So Ao Kuang is basically just a magical Loki right?

Hi SmiteFire:

Newbie here.

Tried out Ao Kuang a couple times and I really suck at playing him. Just curious, why is he even a mage? He's got a stealth, a damage boost, a short distance burst, and an execute. Sounds a lot like Loki's kit. (Who I am pretty bad at using as well) Even his passive encourage him to stay out of battle.

When playing practice mode I am always placed in the middle lane against Ra. I basically get ***** slapped by him. Even combining dragon call (ranged) and wild storm I am not doing much to the minions. Also staying in combat meaning it is harder to dodge celestial beam. Trying to sneak behind him and attack him with dragon call (melee) and wild storm combo is not usually enough to kill him early game and he can easily retaliate with celestial beam. At melee range I am NEVER able to dodge the beam. (Is it even possible to dodge it at melee range?) Minon archers would start targeting me. Plus Ra's auto attack and occasional divine light. I was never able to survive a melee combat.

I do OK with assassins (Not Loki) in practice mode as I was usually able to run around and assassinate gods and assist the weaker bots on mid and right lane. I am pretty sure the game make bots on our side stupid to make it more challenging and I like that. Anubis can't even stop the minions even if I kill Ra and babysitting him means I need to be efficient.

On the other hand, since Ao Kuang is not an assassin, I am required to stay in middle lane in practice mode. This mean I would have to learn how to lane push with Ao Kuang. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to defeat Ra in 1v1 and lane push. That's why I am here seeking advice.

I have read on other forum that some old posts mention Ao Kuang is a good pusher. Am I missing something or were they really talking about Kukulkan, who is a pretty good pusher.

I know that I could play co-op mode and choose a position I want. I've done that... Only managed to get 1 kill because players on my side are just too strong against bots, and I am not about to enter a normal mode to ruin someone's game as well. So I am really hoping to get better at pushing with him and hope to get some tips on it.

I understand you prefer to play alone against bots if you want to improve.

However, in SMITE, practice and CO-OP modes aren't that much elaborated, because of the poor AI.
It is not only the bots on your side, all bots are equally dumb, you may just didn't notice yet.

One of the problem is that the Conquest practice is sealed with this "META" (if we can call this a meta)
1 Guardian and 1 Hunter on Duo lane
1 Mage on mid lane
1 Assassin and 1 Warrior in Solo lane
0 jungler

So, when you choose your god, that class will be remove from the bot lists.
Thus, you can't have more than 1 class in those games.

If you want to test something different, lets say Ymir solo, Neith mid or Freya adc, it won't work, because the AI is too dumb to adapt.

In your example, Ao Kuang is mostly played as an assassin, but it's class is mage.
Therefore, the game assumes you will play mid.
If you don't, nobody will stop that Ra or Anubis, except you. That is how bad the AI is.

So, if you want to practice jungling, you are screwed, or at least for your start up, because only few gods can handle camps alone at very low level. So you need to go in lane for a couple level, and then start your jungling.

Also, if you really want to play Ao Kuang, I'd recommend to play him in Arena practice.
You will still replace Anubis instead of Kali, but at least, it won't screw the game.




Next, you can still play Ao Kuang in the mid lane and beat that Ra bot.
He can clear a wave, not very efficiently, but he can.
If you read somewhere that he is a good pusher, then that means their refer to the old Ao kit, which is now given to Kukulkan.
If you want to clear with Ao Kuang, you should use (and level) your escape Water Illusion.
While your Wild Storm is also a good ability, it is hard to hit both melee and archers with it.
With your Water Illusion placed in the middle, you can clear all of them.




Finally, if you engage Ra at low level, make sure you have killed the minions before.
Otherwise, they will hurt you alot. Seriously, they hurt. Don't underestimate them.
If you want to learn how to beat Ra, the best way is to play him, to know how his kit works.
If you did, you should know to watch these things :

1 - Try to not fight him under his Solar Blessing
It hurts you and heals him. Unless you are about to finish him, it is a DPS race you may not want to run.

2 - Divine Light is his only protection.
It slows you and eventually blinds you if you failed to turn around at the right moment.
However, even if you are slowed, a Ra bot is sometimes even more slower, so you can still attacking him, even blinded.

3 - Searing Pain has a low CD.
That means you should always consider that Ra has his ultimate ready.
The damage is easy to dodge at melee. Seriously, it's very hard to land a Ra ult at point blank.
However, you need to know that during the casting of his ultimate, he is CC immuned.
That means that if you ult to finish him while he his casting, you won't kill him.

4 - Celestial Beam is a good wave clear.
That's obvious. But that means that on the low level, you will have hard times to kill minions.
Because Ra will have already killed yours and will heal his minions, while basic attacking you.
Just be prudent in the low levels, don't engage him unless you think you can kill him.
Finally, this ability is always thrown in front of him.
If you continuously turn around him, trying to stay on his back, he will most likely miss.



I hope this would help you to improve your play.

Wow, that's detailed. Thanks Bullfrog323!!

I have a couple more question though

Is it possible to dodge Celestial Beam at melee range? I am just wondering whether it is impossible or I am just not reacting at the right time.

Speaking of strafing. I have noticed even though I am trying to move left and right, bots and minion archers can almost always get me. I wonder whether it is because of

* I need to work more on strafing, or
* Bots have good aim, or
* Strafing penalty in this game makes strafing hard

Minions attacks are auto aim.
You cannot dodge archers and melee minions.
You have to deal with it if they target you.
The best is to ensure they do not target you.

About dodging Celestial Beam, I've told you the easiest way to dodge it as a melee.


However, this ability, once thrown, is relatively fast.
So, if Ra is facing you when he casts it, it's very hard to dodge.
By moving around BEFORE he casts it, you make sure you aren't in his face enough long to be hit.

Another option would be to wait for him to cast Celestial Beam before engaging.
He will either cast it on minions if there are any, or right at you as soon as you are in range.
At max range, this ability is very easy to dodge.
You then have 10 sec free, or 7 if he gets CDR (I don't remember what the bots are building).

Thanks again!