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Vulcan: My First Guide (For Joust 3v3)

3 2 49,688
by Collamus updated May 22, 2014

Smite God: Vulcan

Build Guide Discussion 10 More Guides
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Vulcan Build

Start

Build Item Sorcerer's Staff Sorcerer's Staff
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion

Core

Build Item Warlock's Staff Warlock's Staff
Build Item Shoes of Focus Shoes of Focus
Build Item Book of Thoth Book of Thoth
Build Item Polynomicon Polynomicon

Late Game

Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti

Situational/Defensive

Build Item Ethereal Staff Ethereal Staff
Build Item Hide of the Urchin Hide of the Urchin
Build Item Magi's Cloak Magi's Cloak

Optional

Build Item Shoes of the Magi Shoes of the Magi
Build Item Breastplate of Valor Breastplate of Valor
Build Item Spear of the Magus Spear of the Magus
Build Item Bancroft's Talon Bancroft's Talon
Build Item Gem of Isolation Gem of Isolation
Build Item Soul Reaver Soul Reaver

Vulcan's Skill Order

Backfire

1 X Y
Backfire
3 15 16 18 19

Inferno Cannon

2 A B
Inferno Cannon
1 4 6 7 10

Magma Bomb

3 B A
Magma Bomb
2 8 11 12 14

Earthshaker

4 Y X
Earthshaker
5 9 13 17 20
Backfire
3 15 16 18 19

Backfire

1 X
Vulcan blasts a fireball out of his Forge, pushing him back and dealing damage to all enemies in its path, marking the first god that is hit. The Inferno Cannon prioritizes the marked target and deals 15% more damage to that god.

Ability Type: Projectile, Dash
Damage: 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 / 250 (+70% of your Magical Power)
Mark Lifetime: 4s
Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
Cooldown: 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6s
Inferno Cannon
1 4 6 7 10

Inferno Cannon

2 A
Vulcan constructs an Inferno Cannon that shoots fireballs in a cone that deal damage to the target every second. The Inferno Cannon lasts until destroyed or another is placed. This inherits Vulcan's penetrations but does not apply on-hit effects. Inferno Cannon takes 50% additional damage from non-god sources.

Ability Type: Pet
Damage: 45 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+40% of your Magical Power)
Health: 220 / 300 / 380 / 460 / 540
Protections: 5 / 15 / 25 / 35 / 45
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 10s
Magma Bomb
2 8 11 12 14

Magma Bomb

3 B
Vulcan tosses a bomb that explodes in a radius on impact with the ground, damaging and knocking back nearby enemies.

Ability Type: Ground Target
Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Radius: 15
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 10s
Earthshaker
5 9 13 17 20

Earthshaker

4 Y
Vulcan launches a rocket that explodes on impact with the ground. The rocket starts at 80% strength, and increases in damage the further it travels from Vulcan.

Ability Type: Ground
Damage: 400 / 520 / 640 / 760 / 880 (+130% of your Magical Power)
Radius: 30
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Cooldown: 90 / 85 / 80 / 75 / 70s

Introduction

Vulcan, I find is a hard but satisfying god to play. He has many abilities that can help him in almost any situation! He works particularly well with any god with strong cc, especially area cc, such as Ares, Hades, Cupid, Odin and Ymir. I hope you find this guide useful, Please post any comments below on how I can improve this guide, and any future ones!

Pros / Cons

Pros



-High single target DPS
-Even higher area DPS
-Has plenty of versatility (both skill and item build wise)
-Works great with almost anyone with cc

Cons



-Can be squishy
-Hard to use his abilities effectively
-Passive is not great
-Doesn't have much of an escape

Skills

Backfire


Backfire does decent damage to everything in a straight line. If it hits a god, it gets targeted by your turret (if in range), increasing its damage on the target. It also pushes you back a little ways. This ability is very versatile. You can use the it for minion clear, changing your turret's target to an enemy god, or for escaping certain abilities (like Zeus' or Hades' ulti). Also decent for pokes. I upgrade this last because, the only buff it gets from leveling is damage, but its damage is less so than magma bomb, making it a non-viable option early game.


Inferno Cannon


Inferno Cannon is essentially a mini version of a tower. It summons a turret that instantly targets the closest enemy in its range and attacks it for solid damage. The target can be switched by hitting a god with backfire (as above). Also, minions do bonus damage to the turret. This is a powerful tool as it can be used as an attacking ward (although it can be destroyed), or help wave clear, its also a strong anti push tool. Use it, and any enemy must go around (if possible) or go into its range and attack it, which will make the enemy god take severe damage. This I rank up first to max because my sustain skyrockets, and is great for scaring enemies away early game.


