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Phobos and Deimos by BananaHammer33

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Phobos and Deimos

By: BananaHammer33
Last Updated: Nov 7, 2022
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Phobos and Deimos

Twin Gods of Fear and Terror

What would a war be without the fear and panic that large armies and great weaponry instill in soldiers? What would a battle be without the dread and terror that you might be breathing your last breath? What would a battlefield be without Phobos and Deimos, the twin Gods of fear and terror?


Born from the God of War Ares, and the Goddess of Love and Beauty Aphrodite, the twin brothers seem to have inherited more from their father than they did their mother. Phobos, known as the God of fear and panic, personified the feelings of fear and panic within soldiers and drove them mad. Deimos, known as the God of dread and terror, took pleasure in overwhelming soldiers before and during battle, causing them to lose their sanity. Together, the brothers drove armies mad and caused much disorder in battles.


Always by their father’s side, they would assist him in and out of battle. At one time, they acted as Ares’s charioteers to his battle against Dionysus. Another time, they tended to his wounds and removed him from the battlefield after he was injured by Herakles. Through every battle they were present, and they took pleasure in causing disorder amongst mankind.


Although they specialized in disrupting the battlefield with fear and terror, they were also great warriors themselves. Zeus himself seeked their aid to help deal with the deadly giant serpent, Typhon. Known to be one of the deadliest monsters to exist, it had the power to potentially defeat Zeus. Unnerved by this fact, he armed Phobos with his lightning and Deimos with his thunder, and sent them on their way to frighten and battle Typhon. No battle was needed as their fearfulness, amplified by the power of the almighty Zeus, was enough to put the great Typhon to rest. Legend says they still hold some of Zeus’s power to this day…


Some see them as soldiers, others see them as the embodiments of fear and evil, driving even the most sane man to insanity. No war would be complete without the presence of Phobos and Deimos, and a battle amongst the Gods is no exception to this. With so much power and chaos, the twin brothers of fear and terror will thrive on the Battleground of the Gods, for even the Gods will tremble to their fears!



Thanks for visiting my God Concept for this year's Halloween contest! I always have a great time making them and coming up with unique ideas! Sorry if the ability art and art in general isn't the best, I'm not an artist myself so I had to get as creative as I could. Happy Halloween and good luck to all other participants! I hope you enjoy this spooky God concept and the innovative designs behind it!


Feel free to leave any comments and/or suggestions and I will gladly respond! Also, note that not all sections are complete, I will be updating them in the next few days as the contest proceeds!


(Abilities follow underneath the table of contents)
Table of Contents (click text to jump to):

Passive Ability

Brother's Dread
Ability: Passive
Affects: Self

Phobos and Deimos are wounded by their losses, but persist onwards.

When you reach 0 health in one stance, you instead become CC immune, damage immune, and unable to move. After 2 seconds, you resurrect in the opposite stance. You permanently have a maximum health decrease and deal reduced damage and gain reduced buffs during your ultimate. You also cannot change back to the dead stance. After 2 minutes, the next time you return to base, the fallen brother will resurrect and you will regain your normal stats. If you die while the passive is active, on the next respawn, the fallen brother returns. The passive cooldown begins when the fallen brother returns.

Notes:
• You can still use your ultimate, however all the damage and buffs from it will be reduced.
• You can still use your stance change, however it will just deal the damage and bonus effects and you will remain in your stance.


Max Health Decrease: 50%
Damage Decrease: 50%
Buff Decrease: 50%
Cooldown: 7 minutes

Primary Abilities

1
Lion's Fright
Ability: Dash
Affects: Enemies
Damage: Physical
Range: 45

Phobos channels his inner frights and dashes forwards.

Phobos dashes forwards, revealing the body of a ghostly lion around him. He deals damage and cripples enemies for 2 seconds.

Notes:
• This ability can be cancelled early.


Damage: 50/70/90/110/130 (+70% of your Physical Power)
Cripple: 1/1/1/2/2 seconds
Cost: 60 mana
Cooldown: 14 seconds

1
Soul Stealer
Ability: Leap
Affects: Enemies
Damage: Physical
Radius: 15

Deimos leaps forwards and summons souls to scare his enemies.

Deimos leaps to a target location, spinning in the air and crashing into the ground, dealing damage and releasing souls from the ground that persist for 2 seconds. Enemies who are hit by the ability or walk through the souls, are deafened and blinded.

Notes:
• Has a range of 55.


Damage: 80/100/120/140/160 (+80% of your Physical Power)
Debuff Duration: 2s
Cost: 60 mana
Cooldown: 14 seconds

2
Frightful Scream
Ability: Cone
Affects: Enemies
Damage: Physical

Phobos releases a frightful scream that fears enemies.

Phobos screams, releasing a cone projectile that travels in a straight line. It deals damage and fears enemies.

Notes:
• The cone has a range of 20


Damage: 80/110/140/170/200 (+90% of your Physical Power)
Travel Range: 55
Fear: 1/1.5/1.5/2/2s
Cost: 70 mana
Cooldown: 12 seconds

2
Dispelling Tremors
Ability: Ground Target
Affects: Enemies
Damage: Physical
Radius: 20

Deimos summons fallen soldiers from the battlefield to disrupt his enemies.

Deimos raises his hands and summons the skeletons of fallen soldiers at a target location. After a short period, the skeletons explode, dealing damage in the area and trembling enemies.

Notes:
• Has a range of 55
• The skeletons are just visual aspects and don't affect the ability itself


Damage: 70/105/140/175/210 (+80% of your Physical Power)
Tremble: 2s
Cost: 70 mana
Cooldown: 12 seconds

3
Instill Fear/Spread Terror
Ability: Stance Change
Affects: Enemies, Self
Damage: Physical
Radius: 12.5

Phobos and Deimos alternate between their powers.

