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Stop Sucking At Da Ji Jungle (S9 "update")

75 7 70,621
8.9
by DiscoFerry updated February 17, 2022

Smite God: Da Ji

Build Guide Discussion 4 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Build Summary

Starting Build

Build Item Bumba's Dagger Bumba's Dagger
Build Item Mace Mace
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
3
Build Item Multi Potion Multi Potion
2

Cookie Cutter Build

Build Item Jotunn's Wrath Jotunn's Wrath
Build Item The Crusher The Crusher
Build Item Hydra's Lament Hydra's Lament
Build Item Serrated Edge Serrated Edge
Build Item Heartseeker Heartseeker
Build Item Bumba's Spear Bumba's Spear
Build Item Jotunn's Ferocity Jotunn's Ferocity

Da Ji's Skill Order Notes AKA: Level 2 to rank 3 then prioritise 1>4>3>2

Notes

AKA: Level 2 to rank 3 then prioritise 1>4>3>2

Horrible Burns

1 X Y
Horrible Burns
2 7 8 9 10

One Thousand Cuts

2 A B
One Thousand Cuts
1 4 6 18 19

Trickster Spirit

3 B A
Trickster Spirit
3 12 14 15 16

Paolao

4 Y X
Paolao
5 11 13 17 20
Horrible Burns
2 7 8 9 10

Horrible Burns

1 X
Da Ji heats up her claws, causing her next successfully hit Basic Attack to burn the target, dealing instant bonus damage, additional damage every 1s for 3s and Slowing them for 3s. Da Ji gains Haste when this ability activates, which lasts until she hits a target.

Ability Type: Stim
Burst Damage: 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+25% of your Physical Power)
Damage per Tick: 20 / 28 / 36 / 42 / 50 (+20% of your Physical Power)
Slow: 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35%
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 9s
One Thousand Cuts
1 4 6 18 19

One Thousand Cuts

2 A
Da Ji lashes out with her claws at nearby enemies, executing 4 strikes that damage all enemies in range and apply the Bleed from Torture Blades.

While this ability is channeling Da Ji moves freely in all directions, gains 40% Movement Speed, immunity to Slows and Knockups, and her tails mitigate Damage dealt to her by Enemy Gods who are behind her.

Ability Type: AOE
Damage per Hit: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+40% of your Physical Power)
Damage Mitigation: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
Range: 20
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 11s
Trickster Spirit
3 12 14 15 16

Trickster Spirit

3 B
Da Ji selects a single allied or enemy target and teleports to their location after a short delay. Upon arriving at the target, she lashes out with her claws, dealing damage and applying the Bleed from Torture Blades to all enemies around her.

Ability Type: Teleport
Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+80% of your Physical Power)
Range: 55
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 15s
Paolao
5 11 13 17 20

Paolao

4 Y
Da Ji summons her signature torture device, the Paolao. As she hovers above the device she may fire up to 3 shots. Enemy gods hit take damage and become Chained and Slowed. At the end of her ability chained enemies are pulled to the Paolao becoming Stunned and then taking damage 3 times over 2s. If a god hit by this ability becomes Crowd Control Immune at any time, they break the Chain on them and cannot be Chained again until this ability ends.

Ability Type: Projectile
Shot Damage: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 (+50% of your Physical Power)
Chain Slow: 20%
Pull Damage per Tick: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+20% of your Physical Power)
Pull Stun Duration: 1s
Range: 80
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 120s

Da Ji Threats

Tap each threat level to view Da Ji’s threats

Max
1
Major
3
Even
0
Minor
0
Tiny
0

Da Ji Synergies

Tap each synergy level to view Da Ji’s synergies

Ideal
0
Strong
2
OK
0
Low
0
None
0

Extended Build

Alternate Items

Build Item Brawler's Beat Stick Brawler's Beat Stick
Build Item Mantle of Discord Mantle of Discord
Build Item Magi's Cloak Magi's Cloak
Build Item Bloodforge Bloodforge
Build Item Shifter's Shield Shifter's Shield

Notes I'm sorry, these are the only real options.

Notes

I'm sorry, these are the only real options.

Build Item Temporal Beads Temporal Beads
Build Item Scorching Blink Rune Scorching Blink Rune

Introduction

Welcome to my guide for Da Ji, The Nine-Tailed Fox

This guide is intended to stay correct and relevant indefinitely, ability reworks permitting.



Written for the Official Smite Discord mentor guides collection.


A little about me: I am a PC masters jungle main, I have around 200 games of Da Ji in masters+ ranked with around a 3kda and 65% win rate on her.

While this guide does contain a specific item build at the top, it is designed to be as cookie-cutter as possible in the hopes that it will stay as an at least viable build path for as long as possible (item reworks are hard to account for).


Strengths & Weaknesses

..... Strengths .....

+ High single target burst damage.

+ Free kills on enemies without beads.

+ Surprisingly good mobility.
.. Weaknesses ..

- Low area damage.
.

- No sustain.
.

- Very squishy.

Abilities


Passive - Torture Blades

Adds a small bleed damage tick for every tick of damage that Da Ji deals with her auto attacks, One Thousand Cuts, or Trickster Spirit.



