Arachne - Left Jungle/Lane

Hello fellow Smiters!

First i wanted to point out, this is my first guide for Smite, im no pro or competitive player, just want to provide some help to players new to Smite or Arachne.
This guide revolves around playing Arachne in the jungle as a ganker , supporting your left lane with ganks and lane presence as soon as needed.
That's the way i like to play her - so don't take everything here as set in stone, and find your style of play/item build.

Going into the late game you will be a physical carry most likely, but more on that in the Items section.
I also tried to go a little bit more into detail about the jungle on the conquest map. I will keep this guide updated as the game development progresses and changes happen.


So i hope you enjoy reading this guide, im open for any critisism and additions - so please leave your feedback in the comments section below!

Arachne - The Weaver

Once, a beautiful and talented weaver of cloth and fabric, a single prideful mistake made a monster of Arachne for all time.


With loom and thread, there were none more skilled than the mortal Arachne. Viewers traveled leagues just to see her art. So wondrous and majestic were her tapestries, it was said the spinner must have been instructed by the patron Goddess of Weavers herself, Athena. To this comparison, Arachne proudly scoffed, claiming not even the Gods rivaled her talent at weaving.



When Athena heard this, disguised as a crone, she visited Arachne and encouraged her to show proper respect to the Gods. Arachne dismissed the old woman and issued a challenge that no God, not even Athena, could weave better than she. Furious, Athena revealed herself and accepted the challenge.



They both set to the loom with fervor. Athena wove a glorious tapestry depicting her battle with Poseidon over the city of Athens. Her detail and imagery were exquisite. Yet Arachnes weavings depicted Zeus in his many infidelities with mortals. So flawless, so lifelike was her artistry, not even Athena could refute the skill, nor could she contain her anger at such a sleight. Violently, she tore Arachnes tapestry and pressed a finger to Arachnes forehead. Twisting in anguish, Arachne fell to the ground as additional legs grew from her body, screaming as she transformed into the first spider.

It was an act of anger and pity, a lesson and a curse, for spiders are the greatest of weavers, and Arachne, in particular, was to weave for all time, but none could doubt the consequence for Arachnes pride. Still, within her twisted heart, Arachne never forgave Athena, consumed by a dark hatred that can be sated only by the destruction of the Gods.

Poison Claws Poison Claws(Passive)


Arachne applies poison on every physical attack that hits. The poison ticks every .5s for 3s and does 8 physical damage (+15% of her physical power from items) for the duration. Stacks 3 times.

This passive basically adds a damage over time component to your auto attacks, and lets you get these sometimes so close kills, where the enemy runs away with 20 hp. It also scales with your physical power so its still okay lategame.

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Broodlings (Skill Key 1)



Arachne lays spider eggs that act as wards, seeing enemies in the area around them. Enemies getting too close to the eggs cause them to hatch 2 spiders that attack the nearby enemy, slowing them by 20% and doing 20/30/40/50/60 (+17% of your physical power) physical damage every second for 10s. Max of 5 eggs can be deployed.

Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana.

Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11s.


This spell makes Arachne a good early jungler and also serves multiple purposes.

1.) jungling, more details about down below in the Jungling section.

2.) warding the map - as you can always have 5 of the cocoons placed on the map and they dont disappear after a certain period of time. Of course, if they get triggered or destroyed they are gone but you got at least the information that an enemy was there or is there.

3.) ambush set up - you can also use them as a kind of ambush set up, placing them before you gank on the route where the enemy will most likeley flee or alternativly you stack them up in one place and try to pull the enemy into your cocoons (very situational!).

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Drain Life (Skill Key 2)



Arachne pounces on her melee target, silencing them and damaging for 30/40/50/60/70 (+15% of your physical power) physical damage while healing for 30/40/50/60/70 (+15% of your Focus) every .5s for 3s. Right clicking or being disabled (stun, fear or silence) will knock Arachne off.

Cost: 65/70/75/80/85 mana.

Cooldown: 15s.


This ability makes your jungling also much easier and is very annoying to enemy gods. The heal it provides gets your health up after doing a jungle buff or ganking a lane. It also is one of the strongest 1v1 spells as your target can't do anything to you while you're on it.

Don't forget you can cancel the ability before it ends, if you need to get off your target quickly - if they carry you into their tower+minions or to another enemy.

