Introduction

In the current meta, the solo laner is one of the most influential players on their team. With the great gold and experience advantage currently obtainable, the solo laner has great control over the early game. However you never want this great power to be in the hands of your opponent. To avoid having your opponent controlling the way you play, being able to counter pick your opponent can give you the upper hand in 1v1 scenarios. Knowing what gods have great match-ups against the leading gods of today’s solo lane will give you a great advantage throughout the entire game. Warriors are currently dominating the solo lane, so we are going to run through which gods perform well against each of the 11 warriors and why.

Amaterasu

Excelling at being in the thick of a fight, Amaterasu has amazing Crowd Control (CC), sustain and mobility. She is very strong against gods lacking mobility and CC immunity such as Bakasura and Osiris, however she falls prey to gods with very strong early game. Chaac, Hercules and Tyr can really bully an Amaterasu in the early game, knocking her around left, right and centre. When fighting in lane Chaac performs extremely well against Amaterasu in the early game, he has just as much sustain as her and can exert loads up damage upon Amaterasu and her minion waves. His slow makes it hard for to escape his hard hits, and he can zone her tremendously well to make it hard for her to escape. His ability to apply tremendous amounts of pressure in the early game causes an Amaterasu to take longer to reach her peak.

Bellona

Bellona is known for her amazing clear, and extraordinary team fight potential. Her bludgeon destroys the wave within seconds, making her a great god in the solo lane. She is strong against solo lane gods such as Bakasura and Osiris due to her disarm restricting their clear. Her major weakness is being knocked out and silenced out of her bludgeon, making gods such as Amaterasu, Hercules, Tyr and Vamana very strong against her. However her greatest opponent is the dreaded Solobek. Sobek’s entire kit counters a Bellona in more ways than most people think. Firstly his abilities Charge Prey and Tail Whip disrupt her Bludgeon, which is her main form of clear. Restricting her clear, forces a Bellona to level her Scourge to assist in clearing lane. Sobek’s third ability Sickening Strike further counters Bellona by reducing the healing received from her Scourge basic attacks by 50%. Even though Sobek has a very poor laning phase, being able to shut down a front liner such as Bellona is worth the sacrificing the laning phase to assists your team in the later team fights.

Chaac

In ranked and competitive Smite, Chaac has become almost extinct due to his weak late game, nonetheless his early game is something to not make a joke about. Chaac’s kit and base scaling allows for him to disperse mass amounts of damage in early team fights and ganks. His kit contains large amounts of CC with his Rain Dance slowing for 25% at max rank and his ultimate silencing all enemies in the Area of Effect (AoE) for 3 seconds. In the laning phase Chaac is virtually unkillable with the high amount of base healing on Rain Dance Chaac is strong in lane when versing opponents with low mobility and weak early clear, however in team fight in the late game is much weaker than other gods. One of the only gods that can really shut down a Chaac early is Osiris, this is due to the inbuilt Damage Reduction, Slow and Anti-Heal in his kit. This combination of CC can enable the Chaac to be killed early and lose his early game advantage.

Guan Yu

In the Smite Community, Guan Yu is considered one of the top tier solo laners of the current meta. His ability Taolu Assault offers Guan Yu great early game pressure and lane clear, and his heal Conviction provides great sustain in the late game team fights. In lane, Guan is strong against Bellona and Tyr due to the fact that he can easily dodge their primary damage and if he does take damage his heal will out sustain both of them. In the laning phase, Amaterasu, Hades and Sun Wukong are strong counters to the almighty Guan Yu as all of them can cancel his main form clear. Guan Yu struggles the most against Odin, King of Asgard. Odin may not be able to cancel Guan’s clear like other counters yet he has way more early game pressure with his Bird Bomb (Lunge and Raven Shout) being able to do immense amounts of damage. And from level 5 onwards Odin’s Ring of Spears absolutely destroys Guan, with no leap to escape the ring and his healing useless, Guan Yu is left defenceless just having to wait for his imminent death.

Hercules

Hercules is known for just being a pain in the arse to fight against, his kit contains loads of Crowd Control (CC) abilities that can really harass his opponent in lane and in battle. His 3rd ability Mitigate Wounds makes Hercules almost impossible to kill in late game team fights being able to heal almost all damage he takes. Hercules is very good against gods that he can cancel and disrupt their clear such as Bellona and Tyr, however Hercules is very weak when it comes to fighting junglers such as Nemesis and Serqet due to their in-built anti heal and slows. In lane Hercules is countered very well by Osiris, Osiris does not bring much to the table in regards to wave clear but has incredible boxing and 1v1 capabilities. Due to Hercules low mobility Osiris’s 1, 2 combo (Sickle Strike into Spirit Flail) is really effective and can really keep a Hercules out of position. His third ability, Judgement Tether mitigates over 30% of damage taken at max rank making Osiris able to withstand and outlast a Hercules in a team fight. Last but definitly not least is that Osiris’s ult provides 6 seconds of complete anti-heal meaning his team can burst down the opposing Hercules before he can heal back to full health. Osiris’s kit is a great counter against Hercules in 1v1 and in the late game team fights.