While switching stances, Phobos and Deimos swing their sickle around them, releasing a fiery trail. This attack deals damage and has bonus effects depending on which stance you switch to. Switching to Phobos will deal a damage over time effect for 3 seconds and apply a slow to enemies. Switching to Deimos will heal himself.

Additionally, gain passive physical power while in Phobos's stance and gain passive lifsteal while in Deimos's stance.


Notes:
• This ability can be activated without being leveled once.


Damage: 0/30/45/60/75/90 (+50% of your Physical Power)
Damage Over Time: 0/5/10/15/20/25 every 0.5s (+25% of your Physical Power)
Slow: 20/20/25/25/30% for 2s
Heal: 30/50/70/90/110 (+60% of your Physical Power)
Power: 0/10/15/20/25/30
Lifesteal: 0/2.5/5/7.5/10/12.5
Cost: 0 mana
Cooldown: 10 seconds

Ultimate Abilities

4
Storm of Fear and Terror
Ability: Area, Stim
Affects: Enemies, Self
Damage: Physical
Radius: 25

Phobos and Deimos harness the power of Zeus, and combine to form an unstoppable horror.

Phobos and Deimos merge their separate bodies into one. Deimos releases a thunderous wave that deals damage in a radius around them. After a short casting period, Phobos releases a lightning charged scream that deals additional damage around them. Once the casting is complete, the two have merged and now share abilities and cooldowns. When one ability is cast, the ability in the other stance will also be cast at the same time. Phobos and Deimos will apply all debuffs and receive all buffs from both stances during the ultimate.

Additionally, they will gain bonus movement speed, attack speed, and a max health increase for the duration.


Notes:
• Using the stance change ability will not affect any cooldowns or change stance, it will simply apply the damage and effects from both stances.
• This ability can be cancelled early.
• Dying while using this ability will cause Phobos and Deimos to both die and not activate their passive.
• The cooldowns of the stance with the lowest total cooldowns will be the ones used when the ultimate is first casted.
• When the ultimate ends or is cancelled early, the current cooldowns from the ultimate transfer to both stances.
• When using your first ability, you will follow the leap animation and land on that targeter.


Initial Damage: 75/100/125/150/175 (+50% of your Physical Power)
Secondary Damage: 100/125/150/175/200 (+50% of your Physical Power)
Max Health: 20%
Movement Speed: 10/10/10/15/15%
Attack Speed: 10/15/20/25/30%
Duration: 10s
Cost: 100 mana
Cooldown: 110 seconds

Who Are Phobos and Deimos?

So who are Phobos and Deimos? They are the twin Gods of Fear and Terror! More specifically, Phobos is the God of Fear and Panic, while Deimos is the God of Dread and Terror. The two are the sons of the God of War Ares, and the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite. There aren't many direct stories of Phobos and Deimos as they are more seen as entities or personifications of these emotions of fear and terror. Most of the stories that they have involve them being in war, by their father's side. There are some unique and itneresting stories such as the one where Zeus arms them with his lightning and thunder to fight the great Typhon. The two were worshiped, people would sacrifice animals and other humans in honor of them. Many other Gods and mythological beings had their faces on their shields, most probably to instill fear into the enemies that they face. For example, Heracles and Agamemnon are two beings that have Phobos's head/face on their shields.

As the embodiments of fear and terror, the two brothers disrupted battlefields and disturbed Gods. Some believe they were the most powerful beings as they feared nothing which means they were bound by nothing. On the other hand, even the most powerful Gods had their own greatest fears which the twins could easily take advantage of.

My Vision

As the third year for this content approached, I was yet again, unsure of who I would choose to create a concept for. I began doing some research on 'scary' mythological beings and I came across a few interesting ones! But then, I stumbled across Phobos and Deimos. They really caught my attention because there is so much potential for them to be scary beings within Smite. The closest we've gotten is with Cliodhna who is a banshee and can be seen as scary to some. I really wanted to dive into the scariness aspect for this year's contest and who better to do that then the Gods of Fear and Terror themselves?

There aren't many visual representations, or artistic pieces that others have done online of the twin Gods. Most of their depictions are generally of them in warfare as that is usually where they are seen. They typically have human-like bodies and features and wield standard weapons such as swords, shields, spears, etc. However, I wanted something new and unique for them to fit within Smite and to still be true to their roots. I really wanted them to visually look scary. I chose an image I found online to vaguely represent what I picture the two brothers looking like. They would look like these terrifying ghostly/undead warriors, with flaming eyes and mouths, and sharp teeth that can shred through anything. This leans into the fear aspect, and their warrior aspect as they still have some armor, but it is armor-like skin instead of regular armor. I find that this really makes them look and feel scary and not just like regular warriors as there are also a lot of those already in Smite. This would give them a unique look that fits perfectly for their theme.

I wanted a way to distinguish the two brothers so it is obvious which stance they are in so people don't get confused. The best way I found to do this, is to have them be two different colors. Phobos would have a blue tint and Deimos would have a purple tint, similar to the image. The colors would be dark to give a scarier warrior feeling but still be present enough to easily distinguish them. The two would have different features as well, such as different helmets/head pieces (as seen in the image). Phobos would also be slightly larger and have more spikes and robust armor compared to Deimos (again, similar to the image). As for weapons, they would both yield the same weapon, the sickle. I know it might seem like an odd choice, however I wanted them to be unique and not have generic war weapons. There are very few sickles in Smite and I think that they also fit the fear persona a lot because they are similar to scythes which are often correlated to death. Another unique design aspect I wanted to include was that Phobos is sometimes depicted with a lion's head/face, so I tried to find a way to incorporate that in the design, and I believe I accomplished that with Phobos's first ability, Lion's Fright.

