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Warrior's provides you with much needed sustain, and is quite easy to proc with your Armored Umbrella. Feel free to go more health pots if you don't feel confident with only 3.
Warrior's Blessing
Chalice of Healing
Healing Potion
Pretty standard solo items here, provides more needed sustain and some cooldown which is always nice.
Gladiator's Shield
Warrior Tabi
Void Shield
Shogun's Kusari
Hastened Katana
You're going to get these items last, so in my opinion if there's a specific problem you're trying to stop (like a Hel healing their team too much), you should get the Pestilence earlier in the Shogun's Kusari spot. You can then turn around and get Shogun's later on in this slot. Better to start countering the healing earlier, in my opinion.
Hide of the Nemean Lion
Pestilence
Mantle of Discord
Toxic Blade
Spirit Robe
Midgardian Mail
Witchblade
Teleport: A near guarantee on Solo, especially on someone without easy to access sustain like Vamana who may be backing often to heal.
Sprint/Shell: I'll lump these two together as they're usually what I get most often. Whatever my support doesn't have when I'm level 12 is what I'll pick up, just to round out our team fighting. These are imperative to most fights and are harder to counter than relics like Horrific which can be countered by Sprint.
Shield of Thorns: If the enemy has 2-3 auto attack focused characters I'll grab this relic, especially if those characters are the most fed on the enemy team.
Teleport Fragment
Magic Shell
Heavenly Wings
Shield of Thorns
(Parenthesis is what these items would replace)
Frostbound: It's alright, but I think the intended purpose of this item (ability to stick to targets) is better found in Hastened Katana. (Hastened Katana)
Talaria Boots: These are good if you're in need of more ability to rotate. It also provides really good mana sustain if you feel like you won't have good totem control. (Warrior Tabi)
Emperor's Armor: Great item if your team is snowballing and need diving capabilities. (Void Shield/Hide of the Nemean depending on when you decide to buy it)
Hide of the Urchin: a fantastic defense item IF you know you can get the stacks on it. Sometimes it's hard to guarantee you'll get all 7 kills and assists.(Void Shield preferably)
Oni Hunter's Garb/Genji's Garb: good magical defense item if your team doesn't get enough use out of Shogun's Kusari.
Qin's Sais: Great offensive item if the enemy is buying a lot of high health items and you have the ability to fit a pure damage item without dying quickly. (Sell Gladiator's Shield late for this)
Runeforged Hammer: Good if you're facing immobile enemies which you can get good use of the passive on through Umbrellarang (Void Shield)
Spectral Armor: fantastic stats for it's cost, especially if you're facing crit heavy characters like Izanami, Mercury, Ne Zha. (Sell Gladiator's Shield late for this)
Witchblade: Great against Kali/Bakasura type characters (Void Shield)
Blackthorn Hammer: currently way overtuned item that gives insane stats for cost. (Gladiator's Shield)
Masamune/Stone Cutting Sword: Good to fit in your build when you feel as though you need more damage and mobility rather than tankiness. If you need to hard carry, etc. (Probably Nemean, but it can depend)
Runic Shield: If you're facing a double magical solo/jungle, like a Sobek/Ao Kuang duo, this will be pretty much a mirror item to Void Stone (Void Stone).
Frostbound Hammer
Talaria Boots
Emperor's Armor
Hide of the Urchin
Oni Hunter's Garb
Genji's Guard
Qin's Sais
Runeforged Hammer
Spectral Armor
Blackthorn Hammer
Masamune
Stone Cutting Sword
Runic Shield
(Example replacements, will change with specific matchups and other factors) Sell Gladiator's Shield for Mantle of Discord late game, Sell Warrior Tabi for Genji's Garb/Oni Hunter's Garb etc. when you can afford a Speed Pot.
Warrior Tabi
Gladiator's Shield
Void Shield
Shogun's Kusari
Hastened Katana
Hide of the Nemean Lion
(more example replacements) Sell Gladiator's Shield for Mantle of Discord late game, sell Warrior Tabi for a situational late game. Spirit Robe, Winged Blade, Pestilence, etc.
