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[9.6] The Goddess of Wisdom, Athena | Conquest Support Guide

15 4 26,476
8.4
by VinyDMD updated June 22, 2022

Smite God: Athena

Build Guide Discussion 0 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Build Summary

Starting Items in Support

Build Item Sentinel's Gift Sentinel's Gift
Build Item Benevolence Benevolence
Build Item Hand of the Gods Hand of the Gods
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
4
Build Item Belt of Frenzy Belt of Frenzy
Build Item Magic Shell Magic Shell

Standard Support Build

Build Item Sentinel's Embrace Sentinel's Embrace
Build Item Compassion Compassion
Build Item Gauntlet of Thebes Gauntlet of Thebes
Build Item Pridwen Pridwen
Build Item Sovereignty Sovereignty
Build Item Relic Dagger Relic Dagger
Build Item Spirit Robe Spirit Robe
Build Item Belt of the Berserker Belt of the Berserker
Build Item Fortifying Shell Fortifying Shell

Athena's Skill Order

Preemptive Strike

1 X Y
Preemptive Strike
3 15 16 18 19

Confound

2 A B
Confound
2 4 6 7 10

Shield Wall

3 B A
Shield Wall
1 8 11 12 14

Defender of Olympus

4 Y X
Defender of Olympus
5 9 13 17 20
Preemptive Strike
3 15 16 18 19

Preemptive Strike

1 X
Athena powers up for a dash. While dashing, Athena will pass through minions, stop and hit the first enemy god she encounters, dealing damage. If she hits an enemy, Athena gains a stack (max 3), reducing the next source of Basic Attack damage from any god that hits her. Athena may also gain these stacks by hitting an enemy god with Reach, once per attack.

Ability Type: Dash, Slow, Damage
Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Range: 55
Cost: 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100
Cooldown: 14s
Confound
2 4 6 7 10

Confound

2 A
Athena releases a shockwave of power from her shield, Taunting enemy gods and decreasing their Attack Speed as she forces them to fight or chase her.

Ability Type: Cone, Taunt, Damage
Taunt Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2s
Damage: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+20% of your Magical Power)
Attack Speed Slow: 20 / 22.5 / 25 / 27.5 / 30%
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 18s
Shield Wall
1 8 11 12 14

Shield Wall

3 B
Athena summons a group of Athenian warriors who do damage and Slow upon arrival. After 2s, they strike again, dealing additional Damage and Slowing.

Ability Type: Circle, Damage
Initial Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Secondary Damage: 70 / 135 / 200 / 265 / 330 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Slow: 15%
Radius: 15
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 14s
Defender of Olympus
5 9 13 17 20

Defender of Olympus

4 Y
Athena picks a single allied god anywhere in the world, and launches herself up into the air, landing next to that god 3.6 seconds later. During that 3.6 seconds, both Athena and the allied god gain Damage Mitigation, and the allied god also gains Movement Speed. Enemies nearby when Athena lands take damage.

Ability Type: Teleport, Buff, Damage
Damage: 340 / 415 / 490 / 565 / 640 (+90% of your Magical Power)
Ally Mitigation: 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20%
Movement Speed: 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20%
Radius: 20
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Cooldown: 120s

Athena Threats

Tap each threat level to view Athena’s threats

Max
2
Major
2
Even
2
Minor
0
Tiny
0

Extended Build

Relic Options

Build Item Fortifying Shell Fortifying Shell
Build Item Phantom Shell Phantom Shell
Build Item Belt of the Berserker Belt of the Berserker
Build Item Entangling Wings Entangling Wings
Build Item Temporal Beads Temporal Beads
Build Item Bracer of Brilliance Bracer of Brilliance
Build Item Blighted Ankh Blighted Ankh
Build Item Corrupted Blink Rune Corrupted Blink Rune
Build Item Emblem of Increasing Peril Emblem of Increasing Peril

Anti-ADC Build

Build Item Sentinel's Embrace Sentinel's Embrace
Build Item Compassion Compassion
Build Item Gauntlet of Thebes Gauntlet of Thebes
Build Item Breastplate of Vigilance Breastplate of Vigilance
Build Item Shogun's Kusari Shogun's Kusari
Build Item Witchblade Witchblade
Build Item Mantle of Discord Mantle of Discord
Build Item Fortifying Shell Fortifying Shell
Build Item Emblem of Increasing Peril Emblem of Increasing Peril

