Sun Tzu's The Art of War is one of the most important documents written in history. Its text has been the basis of warfare for centuries, but more importantly, a lot of the lessons are applicable in other instances of life. Business leaders, lawyers, and sports teams have adapted it into improving their trade. I will be going over 5 topics covered in The Art of War, and how you can take these lessons and use them to up your Smite game.

Everyone's favorite warrior-poet, Xing Tian. (source: ChirsBjors)

"All warfare is based on deception."

The best way to deceive your enemy in Smite is to not let him guess your plans. If you're predictable, it makes it easier for enemy to know what you're going to do next and allows them to plan their plays around it. For example, if you're playing Sobek and are looking to pluck your enemy, instead of standing around looking for an opportunity and telegraphing your plans, try instead standing in your jungle out of view and waiting. It's less obvious what you're planning and may result in the enemy positioning themselves worse and allowing you to capitalize on it.

In the same vein, vision denial is a form of deception in this case. The old adage of "wards win wars" will always ring true in Smite, and in this case counterwarding will allow you to rotate around the map without your enemy knowing. If you can effectively mislead your enemy as to your whereabouts, it will allow you to strip their jungle of resources, gank a lane, or even sneak an objective before they are able to react to the situation. These little victories matter, and can allow you to snowball you and your team to a win.

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."

Always know what your character can do. If you're playing a god unfamiliar to you, take a minute to read over their abilities and make sure you understand them. Sometimes you may find an ability has a less common use that could come in handy. For example, Chiron's Training Shot has a cleanse, but is not often seen because it also does a good amount of AoE damage. Remember, improvement always comes little by little, so adding these small tricks into your arsenal is an important part of leveling up your play.

Knowing the enemy involves knowing two things: the character and the player. Knowing the character grants you the knowledge of what their abilities are, what they look like when they're used, how long they're on cooldown, and roughly what effects and damage they will do to you. Every god has little intricacies that may not be readily apparent, so in order to better know the enemy god, I would suggest playing them all to at least mastery level 1. This will give you a general knowledge of what the god is about, so that when you play against them, you're ready for whatever they can throw at you. Knowing the enemy player is much trickier than learning a god, as you're assessing and learning on the fly as opposed to doing it on your own time. Everybody plays their gods differently, whether it's how and when they use abilities, how they build them, or how aggressive/defensive they are. Watching them and being able to read them will put you at a huge advantage against them.

"War is inevitable. Fight with honor." -Xing Tian (source: Brolo)

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight."

One of the most common mistakes you will see in Smite is a player or a team who will try to take a fight they should not and lose, and either allow the enemy team to catch up or outright lose the game. Before beginning a team fight, quickly assess both your team and your enemy. Do they have significantly more gold than we do? Do they have a level advantage? Do they have any jungle buffs? Does our team have enough health and mana? Does their team? Don't be afraid to not take the fight if the odds of winning are against you; it's better to concede a tower or Fire Giant than it is to contest and lose the fight, costing you more than just that one objective (and possibly the game).

If you're ahead of the enemy team in gold, XP, or both, try and press your advantage and force the enemy team into taking a fight that is unfavorable for them. Putting pressure on a tower, Phoenix, or Fire Giant/Gold Fury is a way to force them to respond to a situation they may be unprepared for. Don't get cocky, however; these fights can quickly turn south if your team isn't on the same page. If 3 people are trying to fight and 2 are still doing Fire Giant, this opens the door for your enemy to take advantage of this and steal the objective, kill a few team members, or both. Good communication with your teammates will help prevent these disasters.

"Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him."

The ability to bait your enemy into a favorable fight for you is a highly crucial skill to possess. If you're losing a 1v1, falling back and using your minions to bodyblock and do damage or leading the opponent into the jungle and allowing your teammates to punish their greed are some of the best ways to turn the tide and come out victorious. In a teamfight scenario, starting an objective like the Fire Giant and then ganging up when the enemy shows up to contest is a skill that requires a lot of team communication, but winning a battle this way will almost assuredly lead to ending the game. Just be sure to let your team know to bait a fight and not commit to the objective, or else you put yourself at a disadvantage in the fight by taking too much unnecessary damage from the Fire Giant or allow them an opportunity to steal it away.

Not getting baited is even more crucial than knowing how and when to bait. If your half health opponent is standing in lane and not doing anything, he may have a teammate waiting to gank you as soon as you push up and are out of position. A change in your opponent's habits may indicate he is trying to bait you, so be aware of his playstyle and look for that. As always, wards will help counter this style of bait; the better warded the jungle, the more effective the counter.

"If he is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him."

If your team is trying to siege a tower or Phoenix and the enemy is trying to hold it, know what you can and cannot do to win the fight. If you're unsure if that Poseidon still has his Release the Kraken ability, play like he does and don't group up. If you know it's down and there are no other big AoE abilities that the enemy can bring, grouping up closer may help your frontline peel or bodyblock for your damage dealers if needed. Always be aware or asking your team if a high priority targets' abilities or Relics are on cooldown. If their level 20 Artemis has no Calydonian Boar and her Purification has already been used, making her the prime target will take a lot of the enemy damage away and will allow you to win the fight and take the objective.

Being down by a lot of gold and XP will lead to a lot of unfavorable situations for you and your team. Knowing that you are behind and avoiding taking bad fights and focusing on efficient farming will allow you to catch up and potentially turn the game in your favor. Sometimes allowing a higher level enemy to take your buff or mid harpies is the only thing you can really do, as if you fight it you risk dying and setting yourself back even further. You don't always have to fight; assess the situation, determine if the risk of dying is worth it, and if it's not, let them have it and focus on trying to reach parity or even taking the lead.

There is much more to The Art of War than I've covered here, and, in the future, I will discuss more lessons and applying them to Smite in future articles. If you'd rather not wait and see what you can absorb for yourself, you can find it here. Hopefully you've learned something and have found a way to improve your Smite game with this article. Good luck, have fun!