Also be aware: You are not immune to cc or damage while riding on an enemy!!

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Tangled Web Tangled Web (Skill Key 3)


Arachne spins and entangling web at her ground location, slowing her enemies within the radius by 24/28/32/36/40%, increasing with Focus up to 50%. The spun web persists in the area for 3/4/5/6/7s, increasing with Focus up to 10s.

Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 mana.

Cooldown: 15s.


This ability helps you when ganking or in teamfights, place the web behind your enemies down (while coming from behind) because it lasts 10s, which is pretty long and cuts your enemy off. In teamfights you can slow down the enemy initiation or reatreat if placed correctly.
Note: The web has a travel time to target destination, so keep that in mind if you place it, the further away the target location is, the longer it takes until it spreads there.

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Cocoon (Skill Key 4)



Arachne fires a web projectile towards her enemies, if the web hits an enemy god, it wraps them tightly doing 100/150/200/250/300 (+50% of your physical power) physical damage and stunning them for 1s, increasing with Focus up to 2s, as Arachne pulls them to her.

Cost: 100 mana.

Cooldown: 30s.

Arachnes ultimate ability is a very narrow skill shot, so you need a lot of practice to hit your enemies with it, especially when they are constantly moving around. It also serves multiple purposes:

- Pull enemies into your tower/phoenix range: In the early-mid game quite effective because most heroes are not tanky enough to survive some towerhits + your damage.
- Pull a running enemy to you: When you gank you can initiate with it, but i recommend saving it for when the enemy runs from you, then hit them in the back and pull them to you for the killing blow.
- Pull enemies into your team in teamfights: When you can pull an enemy into your team and focus him down quickly with your team - you have a perfect advantage, but be careful - pulling in Ymir or Hades might not be a good idea.

A quick run through the items you might want to get as listed above - nothing really special in here, pretty standard physical melee items as far as i know.

Core

Warrior Tabi: As Arachne is a physical melee these boots are kind of a no-brainer. You might want to consider Reinforced Boots if you have to be tanky because your team lacks a proper tanky god.


Devourer's Gloves Devourer's Gloves: Provides us with (all in all) 50 physical power plus 20% lifesteal - makes jungling easier and faster.


The Executioner: Gives us all we need as physical melees: physical power, attack speed plus we reduce now the physical protection of enemies we hit - great!

vs tanks/hp stacker

It happens from time to time, that you are facing a team consisting of many tanks/bruisers and no squishy targets whatsoever. In this case you can consider building the following items after your core items:



Deathbringer:Extra crit, a good chunk of physical power AND our crits now do 50% more damage - making this item a solid choice.

Qin's Blades: The passive of this item makes it so good vs tank/hp stacker as it adds 2.5% of the enemies MAXhealth as damage to our attacks on that enemy.
So no mather how much hp they stack, you will hurt them!

Brawler's Beat Stick:I recommmend getting this item if the enemy tanks or bruisers are heavy stacking hp5 ( Stone of Gaia, Gauntlet of Thebes, Vampiric Shroud) OR the enemy carrys are stacking lifesteal. (Devourer's Gloves, Soul Eater, Brawler's Beat Stick, Pythagorem's Piece, Divine Ruin etc.)

Titan's Bane: I recommend this one if the enemy team is stacking physical resistance, it provides that extra penetration we need there.

Note: I personally decide in the situation what suits better for the game - and get either a Brawler's Beat Stick or the Titan's Bane, but not both.

high crits/critchance

If the enemy team consists mostly of soft/squishy targets you might want to consider getting these items listet below, for a really high critchance and therefore damage output on soft targets.


Deathbringer:Extra crit, a good chunk of physical power AND our crits now do 50% more damage - making this item essential in the high crits/critchance build.


Rage: All stats needed for a critbuild, plus the passive increases the critchance by 5% as long as you dont crit -> much higher chance to crit.

Golden Bow: Physical power, crit chance and movement speed are all good stats for a physical ganker like you are - and the passive helps to clear the jungle camps/lane faster and lets you do good aoe damage in teamfights.

Situational

The following items may be of situational use, but are not recommended otherwise.


Gauntlet of Thebes: I only think you should get these when you need to be tanky, for example if your team lacks any kind of god that can build tanky - so chances that you have to be the tanky guy are really low, but it happens once in a while. Get these for a massive hp boost and reg.

