Now that Season 6 is here, we all lay out the red carpet for a highly anticipated God: Merlin. Merlin is a part of the Arthurian Pantheon that was recently added to SMITE. He is a mage and his voice actor is Adin Rudd. Merlin is a triple stance switching character who dabbles in Arcane, Fire, and Ice magic. He has been classified as hard according to his gameplay. Let's take a look analytically into his kit and go over some builds and helpful tips.

Merlin's base stats are as follows.

Health: 370, +75 per level.
Mana: 250, +55 per level.
Speed: 355, +0 per level.
Range: 58, +0 per level.
Attack Speed: 1, +0.8% per level.
Basic Attack Damage: 34, +1.5 per level, +20% of his Magical Power. He also has no progression.
Protections - Physical: 10, +3 per level. Magical: 30, +0.9 per level.
Regeneration - HP5: 6, +0.48 per level. MP5: 4.8, +0.44 per level.

We begin with Merlin's passive, Overload. Each time Merlin casts a spell he gains a stack of Overload. When Merlin next fires a basic attack, it will be augmented with lightning, dealing extra damage to the first Enemy. It has three charges, the duration lasts 5 seconds, and the damage is 10 plus 15% of your magical power.

Arcane Stance

While playing him in some matches, I've noticed that there is a lot of poke in his Arcane stance. His 1 & 2 both have damage over time effects.

Merlin's first ability while in the Arcane stance is called Eclipse. Merlin conjures and orb of condensed celestial energy that grows in size as it travels. It deals damage every 0.4 seconds and marks the enemies who are hit. The ones marked take additional damage if they stay within the outer range of Eclipse. This ability has a minimum radius of 5 and a maximum of 15 units. The initial damage scales from 40/60/80/100/120 (+70% of your magical power.) and the damage per tick scales from 5/15/25/35/45 (+10% of your magical power). It lasts in total 3 seconds with a range of 60 units. Eclipse is considered a line ability.

Merlin's second ability in the Arcane stance is called Vortex. Merlin deploys a field of arcane energy at location, after a delay the vortex deals damage and then pulls enemies towards the center. Its radius is 20 and has a deployment time of 0.5 seconds. The pull activates after 1 second. The damage scales from 50 to 80/110/140/170 (+60% of your magical power). It is an AoE (Area of Effect) ability which ranges at 60 units.

Merlin's Arcane stance gives him a decent amount of poke. When he uses his Vortex it will allow the enemies to be pulled to the center for him and his allies to expel more of their damage.

Fire Stance

Merlin's first ability in the Fire stance is called Radiate. He channels a beam of intense fire for 2 full seconds that deals damage every 0.5 seconds. Each time Radiate hits an enemy, it also applies a burn, which deals additional damage over time. This ability has a radius of 5, and the burn lasts for 2 seconds. Each beam tick of burn refreshes the duration. The Damage per tick deals 10/20/30/40/50 (+35% of your magical power) damage and the initial burn damage deals 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% of your magical power) damage. Radiate is a line ability with a range of 45 units and range of 5.

His second ability while in Fire stance is called Dragonfire. Merlin summons forth two Ethereal Dragons that shoot flames towards each other, dealing damage to enemies every 0.25 seconds. If caught in the center of the area, the enemies' protections are reduced. The dragons last for 3 seconds. This ability has a radius of 30 units, the cone angle is 80, and it takes 0.5 seconds to deploy. The protection debuff lasts for 4 seconds and stacks up to 8 times. Each tick however, refreshes the duration. Dragonfire is an AoE (Area of Effect) ability.
Damage per tick scales from 8/11/14/17/20 (+25% of your magical power) and the Protection debuff is .5/1/1.5/2/2.5%.

You will use your Fire stance for damage and waveclear mostly. His 1 sort of acts like Artio's Druid Life Tap ability where she can move around while casting it. The different here is that Merlin's is a flame which does damage to the enemies over time until its duration is over.

Ice Stance

Merlin's First ability in his Ice Stance is called Frostbolt. He hurls a Frostbolt that explodes if it hits an enemy. It deals an additional 20% damage if they're slowed. The projectile has a radius of 4 units and the explosion has a radius of 10. This ability can best be described as a dark stance Hel 1. Pretty similar as far as the animations on impact, and the cooldown as well. Frostbolt deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+70% of your magical power) damage and is also considered a line ability.

His second ability in the Ice Stance is called Blizzard. Merlin creates a blizzard at a target location. After a brief delay (0.5 second deployment time), shards of ice start hurtling down every 0.5 seconds. Enemies hit take damage and progressively get slower while they stay within the area. It has a range of 65 units. The blizzard itself lasts 4 seconds, while the slow lasts 2 seconds. Each tick refreshes the slow's duration. Building Gem of Isolation here is crucial so that your enemy's movement speed will be drastically reduced. Blizzard deals 10/25/40/55/70 (+20% of your magical power) damage per tick, and the slow per stack is 8%. This ability is an AoE that can stack up to 5 times.