Situational Items

Build Item Breastplate of Vigilance Breastplate of Vigilance
Build Item Bulwark of Hope Bulwark of Hope
Build Item Contagion Contagion
Build Item Pestilence Pestilence
Build Item Divine Ruin Divine Ruin
Build Item Emperor's Armor Emperor's Armor
Build Item Ethereal Staff Ethereal Staff
Build Item Magi's Cloak Magi's Cloak
Build Item Mantle of Discord Mantle of Discord
Build Item Shogun's Kusari Shogun's Kusari
Build Item Spear of the Magus Spear of the Magus
Build Item Spear of Desolation Spear of Desolation
Build Item Spectral Armor Spectral Armor
Build Item Winged Blade Winged Blade
Build Item Witchblade Witchblade

Introduction

Pic by @NyxStarr, pls support her!
Hi, my name's Viny!
I've been a SMITE player since Season 7 and a Support main since Season 8.
With Athena being my most played God, I thought I'd write a comprehensive
Season 9 guide for her as she can be top tier support pick when in the right hands
and can easily carry your matchmaking games!

Before continuing, I have some other guides (of various quality) on my profile,
so, if you like what you see, check them out!

Stats


Before we get into the fun stuff, let's go over boring numbers...
When playing Athena, it's your job to soak up the damage like a sponge, put the pedal to the metal and flaunt your taunts to get your team a juicy kill or two.
And what better stats to do this with than Guardian Scaling.

Being the Guardian that Athena is means you're getting more defensive stats in Health, Physical Protections and Magical Protections in exchange for your Damage scaling being relatively low. But threat not, these stats were hand picked for you and your new God.

Level 1 Stats:
General

Health: 700 (+105)
Mana: 190 (+34)
Speed: 365 (+0)
Range: 12 (+0)
Attack/Sec: 1 (+1.2%)
Regen

HP5: 8 (+0.9)
MP5: 38 (+1.2)
Protection

Physical: 38 (+1.2)
Magical: 28 (+3.5)
Basic Attack
Damage: 35 +1.5 (+20% of Magical Power)
Progression: 1|1|2(AoE)
.
.
.
.
stats have been citated from the smite fandom wiki and may not be 100% accurate to smite's in game level 1 stats.


These stats will allow you to take a hit, multiple hits in fact, whilst leaving your damage to your carries.. Unless you're going Athena Jungle, but that's a discussion for when you're older.

To discuss how impactful these stats are, let's set a situation:



In this setting, it's assumed all Gods are level 1 and are approaching the first wave.
As Athena your 1|1|2 basic attack progression along with Shield Wall means you can help Rama clear wave and to do that, you're going to have to get into melee range, which risks getting hit by Khepri, Neith or the Minions.

With the Archer Minions dealing 25 damage and the Melee Minions dealing 12, along with Neith dealing 38 damage (pre-mitigations) per basic attack as well as Spirit Arrow dealing 90 (+90%) damage, your health bar will be able to survive Neith and the entire Minion wave hitting you TWICE.
(Here's the math if you're interested but it's not important, I'll still love you if you don't read it mwa*)

((28x3)x2) + ((38x3)x2) + (76x2) + 90
168 + 228 + 152 + 90
638


This sets the stage where you'll shine, taking a bunch of damage whilst giving your team some room to breath, which is what we'll be going over in this guide!

Abilities



Passive - Reach
Reach gives Athena some more valuable damage options:
    After using any ability, Athena's next Basic Attack is ranged, passes through and hits all enemies, and deals 50% increased damage to the first enemy hit. Reach's damage will trigger Basic Attack Item Effects, but not Ability ones.
Though not a big ordeal when it comes to the grand scheme, Reach provides more AoE clear for Athena in all stages of the game, allowing for more area damage to aid in chasing enemies and clearing wave.



Ability 1 - Preemptive Strike

Preemptive Strike allows Athena to get close up and personal:
    Athena powers up for a dash. While dashing, Athena will pass through minions, stop and hit the first enemy god she encounters, dealing damage and slowing all she hits. If she hits an enemy, Athena gains one stack of Block (max 3), absorbing the next Basic Attack from any god that hits her.
Preemptive Strike offers a great engage, with a Slow and a Block Stack, meaning enemies hit will be struggling to fight back. Combined with Confound, attacking with this ability can ensure a kill if co-ordinated with your team.