Warrior Tabi
Gladiator's Shield
Void Shield
Genji's Guard
Hastened Katana
Hide of the Nemean Lion
Y
B
A
X
Hello, I go by many names and accounts but my main account is on SMITE PC under the IGN “Supportable”. I’ve been floating around Diamonds/Masters for the past 4 seasons in multiple game modes (Conquest and Duel) and my main god of choice (Especially in Duels, but especially recently also Conquest) has been 
Vamana. I’m assuming now that he’s been buffed to the point of being very strong in every game mode that many people will be looking for a good guide on him, so I’m here to explain the in’s and out’s of this character and why you should play him.
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Pros:
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Cons:
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skills
Vamana is very strong currently. His powerful wave clear and strong Totem control is very hard for enemies to deal with. However, certain match ups have nuances you should know! (Side note: I'll be adding matchups for every character I tend to face in Solo Lane, if you'd like a specific match up leave a comment!)
WarriorGuardiansWhat is Auto Cancelling? I’d recommend watching the below video to have some base knowledge. While Weak3n doesn’t personally show us Vamana, the idea stays the same. In the downtime of your auto attack animation (after the damage applies, where you’re waiting for the next attack to start) you can use an ability and then your auto attack’s animation after that ability will reset and you’ll essentially cancel out that added aftercast, leading to more attacks in less time than holding down the attack button.
Weak3n's video on Auto Attack Cancelling
Important sidenote, whenever I say Clear The Path in these combos, you’re supposed to cancel the ability (right click on PC) after you hit the opponent, don’t let the ability continue channeling after hitting your opponent. This enables you to throw out an auto attack before your opponent lands.
Max Damaging Combo:
Auto Attack →
→ Auto Attack →
→ Auto Attack →
→ Auto Attack
This combo relies a lot on the auto attack cancels to produce the most damage. The idea is that your Umbrellarang will slow them initially, making it a lot harder to miss your abilities, and then your Clear The Path will knock them up to stop them from dodging the second part of the Umbrellarang. The Armored Umbrella is just there for more damage.
Reduced version of full damage combo that doesn't use your escape:
→ Auto Attack →
→ Auto Attack
Poke Mini-Combo Againt Gods without Displacements (
Hercules, 
Tyr) - explained in video:
(Walk up to the opponent) Auto Attack →
→ Auto Attack
Otherwise Vamana combos aren’t really defined in order or anything, the big point I want you to take away from this section is that, if you want the most damage, you need to practice your Auto Attack cancels during his abilities. It’s not imperative to succeed on Vamana, and while you’re new I’d bet that you would feel more comfortable not Auto Attack cancelling (which is completely fine!!), but it really is a great skill to learn over time.
My Video on these combos + How to fit Colossal Fury into them:
Conquest (Solo)Conquest (Jungle)Arena/Clash/SiegeDuelHere's why I build the items in my cookie cutter build:
Gladiator's Shield: Every one of Vamana’s first three abilities can proc this item's passive, providing great early sustain, which Vamana lacks. Warrior Tabi: You need boots, and Talaria Boots aren't horrible but I tend to stick to solo lane so I can't make much use of the speed for rotations, and I also tend to have good Totem/Mana Buff control so the MP5 isn't needed. Void Shield: This item gives you everything you could need: Health, Power, Protections, and Penetration. You tend to face physical junglers and solo laners very often so this item can help you survive and even turn ganks much more easily. Shogun's Kusari: Attack speed is great on Vamana (and your carries who also get the passive!) as it really increases the damage you can output during your ultimate. It also provides some MP5 and cooldown, also great stats. And of course, while physical defense is amazing, you need some magical defense too. Hastened Katana: I think you can understand why I love this item. It allows you to really stick to opponents during your ult and it’s a ton of fun. It gives you good mobility with the movement as well. Hide of the Nemean Lion: this item gives you mana, a ton of physical defense, and more survivability against hunters who have to decide if autoing you is worth it when they're taking retaliation damage. It also works very well in conjunction with Shield of Thorns, which is also very good on Vamana! Gladiator's Shield and Warrior Tabi. Late in the game their small amounts of power and sustainability aren't as important as simply staying alive and protecting those who scale much better into the very late game: your carries. I, like anyone else, love doing tons of damage but I would have to suggest buying defense to replace these items, something along the lines of a Mantle of Discord and then possibly more magical defense if needed like an Oni Hunter's Garb when you can afford the 
Elixir of Speed.