As for their abilities and playstyle, the main reason I wanted to create a concept for them was because of a crazy idea I had, their ultimate. I thought of how cool it would be to have a stance switcher that can use the abilities from both stances at the same time, all in a frenzied ultimate that can cause destruction and chaos. Phobos and Deimos fit perfectly as I could use them as two separate beings for the different stances, and then have them merge themselves into an absolute horror where they can use their abilities at the same time. Because of this, I put their stance switch on their third ability, but I also gave it some bonus effects like damage, a slow and a heal, so that it can at least be used during the ultimate as well. Their stance change has very low damage to avoid them being too strong but still has some bits for the reason stated above. I also leaned into the idea of them being separate, but still connected with their passive as it allows them to survive without one another, but will take a toll on them and make them debuffed.

Overall, I really wanted to create something unique this time that has never been seen in Smite before, but still fits very well within the game to the point where it could potentially be added in the future. I feel like I accomplished what I was aiming for and I managed to express my visions appropriately, all while sticking to the Halloween theme by creating a concept that is truly terrifying, both on paper, and on the Battleground of the Gods!


Visual Look/Animations

Physical Appearance:
General Look: I vaguely described Phobos and Deimos's appearance in the above section but to repeat: They would look like scary beings that are ghostly/demonic. Their skin would have a hard shell of armor that protects them in battle. The two would wear different headpieces to distinguish them, as well as different colors in either stance. Their eyes and mouth would glow with fire, and they would have a large amount of very sharp teeth. You can also see a fiery glow coming from within their armor. They will both wield a fiery sickle and will walk on two legs.

As Phobos: Phobos would look more menacing than Deimos with his armor. He would have more pronounced armor, as well as more and larger spikes along his armor and body, most notably on his shoulders, face, and forearms. He would also be slightly larger in size. His headpiece would be similar to a mohawk piece that extends upwards. He would have a slight blue tint color to him.

As Deimos: He would still look menacing, but slightly less than Phobos. He would have smaller armor pieces that Phobos and mostly only have spikes on his forearms. He is also a bit slimmer than Phobos. The slimmer look and smaller armor makes sense for Deimos and he mostly interacts indirectly with enemies, as both his abilities visually summon other beings, while Phobos is more head on with his approach. His headpiece would cover his forehead and go down to his cheeks, only revealing his face. It would look similar to the below image. He would have a slight purple tint color to him.




Ability Appearance:

Basic Attacks: Both stances will share the same basic attack animation however they will hold their sickles in opposite hands. The basic attack chain is 1/1/1.5x and the last auto is a cleave attack. This will be a simple animation. If the sickle is in the right hand, they will slash from left to right, then right to left, then the cleave will be a big swing that swings to the left and goes counter-clockwise and slashes from the right side. The same will be done in the other stance, but in the opposite direction.

Brother's Dread (Passive): For the passive, the only animations to it would be when it activates. When it does, whichever stance you are in will die and follow the death animation described below. Essentially, the character would fall to his knees, then slouch forward. Then, he would crumble to pieces. When the passive activates, instead of crumbling to pieces, the fallen stance would start to increasingly glow while on its knees, and then the opposite stance would explode out of it, sending pieces flames and pieces flying.

Lion's Fright (Phobos 1): On paper, this ability would look similar to Hercules's 1st ability, Driving Strike, but in practice it would be much different. Phobos would sprint forwards at an incredibly fast speed. Visually, it would look scary, similar to how horror movies make their villains run/move at incredible speeds. While dashing, his mouth would be open, revealing his fiery inside. An audible mix of a scream and a lion's roar would be heard. While dashing, the outline of a blue-ish ghostly lion (similar to the ability art) would appear around Phobos. This is where it might seem similar, but I think it will still be unique as it uses a completely different look for the lion, it uses the whole body and not just the head, and it has a different color palette.


Soul Stealer (Deimos 1): Deimos would leap into the air and during his airtime, he would slowly spin once, just in time for him to land and smash down his sickle on the ground. While in the air, his sickle would slowly glow and ignite more flames. On impact, the area explodes with darkness and the ground target gets dark and souls begin escaping from the floor (these souls would look similar to the ability art of this ability). This visual targeter is what will remain on the ground for the duration of the ability and the souls would continue to be relased. On landing, there would be a large and audible *whoosh* sound and as the souls escape the ground, they will faintly scream.


Frightful Scream (Phobos 2): Phobos would quickly move his head forwards and release a piercing scream. As he screams, his mouth would open up much larger than normal and reveal his large sharp teeth and fiery insides, similar to the below image of Pennywise from the movie It. The scream projectile would be a mix of a ghostly look similar to Cliodhna's 1st ability, Banshee's Wail, but have a blue-ish tint, and some fiery sparks spread out. Audibly, it would be a terrifying scream that travels with the projectile itself.


Dispelling Tremors (Deimos 2): Deimos's sickle would start to glow and he swings it upwards, summoning skeletons at his target location. The ground target where the skeletons rise from would darken to a dark purple-ish tint (similar to his color). Then, the skeletons would rise up in different spots and when they fully ascend, they will explode, releasing their bone pieces everywhere in the targeter. The skeletons themselves will not all look the same, some will be missing limbs, some will be holding weapons/shields and they would be vertically straight, except for their head which will be slanting forwards (see image below for reference of slant). They will also slightly shake will levitating. Audibly, a similar *whooshing* noise will be heard (similar to Deimos's 1st ability) and as the skeletons rise, bones clashing can be heard. When it explodes, a large sound of bones and metal clashing will be heard.


Instill Fear (3 from Deimos to Phobos): Deimos would spin once and swing his sickle in a circle around him. While he spins, his sickle would glow. As he spins, Phobos emerges slowly and takes over when the spin is over. This would kind of look similar to how Hel switches stances, but with much more body movement. Audibly, the swing during the spin will make a noise as it slashes through the air and the unique voicelines for this ability will be heard by everyone. Unique to this switch, Deimos will release a circle of flames around him to deal the damage over time affect.


Spread Terror (3 from Phobos to Deimos): This would look identical to the above description (and have the same audio cues but with the Phobos's voicelines instead), except it doesn't have the last part with the circle of flames. Instead, a purple-ish glowing trail would appear as Phobos spins into Deimos, signifying the healing received from this ability.


