SMITE, just as any other MOBA, takes time to learn and master. But one thing that plagues many players is that once one reaches a certain point of mechanical skill and game knowledge, they think they can't learn anything else. That simply isn't true, no player, no matter how skilled is ever done learning. There will ALWAYS be a lesson to be learned in any competitive multiplayer game. After every death and every match, one should ask themselves “What could I have done differently?” Even winning can teach you, look at what you did and how it helped your team. These are a few tips that you can use in SMITE to make sure you learn the lessons being taught and be a better player for it.

Tip #1: Every loss is a lesson

It may sound simple, but it’s something many don’t utilize. Instead, they look at the stats like kills/deaths and player damage then shift blame to those who performed worse on paper. If your carry or mid did far worse than they should have, don’t just say “Well, I did my job, they just fed and made it impossible to win” but ask yourself how you could have shifted your own playstyle to compensate.

Should you have taken a more active role and ganked for you mid more if you were jungle? Was it the right call to force fights every time your Crowd Control was off Cooldown as support? Is your build really going to be that far behind if you spend the 100 gold on wards as the Hunter? And, sure, while in some scenarios, your team was outpicked and outplayed, don’t let it be the excuse you use for why you lost. A team may only be as strong as its weakest link, but everyone can take steps to lessen the effects of the weak link.

Courtesy of Smite.guru

Lots of things can be learned just by looking at your build last match. Was Sapphire Acorn the right choice? Why did I get Trascendence last item?

Tip #2: Use your own judgement

Judgement is another valuable tool that many have but fail to use properly. Every decision in SMITE, from something such a your item build, to the way you level abilities, down even to what you choose what to clear and when, can all affect the outcome of a match. But how do you decide when to do or avoid doing certain things? That’s where your judgement comes in. Some calls are much more simple to make than others. You have lane pressure in the duo lane and the enemy jungle isn’t around, should you steal their XP camp? Usually the answer will be yes.

What about more complicated situations, such as when the enemy Hunter rotates to mid? Do you follow in hopes of your mid staying alive? Do you stay to get the gold and XP that a Hunter desperately needs to propel them into the late game? These kind of questions do not have a clear, concise answer and that answer will always change every game. It’s up to you to think about cost-reward and base your decision on that. Even if you end up making the wrong call and something does happen, like your mid dying or the Gold Fury getting taken from under you, next time you might decide to rotate as well or ward the Gold Fury.

Tip #3: Realize your own mistakes when you die

The single biggest excuse in SMITE is that it is never one’s own fault when they die, that if the team had reacted differently, said player would be alive. While sometimes true, this often isn’t the case. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who’s at fault either, the game counts it as a death for you whether you’re to blame or not. Common mistakes are tunnel vision, bad positioning, and underestimating the enemy’s damage. Bad positioning is probably the easiest to fix, simply learn where you should be. Warrior or Guardian? Stand in the front and be as annoying as you can, even better if you can get people to start focusing you instead of damage dealers. Assassins should be waiting in the wings ready to pick off targets or chunk HP off of the squishier people. Be sure to always abuse what your god does well, like using Janus’s mobility to get from the enemy backline back to your team instantly after dealing your damage.

Tunnel vision is one of the harder habits to break because no one ever wants to see a person who’s one hit away from death getting away, but it’s often the right thing to do because they still are incredibly unlikely to come back into the fight. If you see someone getting away with one HP and there is no hope of you getting to them without using abilities that are far more valuable elsewhere, just let them go. Odds are if you dive that far, you’ll end up dead and you can’t exactly help your team while you’re gone for a minute. Practicing self-restraint will take you a long way.

While there are more tips that could be gone over, these three are probably the most important and least utilized. Sometimes, yes, there couldn’t have been anything done differently on your part to make that one loss a win instead, but that doesn’t mean you can’t analyze yourself every game. If you can, even take time to look at your replays, seeing things from another perspective or just watching yourself without having to worry about the game can often lead to noticing things you didn’t even look for when you were playing. With time and practice, you can break many of your own bad habits and improve your SMITE play.