Ability 2 - Confound

Confound acts as Athena's bread and butter set up tool:
    Athena releases a shockwave of power from her shield, Taunting enemy gods, and forcing them to fight or chase her.
As mentioned previously, engaging with the use of Confound can easily set up kills for your teammates. It's newly added damage (as on season 8) also means it can be used to help in clearing and kills, though it's numbers won't be high, it can offer good damage when combined with Spear of the Magus or Spear of Desolation.


Ability 3 - Shield Wall

Shield Wall is Athena's main way to deal damage:
    Athena summons a group of Athenian warriors who do damage upon arrival, and after 2s strike for additional damage.
Shield Wall acts as the primary tool to deal damage with for Athena, it'll be used to clear waves, camps and after a Confound to secure damage onto the Taunted enemy.
Some players may debate whether to use Shield Wall before Confound as the move hits twice and it would maximise damage to make it hit both times, however, the ability is relatively slow to cast and by the time Shield Wall is active, the enemy may have escaped the range of Confound making the combo redundant. It's best to use Confound first as it guarantees the damage from Shield Wall rather than risking it.


Ability 4 - Defender of Olympus

Defender of Olympus is Athena's signature ability and offers a plethora of uses:
    Athena picks a single allied god anywhere in the world, and launches herself up into the air, landing next to that god 3.6 seconds later. During that 3.6 seconds, the allied god gains 30% Damage Mitigation. Enemies nearby when Athena lands take damage.
Initially, you may think that Defender of Olympus is a free way to get around the map, but.. Walking only takes a couple of seconds, don't use it when it's not necessary!
Ideally, you'll want to reserve the use of Defender of Olympus for enabling an engage. I.e., using it on a Jungler or Solo Laner as they engage, to help them take reduced damage and provide crowd control with Confound.
Alternatively, you can use Defender of Olympus to help your allies who are getting attacked. I.e., using it on a Hunter or Mage that are getting dove by an Assassin, providing 30% Mitigations means they'll be able to survive longer and your presence will fend off the dive, keeping your ally alive.

Take into consideration the use of Defender of Olympus.
Though an ally may be close by and it's infinite range seems wasted when used on said ally, the distribution of 30% Mitigations is the core focus of the ability. You should look to cast it during every team fight to get more value out of a play from your team rather than holding it for when you're not nearby.

Starter Itemization



It's important to discuss the use of certain starting items in support, like,
"Do I take Health Potions and Multi Potions over Hand of the Gods?"
"Should I start with Belt of Frenzy, Magic Shell, Purification Beads or Blink Rune?"
or "Should I buy Sentinel's Gift or Benevolence?"
These questions will be answered right now!


Starter Item - Sentinel's Gift/Benevolence


Sentinel's Gift is a Utility Starting Item which gives:

+10 Physical Protection
+10 Magical Protection
+75 Health
+7 MP5

PASSIVE - Getting the assist for an enemy minion or jungle monster dying will provide 7 Bonus gold and restore 12 Health and 8 Mana. If you are not within 30 units of an allied god for 20 seconds this passive is disabled until you are near an allied god again.


This Starting Item provides the user with additional gold when not killing enemies along with survivability in Health and Mana regeneration. It's a staple support item and provides the stats and passive to survive in the lane freely.



Benevolence is a Utility Starting Item which gives:

+100 Health
+10 MP5
+7 HP5

PASSIVE - While not near an ally you gain 1 Stack of Benevolence every second, up to a maximum of 50. Assists provide 4 stacks. While within 70 units of a hurt ally god you use up to 5 stacks a second to heal them and yourself for 0.75% of your Maximum Health. Each Stack consumed provide you with 1 gold. If you overcap stacks they will still provide gold as long as you are near an ally god.


This Starting Item may seem confusing at first glance, but it essentially gives you charges of gold when not near allies that, once you are near to them, gives you the gold that you've charged. Though the item's stats aren't as well rounded as Sentinel's Gift, Benevolence provides an alternate path to supports by rewarding rotations between lanes with bonus gold and healing.



"Should I build Sentinel's Gift or Benevolence? And what about War Flag?"

