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Hello, Smite Gamers! Been messing around with medusa and found an awesome build that really works well with medusa's damage over time on her 1 skill.
I know you can build with more power and crit, but the goal of this build is to weaken enemies really quick and to drop them dead with the main combo.
Passive - Sidewinder
Medusa suffers no movement penalty when side strafing and half of the movement penalty when moving backward.
Main Combo
Press 1 Skill, once you pressed the skill. it has activated and when you shoot you will deplete the skill by using the arrows you have 3, but in this case don't shoot yet.
Now you can use Skill 2 over your Skill 1, how you able to tell is you will see your skill 2 attack radius, the goal is to hit the enemy with your skill 2 and then follow up with your skill 1 arrows and if you manage to hit all your skill 1 arrows the enemy will be pretty close to death if not dead.
if you don't want to use the skill 2 yet because of the situation then you can disable it by right clicking, keep in mind your skill 1 is still active and can't be disabled by right clicking...the only way to disable it is to shoot the 3 arrows.
If the enemy still manages to stay alive then if it's safe you can use your 3 skill to stun the enemy and shoot basic attacks at him to finish him off.
Item Slot 1
Build 1
Shifter's Shield
+40 Physical Power
+20 Physical Protection
+20 Magical Protection
PASSIVE - While over 50% Health, you gain 20 Physical Power. When below 50% Health, you gain +20 Protections.
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Me not using boots give me the benefit of other passives and stats...
Thanks to xZeroStrike and a few others for showing me the right passive for runeforged hammer...
Even with that passive of runeforged hammer being only sometimes activated you you still get slow from positioned star and poison for 2 seconds combined this with your damage over time effect on viper shot and the reducing physical protection effects from executioner and damage over time on malice it's still a strong build and enemy gods won't hit as hard, which leads you do be able to survive longer and stay in the fight or esacape.
I think many of you are underestimating this build, im going to continue to use this build for now on and once im level 30 and played 10+ matches will come back and make an update discussion on my results...probably won't be for awhile, but im confident this build is more viable than what you people are making it out to be.
Just to get this out of the way, we've all tried wack builds before, don't deny it. But there are cases where those wack builds are OP and you like them.
Now, I would just like to say that I am in no position to tell you how to build or play Medusa. You and the others do. You've said this build works for you, and you've made your arguments for it, and vice versa for Bran and company. This is just me judging the situation as a whole. It may seem mean to you for all these people who you've never seen or heard of to bash something you spent time on and thought was quality.
The case is: all they want you to do is add boots/movement. You have said, "try my build, play games with it, you guys are trolls, quit prejudging my build." Both sides have valid arguments.
Runeforged Hammer requires enemeies to be slowed for the effect to apply. Thus, it is better to have some type of slow in the build/kit. Thus, Frostbound Hammer is not a bad idea if you want more health and proccing slows, but you don't need it because you have Poisoned Star, which slows the enemy and reduces their damage.
The Executioner is your penetration in the build. It replaces Titan's Bane as it reduces their protections instead of buffing you power against them, which also benefits your team's damage against that target.
Brawler's Beat Stick is a great antiheal item, but somewhat situational. Could be effective against high HP5 guardians and healer oriented teams, but in other situations, not really. This is the item that could be replaced by boots or movement speed of some kind.
Malice and Deathbringer is so meta. Nice.
After this assessment of your build, you can see what the others are saying now. If you do wish to keep your original build, please consider adding a section of alternate items, just in case this build doesn't work, they can switch out one or two items to their liking. Hope this clears up anything that you saw as hateful or trolling. The point of reasonable builds, the meta, and socially accepted strays from the norm, is to make sure people can have a certain mold to follow in the future when making their own builds. Again, just an observer's two cents.
Example - usa election, if you supported trump and im one of the people counting the votes, but i was a hillary supporter how would you feel? or vice versa
Like if you said vanilla is the best ice cream flavor because it was the first, and therefore, most original. Then Bran said strawberry was the best because we knew about strawberries before vanilla flowers. After that, everyone that you called a troll would back up Bran and get mad at you and said that you were wrong. And then I came and said chocolate because it is the most stress relieving, comes in more than just ice cream, and is the most popular right now, and everyone agreed with me and we all went and got chocolate ice cream cones.