This slow paired with Gem of Isolation makes it almost impossible for enemies trapped in the Blizzard to escape. Their movement speed is dropped dramatically and allows for Merlin and his teammates to eliminate their opponent in record time.

All three stances share the same third ability. Flickeris Merlin's way to get in and out of combat. He quickly teleports a short distance in front of him. The cooldown is shared in all three stances. Its range is 30 units. Flicker can be compared to the old Combat Blink. Thankfully Combat Blink isn't making a return, but it seems now Merlin will be the only God to have it. Rushing cooldown would be important here so you can use this ability as often as possible.

Merlin's Ultimate and Stance Switching ability is called Elemental Mastery. Merlin taps into his inner potential, exploding with energy in the stance he is currently attuned to. During this time Merlin can choose which stance to enter into next. After the explosion reaches its apex, it collapses in on itself. Enemies are dealt damage from both the explosion and the implosion and suffer different effects depending on which stances energy they're being hit by. He has use of this ability at level 1. Fire adds an additional 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% of your magical power) damage over time effect to the explosion, while Arcane provides a knock-up and Ice a 20% slow.

Unlike other stance switchers abilities, Merlin's stance switch actually does damage and causes other effects on an opponent.

Build

A suggested build would be something like Shoes of the Magi, Chronos Pendant, Gem of Isolation, and Spear of the Magus as your core. The next items would be situational. Gem of Isolation is a great pickup for him because his kit already offers slows. These would stack and you'll be able to continuously keep your enemy slowed. Because of how frequently you are able to fire abilities, Spear of the Magus will keep a targets Magical Protections reduced. SoM stacks up to 5 times and their magical prots are lowered by 10. Depending on the enemy team, you may also want to think about picking up anti-heal or something else that can be useful to yourself or aiding your teammates.

Gods Merlin Pairs Well With

Athena: While Athena is taunting (Confound) her enemies, she enables her teammates to pile on whoever she targets. Merlin will be able to pile on as much damage as possible between his stances, as long as his cooldowns are low enough. 2 full seconds at max rank will enable Merlin and allies the opportunity to delete their opponent.

Nox: Nox's Shadow Lock can hold down an enemy for 2 full seconds as well, which will allow Merlin to use his full kit on the enemy. Siphon Darkness will add another 2 seconds to the target's incapacitation as they'll be silenced as well. Any God that can root or stun as well will be very helpful, as Merlin lacks hard CC on his basic abilities.

Odin will be helpful as well when he uses Ring of Spears, as the cage will keep your enemies close if they do not possess the Phantom Veil relic.

Gods Merlin is Weak Against

Sobek: With Sobek's first ability, he is able to Pluck someone into his teammates. If Merlin is caught with his flicker ability down, this will not end well for him, as the enemy team could collapse on him and he could perish quickly.

Athena: Like I mentioned before above, Athena has her taunt where she can hold you for 2 full seconds. If Merlin isn't careful and his escape/Beads are on cooldown, he can quickly lose his life.

Because Merlin just has his Flicker ability to get away, this makes him a little easier than most mages to lock down. Artio, Kumbhakarna, and Terra are all Gods who have multiple ways to lock someone down. Since Flicker shares its cooldown with the other stances, it is pretty simple to play against. Any God with a decent amount of CC can easily shut down Merlin. However, this doesn't mean he will go down without swinging.

As far as right now, I believe he can be utilized in almost all roles. Merlin would be a strong mid, jungle, and solo mostly. He has the abilities to withstand the pressure in a 1v1 in the solo lane. He would be able to hold lane fairly easily in mid as well, and if he were able to roam the jungle and farm freely he can be extremely dangerous once he enters the fight.

In conclusion here are some top tips:

1. Rushing Cooldown is key. He is unlike the other stance switchers. His ultimate does a great deal of damage as well as bringing him to his other forms. You'll need to make sure to have as much cooldown as possible so you can utilize him to the best of his capabilities.

2. Be sure to play a little safe in beginning while you don't have cooldown. Merlin's Flicker shares its cooldown between stances, so as a habit you will try to change the stance to Flicker but won't be able to. Stay a safe distance away and poke like a Thoth would. When your ability is up more frequently, I feel that is the best time to be more present.

3. Keep in mind your positioning, what abilities the other team has used, and most importantly get Gem of Isolation. Knowing your enemies' abilities will enable you to place your abilities down more effectively. If Artio's dash is down and she is attacking teammates, put down Merlin's Fire stance 2. This ability is great for clearing minions but it is also super useful for the continuous tick damage, while applying other item effects.

4. Have fun! Merlin is one of the more fun Gods to hit Smite in a while. Try different builds, but I do suggest as much cooldown as possible. (I know, beating a dead horse).

God 100 has been long anticipated and we are very excited to welcome Merlin, The Master Wizard to the Battleground.

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