What Are the Meta Gods?

There has never been an official, or even semi-official, of which gods are "meta" or not. We should get some real discussion, not forum games or "is Cabra mid meta" threads, and solve this problem.

Now, there's no exact term for what a meta god is. That's the point of this thread.

Here is what the meta is NOT.

Cheese picks. A pick that succeeds BECAUSE its unexpected does not make it meta, nor does it erase the pick's flaws.

Extreme counter picks. Just because a god is good in a specific situation doesn't make it meta. The one example is Nemesis, which is virtually always picked as an anti-Zhong Kui, or anti-immobile-but-naturally-tanky-priority-targets-like-Zhong-but-few-else.

Gods that are strictly worse than another god. This means that AMC, although he has burst and range and great waveclear, isn't in the meta anymore due to being entirely outclassed in literally every aspect by Rama.

It's hard to say what is and what's not meta. Because a meta list is a fan made idea and not officially released by the original creators. A non-meta god like Cupid in the right hands can wipe the floor with a meta god like Geb if the cards are right. So a meta for any game that contently changes all the time isn't going to have a solid meta so the meta, in my opinion, can't exist for the reason I just said.

But other MOBAs have metas. It's difficult, but not impossible, to make one for Smite.

Of course a Cupid can beat a Geb in the right situation, but that's not the right comparison.

I'd rather compare Cupid to another ADC and see what he can do with the same resources as another ADC in the same situation. Cupid may have good sustain and ability burst, but he is flawed in a critical area that every meta ADC is not: waveclear.

Due to Cupid's complete failure to meet the standards of his competitors, with his unique strengths not enough to compensate for that shortcoming, he is not a meta god.

I don't play conquest, so I'll just contribute this.

There are good metas and there are bad metas.

A good meta is one in which there is a general idea of how the game should be played. The current "good" meta in Smite, 1-1-2-Jungle is an example of a good meta. It provides the most ideal situation, but within this ideal situation there are many different possibilities to alter this. It provides variety.

A bad meta is one where something is the best without a single thing that can compete. Things like everyone locking in Geb on release because he was strictly better than any other support due to his shield, or people rushing the old, overpowered Gauntlet of Thebes on every tank because of how broken it is. This kind of meta only provides a stale, unchanging experience that is bad for a multiplayer game.

The ideal situation for any MOBA is the former, where all picks are viable and fulfill a niche in the game. Therefore, wishing to find picks that are strictly better than others, like the recent favouritism towards Apollo is unhealthy. This is to be expected considering Hi-Rez's inexperience with MOBAs, even after Smite's long development time.

Thank you. I agree.

In my opinion, meta hunters need a steroid of some sort, strong CC, high mobility, strong waveclear, strong burst damage, and presence from the early game to the end. They also cannot be strictly worse than another god.

By these requirements, Anhur, Apollo, Rama, and Ullr are the only ADCs to be in the meta.

And Ah Muzen Cab, Artemis, Cupid, and Xbalanque do not meet these requirements, and are not in the meta.

Neith is a special case, being in the middle of these two tiers. She may not have a steroid, but she does have an anti-steroid, and more utility and sustain than the rest.

Now I think that seeing counterpicks as a non meta trait isn’t very good. The way which a game with several set characters evolve over time is through niche-picking and counter-picking. By simply allowing a certain set of gods to be played as a “meta”, just because they have a certain set of skills, will take away the games ability to naturally evolve like this and make a meta where we see the same things and where more than half of the gods in the game will never be used.. Therefor, I believe that a meta for a game of this type shouldn’t be based on how good “pro” players believe a god is, but instead of how much it is used in competitive play. If we make a meta based on usage it’ll show accurately what gods work as of this time in the game, and it’ll allow for counterpicks to shine.

An good example of a meta like this is actually the competitive Pokemon Meta.
This meta, made and run by a group called Smogon, balances this otherwise very unbalanced game with more than 500 different characters with every single one having 2-3 working setups. Basicly they divide the meta into 3 main tiers, OU (overused), UU (Under used) and NU (Never Used). Each of these tiers then contains different pokemon depending on their usage, allowing only pokemon from a lower tier to be played in higher tiers and not reverse. This is good for the reason that those which might no be good enough to be a top pick, would have the ability to shine as maybe a top pick in their usage tier, as the those who before outclassed them isn’t in the same tier. This allows for different Good and bad for every tier as every tier have their own set of good and less good gods. Still these tiers would be flexible, as a god of a lower tier can be used in a tier higher, so if a certain god in the NU tier is a counter to a top pick in the OU tier then maybe he’ll go up to be a UU as hes used more, and therefor the meta constantly evolves naturally and in a good pace.

I think having a meta like this in smite could work, tho it ofc has it’s downsides. It works better in a game where the amount of characters is high, so smite might yet have too few. But neverless I think it’s better than the normal “this is good, this is bad” meta

Correction smogon is not the actual cometitive pokemon meta, VGC is which are the official rules.

But the idea for tier competitive in smite could be interesting.

It would allow for some more interesting picks and if you do an "every week a new tier competition" it would show more diversity but smite just doesn't have enough characters right now to do that.

Lol would have enough characters but doesn't need the tier meta as there are a lot of champs who are viable.

I do like the idea but smite would need more characters.

EDIT: also smogons meta has an "over banning" problem right now meaning the meta isn't evolving as naturally as it should.

META GODS (the main ones)

MID/SOLO MAGES - Janus, Nu Wa, Agni, Ra, Zhong, Hebo
ADC HUNTERS - (Apollo, Rama,(Main 2)) Anhur (EU likes him more I think), Ullr, Art
JUNGLE - Serqet, Freya, Merc, Hun Batz, Loki, Nemesis
TANK - Geb, Athena, then everyone else (I'll add Sylvanus assuming he will be top pick soon)
SOLO WARRIOR - Vamana, Chaac, Hercules

Those are like the main meta Gods that everyone wants. The rest are not as meta but can still be played to win of course.

