VULCAN The Forge of Grit

Vulcan is a unique god in smite. He gave a lot of trouble to the hi-rez developers and got major skill rework least 3 times. And yes he's a bit tricky to master and need little bit of practice and some skill to conquer him. An advantage to his play is his range on the map. You can play far back from a safe zone and still do heavy damage and surprise your enemies or can come close in a team fight and deal solid burst damage. Above all, one thing is sure that you are going to do relentless damage to the enemy team more like zeus, only added advantage is that you can build better defense than zeus without compromising on potency or damage power. He also gives you a lot of scope to make errors with your skills, never to worry if the skills miss the target and wasted at wrong places because eventually this won't count much as you can always make up for it quickly by having low cooldown on skills.

A remarkable feature of Vulcan play is that one can never feel like having mastered him. There is so much one can experiment and still feel more can be squeezed out from and tried with him. Also, his personality and skill set is easy and simple, the old school way of doing things, nothing too fancy or hidden. The object of this guide is to make one feel comfortable playing Vulcan. He is a damn hard god to counter when part of a good team. He is a diamond, he is grit, he is the forge!

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Backfire This skill makes Vulcan so much fun to play with. There are many ways it can be used. Hitting an enemy with Backfire puts a mark on that enemy and he take added damage from the Inferno Cannon. Very useful against tanks as they are always in front and less mobile makes them easy targets. If you predict an upcoming danger or find yourself positioned in a wrong place, it lets you reposition urself and gather your senses to reanalyse the enemy positions and maintain safe distance from a possible dodgy situation. It lets you get out of some hard CC. It wont save you from CC though but acts like a mini combat blink. Ex: you can get out of an Hades ulti easily with it. Due to its high damage, it can also give a lot of one shot kills even kill steals but if you miss the shot you hav no chance to make up for the recoil distance. So its always a good idea to place yourself at some diagonal angle to the enemy in most cases.

Inferno Cannon Cannon is like your faithful pet dog always ready to serve , use it to jungle, use it to deal heavy damage but not in a sudden burst, it wont give you much kills on its own but what it definitely does is gives you better control over the game. You can block and alter enemy movements on the map. Ideal way to use against minion waves is to keep it just in front of you and use basic attacks. Initially in a game it wont survive the minion attacks for long but enough to get rid of the wave. Can use it with Magma Bomb for easy wave clearance. Vulcan is a lot about using combo skills. The first 3 skills can be used in any which order you want depending upon the situation at hand. I would comment on using combo skills in different scenerios later. Another thing to clear is that, on-hit effects don't apply on cannon balls. Ex: if you have a life steal item, then the damage done by the cannon wont give you any life back. Play Video Explaining On-Hit Effects.

Magma Bomb It is going to be your stock weapon against enemies. And they gonna hate getting hit by it. If you can hit it correctly, which is not that difficult, you can save team mates returning to base at low health by tossing chasing enemy in the air, it works like a good stun and has slight dislocation effect. And it does significant damage too. And magma bomb will give you all the on hit effects and it has a low cooldown as an added feature. It can definitely give most kills on its own if used as a finishing skill.

Earthshaker He has the most powerful of ultis in the game, perhaps on the lines of Ao Kuang. The hard part is you have to be very accurate and aware of enemy movement to get it to fire from far back so as to get it right and deal maximum damage. It might sound good to have hard CC player in the team like ares to easily land your ulti in a combo but nothing to worry even if u dont have a hard CC player. Just be intelligent enough and aware of when and where to use it so that you have the maximum chance of getting a hit.

• If enemy team has a hunter and an assassin or more than 2 physical players, always good to buy Breastplate of Valor as a second or third item. More than physical protection it gives significant advantage of cooldown and mana.
• In case, you lane against a high damage mage somebody like a Hel, He Bo] or [[Ao Kuang or Zeus, it's a good idea to get Void Stone as it gives enough magical protection as well as a protection debuff aura.
• If you have Breastplate of Valor or Chronos' Pendant for cooldowns, go for penetration in Shoes of the Magi. Shoes of Focus are also an option if you are opting for other magical penetration items like Spear of the Magus.
• Soul Reaver is a fun item with vulcan, you can get it early in a game and watch for yourself its deadly effects. Once you have Soul Reaver and Breastplate of Valor or if planning to buy these two, you wont be needing extra mana throughout the game.
• Never buy meditation at the start of a game. If you feel a need to buy meditation because of your playing style, don't upgrade it more than level l until late game, where it can give you health benefits. At the start of a game, taking multiple mana and health potions is good enough for lane sustain. Also, by playing style i am referring to new players who tend to waste there skills a lot early in a game. They are infact not sure of the importance of basic attacks early game. When playing against good opposition gold is a crucial asset. Don't want to waste it on meditation early. Instead, buying actives like Portal, hands of the gods and sprint is a better option.
• Choosing between warlock's sash and Gem of Isolation is a matter of personal choice. Vulcan stacks very well so Warlock's Sash is a good option for him early in a game and one does not need a high on protection build after this item. One can choose to put a slow on enemies with Gem of Isolation to help more in team fights.
• I would like to mention two cheap but very effective items: Divine Ruin and Spear of the Magus. These are the utility items and choosing them depends on situation of the game and how much gold you have in hand.
• Talking of added protection, Hide of the Urchin is the item to go for just because Vulcan usually gets a lot of assists. Also, after the removal of Focused Void Stone,hence the added penetration, it can be tricky to build both Void Stone and Breastplate of Valor, as that would reduce his total magical power contribution. An option is to go for Chronos' Pendant, Void Stone, Spear of the Magus and Hide of the Urchin.
  