I'm super new to writing guides, so I definitely have some errors lurking around here. I'll be scouring the guide for the next few days to see how I can improve but otherwise leaving a comment or messaging me in SMITE would be greatly appreciated! Thank for your reading my guide and I hope to see more Vamana on the battlefield!
Supportable
Hello! As of last patch, a few new items were added into the game that benefit Vamana. I'll only be including items that I would consider viable on Vamana, if you want to know the effects of other changes to Vamana feel free to leave a comment in the Discussion.
- 
Contagion: This is my favorite new item in the Mid Season patch. Some of Vamana's rough matchups include 
Guan Yu and Hercules, where Vamana doesn't have easy access to antiheal because Pestilence, the previous pretty much only tank antiheal item, was magical defense, and Toxic Blade leaves you defenseless against their physical damage. Contagion not only aids those matchups but also aids Vamana's passive, making it a great, cost effective item even if the enemy solo laner isn't a healing concern. I'll have to consider if Contagion's stats make it a better pickup against a magical solo opponent like 
Zhong Kui than Pestilence if the enemy has a decent amount of physical Gods. While not providing Magic defense, it's stats are really nice for the cost.
- 
Arondight/
Pridwen: Unfortunately these item's passives only take place AFTER Colossal Fury is finished casting. That means no speed boost/shield as you enter Giant form. In my opinion this makes Arondight pretty bad for solo lane Vamana, and situational in Jungle, and Pridwen could be considered an alternative to Spirit Robe for Solo lane if the enemy doesn't have too much hard CC. However with Pridwen you're picking it up for the stats mainly, the shield won't be incredibly useful considering you gain health/shields in Colossal Fury already.
- Hastened Katana: The 200g increase is a pretty hard hit, and makes the case for Frostbound Hammer a lot stronger. A lot of the time you are already pushing it by trying to fit in a pseudo damage item into a solo lane build outside of Gladiator's Shield, and so these cost increases make it even harder. I think I'll always pick up Hastened Katana because it's my habit, I've ran it on Vamana since I started playing him years ago, but the most viable option will probably shift to Frostbound Hammer the majority of the time if you are looking for the ability to stick to an opponent.
- Talaria Boots: A decrease in physical power by 5. This doesn't really affect what made it great on Vamana in Duel specifically, but also potentially Conquest, which is the much needed mana sustain and increased movement speed. Vamana's high movement speed and high mana costs just mesh too well with Talaria Boots meaning that these boots are still highly viable.
- 
Ninja Tabi: I'd really never recommend this boot choice. If you're running a wacky attack speed based build I guess you could consider it. The mana is already found in Talaria Boots.
- Qin's Sais: This doesn't really change when you would pick it up, but it's a nice little buff to Vamana if he's facing multiple tanks.
- Runic Shield: I really like this item and I think it's been sleeper viable this whole time. If/as magical solo laners like 
Jormungandr become more popular, this item will become the Void Shield equivalent.
And now onto balance changes. These will include any changes that impact Vamana.
- Various Hunter Changes (
Anhur, 
Ah Muzen Cab, and 
Apollo): Hunter meta is always a great meta for Vamana because he gets plenty of value from his passive by building lots of physical defense items. Vamana mains rejoice!
- 
Chaac: Neither of the changes, (Cooldown reduction on 
Torrent and 
Storm Call knocking straight up) really effect the matchup. Make sure you space yourself from his 
Thunder Strike as to not give Chaac value from either of his abilities.
- 
Erlang Shen: This changes nothing pretty much.
