I was watching the excellent guide from HiRez's Smite youtube channel, in particular "Know your enemies - Mercury"
There's one statement that was made about his 2nd ability that really confused me:
"The passive gives you movement speed, not the active. I see a lot of new Mercury players try to use their 2 to catch up to an enemy that is running away from them when the active portion of the ability does nothing for movement speed"
What does that mean? I thought passive of an ability is a side effect when the ability was activated. I was wrong? Doesn't he get movement speed every time he activates his 2?
A ability can have a "dormant" power that, when you active it, that "dormant" power goes "night-night" and you don't have it. Mercury's 2 is a pretty good example of it.
Another example is with the god that will be getting on SMITE pretty soon, Chiron. He's 2 can only hit enemies you've hit with your ult/basic attack. After some that, the ability to hit the 2 AND get the passive 3% physical pen dissapears if you miss a condition for it to exist.
A passive is something that happens naturally. You cant activate it as it is always there.
Mercurys two lets him permanently gain movement speed, meaning he gains speed as he levels up. You dont gain movement speed when you activate it, cause it is in your stats. Instead the "active", what happens when you activate the ability, is attack speed.
" Bakasura passively gains physical power.
When activated, he gains additional true damage on each strike for the duration."
When you activate Butcher Blades, the only thing you get is the additional (10 - 70) True damage on your basic attacks.
The (10 - 30) physical damage is always on, no matter if you activate your ability or not.
Since he has a in-built attack speed steroid, and is supposed to have crits, he's "naturally" a tower killer.
Careful here, Mercury is a natual tower killer, but not because he has crits, because towers are immuned to crits.
Towers are immuned to almost every god abilities.
So, every god needs to use their basic attacks to destroy a tower.
That means that a good tower killer needs to have strong basic attacks.
Therefore, 3 stats are relevant :
Power (either physical or magical, doesn't matter)
Penetration (Because towers have a good amount of protection)
Attack speed (More attack speed = more DPS, as simple as that)
For the case of Mercury, he is a naturally good tower killer because of both his kits and the items players usually buy on him.
Maximum Velocity is one of the best attack speed steroid in the game, with a 70% added attack speed.
Because of that ability, we don't need to buy attack speed items on him, and we can focus more on power, like crits items ( Deathbringer, Rage or Malice)
Also, because of his passive, his first punch does so much damage that Titan's Bane is usually better than The Executioner on him.
During late game, he can often 2 or 3 shot a squishy god, so The Executioner isn't that useful.
Careful here, Mercury is a natual tower killer, but not because he has crits, because towers are immuned to crits.
Towers are immuned to almost every god abilities.
So, every god needs to use their basic attacks to destroy a tower.
That means that a good tower killer needs to have strong basic attacks.
Therefore, 3 stats are relevant :
Power (either physical or magical, doesn't matter)
Penetration (Because towers have a good amount of protection)
Attack speed (More attack speed = more DPS, as simple as that)
For the case of Mercury, he is a naturally good tower killer because of both his kits and the items players usually buy on him.
Maximum Velocity is one of the best attack speed steroid in the game, with a 70% added attack speed.
Because of that ability, we don't need to buy attack speed items on him, and we can focus more on power, like crits items ( Deathbringer, Rage or Malice)
Also, because of his passive, his first punch does so much damage that Titan's Bane is usually better than The Executioner on him.
During late game, he can often 2 or 3 shot a squishy god, so The Executioner isn't that useful.
Darling, look at the power charts for the crit items. Deathbringer ? 50 power. Golden Bow ? 35 power + 5% mvm speed. Malice ? 50. Rage ? 30. Normally, people would do Golden Bow + Deathbringer = 85 power. Including a lot of penetration, he's just a natural tower killer.
While I now have better understanding on the passives I think I would need more studying on the builds to understand better why one item is better than another like why Titan's Bane is better than The Executioner
Titan's Bane gives pen to ALL of your physical attacks, so that includes abilities, while The Executioner is only for basic attacks. If you're a hunter, Exe > Titan's. If you're a warrior/assassin, most of the times, Titan's > Exe
SMITEFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new god, or fine tune your favorite SMITE gods’s build and strategy.
WhatHaveIDone
Posts: 30
WhatHaveIDone
Posts: 30
ThePerfectPrism
<Mage Master>
Awards Showcase
Distinguished (56)
Posts: 1701
View My Blog
ThePerfectPrism
<Mage Master>
Awards Showcase
Distinguished (56)
Posts: 1701
View My Blog
GameGeekFan
<Veteran>
Awards Showcase
Distinguished (50)
Posts: 1132
View My Blog
Bullfrog323
Prominent (27)
Posts: 475
Bullfrog323
Prominent (27)
Posts: 475
ThePerfectPrism
<Mage Master>
Awards Showcase
Distinguished (56)
Posts: 1701
View My Blog
WhatHaveIDone
Posts: 30
ThePerfectPrism
<Mage Master>
Awards Showcase
Distinguished (56)
Posts: 1701
View My Blog