With the “New Meta” kicking in this Season in Smite we're seeing a lot of rather strange picks in the solo lane, be it guardians like Xing Tian and Hades or healers like Aphrodite and Hel (and arguably Zhong Kui, although he only heals himself, but for a large amount). The main purpose of healers is that they are not meant to do damage, instead they are meant to help their teammates out. A solo lane Aphrodite turns into a second support in the late game. While she may do a lot of damage to help the carry and the jungle, she can't be compared to a bruiser like Sun Wukong or Bellona. Nevertheless, both Aphrodite and Hel show very well when team fighting and pushing down objectives, as seen in many of the recent SPL games.

Item Countering

Now let’s get to the main point of this article: How do you counter build a healer, both early game and late game? First, we need to make sure we cover the early game, since that is when most healers get shut down. You need to be aggressive against a healer and you need to make sure that you deal damage to them whenever you can. For example, poke fights when clearing the wave and zone when your opponent can not. In the early game healers do not have the Cooldowns and enough Mana to be able to sustain all of the poke done to them, and they have to choose to either: A) Save their mana and cooldowns for wave clear, or B) Use their cooldowns to heal all of your poke.

If a healer chooses to save their abilities for wave clear so that they don’t miss out on all the gold and experience, you need to make sure that you take advantage of that that and become extra aggressive. If they try to get to the minion wave. make sure to aggress and hit them with a few auto-attacks and abilities; most bruisers will do tons of damage early on, especially with a starter item like Death’s Toll or Bluestone Pendant.

After you have forced the Aphrodite or Hel to back a few times and miss a couple hundred gold to her tower, make sure to get anti-heal items early on. This is a concept many players forget about, and they rush their core items first, thinking heals won’t contribute as much early on. This is a big mistake. Even a 600 damage heal can make a huge difference in a team fight around the Gold Fury, so around the 6-10 minute mark, you absolutely need to have either Divine Ruin, if you are playing a Magical god, or Brawler’s Beat Stick, if you are playing a Physical god. If you still think that their heals are still doing a lot more than they should, and if they have 25% or more Cooldown Reduction, you need to get a Weakening Curse.

Team Fights

Now let’s talk about team fighting, since that is where teams get the most use out of a healer. The most important concept you need to understand is that you need to make them use all of their Cooldowns before you can fight them. Again, the 600 damage that a healer can take away from you can be the difference between a kill or a death. Just play the poke game and be patient. Whenever you see that heal come out, that should be your cue to go in and focus on getting rid of the healer. Do not pay attention to all of the damage coming out from their teammates and just focus on killing the healer. If need be, use your Weakening Curse to stop 65% of their healing and keep on going. In the early game, if a healer is focused by your whole team, they won’t last long. After they are dead, your team can go about fighting the rest of their team. Since they are so used to being practically invincible they will be an easy target for you and the rest of your team.

The last tip that many players are already aware of is that you need to remember the fact that healers can run away from fights. If an Aphrodite or a Hel is running away from you, do not chase the kill, because they will heal all of that damage and then will turn on you with the help of their teammates. If a gank is unsuccessful, or you see a low health Aphrodite in the backline of a team fight, never go for them because it is probably a bait. You need to keep track of their ability cooldowns, and if a heal has not been used for a very long time, that is probably what they are waiting for. Only one well placed Crowd Control effect by the enemy team will end your life against a full team and their healer, so be careful with your actions and make sure you don’t get outplayed or baited into thinking you can get an easy kill.

Are you into fantasy leagues? Then check out AlphaDraft and put together your allstar lineup!