The Complete Beginner's Guide to SMITE! *Updated 3/12/15* *Updated for Season 2!*

Hello, my name is Firraria. I'm going to teach you a few basic things, such as SMITE Terminology, the user interface, and stats. This guide is full of colorful text and pictures. You have been warned.

Things to keep in mind while reading:

Because Smite is constantly changing, this guide is also subject to change.

I am not an expert nor a pro, nor do I know everything about stats.
I'm giving you a basic rundown of what stats do, along with the terminology in Smite and the user interface, and I do not 1. have exact numbers for every stat, nor do I 2. know the math for every stat in Smite, however I am definitely 3. open to advice on how stats work, just in case I get something wrong.

This guide is mostly for beginners, veterans and pros will likely get very little out of it. I tried to make this as simple as possible, because I know that when I was new I was incredibly confused.

I'd also like to add that this could be considered a community project, and so anything you feel should be added, or if you want to correct some information, please feel free to comment. Of course, you will be then listed in the credits.

This guide is full of seemingly unnecessary information, simply for the sake of thoroughness.

The little yellow numbers in the bottom-left corner of all the screenshots should be ignored, it's simply my FPS counter!

Before I published this, it had 315 views. I viewed it a lot.

5/12/14 - Published the guide.

5/13/14 - Updated coding, fixed typos, and added additional info to the stats page.

6/6/14 - Finally updated images.

2/13/15 - Big update for season 2 of Smite!

2/20/15 - Added additional Smite terminology.

3/6/15 - Updated the Smite Terminology section.

3/12/15 - Updated the Smite Terminology section.

Here, we'll go over basic terminology in Smite. I'll be using all sorts of different Smitean terminology in this guide, so you better read up.

Official Smite God Role Labels: Hunter, Mage, Guardian, Warrior, Assassin.

Hunter: Hunters are often referred to as ADCs, and focus on building up basic attack power (Crit chance, attack speed, attack power, and lifesteal).
They tend to have little CC, but make up for it in insane damage during late-game, however they also have very little damage during early-game. Some examples of a Hunter/ADC would be Neith, Ah Muzen Cab, and Artemis.

Mage: Mages tend to be very squishy and immobile gods that like to sit back and send off long-ranged spells to damage foes, however some are more close-range oriented ( He Bo for example). Mages focus on building up tons of magic power and bursting down targets for quickly. Mages are usually very slow and have no escapes, so you have to use them with caution. Mages usually lack CC, save for slows. Some examples of a Mage would be Ra, Poseidon, and Hel.

Guardian: Guardians are often referred to as tanks. A Guardian/tank is a God that is very bulky, with lots of defense, and little attack power. Tanks are often used in the support role, and should be willing to 1. give their life for the team to survive, and 2. never steal kills. Guardians often have very high CC to help set up kills. Some examples of a guardian would be Ymir, Athena, and Sobek.

Warrior: Warriors, sometimes referred to as bruisers, are a balance between power and defense. They usually focus on having high power with abilities and little focus on basic attack damage. They often have a decent amount of CC, although not as much as a Guardian. Some examples of a warrior would be Tyr, Odin, and Guan Yu.

Assassin: Assassins are usually very bursty, close-range fighters. They seldom build any defense, and focus on killing squishy targets ASAP. They usually have no CC, save for slows, and they focus on building crit chance, lifesteal, attack speed, and attack power. Assassins like that are usually sustained damage assassins, and some examples of that would be Bakasura, Kali, and Mercury. However, some assassins are more focused on damage from their abilities, and their power to burst people down instantly, some bursty assassins would be Loki, Fenrir, and Thanatos.




Middle Lane: Often just referred to as "mid." This is this lane that's in the middle of the conquest map. A mage type character will typically go in the middle lane.

Duo Lane/Long Lane: This is the long lane. To determine which lane is the long lane, you simply have to look at the map. The lane where the first set of towers are furthest apart is the long lane, as the area between the two towers is longer. A hunter/adc type character and a guardian/tank/support type character will often go in this lane.

Solo Lane/Short Lane: This is the short lane. To determine which lane is the short lane, you simply have to look at the map. The lane where the first set of towers are closest together is the short lane, as the area between the two towers is shorter. The type of character that goes in this lane may vary, although it's typically a mage, assassin or warrior, with good waveclear.

Jungle: The area of the map between the lanes is the jungle. Here is where you can defeat minion camps for buffs/XP/Gold. You'll also find the Gold Fury and the Fire Giant in the jungle.

