Arachne - Snowball or Bust

I've read a few guides regarding Arachne - a lot of which were before the God changes. This guide is an amalgamation of this research plus concepts and ideas I have incorporated into my play style for this God.

I do not intend for this guide to be "best practice" or even the ultimate guide - I'm very aware that it's most undoubtedly not. This is also my first guide so please be kind!

I'm not new to MOBA's although I'm relatively new to SMITE but hopefully have enough grasp of its basic concepts for this to be of help to someone.

FYI this guide is aimed towards Conquest. I'll try and keep this updated as much as possible - don't forget to read the comments below - There are some very good alternative items and tips described by other readers which may not be included in the guide itself.

This guide will be split into two sections (based off of the two item purchase orders above).

With Arachne I always intend to Jungle - from what I have read and witnessed Arachne is one of the strongest Jungle clearing Gods and therefore this is my main objective.

The main premise behind this build strategy is to build up large amounts of attack speed (1.9), Life Steal (45%), Crit chance (50 - 100%) and accompany that with Arachne's enemy slow & chase prowess.

It does leave area's of exploitation but knowing these faults is key to being able to utilise this build to its full potential.

As above, so below - this guide is my proffered method of playing Arachne that I enjoy - do not forget that this is a game that is to be enjoyed - 90% of the time I play this build I will go positive and be a benefit to the team. The strongest game saw me go 46/9/10.

This guide is how I play Arachne - it won't be the best possible build but I know I play well with it. I'm open to further suggestions and welcome constructive criticism as this is my knowledge of the game and this character so far so improvements are encouraged!

Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where building for a jungle character isn't possible (it's rare but it has happened) situations may include:

• d/c leaving an open lane
• team members in private parties wanting to lane together leaving a lane open
• enemy team is pro at counter Jungling

Bumba's Mask

I have seen some people say that Arachne's abilities do not have a well developed 'synergy' and are muddled with no distinct combo patterns. To some degree I can understand this but I think that Arachne's abilities are useful together but can also be used singularly; both with advantageous effect and deciding to combo burst abilities or prolong activation is purely situational. This section will outline the main concepts behind each ability - further detail as per their use will be covered in the game phases sections.

• Predator
  As passive abilities go I like how Arachne's does scale throughout the entirety of a match. As this ability grants additional damage based on a targets missing health a lot of people like to build Qin's Sais as they compliment each other (also Physical Power and Attack Speed are welcomed in this build) - but as Qin's only deals 4% I tend to omit it from this build, but nonetheless it's important to give you all options and recommendations I have noted along my path.
• Venomous Bite
  This ability is very devastating and essential to Arachne's early game progression. I do find that it does fall off in the latter stages in terms of damage output but who really turns down the opportunity to deal DoT whilst in turn regaining some health - it can be the difference between dying and a pentakill.
• Cocoon
  This ability is definitely useful for gaining kills. Not only do it boost your attack speed of your next three auto's but the stun - albeit minor is usually enough to dispose of an enemy. As the stun doesn't scale too much it does mean that achieving max level may be slightly delayed in favour of more useful abilities early on - yet a single point in this ability early is highly recommended.
• Web
  The Web ability is probably my favourite. It's use spans the entirety of the game and it can be used in a multitude of ways:
  

  • Broodlings = Jungle tanks
  • Broken webs = wards (give vision to Arachne)
  • Broodlings can gain you kills without needing to tower dive
  • Broken web trails grant movement speed buff and immunity to slows
  • Broodlings are an effective way to push a lane
• Night Crawler
  As Ultimate's go Arachne's is not the best. With that said it is still a vital tool in this Gods equipment. The beauty of this ability is the dual purpose nature of it being an initiation move or an escape mechanism.
  
  Night Crawler (this is stated loosely) is almost a combination of Loki's Vanish & Assassinate abilities. Some say that Loki's kit is better as Vanish can be used every 15s - this is true but i'd rather have Night Crawler & another useful main ability then being able to zip in and out of sight (IMHO I can't stand Loki - powerful God yes but I don't like that style of play - too sneaky).
  
  Again this ability has the flexibility to be used in a variety of ways and therefore I find that it holds its spot valiantly in this Gods arsenal.

Okay now for the Nitty Gritty...

As with every God in SMITE...the key to success is gaining a good start and maintaining that advantage throughout; with this build this seems to hold more weight than I've noticed with other Gods.

