Amaterasu Ō-Mikami - Conquest Jungle Crit build and guide (8.7)

Hi! This is my first ever smite fire build, which kinda accidentally ended up turning into a guide, I'm TheProInDaGames (not really lol) and I present to you the Amaterasu Jungle Crit build, a way to play Amaterasu that I have rarely seen despite how fun and efficient it can be. Join me, as I unravel the never before seen, totally exclusive not at all inspired by some random player 100% original idea: the "Amaterasu haha crit go brr" build.

Disclaimer: This is by no means a meta or efficient way to play Amaterasu, I was sitting one day after going against a solo crit Amaterasu and thought that her kit could function well as a jungle, I tinkered a bit and this is what happened, it's just a fun gimmick I recommend you to try on casual conquest or not competitive gamemodes but not take too seriously.

STARTER

No jungle starter item really fits in with Amaterasu's jungle gimmick, which is part of the reason I recommend to sell it later for building a 6th item, but Eye Of The Jungle complements the most out of the bunch, even though it might seem like the lesser option for sustain compared to Bumba's Spear and Manikin Scepter , it's +10% attack speed helps the early combat and overall feels nice, providing 25 HP5 when in the jungle, which is like having the constant half of the effect of a healing potion or 5 health per second.

Katana as a starter will give a nice 3% movement speed which of course stacks with Ama's 1 and 10 power.

CORE

Golden Blade is a great first item as it gives you great clear, which you need to not get outfarmed by the enemy jungle, along with 10% movement speed and 15% attack speed, following it up with Poisoned Star which allows you to stay close to your enemy, as when landing a crit on an enemy, they get -10% movement speed and -15% damage output, allowing you to catch on if you briefly lose your target. You could use Hastened Katana instead of Golden Blade if you still struggle to stay close to enemies to get your basic attacks in, in this case, you can use Wind Demonwind demon for that extra penetration and speed you get when landing a crit, remember you don't want to fight in your speed stance since the damage output you get from your power stance is quite important, this is why our core items focus on giving you the ability to stay close enough to your enemies to land basic attacks, but you can go with what you feel most comfortable with. Deathbringer empowers crits, providing you with ludicrous amounts of damage against squishies.

FULL BUILD

Toxic blade will give exactly what you need at the time you're buying it, flat 15 penetration, a major boost to your attack speed and anti-heal on basic attacks, not to mention it also grants 7% movement speed and 100 health, it is overall a perfect item for countering lifesteal built ADCs and bypassing their basic stat protections for oppresive damage in ganks. If you prefer to get more crits over the penetration, you could use Shadowsteel Shuriken if you still need the anti-heal, bear in mind though, this sacrifices your flat penetration which functions best against some gods who have some basic stat protections, adjust as you need or want and remember, builds change situationally.

Now it depends on which core option you picked, but at the end it will be the same, if you picked Poisoned Star this is where you get Wind Demonwind demon for the penetration and viceversa for the damage debuff.

I recommend you sell your starter as it will not be much useful late game, and replace it with Serrated Edge , which gives you most importantly 20% penetration, allowing you to deal considerable damage to tanks, and again, still contributing to the build core with speed and damage, it also provides 10% lifesteal and gives you an extra 10 damage and 3% lifesteal for each non-ult ability on cooldown which can give you some extra surviveability in a team fight which synergizes with the long cooldown on her 2 and 3. Say, for example, you just arrived at a teamfight from clearing a camp or the fountain, you change your stance to the power buff, activate your 2 and charge in silencing enemies with your 3, giving you the full bonus from this item, which can come into play more often than not.
As a word of caution you will find yourself often returning to the fountain, as if you are badly wounded in the frontline, you have little options to heal yourself quickly, compared to Thanatos or a jungle who built Bumba's Spear

