For a long time, the SMITE meta has been a mage in the mid lane. Despite the strength of gods with utility-oriented kits, the mid lane has almost always been the primary magic carry on the team. While many mid-laners have experimented with utility mages (especially as counter-picks), it was at best a fringe-meta strategy. However, at the SPL Spring Finals in April, AFK’s mid-laner Ismael “KikiSoCheeky” Torres played the utility mage to great effect. Not only did he pull out relatively unusual picks such as Zhong Kui and Athena, but he built even more standard mages like Poseidon in a different way that emphasized set-up and supporting the team rather than burst. Both his and his team’s success shows that the utility mage is worth giving another look.

WHAT IS A UTILITY MAGE?

Just about any mage can be played as a utility mage. Although gods with a lot of crowd control and team healing obviously have the most built-in utility, it is more about the playstyle and build path than which god you pick. With regards to style, the utility mage may prioritize roaming over farming, and during fights focuses on setting up kills for the team and preventing the enemies from getting their own kills. While the aforementioned CC and healing obviously helps here, any god is capable of zoning and peeling.

The build is important to accomplish this. In order to best zone and peel, the mage must have a moderate degree of tankiness- not frontliner levels, but enough to stay alive throughout a fight. Gem of Isolation and Warlock’s Sash are excellent for the health and mana they provide, and Gem also slows enemies damaged by your abilities, providing a small but important amount of crowd control. Although it is often done in standard builds anyway, Spear of the Magus or even Void Stone will usually be picked up for penetration instead of Obsidian Shard, as they assist your teammates as well as yourself. If the mage has a heal, Lotus Crown is essential to maximize your healing output and add protections to all gods affected by it, and Rod of Asclepius is another possibility. Cooldown reduction may also be prioritized over damage, so that spells can be used more often to help the team. One or two items might be devoted to tankiness (for example Magi’s Blessing or Spirit Robe) to make your extra health more effective. Of course, all builds are situational, so don’t get locked in to a single build. Kiki himself may have put it best during game 4 of the finals, overheard saying to his team “Yo what do I build now? I don’t give a [darn]!”

As mentioned above, CDR is very important to the utility mage build, so Shoes of Focus (Cooldown Boots) will often be picked over Shoes of the Magi. However, the recent change to Traveler's Shoes and Talaria Boots has made the item far more viable. When choosing, consider two things: what other items are you going to buy, and how much can you help your team in the early stages of the game? Cooldown will greatly assist your strength at all stages of the game, but since CDR caps at 40%, other items can possibly fill that void; for example, getting Divine Ruin will provide the same amount of CDR as boots as well as healing reduction if the enemy has high sustain- couple either with Chronos’ Pendant to reach the cap. If you are getting other items to fulfill the CDR cap and/or you don’t need CDR early, consider getting Traveler's Shoes- the added movement speed and health regen greatly assists your team as you are roaming more quickly and with higher health. What’s more, the added Gold and XP mechanic helps you put more points into abilities for extra base damage + utility and eventually it will pay for itself so you can afford to sell it for other boots later on.

What will you choose?

DOWNSIDES TO THE UTILITY MAGE

As strong as it might sound, the utility mage style is not without downsides. Most of all, you lack the raw damage a burst mage has, and that can result in lost kills and even your own death if you have no allies to back you up. Since the meta relies mainly on the mid-laner to provide most of the team’s magic damage, the team may lack high magic damage, which hurts your hunters since the enemy tank is able to build exclusively physical protections. While the solo laner can pick a mage, god selection in that lane is very matchup-centric, and you don’t want to force them into a single class lest they be countered. Similarly, you don’t want your jungler or support to be forced to pick high magic damage dealers (Ao Kuang or Ares, for example). Therefore, some team comps require you to pick a hard carry, although it is possible a rise in utility mages could contribute to meta shifts in common junglers and solo laners (perhaps even more likely given the recent Ao Kuang change).

There may be other downsides as well, though only time can tell. Significant changes in the meta are uncommon, and if this does indeed turn out to be a full meta-shift, it will be the first that is not incited by a major balance change in a very long time; major meta changes have occurred in the past on occasions such as the introduction of Bumba’s Mask, the change to warriors, and the Season Two changes.

What do you think? Is this a newly found fringe-meta playstyle, or will it prove to become the new meta itself? Give it a try if you like, and see for yourself. Experimentation is key; with relatively few people having played this seriously, there is no telling what gods, items, level orders, and styles can succeed as a utility mage. Good luck and have fun!