We all know that League of Legends has been around for longer than Smite. There are a lot of discussion and debates about which MOBA is better, but this article is not one of them. These past few months, I have known a lot of League of Legend players that are interested in Smite. However, they say that Smite is a completely different game. Even though LoL and Smite are both similar MOBAs, Smite offers a different kind of gameplay that makes it unique from the typical type of MOBA. Here are some tips for LoL players that want to get into Smite but have difficulty doing so.

How is LoL similar to Smite?

League can be similar to Smite in many ways. They both share a game mode that is played in competitive play; League’s Summoner’s Rift is the equivalent to Smite Conquest; they both have 3 lanes, a jungle layout, and the team bases at both ends. Both modes are basically, gain experience and gold, siege towers (turrets) and phoenixes (inhibitor turrets), and finally kill the titan (nexus). The lanes and positions of the players are similar; solo lane is top, duo lane with the attack damage carry and the support, and the jungle role in the jungle.

Smite Minimap on the Left and League of Legends on the Right

When coming from League of Legends to Smite, you might be tempted to call “top” and/or “bot”, but in Smite there is no top or bottom because the map flips depending on what side you are on. On the order side, duo lane is on the left and solo is on the right; on the chaos side, duo is on the right and solo is on the left. The easiest way to detect the difference is that the solo lane is typically the shorter lane compared to the duo lane. Also, the solo lane is on the side with Fire Giant and duo is on the side with the Gold Fury.

There are 6 champion attributes in League and 5 god classes in Smite.

• Mage = Mage
• Slayers = Assassins
• Fighters = Warriors
• Tanks = Guardians
• Marksman = Hunters

The difference is that the Controller class role in the game can be taken up by different god abilities and passives in Smite. For example, “Isis shares additional HP5 and MP5 with nearby allies. For every player death she witnesses, her aura gains an additional Stack (max. 10).” and “Every 5s, Khepri applies a shield to himself and nearby Allied Gods for 2% of the target's Maximum Health for 15s.”

Relics (Summoner Spells) are items that you can get to enhance your gameplay. Unlike in League, you can purchase 1 relic at the start of the game for free, but the second slot is locked until Lvl 12. The difference is that once you leave the fountain with that chosen relic, you cannot sell it back.

Season 3 Smite Relics

Also…

• IP = Favor
• RP = Gems

Now on to the differences:

Out of the game, there are a few differences involving the leveling experience in your account. In Smite, there are no runes or masteries, therefore, you start a game with the same stats as a fully leveled account.

In game, Smite is played at a 3rd person point of view, where you view “over your character’s shoulders”, while LoL is played at an isometric point of view, where you view the game from above. The 3rd person point of view is used for most RPG games where you are able to view your character’s actions and have a closer field of view to the action happening in the game. The isometric point of view is typically used in strategy and tactical role playing games. In the isometric point of view, you are able to see a wide portion of the map from a "top down" perspective.

3rd person point of view in Smite vs. Isometric point of view in LOL

Now, because of the differing point of views, Smite and League of Legends have different types of gameplay. The abilities and attacks in Smite are based around skill shots, so yes you actually have to aim your auto attacks in Smite. And yes, if you’re an ADC you can get soloed by an underleveled enemy ADC if they hit their auto attacks and you don’t. (It 's happened to me several times). There are also movement penalties and vision disadvantages in Smite because of the 3rd person point of view. For example, you move slower if you strafe to the sides and/or backpedal, so you would have to carefully play the game with proper positioning and map awareness. The enemy jungler could easily just walk up behind you without you knowing. Also, when you are running away from the enemy team, you will not be able to see where they are and whether or not they are attacking you, so you would have to predict your enemies’ distance and attacks so you can dodge them.

An example of two types of skill shots: Rama's Ult- Astral Barrage and Ra's Ult Searing Pain

When laning during the first few levels in Smite, minions are deadly. Trying to fight your enemy with the creep wave up will result in aggroing the minions and taking a buttload of archer damage. But you don’t have to last hit the minions to receive gold. You can still receive gold and experience if you are near the minion that was killed; last hitting it will provide a little more gold and exp.However, once an enemy minion is targeted by your tower, you will no longer receive gold or exp for that minion. So I suggest to try to kill the minions that are not targeted by your tower if they are in tower range.

When killing a jungle buff, you actually have to pick up the buff, the last hitter doesn’t get the buff. This could be helpful when you’re jungling because you can clear the buff camp and leave it for your teammate to pick up.

How can a League of Legends player adjust to Smite?

I have recommended League of Legends players to try out Smite before and most of them said that the hardest thing to adjust to is the skill shots. Like every video game, you have to dedicate some time into learning how to play the game. So don't expect to be a master at Smite just because you are a master at League of Legends. However, you don't need to play Smite to get used to aiming skill shots. I had a friend who was struggling to make progress in getting used to the gameplay of Smite, so I recommended her to try out other games that are based on skill shots, such as, FPS games (Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Team Fortress, Halo, etc.) and RPGs (World of Warcraft, Dark Souls, etc.) The key to getting into Smite from League of Legends is getting comfortable with the point of view and being able to aim the attacks and abilities. Of course, practice makes perfect.

For any League of Legends player that is interested in playing Smite, I say go for it! It's free-to-play and you can even buy all of the gods in the game, and future gods, with a $30 god pack. The gameplay between the two games and similar and different in many ways but Smite offers a new type of MOBA experience from the 3rd person point of view. So if you're a League of Legends player that wants to play Smite or is playing Smite, I hope this guide provided information that improved your Smite experience.

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