Storm of Fear and Terror (4): At the initial casting time, a sound of thunder will be heard and dark clouds would appear to deal the initial damage. The animation for the Gods would look similar to the 3rd ability with the spinning. After the initial damage, he will start to spin, and then the other stance would slowly detach out of the first one while spinning. Once the spining is done, they will both let out a piercing scream, and explode lightning in a circle around them, with some parts sticking outwards (see image below). Along with the scream, there would also be sounds of lightning. Visually, the two would share a bottom half which would be a morph of darkness under them and their top half would be their two separate bodies (which are attached at the morph from the waist up). They would glow more than before and when using their voice, they will both speak at the same time. While casting other abilities, the abilities themselves will look the same and each respective brother will do their respective animations. The only exception is Phobos's 1st ability, Lion's Fright, which will send out the lion and a ghostly form of Phobos along with it as your character will follow the leap animation during the ultimate. As for basic attacks, they will have the same basic attack chain, but the way it works in the ult is Phobos would swing first, then Deimos, and then they would both swing together for the cleave attack. When the ultimate ends, it would look similar to the casting of it, but in reverse and without the thunder and lightning parts. Note that if one of your stances is dead while using the ultimate, they will still appear in the animations, but they will be in a ghostly form. Also in the image below, it was difficult to draw it because it's small but the parts sticking out would be small lightning bolts that reach out of the radius.




Animations:

Death: When your passive isn't active, or if you die during your ultimate, this animation would play. Your character will fall to their knees, and then slouch forwards. Then they will slowly crumble to pieces and disappear.

Recall: As you start your recall, the brother from the other stance will slowly detach himself from within you and push off you into the sky as the recall ends. When you are in base, you will see your brother's form fly from the sky from where you recalled back into your body. The stance you are in doing the recall will swing his sickle back and forth, and then throw it onto the ground. When he recalls, his sickle will fly back into his hand. If the other brother is dead, his animation will still play but he be in his ghostly form.

God Selection: Phobos and Deimos would stand separately, then walk towards each other and similar to their ult, will spin into each other and merge into one.

Introduction in game: They will emerge upwards from the ground, in the form of their ultimate, and then spin out of it into Phobos.

Jump: Nothing too special with their jump, they will normally jump and lift their arms slightly as they do so. When they land, some flames will pop from the bottom of their feet.

Wave: Whichever stance you're in will wave menacingly with their sickle while the other stance's hand will pop out of the backside of the character.

Clap: Showing how impenetrable their skin is, when they clap, they will bang their sickle against their chest three times, creating a sort of clanging noise.

Idle: After being idle for long, the stance that you are in will start to fall asleep slowly, and then the other brother will pop out in front of him and scream, scaring and in turn, waking him up.

Walk: They will both walk the same way and they would take their steps quickly one after the other. For example, step right, quickly step left. Then step right, quickly step left, and so on.

Special: Similar to how Scylla's special emote acts, Phobos and Deimos will turn the other way and then quickly turn back and scream while revealing the heads of both brothers, hopefully scaring their enemies.


Build and Playstyle

Building with Phobos and Deimos can go in a few different directions due to the flexibility of their kit and playstyles. Between the passive buffs received in both stances, to the large number of abilities, there are a few ways that they can be built and played. I will highlight these various builds, as well as upgrade patterns, and even different playstyles. There are obviously some builds that are better and more suited to them, but there are other ones where you can have fun and still perform well! I'll give my overall thoughts of the best builds at the end!


A classic assassin build with Bumba's Dagger as starter:
Builds


A classic assassin build with Eye Of The Jungle as starter:
Builds


A classic assassin build with Manikin Scepter as starter:
Builds


A lifesteal/sustain-focused assassin build with different starters:
Builds


An auto-attack focused build:
Builds


A meta jungler build:
Builds


A bruiser/solo build:
Builds


Upgrading

As a jungler build:
(2, 4, 1, 3) OR (2, 1, 4, 3)
As a jungler, your primary focus is to be able to clear camps effectively and efficiently, and to have strong ganking potential. Starting with your 2nd ability is your priority as it is your main damage/clearing ability. Then, upgrading your 1st ability is the best option for more damage and movement options. From here on out, you can focus your upgrade order on the above two options. You should prioritize your 2nd or 1st ability over your ultimate as they are both used as abilities during your ultimate as well. You will also be able to clear more efficiently with more damage on your abilities as they have relatively long cooldowns. You can argue that the damage on the ultimate casting is worth it to upgrade that instead, but I believe that with more damage on your other abilities, it will allow for more pressure both during and not during the casting of your ultimate. However, if you believe otherwise you are free to focus your ultimate before them. Your 3rd ability should be upgraded last because although the passive bonuses are nice, they are nothing compared to a large increase in damage across your abilities.


As a regular assassin build:
(4, 2, 1, 3) OR (2, 4, 1, 3)
As a regular assassin build, this can work in conquest but the above upgrading order is more suited for that. This upgrading order is for other gamemodes outside of conquest. Similar to the above upgrading order, at levels 1 and 2, you want to upgrade your 2nd ability, and then your 1st ability. Afterwards, you can prioritize your ultimate as its damages and buffs are very strong, or you can focus more on your 2nd ability if you believe that you will get more benefit from it for the early game. Lastly, you can upgrade your 3rd ability last because again, it doesn't grant anything significantly stronger than what your other abilities offer.


As an auto-attack build:
(4, 2, 3, 1) OR (4, 2, 1, 3)
For an auto-attack focused build, you would again start by upgrading your 2nd ability at level 1, and then your 1st ability at level 2. For this type of build, I believe that focusing on upgrading your ultimate is important as during the casting of it is when you will get the most value from your build since you get increased movement and attack speed. Then, upgrading your 2nd ability is always important and a good idea because it is your main damaging ability and also has some CC. Then, choosing between the 3rd ability and 1st ability is your choice but personally, I think that the 3rd ability should be upgraded first as it provides you with bonus passive power, or lifesteal, both of which are helpful when it comes to focusing your damage on your auto-attacks. If you prefer to have more damage with your 1st ability, then you can upgrade it first however, with an auto-attack build you won't be getting as much damage with your abilities as normal.


