Titan's Bane VS all other pen items.. am I missing something?

Alright, so I have a question when it comes to penetration. From what I understand, you start with 0 pen.

If you get pen boots, that's 15 pen.

So, according to the passive of Titan's Bane, wouldn't it ONLY give you 4.95 more pen? (15 * 33% = 4.95) So, you only have 19.95 penetration in your attacks?

Alright, lets go though having more pen items.

Boots(15) + Asi(15) + Titan's Bane
30 pen + (30*33%) = 39.9 (9.9 pen bonus from Titan's Bane)

I would STILL rather get something like Jotunn's Wrath. More pen, more physical power, AND CD

3 pen items

Boots(15) + Asi(15) + Jotunn's Wrath(11) + Titan's Bane

41 pen + (41*33%) = 54.53 (13.53 pen bonus from Titan's Bane)

3 pen items(With Brawler's Beat Stick instead of Jotunn's)

Boots(15) + Asi(15) + + Brawler's Beat Stick(20) + Titan's Bane
That's 50 pen, which is max

50 + (50*33%) = 66.5 (16.5 pen bonus from Titan's Bane)

Don't get me wrong, I still believe Titan's Bane is a good item for going over the cap for penetration, but it would take a minimum of 3 penetration items to even be able to get the most out of Titan's Bane.

So, with these things in mind, why does everyone say that Titan's Bane is such a necessity on ALL physical gods if they want to get great pen, even though their build only has one pen item, and even sometimes, no pen items at all. They just include Titan's Bane for its 33 % bonus pen to attacks.

I feel as though my math is correct. and it states that every single other penetration item in the game is better than it till you get max pen. that is the one and only place it shines. Giving more pen than the cap. So, back to my questions.

Am I missing something in the game mechanics?
Also, why do people insist that Titan's Bane is so great when they either have no penetration items at all, or even if they only have boots?

The reason I ask this is, I see it in league play a lot, and on a lot of prevalent Twitch streamers. A lot of these people doing it are good players, but the math just doesn't add up to support their statement. In my opinion, it is a waste of an item slot if the only pen you plan on getting is boots...

Um... I think you need to re-read Titan's Bane's description again. Press on that link by the name.

The item's penetration isn't based on the penetration you already have. Titan's Bane basically ignores 33% of your enemy's physical defense. That's huge. You've never noticed the difference between your damage before and after getting the item on a tank or warrior? It's quite different.


If an enemy has 300 physical protections:

Warrior Tabi + Jotunn's Wrath + Brawler's Beat Stick will have you hitting them while they have 254 physical protection.

While with just Titan's Bane, you'll be hitting them as if they had only 210 physical protection.


Big difference right? Then factor on additional pen items you'd get on top of that. Also pen is for abilities and basic attacks.

The Executioner is a superior item to Titan's Bane in every way.

You do not need penetration to hit squishy targets. Therefore, the only thing you need it for is taking down bruisers and tanks. And you shouldn't ever be targeting tanks as an assassin or ADC or anything.

And for bruisers - gods who get only one dedicated tank item, if any - are perfect targets for The Executioner, which is honestly ridiculously efficient since its buff.

Yes, TB hits with abilities - but you never get TB in the laning phase where ADCs and Assassins primarily use their abilities to deal damage. Late game, almost all damage is dealt with autos.

Best/Worst of all, thanks to the ****ty itemization in this game, tanks are so ridiculously squishy and behind on gold that they never get more than one tank item by the time you get a full build. They, too, are perfect targets.

In addition, the reduction is better than flat penetration thanks to the tons of physical gods in the meta right now.

https://www.smitefire.com/smite/forum/theory-crafting/penetration-1355


Hope that helps you out (even though it is from the stone age) :P

Do not underestimate Titan's Bane, it is OP vs towers and it is baller in combination with Executioner even vs squishy targets. But it is a late game item for sure (90% of the time your last item).

I wouldn't say Executioner is superior in EVERY way. That's just...nah.

Many assassins use Titan's bane better than executioner's, and most bruisers can use it as a final item to make sure they're still pulling damage with their spells, since no warrior in the game is a true auto attacker, every single one is a caster. The % penetration is enough to make your abilities do a ton of damage without requiring setup, and that's decent.

It's the same reason why burst mages take Shard over Spear. If they don't have a way of stacking up the debuff they're missing out on a ton of possible damage on their first abilities. In the same vein, if a god doesn't have a way of auto attacking before a combo (Tyr heavily comes to mind, he NEEDS that blink-fearless-power-cleave-etc etc. He can't auto attack before that) then Titan's Bane is a beautiful item.

Yes, I agree, Executioner, provided you are auto attacking first, will net you overall more penetration than titan's bane, averaged across all enemies. But setup isn't always pristine.

Oh, That's how it works? When I read it it just sounds like it gives you 33% bonus penetration to your attacks. I think it should be reworded so it states that it ignored 33% of armor. Thanks for the enlightenment. The way that was worded doesn't at all make me think that -_-.

I think the wording is fine. It is a bonus penetration since it's not number based. The percentage isn't based off of your own percentage, just off of the enemy's physical protection :3.

Here's a helpful link that I've had as a bookmark for a while: Smite Mechanics Guide

Thanks for this link, it has educated me on many things, and I feel much wiser. :)

Titan's Bane is the Obsidian Shard for physicals