Erlang Shen - The Warrior's Assassin

Hello people of the smite community. I am the LONExWOLF and this is my first guide. I hope you find this useful. Please do not hesitate to give me some feedback. I'm open to changes in the build.

I have highlighted the important parts of each section so if you are in the middle of a game just read the highlights.

I only have erlang at rank 4. His stats are 523 kills 736 assists 33 wins and have 2 penta kills at this time. I do not claim to be an expert on him, but I've tried several builds and this is what works for me after testing quite a few items.

This is a glass cannon build little to no defense is used, as such I do not recommend using it in support. It is most effective as jungle, and in arena, assault or in some cases joust.

Now without further ado, let's get to it. starting with...

Pros
- good damage
- decent survivability with lifesteal
- crazy attack speed
- good chase/escape
- awesome ultimate
- cool passive



Cons
- dies quickly when CC'd
- lots of bad match ups

If you get stunned by a ranged damage build God and they are to far away for a quick counter after you get out of it I suggest a tactical retreat. Most mages are the bane of erlang's existence.

Look our for ranged gods who have slows such as Kukulkan, anubis, or izanami. They can slow you and stay out of youre range while they kill you, if you have youre ult this is the time to use it. If you do not have the ultimate wait for theme to use the cc ability then go in as quickly as possible. Some advise, if there is a Freya run away she will melt you.

Then gods who have little to no escapes, such as Ra. If there is none, target gods without stuns. And finally if there aren't any of those target the closest godo already in a fight.

The best gods to pick a fight with are:
Ah puach
Vulcan
Xbelanque(usually not a threat but be careful)
Loki
Sun wukong
Odin(when jump is offline)
Zues (while shield is offline)
Defensive terra
And other gods along those lines

Try to surprise burst gods like zues and ao kuang.

Stuns and roots from close range fighters - assassin's like nemesis, and most of the Warriors - are not as much of a threat as the ranged, because if you survive the cc they will be close enough for a ferocious counterattack.

Get the first two hits of youre combo, which I will explain later in this guide, and you should have no problem in a 1v1 fight or even a 1v2 against most of the gods late game

I'm gonna keep this one short.

All Situational Items, Pick what suits your play style amd how the match is going.

Frenzy
Nice damage boost
Curse
big slow

Death's Toll
This item procs on the dogs basic. 12 health 4 mana each hit. OP

1st Item

Ninja Tabi - Attack Speed is required but you can have to much build if you will have little attack speed

Warrior Tabi - Use this if you are going to build Attack Speed

Hastened Fatalis - You can use this instead of Ninja Tabi (not recommended because his buff already gives you the fatalis passive.

2nd and 3rd Item

Ichaival - good early item against physical gods. and magical but I would use something else. Sell for Qinn's Sais late game.

Odysseus Bow - Great Item. The dog can proc the passive meaning you only need two hits instead of four. If the dog activates it, the daamage of the first hit is multiplied by .15 but every subsequent hit is normal damage.

Asi - Required. Way to many benefits not to get.

Frostbound Hammer - Nice utility with a little power.

4th Item

Stone Cutting Sword - Great power, good Penetration, and gives you protection. Good against physical gods

Jotunns Wrath - Cooldown is nice, pen and power is better.

Brawlers Beat Stick - Use this if there are healers

5th Item

Executioner - Really good Penetration and Attack Speed, passive affected by dog hits.

Voidshield - If you need some physical defense use this

Last Item

Bloodforge - good passive, nice life steal, huge power

Shifter's Shield - use this if you are getting killed to quickly

deathbringer, malice - I prefer malice, but either way good items for crit


Basic Attack activated items are affected by your dogs hits. Stone Cutting Sword is an exception, could be a glitch.

You'll notice I have less penetration items on this one. You may be wondering why with tanks having more protections. The reason is this: with low defense gods executioner will have less of an effect since it is a percentage and on that build it is probably the least important item. Against tanks however that is usually a big enough drop in their protections that you can get away with less pen items, switching them out for more power or utility.

1st Item

Same as other build. Ninja Tabi, Warrior Tabi, Hastened Fatalis

2nd Item

Quin Sais - good damage to gods with high health
Executioner - Good damage against high defense
Take your pick, the other one you will need to get for 5th item

3rd Item

Magis Blessing - get for defense against stuns
Winged Blade - Get for defense agains slows
Pick for whichever they have more of

4th Item

Devourer's Gauntlet - Good power with good life steal
Asi - Great passive
Choice is between power or attack speed. Pick one for your play style

5th Item

Whichever item you did not get for the 2nd item get now.

Last Item

Bloodforge - Lots of power
Deathbringer, Malice - Nice crit items
Masamune - Have not used this just thought of it. Sounds good against tanks with up to 100 power and 10% extra movement speed. If anyone has used it please tell me if it works.
Take your pick, all situational.

The combo is rather simple.

To start a fight against tank or squish, use the transform first, turn into the mink. Try to hit the target, but it's not completely necessary. If you miss just cancel out of it as close to the God as possible and immediately activate your buff, which will give extra damage on basics and give you the hastened fatalis passive for the duration.

Now start your basic attacks. If you do not get the kill by the time your buff disappears, use pin (your root) to keep them close. Then continue to pummel them until they are dead. Remember pin is a root not a stun be careful they can still attack.

Your buff's cooldown reduces for each successful basic while on cooldown. If you have enough health after a kill, you can usually go straight into another fight after that with your abilities ready to go.

Now for the ultimate, Nine Turns Blessings, is good but unless you build tank, it can be the death of you using it as support. It taunts the target and with low defenses can actually make them kill you faster. NEVER use this on a target to start a fight or mid fight.

Early game use your ultimate either to taunt a low health fleeing target that you can't catch up to or for the rather impressive heal to keep from being forced to retreat to the fountain.

Late game use this just before starting a fight, then start it quickly. If timed correctly mid fight the heal will active giving you more time to keep fighting.

Teamwork is simple as well. Best way to win a team fight is to play as an assassin. Pick your target before hand, either the easiest to kill or the Healer if there is one. When the fight starts wait for everyone to get distracted then hit your target hard. Kill them as quick as possible then switch targets and continue until you cant anymore.

September 15 - Added instructions to sell Ichaival late game for Qins Sais. Thanks to Zerostrike for the suggestion.
September 16 - Reworked the build. Same items just a different(hopefully better) way to explain the build.

That's the guide. Again I am the LONExWOLF and I welcome all feedback. The most important thing to remember is to have fun playing. Good luck :)