Magma Bomb


Magma Bomb is (as before) another viable option for maxing out first. The reason is because it is a long range, high damage, knocks into air poke. Early game it can secure kills by knocking the enemy toward you, where you can use your cannon, then basic attack for the slow, followed by Backfire (only if you know it will finish them). You can also use it by knocking them away from you or towards your allies (works particularly well with Tyr). One combo is to ulti, then cast magma bomb to knock enemies into its area, causing EXTREME damage, and possibly killing them outright even if they had over half health. I rank this up second for the reasons above and because its still powerful mid/late game.


Earthshaker


Earthshaker is, personally, one of my favorite ultis in Smite. It has a HUGE area of effect, has an EXTREMELY long range, and does more damage the farther away it lands. It has the potential to do over 1200 damage! You can also use this to snipe retreating gods. This ability however is hard to use, as it is easy to anticipate and to get out of the way from. That's why you should normally combo this ulti with just about any cc to wreck face on several gods simultaneously . Use this at maximum range, when a friendly Ares or Hades uses their ulti, and you have possibly wiped the team (or just about). Upgrade this whenever you can, for maximum damage potential.


Heavy Shot (Passive)


Heavy Shot is not the most amazing passive. After using an ability, your next basic attack within 3 seconds, slows the enemy by 20% for 2 seconds. Can only be used every 5 seconds. It has a weak slow and a weak duration. The only reason why you would basic attack the enemy is from Polynomicon, so it is used, just not for the slow. Using a basic attack to slow the enemy, also slows you (because your attacking) even more than your enemy, making it very bad for chasing, or running away. It's only useful if you are trying to keep them from escaping another god.

Items

Core Items



Warlock's Sash


This item is a powerful addition to any build, at max stacks, it grants 600 health, 400 mana and 110 magical power. Buying it first gives you more mana, survivability and some magical power, giving you an edge over the mages who don't. Also important to max stacks soon as possible. (Note: This item is banned in assault).


Shoes of Focus


Every good build needs boots (or shoes, greaves, etc...). I prefer Shoes of Focus over Shoes of the Magi because I want to max crd (cooldown reduction). However if pen (Penetration) is important to you then you can make the switch. In mid/late game, mana will not be a problem, so spamming your abilities is important.


Book of Thoth


Book of Thoth, like Warlock's Sash, is how you stay away from being mana screwed. This item grants (at max stacks) 825 mana, 15 mps, and 100 magical power + you get additional power = to 3% of your max mana! It grants an enormous amount of both mana and power. A must have in this build. (Note: This item is banned in assault).


Polynomicon


This item grants you a bit of lifesteal (to keep you alive), a decent amount of mana (works well with Book of Thoth), a good amount of magical power (always helpful). And has one heck of a bad*** passive. It's the only way to make Vulcan's passive even a little useful. It has large kill securing potential. Use all of your abilities, and if their not dead! Basic attack! This passive will finish off even the most stubborn Ymir, and shred He Bo to ribbons!

Late Game Items



Chronos' Pendant


Grants 25% crd, 75 magical power, and 25 mps. With this item, you can max your crd, so you can mash them abilities like madman! On top of that it grants magical power and a lot of mps. Overall, a solid item.


Rod of Tahuti


One of the scariest/ most expensive items in the game. If you want to increase your damage tenfold, then this is the item for you! It grants 125 magical power 15 mps, and Has a passive that grants you an additional 25% of your total magical power (including the Rod's magical power increase). Last item, so Rod of Tahuti has it's full effect on your stats. A must have in EVERY mage build.

Situational Items



Ethereal Staff


A good defensive item, if you want to build some health (and more mana) but still stay on top of damage, then this is the item for you! Grants 600 health, 300 mana, 30 magical power, and you get 2% of your max health as additional magical power. Great item if building defensively.


Hide of The Urchin


Most would agree this is one of the best defensive items in the game. Grants 250 health, 250 mana, 45 physical and magical protection, and get stacks of 2 protections each when you get a god kill or assist (max 10 stacks). You may need this if you play defensively, or you find yourself alone with a bunch of enemy gods around all the time. Works well with Ethereal Staff.


Magi's Blessing


Vulcan works really well with cc, however it also works vice versa. This item has a passive that absorbs one cc effect every 45 seconds, grants 15 magical/physical protection and 350 health. On top of that. When it's passive is on cooldown, all other cc effects on you are reduced by 40%! Once again, works well with Ethereal Staff.