Frostbound Hammer: This one i recommend getting if you need that extra hp and the slow from the passive, again - situational maybe if your laning parter lacks a stun or other good cc.

Hide of Leviathan: If you have to go tanky, this might be a good pick up. Good amounts of health, mana, defense plus crowd control reduction make this one viable.
If you allready got your Reinforced Boots skip this as both passives don't stack.

Witch Stone Witch Stone: Again more for the tanky style of play - check if someone else in your team goes for it, with all aura items so you don't end up having two of the same one.

Soul Eater: Another Aura item that can come in handy, as you will support all other physical damage gods in your team - you may pick this up instead of the Golden Bow in the crit build, if your team really benefits from it.

Heartseeker: Get this if you are dominating the game and are not really under threat of getting ganked or dying easy. If you can maintain the stacks - this item is a beast, but if you die you lose all stacks so its a risk/reward thing.



If you really build like a tank you also can consider Stone of Gaia, Mystical Mark, Magi's Blessing etc. but i wont cover that in this guide as in my opinion Arachne is not really a good tank.

Aegis Amulet: Makes you immune to anything harmful for 2sec, but also locks you in place for the time. This is really good in many circumstances, especially when you get caught out or you are standing in 2+ ultis in a teamfight - this might safe your life if timed correctly.

Purification Beads: Basically removes any form of crowd control that is applied to you and makes you immune to new ones for 2sec. Can again come in very handy against certain hero or spell combinations.
( Thor's Tectonic Rift, Ymir's Frost Breath, you can even break the pull of Ares's No Escape).

Hand Of The Gods: Deals high damage to minions, creeps and the minotaur. If you pick this up, you can easily get lvl2 +2 buffs before ganking left/middle lane, as it onehits the smaller buffcreeps and takes the bigger ones down to about half health, increasing your jungling speed dramatically.

It can help you getting a kill on a enemy with low hp, sitting in a bunch of his own creeps (get in, use Hand of the Gods to kill the creeps, and jump onto the enemy).

It also helps in the later stages of the game clearing out creepwaves as you are pushing the lanes.

vs Creeping Curse vs. Heavenly Agility: Either one of both can be helpful in teamfights to either Slow down enemy movement ( Creeping Curse) or giving your team a burst of speed to initiate or retreat ( Heavenly Agility) If you consider getting one, dont get both on yourself - let your lane partner get the other one.

How does the jungle work in Smite?

The jungle in Smite is quite different from other MOBA games like Dota/HoN/LoL etc. in the sense that it basically does not provide enough creeps to be constantly farming in the jungle (well i guess you can if you take both jungles on the map for you but that would leave you ONLY in the jungle with no time to actually be usefull for your team).

So with that said, whats in the jungle you might ask?

It basically consists of creeps that provide a buff to the god that kills that creep, which leads us to my(poorly edited with paint.net - google it) overview of what you can find where in the smite jungle:

(Note: There is a lack of actual images of the ingame minimap on google - who knows why?)

All 2 minute buff camps (Mana, Speed, Damage, Cooldown) have a respawn timer of 4 minutes.
The Gold Fury and the Fire Giant have a respawn timer of 6 minutes.

So basically what you will be doing is, get into the jungle - grab some buffs - gank a lane (usually left, but also consider mid) and retain the lane presence with the buffs until they come back up again.

Jungle Path

Assuming you don't get counter jungled by an enemy jungler or the enemies right lane (your left one) the following is a good route to start with:

1.) Start at the blue Mana-buff camp in the bottom left of the map. Grab your starting items as fast as possible and head there to set up (most ideal) 4-5 broodlings before the camp spawns. (which is at 00:10 game time)
Clear the camp (save your Hand of the Gods), grab the buff and head over to

2.) the damage buff.
Put down a broodling, wait for them to hatch and clear this camp out too, using your Hand of the Gods.
Be careful! as this camp is very close to the mid lane, and quite accessible from there, keep an eye out for the enemy mid player as he can be a threat if you are there with half hp.

3.) After getting the damage buff, you have some options:

- gank left lane: this will be the most common scenario if your lane partner played careful in the lane and the enemies haven't spotted you, get there and gank.

- gank mid lane: also quite likely because the damage buff camp is so close to mid, its really easy to come in for a gank, as said above be careful though and communicate with your mid to set it up right.