Your passive Illuminating Strike is a debuff you apply to your enemy by hitting three basic attacks on them, increasing the damage they take by 10% and to other enemies in a 30 unit radius from the affected god, a very strong advantage in both a gank and a teamfight. Your priority to level after your ult is your 1, Divine Presence for the damage/speed buff, as being in the correct stance can be the difference between a successful gank or death: for example, you can change your stance to speed after clearing the first camps to arrive mid xp camp quickly and heal a bit, then changing to damage again for clearing and/or fighting. Remember this is also an aura, and applies to nearby allies too, so you could help someone escape or empower them just by being nearby (in the correct stance) or provide an advantage in a teamfight. Your 2, Heavenly Reflection is your main clear and protection, as it mitigates 3% damage at level 1, increasing the mitigation by 3% with every level while active and giving you a little extra range for potentially securing a kill, and giving you some breathing room in a fight. This is your next priority to your 1. Activate when entering a jungle camp or clearing a minion wave to charge it and clear, you can also activate it when starting a fight to take advantage of the mitigation it provides and having a headstart onto a panicking opponent or simply to poke a little extra damage if they try to escape, you should also, if planning to go in with your ult, activate it before your ult, and then use your ult, as it will grant you some protection, and charge with the damage you deal with the ult, increasing and securing the damage after the stun.
Your 3, Glorious Charge is a silence which can cancel channeled abilities like Cthulhu's 2 or Anubis' 1 , the silence hits before the dash (when casting) and not with the dash as it might seem at first, this is also your main escape or catch up, so maybe it is not the best idea to use when starting a gank as it has 18 seconds of cooldown, unless you want to prevent the enemy god from escaping inmediatly with an ability or are sure you have the upper hand, leveling up this ability is your last priority as it only upgrades the damage, and not the silence or the dash itself.
Your 4, Dazzling Offensive is a powerful tool that can decide the course of a battle or setting up a kill to push when ganking, stunning enemies chasing after an ally, or in very dire situations, using it as an escape. It's power resides not in it's potential as a finisher or a way to secure a kill, but rather setting up a gank or a teamfight.
If you hit at least one enemy god in both of your first two swings, the third swing will stun them 2 seconds allowing you to release your 2 and some basic attacks for a lot of damage, or simply stunning half of the enemy team for a massive advantage and quite possibly the victory in a teamfight for a phoenix or the enemy titan.

Pros:

Insane mobility
Powerful set up for teamfights
High single target damage
The ADC's nightmare

Cons:

Poor sustain, especially early game
Poor clear if Golden Blade is not built
Countered by anti-basic attack builds
Squishie/Few options for defense

Early game

Amaterasu early isn't cut to be jungle, so she struggles early with sustain and clear, this is why I recommend for you to buy hand of the gods to use on the first clear of the yellow buff, especially if solo gets blue buff for himself, as it will allow you to quickly get your 2 to help you clear the xp camps, after this, go to the mid xp camp (you're still in the fire giant/solo side of the jungle) and relic ward the choke point on the enemy jungle side to the mid lane, this allows you to be on the lookout while clearing the camp if the enemy jungle approaches you to poke or steal the camp or tries to gank mid. This is often your first fight of the match so arriving first and having the headstart on the enemy jungle or being ready to gank mid can determine if you can outfarm the enemy jungle and have a powerful start to snowball into the midgame, where Ama jungle excels at.

Mid game

This is where things get interesting, having built your core items you now possess the power to C H A S E since you can attack by surprise and chase at the same time you auto attack, you rely mainly on your basic attacks for damage, and your 2 for some protection and range if needed, use your 3 to close the gap, or save it for an escape if you think you can soon be in a difficult situation, in summary: do what your usual jungle does, rotate, help clear camps, place wards to counter the enemy jungle in crucial choke points and strategically attack your enemies, you'll be surprised at constant damage you can output, most importantly, always do something, always be clearing a camp, or defending a lane if a teammate is dead or at the fountain, kill a harpy, place a ward, zone the enemy jungle, steal a camp, NEVER wait around for for stuff, you'll get outleved and probably lose advantage compared to proper junglers if you stop making progress.
For a more in-depth explanation on how to play amaterasu and understand how to use her abilities, check out this guide.

Late game

The era of ganks is over and it's time to VVVG! try to solve problems, burst down that lifesteal hunter hiding behind their tank, ward the choke points so your mage doesn't get jumped by the enemy jungler, silence or cancel a dangerous ability, and most importantly, use your ult to set up the fight with the stun, it is your most powerful ability in a teamfight and sets you aside from other junglers for your capability to use your ult to turn the tide of the battle instead of just securing a kill.

That's all folks

Pixel art Amaterasu artwork by Zughy
In depth Amaterasu guide which helped Hishoku no Sora by Stuke99
Guide to uh... creating guides by nanoyam
Everyone who contributed/contributes feedback and comments!

Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day