We're nearing the end of the Spring Split in Season 5 Smite. This season has seen more of a focus on mid laners and junglers and can see them carrying games easily. One role however has changed a lot since last season: the Hunter role. Gone is last season's style of 'leave the Hunter alone till late game' and now the traditional duo lane is back.

We spoke to Team Dignitas' Hunter Kenny "Arkkyl" Kuska on how to improve in the hunter role and how the differences between last season and this season has affected the role as a whole.

Return of The Support

Attention all Hunters - you have a support this season! Most of the early to mid-game will be focused around 2v2 fights in the duo. This is something everyone has had to readjust back into after last season's early rotations from supports to form the three-man groupings in mid. With less XP coming from minions and camps early game, the support needs to be with the Hunter for longer in the early game. XP sharing being cut down this season from a bonus of +50% to +20% means that three-man splitting isn't viable in this season.

Arkkyl supported this by saying, "XP spikes are definitely slower, and you do share a lot more farm with your support early game, but I think it is for the best." So as a consequence of the 'duo lane' return, XP split is a lot more even across the map throughout the team.

Arkkyl did also mention about how good synergy with your support can help the game by saying, "Being stronger in the 2v2 fight as players in this meta can open up an opportunity to win, then snowball the lane."

Early game the support will be prominent in the laning phase to help the hunter

No One Build For All

Last season Qin's Sais and Titan's Bane were key items to build into last season. This season is completely different, there is no 'one build fits all' ideology; you can't play Hou Yi three games in a row and build the same and have the same impact.

Arkkyl mentioned that "If you watch how all the top Hunters build, you will see a wide variety of builds from most of them." Adding that, "Both Qin's and Titan's are still being built at times, so they are definitely still viable, it just depends more so on the situation."

Saying that, the items are still good to build but aren't the be all and end all of a Hunter's build. As always, which god you pick influences what you should build. Gods like Hou Yi and Ullr work better with Trans than Devs and gods like Jing Wei will see a better benefit in getting Devs over Trans, for example.

Both Qins and Titans have become more situational this season

Which god you're laning against will also have an impact on your build. Crit seems a lot more prominent this season however if the enemy team builds against you, it will end up just seeming like a waste of gold.

Arkkyl points out, "There are a few situations where you wouldn't want to build crit. Mainly if you are fighting into a very tanky line up who are likely to also build into items like Spectral Armor or relics like Thorns."

Both Thorns and Spectral Armor are great items to counter crit builds

Popular Picks

Key gods that are being picked up in ranked a lot are Hachiman, Ullr, and Hou Yi - these three sit atop of the Hunter tree in ranked. Each provide their own benefits to their teams, with both Ullr and Hou Yi providing hard CC to aid their team. Hachiman is able to out-trade a lot of Hunters, with his banner having a huge range on it and doing a lot of damage in the mid game (it helps that the banner is bugged where it'll do damage to people outside of the target range!). It is a great lane clearing tool while still being able to get poke off. His 1 is also great for keeping distance in teamfights as the range on it really can help you keep a safe distance from the fight.

Along with Hachiman, Ullr is highly regarded in this meta, he has transitioned well from being Season 4's star Hunter and has stayed highly picked this season. Ullr is a quintessential Hunter for players that like to play aggressive as his kit allows you to provide a lot of damage from range and his axe is great for almost any situation.

Both Hachiman and Ullr have been seen a lot in ranked so far this season

All Styles Welcome

When we asked Arkkyl about what sort of advice he would give hunters in this meta and he said, "Don't be scared to play aggressively. If you do get ahead of your opposition Hunter, it does feel a bit easier on the new map to play aggressively and push your lead."

The Hunters mentioned before are great for this, however in this meta early pressure is less important so these Hunters aren't the be all and end all of picks in the role as Arkkyl says, "It means you can play a wider variety of Hunters, including those with lower pressure. Being able to rely on your support pick a lot more early game definitely helps." He adds, "I think the meta is still open to multiple styles, including both aggressive and defensive play styles. It would just depend on your lane match up and what the overall goal is for your Hunter pick within your team comp."

Late Game Spike

Late game is where Hunters shine. This season, Hunters don't get their late game spike as early as they did at points last season, so transitioning into the late game is key for Hunters as they can turn games around.

Arkkyl spoke about this by saying, "Hunters are not in the strongest spot right now, but if your frontline can protect you for long enough you can still single-handedly carry a fight."

Clearly good communication between the frontline and the hunter is needed to keep him alive and swing the team fight into their favour. Like in any situation if teams are collapsing the Hunter, they won't be relevant in the teamfight and that isn't what any team wants so if your frontline is able to keep you alive and firing those basics off you have a lot higher chance at winning the team fights.

To get a Hunter to late game, they do need to take any advantage they can though, so when the support leaves the Hunter's side mid game it becomes important that the Hunter works on getting to that late game spike as soon as possible. This doesn't mean early game isn't still important but if you are getting out-pressured as a Hunter in lane early game, it isn't the end of the world.

Arkkyl's advice is, "Just try and get some decent defensive vision up to avoid getting ganked. Also try to get as much solo farm as you can and avoid getting solo'd." So even with aggressive types of Hunters coming out, you can still survive early game and get yourself back into the game.

Late game, a Hunter can win you teamfights if the frontline keeps them alive

Wrap-Up

Overall many people have said Season 5 has been exciting times for Smite and has seen the meta shift in every which way possible. This has kind of left Hunters in limbo. After being so pivotal last season, they're now not as strong as other roles.

They can find themselves still being influential if you get them to late game, so with this in mind we asked Arkkyl what he thought of this season compared to last;

"I prefer it. The main reason is that with a bigger map there are more opportunities for me to 1v1 my opponent in the mid game, which fits my play style." Adding as well, "I think this is how the game should be. There is plenty of 2v2 fighting early but then once the support leaves, it is fairly safe to play aggressively in the 1v1." Clearly he prefers having his support close by early game and finds it a lot easier to fight 1v1 in the mid game compared to last season.

Hopefully this helps you understand the Hunter role a lot better and improve your Hunter play in Season 5.