Smite Athena Build Guide: Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War (Patch 5.13)

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Smite God: Athena

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Athena Build

Starter

Guardian's Blessing

Boots

Ward

Multi Potion

Heavenly Wings

Core

Shoes of Focus

Sovereignty

Heartward Amulet

Against AA-Based

Hide of the Nemean Lion

Midgardian Mail

Witchblade

Against Slows / Knockups

Winged Blade

Stone of Gaia

Against Healers

Pestilence

Against Hard Crowd Control

Spirit Robe

Magi's Cloak

Situational

Mantle of Discord

Pythagorem's Piece

Shogun's Kusari

Void Stone

Stone of Binding

Jade Emperor's Crown

Relic Dagger

Emperor's Armor

Gauntlet of Thebes

Soul Reaver

Celestial Legion Helm

Genji's Guard

Relics

Heavenly Wings

Horrific Emblem

Magic Shell

Shield of Thorns

Traditional Build

Shoes of Focus

Sovereignty

Heartward Amulet

Pestilence

Spirit Robe

Mantle of Discord

Athena's Skill Order

Preemptive Strike

1 X

1 13 14 15 16

Confound

2 A

4 6 7 9 10

Shield Wall

3 B

2 3 8 11 12

Defender of Olympus

4 Y

5 17 18 19 20

Goddess of Wisdom and War

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(394) |

Hi irishstorm,

Overall things look pretty good. You categorize your items fairly well, and cover pretty much all of the generally suggested items.

Some specific things:

Not sure you need Wards to start. If you want to, that's cool, but I wouldn't consider it a typical start. Also, you should consider not starting with Shoes (500 gold is expensive for just 6% move speed). Instead, give yourself 750 health right off the bat by going with Chalice of Healing, which will allow you to be more aggressive, tank the minions more if needed, body-block in the early game, etc.
I'm okay with your core items, but not fully supportive. Specifically, I feel that Heartward Amulet isn't exactly core. It's a bit on the mediocre side of things, stats-wise. If we're talking late-game high power builds, physical gods rarely get above 250 power. Some magical gods see 400+ power easy. When looking at Sov vs. Heart, then, your total protection comparison of 60 physical to 70 magical isn't of that ratio. And 15 protections of either as an aura really make the Heartward side more underwhelming.

The MP5 is nice, so if you don't pick up any MP5 or mana in the rest of your build, it has that going for it...but Genji's Guard, Breastplate of Valor (which is conspicuously absent from your options...which is probably okay though), and Shogun's Kusari all give you plenty of mana flexibility, if you pick any of those up.
With Sov being core, I'm very much against any consideration of Stone of Gaia. Yes, the HP5 is nice (Sov does provide some too), but it's a luxury that you can't afford to slot into your build because there are so many other more helpful things you could be getting, whether it's CDR, counters, etc. And that passive is just not that helpful in most cases. You can survive a knockup.
Items that I feel are at least debatable with their presence:

Soul Reaver: you're a support, and although you can deal some decent damage, that's not your focus. Leave this to the mages. If you do consider this, consider it as a hybrid bruiser only against tankier teams in teamfight modes, not Conquest.

Celestial Legion Helm: Great magical protections, but you don't really need the power, this is a purely selfish item. Athena, of all people, should be getting team-based items. This one is for specific counters for squishy gods.
Your traditional build could be more solid. At least as an example, it should be a standard functional against basically all comps. Typical comps will see 3 physical gods more than 3 magical, and you build back to back magical protection items in the 3rd and 4th slots. I would expect that more physical protections at the 4th slot would show a better balance (magical only protects against enemy gods, while physical protections help against physical gods, minions, and objectives).

Also, even if the presence or threat of basic attackers is a bit low, your Confound forces enemies to basic attack you. This forms great synergy with Midgardian Mail. You slow basic attack speed AND move speed, which can allow teammates to more easily hit enemies on the offensive, or give teammates a bit more of a lead if you're peeling and trying to allow teammates to escape a dangerous situation.
Another optional relic to consider would be Belt of Frenzy.