With the introduction of Terra to competitive Smite, the support meta shifted. Previously, Fafnir was the only top-tier god in the role and was an almost mandatory ban because no support could match him. Terra is another super strong support and her presence opens up more varied picks and bans. Teams can now leave both open and trade top supports or keep both banned and play the lower picks. Terra and Fafnir are not the only viable supports, however. Bacchus is considered a tier of his own under the top. The rest of the support role is filled in by counter and pocket picks. Gods that are selected to fill out or counter an enemy composition.

Terra

Terra has the most oppressive laning phase out of any support in Smite. She has great clear, amazing set up and combo potential, as well as sustain. Terra is also a great character in the late game.

A lot of Terra’s laning power comes from her Monolith ability. This ability erects a healing field which Terra can break to root enemies in the area and turn the healing field into a damage over time area. The Monolith can be used to heal up between waves and then broken to damage the enemy minions while zoning out the enemy gods. The monolith can also be broken to root enemy gods in the damage zone, poking them out while setting up for her Hunter.

Terra has two abilities that she can combo with her Hunter. The root from her Monolith and the stun off of Crushing Earth. Crushing Earth is a strong ability because it is a ranged stun that is easy to land. The Soar SPL team showed that this is incredibly deadly when paired with a Jing Wei. The pair has multiple ranged ccs that can destroy the enemy hunter.

Terra is also very strong in team fights. Her strong crowd control chains can still control targets in the late game and Monolith is able to sustain her team during and between fights. Terra does not provide a lot of damage herself, but is able to control the map for her team to clean up kills.

The Earth Mother’s ultimate, Terra’s Blessing, is a multifaceted ultimate. It provides all of her allies increased movement speed, cooldown reduction, and mana-free spells for 10 seconds. When one of the allies takes 4 instances of damage, their buff is consumed and they receive a burst heal. Terra’s Blessing can be used aggressively to initiate or chase an enemy or used defensively to help an ally escape or heal.

Fafnir

Fafnir was the most dominate support pick until Terra was released. Fafnir was also recently nerfed in a few areas, but is still an amazing support. Fafnir doesn’t have the greatest of laning phases and loses greatly to Terra. His strengths still lie in late game scenarios such as objectives fights.

Fafnir’s biggest weakness is his early game. He has to fully commit to be aggressive and will be pushed to his tower unless his hunter is incredibly clear-based. Fafnir’s other weakness is that he stands still while channeling his ultimate, allowing his opponents to line up skills or place abilities such as a Janus portal under the dragon, which can lead to Fafnir being caught in a cc chain and dying.

Fafnir starts shining in the late game. His Coerce ability is one of the best spells in the game. It massively increases the attack speed of damage of an ally, and when cast in his dragon form, can affect his entire team. Fafnir’s ultimate gives his other abilities additional control and utility that are useful in team fights.

Coerce is also amazing at taking down objectives. The giant DPS increase can allow you and your hunter to quickly sneak a Gold Fury between waves. In addition, a Fafnir can activate his ult and his team can just rush down a Gold Fury, Fire Giant, or tower with the AoE Coerce. Coerce is also amazing at finishing off the enemy Titan.

Bacchus

Bacchus is still a strong support. He is one of the most aggressive Guardians in Smite, with an amazing initiation, high damage, and great set up potential. Knockups are the strongest form of crowd control in Smite and Bacchus has an easy one to hit that also puts him in the enemy team to unload his heavy-hitting kit. Bacchus is also surprisingly tanky with his passive and Chug providing additional mitigation.

Unfortunately, Bacchus has some poor matchups. One of the most damning is against Terra. Terra is knockup immune, which reduces Bacchus’ initiation prowess. Also, Bacchus has no built in cc-immunity to escape from Terra and his belch can be easily stunned out. He is also weak against gods with cripples or displacement abilities.

Counter and Personal picks

There are more viable picks than the three listed above, but they are more situational picks that fill various roles within a team. The main subclasses of support are aggressive, defensive, healers, and counter picks. These gods may be picked to round out a team comp, nullify an enemy composition, or in response to a certain higher tier pick.

Aggressive gods are picked to initiate and control the enemy backline. Aggressive supports can play up in lane because they can control the enemy Hunter and set up a kill for their own Hunter. They also lead the group in a team fight, charging in first to take out high-priority threats. Examples of aggressive supports include Athena and Sobek.

Defensive supports are picked to protect their own backline. They are picked when you already have an aggressive jungler to initiate and need to protect your carries from the enemy. They have spells that can cleanse or peel for their damage dealers. The ranks of aggressive supports includes Geb and Khepri,

Healers are another type of support in Smite. They are picked to give your team the health advantage in lane or between engagements, as well as to keep your team alive during a team fight. These healers are often picked in response to a Terra, as her sustain provides the same benefits. Guan Yu and Sylvanus are the primary healing supports.

Lastly, there are counter picks; characters selected to beat a specific enemy composition. Odin and Ares are examples of counter pick supports. Odin is used to nullify healing and punish enemies without leaps while Ares punishes gods without built-in cc-immunity. Counter pick gods are not to be played every games, but on and against certain compositions.

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