Introduction

Lots of people tune in every week to HiRezTV on Twitch to watch our favorite teams perform at the top level. While it is an enjoyable experience to simply watch and be absorbed by the hype, it is easy to forget that these players are the best of the best, and how they play from both ahead and behind is a finely tuned and highly practiced procedure. Because of this, it is more than possible to improve your own playing by observing players in the SPL in every phase of the game, even in casual play.

Picks and Bans

Numerous pros are on record as having said that the game is won in the Picks and Bans phase. Generally speaking, the gods that are being banned are the top gods in the game, so a working knowledge of them will improve your gameplay. By learning how to play the top picks, your own knowledge of the role will increase. It is also worth noting that every god in smite can be played in a casual setting, and just because a certain pick might not be the top god in that role does not mean that it is not viable. Different gods are better in the hands of different players. This is why names like “Zullr” and “ThorGarz” come into being, referencing a particular player's ability on a certain god. Play what you are confident and comfortable on.

The other thing to pay attention to is the counter picks. This can give a good idea about matchups, particularly in the lanes, but even junglers are not immune to a counter. In a lot of cases, the counter picks occur in the end of the pick and ban phase, due to the abundance of flex picks, or gods that can be played in multiple roles effectively. By waiting until the end to counter pick, you can see what the other team has planned as far as roles are concerned. The last pick counter pick is generally given to solo lane, as winning solo lane means having a huge warrior rotating come mid game, which can wreak havoc in team fights. By watching how teams respond to picks, you can see winning and losing matchups. Picking Vamana or Sun Wukong into Bellona can be a good pick because they can interrupt the main form of wave clear that Bellona uses, Bludgeon, with their knock-ups. By paying attention to the counter picks, you can take your knowledge of the matchup into your ranked and casual games, even if it does not favor you.

The Early Game

Source: Smitegame Forum Archives

The early game is a direct result of picks and bans. By drafting an early-game focused team composition, you can exert a massive amount of control in the jungle from the start of the game, getting your team a lead in the early game. By watching how teams start, you can gain an advantage in your own games, from casual to ranked. Learning how to play the early game is fundamental in getting wins. Every team plays an early game, whether they are at the top of the league or the bottom. Games can be won before they reach the late game, but no game can be won before the early game. Playing the game to your composition is something that comes with practice. If you draft a composition that turns on in the late game, giving up some jungle control or a few waves of gold can be preferable when compared to the risk of dying repeatedly at the hands of the early game composition.

The majority of camera time is focused around the mid lane during the early game, so the roles that benefit most from paying attention to professional play are the mid laner and jungler. This duo that works from the mid lane is where most of the action in the early game occurs. By watching how these two lane, you can set yourself up to lane properly and maximize farm. Looking at an early game composition, such as an Isis/Thanatos, would have a lot of lane pressure against a composition like Scylla/Kali. The later game composition would willingly cede some jungle control in favor of stalling the game in order to reach late game. By paying attention to this, you can see how to both force the issue with an early game team, as well as how to stall out until late game in order for a late game composition to be effective.

Team Fighting and Positioning

After the laning phase is done, entire teams start to rotate and look for objectives, such as towers and Fire Giant. Looking at positioning as one of the most important aspects of the team fight, as when positioning is good, you can both give out damage while being out of range of other damage, allowing you to put out more damage. This is particularly critical for mid laners, as they will often be targeted early in the fight. Positioning as a mid laner allows you to stay alive and continue the late game burst that the mid laner must be able to do. By looking at the KDA of mid laners in both regions, assuming KDA is a good measurement of positioning, then Panthera’s Yammyn would be the best-positioned mid laner in EU, and the world, with a KDA of 10.44. On the NA side of things, Team Eager’s TheBest would be the best positioned mid laner, with a KDA of 5.44, with honorable mention going to Enemy’s Khaos, whose positioning has led to him having the most kills of any mid laner in the SPL, NA and EU, with 108. These three are just a few of the marvelous mid laners in both NA and EU, and every single player in the pro league is worth watching.

Another thing worth paying attention to in team fights is what the teams are fighting over. Team fighting for the sake of team fighting very rarely occurs, and the fights are usually over an objective, usually a Gold Fury, Tower, or Fire Giant. Paying attention to how the fights are initiated, where they are, who is focused, and what happens after the fight are all things that need to be taken into account. Even if a team gets more kills in a team fight, if they don’t get any objectives as a result, then the fight was not as valuable as it could have been.The victory holds lmore weight if a tower or gold fury is won over the fight. Looking at how the team groups up and how they take objectives after a fight, or don’t, is a large part of turning an early game loss into a late game team fighting win.

Conclusion

A lot can be taken from observing pro play, and this is just a beginning. Everything from warding locations, lane pressuring, builds, synergy and more can be discussed to great length, and can help you to improve your own playing. Whether your aim is to improve your own playing or just have a good time watching you favorite player or team, watching pro gameplay is one of the best resources available to everyone, and should be taken advantage of.

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