The gods are calling you to the real battle. But are you prepared? Do you have what it needs to dethrone other players on your way up to becoming a pro? And most of all, are you ready to receive an overwhelming discharge of rage from teammates, to get unexpected lanes and roles, and your hopes crushed by qualifiers? Just kidding. Even if it happens, it is rare.

Ranked games are important. It is the end-result of all the training and experience that you’ve had from the game so far. It’s your chance to measure your skills against players that, just like you, want that sweet spot in the top ranks: Master & Grandmaster. The journey is long, requires a ton of skill, some luck with the people that you play with, and, finally, a lot of passion for the game.

So, here’s a question if you want to start ranking?

“Am I Ready?” - Minimum requirements, suggestions per role & experience.

To start playing ranked, you need to meet certain requirements according to the type of match that you are going to play. For ranked Conquest, you need 20 gods; for Joust, you only need 14; for Duel, you don’t have to worry about this and you can play with the gods that you have. When you start, you need to go through your qualifiers, where you’ll play with people, and after ten games, the game’s algorithm will place you into one of these seven tiers:

When you finish your qualifiers, some things will begin to change. As you win games, you’ll win points, and when you reach 100 points, you have the opportunity to get to the next tier. Have in mind that the more you play, the better you will get, but you will also get tougher players, and you have to learn and develop your gameplay to keep climbing up the ladder. Think of ranked as a more complex version of your usual matches. They are basically the same, but they have aspects that can change them and that can greatly impact the progress and outcome of the game.

First of all, we’ll introduce the mechanic of picks and bans. Each team will have turns to ban and pick different gods. In Conquest, each team has the opportunity to ban two gods before they start picking their own ones, so you will have four gods banned before the picking phase. After this, you and your opponents will have a chance to pick three gods for your respective teams. Keep in mind that every god that you pick can be counter-picked, and that you can’t have the same gods on each team. Afterwards, there will be another picking and banning phase, where other two gods will be banned per team, and then two picked, summing up to a total of eight banned and ten picked gods.

In joust, it’s a little different. Because you only have three people per team, you will still have the picks and bans, but this phase is going to be shorter and there will only be four banned gods per match.

It is very, very important that you know what to pick and ban. The tier list is a very important aspect of the game. The list consists of the god’s rankings in the game at any given moment, especially with the current meta. Have a tier list at hand as you carry out the pick and ban phase. The higher tier the god is, the more of an advantage the team will have if they play that god competently. The higher you go up the ranked ladder, the more important this will become.

Many people play a main role, but this won’t be the role you will always actually get to play. Remember that, in ranked, the people with better ranking, or elo, than you will get the first position to pick a god, so you must adapt accordingly to the situation. If you play main mid and have a last pick, it is more likely that a teammate will get the mid before you do, so you need to fill in for the missing role (usually the role that nobody wants). Frequently, people take into account what you would like to play, but this won’t happen all the time, so please make sure to practice and know what to do in different roles.

It is vitally important that you know how to play at least three roles with decent skill and understand the basics for the remaining two. This is not only to do well in your games, but to have a backup role in case anything happens.

Tips to Start - Mentality, what to avoid, rookie mistakes, how to improve.

Ranked experiences can vary from one player to another, but we can all that there are certain things you SHOULD know before entering the competitive world of Smite.

1. Know how to use VGS or have voice chat. Knowing the position of your enemies is crucial to engage, disengage, push or retreat, and also call out when an enemy is MIA (missing in action). One of the most annoying things that you can experience in Smite is being focused on your lane and being massacred by an enemy which was not reported as MIA.

2. Map awareness is crucial. Try to see where your enemies are. This way you can last longer in lane, know when to retreat, call out important objectives, or even prepare a gank. This is linked to the point above, because you want to tell your team where you are and where the enemy is.

3. Know your rotations. They happen a great deal in competitive games. Although this only applies to Conquest and not to Duel or Joust, it’s very important to have it in mind at all times. When you rotate, you can outnumber an enemy in a different lane, leading to a kill or an assist that will benefit your team. Remember, it’s always better to be ahead of your opponents.

4. Team-fighting. In given phases of the game, you will engage in team-fights, so you should know what to do according to your role. Usually the roles have a particular objective in a fight: Mid and ADC have to kill, Solo and Support have to engage, “peel”, and use crowd control, and the Jungler goes for the squishy targets.

5. God mechanics. Each god has unique abilities and it’s better for you to know them and see what they can bring to the table. It’s beneficial to play every god and learn what they can do because, if you face them, you are capable of understanding what they could do to you or your team. Don’t get caught off-guard!

6. Items and builds. With every released patch, the game changes a little bit. You may not see it as clearly as the pro players do, but little changes in a given item can greatly impact an outcome, so investigate what certain items do and see how they can enhance your build. There are numerous builds you can have, so recognize which one are you going to use in a particular match depending on the situation, opponent and meta.

One final recommendation that I can give you is… Try your best!

Smite is a game, and just as with any other game, the purpose is to have fun. There is an undeniable competitiveness in ranked games, but the idea is to improve and always learn from your losses and victories.

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