EXP/XP: Some people say XP, some people say EXP. However, they both mean experience, or experience points. There are two types of XP: The kind that is used to level up your God in-game (max level 20), and the type that is used to level up your Smite account (max level 30). The former is earned by killing enemy minions, towers, phoenixes, or players. The latter is earned by completing games.

Gold: The currency in the game that is used to purchase in-game items and consumables.

Favor: Favor is the currency used to buy new Gods, skins, and other goodies. Some skins and other various things will not be available for purchase with Favor. Favor is earned by completing games.

Gems: Gems are a currency that can only be obtained via special events, or by buying with real life money. Gems can be used to buy new Gods, skins, and other goodies. There are many things that are only available for purchase with Gems. Anything that can be purchased with Favor can be purchased with Gems.

Basic Attack/Auto Attack: A basic attack is simply the attack your God makes when you use the left click. It is sometimes referred to as an auto attack.

Burst: How much damage you can do in a short period of time. Bursty gods are gods who blow everything they have all at once for a very short and powerful assault. Some bursty gods would be Scylla, Tyr, and of course, the king of burst, Loki.

Nemesis Syndrome: As far as I know, this term was first coined by All4Games. This term means a warrior type god who is played and built as an assassin, like how Nemesis is. She is mostly played and built like an assassin, although she is labeled as a warrior. This term isn't a thing yet, but it will be. IT MUST BE!

MIA: Missing In Action. A MIA is when an enemy is missing from their lane, so when you call a MIA, you're alerting your team that the enemy laner is not in his or her dedicated lane. To call a MIA, use the VGS Command VF1, VF2, or VF3.

HP: Health Points, AKA Hit Points. This is the number of health points you have.

ADC: Attack Damage Carry. AKA Hunters, and some Assassins.

FG: Fire Giant.

GF: Gold Fury.

AA: Auto Attack. AKA Basic Attack.

Pen: Penetration. The maximum amount of penetration is 50.

DOT: Damage Over Time. (Example: Tornadoes)

CC: Crowd Control. (Example: Stuns, Taunts, Silences, Slows, yatta yatta)

Hard CC: Hard CC refers to any kind of CC that completely stops (or severely hinders) movement of a player (such as a stun), or causes a player to lose control of their god (such as a taunt).

Soft CC: Soft CC refers to any kind of CC that is not particularly severe (such as a slow).

HOG: Hand of the Gods.

Bait: To bait an enemy to do something stupid. (Example: Stand there with low HP to bait an enemy to chase you, only for that enemy to be ambushed and killed).

Backdoor: To sneak into the enemy base and kill the titan without the enemy realizing it. This can be used while the enemies are distracted with another objective. "Backdooring" is a very effective tactic for turning a game around. (Example: " Apollo, go backdoor the enemies now!)

Beads: Purification Beads.

CD: Cooldown. (Example: "My heal was on cooldown, so I couldn't save you. Quit raging pls")

CDR: Cooldown Reduction. (Example: Jotunn's Wrath, Chronos' Pendant). The maximum amount of CDR is 40%.

Crit: Critical Strike. It can also mean Critical Hit Chance. (Example 1: I just hit a huge crit!) (Example 2: I'm building crit). In example 1, it meant Critical Strike, in example 2, it meant Critical Hit Chance. When you build crit, you're building Critical Hit Chance.

Deicide: When an entire team is dead, your team or enemy team.

Dive: To dive means to dive into a dangerous situation (like a tower, and phoenix, a titan, or a group of enemies) in an attempt to kill an enemy. (Example: "Tower dive for that kill! He's low!") Usually, you should only dive if the enemy is low enough on HP to make sure you'll get the kill.

ELO: Your player rating.

Gank: To come up out and surprise attack an enemy, typically by coming out of the jungle to attack an enemy from behind. This is usually what junglers do. (Example: Anubis is sitting in mid-lane, pushing. Kali comes out of nowhere to gank him).

HP5: Health Per 5. This is the number of health you will recover every 5 seconds. (Example: I have 25 HP5, I will therefore recover 25 HP every 5 seconds). The maximum amount of HP5 is 100.

MP5: Mana Per 5. This is the number of mana you will recover every 5 seconds. (Example: I have 25 MP5, I will therefore recover 25 Mana every 5 seconds). The maximum amount of MP5 is 100.

Split Push: To split push is to split off from the group and push a lane by yourself, while your team distracts the enemies. A good split pusher would be Apollo, for his great escapes when the enemies come charging him down, and his waveclear for while he's pushing.

DPS: Damage Per Second. The amount of damage dealt in a second.

Feeding: Feeding is one when player gets killed so much that they are supplying the enemy with too much gold and XP. (Example 1: "Stop feeding the enemies!" Example 2: "You fed the enemies, and now we've lost!")