As a jungler with a bit of a bruiser aspect:
(2, 1, 4, 3) OR (2, 4, 1, 3)
You would pretty much upgrade the same way as a regular jungler, either focusing your 1st ability second, or your ultimate second, it all depends on how the match is playing out and what you feel is more necessary.


As a solo:
(2, 1, 4, 3) OR (2, 1, 3, 4)
As with other builds, you would start the same way, 2nd ability at level 1 and then 1st ability at level 2. Again, you would focus your 2nd ability as it gives you the most clear and damage potential to help in the solo lane. Next, you would definitely want your 1st ability to be focused as it provides you even more clear and boxing potential which will increase your pressure significantly in lane. Afterwards, you can choose between your 3rd ability or your ultimate depending on what you feel is more appropriate. Your ultimate will allow you to be a larger threat when using it, however your 3rd ability will help a lot with in lane boxing and sustain. Depending on how the match goes, you can focus either or, but perhaps your ultimate would be better as by that point in the game, the laning phase might reach that stale point where no one really dies and the bonuses from your 3rd ability might not help that much.


Overall:
Overall, you'll always want to upgrade your 2nd ability and then your 1st ability at levels 1 and 2. Afterwards, prioritizing your 2nd ability is almost always the best option as it's your main damage output. Generally, you'd be upgrading your 3rd ability last as its passive buffs aren't significant enough to be a better option than your other abilities. This is a similar case with most stance switchers in the game. In between those two abilities, it's up to you which ability you prioritize. Your 1st ability will provide more long term damage, while your ultimate will provide more short term damage for small bursts or important fights. It's up to you to decide!


Gameplay

Phobos and Deimos's playstyle can vary a lot from player to player and in between different roles and builds. Here, I will be discussing some unique techniques and tricks you can do with them, some gameplay scenarios, their overall playstyle, their unique elements and features, and some of their pros and cons.


Techniques/tricks:
Starting off with a common technique is auto-attack cancelling. This isn't unique to any god, in fact, every god can use this technique. It's a technique where you use your auto-attacks in between the casting of each ability. By doing this, on most gods and abilities you can essentially cancel the ending animation of abilities and auto-attacks with each other. This allows you to output more damage in a smaller amount of time. This is especially strong when built with Hydra's Lament as you can keep proccing the passive of that item, and item that Phobos and Deimos should always have in their core builds.

Even as a stance switcher with many abilities, Phobos and Deimos aren't as complex as other characters might be, however that does not take away from their potential. Although their abilities might seem simple at their core, this character surely has a high skill ceiling as managing your cooldowns and knowing when to switch stance is crucial to succeeding. The first trick I will talk about is in relation to their passive Brother's Dread. While it is a very strong passive, essentially giving you a second chance, it does come with its downsides. If you resurrect and manage to survive, you have a significant debuff to your health. While this may seem counter-intuitive, you always have the option to purposely die to gain your other half back. However, the best way to do this is not during a fight because then that defeats the purpose of the passive. I believe the best time to use this strategy would be after you win a fight and the enemy is respawning. Similar to how people purposely die in Assault to build items, you can simply run under a tower and die to the tower to avoid giving gold or xp to the enemy. Again, this is a risky play, especially in Conquest as if you have a lead, you would want to stay alive and keep it, and also being dead means you're losing out on farm so I don't recommend doing this in Conquest. The only time I see it being viable in Conquest, is if there is a big teamfight in the late game and most players died from it, it could be beneficial then as there is nothing much that could be done on the map (no objectives or pushing). If you think you'd just be waiting for the next minute for your teammates to respawn to do anything, then that could be a good time (as long as it doesn't make it so the other team can now do something since you're dead). Doing this will bring your other half back sooner and will also start the cooldown of your apssive sooner so you can hopefully use it again later. In other modes where the maps are smaller, and respawn times are shorter, it isn't as much of a gamble to do this. But again, this strategy is extremely risky and definitely one that should be treaded lightly if you want to try it.

Another trick has to do with your passive Brother's Dread again, but also in relation to your ultimate Storm of Fear and Terror. As stated in the notes of the ultimate, if you were to die while using your ultimate, your passive would not activate as technically, you are using both brothers at once. This brings in some more skill with this ability because you would want to be careful when you use it. If you feel like you are about to die while in your ultimate, it might be beneficial to you to cancel it early so that if you did die, you would be able to activate your passive and stay in the fight a little longer, or make a quick escape. Contrary to this, if you feel like your resurrection might be wasted, for example your team gets wiped in a teamfight and you have all 5 enemies on you and there is no way you can escape them (even with your movement abilities), you can instead stay within your ultimate, or even cast it in order to die and save your passive. Some people might see this as wasting your ultimate, but with some cooldown reduction, by the time you respawn and start your next fight, you will most likely have it ready, or almost have it ready. And, at the same time you will also have your passive ready. This trick will take a lot of quick thinking to get it done right but in cases that you do get it, it can really change the way that your next fight plays out.

