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Sentinel's Gift
Benevolence
Hand of the Gods
Healing Potion
Belt of Frenzy
Magic Shell
Sentinel's Embrace
Compassion
Gauntlet of Thebes
Pridwen
Sovereignty
Relic Dagger
Spirit Robe
Belt of the Berserker
Fortifying Shell
Fortifying Shell
Phantom Shell
Belt of the Berserker
Entangling Wings
Temporal Beads
Bracer of Brilliance
Blighted Ankh
Corrupted Blink Rune
Emblem of Increasing Peril
Sentinel's Embrace
Compassion
Gauntlet of Thebes
Breastplate of Vigilance
Shogun's Kusari
Witchblade
Mantle of Discord
Fortifying Shell
Emblem of Increasing Peril
Breastplate of Vigilance
Bulwark of Hope
Contagion
Pestilence
Divine Ruin
Emperor's Armor
Ethereal Staff
Magi's Cloak
Mantle of Discord
Shogun's Kusari
Spear of the Magus
Spear of Desolation
Spectral Armor
Winged Blade
Witchblade
Y
B
A
X
Tap each threat level to view Athena’s threats
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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 comprehensiveSeason 9 guide for her as she can be top tier support pick when in the right hands and can easily carry your matchmaking games! |
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. 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.|
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) . . . . |
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. 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.
Passive - Reach
Reach gives Athena some more valuable damage options: 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:
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:
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:
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. 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:
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! 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. 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. Defender Of Olympus.
Health Potions and 
Multi Potions over Hand of the Gods?" Belt of Frenzy, Magic Shell, 
Purification Beads or 
Blink Rune?" Sentinel's Gift or Benevolence?"
Starter Item - Sentinel's Gift/Benevolence
Sentinel's Gift is a Utility Starting Item which gives:
Benevolence is a Utility Starting Item which gives:
Sentinel's Gift, Benevolence provides an alternate path to supports by rewarding rotations between lanes with bonus gold and healing. Sentinel's Gift or Benevolence? And what about 
War Flag?" 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! 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.
Belt of Frenzy
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
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
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
Magic Shell first or second, you're going to get it, and furthermore this, 9/10 times.
Phantom Shell
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.
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Finisher Items
Sentinel's Embrace
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
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
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.
Gauntlet of Thebes
Gauntlet of Thebes, once Evolved, provides:
Pridwen
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
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
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
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 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 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 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 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.
Athena in general, you're in luck! Athena your priorities should look like this:
Defender of Olympus Defender of Olympus Confound Athena shines is her ability to control the macro of the game. 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.
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? 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. 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? 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?
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.
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!
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.
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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