The 2018 Smite World Championship was held in early January. It served as the final tournament of Season 4 for competitive Smite. In terms of most powerful gods at the event, most people were looking at Ullr, who had recently been granted multiple buffs. Although Ullr did have 100% presence at the tournament, picked or banned in every game, the far more influential character on the battleground of the gods was Raijin. The Lord of Thunder was an incredible force and seemed nearly unbeatable in the right hands. Today, we will look at Raijin at the Smite World Championship and how he banged his drums to devastate his opponents.

Raijin was a monster at the Smite World championship, boasting great stats, and was unsurprisingly the best mid lane character at the tournament. Raijin was tied for second most pick and ban presence, along with Fafnir, only being neglected in one game. Raijin was also the tied with Hachiman for second most commonly picked god, behind Osiris. He was picked in 16 games and banned in 11 of the 28 games that comprised the Smite World Championship.

In addition to being picked a lot, Raijin won a lot. He won 10 games, the most of any god, and 5 of his 6 loses were on international teams facing higher rated regions. Raijin dominated the mid lane, most characters played in the role were only picked 1 or 2 times, but Raijin held true. He had the highest kill-death ratio out of any mid played at least twice. Raijin was very strong at worlds.

Oftentimes, a god is strong because of their abilities, so let’s explore Raijin’s kit.

 Charged Tempo

Raijin’s passive is Charged Tempo. After 5 ability casts, all abilities currently on cooldown have 2 seconds knocked off their cooldown. In addition, Raijin’s basic attacks are larger than other characters. This passive allows Raijin to consistently pump out damage in extended fights.

 Percussive Storm

Raijin’s wave clear ability is Percussive Storm. He sends out a series of 3 piercing projectiles, with the third wave carrying two shots side-by-side instead of one. Getting hit by all 4 shots is devastating even early and with a total damage of 360 +120% of your magical power at max rank, Raijin only get scarier as the game goes on and he accumulates more power.

 Raiju

Raijin’s next ability is Raiju. Raijin marks a target, revealing them for up to 6 seconds. If Raijin damages a target marked by Raiju, they take additional damage from Raiju and are slowed for 2.5 seconds. This effect bounces to up to 5 additional enemies when triggered.

 Thunder Crash

Raijin’s mobility tool is Thunder Crash. Raijin does damage in an area, briefly memorizing all enemies in the area before teleporting to that location and doing damage again. Thunder Crash can be used to cross walls and terrain but can also be interrupted if Raijin is crowd controlled before the jump takes place.

 Taiko Drums

Raijin’s ultimate is Taiko Drums. Raijin grows in size and is able to shoot 4 thunder bolts in a line from his drums. Each attack can be fired independently, and the player has a choice of 3 types of beats to shoot. The first option does full damage, the second option does 30% damage but taunts enemies hit for .5 seconds and the third does 30% damage and fears for .5 seconds. Raijin is slowed by 20% and CC immune for the duration. Using 4 full-damage strikes can deal 960 damage at max rank with 200% scaling. The ultimate ends after Raijin shoots 4 times or after 7 seconds. Taiko Drums can be used to lock down a target with crowd control, kill a squishy outright, or devastate a team that has been funneled into a corridor.

Raijin's kit contains a lot of damage in the early and late game stages of the game

As a high-damage Mage, Raijin is built to provide massive damage. Raijin was most successful when starting with Sands of Time and rushing Doom Orb as his first major item. Doom Orb provides up to 100 power for very cheap. Doom Orb used to be a risky item as its stacks, and thus power, are cut after death, but it was changed to be less risky for the same power, so is now a staple item in Mage builds.

Both Shoes of the Magi and Shoes of Focus were successfully built on Raijin at the Smite World Championship. Shoes of the Magi provides penetration for harder-hitting attacks and spells, while Shoes of Focus grants cooldown reduction, to allow for more spells and synergy with Raijin’s passive. While both shoes are viable, Raijin transitioned into Shoes of Focus later into the tournament.

Raijin was often built with 2 penetration items. Sometimes some of this penetration came from Shoes of the Magi, but Obsidian Shard and Divine Ruin were very common pickups. Obsidian Shard provides 33% penetration, which equates to a massive amount of flat pen on tanks and objectives. Divine Ruin gives the owner’s abilities 40% antiheal for 8 seconds. Divine Ruin was not only being built against healing compositions, but also when the opposing healing was limited to Hunter lifesteal and minor self-heals.

Rod of Tahuti is a core item on damage-oriented Mages and Raijin is no exception. The damage it provides is too much to leave on the table. The last item in the Raijin build varies depending on the what the user wants. Another damaging item, such as Spear of Desolation, can be built from ahead to blow up enemies even quicker. Ethereal Staff was a common item, whether inserted into the middle of a Raijin’s build or built last to compliment a suite of items. Ethereal Staff provides damage and health, granting some survivability to a squishy Mage while also increasing their damage. Fully Defensive items such as Mantle of Discord or Magi’s Blessing were sometimes built right after boots to guarantee survival into the mid to late game.

A typical Raijin build at the Smite World Championship

Raijin fits into just about any team composition lacking a magical threat from the mid lane. His amazing early wave clear means he fits well on pressure compositions looking to press early advantages. Raijin also scales incredibly well in the damage department, slotting into late-game team fight oriented team comps. Because Raijin is great in both the early and late game, he can close out the game for earlier-oriented compositions while keeping the early game alive for the later game lineups. Raijin does lack objective secure, as the damage from his ultimate comes out in pieces, but he has great burn on the Gold Fury and Fire Giant and he can use his ultimate to fear enemies away to prevent them from stealing objectives.

Raijin came out of the 2018 Smite World Championship as a force to be reckoned with. He was tied for second most picked and second highest presence god while being by far the most picked mid laner. Raijin’s performance backed up his priority as he was the god with the most wins at the tournament. Through his kit and builds, Raijin dominated the competition. With Season 4 over, we will have to wait and see what Raijin brings to Season 5.

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