Jungle Build

Item	Cost (individual)	Cost (cumulative)
Boots	300	300
Healing Potion x2	50	400
Bumba's Mask	800	1200

Ninja Tabi

Creeping Curse

Hand of the Gods

• Am I in a party(or team mates are hitting Jungle Camps before wave 1) or solo queuing?
  
  
  If solo:

  • Start at the Damage / Speed Camp (place two Webs prior to spawn)
  • Clear back Xp Camp
  • Help clear Wave 1
  • Clear Mana Camp
  • Move to Middle Xp Camp
    

  
  If party:
  

  • Start at the Damage / Speed Camp (place two Webs prior to spawn)
  • Clear remaining Xp & Mana Camps
  • Clear remaining wave 1
  • Move to Middle Xp Camp
    

  
  
• Is either my team or enemy team trying to get pre-Wave 1 first blood?

• Is it possible to storm the enemy Jungle at around 15s? (Jungle Camps spawn at 10s FYI)
• How likely is it that your team members are going to rotate the Jungle Camps?
• Which Gods are likely to need some gank assistance?
• Has their team got a possible Jungler too? If so be prepared to run into each other...Just make sure you're out-farming them.

Bumba's Mask

Ninja Tabi

Devourer's Gauntlet

Solo Lane Build

Item	Cost (individual)	Cost (cumulative)
Boots	300	300
Healing Potion x2	50	400
Death's Toll	800	1200

Death's Toll

Bumba's Mask

Death's Toll

Ninja Tabi

Devourer's Gauntlet

This phase is where this build starts to take shape.

Your main objectives should be as follows:

The Executioner

Soul Eater

Bumba's Mask

Death's Toll

Ninja Tabi

Devourer's Gauntlet

The Executioner

Soul Eater

This phase, if everything has gone to plan, is where this build starts to dominate.

Hopefully by this point your God should be the highest level in the game. If this is the case you're in very good stead and it is crucial that you take advantage of it.

As you have invested farm into Life Steal, you're able to quite easily counter heal any damage dealt to you. This phase deals with increasing your Crit chance and overall damage (and in-turn your Life Steal).

You are effectively employing the same tactics found in the Mid game phase but you're able to do it with a lot more aggression. Roam the map, kill Jungle Camps, gank where possible and continue to kill the Gold Fury (Respawns every 5mins - check the icon on the map and do not forget that your Web can be used to ward the Gold Fury / Fire Giant). As you are aiming to be the highest level God in the game this will give all your lower level team mates a much needed boost.

I focus on farming a Deathbringer asap. Once this is done you should be dealing significant damage.

Once complete get yourself Rage. Another boost to Physical Power and a substantial increase to Crit chance.

Edit:
Some suggestion has been made to switch the build order between these two items - I have read in other guides to buy Rage before Deathbringer keep this in mind - try mixing it up. This guide is flexible so make it work for you.


With this setup you should be able to effectively kill anyone, although care should still be taken in team fights. High burst enemies such as Loki can be a problem as it gives you less time to recover your health although I've successfully won fights with these Gods even when they have the initiation advantage (the Soul Eater 300hp is just enough to keep you alive). It's not out of the realms of possibility to reach Cries over 800 with this build and with the relatively high attack speed you can see how quickly enemies can drop. 2/3 hit kills are quite common and with 45% Life Steal on an 800 Crit is tasty mid fight.

Some may have noticed that I haven't said to buy any actives...They are listed in the Purchase Orders. I like to get my main items as quickly as possible - feel free to buy actives along the way but expect them to push back your late game items by a few minutes. Some would argue that these items would increase farm...I don't know why but this is the only build I buy actives last.
Once I have the above items I don't need the money and I get the actives for the final stages of the match just for some extra control and escape options.

You should be pushing back to the enemy base by this point. Grab kills, kill Phoenix's and as you all know get that enemy titan down.

Final item list: Ninja Tabi, Devourer's Gauntlet, The Executioner, Soul Eater, Deathbringer, Rage & Situational Actives.

Pros:

1. Do not underestimate the lingering effects of Venomous Bite's poison - in the early game phase this can gain you kills long after you've ditched the fight!
   
2. Your spiders in the early phase can also be instrumental in gaining you kills.
   
3. I've faked recalling outside an enemy Phoenix before. I had about 20%. You all know how satisfying it is to cancel someone's recall... I've waited for enemies to come and stall the recall - cancelled the recall and gained a triple kill outside their base and ended up with near full health - continue the push.
   
4. If you take damage outside the enemy don't be afraid to leave the fight and quickly kill a Jungle Camp - you will have prevented an unwanted death and you will have most of your health back to continue the fight.