Smite Charon Build Guide: Charon Fun Arena Hybrid-Mage Build (updated 11.1)

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by updated

Smite God: Charon

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Build Summary

Starter

Notes Can NOT sub in other starter items (War Flag, etc.) for Sands of Time as we are depending on the 10% CD initially, and 20% at level 20 with Pendulum of Ages upgrade to hit 40% CD cap.

Can substitute shard and relic if desired, I pick wing shard and wings as mobility is Charon's strength, this enhances it. Although with year 11 update, the version you with haste that could extend the time is gone, stuck with the root one. Shell was an alternative with the version that gave you movement speed at the end of the shield, but now that's gone in favor of the other version as well. Just going with beads is good as well.

Sands of Time

Magic Focus

Healing Potion

Wing Shard

Heavenly Wings

Final Build

Notes Finally get Pendulum at 20. This is more important than relic updates as it gets to 40% CDR finally, and adds 35 permanent and up to 70 additional magic power based on available mana (7 per 10% of mana bar).

The Alternate Timeline is an alternative to Pendulum of Ages, but doesn't have the CDR or extra power passive. It does have 40/40 protections and the 6 minute CD life saver ability though. I'd swap out something else to get to the 40% CD if going with it though.

Rod can be glyph'd instead of the dagger. Or wait to glyph until everything is max. It gives 10% penetration on top of the 15 direct dmg penetration from Spear of Desolation, plus 15% bonus damage against those with 60% or less health - keep this in mind when throwing abilities.

Fang then adds more lifesteal (now in year 11, 50% more against gods and 25% less against minions - 30% plus up to 15% more depending on health) and another 20% penetration. This gives a boost against more tanky characters. And at this level with all the other items you are starting to hit pretty hard with all abilities.

Pendulum of Ages

Spear of Desolation

Bancroft's Talon

Bewitched Dagger

Rod of Tahuti

Typhon's Fang

Temporal Beads

Sundering Blast

Charon's Skill Order Notes Go for Damnation first because it includes shield/dmg buff as well as cooldown reduction and is more flexible in placement, then Spectral surge, then swift voyage. Higher levels of swift voyage are nice for slight CDR and decent damage, but the length and speed and time of roots are the same regardless of level and it's generally used for mobility. Update ultimate every time you can.

For Spectral Surge, keep in mind the silence and the slow, it's not just damage - this can help a teammate running for base defensively.

For Damnation, keep in mind the shield effect, and tell your teammates if they are new - that can be a lifesaver (hit an enemy that was targeted to gain the shield).

For Swift Voyage, the root effect is not insignificant - even if you side-swipe people on a drive-by it will help throw them off (and may save a teammate they are chasing). Remember that you CAN cancel this to stop running past a target and be able to cast another ability.

For the ultimate, remember the protections allies gain if in the area, helps in a brawl, but only for 3s.

Notes

Go for Damnation first because it includes shield/dmg buff as well as cooldown reduction and is more flexible in placement, then Spectral surge, then swift voyage. Higher levels of swift voyage are nice for slight CDR and decent damage, but the length and speed and time of roots are the same regardless of level and it's generally used for mobility. Update ultimate every time you can.

For Spectral Surge, keep in mind the silence and the slow, it's not just damage - this can help a teammate running for base defensively.

For Damnation, keep in mind the shield effect, and tell your teammates if they are new - that can be a lifesaver (hit an enemy that was targeted to gain the shield).

For Swift Voyage, the root effect is not insignificant - even if you side-swipe people on a drive-by it will help throw them off (and may save a teammate they are chasing). Remember that you CAN cancel this to stop running past a target and be able to cast another ability.

For the ultimate, remember the protections allies gain if in the area, helps in a brawl, but only for 3s.

Spectral Surge

1 X

2 8 11 12 14

Damnation

2 A

1 4 6 7 10

Swift Voyage

3 B

3 15 16 18 19

Summon Styx

4 Y

5 9 13 17 20

Extended Build

Mid-Game

Notes You can get the glyph on either the talon, the dagger, or the rod, or wait to glyph it until later.

Spear first gives 20% CDR along with Sands of Time,

I recommend getting the dagger 4th as you should have your 2nd relic by then, it gives some speed and CCR along with 30% CD. The relic reduction is the main reason for getting this and will give the Sundering Spear relic another charge (up to 2) every 60 s and the Greater Heavenly Wings a CD of 80 s.

For year 10, recommended buying the 300 g update of both relics here, but in year 11 there are the quests to finish them. These quests may work out okay or you may want to pay for some (or all) of them. I'm noticing in Arena on average I'll get the first item to update once, but that's usually it by end of the match.

Sands of Time

Spear of Desolation

Bancroft's Talon

Relic Dagger

Chalice of Healing

Greater Heavenly Wings

Greater Sundering Spear

Relics

Notes SHARDS:

For Year 11 - in addition to Wing Shard, consider the Sturdy Shard (defensive) and Vibrant Shard (offensive - Charon travels a lot).

