Loki - God of the Arena (Tips,Tricks & Videos)

Hello people and welcome to my guide for wait for it.... Loki "The Arena God"!!! First of all, thank for taking time to read this guide. Now, I am LuckyBomb, I aspire to become a competitive player (not quite there yet) Although, I am not on an mlg level, I still really know what I'm doing. This guide is to teach you about MY Loki playstyle, which I use to dominate the arena.

I play Loki because he reminds me of my rouge from WoW (wonder why I love arena...) Loki is all about CONTROL, EXPLOITING MISTAKES, and INSTILLING FEAR in the other team. With Loki I can rescue my squishes from other assassins, destroy the enemies carries, and most fun/important I can leave the thought in the back of my enemies mind "Im screwed if Loki comes, I better stay back/safe."

P.S. I think Shaco comparisons are... bad. I would compare Loki's playstyle to Kassiden and for all of you LoLers out there who have played against a feed Kass you know what I mean. You will never catch him unless he messes up/gets greedy, and if you ever get low/out of position he will destroy you.

Thanks to ND44 for the awesome banner :D check out his Hades arena tank guide

Pros:

- Amazing control (a great Loki can chose who lives and dies)
- Outstanding damage
- Can carry hard (Can win with terrible teammates)
- Can kill anyone 1v1
- Can easily escape
- Instills fear in enemies
- Extremely Fun

Cons:

- Requires Patients
- Squishy
- Hard CC = Death
- Tends to get Focused
- No hard CC except ult
- Very hard to push minions early game

To fully understand my build you must first understand my playstyle. I believe that staying alive is the key to victory in arena. I could rephrase this by saying that starving the enemy team of kill will keep them weak/squishy. I feel this way because once I complete my build their is no one who can stand against it. Tanks, mages, hunters, assassins, guardians it doesn't matter they are all my meat once my build is complete. Another key to starving your enemies of kills is HELPING YOUR TEAMMATES!!! using your only CC Assassinate on the enemy about to kill your squishy > getting a kill > saving it for later > diving the enemy team.

Ninja Tabi 2090

Jotunn's Wrath 2440

Deathbringer 3150

Rage 2755

Titan's Bane 2050

Qin's Sais 2650

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As we all know every guide under the sun starts with Warrior Tabi so why dont I? 2 reasons (1) Cool Down is KING! (So I rush it) Vanish and Assassinate keep you and your teammates alive, so the more you have them up/available the less you and your teammates will die. (2) I have never failed to secure a kill because of 15 physical penetration, but I have died many times because Vanish or Assassinate was on CD. Furthermore I have lost kills because when they Combat Blink or use escape abilities I don't have Vanish or Assassinate up to close the gap

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I question any Loki build that does not have Jotunn's Wrath because it is AMAZING! penetration, CD, mana, and power what more could you ask for? Having said that the main reason I get this item second is not because of any of those things its because with Jotunn's Wrath I hit CD cap 40%, and it only costed me 4530 gold total to get there ^_^

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At this point in the game I am usually lvl 6-7 meaning I have maxed my first skill, have my ult, have max CD, have some physical penetration, enough mana to keep using skills, and a reasonable amount of POWER. So whats next? That is right SPIRIT CURSHING crits and damage and that is just what Deathbringer provides. If the 50 power makes you like a truck, the +50% crit damage makes you hit like a tank (at this point on squishes)

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OR

So now when you crit you are hitting like a tank, so whats next? Ding Ding Ding make your self crit more, hit 9% faster and hit a little bit harder ;) I know that many people get/prefer Malice and I use to be one of them. But I converted to Rage because it fits my playstyle better. Instead of telling you what is right or wrong I will outline things that should be considered when making your choice. Attack speed should not be considered because they are equal on each item. Trick/Tip: Build up your Rage's crit chance on minions right before you initiate your target ^_* (1) Malice give 5 extra power (2) Chance you wont get a crit: (If you hit more than 2 times, you are more likely to get a crit with Rage. 2 hit rotation Malice = [40,40] = 36% not to crit Rage = [30,40] = 42% not to crit 3 hit rotation Malice = [40,40,40] = 21.6% not to crit Rage = [30,40,50] = 21% not to crit 4 hit rotation Malice = [40,40,40,40] = 12.96% not to crit Rage = [30,40,50,60] = 8.4% not to crit 5 hit rotation Malice = [40,40,40,40,40] = 7.78% not to crit Rage = [30,40,50,60,70] = 2.52% not to crit

