Smite Meta snapshot, some thoughts
Safe to say this split has been rough for me. Played a decent amount of ranked first split. Started to find it difficult to climb or impossible. Found the experience rather well frustrating. Honestly going to seek out advice, hit the limits of my skill ceiling. Not sure what I need to do to close out games. Matchmaking system feels rather flawed at times. Climbing is well random to a point. Had some fun but my god the amount of egos in ranked is silly. Part of me thinks the problem is unhealthy top end of smite. Feeding into flawed ladder system, I don’t think the ladder to blame 100% more lack of players. People leave due how hard it is to get into high end smite. Got me asking why do I play?
Games can end rather quickly, average length 20-30 minutes. Pressure and burst are king at the moment. Unfortunately sustain still exists, with healers doing rather good. I not had much experience facing healers this split. Sustain however is king in solo, most common picks abuse it. Carry has an aggressive boxing style build, crit or penetration focused styles. Middle is loving penetration heavy builds with cooldown. Starter items are shaping builds across the board, limiting amount of space in builds. Support is weird the base starters are weaker compared to everybody else. Jungle can go ability based or bruiser, don’t forget some basic attack builds.
Meta snapshot
Common picks from patch 8.2
| Name | W.L | Picked |
| Guan Yu | 56% | 24% |
| Aphrodite | 55% | 10% |
| Apollo | 54% | 25% |
| Chan’ge | 54% | 13% |
| Arachne | 53% | 7% |
| Nemesis | 53% | 19% |
| Cupid | 53% | 22% |
| Izanami | 52% | 14% |
| Disordia | 52% | 7% |
| Ymir | 52% | 21% |
Guan Yu is mainly found in solo, can flex pick into support or jungle. Two healers Aphrodite, Chan’ge are mainly mid laners some play in solo. Jungle picks are Arachne, Apollo (Carry), Nemesis. Carry role is Apollo, Cupid, Izanami. Rounding out the team on average is the support Ymir, who can flex into solo or jungle. Decent pressure some sustain and above all else easy to play. Two biggest roles are carry and jungle. *Excluded couple low pick high W.L gods
Common bans from patch 8.2
| Name | W.L | Pick | Ban |
| Set | 52% | 4% | 91% |
| Danzaburou | 51% | 15% | 73% |
| Scylla | 52% | 18% | 78% |
| Apollo | 54% | 24% | 69% |
| Tsukuyomi | 53% | 17% | 60% |
| Nemesis | 52% | 19% | 47% |
| Persephone | 46% | 5% | 49% |
| Cu chulainn | 49% | 21% | 45% |
| Janus | 47% | 28% | 37% |
| Nu Wa | 51% | 17% | 35% |
Set can be played in solo or jungle, potential to run people down. Not picked much but rather good win rate none the less. The ban rate sort of explains why he not picked much. Not easy to play but can be super deadly.
Danzaburou is one of the best 1 vs 1 hunters in the game. Laning against him can be complete nightmare. High pressure just adds to the problem late game however his ultimate can be blocked.
Scylla is the queen of the mid lane at the moment. Itemization favours not the strongest early game but middle of the game is one of the best. If you can play her likely to do good with her.
Apollo another great 1 vs 1 hunter, at gold level players love to fight. Ultimate allows rotations to random fights. Boxing based builds work great on him. If you feel it can play him in jungle too.
Tsukuyomi like set is another dive based assassin, who runs people down. Rather popular can ability based hybrid, who works with various build paths.
Nemesis is simple easy to play, flexible in terms of builds. Dive the carries hard and excellent at 1 vs 1.
Persephone hardest god on the list to play. Players must find her deeply frustrating, at higher levels of play different reasons for her ban rate. Being reworked soon
Cu chulainn king of solo pressure, most players like to fight. This god wants to out box and punish you. Not that hard to play all about balance.
Janus is weirdly popular but still hard to play.
Nu Wa she clears, safe and difficult to punish at lower levels.
*Excluded couple low pick high W.L gods
Based on the data the meta is about strong mid burst with sustain. Gods need to be easy enough to play but have potential to carry. One single player can win the game with these picks. Bans highlight the same thing, don’t forget pressure winning games. Couple frustrating gods thrown into the mix. In terms of builds starter items are shaping builds, upgrading the starter. General rule of thumb from past seasons for pretty much every role remains.
- Carry wants power, attack speed and penetration.
- Support role wants protections, health and cooldown.
- Mid role wants penetration, power.
- Jungle role wants power, penetration or attack speed. Hybrid items work too.
- Solo role wants protections, health, cooldown or attack speed.
Popular starter items at the moment for each role?
- Carry – Death toll
- Support – Watchers gift
- Mid – Conducit gem
- Jungle – Bumba dagger / Eye of the jungle
- Solo – Warriors axe / Warding sigil / Bluestone pendant / death toll
Death toll is dominance comes from sustain. Safe choice compared to weaker other starters. Don’t be fooled the others have potential to work.
Watchers gift is weak early on, laning phase your an easy target. Both upgrade choices are viable depends what you want.
Bumba dagger / Eye of the jungle depends if you want ability based builds or auto attack focused. Bumba is the safe option with an insane upgrade. Protector of the jungle is rather powerful inside the jungle.
Conducit gem or sands of time, gem has better upgrades. Not that clear cut anymore but most of the time I find gem more useful.
Solo has the most viable starter items in my mind. Warriors axe / Warding are similar with different strengths. Aggressive options are decent, magical gods however don’t have great options.
Bluestone is an aggressive start that helps you clear quicker. Downside is lack the tanky base stats, upgrades are damage focused too. Corrupted stone has some synergy with King arthur. His passive is gain extra charge, stone gives you bonus attack speed per ability hit. Reducing the amount of time you need to charge the ultimate. Cu chulainn main strength is damage, just add more to his already strong lane pressure. Wukong is similar but way harder to lock down, soul eater build benefits from it. Tyr turns into safer version of Cu chulainn. Bunch of variance depends on the role the god, certain items work better with X role. Don’t have to upgrade items like bluestone. Death toll like bluestone has weak upgrades for solo but can make cheeky builds from it. Basically hit whatever the problem is loads and carry games.