4.) If the gank was successful you can either port back and buy, or get back into the jungle, getting the rest of the buffs left in your half of the jungle (speed/cooldown).
Although the cooldown-reduction buff is not that great on arachne because your spells allready have quite low cooldowns so in the later stages of the game, let someone else of your team get it.
The speed buff is really nice, you just get much faster around the map and can follow this pesky enemy that tries to escape your gank with 50hp.. :)

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After that:

You should be grabbing the mob camps and buff camps as they respawn in the jungle (if possible) to make up for the time not laning with your laning partner, use the buffs for successful ganks left and mid, or even go and gank the right lane if everything is going well.

You will get a feel for it over the time when to grab which buff, or when to go and make the gold fury/fire giant.

You can solo the gold fury with ~lvl 11 if you got your core items, and in the late game you can even solo the fire giant.

warding with your broodlings/or normal wards

As mentioned in the skill description, the Broodlings are also kind of a semi-ward as they provide minimap vision, and dont have a limited lifespan. So if the enemy isnt roaming the jungle a lot, you will be fine placing these.

After around the 10 minute mark, its good the get some real Ward's up at the entrance of the Gold Fury, and the Fire Giant - so if the enemy team tries to get it, you can intercept with your team as these two provide a good boost to the team.

Below some spots i personally find quite useful to ward:

Generally you want gank a lane where your teammate got some good crowd control (like Ymir, Sobek, Vamana, Odin, Thor etc.) as it helps you alot landing your ultimate and gives you a little bit time to come in close and get some more auto attacks off.

So you want to try to approach your enemy from behind, if possible throw down Tangled Web and Broodlings behind them to hinder their escape.

Get to them, attack at least 3 times to stack your passive up > Drain Life> 3x auto attacks if possible.

If the enemy is then out of auto attack range and running away from you - use Cocoon to pull them back to you and get again 3 auto attacks off.

If you didnt engage a tanky target, your target should be dead by now, also keep in mind that your lane partner will hopefully also join the fight and do some damage.

Teamfighting with Arachne is a bit of a dance.

First of all: You don't jump in first - you are not the initiator (only exception: if you manage to pull an enemy into your team with Cocoon)

Try to slow enemy movement with a good placed Tangled Web - remember the "fly" time of the web!

If you can drop some Broodlings here and there.

When they are slowed, it may be a good time to initiate - but again not you -> your tank normally should do it. But it makes hitting your ultimate much easier when they are all slowed.

Your priority in teamfights should be the enemy carries/mages as they are the squishy parts of their team and should die fast, as they do the most damage.

If you can, go in, try to stack your passive up - when you run low on hp use Drain Life to get some health back and prevent the enemy from using any abilities.

You are more a supportive physical melee than the classic burster melee, because your skillset isn't boosting your attack damage or -speed at all. So try to land your spells, pick one off and you should be fine.

... this can happen in two different ways:
(at least in my experience)


1.) An enemy jungler is counter jungling you:

If that happens, you can either try to gank him in your jungle, but chances are that their right lane (your left) will help him and you can't 3v1 or you just go and lane with your laneing partner and roam the jungle frequently to keep him on his toes and more passive or if he isn't careful enough or his team is not paying attention you can kill him and grab the buffs yourself.

2.) The enemy right lane (your left lane) is doing your jungle camps:

This happens also quite frequently - try to defend your blue buff in the beginning with your lane mate -> if you can, which depends on what enemies you are facing. If you can't hinder the enemy from doing it, try to get it next time and play safe in the lane for the time being.

Arachne is not the "normal" physical melee carry as other gods are ( Loki, Kali, Bakasura) as she lacks any form of escape mechanism (i don't count Tangled Web as it just a slow) but don't underestimate her power!

Her abilities are not all as easy to aim and hit as other heroes, but if you do its much more rewarding and satisfying i feel.

I have a ton of fun playing Arachne, and will be playing her for a long time i guess.

Thank you dear reader at this point, that you made it through my guide - i hope you have as much fun with Arachne as i do, and that some of the information provided in this guide was actual useful for you :)

Throw any feedback and constructive critisism at me in the comments section, and vote up if you like this guide.


Feel free to use my map images in your guides if you want but if you do, give me credit somewhere in your guide ;)

PS: As english isn't my native language - please point out odd grammar or spelling mistakes so i can correct them - thank you!