Snowballing: Snowballing is creating a difference bit by bit (one way is which by getting kills) until the difference reaches a point where the one with the advantage will be considered "unstoppable" by the team with the disadvantage.

Babysit: "Babysitting" is when one player (typically a jungler or support) frequently assists an ally in their lane, so as to help them push minion waves, defend their tower, or kill the enemy players in that lane. Also known as sitting, or lane sitting. (Example: "I need some help from the jungler, the enemy support is sitting in my lane!")

Collapsing: When several players coordinate with each other in order to collapse on an enemy that they have selected to be their target, in an attempt to kill the enemy. This usually involves several players ganking a single enemy, although head-on collapsing isn't uncommon. (Example: "I tried to retreat, but all five enemy players just collapsed on me!")

Counter Jungling: To slay the neutral creeps in the enemy's side of the jungle, depriving the enemy team of buffs, gold and experience. (Example: "Nice job counter jungling, now the enemies wont get fed!")

Duelist: A god that specializes in 1v1 situations. (Examples of gods: Chronos, Mercury, Nemesis, Freya).

Freezing: Also known as lane freezing, or freezing the lane. Lane freezing is done by allowing your minions to attack the enemy minions without interfering, or in some cases, on interfering to get the last hits on the minions. This is done to prevent people from sitting under their tower or phoenix, as they will be too far away to get the gold and XP, while you will still be close enough. This will either force the enemy to lose out on gold and XP (thus letting you get ahead), or it will force them to exit their tower/phoenix.

Passive: A god's passive ability.

Ult: A god's ultimate ability (4th ability, or 5th if you count the passive). (Examples of an ult: World Weaver, Searing Pain, Shards of Ice).

Global: An ability that can strike anywhere on the map. (Examples of a Global abiltiy: Darkest of Nights, Fire Shards, Defender of Olympus). A global ability is typically an ult.

Skillshot: An ability/attack that is hard to aim or hit properly with, thus taking skill to land the shot. (Examples of a skillshot: Searing Pain, Stinger, Death Scythe. Sometimes, basic attacks are considered skillshots).

Kiting: Continuously backing away and attacking a pursuing enemy god in such a way that the enemy is damaged while unable to deal damage back. (Example: "They tried to chase me, but I kept kiting them.")

Juking: Dodging enemy skillshots by moving in unpredictable patterns. (Example: "I tried to hit him, but he kept juking!")

KS: KS almost always means kill steal, although sometimes it may mean kill secure. A kill steal is when one goes in at the last moment to kill an enemy that their ally weakened and was about to kill, thus stealing the kill. A kill secure is when one player kills a weakened (and typically fleeing) enemy that may have otherwise escaped.

Peeling: To use CC abilities to stop enemy gods from attacking an allied god, thus peeling the enemy off the ally.

Poke: A form of attack in which one player uses long ranged attacks to cause small/moderate damage in order to weaken an enemy, while the poker keeps a safe distance.

I can't think of all the various terms and jargon used in Smite, so if I missed anything (of course I have) then please tell me in the comments section.

pro photoshop skills ik ty ty


Pink: Play button. This button will take you to the Play Lobby.

Green: Various tab buttions, each one will take you to a new tab. The tabs, in this order, are Profile, Gods, Store, Social, Competitive, and Wisdom. The big SMITE logo in the middle is also the Home button, which will take you to the main page (as seen in the screenshot).

Yellow: This is the treasure chest shop. Here, you buy treasure chests to get random goodies.

Blue: The god Rotation and New Skins. The God Rotation changes every now and then, and a God of each role will be available to play for free. It's actually pretty awesome, it allows you to test a God before you buy it!

Red: The buttons here are, in this order; Party, Add Friend, Friends List, Notifications.

Purple: User summary.

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This is the Play Lobby, where you can enter a game queue and select game modes. Pretty straightforward. On the left is Practice Mode, Co-op Mode, Normal, Leagues Mode, and Custom Mode.

In Practice, it's you against bots. Basically, it can be used to practice your skill. Also, you can test gods that you don't even own yet in Jungle Practice.

In Co-op, it's you and some friends against a couple bots. It's very easy, and is usually not particularly useful. But hey, whatever floats your goat. Got a problem with goats?

In normal mode, you can play any of the seven modes. It will pair you up with a random group of people (unless you start a party beforehand), where you will face off against... a random group of people.

In League Mode, you can choose either Joust 1v1, in which you will be placed in the Joust map all by yourself, and have to fight against another similarly-skilled player, or you can choose Conquest League, in which you will be placed in the conquest map to face off against another team. To play League mode, you must be level 30. In League Mode, 90% of people are tryhard *******s, the types of people you don't want to play with. I personally stick to normal mode. League has all sorts of special rules, which you can read in the spoiler tag below, and also you can visit the League Tab in Smite for more information.


