Introduction

A ranked Smite game can be lost before you have even started looking at your opponent’s eye catching skins, this is because a game of Smite is not entirely determined by how well you can wield your mouse and keyboard. The picks and bans phase is a game of wits, consisting of plays and counter plays that can ultimately determine if your team will be victorious. Players and teams that know how to manipulate and control the picks and bans phase to be in their favour can give themselves the upper hand when it comes to the actual gameplay.

Focus

Drafting a random combination of top tier gods may get you through the lower levels of ranked, but eventually the hype train will reach a grinding halt. Without a team goal or focus, a team is left without a plan. When drafting, a team needs to consider and decide on what aspects of the game they wish to focus their team composition around.

Are you focusing on the Early or Late Game? Are you aiming for a strong Team Fight? Are you aiming for a strong Tower Push? Are you aiming for strong Objective Secure?

Conquest can be split into two key stages, these being the Early Game and the Late Game. A team may choose to focus their team around winning a specific portion of the game. An Early Game orientated team aims to put high amounts of pressure on their opposition by clearing waves, invading the enemy jungle and executing highly aggressive ganks early in the game. Late Game teams concentrate on applying lots of pressure to the enemy team through effective team fights and objective control. Aiming to be able to control their opponents by forcing them into situations they cannot win, these are strategies used by Late Game teams.

A team orientated around strong Team Fight usually aim to contain high amounts of Crowd Control (CC) and sustain. Gods such as Guan Yu fit very well into these team compositions, his kit contains two abilities with high peel, a large Area of Effect (AoE) stun and an AoE heal providing his team with sustain and CC.

A team focused on Tower Push, drafts gods with high Auto Attack (AA) damage and split push capabilities. Gods that fit well into these team compositions include Apollo due to his exceedingly high base AA damage and his global getaway ultimate, Across the Sky. Another example is Bastet, due to her ability to burst down towers using her cats to tank tower damage.

The two objectives situated on either side of the Conquest map play a major role in the course of a game, being able to make sure you can secure an early Fire Giant can drastically improve your chances of winning. Gods with high burst damage and sustain are well suited to this play style, Isis’s ultimate Circle of Protection is one of the best objective securing ultimates in the game. Being able to not only burst down an early Fire Giant but also able to heal up her team simultaneously.

Counter-Picking

Once you have decided on your focus for the game, you can begin drafting your team composition. One of the most pivotal decisions to make during ranked, is choosing which gods to ban, most players tend to ban the gods they either have a personal preference to ban out or gods that are considered to be overpowered or top tier. An example of this in the current Meta is Kali, she has what is considered to be the best Late game of all gods and is able to carry her team to victory.

Many people would consider you stupid to let a god as dominant as Kali through bans, however there can be strategy behind this madness of leaving a top tier god open for your opponent. If you are aiming for a Late game focused team, Serqet is amazing at rushing down high priority targets. She also happens to be a great counter to Kali, Serqet has two movement abilities meaning she can keep at a safe distance away from Kali. Her ultimate Last Breath, can be used to counter Kali’s ult by removing all healing usually obtained by her ult. What this means is that it can be a strategy to lead your opponents into a false sense of security by letting them pick Kali, then pick up a Serqet for your team, giving your jungler an advantage before the game has started.

Another instance of a great counter matchup is Odin against Guan Yu. Odin is able to use his ultimate Ring of Spears to make Guan Yu’s AoE heal, Conviction and his ultimate, Cavalry Charge utterly useless. This gives Odin a great advantage during both the laning phase and during team fights, thus he can completely shut out Guan Yu in a game. Teams should use counter picks to their advantage so that they can give themselves the upper hand in a game. Knowing that your matchup is in your favour can lead to taking more risks and an overall better performance. Knowing how to setup matchups in your favour can be the difference between winning and losing.

Conclusion

Taking all the above strategies into consideration when drafting a team composition can give your opponents a disadvantage on the battlefield. So next time you are in charge of the Picks and Bans phase remember that the choices you and your team make could lose you the game then and there.

Get your own AKRacing Chair here and support our players, all profit goes towards the teams!