Thanatos Jungle Assassin Build

Hello all you Junglers and Thantos lovers, Zaddlebek here but you can call me Zadd! Welcome to my 1st guide for Smite. In this guide you will find what I call the Thanatos Jungle Assassin Build or TJAB for short lol. You will find which levels to place that precious point into and which items to buy throughout the whole Conquest match. So dive on in as I explain why I pick each item and why I decided to go with each point at those levels!

To start off lets list all the PROS and CONS!

PROS

One of the best Ultimate's for an Assassin!
Strong in the jungle if done right!
Can sense any enemy at the low health threshold for the Ultimate!
Solid God that many enemy teams fear!
Ultimate can hit more then one god (if at low HP threshold)!

Squishy like all assassins!
Uses health and mana with abilities (can be fixed with this build!)
Feared enough that the enemy team will hunt you down to slow you down!

With the Pros and Cons done let us hop right on in to the Skills!

PASSIVE
Harvester of Souls - Enemy gods within his ultimate's execute health threshold are revealed to Thanatos. Dealing the killing blow to enemies also empowers Thanatos, healing him based on the max hp of his target and reducing his active cooldowns. Additionally, all of Thanatos' abilities cost health and mana to use.

So Thanatos's passive is pretty sweet right? Lets you see enemies in your ultimate's HP threshold! Plus any kills (not just gods) gives back HP to you letting you sustain out in the jungle longer! Don't forget it also helps with your CDR (Cooldown Reduction) too.

ABILITY
Death Scythe - Thanatos flings his scythe at an enemy, dealing damage and an additional 10% of the target's maximum health against enemy gods. Enemies hit are slowed for 3s and heal Thanatos based on damage dealt. Consumes 5% of Thanatos' max hp when used.

Alright now, Death Scythe is a good way of hitting that 1 enemy just out of reach or if you need a boost in HP! In the early game this skill can be a drain on your HP and Mana but as you get the gear I recommend you should be fine. For that reason it is why I pick this ability at levels 2,8,11,12 & 14.

ABILITY
Scent of Death - Thanatos senses death, gaining immunity to slow effects and additional move speed and physical penetration for 6s. His speed bonus increases up to double when moving toward an enemy god within the instant kill health threshold of his ultimate. Consumes 5% of Thanatos' max hp when used.

So this ability is okish. Now granted it gives you immunity to slows and give movement speed plus penetration for 6 seconds but if used at the wrong time it can basically drain you of HP and Mana leaving you able to die. However if used correctly and on time it can just be that push you need for the kill. For this reason I level it at 4,15,16,18 & 19.

ABILITY
Soul Reap - Thanatos swings his scythe, dealing physical damage and silencing enemies he hits. Thanatos moves at a reduced rate while swinging. Consumes 5% of Thanatos' max hp when used.

Bread and butter of the jungle build! This is a cone shaped attack that can hit multiple targets! On top of that it silences them meaning they can't use any abilties of their own for a short amount of time. But that is enough time for Thanatos to get the kill! Use this as the opener in the jungle and you will start to raise up in levels! For the reasons listed I level this ability at 1,3,6,7 & 10.

ABILITY
Hovering Death (Ultimate) - Thanatos flaps his wings and ascends for 5s, unable to be hit. While airborne, he moves unimpeded at an increased speed before diving to his target location, dealing damage. Enemies below a health threshold are instantly killed. All others are stunned. Consumes 10% of Thanatos' max hp when used.

One of the greatest if not best Ultimate the assassin class has. You go into the sky and can move around hunting down that juicy soul and just kill it on the spot. If your lucky you can even get 2 for 1. Plus the nice stun can help out in team fights where things get crazy. This ability I level at 5,9,13,17 & 20.

Time for the important part of the guide, Items! Now what you see might sound odd at first but I promise you it can be very nasty if done right. I've given you the means of what items to start with and what you should be looking at in the early, mid and late game stages of Conquest.

Before I get into too much detail lets talk Actives first!
WRATH let's you basically jungle much easily due to you can clear buff camps and those big jungle minions fast before too much HP is lost!

BLINK let's you as it's called blink from one place to another! Great for ganking the enemy behind a wall in the way or for a great escape if you can get out of combat quick enough to use it!

SPRINT is helpful against any pesky enemy trying to make a break for it and you want them D.E.A.D. DEAD! Or it can be used to get away from the enemy too. Even better still is when you use it with your team to either go for the throat or to help save them!

Alright enough about Actives. Time for the items!

So to start off when you begin go for "Bumba's Mask", "Boots", 2 "Healing Potions" & 2 "Wards" plus "Wrath" as the active. The reason behind this is "Bumba's Mask" helps you jungle better and helps give you HP when you kill the minions within the camps. Take "Boots" for that nice 6% Movement Speed and slowly work up to the "Warrior's Tabi". 2 "Healing Potions" will help keep you out in the jungle far longer so you can gain levels faster and out level/gank the enemy jungler. As the jungler it's your job to help ward the jungle so your team doesn't get ganked and so the enemy doesn't steal Gold Fury or Fire Giant. Buy "Wards" as best you can when you go back to base because knowing is half the battle. "Wrath" as stated under ACTIVES lets you stay out in the jungle longer.