- Bluestone Pendant CHEAP! - Enemies hit by your damaging Abilities take an additional 30 Physical Damage over 2s. (Max 2 Stacks) Using this we lose health and 15% power compared to runeforged...but the damage over time is nice!
- Shifer's Sheild - While over 50% Health, you gain +20 Physical Power. While under 50% Health, you gain +20 Protections. This gives us 10% more power compared to runeforged hammer, but provides us with more physical protections and magical protections...
These are some items im thinking about switching with runefoged hammer, because xZeroStrike is right about the passive being only triggered from curse and teammates it would be time consuming and not benefit the casual smite gamer solo queuing, if you have team build around slows then this item would be awesome.
So Im probably going to switch runeforged hammer with Shifer's Sheild!
The points about my build that you guys don't understand
Many of you are afraid of the movement speed lose, even with the movement speed loss im still able to escape from cc, slows, ect....and have in many matches.
Runeforged hammer - slows enemies and increased the damage we inflict on gods from all sources...
The Passive On Poisoned Star 20% reduction to enemy god damage output. This also gives us poison for 2 seconds that also works together with the damage over time effect on viper shot...
The passive from executioner also weakens the enemy more! which when enemies use thier skills on us there not as powerful..Understand!
Brawler's beat stick - helps us also by reducing the regen of health on enemies hit by our skills for 8 seconds which is well enough to get a kills in most scenarios..
Malice provides us with more damage over time! on top of the are damage over time from viper shot and the passive on poisoned star...
So this build decreased hard hitting enemy abilities, not sure the math but enough to not to get 1 shotted and still able to get kills and even escape...This build provides with massive damage effects from the passives...
You truly have 0 clue about what the F'-k you're talking about.
Poisoned Star - Critical hits on enemy gods afflict them with poison for 2s. This poison slows them by 20% and reduces their damage output by 20%.
The Executioner - Does weaken the enemies by reducing thier physical protections by 12% max 3 stacks!
Think you might want to read the passives again, never said poison star does damage over time said viper shot does and the poison effect from poisoned star works well together!
They must be already slowed to take extra damage. *Drops mic*
Runeforged Hammer: Enemies who are within 30 units of you and are slowed take 15% more damage from all sources. I REALLY hope you see the AND in there.
"Enemies who are within 30 units AND are slowed take 15% more damage from all sources."
Runeforged Hammer
Curse - 150s CD
Relying on team - Too situational, some teams don't even have slows
Yeah, good luck with that plan, matey.
Talaria Boots have a passive, therefore, your argument is invalid.
Just... honestly...
runeforged hammer you would lose the health and passive effect, but now i've rethinked runeforged hammer and decided im going to change it as you would have to go out of your way to induce a slow if your team isn't slowing then you would have to depend on your items which have a long cd..
I'll explain this to you.
You keep saying "BOOTS don't have passive, therefore, not useful" generalizing boots
Therefore, you forgot that, while generalizing the boots, there is a boot with a passive, Talaria Boots.
Just accept that you were wrong. I'm not here to even diss you or something, I'm trying to help you understand your argument was wrong, and that you should conceive that so many people are saying "This is not so effective" instead of just re-using the same faulty argument.
Sincerely,
ThePerfectPrism
I didn't even tried to do anything else. Sorry if I made you feel like I attacked you.
I think it's clear that mechanics and other aspects just aren't fully understood in this situation. That's fine, everyone has to learn. I'm still learning a ton. But there's a difference in being stubborn and having an open mind but still sticking to what works for you with reasons.
Also, I'll point out that recent comments are all posted on the main page: https://www.smitefire.com/. It's what I generally use to check activity on the site, so it's easy to see our recent conversations. Ducks, Zero, Prism, and others are all active members, and in many cases, Editor level or above, so it's not really unusual to see recent comments and add your own thoughts.