Optional Items



Shoes of The Magi


If crd isn't for you, or if you think BoV or CP gives enough, or maybe you just want some pen, then here is the item you are looking for! Grants 50 magical power, 250 mana, 18% movement speed, and 15 pen. Recommend, replacing Shoes of Focus for this item.


Breastplate of Valor


A solid defensive item (This technically goes into Situational/Defensive items, but I thought it would be stupid to have it in 2 sections). Gives you 550 mana, 75 physical protection, and 25% crd. If you find your getting hit by assassins to often, and want an edge over them, then this item is your saviour! Vulcan is too often squishy, so sometimes you might want a defensive item that helps keep you alive. Seen this item in a lot of mage builds. Recommend replacing CP with this item.


Spear of The Magus


If you need more pen, or maybe you didn't grab Shoes of The Magi, but still want pen?
Spear of The Magus is a great way to make that pesky Hercules' protections worth nothing It deals 40 magical power, 15 pen, and it's passive is "Enemies hit by your damaging abilities have their magical protection by 10 and an additional 10% for 5 seconds (maximum 2 stacks)." As you can see. SoTM is more then just another semi-decent item, it has some real kick to it. I also see this in other mage builds. Can replace Book of Thoth making it good for Assault.


Bancroft's Talon


This is a great item for more defensive players who still want a few strong damage items. It grants 100 magical power, 12% lifesteal, and 1 magical power per 1% of your missing health. So, if you have a lot of health, even if you are missing 1/2 of it, you still have a bit of life left, and you get 50 additional magical power! I recommend replacing polynomicon for this item, as both grant lifesteal.


Gem of Isolation


This item is both a good defensive and offensive item. It grants 250 health, 250 mana, 70 magical power, and has a passive that slows enemies hit by your abilities by 25% for 2 seconds. You can use this item for chasing or for escape; and it increases both damage output and survivability. Recommend replacing Warlock's Sash for this item which once again makes it a good replacement in assault.


Soul Reaver


If you badly want to increase damage output at the cost of other things, then this is the item to go for. It gives you 100 magical power, 300 mana, and has a very powerful passive, which is: "When a god takes damage from your abilities, they take 15% of their maximum health in additional damage. If multiple gods are hit, the damage is applied to the one with the greatest maximum health. This can only occur once every 60 seconds." As you can see, you can use this as an amazing way to kill fleeing gods, or are otherwise low health, it works just as well (if not better) on tanks then on squishy mages or assassins.Combines with polynomicon to do ENORMOUS single target damage. Can be replaced by anything (preferably not Rod of Tahuti), so long as you get it as one of your last items.

Credits

Credits go to the following:

-Okami / TheZodiacWolf, I read your guide on fenrir, and got most of my ideas on how to format this guide from you. Here's the URL http://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/pro-fenrir-quot-the-way-of-the-wolf-quot-updated-april-16-videos-included-3814

-Those who bothered to comment on this build, and will/have give(n) me tips on how to improve this guide.

P.S.

I didnt know how to insert images on Vulcan's abilities or how to list an item or add a video, if someone could give me help that would be great.

Leave a Comment

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Collapse All Comments

1
Collamus | May 26, 2014 6:59am
I will make the updates, as I said on Thursdays, and I will take all of your feedback into account. Thank you guys!
1
Jordenito (66) | May 25, 2014 5:58am
While Magma Bomb gives you more poke, you lose quite some clear as opposed to maxing Backfire first.

Also, the best combo is 3-2-1. Throw the meatball, run towards them, place a turret and Backfire. Yes, you can all of that while they are stunned.
1
FaTaLiTyFiReFly (25) | May 25, 2014 12:27am
I also agree with above, I play vulcan a lot and I have found maxing the 3 then the 1 and the canon last works much better.

Why you ask? My combo is 3-1-2 ez kill. The 3 is a long range high damage burst that sets up nicely ewith your 1 since it knocks them for that split second needed. Then I place the cannon just to take off the last bit of hp.

I feel that the 1 and 3 clear waves instantly which is better then the cannon.

My personal opinion, idkmuch about items
1
festive1 (14) | May 24, 2014 6:44pm
I think this guide has lots of potential, and if a bit of gameplay and BBCode was added, it would really be a great guide. The comments above for the most part summarise what I want to say about Items, but I strongly advise you check out these two pages, they helped me make my guide, and they will definitely help you make yours.

https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/guideception-a-guide-to-guidecrafting-4031
https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/code-blue-bbcoding-for-beginners-4537

Good Luck!
1
Jordenito (66) | May 24, 2014 5:38am
Hello there. I hope you treat this review professionally and take nothing in person/to heart.