- 
Nike: The big one, the rework! I think Nike has ultimately become a harder matchup for Vamana. She has easier access to good wave clear, and an overall better escape than before. However, her 
Barrier Formation is completely useless outside of cheeky pushing-into-tower plays, and she still has no sustain in her kit. It's hard for a Vamana to outclear or poke out a Nike though so I predict this lane will be a stalemate. Later in the game Vamana will have a stronger presence diving the enemy backline whereas Nike will have a stronger presence disrupting the front line and soaking up a lot of damage. I'll need time and experience to see how this matchup fully plays out.
- 
Odin: Changes nothing, the plan is still the same to punish Odin right after he uses 
Raven Shout, and since Vamana usually does burst poke damage until after he gets his Hastened Katana and can start auto attacking, the cooldown change doesn't have a massive impact.
- 
Skadi: I know I said hunter changes are good for Vamana but that ult change just seems so ANNOYING to play against. She's been a 100% pick/ban in my games pretty much.
That wraps up about everything that impacts Vamana in the Mid Season patch. TL;DR: Overall I'd consider him a bit stronger than he was before despite a lot of the items Vamana likes being nerfed. We might see a slow shift towards a more tanky version of Vamana utilizing items like Frostbound Hammer and Contagion. This is aided by the hunter buffs which will incentivize a high physical damage build, and the attack speed slow on Frostbound Hammer.
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Sleeping Giant
Vulcan
Sobek
Hades
Lurking In The Waters
Pillar of Agony
Ymir
Amaterasu
Illuminating Strike
Cu Chulainn
Sun Wukong
Pin
Conviction
Cavalry Charge
Rend
Ring of Spears
Bellona
Bludgeon
Eagle's Rally
Driving Strike
King Arthur
Fearless
Achilles
Radiant Glory
Combat Dodge
Shield of Achilles
Fatal Strike
Osiris
Lord of the Afterlife
Hel
Horus
Updraft
Resolute
Ares
No Escape
Xing Tian
Furious Roar
Whirlwind of Rage and Steel
Geb
Athena
Confound
Defender of Olympus
Sylvanus
Wisps
Bacchus
Belch of the Gods
Sickening Strike
Frost Breath
Cerberus
Spirit of Death
Soul Expulsion
Ghastly Breath
Stygian Torment
Lunge
Immovable
The World Serpent
Consuming Bellow
Neith
Camazotz
Fenrir
Backfire
Nice guide. You should add a
Nothing else to say! Bran covered basically all points.
- Where you didn't have
Midgardian Mail in the build before, you now have it pretty early in the build. I'm assuming you liked it enough to put it in as an example. That said, both of those Solo example builds ALSO have 
Hide of the Nemean Lion. As you've said in other comments below, you (and I) don't typically like mixing these two items, because they counteract each other in a way. In addition, for enemy players that are aware of what the other team builds, seeing both Midgard AND Nemean in a build, along with the normal deterrent of getting hit in ult form, I'd think no one would ever want to bother attacking you. What's the gameplay strategy here?
Osiris, for example, but if I was facing a favorable matchup against a god that does less basic attacking, I might think about rushing 
Void Shield, perhaps. A lot of times, I'll build Midgard later.
- Your notes sections at the top are a bit messy to read...like with the guide, you might think about making new paragraphs rather than just one block of gray. Also, in your first full build notes, you talk about replacing items. In the build section, you mention replacing Glad and Tabi with Mantle and Oni, but in the notes you say Genji's Garb...think you meant Oni in the notes?
- Some further personal tips I'd add if this was my guide: for
Colossal Fury, don't necessarily wait until you're getting closer to death. The ult form lasts long enough that you can pop it early in a fight and cause some major disruption...just don't use it so early that you don't utilize all of the healing it provides.
Clear The Path is available. The dash may save you where the ticking healing may not outlast the damage you're taking.
- Great matchup comments. Eventually (I know you're still working on it) would like to see other matchups...Cerb, for example, maybe Jorm, and definitely the occasional mage or assassin.
- Build section: misspelled Kusari. Might consider doing a [list] to more clearly separate the items. Would look like this:
code
- Like the temporary chapter talking about new patch and how it affects Vamana. Nice touch.
- For the Jungle build, looks like you get
Titan's Bane 4th...is that perhaps a bit earlier than really needed? Would an earlier 
Void Shield be better perhaps? And just pointing out, not like it's a huge inefficiency, but Void (or any other protection reduction item like SCS) will reduce TB's %pen by a bit.