Fine. Continue being stubborn. You are only making yourself look worse and I truly hope you realize this.
First of all, your attitude is just negative from the start. you refuse to acknowledge any other opinion and just deflect any other options from your guide, well, that ain't good.
i'm going to be dead serious here, your build is straight up not viable and there are tons of other builds i would consider before this one, and i am going to lay out why does it not work.
first of all, you have no movement speed. keep in mind that Lacerate can be easily blocked and it is not a very reliable escape ability, and since you got Runeforged Hammer, you need to get really close (which is terrible for Medusa as she is a squishy god), you need to wait for poisened star until it even works, and you don't have any boots which means you will die on sight if a good player spots you trying to get near him. Medusa has nothing to do with melee range, and it is terrible that you are actually endorsing her to get in melee range.
you also say that you rely on the slow from poisned star to save you. what? you think a single target, situational slow that dosen't work all the time, will save you as a Medusa trying to get in at close range to apply her Runeforged Hammer in arena and has no boots.
"no boots cause they have no passives" well, i kinda think that you aren't gonna really need passives if your dead because you were outchased and just easily demolished because the enemy has boots.
"I think your should play at least 10 games or more with my build and then come back and give your conclusion...I feel your just pre judging it before trying it..." yeah i don't really need 10 games to understand that your build dosent work as a good Medusa build.
-1 for now.
-Ducks
Here. Every game runs entirely different. Game depending on a single build don't dictate skill.
I think our knowledge about this game exceeds yours by far, because we can at least explain why we chose a certain set of items. All you do is show us your games, which again, don't prove '$h17', and how this is a good build because you do well with it.
That is NOT, not even in your wildest imaginations, a valid argument to back something up! Clear enough for you?
If that's your reasoning behind it well then I say that building full starter items on Sylvanus is also a good build because it works for me...
(Do you see how ridiculously stupid that is? Yeah,....)
And last but not least, our opinions are not biased. And definitely Bran's opinion not, since he was the first to comment on your build. He was trying to help you improve, and all you did was saying that it doesn't matter because the build "works for you", and ignored everything he said pretty much.
I think that it's a much nicer "skill" to have to be able to listen to others and acknowledge their feedback, than having the "skill" to play a single videogame character through a "build that magically works for you and you alone".
Why Runeforged Hammer first? You say its good for survival but it really isnt. Two basics from another enemy hunter and that extra health is gone. And then add the fact that you have no movement speed means that once you use Lacerate you are basically dead weight. If you really want to survive as an ADC get some form of lifesteal.
Boots not having passives does not mean its not useful. The boots tree has the highest base movement speed stats on it, for so cheap. That is why it is always picked first, for every class, for every role. You do not have to "rely" on passives to get the benefit out of the item.
Being "defensive" does not mean anything when they can just focus you to death. And it will not be your fault. One good CC Chain from the enemy team can destroy you and maybe you get wiped so fast your team does not have a chance to even respond. It is not the solution for every situation. Playing smart does not help you when you get jumped on by a ****ing Bacchus or taunted by an Athena.
Im sorry but this is my personal pet peeve, but showing "proof" is ****ing mind blowing to me. Do you not know how many different things can happen in a game? How many different people play Medusa? Team compositions you can go against? The difference in levels? 1 bad game deosnt make a build nothing, it just makes inconsistent or WAY worse than any options available to the players. Like the traditional critical strike builds. Or Penetration and Qin's Sais. Your proof means nothing to how a build is. You are a lower level facing lower level people. Most of us are level 30 with most gods having masteries and having played for many months. This build will not and cannot help us. Sorry for that rant but just makes me pissed.
PS: Opinions might be opinions but you not acknowledging others opinions (that are based on experience of playing this game for quite some time) is pretty **** thing to do. Dont do that.
There are also a few other major issues I see...only meaning to be helpful here...
When you build Runeforged Hammer, you usually build it later in the build. ALSO...consider its qualities. I mean, I get the concept and potential synergies you're trying to create. But for it to be effective, you need to be within a very close range. Although it might work 1 v 1 to a degree, it's best used on gods that are tanky, and can soak up a bit of damage in the midst of enemies...e.g. Warriors. This is DEFINITELY not Medusa.
