You may have recently found yourself playing Smite or hearing about it and wanting to give it a try. One of the most intimidating things about beginning a new competitive video game is knowing absolutely nothing and being thrown right into playing with humans who likely have a bit more experience than yourself, even if ever so slightly. In this guide series, we will take a look at the basics to Smite so that you may prepare yourself better outside of the game before taking the dive into the now somewhat known game.

One of the most important features of playing a MOBA is the layout of the map. In this guide we will fully analyze the map including discussing not only what the layout is, but why it is currently designed in such a way. Smite, like the other major MOBAs, features a three lane styled map with a full-fledged jungle and plenty of walls and other obstacles specifically laid in diverse locations to create tactical positioning.

Order and Chaos:

The first attribute of the Smite Conquest map is the fact that there are two differing sides that teams are seemingly randomly assigned to. The blue side of the map in the above picture is the Order half, and the orange side is the Chaos section. The team that contains the player with the single highest matchmaking rating will always start on the Order side of the map.

While the sides are seemingly the same they create one major difference as the placement of the Speed Buff and the Damage Buff are on opposing sides rather than sharing a symmetrical location. In the current meta, this creates different starts for the jungler of each team. Due to this, there is also a slight difference in the walling, as can be seen in the picture below. Around the Fire Giant and the Gold Fury each side of the map has differing forms of walls which can be used to break line of sight, lose enemies and much more. Aside from these differences each section of the map contains the same number and types of buffs and remains mostly symmetrical.

Towers and Phoenixes:

Each of the three lanes on the map contains two towers, and a phoenix. This is significant as in order to defeat the enemy team, you must fully conquer at least one lane on the map, destroying each structure in order, starting with the towers and then the phoenix. The towers furthest from the base are called “Tier One Towers”, they are your first line of defense against the enemy team. These will be the first towers to fall, and are often taken in the early to middle stages of the game. Once a tier one tower is destroyed, the “Tier Two Tower” behind it becomes susceptible to attack. These second tier towers are harder for the enemy to destroy, and will generally not fall until the middle to late stages of the game, if at all. Finally, once a second tier tower collapses, the phoenix behind it is vulnerable. This is the last line of defense for the lane and should the phoenix fall, your base’s Titan can be killed.

It is important to note that the structures must be defeated in order; a tier two tower is immune to damage until the tier one tower before it is destroyed. However, each lane runs independent of each other; therefore a tier two tower in one lane can be damaged even if a tier one tower still stands on the other end of the map. Only one lane must be conquered in order for the Titan to be vulnerable, however it is likely to see a team destroy at least two, but probably all three phoenixes before proceeding to the Titan, as each structure that falls for your team makes your Titan become weaker and easier to kill.

The Three Lanes:

Each of the three lanes on the map holds a special purpose. Looking back at the map, the far left and the far right lanes have different tower positions. This creates a “Short Lane,” and a “Long Lane.” The short lane is significantly safer, as the travel distance to your nearest structure is far less than in the longer lane. Due to this, the short lane is considered to be a solo lane, and only one player defends the lane. With the Fire Giant being a late game objective, and safety always being nearby, the solo lane sees less action during the early phases of the game.

The long lane is considered to be more dangerous, due to a larger distance from each tower. This causes the lane to form into a “Duo lane.” Here, two players share the space in order to gain farm together, and help keep each other alive. Generally, you will find the Hunter and the Guardian in this section of the map.

Finally, the middle lane houses the final solo player. The distances from each tower are not as great as in the duo lane, but the middle lane is not quite as safe as the solo lane either. The middle lane tends to be wildly contested, especially with two sets of harpies neighboring the center of the lane. Here you can expect to see a mage played as the middle lane provides excellent farm, a feature mages thrive off of. Winning the middle lane allows your team superb map control over the opposing players.

Jungle Camp Locations:

Each jungle buff on the map has a specific purpose. The mana buff provides mana regeneration and cooldown reduction. Damage buff and Speed buff are exactly as they sound, and provide a bonus to the damage or movement and attack speed of a player respectively. While the positioning of the buffs may seem random, they are actually very thought out and play a key role in the development of the game.

The mana buffs are essential for early sustain. Therefor a mana buff is placed both by the duo lane, and the solo lane to allow players to stay in their respective lanes longer. Without these buffs, early game would be extraordinarily harder for these two lanes as they generally house gods that contain relatively small mana pools, or simply higher costing abilities which leads to running out of the resource very quickly.

The speed and red buffs are the trickier buffs, as they are not symmetrical on the map. Speed buff is key for junglers as it provides significant movement speed, allowing the jungler to rotate around the map far quicker. This grants more efficient farming, and ganking potential that would otherwise be lost without the buff. The damage buff simply provides lane advantage as it gives a rather significant amount of power gain.

Generally speaking, damage buff is always given to the middle laner, as winning the mid-lane is extremely important and giving your team any advantage you can is always beneficial. This explains the relation of the red buff, and middle lane, as they correlate closely together. The remaining location on the map for a buff to fit is given to speed buff. This is almost always given to the jungler, and the camp is positioned on varying sides depending on whether you are on Chaos or Order so that it can create more than one way to start the game for the jungler.

The last type of Jungle Camp on the map is the harpies. These are primarily positioned at the back of the map, as they are safe farm for your team to quickly secure when returning from the base. There are two harpy camps however that are bordering middle lane, and these camps are vitally important. The mid-lane harpy camps provide the most farm of any other jungle camp on the map, and they spawn very frequently. This forces fights to occur around the middle of the map, and should be secured every chance you get as they provide a significant advantage over time. Be careful, as securing mid harpies is often not an easy feat to do as most players will contest them.

Gold Fury and Fire Giant:

Lastly, the Gold Fury and the Fire Giant are on opposing sides of each other. The Gold Fury is located nearby the longer lane, as the Gold Fury is an objective often challenged early throughout the game. By neighboring the duo lane, there are generally far more members of a team nearby at any given time, allowing for major fights to break out at extremely early phases of the game as teams contest the objective.

The Fire Giant is placed on the other side of the map as it is not an early game objective, and does not need to be around many team members. This allows solo lane to safely farm without many significant concerns over protecting the Fire Giant during the early to middle stages of the game. The Fire Giant provides a significant buff for everyone alive on the team, and therefor towards the end of the game players begin to gravitate towards this objective moving the focus of the battle to this side of the map.

Thanks:

I hope this guide provided you with helpful information. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask away in the comment section below! Remember, knowledge is power and the first step to defeating your enemy is understanding the battleground you find yourself located within! Happy Smiting!

Disclaimer:

This information is being written as of November 27th, 2014 on the Smite 1.0.2418.2 Patch. Any changes in the future may cause this article to contain falsehoods, and a newer form of information should be sought after. Should there be major changes that cause this article to become entirely inaccurate, I intend to write an updated version and supply correct data.