Smite 2: What do builds look like?

After the first year of Smite 2, a general feel for builds has finally emerged. We have several clear archetypes, with certain characters using different flavours of builds or identities that define them. Within these broad archetypes, you also find specialised sets. In this game, you only have six item slots, which makes space an incredibly important resource. Newly added Active Relic Items are squeezing that space even more. You don’t have to use them, but having two relics is almost always better than one. It took me a while to get used to it’s definitely a muscle memory hurdle!

You will notice one thing peneration is built 3rd or 4th in most of these paths. After playing around with things going 5th or 6th reduces your damage output too much to be worth it.

Carry

The primary archetype here is Basic Attack-focused rather than Ability-based. Gods like Ullr are a lonely archetype for ability-based hunters. Neith can flex into ability builds, but she often prefers the Mid lane for that role, leaving Carry mostly to Ullr. Ullr sticks to STR (Strength) ability-based builds, while Neith can go INT (Intelligence) in Mid or STR in Carry. Why? Because she has an Aspect that grants attack speed, guiding her toward basic attacks.

The Standard Path

In terms of starter items, you have two choices: Death’s Toll or Leather Cowl. I have been leaning towards Cowl; both are good choices. The current core build is: Dagger of Frenzy, Tyrfing, Titan’s Bane, Odysseus’ Bow, and The Executioner. With five items built, you have one luxury slot left. Many are filling this with Agility Greaves as an active item. You don’t have to use it, but my god, it is good. You can use it offensively or defensively, plus it gives you a 7.5% stat boost on everything you have built so far. Skipping this active item means passing up on the utility of having two relics. Speaking of relics, you can still use Beads or Aegis if you fancy.

Critical & Niche Builds

That standard build is consistent and deals with everyone quickly. However, if you want to kill softer targets (those with fewer defenses), the build shifts:

Dagger of Frenzy, Rage, Titan’s Bane, Deathbringer, and Odysseus’ Bow. The only downside here is a slight lack of attack speed. You may occasionally see Hydra’s Lament on someone like Jing Wei. The point is that builds don’t have much variety right now; people are looking for items that provide a bit of everything: Power, Attack Speed, Penetration, and the luxury of Lifesteal. Dagger of Frenzy is so good right now that it’s pushed out other options; anything that only stacks a slow simply doesn’t provide the same value.

The Ullr Specialist Build

For an ability-based Ullr, the build path focuses on raw power and penetration:

Build: Bluestone Pendant, Hydra’s Lament, Oathbreaker’s Spear (or Spear of Desolation), The Crusher, Titan’s Bane, and Heartseeker.
Flexibility: You have some room to experiment here: you can swap the Spear for Jotunn’s Revenge, Tekko Kagi, or Magi’s Cloak.

If you want to run the classic Purification Beads and Aegis Pendant combo, Magi’s Cloak is what really opens up your options. It provides essential crowd control protection, effectively acting as a 3rd relic. It’s like having another set of Beads, which gives you the confidence to run a high-pressure combo like Blink and Beads while still having that Aegis.

Jungle

The main archetype in the Jungle is ability-based burst; basic attack builds are rare right now. Even a god like Mercury, who can build into Critical Strike, remains an ability-based assassin at heart. STR-based builds are the dominant force here because the item synergy is simply too strong to ignore.

The Core Build

For starters, you have two main paths: Golden Dagger (for better clear) or Bumba’s Cudgel (for ability sustain). The core build is Hydra’s Lament, Oathbreaker’s Spear, The Crusher, Titan’s Bane, and Heartseeker. You’ll notice this is identical to the Ullr path—Ullr is basically borrowing the Jungle’s homework because these STR items are currently the best in the game for burst.

Relics and the “Magi’s Strategy”

Your relic options remain Blink Rune, Aegis Pendant, or Purification Beads. The same “Magi’s Cloak” logic we used for Ullr applies here. You should look to trade Oathbreaker’s Spear for Magi’s Cloak later in the game. This essentially gives you a 3rd relic, letting you keep a classic Beads/Aegis combo while having the Cloak bubble as a safety net. Jotunn’s Revenge and Arondight are solid alternatives, but the competition for these 6 slots is incredibly high. As it stands, STR-based Jungle is far stronger than INT-based.

The Mercury Specialist Path

Mercury takes those strong STR foundations and adds Crit:

Build: Rage, Hydra’s Lament, Deathbringer, Titan’s Bane, Heartseeker, and Musashi’s Dual Swords.
The Logic: Since we can pick up another relic through our item slots (like Aegis), you can actually skip Dual swords. I personally love going Beads as my main relic; having Aegis as an active on an item is just so useful for surviving a dive.

Mid

Variety lane: are you playing STR or INT based? You can find a couple of different archetypes in here: Classic INT mage style builds, Lifesteal, and STR mage style builds. You also have INT-based cooldown spammers.

