Weaving the World - Neith - Conquest ADC

Welcome to my guide for Smite's resident Weaver, Neith. This goes over how to use her in the context of the Conquest Map. The suggested builds are also viable in the other modes as well like Clash, Arena and Joust. This flexibility is mostly in due to her being the most flexible hunter that Smite currently has to offer. She can be built many different ways and still be potent.

I have 3 suggested builds here for her. The most common build which puts a focus on her abilities rather then In Hand attacks. The second build which focuses on attack speed and the third which is a Crit build. All 3 are perfectly viable builds and each work slightly differently then the last, and each having their own unique pro's and cons.

In addition to her flexibility in her builds, she is also the most versatile god to be used in multiple roles in Conquest. While ADC's are generally hunters, of which Neith is in that category, she can also successfully be used in Mid, Solo, and to some extent, if you are feeling particularly saucy, in the jungle (I wouldn't suggest the latter two though as solo is generally a warrior for good reason).

The main reason behind her flexibility in the roles and builds is mainly cause of her Scaling on her abilities and her abilities themselves. She is widely considered to be one of the safest hunters to use cause of these things as well.

For this guide, I'll touch on the basics of being an ADC for your team as well as what to expect in the DUO lane as of season 4, patch 4. These things have been mostly constant over the past few patches so its unlikely to have these particular notes be antiquated by an upcoming patch.

In this guide, I'll also go over each of my 3 builds and give the pro's and con's to using each in their own separate sections. The most important thing when choosing a build to follow for Neith, is to use the one that works for you.

While being your team's ADC, there are several things to keep in mind and be aware of. This particular role can be quite difficult if you don't know what to expect and is widely considered one of the harder roles to be excellent in as you are expected to take care of many different aspects of the game and map.

At the start of Season 4, ADC's needed to have Early Clear and Neith is a popular pick for this reason as her first ability, Spirit Arrow, has the potential to take out a wave of minions in one shot with a basic or two on the tougher minions. A few other hunters have this early clear potential, mainly ability hunters with a few exceptions. The following hunters have the necessary clear to be top picks in both Ranked and Casual Queue's: Neith, Apollo, Medusa, Izanami, Anhur, Skadi, Ullr and Cernunnos. Gods like Rama, Ah Muzen Cab and Chiron have fallen off a bit lately but are still decently viable. Xbalanque can currently sustain in lane quite well with Death's Toll, however, unless paired with a high clearing support he struggles greatly. The same is said for Artemis and Jing Wei specifically.

By level 5 or 6, as an ADC, you should be able to Hold Your Lane ON YOUR OWN! This is extremely important as your support can not, and quite frankly should not, be in lane past level 7 at the very latest. They have an entire team to support, not just you. As an ADC you need that solo farm anyways.

Depending on how much of a threat you are during the game, and specifically late game, you may be dealing with a multitude of ganks incoming from Mid and the enemy jungle. As such you want to pay attention to the VGS usage of your fellow players. They alone could provide key information for you to finish off that tower or get the hell out of dodge. Common targets for these early ganks are Artemis and Freya as both of these goddesses late game are terrors to behold and can turn a failing team fight around in a split second.

Running with the threat of ganks coming from other lanes, and considering supports are now roaming earlier then ever, Wards are now the ADC's responsibility as well. This is especially true since they introduced the Chalice of the Oracle. There are key choke points and pathing areas that are common for wards to be placed at, usually the entrances to the duo lane. Having the chalice also ensures that you can always ward your rear giving you a bit of a safety net when you try and push a tower or take a different objective.

As an ADC, you are expected to deal massive amounts of player damage and damage to structures. Since this is the case, I will never suggest you build The Executioner over Titan's Bane in nearly every case. The passive penetration growth from Executioner doesn't work against structures however Titan's Bane's passive will. This allows you to keep your penetration rate high while still being able to deal with Towers and Phoenix's.

Positioning is the last key factor when playing an adc. As Neith you probably have the best secure utility available and that is World Weaver. Not only does this give you an undeniable presence in the Duo lane, but also a global presence. Making that shot across map to a solo lane or jungle player that is recalling can be quite satisfying. For Neith you have a bit more flexibility concerning your positioning but it is still a critical aspect of being an ADC. You have the range and chase potential to do a lot of damage but if you start seeing red, you could end up falling into an extremely dangerous area and get collapsed on by 3 or 4 players. And even in some really bad cases, the entire enemy team.

If you use Neith in Mid Lane, please visit my Nox guide named Silence in the Darkness. That goes over Mid Lane basics and apply to Neith as well when played in that position.

Neith has several pro's and con's as a base and I'll go over those first then go over each of the 3 builds pro's and con's as each build gives her unique aspects to take into account.

