Assault is a unique game mode in Smite as it features random pick. Upon entering the lobby, each player is randomly assigned a god they own, with an opportunity to re-roll for another random god for the price of 250 favor or 25 gems. Because of random picks, teams are not guaranteed to be balanced (with one exception), and so Assault is often viewed as the most casual gamemode. However, experience in Assault can improve your teamplay in other game modes as well as being a reward in and of itself if you find it to be fun. Below are some tips for Assault, as well as a short list of ways Assault can help with Conquest, Arena, 3v3 Joust, and Siege.

The Glorious, Winding Minimap.

COOPERATING WITH ALLIES IN GOD SELECT

Because god select is random, you will often get stuck with a god you are unfamiliar with, and so will your allies. While this isn’t the end of the world, it is possible to create a the best team with what you’ve rolled by trading. If you are inexperienced with a god and you don’t want to give it a try, feel free to request a trade. Often, the trade will work in both players’ favor, but when it doesn’t, it can still help the team. I like to use mastery level as a basic judge; in order to have the highest total mastery for the team, an X-level Ra may have to trade with a 0-level Anhur, to give each other a VI-rank Ra and V-rank Anhur for a total of 11, up from 10. Since mastery levels aren’t displayed in lobby, communicate and don’t be afraid of asking for a god you excel at. Things won’t always work perfectly- that’s the point of Assault. It takes practice, cooperation, and a large god pool to make god select go smoothly in this game mode, but if you master the art of god-trading your games are more likely to be slanted in your favor. As an added bonus, the cooperation skills you learn are valuable in any game mode, in any game, and in life: sometimes personal sacrifice can benefit the whole.

I don’t normally recommend re-rolling unless absolutely necessary, and never before offering a trade first. I’ve had people, whom I could have traded with, roll away gods that I had a lot of skill with. While they may not have especially wanted to play my god, in most circumstances it is more reliable to trade where possible (Note: you cannot re-roll after trading). It’s somewhat selfish, denying another player something they excel with for a slim chance of getting something they want themselves. See TV Tropes: Mystery Box.

You can either have the washer and dryer where the lovely Smithers is standing. Or you can trade it all in for what's in this box.

MAKING THE MOST OUT OF THE GOLD YOU HAVE

In Assault, you cannot return to base to buy items, except for when you die. If you die without enough gold to purchase the item you need, you’ll either have to do without and save up for the next time you die (temporarily falling behind) or buy another more affordable item. This is a difficult decision to make and you’ll usually have to play it by ear. This isn’t quite as important in other game modes, as if you are 400 gold down for an item you can go out and farm for a minute or two and then return.

#JustAssaultThings

Perhaps the most important time this happens is at the very beginning of the game. Very often, players will choose a first item that they wouldn’t normally go for. Chronos’s Pendant is very popular for mages as it allows them to spam abilities, Stone of Gaia is a popular buy for tanks because of its immense sustain (especially against heavy magic damage), and if the team is mixed damage they can get Hide of the Urchin. Some warriors and assassins will grab an early Jotunn’s Wrath for the flat damage and pen on top of mana and CDR. Hunters will often maintain the early lifesteal build that is common in Conquest, but in Season 2 they may hold off on that slightly to get a Bluestone Pendant, making them the only class that typically buys starter items in Assault. What’s more, you will usually see at least three players on each team buy Meditation and eventually Salvation- sometimes all five. While normally they are unusual actives to buy, in this game mode mana restoration and heals are harder to come by, and puts them at a higher value.

MAKING THE MOST OUT OF TEAM COMP

Just your average Assault team.

As already mentioned, team compositions are entirely random. It’s not unheard of, or even uncommon, for a team of four assassins and a burst mage to be matched up against two guardians and three warriors. The only guarantee is that if one team has a “healer,” the other team does as well (if you re-roll a healer, you’ll get another healer guaranteed). However, this only applies to strong team-healers: Guan Yu, Ra, Aphrodite, Sylvanus, Hel, and Chang’e. Team healers like Cupid, Isis, and Hades will not incur the guarantee, and it is totally possible for one team to have five self-healers and the other to have none. You must not queue up for Assault without expecting the possibility of imbalance.

No game was won in god select, however. The test of Assault is to see how a team can coordinate their random strengths into a powerful team. If you have five assassins against a bunch of tanky enemies, it makes it a thousand times more important that you focus targets in unison, testing your verbal and nonverbal communication. If your team is all magical and the enemy builds magical protections, it becomes even more imperative than usual that you build penetration. If the enemy team has four self-healers and Cupid, and yours has some lifesteal, you’d best be getting Weakening Curse and other anti-healing items like Divine Ruin. In a way, Assault is a match of wits to see which team can best counter the other, in order to overcome disadvantages. Counterplay is equally important in other game modes, especially towards the end of the game when one team has established dominance.

ENGAGING AND PICKING

Without jungles or side lanes, engages are almost always a straightforward ordeal. Some gods are better at these engages, while others typically excel at flanking and engaging from behind. Again, it’s not balanced. Your enemy may have better straightforward engage than you, and what that means is that it is up to your team to properly counter-engage or disengage. It’s no easy feat, but that does not diminish the necessity of it. The fact is, the same situations are going to exist in Conquest or Joust or anything else; some games, you are going to be losing, and you’ll have to defend against blink-engages. The frequency and extremity of these situations are usually higher in Assault, and that makes it a valuable simulation.

If you are behind in gold/experience, or you’re ahead without a way to start fights, you’ll need to start looking for picks, killing one or two enemies and then using superior numbers to get objectives. In Assault, much of the game will be spent in a stalemate, with both teams waiting for an opportunity to either engage or pick. This simulates the stalemates that will often occur in front of Phoenixes or around the Fire Giant. Once again, some gods will be great at getting picks, while others are nearly unable to do it entirely. Learning how to make picks with whatever tools you have (Arachne web into Anhur pillar-spear into Ra 1-4? Unusual, but it works) is a valuable skill no matter what game mode you play.

In the end, Assault tests your ability to adapt and make the most of the cards you’re dealt. It simulates most situations you might come across in Conquest except split-pushing, jungle objectives, engages from the side or back, and, obviously, early laning. Aside from that, I hope its diversity in both gods and play styles make the game mode fun in its own right. As always, good luck and have fun!