• Suppose an enemy team Ares uses his ulti on your team mates and you have used beads or you are far back out of his ulti. It's right time to focus Earthshaker right behind enemy Ares on the other enemies who are waiting like hungry dogs to pounce on your team. Hit them with Earthshaker, charge towards them, use Magma Bomb for stun, place Inferno Cannon, use Backfire and get safe. By this time either you will get a kill for sure or a low health enemy would be chasing one of your low health team mate. Time again for Magma Bomb, save the team mate and/or secure a kill.

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• Suppose you are caught trolling in a conquest. First thing to do if enemy is behind you is to blindly use Magma Bomb, then turn back if he's very close use Earthshaker, Backfire then Inferno Cannon, he would be dead by now or fleed. In case he's attacking from front, use Backfire, Inferno Cannon and Magma Bomb, if he continues to attack, use Earthshaker and secure a kill.

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• If you see a team fight going on like near the fire giant, keep a safe distance, don't go inside the muddle. Use Earthshaker as its easy to focus, get closer and shoot Magma Bomb. Your teammates might secure a kill or two if not you.

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• Never waste gold at the start of a game on Meditation, though Sprint works fine. Can buy Purification Beads only if there is an Ares in the enemy team. Consumables shall be good enough.
• Can buy starter Vampiric Shroud but if you play well and confident of getting few kills early, there is no need to buy it.
• Don't feel that only too much power items would be awesome on him. Never forget to have added cooldown on skills and added penetration. Also, never go for attack speed items like Zeus.
• Keep yourself safe initially and don't be an easy target.
• Don't feel bad or rushed even if you are not getting any kills for first 5-10 minutes.
• Buy a combat blink if you feel like your team is not as good as you want and/or enemy has some good hard CC players or finishers.

Few additional Arena builds

Shoes of the Magi
Soul Reaver
Chronos' Pendant
Void Stone
Rod of Tahuti
Gem of Isolation

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Shoes of the Magi
Breastplate of Valor
Soul Reaver
Gem of Isolation
Spear of the Magus
Rod of Tahuti

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Shoes of Focus
Spear of the Magus
Rod of Tahuti
Divine Ruin
Chronos' Pendant
Void Stone

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• Priority should be to level up early and buy cheap but effective items.
• Vulcan works awesome as solo. Good way is to start with Vampiric Shroud. Regarding actives, Portal, Hand of the Gods and Sprint works fine with him. Always buy Wards to keep track of the enemy movement, get potions for initial lane sustain. After level 5 you can easily solo, can clear minion waves fast and do your own jungling.
• Vulcan is not much of an initiator but a nice poke or ganker. He is very good at capitalizing on an already initiated fight.

1. Gem of Isolation will help your team mates and not that much you. Depending upon the gold at hand it can be replaced by a lifesteal or a stack item.
2. Heavy Shot is not of much use for you again only team mates can benefit more in securing a kill.
3. Skill order depends on an individual's style of play. Inferno Cannon together with Magma Bomb are the first skills to level up. Inferno Cannon helps in early jungle and wave clearing. Basic attacks are the best means to clear waves initially and not Backfire, using Backfire more will render you low on mana and enemy can push the lane easily. Magma Bomb is your potent and safe weapon against enemy to push him back again not Backfire. If enemy is far back you can use Magma Bomb to easily clear waves. The more you use basic attacks early game against minions more chances of you to level up fast and gain advantage over the enemy. Earthshaker anyways does a lot of damage even without level ups and it's very hard to land it on target but its a major ganking skill and does tons of damage.
4. Soul Reaver is a good item on him. It gives huge damage on his Magma Bomb and insane damage on Backfire. You can kill a squishy opponent at 60% health with one Backfire shot.
5. Enfeebling Curse is a late game optional AOE active. As Vulcan has issues with movement speed and landing skills accurately, it helps you focus better and get kills on your own when attacked by 1 or multiple enemies. It is not a defensive but a counter attacking option, to convert a sure death situation into a securing kill situation.

Few conquest builds: (but you can always upgrade to better and expensive items) Vampiric Shroud(later replace with Gem of Isolation)
Shoes of the Magi
Breastplate of Valor
Divine Ruin
Void Stone
Soul Reaver

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Vampiric Shroud(later replace with Soul Reaver)
Shoes of the Magi
Warlock's Sash Warlock's Sash
Breastplate of Valor
Void Stone
Rod of Tahuti

Shoes of the Magi

Salvation

Weakening Curse