Capitalizing on Different Aspects of The Morrigan in Smite
A look into how pros have mastered facets of The Morrigan.
The Morrigan is one of the most complex gods in Smite. She was released back in January and just now seems to be getting unlocked by the pro players. The Morrigan was not seen as strong at her release, but as the players have had more time with her, she has shown to be a powerhouse in the mid lane. Among the best Morrigan players in Smite are Zyrhoes from Team Dignitas and PrettyPrime of Obey Alliance. These players have mastered different styles of playing The Morrigan and we will go over how both pros demonstrate the potential of the Phantom Queen.
The Morrigan has a surprisingly unique kit. Her passive involves a basic attack chain, where the third hit explodes, dealing damage over time to every target hit in the AoE. Her Deadly Aspects ability has the only reverse cone area of effect in the game, making it difficult to hit targets at range. After a short windup, enemies that are hit are stunned. Dark Omen is a line ability that debuffs enemy gods, causing a second instance of damage when the target is hit by any damaging ability within 8 seconds. The Morrigan’s Confusion ability stealths her and increases her movement speed. In addition, it spawns a clone that moves to the targeting reticle. While each ability is pretty simple, together they give the player options in how they want to play The Morrigan. She can be played as backline lane clear or as a stealth burst assassin.
The Morrigan’s ultimate, Changeling, is what makes her a hard god to play. She can transform into any of the other gods in the current match and inherits their abilities and item build for 10 seconds. She keeps her own Relics and skill points during the transformation. In order to fully utilize Changeling, you need to be well versed in most of the gods in Smite, although The Morrigan is usually drafted into compositions with the plan to transform into a certain god most of the time.
The Morrigan has emerged as a strong mid lane god that is only pulled out by the best players in the SPL. Two standout European mid laners rise above the rest; Zyrhoes from Team Dignitas and PrettyPrime from Obey Alliance. Both emphasize different parts of The Morrigan’s kit. Zyrhoes focuses more on the basic abilities, becoming an assassin of sorts while PrettyPrime is all about utilizing Changeling. Both players use the entire character wonderfully, but each have their own flair while doing it.
Zhyroes has always had an eclectic god pool, from Vulcan jungle to Thanatos in the mid lane. This has helped him pick up and perform on The Morrigan. Lately, Zhyroes has been preferring burst Mages with good sustained DPS and The Morrigan fills that slot. In addition, Zhyroes has a deep well of game knowledge due to playing multiple roles, including coach, that allow him to play the gods he transforms into with Changeling.
Zhyroes specializes in the assassin-like facet of The Morrigan, 100-0ing squishies come late game. He excels at using the abilities of The Morrigan. Confusion is a great tool to gank a target or as a secondary initiation in a fight. The Morrigan can open out of stealth with either Deadly Aspects or Dark Omen. The stun from Deadly Aspects can set up Dark Omen or Deadly Aspects can proc the second instance of damage from a Dark Omen start. Zyhroes tends to roam around stealthed and use Deadly Aspects to stun a target to set up for Dark Omen into a Polynomicon-empowered basic attack. In the late game, this is enough to kill a squishy target. Team Dignitas can then use the player advantage to force a fight or take objectives.
PrettyPrime was the original mid lane Morrigan master. He brought her out at the Smite Masters LAN and amazed people at his skill and adeptness at the character. Prime’s great performances come off of his ability to use Changeling.
In order to properly use Changeling, The Morrigan player has to be proficient with gods that are not played in the mid role. At the Smite Masters LAN, Prime showed amazing skill on Serqet. Outperforming opposing junglers on the goddess. Other midlaners have used Changeling to transform into Serqet but have not shown the mechanical prowess on the assassin that PrettyPrime has. When most mid laners pick The Morrigan, they intend to use Changeling to transform into a specific character most of the time. PrettyPrime seems to have put more time in on non-mid picks in order to have a larger impact on The Morrigan.
The Morrigan has also seen success in the jungle role, but not as recently as her current stay in mid. She is still pickable, but is a late game character in a meta that currently favors junglers with strong early games. Generally, the Morrigan is built as a bruiser in the jungle, giving her some survivability and utility at the cost of damage, which is okay as her biggest impact in a fight is Changeling, where she adopts the build of her transformation target.
The Morrigan is a very complex and hard to pull off god in Smite. It has taken the top pros months to get good at the character, but we have finally started to see mastery of her. Zhyroes and PrettyPrime are perhaps the best Morrigans in the world and both display different focuses when playing. Zhyroes is great at using the assassin aspects of the kit, while PrettyPrime is all about the Changeling ultimate. I expect we will see a lot of The Morrigan played by or banned from these players at DreamHack Valencia.
Like our content? Support us by getting our merchandise in our shop