You're building triple crit AND Qin's Sais? If you're going to go 3x crit, you're better off using crit as your main damage source, rather than also relying on Qin's...you're already missing any movement speed, so that's what I'd replace it with.
If I was running with your idea of this build, it would be like this, in this order:
im not using qin's sals found using brawler's beat stick to be more useful. You could also use rage so your poison will activate more
The movement speed is not a big deal if you know how to play medusa she hangs back and you strike if you see opportunities or you engage with your teammates on kills...
No boots - as there are no passives on them! no use for this build as its depending on passives to boost damage and debuffs...
I think your should play at least 10 games or more with my build and then come back and give your conclusion...I feel your just pre judging it before trying it...
This Order - Runeforged Hammer - Poisoned Star - The Executioner - Brawler's Beat Stick - Malice - Deathbringer -
Also using your recommended build you would be losing the damage over time effect malice gives and the boots offer no passive so they wouldn't be helpful to this build as it relies of passives....
You're right, I'm pre-judging. I'm just SCARED not to have movement speed, lol. Granted...I have my own Medusa arena build(s), and in one of those cases, I ALSO don't buy Tabi...but I DO get movement speed between Hastened Fatalis and Heartseeker. My build is more boxing/mobility and mid-game power spike than flat damage.
FYI, my thought is the damage over time effect from Malice shouldn't matter much if you've got 3x crit and are demolishing enemies as quickly as you indicate. You'll barely get one tick of extra damage in...which in and of itself doesn't seem worth it.
Tell you what though...if I remember, AND if I'm playing with clanmates, I may try your build, depending on your answer to my next question. I won't if I'm not playing with clanmates, though, because am just not confident enemies wouldn't just converge on me if they see I don't have any move speed.
I do have one question though...are you playing on console or PC? How long have you been playing (e.g. what level and such)? Just curious to know the type of competition...on console, Medusa is pretty powerful with her ult, just because turn speed isn't the same as PC/mouse. That's an advantage for her, and I could potentially see this build working better in that situation.
You would be surprised on the survivability of this build
having +200 plus health alone gives you survivability....
Runeforged Hammers passive slow enemies and increase the damage taken from all sources,
plus Poisoned star passive it not only poisons, it also reduces the enemy's damage output by 20%.
The Executioner reduces your target's physical protection by 12% for 3 second with max stacks 3
Plus all the other passive benefits, so when you do get ganked by 3 enemies if you end up in this situation you active sanctuary and use your 3 to escape, if you don't have your relics available then active your 1 and use 2 and then click click click and you might even get kills before you die.... I was in this situation and managed to get 2 kills before i died and i was ganked hard to by 3 gods..
Just have to play smart! and not put yourself in situations where your rip.. Obviously this build is not win win win win all the time, it all depends on your experience and how good your team is on there gods..
I decided to share this build because out of all the medusa builds i've messed with, this one is the best in terms of survivability and getting double and triple kills because your passives dramatically affects your enemy team..
the last 2 games i've killed ao kuang from stealth killing me 2 times and my score was 12 kills and 5 deaths..
The third item slot can be exchanged with rage, qin's , - Im testing rage right now have played about 5 games with rage and seems to activate the passive from poisoned star more frequently, but using rage you lose penetration and the healing debuff passive. Im trying to determine if using rage is better the having the passive from brawlers beat stick, haven't decided yet...
Honestly try it man, in the order i have it in, you will be surprised..
Now, to start, I will be clear that my team had 2 in a party and 3 solo...the other team had a full party, and they definitely knew what they were doing. But, see, something like that shouldn't be an incredible hindrance to holding your own, or doing okay as a team. But it was.
Compared to the normal builds I use (18-20% move speed), it felt EXTREMELY slow (which it was). I just cannot do 0 move speed, not when the other 9 players have it. If you get to the middle of the Arena map, even if you have Lacerate up, and you have Purification or Sanctuary...you're going to get caught if you're focused. That's what happened to me in the first 2 minutes or so. You just can't get back to base quickly enough. 200 health from even a full Runeforged Hammer can easily be erased in 1 good ability...and 200 health with no protections gets demolished in the late game.