In Custom, you can create a custom match with all sorts of crazy rules. You can start out as level 1 and have 10000000 gold if you want. Or you can have, like, ****ing dinosaurs and spiders running all over the place. Okay, maybe not that last one, but it's a good mode for testing things and setting up matches with your friends.

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Purple: Your team. The crystals below tell you if someone on your team has their ultimate up. They will be bright blue if the ultimate is up, and black (as seen in the screenshot) if the ultimate is down.

Black: The enemy team.

Red: From left to right, each set up numbers mean:

Your team's total gold.
Your team's total kills.

A timer, which shows the time left until the round begins, and then the time since the round has begun.

The enemy's total kills.
The enemy's total gold.

Green: Your stats.

Yellow: Your God. Your health, your mana, your skills, your actives, and your consumables.

Blue: Your personal current gold. Under that is your gear slots.

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Lowest Blue Icon: Your team's Titan.

Blue Phoenix Icon: These are your team's phoenixes.

Blue Tower Icon: These are your team's towers.

Highest Orange Icon: The enemy team's. Titan.

Orange Phoenix Icon: These are the enemy team's phoenixes.

Orange Tower Icon: These are the enemy team's towers.

Silver Fury Icons: These are the fury camps. The two in the middle of the map are the mid fury camps, and give the most XP and Gold out of any camp (aside from the Gold Fury). The two on the bottom and the two on the top are the small fury camps, they give a fair amount of XP and Gold.

Blue Potion Icon: The Blue Buff Camp, aka The Mana Buff Camp. Killing this camp will drop a buff that grants you greatly increased mana regeneration and 10% CDR.

Purple Sword Icon: The Purple Buff camp, aka The Basic Attack Buff Camp. Killing this camp will drop a buff that grants you increased attack speed and basic attack power.

Orange Buff Icon: The Orange Buff Camp, aka The Speed Buff Camp. Killing this camp will drop a buff that grants you 20% more speed.

Red Sword Icon: The Red Buff Camp, aka The Damage Buff Camp, aka The Power Buff Camp.
Killing this camp will drop a buff that grants you 20% more damage.

Fire Giant: Because I'm too lazy to take a better screenshot, here is where you can find the Fire Giant. Killing it will grant your entire team a buff which grants them increased regeneration to both HP and mana, and lots of extra power. Below 25% HP, the Fire Giant can be instantly killed with Hand of the Gods rank 3, which makes stealing it possible. It's usually tanks that will try to steal it, so if a tank is lurking around whilst you fight the Fire Giant you must be careful. It's best to fight the Fire Giant when there is only 1 or less enemies still alive, because the Fire Giant is hard to kill, and you don't want to be caught with your pants down.

Golden Fury Icon: The Gold Fury. Killing this will grant everyone on your team 300 Gold. Below 25% HP, the Gold Fury can be instantly killed with Hand of the Gods rank 3, which makes stealing it possible. It's usually tanks that will try to steal it, so if a tank is lurking around whilst you fight the Gold Fury you must be careful. It's best to fight the Gold Fury when there is only 3 or less enemies still alive, because the Gold Fury is hard to kill, and you don't want to be caught with your pants down. The Gold Fury is not as powerful as the Fire Giant.

You can also find plenty of good information about the conquest map in Pentagornite's A beginners guide to the roles and etiquette of SMITE (conquest).

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Welcome to the item shop! Here, you can view how much gold you have, few your gear items, your active items, and your consumables (although you can do that even without the item shop).
You may choose up to six gear items, up to two active items, and you may only hold two consumables at once. Please keep in mind that we have a no-refund policy with active items, so if you leave the fountain after buying an active item, you may not sell it back. However, if you stay in the fountain, we will happily offer a full refund.
You may choose from our full list of items, or use some of our many categories, such as:

Here is where I'll tell you what stats do, and other useful information about stats.

HP: The max is 5500.

Mana: The max is 4000.

Physical Protection: AKA Physical Defense. This stat decreases the amount of physical damage you take. The max for this stat is 325. Towers, phoenixes, titans, minions, Fire Giant, Gold Fury, and minions all deal physical damage.

Magical Protection: AKA Magical Defense. This stat decreases the amount of magical damage you take. The max for this stat is 325.

Cooldown Reduction: AKA CDR, AKA Cooldown %. This stat decreases your cooldown times. The maximum is 40%.