The next trick has to do with your ultimate Storm of Fear and Terror and how your cooldowns work. It's very important to understand how cooldowns work with Phobos and Deimos. In short, when you use your ultimate, the stance that has the total lowest cooldowns (your stance switching ability does not count as it shares a cooldown in both stances), will be the selected stance to transfer cooldowns to your ultimate. Here's an example to paint a better picture. If you are Phobos and you use both your abilities, they go on cooldown. In your other stance, Deimos has no cooldowns as you haven't used his abilities yet. So, if you ult in Phobos or Deimos stance, the cooldowns of your abilities in Deimos's stance would transfer to your ultimate. Here's an example with numbers if this is still confusing.
Phobos 1: 10 seconds
Phobos 2: 10 seconds
Deimos 1: 2 seconds
Deimos 2: 3 seconds
The total cooldowns of Phobos are at 20 seconds, while the total cooldowns of Deimos are at 5 seconds. This means that when you use your ultimate, Deimos's cooldowns will be selected. Now, these would be the cooldowns in your ultimate:
Ultimate 1: 2 seconds
Ultimate 2: 3 seconds
Finally, at the end of your ultimate, the cooldowns that you have for your abilities transfer to both stances.
Ultimate 1: 4 seconds
Ultimate 2: 2 seconds
->
Phobos 1: 4 seconds
Phobos 2: 2 seconds
Deimos 1: 4 seconds
Deimos 2: 2 seconds
Your stance change shares a universal cooldown across all stances and during your ultimate as well. Now that we have it cleared up, the strategy behind using the ult: In order to get maximum damage, you want to maximize the abilities that you use. Because of longer cooldowns, it is impossible to use your abilities twice during your ultimate without the help from items (even with max cooldown reduction). Items like
Bumba's Hammer and Genji's Guard are examples of items that could help you reach an additional casting during your ultimate. Because of this fact, there are two possible ways to maximize the usage of your ultimate. The first method would be to use your 1st ability and 2nd ability in either stance, use your ultimate, and then you have access to all 3 abilities during it. Using them near the start will make it so that when your ultimate ends, your cooldowns in both stances will be very low and ready to use again soon. Alternatively, if you managed to get enough cooldown reduction from items and item passives, you might be able to cast your abilities a second time during your ultimate for more damage. However, when you exit your ultimate you won't have many abilities to use for some time. The second method would be to use your abilites in one stance, change stance and then use the abilities in that stance (so use all of your abilities), and then use your ultimate. For the first bit of the duration, you won't have any abilities to use, but you will still have the large buff of health, movement speed, and attack speed that you can utilize to deal a lot of damage. Then, during the ultimate you will surely get your cooldowns back to use your abilities at least once. There are of course many different ways to use your abilities and ultimate in combination with each other, however I believe these two methods are the most efficient ones.

As for your other abilities, these ones are relatively straightforward. Your second ability in both stances, Frightful Scream and Dispelling Tremors are best for clearing wave and dealing damage/poking enemies. They also both have some crowd control which can help you zone enemies, disorient them in fights, self-peel, or help with an escape. Your first ability in both stances, Lion's Fright and Soul Stealer are both movement abilities that you can either use to escape, engage on enemies or simply move around the map. Lion's Fright is a quick, and far reaching dash, similar to
Agni's dash. It can be cancelled early similar to Cliodhna's dash, but that is hard to pull off effectively as it is still a relatively quick dash. It also cripples enemies that you hit so it is a strong engaging tool to lockdown an enemy. You can also follow it up with Frightful Scream to fear your enemy and lock them down even more. Soul Stealer is a classic leap ability, but it also blinds and deafens enemies. Although these aren't the strongest forms of crowd control, in combination they can be relatively deadly and if capitalized on, your enemies will lose significant health without having a clue as to what is going on.

Finally, your stance switching ability, Instill Fear/Spread Terror. As with most stance switchers that have cooldowns on this ability, you want to make sure you get maximum use from it. It is generally best to stay in Phobos's stance as his 1st ability is a quicker movement option that has better CC and is easier to deal damage with, and his 2nd ability has stronger damage and CC. The best time to switch stance would be during a fight if you would like to deal more damage to enemies, or if you are low on health and need to heal up, similar to
Tyr. As Deimos, you have passive lifesteal and heal yourself when switching to him so it's a good idea to switch if you need a lot of healing.

Relics/Consumables:
I didn't speak much of relics and consumables for Phobos and Deimos but they are relatively standard. The obvious relics you can use are Purification Beads and Aegis Amulet as they are always safe and strong picks that can help you survive certain death, or even achieve kills. You can opt for Blink Rune as well because it allows you to save your movement abilities for even more damage, or for a quick getaway. Other than these three, there aren't many other viable options, except maybe for Teleport Fragment if you are playing solo in conquest and believe that you will need it. However you do have two movement abilities that can help you get to lane faster so this relic is not really necessary. As for consumables, you pretty much want to always get at least one Healing Potion, and two Mana Potion. Naturally, as a stance switcher you use more mana so mana potions are essential to staying in the fight long enough so you can recall with enough gold to buy a full first item.

Example game scenario 1 (as a jungler):
You are currently in Phobos's stance, roaming the jungle and clearing your camps. You use your 2nd ability, Frightful Scream, to clear your camps quickly. You utilize the cleave in your auto attack chain to help clear the camps as well, allowing you to save your movement ability in case you need it. There is no pending threat or fight, so you use your 1st ability Lion's Fright, to quickly move to the next jungle camp to gain xp and gold faster. As you complete it, you notice that the enemy mid laner is pushed up a bit too far and your mid laner needs some help. You also see that the enemy jungler is on his way to gank mid and help his mid laner secure the kill. As you approach the situation, Lion's Fright is off cooldown. You blink towards the enemy jungler and dash through them, damaging them and crippling them, preventing them from blinking on your teammate and preventing them from using any movement abilities to get in the fight. Dashing towards the enemy mid laner, you use your 2nd ability, Frightful Scream to deal damage and fear them away from your mid. While they are CC'd, you use your ultimate Storm of Fear and Terror to confirm the initial damage of it on them. You have done significant damage to the enemy mid and the enemy jungler is now in the fight, however you have 3 more abilities to use. You cast your 2nd ability and aim the targeter from Dispelling Tremors on yourself as you are fighting both the mid and jungler. They will get damaged and be trembled and maybe even get hit by Frightful Scream in the process allowing for more damage and CC. Then, you can use your 3rd ability, Instill Fear/Spread Terror to heal any health you lost, as well as damage and slow the two enemies. If they aren't dead by this point, they are surely close so you can keep using your auto attacks to finish the job. If they manage to get too far, you have your 1st ability which can be used to chase them down, or it can be used early to cripple, blind, deafen, and deal damage to the enemies if you manage to hit both abilities. Don't forget to always auto-attack cancel between your abilities, especially if you have Hydra's Lament built. This should be an easy kill, or even double kill, and by the time your ultimate finishes casting, you will have your abilities up shortly to escape, deal more damage, peel yourself, etc.