It took a long time to get items built. With no mobility, getting back to lane takes a long time, which means missing out on at least 1 wave every minute or two. Starting only 30 power, or 60 with 2 items, just wasn't enough to easily clear the wave by myself. My standard Arena build gets move speed to 20% by item #2... Heartseeker + Hastened Fatalis. Heart, by itself, gets me 25-65 power by itself...plus move speed.
Oh, and they definitely knew I didn't have move speed. I had to burn my Lacerate every time Khepri tried to stun me, or I was going to get pulled and focused (and killed in 2 seconds). That put me too far from a teamfight to do anything, and trying to get back in it took a while (because...I didn't have move speed!). And, consider, going back in after using Lacerate means I now have no escape, and no move speed to possibly keep distance if I need to run. This is, very specifically, a bad thing.
With regard to Poisoned Star second...having it be the only crit item until item 5/6...the crit proc is, unfortunately, just NOT reliable...15% only, and she has no other boost in her kit to increase that chance (like Jing Wei or Artemis). So at that point, you're relying on others' slowing abilities to activate the additional damage passive from Runeforged Hammer. Poisoned Star, I absolutely sustain, is a 1 v 1 item that's best for Assassins. Not hunters.
I was only able to finish up to Brawler's Beat Stick (item #4) before the game was over. Were there other issues? Yes...my team forgot about the minions a few times...but my problem was, I couldn't GET to the minions quickly enough sometimes to clear it myself, and my clear just wasn't powerful enough to make minions a non-issue, at least in the early game. Oh, and I was dead a lot. 8 times, in fact. Fights mostly happen in the middle of the map, and with relics down (and the ones that often save you are down a long time), they're just not reliable enough to save you unless the entire rest of your team converges and blocks them.
In the end, could I have done better, score-wise? Yes. I could have played more conservatively...but at that point, it would have been like a pseudo 4 v 5, and sorry, that doesn't win matches. I could have had better teammates, or seen less synergy in the enemy team. But you need to have a build that can compensate for potential issues. In this case, it can't compensate much...true effectiveness and safety of a sort would be if my team had something strong to peel enemies (e.g. Confound), and they all were very aware of my situation. So...I could make this build work with some planning from my clanmates...but it would be a forced "working" status.
I also could have developed more familiarity with the build over time, but the idea with a strong build is for it to be universal enough that people can, with little practice, make it work well, given the situation. My total player damage in this game was around 16,700, with 0 kills and 8 deaths. My average, per Smite.Guru, is around 27,000. So, if I can MAKE it to late game...I can get my damage up...but damn if my early and mid game with this build just doesn't provide enough damage. The Executioner 3rd is also just not cutting it...so little damage until later, that I would delay this item and go straight into either Brawler's Beat Stick or even Malice, as crazy as that might sound.
In conclusion...this isn't meant as an insult to you, and I'm not saying this build isn't working for you, right now. But at level 28, I'd say you're not fully categorized into the mainstream of matchmaking. You may have better skill than the peers you're playing with/against, and that might be helping you right now. But given enough time, I predict your competition level will go up, and you'll start having some very specific difficulties with the build as-is.
I hope you take this constructively...I really don't mean this to be bad. One game may or may not be enough, and my overall skill level could possibly be less than yours, but I think I have enough experience at this point to recognize the most obvious things. This is an extremely situational build, at best, from my point of view.
Proof
[/img]
Another Match Player Damage 30k
I have more games like the ones above using my build so everyone that reads this should try this build and play at least 10+ arena matches to get used to the less movement speed.
Builds can only do so much for you, if you suck at playing medusa then no build will make you win. It's all about player skill and learning how to use your build to your advantage.
But here...let me show you a quick comparison, which gives support to what I was saying about competition level.
Here's your 12/5/21 match.
Here's mine playing your build from last night.
