Smite Basic Builds: Krett's Quick And Dirty Guide

Fun fact: we have a monstrously large article coming up which goes into a lot of detail about Smite builds thanks to expert and analyst James 'Krett' Horgan. BUT because you might also want build info to hand in a quick and easy-to-digest format we've made this – a separate Smite build cheat sheet with the bare bones information.

The idea here is not to be exhaustive but to give new players a basic structures for item builds on each character class so you don't feel lost. Then you can start to play around with your own ideas, fill in the blanks, or tweak some of the items to fit specific situations. For a more in-depth look and to see how items work together check out the monsterpiece which will be going up as Dote Night's first real foray into the world of other MOBAs.

Basic support build

Krett: "[To start get] Watcher's Gift, Hand of the Gods (rank 1) and five health pots. Generally high-level supports will go out of the base with wards, ward and then buy some mana pots but you don't have to do that. You can also float some gold too [meaning don't spend all your starting cash]. It's all about gold generation into later items.

"You go into Midas' Boots, Sovereignty, Stone of Gaia rank 2 [that's called an Emerald Talisman if you're looking at the shop], finish a Magi's Blessing, finish Stone of Gaia, then do whatever you want – have fun with the last two items."

If you're a bit lost when it comes to those last two items, Krett mentions:
Breastplate of Valor (25% cooldown reduction means you can access your crowd control abilities more often)
Midgardian Mail (gives a chance to slow enemy movement and attack speed when they hit you with a basic attack)
Hide of the Nemean Lion (reflects 20% of basic attack damage back onto the attacker as magical damage)

Basic mage build

Krett: "I like to do Vampiric Shroud with a Tiny Trinket but you could also do [an active item] and boots rank one if you feel you need the active item early. Fill it out with pots - generally no more than one mana pot. If you're using two mana pots before you recall you're using too much mana. If you aren't using a mana pot you bought you're wasting gold. Generally two health, one mana maybe. That Tiny Trinket doesn't necessarily get built into anything, it's just there to facilitate the start of the game.

"Finish your penetration boots [Warrior Tabi for physical and Shoes of the Magi for magical], go into a Warlock's Sash, a Book of Thoth, Spear of the Magus or Obsidian Shard depending on your character (Agni, Poseidon, Zhong Kui need Spear, on pretty much anyone else Shard is safe) then Chronos' Pendant, maybe a Polynomicon [that's where the Tiny Trinket comes in handy]. Last item is a Rod of Tahuti."

Basic assassin/jungler build

Krett: "Looking at an assassin, let's assume they're a jungler. Get Bumba's Mask and you'll probably want Hand of the Gods rank one, maybe two. Fill it out with potions then go into penetration boots [Warrior Tabi for physical and Shoes of the Magi for magical].

"That's your first big power spike so take huge advantage of that, then into a Jotunn's Wrath, then generally a Magi's Blessing. If you're going on auto attack it's penetration boots into Qin's Sais then generally a Magi's Blessing."

For the remaining spots Krett recommends defensive/utility items like Witchblade or penetration items like Titan's Bane. Titan's Bane will also come in useful when you're trying to break the enemy's base.

Basic hunter build

Krett: A hunter's standard build is Death's Toll with potions and Devourer's Gauntlet rank one. [that's called a Spiked Gauntlet in the shop]. The easiest way to think about potions is you can go health/mana/health/mana but always buy health before mana. You should never have more mana pots than health pots.

"Finish the gloves, finish boots [Warrior Tabi] into The Executioner, Rage, Deathbringer, Titan's Bane."

Krett explains that you get the Rage before the Deathbringer as Rage is a crit-smoothing item – i.e. if you don't trigger a critical strike when you attack Rage raises your chance of getting a critical strike on your next hit (up to a point). Deathbringer then raises the damage that critical strike will do and Titan's Bane is good for breaking base because it's good against structures.

Basic warrior build

Krett: "A lot of bruisers like to start Death's Toll with potions and maybe Hand of the Gods. If you don't want to do that you can start with a Smithy's Hammer which builds into a Runeforged Hammer and gives you nice physical defence or a Stone of Gaia which gives you nice magical defence [that item starts with an Talisman]. It will impact your wave clear but you're safe. You won't die as a bruiser with those items.

"Then into penetration boots [Warrior Tabi for physical and Shoes of the Magi for magical], Jotunn's Wrath on a character like Tyr or Guan Yu, or Qin's Sais on a character like Chaac or Osiris. If you have Qin's maybe an Asi next, definitely a Magi's Blessing on the way, get some more penetration and then from that point counter-build. I'd probably get a magical defence item if you started with physical and vice versa just to round out your defence but that's the short version of how to build in Smite."

[For the monster version see Build Me A Smite Build]