- I don't play Duel, but curious why you suggest Talaria over Warrior in core, but your example builds show Warrior.
- Still in Duel, if you end up with both Katana and Toxic, you might note you can replace boots late.
- At the bottom of your favorite duel build, your note says against magical heals, but doesn't have any anti-heal. Maybe replace Runic with Pest, or is that too tanky? Where's the function against magical heals otherwise?
This is shaping up to be a great guide overall. Keep up the good work.Also, for me, I might build Midgard this early if I was facing an
And I'm noting that in your Skills-Passive section, you're talking about if winning lane, you'd go Glad -> Warrior -> Void. You might also put some of that build direction down in the build discussion chapter. Thinking you just made an error here.
Also, an obvious (should be obvious) reason to cancel early is if you're in very immediate danger and
Fixed! Didn't mean to have them both in the same build.
"And I'm noting that in your Skills-Passive section, you're talking about if winning lane, you'd go Glad -> Warrior -> Void. You might also put some of that build direction down in the build discussion chapter. Thinking you just made an error here."
Do you think this might fit better into the gamemode playstyles instead? If not I'll write some tips like that in the build discussion chapter.
"Your notes sections at the top are a bit messy to read...like with the guide, you might think about making new paragraphs rather than just one block of gray. Also, in your first full build notes, you talk about replacing items. In the build section, you mention replacing Glad and Tabi with Mantle and Oni, but in the notes you say Genji's Garb...think you meant Oni in the notes?"
First off, OMG! My notes were terrible. I fixed them. Hopefully.. See if the new ones are better. The replacements I offered in my notes were all examples, I don't always replace certain items with others. I tried to fix this but I'm not sure if I am looking in the right area
"Some further personal tips I'd add if this was my guide: for Colossal Fury, don't necessarily wait until you're getting closer to death. The ult form lasts long enough that you can pop it early in a fight and cause some major disruption...just don't use it so early that you don't utilize all of the healing it provides. Also, an obvious (should be obvious) reason to cancel early is if you're in very immediate danger and Clear The Path is available. The dash may save you where the ticking healing may not outlast the damage you're taking."
Starting to think I need a general tips section. Any opinion as to where this would/should go?
"Build section: misspelled Kusari. Might consider doing a
to more clearly separate the items. Would look like this:"
I will be transitioning over to this! Thank you for the recommendation. Had no idea that
existed.
very, VERY fast during his ultimate when he stacks these items, to the point where quite literally no one outside of maybe Pele/Serqet could escape him by running away. The combination of Toxic, Katana, and Talaria means that unless the enemy immediately bursts you from 100-0 you will auto attack them down in your ultimate."For the Jungle build, looks like you get Titan's Bane 4th...is that perhaps a bit earlier than really needed? Would an earlier Void Shield be better perhaps? And just pointing out, not like it's a huge inefficiency, but Void (or any other protection reduction item like SCS) will reduce TB's %pen by a bit."
You're right. I believe I accidentally inserted these two wrong, but thinking about it you are right with the inefficiency. I may make a note that Titan's Bane is a good finisher if you need more pen, otherwise stick with more survivability.
"I don't play Duel, but curious why you suggest Talaria over Warrior in core, but your example builds show Warrior.
Still in Duel, if you end up with both Katana and Toxic, you might note you can replace boots late."
Aha, you haven't faced this build in duel. Yes the movement speed is redundant, that's the point of the build. It abuses the fact that Vamana get's
"At the bottom of your favorite duel build, your note says against magical heals, but doesn't have any anti-heal. Maybe replace Runic with Pest, or is that too tanky? Where's the function against magical heals otherwise?"
Fixed!
Thank you for your comments. I really appreciate how much you looked into it!!
Also maybe consider adding masamune, stone cutting, blackthorn and reinforced boots as alternatives/situationals, maybe even Soul Eater too but im not sure about it on Vamana compared to Pele or Wukong.
Also, as of current, the two "different" examples seem like the same build outside of the early listed mantle of discord I mentioned.
