auto attack to deal maximum damage. The biggest flaw with this process comes from the fact that once those abilities are used, Serqet will have a hell of a time getting an auto attack in and/or escaping. Don't fret though! There are a few ways to still annihilate unsuspecting targets!

First and foremost you absolutely need map awareness so you can dictate which order to use Serqet's abilities. Will you need to use an ability to escape? Is there another enemy around to mess up Cobra's Kiss? Does the enemy have a way to escape either through a dash, leap and etc.? These are very important questions to ask yourself before you engage a kill.

In a normal circumstance there are a few options to use.

1) If enemy God/Goddess has an escape ability:

Run up to the enemy OR Ambush leap to the target > Last Breath and knock to friendly, against wall or towards any area that will benefit you > Cobra's Kiss to force them to attack > Auto attack > Deathbane to catch up after their escape ability.

Run up to the enemy > Cobra's Kiss to force them to attack you > Deathbane up close for maximum damage > Last Breath and knock to friendly, against wall or towards any area that will benefit you > Auto attack > Ambush to leap to target if needed.

Team work is usually easy for an Assassin based God/Goddess. This is true in all forms of gameplay from laning, ganking, team fights, all to endgame.

In the laning phase of the game you should coordinate with your team members and see who needs ganks, if they need it at all. During a gank your teammate should not be overly aggressive and let you engage first. When engaging you should toss your target to your teammate with Last Breath while he runs towards you to assist. Try to choose the easiest target to kill as that will create a successful gank.

If both teams are grouped up and looking for an opening to attack, your job will be to stay out of sight and stalk any squishy for when the battle begins. Preferably a long range Mage or ADC. When chaos ensues start your attack and finish off the target by yourself if you can. If the enemy happens to be out of position and you can toss them to your team with Last Breath before the team fight happens then you should do that. In the middle of the team fight and near the end of it your job is to catch and kill any enemy that attempts to flee. Always make sure to have either Ambush or Deathbane available to escape or to follow fleeing enemies at any given time.

During the endgame you will be able to combo 100% - 0% any Mage or ADC without physical protection. This is your main focus and you should give your enemies a reason to fear going out alone!

Your main job as the Jungler is to prowl around from lane to lane ganking while killing off any jungle camps. The mini harpies, xp camp with 3 harpies in it, has a 1:30 respawn time. The mid harpies, xp camp @ mid with 2 harpies in it, has a 3 minute respawn time. Every buff camp has a respawn time of 4 minutes. Keep this time in your head and watch the timers on the map!


1) If solo lane is on the right side you can generally follow this order:

What you need to do here is start on mid-right harpies (#1) and then go to right blue buff camp (#2). This buff is for the solo lane guy. After this you can chill out in the solo lane (#3) till ~~ 2:30 in game time, and just help out your solo buddy for a bit. Once this happens, head to right red buff camp (#4) and grab that buff. Then go to the right mini harpies (#5) and back to right harpies (#6 or #1 originally). This is where you can try for a gank on mid. After this, go to left mini harpies (#7) and then the left yellow camp (#8). Let your left lane know you are there with a ping and message for them to pick up the buffs on yellow and left blue (which is next #9)


1) If solo lane is on the left side you can generally follow this order:

What you need to do here is start on left blue buff (#1). This buff, just like above, is for the solo lane guy. With this you can go to help the solo lane for a bit (#2) till ~~ 2:30 in game time. Once this passes, head to left yellow buff camp (#3) and grab that buff. Then go to the left mini harpies (#4) and back to mid-left harpies (#5). This is where you can try for a gank on mid. After this go to right mini harpies (#6) and then the right red buff camp (#8). This buff can go to your mid guy so call it out and ping the location. Finally you should be at right blue buff camp (#8), and this is for your ADC in the duo lane.

Once this is done it is time for you to roam and gank as much as possible. If you see any enemy sniffing near your teams tower go ahead and try to kill them. Focus non tank targets and always try to have help as Serqet is not able to kill by herself this early in the game. While roaming always keep your mind on the respawn time for jungle camps. With a steady flow you can always have a list of camps to kill as they pop up in between ganks. While in the laning phase the blue buffs are for your solo guy and your ADC in the duo lane. Generally Red/Yellow is yours, but don't be too greedy and let mid get the red buff if they ask for it on the 2nd+ clear of it.

Understand that this mini jungle guide should only be used as a general pathway. It is up to you as the jungler to decide when to invade, how to defend an invade, when to gank, when to back for items/health/mana and how to reset if you die. Don't expect to follow this without any variation. Smite is about teamwork and reacting to your enemies. If a lane needs constant ganks then try to camp on that side of the map and clear the enemies jungle if possible instead.

Serqet is an amazing Goddess that has a lot of potential. She falls out of the game quickly if you get behind, and it is very hard to catch back up as an assassin. She is also extremely squishy, yet can become unstoppable in the correct hands.

As an assassin you do not want to start fights, especially team fights. Find those lonesome targets and pick off those stragglers! Sink venom into the wounds of your foes! Strike fear into the hearts of your enemies and allies alike! Take anything you can and give nothing back! Live long and . . . . . .

I hope you liked this guide =p. If you have any questions, comments and the like please don't hesitate to post below. If ya have any suggestions and/or criticism I welcome those too!

Credits to HiRez for their wonderful game,
Jordenito for the awesome Code Blue: BBCoding for Beginners guide,
ArmachamCorp from DeviantArt for the cool Serqet picture,
and finally me! Kindran - a Smite enthusiast.

August 5, 2014:

Ambush
Jump distance increased from 55ft to 65ft.
Time before Serqet can leap after activation decreased from 0.3s to 0s.


August 19, 2014:

Qin's Sais no longer worth the cost of the item in my opinion. Took it out of possible item swaps.


September 12, 2014:

Just as an update, Odysseus' Bow should not be bought as it does not go well with Serqet.


September 28, 2014:

Changed cooldown time on Ambush from 15s to 17s as it was nerfed.

November 20, 2014:

Changed Deathbane tooltip to coincide with recent nerf:

Deathbane scaling reduced from 50% to 45%
Physical reduction reduced from 20% to 15%