HP5: Health Per 5. This is the number of health you will recover every 5 seconds. (Example: I have 25 HP5, I will therefore recover 25 HP every 5 seconds). The maximum amount of HP5 is 100.

MP5: AKA Mana Per 5. This is the number of mana you will recover every 5 seconds. (Example: I have 25 MP5, I will therefore recover 25 Mana every 5 seconds). The maximum amount of MP5 is 100.

Movement: AKA Speed. This is how fast you are. The maximum is 1000.

Attack Speed: This is how fast you can use basic attacks. The maximum is 2.5. If your attack speed is 1, you will use basic attacks at a rate of once per second, if your attack speed is 2, you will use basic attacks a speed of two per second, etc. etc.
Keep in mind that some characters have special swing chains that mess with their attack speed and basic attack power, so this is not always accurate.

Basic Attack Power: This measures how much damage your basic attacks will do.


Physical Power: Makes all physical gods do more damage with both abilites and basic attacks. The max is 400.

Physical Penetration: This stat increases your damage versus gods who are building physical protection. Please keep in mind that ALL gods have a small amount of physical protection even if they are not building it, and thus physical penetration is still very useful versus enemies who are not building physical protection. The maximum for this stat is 50.

Physical Lifesteal: With lifesteal, you will heal every time you damage an enemy. If you have 15% physical lifesteal and you deal 100 damage to an enemy, you will recover 15 HP, etc. etc.
Please keep in mind that physical lifesteal only applies to basic attacks, so physical gods get no benefit from lifesteal from abilites, only from basic attacks. The maximum for this stat is 100.

Crit Chance: This measures your chance of landing a critical strike. Only physical gods can deal critical strikes. The maximum for this stat is 100.


Magical Power: Makes all magical gods do more damage with both abilites and basic attacks. The max is 900.

Magical Penetration: This stat increases your damage versus gods who are building magical protection. Please keep in mind that ALL gods have a small amount of magical protection even if they are not building it, and thus magical penetration is still very useful versus enemies who are not building magical protection. The maximum for this stat is 50.

Magical Lifesteal: With magical lifesteal, you will heal every time you damage an enemy.
With magical gods, lifesteal applies to all forms of attack, not just basic attacks. Therefore, you can recover HP from lifesteal with abilites and basic attacks. The maximum for this stat is 100.

Please keep in mind that there are far more useful guides on this site in exclusion to what is being posted here, but I'm only posting general gameplay guides. If you're new to the game, these guides will certainly be helpful. If you haven't you should certainly read these guides, and check out the guidecrafters I have listed, they're all very good at what they do.

"A beginners guide to the roles and etiquette of SMITE (conquest)" by Pentargonite.

"COUNTER JUNGELING. Take what you can give nothing back!" by BestMinionEver.

"Pffft, Minions: A General Guide to Arena" by TormentedTurnip.

"The Jungler's Handbook" by Subzero008.

"Going for Gold: A Guide to Starting Ranked" by Subzero008.

"An (Almost) In-Depth Guide to The Support Role" by MysticBadger.

"Skill Floor and Skill Ceiling" by dacoqrs.

The above guides are outdated. Some info in them may still be useful, although much of it is now useless, so read with caution.

"CC - Lifesaver, Roflstomper, Whatever" by FerrumSlash.

"The Overarching Assault Guide" by Branmuffin17.


"To Kill a Mockingbird of Nope: Sun Wukong Solo and Support Guide" by me.

"A Guide to Xbalanque: The Hidden Jaguar" by me.

"Fenrir: The Brutalizing Beast - A Jungling Guide" by me.


Jordenito. He hasn't been around for that long, but already he's proved to be one of the best guidecrafters out there. His guides are always incredibly useful, and have personally helped my own gameplay.

Subzero008. His incredible understanding of jungling have helped me in numerous ways, and he is extremely skilled in guidecrafting.

TormentedTurnip. A very skilled guidecrafter, and taught me a lot about Smite, guidecrafting, and BBCoding through his various guides.

****ing me. Duh.

Credits to me, of course.

Credits to Jordenito and TormentedTurnip (and Piederman, Sanguis, Subzero008, and BestMinionEver) for being delicate little turnips. Oh yeah, and for making Code Blue: BBCoding for Beginners. Really, they taught me all I know about coding.

Credits to Ferrumslash for additional info and additional Smite terminology.

Credits to Bullfrog323 for pointing out coding errors and providing additional guides.

Credits to Deltacow for giving me a large list of terminology that I completely left out. Thanks! :D

Thank you very much for reading my guide. I appreciate criticism and ratings, so please comment and rate!

Because Smite is constantly changing, this guide is also subject to change.