1 - Horrible Burns

Activating this ability will make your next hit auto-attack deal bonus damage, plus a damage tick and a slow.



2 - One Thousand Cuts

Four hits in a semi-circle AOE that do a small amount of damage each, and apply Torture Blades. Da Ji also gains movement speed and, for some reason, damage mitigation for all damage taken from behind her.

PUT THIS ABILITY ON INSTANT CAST



3 - Trickster Spirit

Da Ji teleports onto the targeted enemy, god or minion, doing damage, and applying Torture Blades.

PUT THIS ABILITY ON INSTANT CAST



4 / Ultimate - Paolao

Go up on a big ol pillar, shoot three chains that hit in an AOE, and then jump off the pillar, pulling in every enemy god that was hit with a chain and did not use any kind of cc immunity. The chains do damage when they hit (even if the enemy is cc immune when they hit), and the pull does some tick damage to every enemy pulled. Enemies hit by multiple chains will only take one instance of pull damage.

PUT THIS ABILITY ON INSTANT CAST


How To Play


This part of the guide will provide you with information needed to play Da Ji throughout the different stages of the game.


Early Game


Go farm. Come back at level 5. Once you have Paolao, you can target any enemies who either did not buy, or do not currently have, their beads. In between Paolao cooldowns, keep farming! Da Ji is not a good character from behind.



Other than that, keep an eye out for any free buff invades or free ganks on enemies pushed up to towers or at low hp. Yknow, normal jungle stuff.


Mid Game


This is the point where Da Ji is the strongest. At this point you have two to three items online, Horrible Burns fully leveled, and you can start one comboing people.



Find an enemy on their own (preferably the mid or adc), Trickster Spirit onto them, throw one auto attack, use Horrible Burns, use another auto attack. At this point, if they are not already dead, either use One Thousand Cuts to finish them off if they are low, or Paolao if they used their escape or their teammates have collapsed on you.


Late Game


Most of this stage is the same as the last. The playstyle and combos are the same, except you have to pick your targets smarter, as the enemy support is more likely to be sitting somewhere between inside their squishes, to about five feet away from them. This makes things harder for you.



Use smart target decision making, don't be scared to use Paolao as either an engagement or escape tool if you need to. Focus enemies without relics, and try and find any exposed or separated targets that may be hanging around the edges of fights at objectives.


Tips and Tricks

  • All of Da Ji's abilities make great AA cancels. See the next section for a full AA cancelling combo guide.

  • One Thousand Cuts can be cancelled at any time during its cast. You can even cast and instantly cancel it for an instant AA cancel.

  • The way the camera is oriented when you teleport with Trickster Spirit will affect where you teleport relative to the targeted enemy (face away from them and you will teleport to their far side from you).

  • Trickster Spirit will follow enemy dashes during their animations, but will be interrupted by jumps, teleports, or teammates' pulls, banishes, and some knockups.

Auto Attack Cancelling


Auto Attack Cancels are at least 50% of Da Ji's Damage. You need to learn how to do them.

Every one of Da Ji's abilities can be, and should be, AA Cancelled to have proper effect.
See below for bad vs good AA cancelling in a normal Da Ji combo.



Bad AA Cancelling


Good AA Cancelling



(laggy gif? open it in a new tab)

Note that the good aa cancelling combo took less time, but got an extra auto attack in.


This is because of a few neat aa cancelling tricks that are unique to Da Ji.


Pre requisites: set One Thousand Cuts, Trickster Spirit, and Paolao to instant cast!



Full combo guide: Hold left click, do not let go until you have to shoot your Paolao chains. Use Trickster Spirit, wait for an auto attack to hit, immediately activate Horrible Burns, wait for another auto attack.
Then use One Thousand Cuts, and then instead of waiting for it to finish, right click to cancel the ability immediately after the fourth hit. This will allow you to auto attack much sooner as otherwise this ability has a long post-fire animation.
After this auto attack hits, press 4 to activate Paolao. If you are still holding the left mouse button, and the ability is on instant cast, you will do an additional auto attack on the way up onto the pillar (thanks dmbrandon).
Shoot your three chains, or just shoot 1 if you are trying to catch the enemy by surprise, and then again immediately double right click, and then hold left click, while looking down at the floor, as soon as the chain hits. This will get you off of the pillar as fast as possible, and you will auto attack again as soon as you hit the floor.

Do this all correctly and it should look exactly like the good AA cancelling gif above. Practice it on a jungle practice bot a little, it shouldn't be too hard to master.

Conclusion


Hopefully this guide has given you at least a decent understanding of how to play Da Ji, as well as providing a build that will hold up for as long as possible into the future. If you have more questions, click the discord link in the intro and find the ask a mentor channel, where someone should be able to answer any questions.

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Collapse All Comments

1
HaitianFlash | December 18, 2021 12:09pm
Love it
1
AmoralOne (11) | October 19, 2021 9:06am
*insert Gordan Ramsey gif saying 'Finally some good ****ing food"*
1
Big Damage (37) | October 19, 2021 10:01am
1
Dashedscroll (2) | October 19, 2021 8:02am
I stopped sucking at da ji jungle, now how fo I get out of plat
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