Example game scenario 2 (in a 1v1 against someone else, regardless of role of gamemode):
You find yourself in a 1v1 with an enemy. You should already be in Phobos's stance as it's that's the standard. You manage to hit them with your 2nd ability Frightful Scream which damages and fears them, which you follow up with your 1st ability Lion's Fright for a free hit. However, that put you slightly out of position and now you are taking a lot of damage from the enemy. You use your 3rd ability Spread Terror to heal yourself and open your option to new abilities. You use your 2nd ability Dispelling Tremors in an attempt to disorient the enemy and get some more damage in. You realize you need a boost in power and health since you are getting low so you use your ultimate, Storm of Fear and Terror to deal a large amount of damage and gain some increased health. The burst from the ultimate managed to kill your opponent, however during all this time another enemy rotated to you. Out of position and low on health, you realize that you probably won't survive this so you cancel your ultimate early so that you can benefit from your passive, Brother's Dread. You return in Phobos's stance and dash away, however the enemy catches up to you and kills you. Your passive activates and you resurrect with low hp as Deimos. You manage to leap away quickly into your tower and to safety before the enemy can finish you off. By now, your teammates have arrived to support and protect you. You return to base and decide it's best to stay in this form for the next 2 minutes until Phobos comes back to life.

Playstyle:
Phobos and Deimos's overall playstyle is very flexible and can vary from player to player. I wanted them to feel like two different characters that compliment each other and play off of each other. Their abilities are different enough from each other where they are unique, but similar enough where they can used on top of one another and still flow smoothly. Phobos and Deimos have very strong potential with their high movement options, relatively large amount of CC (even though they are mostly weaker CC), and a terrifying (no pun intended) ultimate that can change the shape of the game. They are best suited in the jungle but can also be played in solo. They could potentially work in mid as they do have some good clear, but it is risky. However if you want to have some fun, go ahead! Overall, their playstyle can vary from player to player and there are many nuances to them that players can capitalize on. There is definitely a high skill ceiling to this character and what they are capable of.

Unique Gameplay Elements/Features:
• Two separate characters worked into one
• Unique passive that allows for a second chance
• High movement options that allow for very aggressive play
• Never seen before ultimate that merges abilities from different stances into one
• Unique ability animations and ideas


Pros Cons
High Damage Output Hard to Use
High Mobility High Mana Usage
Average Crowd Control Long Cooldowns


Voicelines/Interactions

Voice:
Phobos and Deimos would have a very similar voice, Phobos's voice will be a bit deeper to distinguish them a bit. Their voices will be eerie and scary, nothing that sounds comical. It could either be a strong and scary voice, or something more of a whisper/low and eerie voice. I couldn't really find any good references for this, so just think of a scary voice and that would be it! Also, their voices can have a very small echo to them that is very minimal but is still audible to give them that 'spooky' feel.

Voicelines:
God Selection:
"Phobos... and... Deimos"

Introduction:
"Fear and Terror will reign across this battlefield!"

Lion's Fright (1 Phobos):
"Cripple them!"
"Frightful!"
*Scream*

Soul Stealer(1 Deimos):
"Consume their souls!"
"Dreadful!"
*Scream*

Frightful Scream (2 Phobos):
There would be three different variations of a scream
*Scream 1*
*Scream 2*
*Scream 3*


Dispelling Tremors(2 Deimos):
"Dispel them!"
"Split them up!"
"Break their defenses!"

Instill Fear (3 From Deimos To Phobos) Deimos would speak here:
"Instill fear!"
"Consume their fear!"
"Send them panicking!"

Spread Terror (3 From Phobos To Deimos) Phobos would speak here:
"Spread the terror!"
"Make them tremble!"
"Destroy them!"

Storm of Fear and Terror (4):
"Engulf them in their fears!"
"Even Gods fear death!"
*Maniacal scream*

Buying Offensive Item:
"This will amplify their fears!"
"Scary!"

Buying Defensive Item:
"The best offense, is a great defense."
"This will surely terrify them!"

Placing Wards:
"We will see beyond their fears!"
"We know where you are!"

Buying Consumables:
"Even fear needs a drink."
"To aid us in battle."

When in a Killstreak:
"Fear is an unstoppable force!"
"They will tremble in our terror!"

When killing a Jungle Boss:
"You call that scary?"
"I've had dreams scarier than that."
"Pathetic..."

When destroying a Tower:
"Nobody's scared of a simple tower."
"Who needs a ballista, when fear is the strongest defense."

When destroying a Pheonix:
"Your flames are nothing compared to ours."
"Cut off its wings!"

Low Health:
"Fear never dies!"
"That was close."

Death:
"We... do not... fear... death..."
"How... dreadful this feels..."
"We will haunt those, even in the afterlife..."

VGS:
[VEG] I'm The Greatest: "We are terror!"
[VEA] Awesome!: "Frightening!"
[VER] You rock!: "You are fearful!"
[VEW] Woohoo!: "Terrifying!"
[VVGR] No problem.: "Fear not!"
[VVGO] Oops!: "Sorry, we panicked."
[VVGT] That's too bad!: "Did we scare you?"
[VVGQ] Quiet!: "Silence fools!"
[VVB] Be right back!: "Fear will return."

Jokes:
"We knew someone once who had a fear of speedbumps, but he got over it!"
"Did you hear about the rock that faced his greatest fear? He is now a little boulder."
"What do you call a mountain goat with a fear of heights? A goat."


Taunts:
"Your greatest fears are nothing compared to us!"
"You will beg for death once we're done with you!"
"Your nightmares have just become your reality!"