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At this point you are a wrecking ball for the enemy team's squishes, but their tank/s can still give you some issues. Titan's Bane solves this issues. Once you have completed this item you will OWN all!!! enjoy ^_^

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This item takes this build damage over top. First, by increasing your attack speed by 25% (more attacks more crits). Second, it give you more power. Lastly, the passive wrecks Everyone. The reasonI chose Qin's Sais over Qin's Blades is because I almost always target people who are already about 50% health. Remember a good Loki picks and choses who, when and where he fights.

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Behind You!

Loki deals more damage from his basic attacks when hitting enemies from behind.

Ability: Buff
Affects: Self
Bonus Damage: 20%
Basic Attack Progression

Key to Victory:

Moral of the story always position your self behind the enemy (if your hitting them in the back a special icon will appear)

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Vanish

Loki disappears in a puff of smoke. While invisible, he moves faster, is immune to slows and takes 25% less damage. His next basic attack from stealth (or for 2s after) applies a bleed to his target, dealing damage every .5s and reveals Loki.

Ability: Melee Target
Affects: Enemy/Self
Damage: Physical
Damage per Tick: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+25% of your physical power)
Damage Duration: 2s
Stealth Duration: 4s
Stealth Movement Speed: 35%
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 15s

Key to Victory:

Use this skill to escape, secure kills (not chase), mitigate damage, cleans slows, and picking up objectives without the enemy knowledge.

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Decoy

Loki spawns a decoy version of himself that taunts all nearby enemy minions. After a short time, the decoy explodes dealing damage to all enemies in the radius.

Ability: Ground Target
Affects: Enemy
Damage: Physical
Radius: 20 D
amage: 90 / 155 / 220 / 285 / 350 (+80% of your physical power)
Decoy Lifetime: 3s
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 14s

Key to Victory:

For many people this skill is mainly used to farming minions and position themselves behind buffs (20% bonus damage) For you it will hold tower/base aggro when you dive in to secure a kill; it will be used as a pillar to hide behind to avoid ranged attacks; and it will be used to hold minion aggro will you destroy squishes (minion damage should never be ignored)

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Aimed Strike

Upon activation, Loki's next basic attack does additional damage with a short time. The enemy hit is also slowed.

Ability: Buff
Affects: Self
Damage: Physical
Damage: 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+100% of your physical power)
Buff Lifetime: 5s
Slow: 25%
Slow Duration: 3s
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 s

Key to Victory:

Always activate this skill before initiating the enemy and always initiate from the behind your target. The slow is very important because it ensure that they can not run away. Activating this ability DOES NOT break STEALTH


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Assassinate

Upon activation, Loki teleports to his ground target location. If an enemy god is within the radius, Loki will backstab that target doing damage and stunning them.

Ability: Ground Target
Affects: Enemy Gods
Damage: Physical
Damage: 150 / 225 / 300 / 375 / 450 (+120% of your physical power)
Stun: 1s
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90s

Key to Victory:

Think of this skill as a FREE COMBAT BLINK. Yes, this skill can be used to secure kills, but more importantly it can be used to keep you alive. I often bait the enemy team and their ults, by first diving in on their squishing and then waiting for them to trigger ults/focus me then I simply ASSASSINATING a way. Also use this skill to peel enemies of your squishes. They will LOVE you and the other team will RAGE as they watch your teammate walk away with 5hp

Play the Angles:
Securing kills is all about playing the angles if you know where the person is trying to run you simply need to take the fastest route there, most of the time they will not because their panicking while your invisible

Play Video
Know their and your blind spots:
A major part of playing Loki is positioning. By this I mean that you never want your enemy to know where you are, so position your self in their blind spots. Once you get good at this you will not even need to use Vanish to get close to your targets.

Know your meat:
Loki is an opportunist, so make sure to exploit the other teams weaknesses. How do you identify YOUR MEAT? Every time you go back you should be looking at 3 key things:


Know your damage:
Know exactly how long/how many hits it will take you to secure a kill at various stages of your build. For instance, I know that once I complete Rage I can kill any mage in 4 hits. Because of this fact I know what type of opportunity/window I am looking for to secure a kill.