To start with, and like I stated before, Neith is widely considered one of the safest hunters to use. Several reasons for this is that she has good ability damage, good In Hand attack damage, a nice self heal, great global presence and an escape ability that provides key aspects to her kit.

Her scaling on all her abilities is quite high and this is why people generally build straight power and penetration on her. A single Spirit Arrow at full build with an ability based build is VERY devastating. Even her heal and back flip have scaling on the higher end of the spectrum. Her basic attack damage scaling is 100% of her power, thus also giving her a good reason to build for high power.

Neith also has lots of utility to her kit. Including a straight line root, a potential for a very large area of effect root, a slow, an attack speed debuff and a stun. All of these things give Neith options to chase, slow down or stop an enemy in their tracks.

However, while she does have an escape that provides a key feature to her damage and kit, it's also one of the most predictable escapes in the game and is easily telegraphed. While considered a leap it cannot go over terrain walls but can clear player deployable walls such as ones from Ymir, Odin, Terra and Anhur.

The last con to Neith is that while her ult is a global ult, she has to charge and root herself in place to use it. For full effect she has to charge for 2 seconds or more making her a sitting duck for an enemy player who is lurking nearby to get some decent damage off on her.

Pro's and Con's to Build 1 - Ability Build

Building for abilities gives you a lot of damage with your abilities and makes her a force to be reckoned with. Even with her basics, since they have 100% scaling as well. This makes her burst potential insane and gives even mages a run for their money. However, when building for ability damage over attack speed or on hit effect builds, you lack any sort of boxing potential with AA based gods such as Arachne, Artemis, Izanami, Rama and Xbalanque. All of whose strong suit is boxing which puts Neith at a big disadvantage. I would suggest that if you are against one of these gods, you build for AA's instead of abilities or make a hybrid build to get the best of both worlds.

Pro's and Con's to Build 2 - In Hand Non Crit

This build focuses on Attack Speed with power. This particular build allows you to box better and can give you a chance against AA based gods like Rama or Xbalanque. This build gives you a high DPS rate with AA's however your ability damage does suffer as a cost as you lack the Penetration and higher power provided by an ability build. For this build I prefer to keep Ichaival however replacing it with a different item such as Hastened Fatalis or Witchblade are both viable options. You also now lack the mana pool provided by Transcendence.

Pro's and Con's to Build 2 - In Hand Crit

This build is a standard build for going Crit. While this doesn't make the most of Neith's scaling and abilities, it still is a viable option for most, if not all, hunters in Smite. When using this build you lack any sort of mana pool that would have been provided by Transcendence and you have to use your abilities sparingly. This also lacks any sort of power or decent penetration so expecting your abilities to do a lot here is a mistake. This particular set does give you a 60% crit chance rate with high attack speed and decent on-hit utility from Poisoned Star. This allows you to focus on players rather then taking structures.

Note: For these last two builds focusing on In Hand attacks, chose the starter item that best suits you, your lane partner and take into consideration who your enemy lane partners are. If you are going aggressive, take Bluestone Pendant, if you want more sustain, take Death's Toll.

Passive: Broken Weave

A Broken Weave appears at the last location that each enemy god dies. The Broken Weaves give her abilities secondary effects when used on the Broken Weaves. These weaves last for 1 minute. You can have a max of 6 weaves on the ground, 1 for each enemy god plus 1 from your Back Flip.

Skill 1: Spirit Arrow

Neith fires a shot that passes through everything. Each enemy hit takes damage and is rooted. If the Spirit Arrow hits a Broken Weave, the Weave detonates, dealing an additional 100% of the damage and applying the root to all enemies in the area. It is entirely possible to detonate 6 weaves on a single enemy god. This does potentially 600% additional damage in addition to the arrow itself. (For example, if the arrow does 400 damage alone, with 1 weave it will deal 800 damage, if it passes through 3 weaves it does 2000 damage, etc.)

Skill 2: Unravel

Neith neatly unravels the world weaves, damaging all enemies in the target area, reducing their attack speed, and healing Neith for each enemy hit, up to 3. Any Broken Weaves in the area are removed, healing Neith an additional amount. The scaling on the healing from the weaves is 30%, potentially allowing you to get 180% of your physical power in healing from the weaves alone. Scaling from the healing from enemies is 15% (an enemy counts as any jungle monster, lane minion or god). This ability is a channeled ability and can only be cancelled by enemy disruption from hard CC. If interrupted it will not go on cool down or consume mana.

Skill 3: Back Flip

Neith back flips through the air, creating a Broken Weave as she leaps while damaging and slowing enemies in the area in front of her. This ability has 80% scaling. Note: This is not an instant leap. It has a slight cast time where Neith applies the Broken Weave to the ground at her feet then leaps backwards.