Both Starting Items are completely viable in their own rights with Sentinel's Gift being a great all-rounder solution for anyone who plays support. It provides the stats you need to be a good support whilst holds great passives in the Starter and Finisher items. Benevolence offers more of a difficult playstyle for new players to grasp, where timing and map awareness is required to benefit from the item's passive and it's stats don't give as much of an advantage in lane as Sentinel's Gift as they're both fit for different playstyles. Ultimately, if you're a new player, start with Sentinel's Gift and work your way up to Benevolence by practicing your map awareness and rotations. Both are equal in power, and either option is down to you!

As for War Flag, let's keep it simple and say that this Starting Item has never been good. Both Sentinel's Gift and Benevolence outclass it in both their Starter and Finisher items, War Flag just falls short. I'm sure with enough buffs or slight reworks, the item may see play, but with how neglected it is (As of 9.6), there's no reason to ever build it.

Relic Options



There are many options for a Support when it comes to Relics and different Relics fit different purposes. That being said, here are my recommendations for what Relics to start with and what options you have for a Second Relic.



Belt of Frenzy
    Using this item grants all allied gods within 70 units 10% Increased Damage dealt to all targets, including objectives, and 25% Attack Speed increase for 6 seconds.

You may have seen a few people take Belt of Frenzy as their first Relic to secure early farm. This Relic option gives the user and their ally the most lane pressure as they are guaranteed to clear the first wave before their opponents, thus being able to push their advantage. This advantage you've now got can snowball into taking side camps and buff camps before the enemy does, gaining more levels faster than they do, and even pushing for a possible kill. Belt of Frenzy also offers a great Finisher item in:

Belt of the Berserker
    Using this item grants all allied gods within 70 units 20% Increased Damage dealt to all targets, including objectives, and 40% Attack Speed increase, decaying every 0.5s for 6 seconds.

This Finisher item is the very definition of a siege item, allowing your teammates to shred through towers, phoenixes and objectives like Gold Fury and Fire Giant. Between the options of Belt of the Berserker and Belt of Insatiable Hunger, I must recommend Berserker, as the benefits it provides over Insatiable Hunger is too large to ignore and the lower duration is fine if your primary focus are objectives. Though Insatiable Hunger offers more of a team fight Relic as kills increase it's duration, the buffs it gives aren't as beneficial.



Magic Shell
    Using this item applies a shield to himself and allies within 35 units for 100 Health + 12 Health per God Level for 3 seconds. Additionally, all allies take 20% reduced damage from Basic Attacks while the shield is active.

Magic Shell is THE support Relic, providing shields and damage reduction for your team. There are almost no downsides to taking Magic Shell either first or second as it helps against Basic Attacks within and outside of the lane, along with Finisher items that can be described as "Ridiculous."

Fortifying Shell
    Using this item applies a shield to himself and allies within 35 units for 100 Health + 12 Health per God Level for 3 seconds. Additionally, all allies take 40% reduced damage from Basic Attacks while the shield is active. When the shield is broken or expires, Allied Gods gain a new buff providing 15% Damage Mitigation and 20% Movement Speed for 3s.

Simply looking at this Relic tells you how good it is. A scaling shield, 40% reduced damage from Basic Attacks, 15% Damage Mitigation and 20% Movement Speed? The only thing this Relic doesn't do is pay your taxes. Regardless of whether you build Magic Shell first or second, you're going to get it, and furthermore this, 9/10 times.
And the 1/10 times is if you need:

Phantom Shell
    Using this item applies a shield to yourself and allies within 35 units for 150 Health + 15 Health per God Level for 4 seconds. Additionally, all allies take 40% reduced damage from Basic Attacks while the shield is active. Using this item also allows you and allied gods to pass through players and player made objects.

Phantom Shell gives you the benefits of Magic Shell whilst offering the utility of one of Smite's older relics, Phantom. You'll be taking this Relic over Fortifying Shell in a matchup dependant game. I.e., you're up against Odin, Ymir, Cabrakan or any other God with a wall.



Other Relic Options
Purification Beads - Removes Crowd Control Effects and makes you immune to new ones.
Blink Rune - Teleports away instantly when out of combat.
Cursed Ankh - Reduces the Healing received by enemy gods and removes some Shields.
Bracer of Radiance - Gives allies increased Power and Movement Speed.
Heavenly Wings - Grants allies Movement Speed and Slow Immunity.
Horrific Emblem - Slows enemy Movement and Attack Speed and lowers their Damage.