Laughs (These laughs would be creepy and not your typical funny laughs):
"Heh heh heh heh"
"Ha ha ha... ha... ha"
"Heh heh heh ha ha"



Directed Taunts:
Ares: "We learnt from the best."

Aphrodite: "We are sorry mother, in war there are no limits."

Zeus: "Even without your powers, we can still defeat you!"

Thanatos: "Even Death itself has fears."

Kukulkan: "We have defeated a much greater serpent than you, this was but a walk in the park."

Cliodhna: "Let us show you a true scream!"


Taunts Directed Towards Phobos and Deimos:
Ares: "Stick to fearing the enemies, I'll continue to win the battles!"

Aphrodite: "My poor boys, look at what war has done to you..."

Zeus: "Even with my powers, you two are nothing! I'll be taking those back!"

Cthulhu: "Your existence is inconsequential, for I am the universe's greatest fear."

Hel: "We think it would be more beneficial to stay as one, being separate is so primitive!"

Hades: "Somebody needed to silence those fools."


Skin Ideas

Moonstone:
The name of this skin would be Moonstone and it would be a recolor. This is in reference to the fact that the moons of planet Mars are named after Phobos and Deimos. Their fiery colors will instead have a sort of blue-ish palette to it. Intead of Phobos being blue-ish and Deimos being purple-ish, Phobos would be green-ish and Deimos would be yellow-ish. They will just have a small tint of these colors, similar to their base look so they aren't fluorescent, but also aren't just grey and mundane.



Armored Fear:
The name of this skin would be Armored Fear and they would visually look very different. They will be armored up, with new weapons such as a battleaxe instead of a sickle. They will still have some glowing aspects to them, mainly from their eyes, mouth, and from within their armor. Phobos would be the red one, and Deimos would be the orange one. The voicepack to this skin would be more of a rough and deep man's voice, similar to Ares, but still having a bit of a creepiness to it.



Robotic Terror:
The name of this skin would be Robotic Terror. This is art I found online for someone looking to create transformers based on Phobos and Deimos. I really love the look of it and think that it would work and look great in Smite! I think however that the two should be switched and that Phobos should be on the right and Deimos on the left as the right one looks like it has some sort of lionhead on its chestpiece which works better with Phobos's lore. Other than that, it's a great art piece! They would most likely still wield sickles, perhaps robotic ones that match their looks. The abilities themselves can have mechanized visuals to match with the robot theme.



Scare-Crows:
The name of this skin would be Scare-Crows and I think it would probably be the coolest and best-fitting skin for Phobos and Deimos. For starters, the name is perfect for them as it's a great pun that perfectly describes what the skin is. Secondly, the sickle is a farmer's tool and farmers also use scarecrows so the weapon would fit perfectly. My idea for this skin would be the two brothers would be demonic/possessed scarecrows that wield deadly sickles from the farm they were on. They would obviously look terrifying but still retain certain qualities like the glowing eyes and mouth. There are many ways the bodies could look but I would picture something like the following. There are many images online but I just selected a few to give some ideas of how they could look scary.



Toxic Twins:
The name of this skin would be Toxic Twins and it would fit within the toxic skin collection. I don't have any art of this as I am unfortunately not an artist, but I'm sure your creative minds can think of what it would look like! Abilities would have toxic and toxic cloud elements to them and they can have their toxic gear on with a face covering. Phobos would be green and Deimos would be yellow and their voicepack would be similar to how the other toxic skins sound.


Stats

Stats:
Health: 610(+80)
Mana: 220(+40)
Speed: 355(+0)
Range: 12(+0)
Attack/Sec: 1(+1.5%)

Basic Attack:
Damage: 38(+2.1) +100% of Physical Power
Progression: 1/1/1.5x damage and swing time, hitting in an AoE on the final blow

Protection:
Physical: 16(+3.1)
Magical: 38(+1.2)

Regen:
HP5: 9(+0.68)
MP5: 4.8(+0.46)


Achievements

Divide Their Forces: As Deimos, hit 3 or more enemies with a single casting of Dispelling Tremors.

Ultimate Phobia: As Phobos and Deimos, hit an enemy god with all 6 of your abilities within a single casting of your ultimate.


Overall Concept

Overall, I really wanted to create something new and unique for this year's Halloween contest, and I really wanted it to fit in within the scary theme of Halloween. I feel like I successfully created a concept that fits all of these criteria. Phobos and Deimos are the Gods of Fear and Terror, and although they didn't have as many stories about them as other Gods do, I managed to incorporate every part of their lore and myths into their design and abilities. They look, act, sound, and play as true embodiments of fear and terror.

I wanted something unique and new to them that has never been done before and I think that my creation of their passive along with their ultimate is something that has never been seen before in Smite. Their passive is similar to
Persephone's old passive, but still different enough to be its own thing. Furthermore, their ultimate is completely new and unseen and honestly, it's my favorite part of the kit. I find it so cool and interesting and just imagining what it would look like in game is both incredible and horrifying (I would be terrified if I saw that abomination running me down haha!)

Most of the numbers I used for the abilities are simply based off of other similar characters and then I attempted to balance them to fit with this God. I can see that they might be too high, but it doesn't really matter as the numbers aren't the important parts, it's the actual abilities that matter. The best way to balance all of this would be with in game testing, which of course I cannot do.

If you made it this far thank you for going through my God concept for the twin Gods of Fear and Terror, Phobos and Deimos! I wanted to create something unique and I am proud of my creation. I feel like I got the balance I wanted between uniqueness, fear factor, and overall being fun to play. Thank you again and Happy Halloween! And who knows, maybe one day the twin Gods will be added to Smite! Until then, I'll see you on the Battleground of the Gods!


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KarmaKatcher | February 26, 2023 12:40am
Great job! your god concepts are a big inspiration for me to create my own and this one is no different. My only question is what program you used to create the ability visualizations?
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