Ultimate Skill: World Weaver

Neith charges up and fires an arrow across the world, seeking its target through obstacles. Enemy gods take damage and are stunned. The arrow can be fired quicker for diminished results. Firing this ability instantly will only inflict 50% damage and stun duration. 1 second of channeling will inflict 65% damage and stun duration, and 2 or more seconds of channeling it will inflict 100% damage and stun duration. This arrow can also be blocked by another enemy god allowing an enemy player to take the shot over the intended target. Cancelling this ability before firing will not consume mana or put the ability on cool down. Two god 'pets' can also take/block the shot as well ( Sun Wukong's Ultimate clone from Somersault Cloud and The Morrigan's doppleganger from Confusion).

Using Neith's Skills to your Advantage

Neith is a great hunter who has amazing clear, great utility and awesome secure potential on kills. Using these skills to the best of your advantage takes a bit of skill and a good sense of timing and positioning.

Since Neith has good AA damage, using basics to poke out the enemy along with Unravel is a good place to start. In a pinch when you need to get an explosive combo off quickly, Back Flip followed immediately by a Spirit Arrow against a chasing enemy is going to net you lots of damage on them and will give them second thoughts about chasing you since they are now slowed and probably are down half their health. You still have the ability to Unravel them to debuff them further and heal yourself a little in the process.

Neith's ultimate is the main gimmick of her kit. It can secure a fleeing enemy as well as give your team amazing set up potential as well. Keep in mind that you can also fire a World Weaver into an enemy for your Mid, Solo or Jungle player to catch up and secure a kill or to set up said team mates for their own combo's as well. Neith works particularly well with Nox for this regard as well as Scylla, Ra and Thoth.

Leveling your Skills

For Levels 1 through 5, I personally like leveling up like this, however depending on how much poke you are taking you may consider getting your Back Flip second instead of third.

1. Spirit Arrow
2. Unravel
3. Back Flip
4. Spirit Arrow
5. World Weaver

At level 6, focus your skills like this with a standard point skip at level 8 so you can max out Spirit Arrow at level 9 as well as put another point into World Weaver at the same time.
Back Flip

Note: You may choose to instead level Unravel first over Spirit Arrow for clear that is a bit safer. However doing this significantly hampers your clear as it does not come close to taking out the wave in one shot. I would not suggest this at all but it is a possibility.

Since Neith is so incredibly flexible to what can be built on her, I'll only explain the 3 builds I have here and why I chose those items in particular for each of those builds.

Build 1: Abilities

Core Items

1. Transcendence: This is the base of any ability hunter's damage core. It provides an incredible amount of power and a very large mana pool once fully stacked. You can build this on any god that relies heavily on abilities (like the goddess who the topic of this guide is for) or a god that relies on mana depleting basics such as Xbalanque or Rama. You can build this on Izanami or Artemis if you so desired as their mana pools are notoriously small and they have heavy mana costs.
2. Warrior Tabi: This is the boot that most, if not all, phsyical gods will opt for. Ninja Tabi can be used if you prefer to get more attack speed over power. Ninja Tabi also provides 100 base mana to your pool as well giving you an extra ability use or two.
3. The Crusher: This reworked item for Season 4 is a good contender for hunters and gods that rely on abilities as well as some usage of their basic attacks. It has a decent amount of penetration, power and a nice touch of attack speed with a passive that helps bring your abilities back online faster when facing down enemy gods.

Optional Items

After those 3 items, I usually opt into Jotunn's Wrath, Titan's Bane and an attack speed item, usually Qin's Sais. However if the enemy likes to hide behind minions I'll opt for Odysseus' Bow to spark and tickle them. Jotunn's and Titan's are self explanatory. I buy those for the power, penetration and cool down. Qin's Sais I'll buy if the enemy team is particularly healthy. Other options here include Asi for some extra lifesteal and penetration, Brawler's Beat Stick if I need some anti heal for my abilities, or if I find I'm boxing more then I should be with this build, I'll get Ichaival or Witchblade. Both of these items buff me and debuff the enemy in 1 or more ways.

Build 2 and 3 Notes

Your starter item will depend on how aggressive or passive you want to be. Get Bluestone Pendant if you want to be agressive, or Death's Toll if you want a bit more sustain. Build 2 is a hybrid type between on hit effects and ability usage. For these two builds I have also suggested 2 multi potions here instead of straight health potions. Neith is an extremely mana hungry individual (hence why Transcendence is extremely popular on her). The 2 multi's will help early on to keep you health and energized before you start popping Mana potions. When not using Transcendence, its important to keep stocked up on mana potions at all times as these simple items can mean the difference between having an ability ready when you need it versus not having it and paying the price. I have suggested the Mana Chalice here as its a good start to keeping stocked up for the entire game for a relatively cheap cost.

