Solo lane is the short lane where the towers are closer to each other in comparison to the other lanes. With the recent coming of Patch 4.9 to SMITE, is time to give a look to the Solo lane aka Solo Island, since there may be some noticeable changes to the gods that appear in this lane. Since the start of the Season 4, Death’s Toll has been present as a starter item for the solo laners:

This was more than enough to give the Warrior class gods with cleave auto-attacks (Bellona, Erlang, Nike, Osiris) the advantage in lane compared to the ability-based Warriors (with Hercules and Sun Wukong being the exceptions to this).

Besides auto-attack Warriors, some Guardian gods have been played in the solo lane from time to time, Cabrakan, Sobek and, Terra being the most notorious ones. This is due the survivability that the kits of these gods offer them and it's also been thanks to Mark of the Vanguard, which will see a nerf in this incoming patch (4.9). This could mean that Guardians won’t see more time in the solo lane. Who knows, only time will tell.

So now, we’ll talk about some tips and how to play in the solo lane:

1. Build tanky:

"We're gonna be real close, friend!"

Your role as a solo laner is being a bully, zoning out the enemy team out of the objective zones, and being your team's backline diver, picking off the squishiest gods of the team fight so your team can tear the enemy gods apart. Warriors are tanky by default and they have plenty of items that can help them be nearly immortals: Mystical Mail, Hide of the Nemean, and Breastplate of Valor provide physical protections, Pestilence, Shogun’s Kusari, and Genji’s Guard grant magical protections, and Masamune, Witchblade, and Winged Blade supply Health.

Building this way plus the auras from items that supports build like Sovereignty, Heartward Amulet and Gauntlet of Thebes will let you stay alive during longer teamfights which can be the difference between winning or losing.

2. Focus on farming, but don’t forget to rotate:

"Map awareness is key!"

This is one of the most common mistakes that the solo laner makes. They focus so much on the farming, that they forget to rotate to the middle lane and help relieve some pressure for their mid lane player. One early rotation can make the difference between a more dominant late game and more difficult one.

We all have heard that a Warrior that falls behind in farm can be useless and easily punished by their counterpart, but then again, this doesn’t mean that you forget that the rest of the team exists until 30 minutes into the game. Early rotations can result in securing important objectives (such as Towers, Gold Furies and Portal Demons) giving an upper hand in experience points and gold to the team as a whole.

3. Ward, Ward, WARD!!

"I see you..."

Your place is on Solo Island! You’re going to have a slap fight with the other solo laner for at least the first 15 minutes of the game and you don’t expect a gank from the middle laner and the jungler from the enemy team this early in the game, right? That’s exactly what some solo laners seem to think as indicated by their lack of wards in the early game. Knowing where your enemies are is really important throughout the entirety of the game. Wards will not only save your life but your teammates' lives as well.

4. Be aware of your own damage and the damage that the enemy can inflict to you.

"Come on and Hit me!"
- Bellona

Sometimes we overestimate the amount of damage that we can output. Overextending and being overaggressive are, along with the lack of warding, some of the most common mistakes that we can make. You’re tanky as a Warrior, but a full combo of the enemy Warrior can (most of the time) deal approximately 50% of your Health especially at level 5. This, plus a surprise gank from the enemy jungler, can end up in you dying.

Just so you can imagine how much damage you can inflict at level 5, here are some of the numbers:

Bellona:

Bludgeon (Level 2) = 325 + 150% Physical Scaling*

Scourge (Level 1) = 80 + 50% Physical Scaling

Shield Bash (Level 1) = 80 + 40% Physical Scaling

Eagle’s Rally (Level 1) = 100 + 50% Physical Scaling

Resulting in a total of 485 + 290% physical scaling as physical damage (before physical mitigation).

Hercules:

Driving Strike (Level 2) = 155 + 90% Physical Scaling

Earthbreaker (Level 1) = 80 + 50% Physical Scaling

Excavate (Level 1) = 300 + 100% Physical Scaling

Resulting in a total of 535 + 240% physical scaling as physical damage (before physical mitigation)

*Physical scaling referring to the % of power that you get from the items that you build

5. Don’t hold your ultimate to get kills

"Onwards, to victory!"
- Nike

Yeah, we know, kills are nice and can ultimately give you the upper hand during the game, but your job is being your team's frontliner/initiator. Your team relies on you to start the teamfight. Some of the Warriors have excellent initiation skills in their ultimate: Bellona’s Eagle’s Rally, Erlang Shen’s 9 Turn Blessing, and Nike’s Sentinel of Zeus. These have an area of effect that can be helpful while dealing with multiple enemies. Just remember that most of your impact in the teamfights is how many people can you harass so your team can finish them off and not so much how many kills you have by the end of the match.

While these tips may seem basic and “things that everybody should know by now”, it’s always nice to give some players a good reminder and give new players a place to start!

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