Know your enemy's escape/defensive abilities and attack once they are on cool down:


Stay calm, no need to rush:
I see a lot of people on all char dive into fights and forget to leave when they should. The majority of multi kills I get our from first engaging then running and then reengaging.

This video 2 key things (1) I get my two kills and then I leave. (2) I carefully select my target (there are 3) and wait for the perfect time to attack. I choose to attack Hun Batz because Somersault was on CD, Ao Kuang had Slither up and Zeus' Aegis Shield was still active. You will also notice that Zeus was my next target once his Aegis Shield wore off.
Play Video /smite/skill/assassinate-126 Play Video
Bind your skills on keys that are easy to use while your moving:
- Instead of [1,2,3,4] I use [Q,E,R,Spacebar]

My Favorite Targets:
My favorite targets consist of high damage AOE (Area of Effect) Gods with ults that can wreck entire teams. These god can easily achieve 40-50k player damage. I call it a win if their held to 15-20k and the best way to do that is bait their ults, keep them dead, and zone them from team fights.

- Zeus: Lightning Storm
- Ao Kuang: Spirit's Tempest
- Freya: Valkyrie's Discretion
- Poseidon: Release The Kraken!
- Anubis: Death Gaze

He Bo is also on this list. However, he bo's ult is extremely difficult to dodge, which drops him off my fav list.

One of the most important aspects of playing Loki is target selection. Properly selecting targets is an attribute which gives good Loki players control over any situation or team fight. The reason for this is that a good Loki player can effectively mitigate huge amounts of damage, and maintain control over all buffs, by mid game I can 3 shot every buff making it extremely hard for the enemy team to gain control over them

I know, Loki mitigate damage O_O HOW??? easy, by neutralize the enemy teams MVP (Most Valuable Player), zone enemy ranged DPS (hunters & mages) from the melee and tanks, or my favorite, baiting the enemies' ults. Combined these 3 things can easily lead to victory.

How to identify the enemy teams MVP:
Simply hold the [tab button] and see who on the enemy team is picking up the most kills. This will often be either an assassin, hunter, or mage. If it is an assassin stay with your team and wait for the assassin to engage and then eliminate him as quickly as possible. If the MVP is a mage or hunter zone, eliminate, or burn their CD (cool downs).

How to zone the enemy ranged DPS:
Stand off to the side and wait for the enemy teams melee to engage. Once they do visibly (don't use vanish) walk between them and their ranged DPS. At this point the enemy ranged DPS will have 2 options. (1) try to kill you in which case you should attack them and then escape just before they can kill you, by the time you heal and comeback everyone will have low health and you will have easy pickings (2) They can ignore you and target your teammates. This is the best case for you because it means your about to get multi kills ^_^

How to burn/bait the enemies' ults:
A disciplined player will never burn their ult unless they are sure they will get a kill. However, Loki excels at making people emotional, which causes them to make mistakes/bad decisions, such as wasting their ult on you. All you have to do is continuously attack them. This does not mean you even have to kill them, just keep bothering them. Make your target feel like you are always around, always waiting to attack them. If you do this they will wait for you and try to secure the kill with their ult at which point you will simply use Assassinate to blink away.

Example Video of how Loki can control/carry games to secure victories:
In this clip my team was down [30-57] and the enemies Zeus (22-10) & Freya (12-5) where destroying my teammates.
Play Video

Cycle of Pownage:
1) Stealth, position your self behind the enemy
2) Activate Aimed Strike, hit enemy in the back
3) If minions are around throw down decoy
4) If you know you can secure the KILL and ESCAPE (do it!!!) if not ESCAPE

How to Escape:
Option 1: Use Assassinate
Option 2: Use Vanish (make sure to change directions from the way you where running, be unpredictable)
Option 3: Juke like a boss (The key to great jukes is in your mouse, not the directional keys)

Escapes:

Option 3: Crazy juke to avoid Geb's Roll Out

Play Video /smite/skill/vanish-123 Play Video


Play Video

MORE DEMO VIDEOS to come ^_^

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I hope you all have enjoyed this guide and please feel free to leave me any helpful comments or requests for content you would like to see ^_^

KingBlaze88's Loki Arena Guide This guide is more focused on damage, so if you want to 2 shot people check it out ^_^