While your general itemization is good, your overall build and classification of items, well, I disagree with it. Listing both warlock's sash and Book of Thoth as core items is just wrong, in my opinion. These take long to stack, and might not yield their potential which you seek. They are not bad choices, by all means, but I would rather see them as an option for extra power rather than core items.
Furthermore, because there is a lack of penetration items for Mages in the game, I cannot agree with the choice of Shoes of Focus. Not on Vulcan. He is a pure burst damage god. You need the penetration. And his cooldowns aren't as dreadfully long as opposed to someone like Ra or Eset. CDR is great, but penetration comes first in order. Also, Rod of Tahuti is a core item for him, and, basically, on any mage.
Oh, and items such as Gem of Isolation and Spear of the Magus don't really fit Vulcan. By all means, it doesn't mean that they are necessarily bad, it's just that there are many better options. That is because Vulcan has no ticks, and he has no way of quickly applying and stacking those items' passives, as opposed to someone like Anubis. So, their effects are minimal and somewhat ineffective.

You explain items fairly well, though you don't really need to put that much emphasis on the items' stats, rather than their use, benefit and reason to purchase them.


I can't help it but disagree with your skill order. Inferno Cannon, while techincally being your most damaging ability out of your base abilities, could be easily punished and killed in a matter of seconds, thus reducing your overall clear and burst substantially. You need to focus first on your two other abilities, as they are easier to hit and guarantee damage. Leveling Backfire first grants you the best wave clear, as it can easily hit the entire minion wave. And its cooldown is low AND scales, so you can get more Backfires the more you level this skill up. Secondly, maximize Magma Bomb. Its instant burst and poke/range is insane and it scales well. Lastly, max Inferno Cannon. Sure, late game it deals roughly 50% of the damage of Magma Bomb per shot, but if you level it first you lose a lot of wave clear, poke and overall damage.

The skills explanations are decent, but, much like I've mentioned, I'm not a fan of your skill order and reasoning.


Gameplay is missing. Severely. How does Vulcan handle himself in team fights? throughout the game phases? Where to position yourslef, who to prioritize, what are his roles/how can he contribute to a team fight? For example, you can use your turret to zone out enemies. Likewise about your ultimate. What is his play style? Does he stick around? Does he bursts and disengages?
Things like that.


BBCoding is minimal, but not bad. Of course you could do more, but it shouldn't discourage readers from the actual content of this guide.


Overall, this is a downvote from me. This guide isn't qutie enough. The build is decent but ordered poorly. The skill section isn't good and there's no gameplay.

I hope you take my things to consideration. But, remember, this is your guide, not mine. What I said is just my opinion. We are allowed to disagree.
Farewell.
1
TormentedTurnip (96) | May 23, 2014 12:20pm
Videos are done using [embed]video url[/embed]. Keep in mind Smitefire only lets you embed videos from certain sites. You can find the list here.

Greenevers already covered the images and icons, but if there's anything else you need to know, try checking out this guide.
1
Greenevers (105) | May 23, 2014 11:47am
Collamus wrote:

I didnt know how to insert images on Vulcan's abilities or how to list an item or add a video, if someone could give me help that would be great.


Oh, you can insert images by using
1
Collamus | May 23, 2014 6:48am
OK ty for the help. I can only make changes on Thursday due to technical difficulties, so I will attempt to upgrade my guide weekly.
1
Greenevers (105) | May 22, 2014 8:03pm
I like it. Although it doesn't look amazing, it looks neat and organized. I like the use of the headings and all. Let's get started :).

Not an expert on Vulcan so I can't comment on skill order.

Your build is pretty good, actually. I would suggest having Spear of the Magus being in the core rather than Book of Thoth or Polynomicon. None of his abilities have "tick" damage but it's kind of like it, doing repeated damage in a longer amount of time. It does help, I've played him not too much but when I grabbed it, I reap the benefits

Pros/Cons, abilities, and item descriptions are great. Keep it up!

I have a couple suggestions. I would prefer if you had some gameplay/laning/teamfights section to include how to play with the god (not just ability wise). Are there any specific combos you can land? What do you do during laning phases? I also suggest you input some more BB coding other than colors and headings.

BB Coding Suggestions



Will not vote for now, because I think this guide can definitely improve. Feel free to PM me to re-reviw your guide.
1
Collamus | May 22, 2014 5:13pm
By the way guys, everything on this guide is subject to change, I still need to have it edited by others, and is quite possibly not finished. I might expand more on other game modes, or on items and such. Hoping for some feedback! Thanks!
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Collamus
Vulcan: My First Guide (For Joust 3v3)
Table of Contents

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