Key things to note:
As for games played, just look at the huge difference. 100-500 average, with the one anomaly at closer to 1,000 in yours...easily over 1,000 game average in mine, with a HUUUUUGE experience advantage to the full team. Games played doesn't always translate to better...but it's definitely more experience, and I can tell you they definitely had experience playing with each other.
So might I have done better against a different, weaker team of solo-queuers? Yes, I might have. But it still doesn't eliminate the fundamental mobility issues (and other things) with the build you suggest.
And again, I'll point out...I didn't say it wasn't working for you. But you really, really should consider context.
The fact that Branmuffin17 has only played one game with the build may or may not mean anything.
As such, the fact that you played however many games that you have played doesn't mean that your build is good either.
Player damage is irrelevant. It is generally expected that Hunters, Mages and Assassins do high damage, as that is their role.
On top of that, playstyles differ. You may play more defensive than Branmuffin17 does, for example.
However, here's the deal: A build can be considered good if it provides good outcomes in different situations. The problem with your build is your absolute lack of movement speed. Maybe you were just lucky, but if you get actively focused and hunted by the enemy team, your build will fail to achieve what a build is supposed to do: make you excel over your enemies.
Also, you're level 28. This may not have much of a huge impact, but the game will automatically match you against less "skilled" player. Read again through Branmuffin17's reply.
From this I can already tell that Branmuffin17's enemies were fairly competent. If your enemy notices your weakness, no movement speed, they'll abuse that very easily. You have no method of escaping with your build. Even with your Lacerate, it won't suffice, since Lacerate is only a short burst of speed, and not consistent.
Alas, wether your build worked for you or not is irrelevant. The point of creating a guide is to share knowledge, in this case a build, with others, with the ultimate goal of giving others something that is useful to them.
"Others". That's where the problem from this conversation arises. It seems that you fail to realize that the build is not working for others, and for good reason.
You may want to consider Branmuffin17's feedback, as I have to agree that without movement speed you won't be getting to far, at least not on the "level 30" side of play.
Not at all. Your build doesn't have defense items, and only a low 200 extra health from Runeforged Hammer, which takes only a split second to erase later in the game.
With Branmuffin's build it'll be way easier to escape ganks.
You have your movement speed through Hastened Fatalis and Heartseeker, and can attack while moving at full speed due to Hastened Fatalis passive. This way, you can move faster and still apply a lot of damage to your enemies while doing so. Infact, your enemies may not even be able to catch up to you anymore in this case.
Your scenario of being ganked by 3 gods etc, was a 1 time thing. Meaning, your build saved you in that situation ONCE. Just like you said Bran's statements are invalid due to him using the build only ONCE, your afore mentioned scenario is also negligible due to it being a one-time event.
And yes, you're not going to win every game, no matter the build, but there are builds that provide far greater benefits and survivability than yours out there.
Infact, I don't even think you know what "survivability" or "sustainability" means. It means being able to survive through all sorts of conditions for an extended period of time.
In the context of SMITE, that'd be the ability to lifesteal and the ability to easily evade all incoming forms of danger, which your builds provides neither of.
Your one-time scenario could have been luck. Just the way that I survived as Neith in a 1v5 in Assault and got a pentakill where the entire enemy team was targetting me, could've been, and probably was, entire luck.
Being able to show examples like "ganked by 3 gods, killed 2, blabla" has no significant meaning in proving whether or not a build is viable yes or no.
This isn't a matter of "just opinion" we're talking about here. It's an actual fact that your build lacks movement speed, and that this flaw endangers you severely in nearly every context.
Widen your mind, and take in different scenarios. Simply winning games doesn't show the power of a build. Any build can win game. Even an entire build made out of starter items can win games, and you know why? You're not in a 1v1, there are teammates.
And last but not least, having played more games with a build definitely doesn't make you more of an expert on it. Branmuffin17 has been playing SMITE for a very long time now, and has grown very familiar with the game, its mechanics, and the meta(s). I think that general knowledge of how everything works around the place beats the "knowledge" of one build and one build only. Consider that.