An interesting trend that emerged in the Smite meta is building the Blink Relic on mid lane Mages. Blink Mages have been built occasionally throughout the years, but it has become relatively standard in the last couple of weeks. This change was popularized by pro player Lassiz when he built it on Scylla and then others followed. There are benefits to running Blink Mages, like mobility, as well as drawbacks, such as a lack of Sanctuary. Ultimately, the choice to build Blink on a mid Mage is just that, a choice determined by the state of the game and your play style.

Strategy:

The meta shift started with Allegiance player Drew “Lassiz” Boyd after he switched back to the mid lane position. He built Blink on Scylla in a SPL game and surprised casters and the community. The game went well and then other pros started building blink on Scylla. Lassiz and others have extended their Blink usage to include Janus and Isis.

Why build Blink on Scylla when she already has mobility? For the same reason that Blink is best built on junglers with mobility such as Serqet, Ao Kuang, and Hun Batz. Blink is used as initiation or to engage and then the movement ability is used to escape. In the case of Scylla, Blink is cast from cover into mid-range and Scylla’s “Sic ‘em” ability is used to root one to three enemy gods. From that point, the Scylla’s team or even the Scylla herself can follow up and kill the enemy. If Scylla gets in trouble, she can use her Sentinel ability to jump out of the fight and back to safety.

A Blink Janus can be used in a similar way to Scylla. He can Blink right next to an opponent and “shotgun” an Unstable Vortex for a lot of damage and then use portals to get out of the fight before he gets punished and dies. Blink can also be used on other Mages. Lassiz has built it on Isis in an SPL game. Blink allows Isis and other mages with limited mobility to make surprise attacks or flanks. An example is Poseidon. He can Blink-Kraken an unsuspecting enemy similar to Scylla’s Blink-Sic ‘em combo.

Blink can be built in either relic slot. Building Blink in the first slot is a very aggressive start where a flashy Blink play can start a snowball. However, you lack an early Purification and could be locked down by crowd control early and often. A Purification start allows you to delay your decision whether or not to use Blink and you can still buy two defensive Relics if needed. A late Blink pick up can also surprise the opponents if you rotate to a team fight with a Blink in tow.

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The SPL game where Lassiz played a Blink Isis

Pros:

Blink provides Mages with unparalleled mobility. The magic users are able to position safer and farther away from a fight or skirmish and have the ability to instantly teleport to a better position to throw out abilities. The mobility that Blink provides to Scylla and Janus gives them a much wider area of influence where they can both engage enemies with Blink and escape with abilities. Blink also doubles the range of some abilities and can make chasing enemies easier after a team fight. An Isis who blinks before firing a Spirit Ball can be hard to run away from.

Blink has uses to surprise enemies with both offensive and defensive plays. A sudden Blink-Sic ‘em rooting three gods can end a game with some follow up. The hit-and-run Janus play detailed above and cause chaos and discord in the enemy team, especially in a ranked or casual game, where there is less communication. Players with quick reflexes can also use Blink to escape from sticky situations. If you see an ability coming, you can blink away before any damage is done. Blink has a 120 second cooldown compared to Purification and Sanctuary, both having a 160 second cooldown, meaning you have 40 extra seconds of relative safety if you use Blink to escape compared to the other Relics.

The Blink icon in game

Cons:

The biggest weakness to running blink is that you do not have two defensive or team fight actives. This often means that the Mage is only running Purification for safety and forgoing a Sanctuary or Sprint pickup. This is especially dire if the Mage started Blink but got behind and can only pick up one defensive active. Starting Purification means that you can decide between Blink and Sanctuary based on the state of the mid-game.

Over- or undershooting a Blink activation can easily put you out of position, which is extremely deadly on squishy Mage. Blinking into the entire enemy team, or even just in front of a Hunter can cause you to be CC-locked or bursted instantly. The Mage has to be very careful about their Blink position or they will die and provide next to nothing to a team fight.

The other issue with Blink is its in-combat cooldown. If you deal or receive damage, Blink is locked for five seconds. If you get surprised or flanked, you cannot use Blink to escape. In addition, you cannot poke an enemy and then Blink in for the kill.

Conclusion

There has been a rise in Blink pickups on mid lane Mages in Smite. The Relic allows for mobility at the cost of defense. Blink is most often picked up on Scylla for her ability to get in and out of fights but can be picked up by other gods as well. Blink is not a mandatory pickup, but its usage is largely determined by one’s play style. More aggressive players may opt into Blink for flashy plays while defensive players are better off utilizing a defensive Relic instead.

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