Build 2: In Hand Attacks - Non Crit

Core Items

1. Warrior Tabi: The same reason as for when you build for abilities. It brings a nice power spike and gives your abilities some punch. Ninja Tabi can be used if you prefer to get more attack speed over power. And for this build, it's a definite contender for viability since this is a build based more on attack speed then straight power.
2. Ichaival: This is a must build 2nd item. Its high boost in attack speed and passive gives Neith early boxing potential against most of her adversaries. This also helps immensely while stacking your next item while poking at the enemy gods at the same time.
3. Devourer's Gauntlet: When stacked, this item gives a decently sized boost in power and substantial lifesteal. This is something you'll want to get stacked as early as possible so you can get its full effect earlier and become a menace to other map areas sooner rather then later.

Optional Items

For this particular build, since you still have a decent sized power boost from these 3 items alone, I suggest building The Crusher and Titan's Bane over anything else next. These 2 items will give your abilities more punch while still keeping your attack speed high. They also give a decent amount of penetration and The Crusher's passive will help keep your abilities flowing in a fight. For your last item I would suggest Qin's Sais for extra damage on all your basics that land on an enemy god. Other options include Odysseus' Bow if they like to hide behind their minions, Asi for MORE lifesteal, penetration and attack speed. Hastened Fatalis or Witchblade are also 2 good options for this build. The first allows you to keep up and gives a bit of penetration. The latter gives you anti healing on your basics and an attack speed debuff aura allowing you to box other gods who are relying on their own basic attacks.

Build 2: In Hand Attacks - Crit Based

Core Items

1. Warrior Tabi: Since this is a crit build, Warrior Tabi is your only option here. You need a decent power pool so your crits actually do something instead of just tickling the enemy.
2. Asi: This is a cheap item with great early pen, attack speed and lifesteal on it. This is the most popular item when pursuing a strictly crit build.
3. Wind Demon: This is a great early crit item for hunters and if you are building crit on hunters, this item is a must. It has a decent power stat, crit chance stat and a nice attack speed boost. Its passive helps with boxing as well since it spikes your movement and attack speed.

Optional Items

When going crit build its assumed you are not going to be going after towers and phoenix's very much. At this point, and only this point I can say The Executioner is a choice that can be examined. I still do not suggest it as your abilities will suffer greatly going against other more protected targets. As such I still suggest Titan's Bane as your 4th item followed by two more crit based items. Personally I suggest Deathbringer and Poisoned Star. The first will give your crits more punch and the latter will give your crits more utility, reducing your targets speed and damage output. Other suitable items here include Hastened Fatalis or Witchblade. If you chose to go for one of those, I personally would suggest either dropping Poisoned Star or Asi. However with the amount of available CC and utility already in your kit, you shouldn't need Hastened Fatalis. Alternatively you could switch Asi for Devourer's Gauntlet after you build wind Demon for a better power spike for your crits and better lifesteal.

No matter what build you chose to go with, with Neith, being in lane is relatively simple no matter who you are playing against. Your first ability should be Spirit Arrow. This is of course your main form of clear. Just scoot past the front of the wave and let her fly. Unravel is going to be your main form of poke and heal, and it can also be used to assist your clear. If you feel safe enough, you are free to place a weave in the middle of the lane with Back Flip and detonate it over the wave with Spirit Arrow. That will allow you to clear a bit faster then with just an arrow alone however it leaves you without your escape option.

Once you hit level 5 is when your fun begins as Neith. At this point you'll basically want to keep your back to the outter edge of the map while keeping an eye on everything across the map. A well timed World Weaver can net you an early kill or even a first blood if you are lucky. You can also use it to set up a kill for a team mate and get a nice early assist. This is her main tool to keep on par or ahead of the enemy. A global ult gives you a large amount of assists when used properly.

As Neith, you don't want to stay in the very back like most other hunters. She excels at being a bit closer to the action then most despite having a global ult. Her kit allows her to be more close range then most and once one enemy player dies, this is when she starts to exploit their death using the Broken Weave's left behind to starting dealing extra damage to the enemy while locking them down with large AoE root effects.

If you picked up Odysseus' Bow, getting several basics off in a team fight will start to wear down the enemy team as that chain lightning starts to tickle and scratch them. If you are using the high power builds, this chain lightning does a significant amount of damage and is nothing to sneeze at as it can often get a kill for you on those enemy players trying to hide behind their team.

No matter what build you chose to go for, your abilities will always play a key feature in any fight due to the sheer amount of CC and utility you bring. You have large roots, slows, attack speed debuff's and a nice stun if you chose to use your ult.