Last thing I would add is I would list hastened for jungle vamana as well.
I've always had a soft spot for Vamana. I'm sure I'm not nearly as good of a player as you, but he's my 12th highest played character and I enjoy him a ton.
I fully agree on things like
You DO talk about possibly picking up
As for the general base of the build, I might argue that it's potentially a bit low on health. If you're typically saying that your core is (not including Glad Shield) Warrior, Void, Shogun's, and Katana, and you fill the last 2 spots usually with one of the items in the "optional slot" section, only 2 of those items (Pest and Toxic) have any sort of health. Would think it would often be a point to get a bit more health, seeing as you also heal up and gain a shield from your ult based on a % of your health.
Further to that, is there a specific reason you seem to like
Very happy you included a section about attack canceling.
One thing that would really help readability would be to provide an extra space between paragraphs. It's already a monotone gray, so a little bit of separation would be nice.
Overall very nice. Welcome to SF!
The video looks great, you speak very well, and things are cleanly presented. Don't forget to link your SF guide on the YouTube details as well. Spacing is much better also. Slight color emphasis here and there can also help, but just don't get too carried away with the colors, or it'll make my eyes bleed =)
Finally, use this code in place of your link:
" I might argue that it's potentially a bit low on health. If you're typically saying that your core is (not including Glad Shield) Warrior, Void, Shogun's, and Katana, and you fill the last 2 spots usually with one of the items in the "optional slot" section, only 2 of those items (Pest and Toxic) have any sort of health. Would think it would often be a point to get a bit more health, seeing as you also heal up and gain a shield from your ult based on a % of your health."
I understand your point on % healing, but oftentimes my healing is completely negated in Ranked due to the combination of
1. Hunter's builds are more often using
2. Games are snowball-y, and rarely last past 25-30 minutes for me. Plenty of people, especially the losing team, aren't full build by then. Thus that means a lot of the time pen items aren't completed as they aren't top of the priority like items such as Chronos Pendant are.
3. Flat penetration items are the new thing everyone buys. I've probably seen 3x the
"Further to that, is there a specific reason you seem to like Hide of the Nemean Lion more than Midgardian Mail? Midgard at least provides a good chunk of health. I get Nemean in a duel situation, but for the potential control it provides, I often choose Midgard and rarely get Nemean. Would love to get your feedback on that."
I think I explained this in another comment so if this doesn't make much sense maybe look to that one, but essentially the attack speed reduction from
Acknowledged points on healing, though that was only part of my argument for health...but I see you get what I'm saying. Acknowledged also on shorter games and incomplete builds, etc. I still think a good balance of protections, health, and mitigations (e.g. Spirit / Oni) are optimal for tanks.
I'll await your comment on my OTHER comment regarding Midgardian and whatnot.
"gain a shield from your ult based on a % of your health."
This is all I see that is also part of your health argument, and to be honest I just straight up don't even feel the shield most times. It's so small that I could never imagine changing up my whole play style to accommodate the shield if that makes sense. I will say you've inspired me to try out Midgardian tonight and tomorrow so for now I'll keep em in my example builds, good job haha!
"I still think a good balance of protections, health, and mitigations (e.g. Spirit / Oni) are optimal for tanks."
I think that's where I haven't explained my idea behind the build yet. I've always been an extremely aggressive player and thus I didn't intend on this build making Vamana the crazy tank of the team, that's what the Guardians do in my games the majority of the time. I intend on being just tanky enough to be able to maintain my playstyle of diving the backline ADC or backline midlaner while also having enough damage to never simply die to either because I don't have enough DPS.
From your other post
"I also don't think it's particularly redundant. Midgardian's slow does in fact stack with other item slow effects (and abilities). Yes, you get some diminishing returns on slows (see section 1.8 of The Word of Thoth, but it's like being a magical god with a slow in their kit, and still picking up Gem of Isolation because it makes them move like molasses."
Maybe I'm misusing the term, sorry. It's not a good enough reason to pick up the item for me because I don't think it's necessary to continue to stack these slows on the enemy; I'm looking for just enough slows and just enough attack speed slows to be able to catch up and stick to these carries. I actually forgot Midgardian did stack, albeit not 100% of the slows, so thank you for updating me!
