Everyone loves having fun in their role. The reason most people main a role is because they have the best times in that role. When people are laughing and having a good time, everyone plays better. One fun thing to do is to play gods that are not commonly found in one specific role in that role. The standard meta dictates that a warrior is the solo laner, an assassin the jungler, mages in mid, guardians in support and hunters in ADC, with a few exceptions. By switching up this order, or just mixing it up in general, you can have a lot of fun. One of the best ways to mix it up is to play some guardians in the jungle. Some guardians work better than others, but it is important to remember that, especially in casuals, the meta means very little and personal skill can make it possible to play any god in any role. In this article, I talk about 4 guardians that work in the jungle better than the others.

Guardians in the Jungle Meta

In the jungle, the primary function in the current meta is to play rotating support, occasionally ganking lanes for kills, and primarily working in the midlane. Because of this, guardians in the jungle may become more of a commonplace. This has already been shown a bit with guardians like Cabrakan and Ymir, but what is it that makes these guardians work well in the jungle role? The guardians that can deal damage enough to clear the camp on their own are preferred, yet with a premade composition even more can be done. By picking a direct counter to what the meta says you will be up against, you can effectively neutralize them.

There are two possible trains of thought when selecting a jungle guardian, and one is much better for solo queue. Picking those high damage guardians means that you do not need to rely on your mid laner knowing what they are supposed to do. Guardians like Ymir and Cabrakan. Cabrakan is a generally safer pick for solo queue because his ability to clear camps on his own is much higher, and Cabrakan has been a fringe jungler for quite a bit of time, meaning that your teammates will be less likely to be provoked by picking it. Cabrakan has 2 stuns, which makes for great setup for your mid laner. That crowd control is secondary in many people’s minds about Cabrakan, taking a back seat to his great burst. Building both a Polynomicon and Soul Reaver on Cabrakan is what gave him the nickname of “Fat Loki”, and building an Ethereal Staff after that gives him some tankiness in addition to a great deal of burst. Cabrakan has assassin-level burst in the health of a guardian, so in casuals and lower level ranked, Cabrakan can be a very strong pick in the jungle in order to counter the midlane mage by being able to burst them down over and over.

An interesting thing about Ymir that makes him potentially more viable in this particular scenario is that he has the highest base health in the game, making him naturally one of the tankiest guardians in SMITE. This makes it easier to build damage and not sacrifice the frontline presence that Ymir is known for. He may not have the full amount of damage as a full-damage Cabrakan, but he can stay alive for a lot longer. Ymir synergizes very well with items like Polynomicon for damage, due to being able to easily weave basic attacks into his abilities. A fully upgraded Ymir freeze is a stun that lasts for 2.25 seconds, which is more than long enough to line up with whatever burst your mid lane can put out, creating a kill lane and hopefully putting your midlaner ahead. Getting a midlaner ahead is one of the best things to do in Smite due to the majority of kills and teamfight presence coming from the midlaner. This combos well with traditional midlaners like Scylla, Raijin or Janus, who all have high potential to burst, but usually require a bit of setup to get it all off. The massive damage of one of those midlaners in addition to your damage with the Poly procs will result in a dead opponent on all but the tankiest targets on the enemy team. While Ymir’s camp clear takes a bit more time to come online compared to Cabrakan, the payoff could be much greater, as Ymir works much better in a coordinated environment. Between the wall, the freeze and the ult that Ymir has to offer, a coordinated environment brings out his full potential much more than attempting to queue solo in any environment.

Guardians outside of the Jungle Meta.

The second type of jungle guardian that can be played absolutely requires a coordinated team due to the fact that you will be relatively unable to clear camps on your own. This type of jungle choice involves picking high utility guardians such as Khepri or Kumbhakarna, both of which have seen SPL play by Weak3n. The pluck and the root from Khepri and Kumbha having the mez, root and banish, as well as a very surprising amount of damage make them strong picks. These gods, when put in the jungle, have a very small amount of damage to clear camps with, Khepri being a low damage guardian overall and Kumbahkarna having most of his damage come from his ult which does not affect jungle camps. Because of this, it is recommended to be in comms with your midlaner so that you can combine to have a more efficient clear. The starting clear can be a problem with this comp as well, so combine it with a solo that also has good camp clear like a Vamana or a Sun Wukong. As this pick transitions into the mid game, the role evolves even more. Khepri transitions into a more support role, relying more on teamfighting to be effective, while Khumbha can fulfil the traditional role of a jungler and potentially the solo laner too. Because of the pure amount of raw CC that Kumbhakarna has in his kit, he is one of the best zoners in the game. A mez into a root into a banish into another mez, when properly executed and chained, can last for an absurd amount of time, more than enough time for your team to either burst down a Gold Fury or Fire Giant or call the retreat. Having this utility available is always a wonderful thing, but putting it in the jungle is a great way to help it affect the entire map.

Conclusion

Guardians in the jungle fill a different role than the assassins that generally fill that role. While the assassins generally rely on surprise and physical burst to take out the carries on the opposing team, a guardian in the jungle relies more on the laners to secure kills off of ganks in the early game. As the game progresses, guardians can either build into more damaging build, relying on their natural tankiness to give them survivability, or build tanky and become another frontline presence for the team. By the late game, a guardian will be a guardian and be a great tank if you have built tank. If you have gone damage, you will be surprised by how much damage can be done. No matter what you decide to play, mixing up your choices can help keep the game fresh and interesting, as well as providing avenues for experimentation, resulting in your own personal playstyle.

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