Purification Beads is a vital Relic in Smite as most Gods have 1 if not 2 forms of Crowd Control, thus being immune to them gives you a massive advantage. Taking Purification Beads in support means you'll be able to survive Crowd Control chains that would typically kill you, increasing your survivability and allowing you to be in situations that wouldn't be beneficial to those without Purification Beads.


Blink Rune offers another engage other than Preemptive Strike that is doesn't need to charge and is faster to get to the location. Using Confound with Blink Rune makes you an even better engage tool than you already are, but means you won't have another Relic like Magic Shell to help your teammates with if they're being attacked.


Cursed Ankh is a niche Relic that you won't need most of the time. The anti heal it offers isn't typically necessary if you build Contagion or Pestilence and your other roles build Divine Ruin or Brawler's Beat Stick. Though if you're against certain Gods that may waver a Cursed Ankh, for example Vamana or Nike, then it would be smart to take it.


Bracer of Radiance akin to Belt of Frenzy, this Relic provides boosts to damage and is a more offensive option whilst also giving vision. Bracer of Radiance would be used in the same situations Belt of Frenzy is and can be an alternate option to it depending on what you prefer.


Heavenly Wings is another niche Relic where you'll be using it depending on what your team has. Combining this Relic with a few Hunters will benefit them greatly and can help steamroll games faster than without, though this can be said for other offensive Relics in Belt of Frenzy and Bracer of Radiance as well.


Horrific Emblem is more of a counter-pick Relic to an enemy composition, where they may have multiple hyper carry gods that rely on Basic Attacks, i.e., Kali or Freya. This Relic is great for shutting down Basic Attack orientated Assassins and Hunters whilst giving your team a tactical edge if you use it after an engage.

Itemization




Finisher Items


Sentinel's Embrace

+30 Physical Protection
+30 Magical Protection
+200 Health
+20 MP5

AURA - Evenly split 80 Physical and Magical Protection among all allied gods within 55 units and yourself. If you are alone you only gain 40 Physical and Magical Protections.


Just like Sentinel's Gift, Sentinel's Embrace is THE Support Finisher item. It has great stats and spreads protections betwixed allies with an aura.


Sentinel's Boon

+45 Physical Protection
+45 Magical Protection
+300 Health
+20 MP5

PASSIVE - Getting the assist when an enemy dies provides 15 Bonus Gold and restores 4% of your Health and Mana.


Where Sentinel's Embrace focuses on providing protections to allies around you and focuses on being a defensive bunker to be around, Sentinel's Boon promotes a more aggressive playstyle by offering the user healing for clearing a wave or jungle monster, meaning you're able to take considerably more damage and be able to heal it back. Whether you take Sentinel's Boon or Sentinel's Embrace is down to the enemy team comp, if they have a lot of poke damage or bust damage, and your personal preference.

Compassion

+60 Magical Protection
+300 Health
+45 HP5
+15 MP5

AURA - You gain 8 GP5. Damage taken by allied gods within 70 units of you is reduced by 15%, up to a maximum of 100 damage. The reduced damage is redirected to you as Magical Damage. If you would die from this damage it does not get reduced or redirected.


Compassion is the big-boy "Get behind me!" tank item. You sacrifice the utility that Sentinel's Embrace has and the sustain that Sentinel's Boon has in exchange for keeping your teammates alive longer by sacrificing yourself. Compassion is typically the best Finisher item in the meta (as of 9.6) though getting to that stage may be hard for newer players that aren't as comfortable using Benevolence over Sentinel's Gift and may rely on the more personal protections that both Sentinel's Embrace and Sentinel's Boon give.

If you're still curious about the Green Starter items, look to TheOtherFrost for his take on the matter!



Gauntlet of Thebes

+250 Health
+15 HP5

PASSIVE - Assists on a minion give 1 Stack and God kills and assists give 5 Stacks. Stacks provide 1 Physical and Magical Protection. At 50 Stacks this item evolves, providing an Aura of 10 Physical Protection and 10 Magical Protection.


A staple support item, Gauntlet of Thebes, once Evolved, provides:

+250 Health
+50 Physical Protection
+50 Magical Protection
+15 HP5

AURA - Allies within 70 units receive 10 Physical Protection and 10 Magical Protection.