Oh, and further to Midgardian, since you don't have a lot of CC, positioning in a teamfight is a big thing. Besides the offensive function, if you do pick up Midgardian (and Witch, which is a combo I really like), either you'll get hit and get the effect, or the enemy might avoid hitting you and not hitting anyone if you're body-blocking their attack direction.
I'm not sure if my games are just different from yours but a lot of the time my 5v5 fights tend to be quite stranded and broken apart. I rarely have literal fights where I'm sitting in front of the carry who is trying to get to my carry, it's usually who can dive the opposing team's backline more efficient. I am in Diamond though so it's not like I'm playing with the cream of the crop players. Surely the three way stacking of
With regard to the ult, it was mostly an argument against choosing Thorns as a relic option, though I'm not saying never choose it. I consider the ult a sustain tool, a disruption and intimidation tool, and an aggression tool.
What I'm arguing Midgardian/Witch/Umbrella about is separate from the few seconds you're using your ult, at least with regard to some things. During that much, much longer time (or when you have your ult but don't want to use it yet), any/all of Midgardian, Witch, and Umbrella can all have functioning effect. EVERY item in the game brings about some form of inefficiency. We just tend to focus on the most common ones, which are Exe+TB, Magus/Demonic+ObShard, too high of protections, overcapping, etc.
And in that regard, for MS slows, for those times Umbrella is on CD or you've missed it, Midgardian's MS slow is definitely functional, IF you're getting hit. The health is also nice. And if you've hit an enemy with Umbrella, and you get hit by their basic, you're slowing them even more, diminishing returns or no, as their effects do stack to some degree.
For AS slows, Midgardian and Witch can stack. Even if you don't get hit, you have Witch's aura. Witch is great for multiple other reasons that Vamana appreciates, but getting both items can significantly decrease an enemy's AS.
And then I'm talking more in the defensive. You do say you're mostly diving the backline. But in those cases where you need to be protecting your squishy gods, that body-blocking can come in handy with those items.
Again, it's not an all-the-time effectiveness thing, but depending on situation, I'm just arguing these things are functional, even if they provide much of the same (but increasing) effect.
I know you've got a slow and probably Katana, but
I'd like
Agreed on Horrific having too many counters (and the nerf) making it less desirable.
@Supportable: I'm with Kriega in that I would like to see relic options and an explanation as to why you pick those particular ones. Thanks.
They're all solid items that have their really good niche spots, my default builds are meant to be as close to cookie cutter as I could make. Thank you both for your comments!
Edit: and to clarify why I prefer Nemean over Midgardian (as you could interpret my post as saying I'd get either or alone, I almost never get Midgardian period) is that it gives you more protections for your passive to transform into power. I'm a naturally greedy player so even if I want to build tanky I'm still going to want damage haha. And also since your ult is benefitted by people hitting you more, I think Midgardian is counterproductive in that less hits can lead to less duration on your ult which leads to less healing. I hope that makes sense
Actually, I have to disagree there. I like
Regarding Midgardian, if the enemy is going to hit you with a basic once, I'd argue they're probably going to do it multiple times, meaning the passive should be just fine.
I also don't think it's particularly redundant. Midgardian's slow does in fact stack with other item slow effects (and abilities). Yes, you get some diminishing returns on slows (see section 1.8 of The Word of Thoth, but it's like being a magical god with a slow in their kit, and still picking up
Oh, and further to Midgardian, since you don't have a lot of CC, positioning in a teamfight is a big thing. Besides the offensive function, if you do pick up Midgardian (and Witch, which is a combo I really like), either you'll get hit and get the effect, or the enemy might avoid hitting you and not hitting anyone if you're body-blocking their attack direction.
Speaking of your guide, I'd like to see you clean up the format a bit. Here's a good template for guides and this is the Coding Help & FAQ. This
Edit: Read up on the contest, seems interesting!
As far as entry into the contest goes, you're pretty much covered. I just mentioned the formatting so the guide is easier to read.