Ravana is a new physical warrior in SMITE whose basic kit will be a very welcoming change to those just starting out with the game or to those who just don’t like bloated god kits overall. He is also one of the few warriors that don’t have any form of hard crowd control included in their kit. The question is: Does Ravana have enough damage and utility to overcome this obstacle?

Abilities

Chain of Blows [Passive]

A pretty simple passive which incentivises you to stick to your targets and mix in your abilities between your basic attacks. The damage increase is decent but the 8 hits might be a little bit hard to get - especially in the solo lane where you should really focus the minions. That means that the poke damage is decreased a little bit if you’re not focused on damaging a single target.

Prana Onslaught [1]

This ability has a very low cooldown of 6 seconds and a pretty high physical damage scaling of 75%. Its slow also scales with the ability’s level - 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20% and while the melee range of this ability is a big drawback, it can still be very useful to stick to targets.

Overhead Kick [2]

Ravana’s kick is an ability with good damage and scaling, however, its main use is the damage immunity while the ability is active. The time frame of this short invulnerability seems to be 0.75 seconds. While the spell’s animation is running Ravana also gets a 50% movement speed boost which makes him a tiny bit more mobile.

10-Hand Shadow Fist [3]

Ravana’s third ability feels pretty mediocre at best. It offers a very short root, which helps Ravana catch up to targets, and a small amount of healing based on the damage done (5/6.5/8.5/12.5/20% of damage done depending on rank). Even at 5th rank of this ability the heal seems to be absurdly low - about 150 hit points. The cooldown of this ability is 18 seconds and it doesn’t scale with its rank. I think that Ravana needs to have his damage to heal ratio increased to make him a little bit more sustainable in the solo lane.

Mystic Rush [Ultimate]

The ultimate ability reminds me that this is actually not an assassin but a warrior. The ability basically makes Ravana more tanky while the target is not penalised for fighting back. It is Ravana’s only true mobility ability used to either initiate a bigger team fight or to catch up with gods that have lower mobility and finish them off.

Ability upgrade order

Prana Onslaught [1] should be upgraded first because of its low cooldown, high damage and also because of the scaling slow. The ultimate ability's damage isn't increased by much, however, its cooldown and duration both get a decent upgrade. Overhead Kick's [2] cooldown reduction is good enough in order to place third in your ability priority list. The 10-Hand Shadow Fist is the last ability to upgrade because of its lackluster heal even at max rank, non-scaling root duration and a very small damage increase.

Ravana seems like a god that will do very well against gods that have no escapes - mages like Ah Puch and Nu Wa or warriors like Chaac. All he needs to do is stick to targets to make use of his limited abilities. The problem with that is the low mobility of this god - the ultimate is on a long cooldown and his only ability that can help him here is his Prana Onslaught [1] which has a weak slow of up to 20% for 2 seconds. Ravana also seems more like a hybrid between an assassin and a warrior, however, he doesn’t excel at either role. His gank potential is very low - especially if the enemy god has any kind of an escape - and his abilities are not “annoying” enough - he lacks any kind of hard CC that most other warriors have. Vamana is one of the exceptions and even he couldn’t stick to targets too well until people realised Hastened Fatalis was actually very good on him. And there are other items as well - let’s take a look:

Items

Good items for Ravana should be either focused on basic attack damage - a build for attack speed oriented assassins - or they can also be focused on building Ravana as a bruiser by dealing damage through his abilities while being tanky enough to withstand severe punishment. Building Ravana as a full tank would not be smart because of his high ability damage scalings as well as his low amount of crowd control.

Recommended items #1 - Assassin build

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This build is focused on jungle play and ganking gods with no escapes. Warrior Tabi will give you movement speed and enough physical power to start off. Ichavail will help you get a decent amount of cheap attack speed and flat penetration while Qin’s Sais are the core item of this build. Qin’s Sais will make use of Ravana’s extremely fast (0.5 0.75 and 1s) hit progression. Also, thanks to the recent buff to this item, they are slightly cheaper which makes them more efficient. Next up is Hastened Fatalis or Frostbound Hammer. You can either go for damage and a very slippery assassin with the Fatalis or if you decide to go with Frostbound Hammer you will be a little bit more tanky. The reasoning behind these items is that Ravana needs an item that can make him stick to targets and these two will definitely help. The Executioner will help Ravana deal with enemy gods in the later stages of the game. Finally, a situational / defensive item of your choice will round out the build. Winged Blade is one of the better choices as it makes you even more mobile while decreasing your cooldowns and giving you some bonus health as well.

Recommended items #2 - Bruiser build

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Ancile / Runeforged Hammer + Warrior Tabi + Hide of the Urchin + Shifter’s Shield + Frostbound Hammer

This build focuses on dishing out single target damage through Ravana’s abilities while staying preserving defenses and survivability of the warrior class.

Ancile / Runeforged Hammer will give you important stats depending on what kind of an opponent you’re facing in the solo lane. Ancile will give you very good magical protections, physical power and cooldown reduction which will be very useful in the middle stage of the game. Runeforged Hammer will give you cheap physical protection while not sacrificing your damage. Warrior Tabi will ensure that your abilities deal much more damage and an early Hide of the Urchin pickup will make you truly tanky. Shifter’s Shield is a little bit more expensive item but it is worth the price as it offers a quite substantial physical power bonus with some added protections. Frostbound Hammer will help support your team by slowing down your enemies even more. The last item slot is reserved for a situational item - Witchblade, Runeforged Hammer (if you haven’t bought it already) or Titan’s Bane if you want to deal more damage in the late game. Once again Winged Blade is a good choice as well - especially if you have trouble with being slowed down by your enemies.

Overall, I think that Ravana is a very simple god who is ideal for beginners either in the solo lane or in the jungle. His third ability seems a little bit weak to me but only time can tell - Osiris seemed to be very underpowered at the time of his release and then everyone called for a nerf.

Everything that matters now is: Is he fun to play? And the answer is yes. While he certainly doesn’t have a high skill cap that doesn’t mean he’s not fun. Ravana’s invulnerability makes his kit feel very rewarding while the basic attack animations are just a joy to look at.

Thank you for reading my first impressions of Ravana - The Demon King of Lanka. This was my first attempt at this format so if you have any questions or feedback then please leave a comment below this article or send me a message on Twitter - @TheRikisak

The amazing picture of Ravana was made by Hi-Rez Studios. If you want to check out this wallpaper of Ravana along with developer Q&A click here.