Thanatos the God-Slayer (Death God)

I have a fascination with the character Thanatos. When I first installed smite I tried to make it my username and it wouldn't let me so I figured someone else already had it. Then to my sweet, sweet surprise I found out it's because they had plans to release this death-dealing bad *** a bit later. And when I started playing him I struggled quite a bit. I looked up the guides posted around the net and none of them felt right. They made him just so-so. Its pretty evidenced in the fact that he's one of the new gods and few people like to play him in casual. He's just not 'powerful' enough, they say. Well, they're wrong. Let me show you how this god is meant to be built.

If you look at the item list above you're immediately thinking, 'Wtf?!'. There's only one physical item for a physical god in the whole thing (and it's not there for the phys!). When you look it over you'll notice they are all movement items and cooldown reduction. This is the focus of this god.

Understanding Thanatos' skills is the key to understanding his use. His skills do chunks of damage but I wouldn't consider him a burst dps god like Loki. Also his skills drain his health when used. This at first seems a drawback but frankly, even with his low hps, its not that big of a deal since they also heal him when they connect. This is my first guide, so its a work in progress. I will talk about the skills and hopefully be able to link them later so you can see them like a pro guide.

First is his passive Harvester of Souls. Basically this puts a red skull on any enemy who can be 'EXECUTED' with Thanatos' ult. Useful for knowing who is low and its on the entire map even through fog of war. If a god or minion dies to him he heals for 20% and 10% respectively of their max health. It's also important to know that his basic attack does a cone attack on its 3rd swing. This is important later for jungling/lane clearing.

Death Scythe is a pretty big hit vs other Gods. It does phys damage depending on its level and then 10% of their health. It has good range and a pretty wide hitbox and heals a bit when it connects with a rather short cooldown. This is his 2nd best ability.

Scent of Death is his utility skill. If he is near a god with low health he gains a speed bonus and also a penetration bonus passively when it is activated along with movement speed. I use this for a couple different things like when I'm fighting jungle camps to swing faster but its mostly used to chase down or run away from other gods.

Soul Reap. This power is +* AWESOME *+. Its a frontal cone sweep that does great damage, has good range for a melee attack with a huge hit box, and also silences the opponent. Death Scythe does more damage overall but this will hit multiple minions/creeps/gods for almost the same damage. In lane clearing you can turn yourself and hit every minion with a well timed Reap if you line up beside them instead of in front of them. Cooldown is a tad bit longer than Death Scythe but with the build we have its very short indeed.

HOVERING DEATH!!. While its not the best ult in the game its my favorite because there is nothing like seeing 'EXECUTE' smote across a limp god's dead body as you stand up from your crouch over them having just finished harvesting their soul.
MUHAHAHAH I love it!! It also makes a great escape as you move very fast and fly over everything and are untouchable in the air. When landing it stuns any gods/creeps that it doesn't kill and the damage is adequate. If you hit this and they are still alive a Soul Reap followed by a Death Scythe will usually finish them , if not make them head for the hills (but you're ok with that because you move faster than EVERYONE...they will only die tired).

Ok, I use the same build for jungling and laning. I know, there's no Bumba's mask, and that must be crazy, right? wrong. You start with Death's Toll if jungling. If laning I just go straight for boots of celerity (and always take the max speed version). When jungling it will heal you 5 hps per hit so on the third swing of your basic attack chain you heal for 15 hps (healing 5 hps each both swings before that). As the creeps die you gain more hps from your passive and you can use Death Reap to help sustain your jungle. The boots of celerity are useful because you can gank the entire map relatively quickly with all that move speed once you have your ult. you can gank before that but its difficult if the enemy is at full health and your partners haven't gotten them down much before you arrive. I like to hide behind a wall while my team beats on the other team, when one gets low and your skull appears on them marking them for death I ult over the wall, land on them, execute whoever is low health, and if another is there I unleash my Soul Reap, then Death Scythe, and scent of death if they start to run (movespeed and penetration? and you have boots of celerity? they aren't getting far!). If you want to ult into the midst of them at full health just let your team mates know they are about to get stunned and prepare to unleash hell together.

In the lane I just position myself on the side of the minions and soul reap trying to hit every one of them. People will want to get up close to you because you're known as a 'squishy' god but don't worry because what usually happens is they get themselves low enough to get ult'ed onto. If you get low don't be afraid to ult away. With this build your ultimate cooldown is up every 35 seconds or so so you will almost be spamming it. Dead. Dead. Dead. They're gonna be so mad.

Again this is my first guide and I know its rough. I really just wanted people to realize there's a much better way to play this god than has been going on traditionally. It does take some skill to pull it off and you can't be overly aggressive (which I am way too often!) but if played right this will wreck the opposing team and frustrate them to no end. Watch out for people who see you flying, they will try to jank and shake you or make you miss when you land. pay attention to how they move and act accordingly. Also its like any other skill shot int he game, lead them a bit to get more kills. Have a great day, kids!