As you push to the early game (levels 1-9) you should have "Bumba's Mask", "Warrior's Tabi" & "Spiked Gauntlet". Don't forget to get 2 "Healing Potions" & 2 "Wards". Warrior's Tabi is great for Thanatos as it gives you +40 Physical Power & 18% Movement Speed. This lets Thanatos deal more damage and be quicker about it too. "Spiked Gauntlet" is the start of getting the "Devourer's Gauntlets". What these gauntlets provide for you is +7% Physical Lifesteal, helpful for an Assassin who uses his own HP for his abilities.

Hitting the mid game brings Thanatos closer to being the true Hand of Death as you will want to add "Devourer's Gauntlets", "Mace" & "Hidden Dagger" to the build. What these nasty Gauntlets do is +25 Physical Power & +10% Physical Lifesteal. Now that's not the only reason. The passive on these gauntlets makes them a strong pick: You permanently gain +.4 Physical Power and +.20% Physical Lifesteal per Stack, and receive 5 Stacks per god kill and 1 Stack per minion kill. (Max. 75 Stacks). At max these babies help keep you alive in the jungle, for ganks and even team fights! Next up is "Mace" which gives you +15 Physical Power but don't let it fool you, the higher item in the list is the goal down the road. Same applies to "Hidden Dagger" giving +10 Physical Power & +5% Critical Strike Chance. Crits help Thanatos get meaner down the line and with "Hidden Dagger" you will soon go after one of the best items for Critical's to happen!

The late game happens around levels 16-19) where you finally start getting to the end of the gear buying. Add to the items you have upgrade "Mace" into the powerful "Jotunn's Wrath" giving you solid stats: +40 Physical Power, +150 Mana, +10 Physical Penetration & +20% Cooldown Reduction. This beauty helps give you extra damage, more mana and a nice bit of CDR to help you out! Upgrade "Hidden Dagger" to "Rage". What "Rage" offers is a solid if not strong pick for Thanatos: +30 Physical Power & +20% Critical Strike Chance. Add the wonderful passive: If your Basic Attack does not Critically Strike, your Critical Strike Chance increases by 10% (max. 6 Stacks). Resets on successful Critical Strike. This means each and every time you do NOT crit it will bump you up 10% to a max of 60& chance to crit! With "Rage" you will start to see big numbers and watch the enemy HP go down fast. Oddly enough an old friend comes back in the form of "Spiked Gauntlets".

With the items in hand the core build (level 20) is where Thanatos is truly the scariest Hand of Death ever! Upgrade "Spiked Gauntlets" into "Soul Eater" and watch as the enemy HP drops and you gain it back or watch you almost die but gain a **** ton of Health back! "Soul Eater" gives you: +20% Physical Lifesteal & +30% Attack Speed. More lifesteal = more health for you in the long run. Add attack speed and Thanatos will start to hit more often then not. But it's the passive which makes "Soul Eater" a good pick in my opinion: Killing an enemy eats their soul granting +0.5% Lifesteal and +0.5% Movement Speed max 20 Stacks. If you take damage below 50% health all stacks are consumed restoring 1% of your maximum health per stack. So what happens is you gain for lifesteal and movement speed meaning that you will be the nightmare of anyone's dreams as you steal HP and add it to your own and move faster then the enemy can. As a fail safe should you go under 50% HP you gain HP back = to the number of stacks stored. Great way to slay a Fire Giant solo ;). Finally add the best Critical Strike Chance item you can get by selling "Bumba's Mask" and get "Deathbrigher". This bad boy gives you: +50 Physical Power & +20% Critical Strike Chance. So add this with "Rage" and watch the number soar into the 1000's so times! The passive of "Deathbringer" even makes it more possible: Critical Strike damage is increased by 40%. So you gain basically 60% Critical Strike Chance with "Deathbringer" alone!

For those of you wanting the numbers here we go:
Physical Power = +185 (not counting stacks from "Devourer's Gauntlets")
Movement Speed = +18% (not counting stacks from "Soul Eater")
Lifesteal = +30% (not counting stacks from "Devourer's Gauntlets" & "Soul Eater")
Mana = +150
Physical Penetration = +10
Cooldown Reduction = +20%
Critical Strike Chance = +40% (not counting stacks from "Rage" & "Deathbringer")
Attack Speed = +30%

Well there you all go. My Thanatos Jungle Assassin Build or TJAB. Please leave "CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS" or they will just be ignored or deleted. If this helps in any way please comment letting me know. Should you want more please tell me! As for me: This is Zadd signing off!