This item provides the best well-rounded stats out of any item for it's price with the only downside being that you cannot kill the minions yourself, which is why it's such a great item in support as your Hunter or Mage will be the one to kill the minions, allowing you to stack it easily. It's stats are great and the aura provides your allies with a small boost to get the through the early game whilst providing yourself with even more protections.


Pridwen

+30 Physical Protection
+30 Magical Protection
+20% Cooldown Reduction

PASSIVE - When your Ultimate ability has finished casting, you gain a Shield equal to 90% of your Protections from items for 5s. When destroyed, by timing out or being depleted, it explodes and deals Magical damage equal to 75% of the Shield’s initial Health and Slows targets by 25% for 3s.


Pridwen offers a big 20% Cooldown Reduction which Athena relishes in. Having your cooldowns up more often means both Defender of Olympus and Confound can be used more often, thus allowing you to use them less sparingly and letting you go for more plays overall. Pridwen's passive also synergises the best with Athena as it almost assures that enemies hit by Defender of Olympus will take the full shield damage and be Slowed.


Sovereignty

+250 Health
+40 Physical Protection

AURA - Allied gods within 70 units have their Physical Protections increased by 15 and their HP5 increased by 35.


Sovereignty is such a great defensive option that even Solo Laners are option for it (as of 9.6). It provides the user and allies around them good protections and HP5 allowing for a counter to Hunters and Assassins whilst providing enough HP5 to shrug off hits and continue to stay in the game. A core item if there are 3 or more Physical Gods on the enemy team.


Relic Dagger

+350 Health
+10% Cooldown Reduction
+10% Crowd Control Reduction
+7% Movement Speed

PASSIVE - Your relics receive 30s Cooldown Reduction


Relic Dagger's impact is solely reliant on your Relics and how often you plan to use them. If you're confident that your team will co-ordinate and take objectives, then building Relic Dagger to have Belt of Frenzy up more often can be very impactful. All-in-all, the opportunities that having Relics up more often provides is too vital to miss.


Spirit Robe

+40 Physical Protection
+40 Magical Protection
+10% Cooldown Reduction
+20% Crowd Control Reduction

PASSIVE - You gain an additional 15% Damage Mitigation for 3s whenever you are hit with a hard Crowd Control Effect or Root.


Like Relic Dagger, it is assumed that Spirit Robe's use can be situational as you need to be under the effects of Crowd Control, however, with Smite's abundance of Crowd Control, as a support, you are never going to go an instance without getting hit by one, thus making Spirit Robe a core item for those that don't want to die to a Crowd Control chain.


Other Item Options

Shogun's Kusari

Shogun's Kusari offers a great Aura of 30% bonus Attack Speed, making this a great option for compositions that revolve around Hunters and Mages or Assassins that revolve around Basic Attacks.

Anti-heal Items

Replacing an item within your build for a Contagion or Pestilence can be crucial in certain situations where Cursed Ankh wouldn't have any worth in comparison and your other teammates don't have anti-heal items.

Damage Items

Applying marks with Spear of the Magus or getting more Cooldown Reduction from Spear of Desolation can be great utility in of itself with additional damage on the side. These item's passives, along with contenders such as Divine Ruin or Ethereal Staff can compliment a more aggressive playstyle.

Anti-carry items

This consists of a plethora of items, such as Breastplate of Vigilance, Witchblade and Spectral Armor that focus on counter building and shutting down a specific person. These items can be important depending on the state of the game as a fed Kali or Bakasura can easily steamroll your games without a Witchblade or a fed Hunter building Crit can shred you without Spectral Armor.

Alternate Last items

Though Spirit Robe is a fantastic choice, other options are available depending on the situation. Mantle of Discord offers more stats and a Stun to aid in disengaging. Magi's Cloak allows Athena a free pass for one crowd control, making it easier to engage. Stone of Gaia and Mail of Renewal are also options that give huge amounts of health and great passives, however, with the current state of 9.6, it's unadvised to build them. Though, if they are to receive buffs, or %HP damage is nerfed, these can be possible options once more.

