One important thing to understand about Smite, and something that I’ve mentioned in previous articles, is that a round of Conquest is not static and similar all the way through. Strategies that can be effective at level five are unlikely to be equally effective at level ten, and will be long expired by level fifteen. And while most gods in the game are fairly well-rounded and effective in most phases of the game, there are others with more extreme differences in their range of usability. This means that some gods, just like some tactics or mechanics, have a limited window of optimal effect. You’ll often hear professional casters refer to a character as “early game” or “late game” focused; it means that the god, instead of being approximately as strong in all parts of the match, has a part in which they are objectively stronger than other possible picks. These factors are important to recognize, because they can influence the way you play, especially if you’re piloting an early game god since you need to make the most of your opportunity before it disappears. Unfortunately, there is no hard and fast rule or indicator that determines which characters are good early. Instead, I’ll try and break down some of the contributing factors and introduce you to the most recognizable and defined examples of early game gods.

Base Damage

As I said before, there’s really no defining factor that makes a god early or late, but one consistent theme in early-game gods is high base ability damage. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, the base damage of an ability is the static amount that it deals, regardless of any Power (magical or physical) that you may have. This is as contrasted with scaling, the percentage of your Power that the ability deals as damage, which we’ll talk more about sometime later.

High base ability damage is good for obvious reasons. Very few gods have innate Power, and require a number of items before their Power begins to approach mathematically meaningful amounts. Base damage doesn’t require anything; it’s the same whether you’re at full build or sitting on a starter item, boots, and eight potions. One of the most infamous examples of high scaling is Thanatos’s Death Scythe. This ability deals 100 damage at first level, plus an additional 10% of the victim’s maximum health. This means that at level one, Thanatos can take nearly a third of another god’s health with a single Scythe. The Scythe’s power, along with its built-in heal and slow, combine to make Thanatos the most dominant early-game jungler in Smite.

You may be wondering, at this point, why Thanatos isn’t played more extensively at high ranks, if his early-game is so dominant. The truth is that while his early game is undisputed, he has poor scaling. This means that even if he dominates early and builds into high-Power items like Transcendence, his overall damage will continue to go down. Compare Death Scythe to an ability like Loki’s Aimed Strike (laying aside special effects and CC); the first deals 100 damage at first level, with 60% scaling, while the second deals 60 damage at first level with 100% scaling. This means that at first level, Thanatos is going to have the advantage by 40 damage. If the game progresses, however, and both acquire 200 physical power, Loki will have the advantage by 40, only growing greater with more power. The same is true of many other assassins. Even another straight-line damage ability, Mjolnir’s Attunement, comes packaged with 90% scaling and a teleport. This doesn’t mean that Thanatos is ineffective overall, it just means that he has a limited window in which he is more effective than other, similar characters.

Lane Pressure

Another factor that places a character squarely into the “early game” bracket is a dominant laning phase. A god focused on lane pressure doesn’t focus on exploiting early damage or avoiding late game scaling falloff; instead, they’re looking to use their laning-suited abilities to bully their opponents into bad situations, and put them so far behind that they’ll never have a chance to come back. Gods with good clear, good sustain, or good lane poke can make up in gold and XP what they may lack in late game damage or teamfight utility. The most classic example of a lane pressure god is Chaac, the Mayan god of rain.

Chaac is, essentially, the perfect solo laner. He has instantaneous, safe clear and poke with Thunder Strike. His Torrent serves as an equally effective escape or initiation. Rain Dance locks the opposing laner within range of his basic attacks, and Storm Call can stop a gank in its tracks. This being said, Chaac loses a great deal of potency as the game progresses. He doesn’t have any hard CC outside of a silence, his axe and spin suffer from scaling falloff, and his ultimate is difficult to land on a full team. The main strength of Chaac, therefore, lies in picking up a hefty advantage in the laning phase, and using that advantage to rotate to other lanes, pressure towers, and help secure objectives. Think of a lane pressure god as a big, tough boxer that gets tired fast. They know that their competitor will probably outlast them in a long fight, so they punch hard early to try and put their opponent beyond hope of recovery.

I haven’t, of course, covered every possible reason for a character to have a reputation for early focus, but these two factors are some of the most important. Evaluating a character by these aspects will probably tell you something about their overall feel and window of power. Since I wasn’t able to cover everything, though...

Here are some other gods that are noted for being effective early (this is by no means a definitive list, because of the ever-changing nature of the meta):

Anhur: Early penetration from his passive certainly qualifies Anhur for this list. It’s essentially equivalent to boosted base damage on all of his damaging abilities.

Awilix: Although she’s hardly ineffectual late in the game, Awilix’s Feather Step has even higher base damage than Death Scythe. Her level five ganks are also devastating, as a successful Gravity Surge is a guaranteed kill on an underleveled opponent.

Ares: Shackles can lock down an enemy target with ease, and deal absurdly high damage at low levels if all three chains are landed in proper sequence. When paired with Searing Flesh, Ares’ chains can shred through squishy targets in seconds in the early and mid game. His ultimate also cannot be discounted, especially before enemies have had a chance to pick up a second relic.

Bacchus: Intoxicate deals 250 damage at rank one. Just let that sink in. Bacchus is also very effective late for different reasons that can be covered later, but his level five kill potential is nearly unmatched with a successful Belly Flop into Intoxicate.

Chaac: As stated above.

Cupid: Although all hunters are at least a bit late game focused, Cupid has loads of pressure and kill potential early on. What he lacks in clear he makes up for in Heart Bomb damage and Fields of Love’s gigantic crippling field, which usually proves fatal to an opposing ADC.

Fenrir: Unchained and Ragnarok are both abilities that deal high damage in the early game; that being said, as players begin to round out their builds and pick up protection items, Fenrir becomes little more than a CC machine.

Isis: Another goddess that doesn’t fall off very hard late game, but is still notable for unparalleled early poke and lane pressure. Circle of Protection also makes for a very effective Gold Fury secure in the early game.

Medusa: Like Cupid, but with good clear and a conditional cone stun instead of a cripple.

Nox: Generally speaking, a single-target focus as opposed to Area of Effect makes a god or goddess more effective in the laning phase. Nox’s devastating Shadow Lock combo certainly qualifies as single-target focused.

Odin: Odin’s Raven Shout + Lunge combo, affectionately known as the “Bird Bomb”, can nearly one-shot low-protection targets early in the game, but does little more than tickle once the late game is reached.

Thanatos: As stated above. It’s also worth noting that his ultimate, although impressive, suffers from many of the same issues as Ne Zha’s Wind Fire Wheels; even when it’s successful, it leaves him highly vulnerable to his target’s angry teammates, making it of most use in the laning phase.



Ymir: Ymir’s “Ice Carpet” (Glacial Strike) has exceptionally high damage for a guardian ability, and can be used in combination with his Frost Breath to set up early kills and successful ganks. His ultimate, Shards of Ice, also dishes out 500 damage if fully charged at first rank, a feat which is more easily achieved at low levels when enemies have limited escape tools.

Let me know if I missed your favorite early game powerhouse. I’ll be back soon with a look at Smite’s late game forces of destruction. Happy Smiting!

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