RELICS:

Wings is a team buff that can be used either offensively or defensively. Helps catch up to and dispatch runners, or helps you and team to get away. It will also refresh at 80 s with the relic dagger. Unfortunately, year 11 got rid of the verison I liked, and the root version is left, so I'm a bit more iffy on taking this over beads, or shield (though I preferred the old shield with movement rather than phantom shell), so I'm more likely to swap this out now, though it looks like the Cooldown was reduced 20 s as well.

Sundering Blast adds another ability with additional damage. Good extra ability if you can hit runners. It's low CD of 110 s is reduced to just 60 s with the relic dagger, and it can hold up to 2 charges (they will build back up 1 every 60 s).

Could swap either of these for Shield, Beads, Aegis, etc. if more "immediately defensive" relic is desired. I like Emblem as well as an option, as a reverse Wings of sorts.

Wing Shard

Sturdy Shard

Vibrant Shard

Entangling Wings

Sundering Blast

Temporal Beads

Phantom Shell

Emblem of Increasing Peril

Aegis of Acceleration

Disclaimer: Not tested outside of Arena.

UPDATE NOTES FOR YEAR 11:

Not much changed - lost the recipes, and fewer options with consolidated relics, though there are a few new shards and non-relic items. The new items aren't right for this build, but it does benefit from the increase in lifesteal (now 30%-45% depending on health level, instead of 20%-30%). For those not aware, all the lifesteal is 50% more against gods, but then half for minions/jungle, which ends up being 25% less overall.

However, note that with Typhon's passive power boost based on lifesteal, the build gets an extra 15-22.5 power compared to Year 10, for free.

Also Note: I actually played against someone using this build the other day (that was a surprise!) - when I was on a different character. He killed me several times by catching me with dash or with the ultimate. Very annoying with this much damage, the dash up so much, and the ultimate wave travelling way too far...

MAIN BUILD NOTES:

Overall this build ends up somewhere between a more damaging Guardian and close to a pure Mage. It's been working good on low-end arena and a bit of Joust that I've played, but I'm a noob at this point. I tried a more tanky build and was barely making dents in any players, even mages - to the point they even started ignoring me. With this build they have to pay attention.

It's a good build for a positive kill ratio on winning games, and good shot at top assists.

The build focuses mainly on CDR (20-30% early, 40% full), Magic Power (over 500 at end with passives triggered), and Penetration (30% at full build) to give his abilities a bigger punch. This mainly at the cost of HP and protections. Auto-attack will be okay, but is not the focus. Charon's ultimate in particular can hit hard with full build at 20 across multiple players. A 30% lifesteal is also featured that can keep you topped off (up to 15% extra depending on health from Bancrofts, and with the 15% boost to heal amount on Typhon's it is effectively 34%-52%).

The lack of protections leaves him more vulnerable than more usual builds, though Charon still has decent health (ends up at 2846) and great mobility. The lifesteal really does help as well as he has a lot of AOE damage that can multiply it. I focus one of the relics (Wings) on mobility to enhance that, providing extra ability to either escape (slows or keep someone out of range), or to pursue a runner for the kill. This does mean he needs to 'bob and weave' a lot though, and get used to drive-bys in a scared-assassin sort of way, and play a little bit like a mage. He can do moderate damage and be a distraction right in the mix - momentarily - usually without getting killed. Hard Crowd Control is his bane here, so he need to learn positioning and erratic, assassin-like movement to avoid getting caught.

However, with this build Charon packs a punch - even his wave/dash ability hits a good amount, and can wipe out most or all of minions health while covering such a wide swath of the battle field he's can hit multiple enemy gods as well. Add in the wave's root for 0.5-1 s and this tips the battle when other teammates are around to take advantage - and helps him get away with his drive-bys. You can also chase people down with the wave, rooting and damaging them, then cancel the wave just past them, turn and throw another ability while they are still rooted - at minimum forcing them to spend relics or escape abilities, if they have them up. Quite fun when you can accomplish this and get away with it, and much better than catching up but doing minimal damage with a more tanky build.

Lifesteal is also a feature here, and really what keeps me from including Soul Reaver, Divine Ruin and other standard damage items, that I'd like to work into the build. It's one of those things that you don't really notice directly, but it probably saves you at least 2-3 trips back to base when things are going well - including trips from death, not just recalling. That means more XP, gold, and ability to push the enemy and support the team. Since Bancroft's provide both more power and lifesteal when health drops, and there is synergy with Typhon's boost to lifesteal heal amount and power, I don't suggest swapping Bancroft's out, and Typhon's is needed for the 20% penetration without significantly changing the build.

Note that lifesteal may be reduced by various anti-heal effects (such as tainted starter item line, Pestilence, Divine Ruin, etc.), but it's good to be aware and perhaps adjust some tactics at the margins.

Charon Fun Arena Hybrid-Mage Build (updated 11.1)

Smite God: Charon