Decision Making and Exemplar Situations


If you're new to the Support role, or Athena in general, you're in luck!
('cus I'm the best there is around and nobody's better please trust me)

As Athena your priorities should look like this:

1. Is someone in Danger? Yes - Defender of Olympus
2. Is someone engaging? Yes - Defender of Olympus
3. Is there an opportunity for a pick? Yes - Confound


Sounds simple right? That's because, at a micro level, she is. Where Athena shines is her ability to control the macro of the game.
The difference between micro and macro being:
    Micro is more closely linked to the individual, macro is more about the team, how well you play into it, and how well it executes in order to meet its goals. (dignitas presteej, 2018)

Playing a macro-intensive God like Athena means you have to focus on what's happening on the map. Who's doing what. Who's losing lane, who's got a lead, who's engaging an enemy, who's being engaged on. These are things you have to ask when you're looking to make plays as a God who can make plays easily off of her teammates.
For example...



In this situation, Chernobog and Freya are both farming in their lane whilst Chaac is getting out poked by Achilles. Is it better to help Chernobog out farm Freya and get him a lead? Or is it better to help Achilles get a kill and give him the ability to snowball?
Acting on these types of decisions are what makes an Athena player good. Knowing that Achilles is a God who can easily snowball out of Solo lane, especially against a Chaac, the decision may be to start him off early, or it could be to help Chernobog out farm Freya and play for a late game Hunter that will easily shred objectives.

The real answer to the situation is to play off what you know the strengths of your team has and how to play off that...



When taking in valuable information, we can see that Achilles has already died to Chaac and Chernobog has already killed Freya and aided in another kill, so with this new information, and in a regular matchmaking setting, is it advisable to get Achilles even or is it better to get Chernobog even more ahead?

Another example...


In this situation, the enemy team (Red) are starting a Gold Fury fight. Your team (Green) decided to flank the enemy whilst leaving your backline vulnerable. Should you peel for your carries? Do Chaac and Pele do enough damage to kill them? Will helping Kali and Achilles allow you to snowball the fight? Are Kali and Achilles able to dive the backline by themselves?
Another situation where two answers can be correct depending on the state of the game and your team versus their team.

Warding for Supports


As a Support, regardless of who you play, one of your main jobs, along with the other 50, is ward management.
Placing wards, especially as you get into higher levels of play, is vital. Knowing where the enemy is means you can assume what they're about to do, and play around that.

For this segment, I'd highly recommend watching TheOtherFrost's videos based around map awareness and warding. Though outdated, it's fundamentals still apply to the Smite we play today!


Following on from this, the ideal ward spot is somewhere that covers the most area, and hold the best advantage points. These being made up of choke points and entries that the enemy can come through.
This is an example of areas to hold vision control when playing around the map
(in any role)

Though placing wards is important, a vital act to do as Support is to remove the enemy's wards. Sentry Wards are a cheap way to deny vision whilst granting you some in return and should be placed in the choke points you're likely to come through, as that's where the enemy needs to have vision, along with important objectives such as Gold Fury and the Fire Giant pit.

Official Discord



This guide is not made by the mentor team from the SMITE Official Discord. Though I will shameless plug the Discord Server since there are many very helpful people there (including myself ;) ) that are guaranteed to answer any questions you have related to SMITE!

Outroduction

Thanks for reading my Athena smite guide :)

If you have anything to add, I'd highly suggest contacting me via Discord over commenting on the Smitefire guide since my activity on this website fluctuates greatly!

If there's any spelling mistakes or grammatically incorrect moments, PLEASE tell me, I hate having errors like that! + Give me likes 'cus big number makes brain happy :)

Overall, Athena is a super fun God and although per playstyle can be summed up as very 1-Dimensional in Dash >> Taunt, I never get bored of her.

References

Smitegame.com. (2022). Athena - Goddess of Wisdom
[online] Available at: https://www.smitegame.com/gods/athena
[Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

Hi-Rez (2022). Minions. [online] Available at:
https://smite.fandom.com/wiki/Minions
[Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

Dignitas Presteej. (2018). Micro vs. Macro: What They Are and How to Improve on Both. [online] Available at: https://dignitas.gg/articles/blogs/Unknown/11733/micro-vs.-macro-what-they-are-and-how-to-improve-on-both
[Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

‌Barnes, J. (2022). Athena - ProSmiteBuilds. [online] prosmitebuilds.com. Available at: https://prosmitebuilds.com/athena/
[Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].

AmoralOne (2022). Cerberus (S9 Conquest Support). [online] Available at: https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/cerberus-s9-conquest-support-25352
[Accessed 22 Jun. 2022].







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