Are you playing STR or INT-based? For Int, Sands of Time or Conduit Gem. STR goes Bluestone. Gem is more of a niche pickup for burst. There is variety in terms of builds, but they follow a similar pattern really. Anubis uses Lifesteal, Kukulkan goes for Mana-based items, with two standard mage builds: one for safety and one for traditional style builds. Other specialist builds are Janus with his cooldown spammer, or Zeus (who goes Gem of Focus for safety).

In terms of the core standard build: Spear of Desolation, Obsidian Shard, and Rod of Tahuti.

Relics here are Beads or Aegis, or both. But you also have an option in Blink with Beads or Aegis. For that playmaking choice on certain gods like Janus, this can be rather silly. Anubis, for example, is unsafe; he is high-risk, high-reward and can really throw a game into your favor. You can also pick up something like Magi’s Cloak, but you do give up an item slot for that. Given how tight builds are, that requires making a huge choice.

So what does a standard build look like? Spear, Chronos’ Pendant, Polymonicon, Shard, and Rod. You can trade Poly for Soul Reaver if you’re against a tanky team. STR builds look similar to jungle STR builds because these items are stupid good. Which would be Tekko Kagi, The Crusher, Jotunn’s Revenge, Titan’s Bane, and Heartseeker.

Support

In terms of starter items, Support has two options and they come down to personal choice really; both are really good. Selflessness is just safe; War Flag if you want to play aggressive in lane. Yogi’s Necklace offers insanely good value—it’s a bit greedy, but makes you much harder to kill. Poke matters less with this item.

After that, Prophetic Cloak if you can proc it from a safe distance; even if you can’t, it is still good, just less safe. Stampede is a good choice against slows, and Spectral Armor is for critical strikes. Spirit Robe is just good really. Shell of Rebuke rounds out this core.

Standard Core: Yogi’s, Cloak or Robe, Stampede, and Shell of Rebuke.

You have to make choices on what is impacting you and your team. Look at the items and see if any offer a good counter or specific usefulness. I prefer to add more cooldown to my builds, so Genji’s Guard or Freya’s Tears are what I normally pick up. It is a case of what you need really.

In terms of relics: Shell, Sunder, or Blink.

Shell of Rebuke: Just a stupid good active relic item that offers insane value. It’s safe and helps the whole team.
Sunder: Good for secure or extra burst damage if your team needs to finish kills.
Blink: Great for engaging and catching people off guard.

I think Blink is often the better playmaking choice, but it’s a personal choice. You can also pick up Magi’s Cloak for the passive cleanse, but remember you are giving up a valuable item slot for it. Given how tight builds are right now, that is a huge choice to make. Point is, with that core build above, it’s hard to go wrong.

Solo

Solo is often described as the “lab” because you can experiment so much there, but for now, it’s best to keep things basic to master the lane. Both Ability-based and Basic Attack solos build similarly right now—mostly because basic attack items in Solo sort of suck at the moment.

Starting Items

In terms of a starter item, you go Warrior’s Axe or Bluestone Pendant. Bluestone is a niche offering right now and is providing lower overall numbers. So who uses it? Well, Mordred. For almost everyone else, the value Warrior’s Axe gives you for boxing and sustain is just too good to pass up.

The Meta Core

Next up is The Reaper. It costs a ton, so if you get behind, it really hurts your momentum. However, when combined with Sanguine Lash, they pair perfectly together. Lifesteal needs Strength to be effective, and since both items provide Strength, your clear speed and potential threat go through the roof.

Note: Umbral Link can technically work in this slot because of the lifesteal synergy, but I don’t like using it. It lacks the immediate pressure that the Lash provides.

After that, you transition into a defensive item like Prophetic Cloak or Spirit Robe. Pick up Shell of Rebuke to round out your core item set.

The Core Build: Warrior’s Axe, The Reaper, Sanguine Lash, Prophetic Cloak (or Spirit Robe), and Shell of Rebuke.

Flexibility and Counter-Building

You have room for one counter item in this setup. This is usually going to be Spectral Armor if the other team has heavy critical damage. If you don’t need the Armor, you have some great “value” options to fill that last spot:

Runeforged Hammer
Freya’s Tears * Genji’s Guard And many other choices really play around with things. Similar to other lanes, item slots matter and the lack of space forces you to think about it. This core build is strong because you can go hybrid or tanky while still dealing damage. While there is plenty of variety in terms of picks, right now the Reaper/Lash combo is forcing certain gods to the top because it’s simply too hard to beat for raw pressure and sustain.

You can play a backliner Solo if you fancy meaning someone focused on damage over being hybrid or tanky. Certain Aspects want you to do that, but you need to play a different game, more similar to a Jungler than a standard Solo laner.