This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
Vote received! Would you like to let the author know their guide helped you and leave them a message?
Before we continue any further, know that one minion wave IS WORTH MORE than a kill.
If there is a minion wave running towards your portal, and you decide to go chase an almost dead enemy for a kill, one of two things will happen:
1, you lose 7 points from the minions going into your portal, but you kill the enemy. Outcome = -7 points for your team, -5 points for enemy team.
2, you lose 7 points from minions getting in your portal, and the enemy gets away. Outcome = -7 points for your team, assuming you didn't die while chasing.
NOW, say you let that enemy get away and you killed the minions running towards your base. Outcome = -7 points for the ENEMY team.
ALWAYS kill minions over chasing kills. Use your abilities on minions whenever available.
Hide of the Urchin is a fantastic item currently. It gives you a good balance of protections, and is extremely easy to stack in Arena. I personally get this item before maxing out my boots.
I get Shoes of the Magi because I like to play most of my tanks in Arena as "Tanky Damage-Dealers." Unlike most tanks/supports from games like League of Legends, Hi-Rez usually provides their tanks with awesome damage potential. With a couple damage items, ***bha can actually do a surprising amount of damage while still being a solid tank for the team. Shoes of Focus is also a viable option, but I think the CDR from Breastplate of Valor is enough.
Breastplate of Valor provides ***bha with much needed Cooldown Reduction, while also giving a solid amount of Physical Protection and Mana.
Void Stone gives you the Magical Protection you lack after getting Breatplate of Valor, while also providing you with some damage and a nice debuff Aura.
Sovereignty tops off the protections in this build by giving you a nice balance of both, and also providing your teammates with the same. This item is also very solid in Arena, seeing as how you will, more often than not, be close to your teammates.
Polynomicon is the item I usually choose to round off my build. The lifesteal actually works surprisingly well when using Throw Back to clear minion waves. The extra damage on your Auto-Attack is also a nice bonus. Bancroft's Talon also works quite well. Feel free to insert an item of your choice in this last slot to see what works best for you!
Greater Blink is a great active for ***bha, since you don't have any real engage besides a minimal dash from Throw Back. I will elaborate on how to use this active in the Combos section.
Enfeebling Curse provides you with a disgusting amount of CC on an already CC heavy god. Get Weakening Curse if the enemy team is stacked with healers such as Hel, Chang'e, or Aphrodite.
Mystical Mail NEVER BUY THIS ITEM!!! This item will INSTANTLY break the Mesmerize from your Mighty Yawn. No matter what you may see or hear from any other sources, DO NOT buy this item on ***bha.
Blink
This will be your main way to initiate a fight. Wait for 3-5 enemies to group up, make sure your team is with you and ready to attack, and blink in for a Mighty Yawn on multiple enemies. Before going in, let your teammates know which enemy to focus, so that you can keep the others mesmerized while focusing down a single target.
Blink
This is an expansion of the first combo, and is used primarily for eliminating a single target who is out of position. Yawn to disable the enemy team (or just a single enemy if they are out of position), rear up a Groggy Strike on a target to ensure a root, then charge to them with Throw Back and knock them up with Epic Uppercut. With a little follow up damage from your team, the enemy is as good as dead.
Blink
This is an expansion of the first combo, and is primarily used for clumped enemies. Blink in and Yawn to disable multiple targets, and knock one up with Epic Uppercut. Ensure that the others will not be able to move out of their falling teammates range by hitting as many enemies as possible with Groggy Strike, and also letting out an Enfeebling Curse.
This is the combo I use to clear minion waves. Also, using Groggy Strike on a minion wave can help line up a minion to punt with Throw Back.
4/18/2014 - Guide created.
4/24/2014 - Updated the change to Throw Back
-Added a Disruption skill level order
COMING SOON!
-Pros/cons
-Possibly a video on how to use combos
SMITEFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new god, or fine tune your favorite SMITE gods’s build and strategy.
Copyright © 2019 SMITEFire | All Rights Reserved
Seems like a great guide, only exceptions is that I think that you should max Mighty Yawn before Groggy Strike because it's useless until you have Mighty Yawn, and also Kumbhakarna benefits from Withblade because it gives him a higher chance to survive during teamfights.
I think you may have misread the skill order, as I do max Mighty Yawn before Groggy Strike in both level orders. As for Witchblade, I did consider it, but this build already has quite a bit of physical protections, and there isn't really an item I would want to swap it out for. Thanks for the feedback!
A solid guide and solid build. I especially like your skill section - it covers pretty much every combo available!
I'd personally like to see a couple of alternative builds that really take advantage of his high damage potential and low cool downs. He's essentially the safest mage in the game, playing him as pure damage is from experience quite viable due to his masses of CC stopping him from getting focused too hard. I don't know if it'd be viable in high-tier games though. :P I'd definitely take shoes of focus over magi though, the 40% CDR on ***bha means more initiates, more saves, more CC in general and more assists. That's about the only issue I have with your build tbh.
Nice guide overall, +1 :)
Thanks for the feedback! As I mentioned, Shoes of Focus are definitely viable, and it honestly just comes down to personal preference for those. And believe me, whenever a new tank comes out, the first thing I try is a straight damage build lol. Although I found it to be not as successful as say Geb or Bacchus. Throw Back and Epic Uppercut do a good amount of damage, but Groggy Strike is easily interrupted, and usually you will not 100-0 someone with just these 2 moves, which are then put on a pretty long cooldown. In this build, I tried to give him a good amount of damage while still retaining his tankyness.
I'd personally like to see a couple of alternative builds that really take advantage of his high damage potential and low cool downs. He's essentially the safest mage in the game, playing him as pure damage is from experience quite viable due to his masses of CC stopping him from getting focused too hard. I don't know if it'd be viable in high-tier games though. :P I'd definitely take shoes of focus over magi though, the 40% CDR on ***bha means more initiates, more saves, more CC in general and more assists. That's about the only issue I have with your build tbh.
Nice guide overall, +1 :)