Odin

The All-Father Odin is feared for the colossal Bird Bomb that can practically 1 hit every god in the early game. He has very fast early clear with his 1, 2 combo and his ultimate is considered one of the best ultimates in the game. Ring of Spears is a very hard counter to gods without leaps and healing, especially when his ultimate is on a 36 second cool down with max Cool Down Reduction (CDR). Odin is a very good counter to most warriors in the solo lane including Amaterasu, Guan Yu, Hercules and Vamana. Odin falls short when it comes to laning against Bellona, she forces him to waste his combo on clear rather than poke to make sure he doesn’t fall behind. Especially because Odin’s late game is rather weak, it is essential that he stays ahead of his opponent in the early game. In the late game killing an Odin it relatively hard, make sure you are aware of his cool downs and choose to strike when you know his kit is down.

Osiris

During the laning phase Osiris can bully out most other warriors, hit offers him great control and pressure early on. Being able to apply 2 slows and a stun to your opponent can force your opponent to have to play very carefully losing farm to their tower. Osiris has no direct counters in the solo lane so the best way to beat him is to take advantage of his low mobility. When versing Osiris it really comes down to the player’s individual skill, if you are able to dodge and weave Sickle Strike and Spirit Flail then you have nothing to fear when opposing an Osiris.

Ravana

Since Ravana’s rework, he has gained way more attention and regularity in the solo lane. His kit is made to make him a real bully in the laning phase, with slows, immunity and self-heal, a Ravana can be played really aggressive in the early game. Ravana is really strong against gods with terrible laning phases, such as Amaterasu, Bakasura and Loki. Ravana is one of those gods who doesn’t have a direct counter pick, to be a Ravana you just have survive the early game. He is only strong because he has so much poke and clear in the laning phase, when it comes down to team fights Ravana gets blown up very quickly. Gods such as Bellona, Tyr and Vamana have enough clear, sustain and tankiness to withstand the early game push of Ravana. Being able to clear from a safe distance really plays well against Ravana as all of his damage and poke is from close quarter combat.

Sun Wukong

Nowadays we do not see the mighty Sun Wukong every game unlike when Bluekong brought fear into everyone’s souls. In the early game The Magic Cudgel will crush the dreams of those pesky minions and the great utility in his 72 Transformations can setup for some early kills on the enemy solo laner. Gods such as Amaterasu and Bakasura are really weak against Sun Wukong as he can exert great early pressure due to their lack of clear. Sun Wukong doesn’t have many direct counters, due to the fact that he is a very basic warrior who is there to front line and deal poke. Vamana has a very comparable laning phase to Sun Wukong, be able to keep up with and even out poke and clear Wukong, makes him great to fight with in lane. His Clear the Path is great for escaping and catching the 72 Transformations which usually offer Wukong with lots of utility. Finally when comparing the ultimates of the two warriors, it obvious that Vamana’s ultimate Colossal Fury is just a better version of Somersault Cloud. Vamana’s ultimate can deal immense amounts of damage compared to Sun Wukong and it is common sense that when you see that big baby running at you that you really need to get out of there.

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Tyr

For a long time Tyr was not considered a meta god, but the recent patches have made him extremely viable in the solo lane. With the nerf to beads, Tyr can run amuck fearlessing everyone with no consequences, he is extremely tank and has amazing sustain with Power Cleave. Tyr is extremely weak against gods that restrict his movement based abilities. Ares, Hades and Poseidon are all great counters to Tyr as they have silences and cripples to stop his Fearless. Seeing a Hercules in the solo lane is a Tyr’s worst nightmare. A well-known law of Smite physics is Tyr’s Fearless beats everything, everything except Driving Strike. This ability counters the entirety of Tyr’s clear and can really hurt his farming in the early game, and in the late game Hercules Mitigate Wounds makes him practically immortal.

Vamana

Season 3 brought many buffs to the Big Baby Vamana, directly and through item changes. In the solo lane, Vamana has very few counters and an incredible laning phase due to his safe and fast clear. In the late game his team fight surpasses most other warriors and his ultimate, Colossal Fury is one of the best team fight orientedultimates in the game. However Vamana can be shut down by Odin, in the early game Odin’s clear, out performs that of Vamana. Once Odin hits level 5, all hopes of success are lost as that ultimate will destroy a Vamana’s dreams. Ring of Spears applies 100% healing reduction and at max rank 60% attack speed reduction, this combination counters Vamana’s ult entirely.

Conclusion

So now, when you are picking you Solo lane make sure you take into consideration what gods are available, who you can counter and who you can be countered by. Just asking yourself these important questions can give you the upper hand when it comes to 1v1ing the laning phase and how you can shut down your opponents in the late game team fights.

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