There are some Gods who people will be asking why the **** are they meta? Those who don't watch some of the pros play will not know that a god like Zhong Kui is strong, they will be thinking he is a scrub.

Janus, brings high *** damage with his 2 alone, his 2 alone will burst almost all your hp, the fact that he travels huge distance with his burst, has a global ult and can set up portals for his team mates to escape makes him a top pick.

Nu Wa, Op *** combo which takes almost more than half your hp along with stunning you, then she can root you while your stunned, clears waves fast, global ult that does 100% guaranteed damage on everyone unless they block that damage with something like a active or ability. Global ult is the main reason why she is meta.

Agni, always been a good God through Smites history, has burst, and sustained burst with his ult and safe, ect. Agni just doesn't have a global ult like Janus other wise he would be picked more these days.

Ra, no need to explain, its ****ing ra... his heal is stupid on waves and he almost always out pushes you because of it, sustains his team, his wave, himself, and can snipe through walls and his ult has a low cooldown along with him being quick as **** on top of having a slow to escape. His *** will probably always out push you 90% of the time.

Hebo, not as safe as the other gods but brings a **** load of damage which is mainly why people pick him, that is the only reason people pick him is because he can burst your entire team if left alone. He's not top pick worthy because he is not as safe but still strong as ****, I'm sure many of you know this after getting his by his 3 ults.

Zhong Kui, almost unkillable with his passive. By time you get chase him down he is under his tower with a lot of hp left. He has a good heal to sustain himself and his passive makes him close to unkillable 1v1 for most Gods. He has a stun, which is why he is almost unkillable because he will stun you off of him then camp his tower with full passive and heal. He brings damage, and his ult is great in a team fight, he is a god people pick up when they want lots of damage and a ult that is useful in team fights.

Nemesis - Most people on here probably think wtf is she doing in the meta? Well she hard counters gods who are in the meta like Zhong Kui, Hercules, ect, they can't run away and when she ults them she will weaken them severely while she gains their protections, ect. Usually she is picked up to counter Zhong Kui.

Apollo - has 3 escapes, and best split push in the game, super safe and annoying to deal with. He can take your tower then fly away and laugh, he can dive as deep as he wants because he is one of the safest Gods in the game, he can dash away, he can stun you, he can fly away. Your never safe either, you think you were in a 1v1 until Apollo flys over to the next lane and now its a 1v2. Apollo can do as he pleases, that's why he is top pick because your never safe with him flying around.

Rama - Semi Global ult, clears waves extremely fast, high damage, safe to play because of his roll and has a steroid. Picked up because of his clear/damage and because his ult makes sure you will not escape a team fight alive.

Merc - Because its Merc

Serqet - Because its serqet

Freya - because its Freya

Loki - because its loki

Hun Batz - Team fight ult is why he is picked up, his ult ruins team fights for the other team

Geb - Shield is GG, he does not have to make plays, his team can makes plays knowing they have a free shield if they screw up. They can dive because he can shield them, they can fight anyone they please because he will shield them, they can eat CC because he will shield them, ect. Shield alone is reason to pick Geb. His passive makes him hard to kill, he travels really far with his 1, his ult is good in a team fight. Mainly his shield letting his team mates make plays instead of him having to make the plays.

Athena - Like Apollo, its never a 1v1, she can make a 1v1 a 2v1 and be anywhere on the map at anytime. Taunt is annoying as hell too and she has a dash so you cannot escape her but she can escape you. Athena makes the plays, where geb lets you make the plays.

Vamana - people D ride him for a while now, mainly because he counters physical solo's with his passive while being able to clear waves really fast, and his ult is a free heal if he starts losing any fight. Very simple, pick vamana if you want to clear the wave fast, have a warrior with a nice escape and can build physical defense because your passive gives you more power when you do so. Vamana beats a lot of match ups.

Chaac - Best sustained heal, great poke, pretty good clear, durable as hell, his ult is amazing for team fights silencing them all. He is mainly picked up when you want that team fight ult and sustained durable god on your team who can dish out damage.

Hercules - If your looking for Crowd Control on top of damage then you pick up Hercules. Where CHaac is better with a team fight ult, Hercules is better at CCing enemy Gods to their doom.

The meta seems to be based around, Global Ults, Quick Burst damage, team fight ults. When a God is picked up its usually for one of those reasons, you are either getting something global, getting burst damage or getting a ult that lets your team win the fight.

Gods that are still good but picked on certain occasions depending on the team Comp.

- Thor (Really thor should be in the META he is still meta, global ult, burst damage, ect.)
- Kali
- Thanatos
- Baka
- Bacchus
- Guan Yu
- Change
- Ymir
- Isis
- Scylla
- ***bah

If I had to choose the #1 Underrated God who fell out of the Meta it would be

*POSEIDON*

Seriously, he used to be top pick, now we have other Gods, still though, I feel though he is still strong as ****, his ult alone is strong as ****, yes its avoidable like any other ult, but if you let that ult loose in a ****ing team fight against 5 people come on now!!! You know damn well not all 5 of them are going to come out alive someone HAS to die!!! Plus his zoning is quite strong and he has VERY VERY VERY high burst with his ult.

Thor has always been a very strong jungler and still is. Poseidon is making a come back it's just his lack of escape and counter to his burst are his cons. His high base movement speed and 2 suffices for no escape though.

Thor is the classic example of nerfed through power creep though, i mean everyoneknows there is nothing wron with thor and that he does shat he does really well but a lot of gods just do what he does better.