Bakasura is one of Smite’s oldest gods, released in 2012. He has been weaving in and out of the meta over the years, going from bottom tier to vying for top god and back. Bakasura was a strong solo lane god last year, until meta shifts drove him out of competitive play. The Great Devourer received a deceptively small buff recently and has since risen again as a factor in professional play.

Dominance and Decline

Bakasura was a solo lane staple in the first half of Season 2, during the Spring and Summer splits. Even though he does not have good clear, Bakasura was known as a lane bully. He could poke out and harass enemy gods while being relatively safe due to his jump and heal. Bakasura also had devastating power spikes at level 5 and 9. He would routinely kill the opposing god at level 5 by using his ultimate to spawn extra minions that dealt a lot of damage and could tank tower shots. At level 9, Bakasura was able to reach the max rank of Butcher Blades, his true damage steroid, making it again easier to kill even tanky warriors.

There were a few factors that eventually pushed Bakasura to the sidelines. First, the damage of his ultimate minions was decreased, which significantly lowered his level 5 kill potential. Next, the Hand of the Gods active got nerfed in the middle of the Summer Split. HoG was often seen as essential to Bakasura’s build. Lastly, the meta shifted to where it was more beneficial to have a nearly unkillable solo laner instead of a more carry-focused character. After these changes, Bakasura was still played, but less often and with less success.

The Text on Bakasura's Eat Minion Ability

Rise back to power

In patch 3.6, “Escape From The Underworld,” Bakasura received a buff. It read:

“Bakasura can now consume any non-buff jungle creature at 100% of it’s health, including Mid Harpies and Boars”

This buff did not change his damage or survivability, but did boost Bakasura to the top of the meta. Why?

The main impact of the buff is right there in the patch notes; Bakasura can now use his Eat Minion ability on mid harpies and boars at full health, instead of reducing them to one third health first. There are a few tricks that Bakasura can now utilize that were not available before the patch. Instantly killing the large jungle creeps allows Bakasura to have a greater jungle clear speed and thus quicker rotations. Saving a few seconds early game can be very impactful in the higher ends of play, where an unexpected or early gank can snowball a game. Bakasura can now also have an easy time invading enemy boars, especially on the solo side of the map, where there is only one boar in the camp. He can also just eat a mid-harpy, forcing a split of the camp with the enemy team in cases of contention.

Strategies

With patch 3.6, Bakasura is primarily used in the jungler role. His newfound abilities have made Bakasura a top pick and ban in ranked play. Bakasura benefits from the ranked environment, where communication can be lax and enemy rotations are late, allowing Bakasura get to away, having already stolen a boar. These kinds of antics are annoying and can make players tilt, often making the problem worse and letting Bakasura snowball even harder.

At the start of a game, there are different paths the jungle can take before settling in the mid lane for a while. One that is popular with the new Bakasura is clearing the solo-side mid camp and blue buff with the solo laner. Bakasura excels at this jungle start because of his buff. He can instantly devour one of the mid camp harpies and Eat Minion is off of cooldown in time for Bakasura to execute the blue buff-wielding monster. This strategy cuts down clear time significantly and allows both Bakasura and his solo to get to lane earlier, providing better positioning.

Throughout the laning phase, Bakasura is able to run up to the enemy boar camps side and eat a boar, accelerating his own farm while denying gold and experience to the enemy. With all the extra farm from boars and harpies, Bakasura can snowball a game quite easily, making him higher level than the opponent and stronger in team fights. The goal of Bakasura is to end the game before the opposition can catch up. However, Bakasura does have a strong late game and is able to eliminate a single target or cluster of enemies quickly.

Bakasura can also be played in the solo role. He is still a high-pressure laner, able to utilize his high damage and minions to kill opponents. The strength of Bakasura solo is the ability to freely take the enemy boars, allowing you to snowball and deny them of farm.

There are drawbacks to playing Bakasura. He does not bring much pressure when mid and jungle players share the mid lane in the early game; he lacks the ranged harass and strong clear of characters such as Thor and Awilix. Bakasura also does not have any hard cc, instead relying on a slow and cripple on his ultimate for utility in team fights. Lastly, playing Bakasura solo often means that your team is down a tanky frontline character that are important in mid and late game fights.

Ravenous Bakasura wallpaper. Courtesy of Hi-Rez Studios

Competitive Impact

There have been two weeks of the Smite Pro League since Patch 3.6 dropped: weeks 4 and 5 of the Spring Split. During these weeks, the newly buffed Bakasura was available for play. Bakasura was picked 7 times total and banned 12 times, with most of the activity in Week 5. Bakasura was only placed twice in North America, once as solo and once as jungle. He lost both games and was not banned in the region. Bakasura saw much more action in Europe where he was picked 5 times and banned 12. Of those 5 picks, 4 were jungle and 1 was for the solo lane. He lost 1 game as each role, leaving him with a 3/4 win/loss ratio. Overall, Bakasura has a sizable impact in professional games, but is not the most influential god.

Conclusion

Patch 3.6 brought a buff to Bakasura that let him eat big harpies and boars at max health, just like smaller creeps. This change propelled him into the meta, where he can be annoying and snowball a game. The Great Devourer has seen some play in the Smite Pro League, with Europe favoring him more than North America. With his buff, Bakasura has reclaimed his spot in Smite.

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