Bacchus Solo Lane - Bring Forth the Mutton!

Hi there, my name's ThatThirdGuy and I've been playing Smite since June of 2012 during the closed beta. I instantly fell in love with the game and have recently been pushing to get into the competitive scene. I currently play Tank/Support/Solo for the League of Fancy Gentlemen, a relatively new team.

Bacchus is a favorite of mine for solo lane, he does have his ups and downs and I'll explain those in depth in this guide and why I personally love this god.

Starting off, the items. I personally prefer Mark of the Vanguard for the needed early damage reduction and health boost. With that I choose to grab four health potions and five mana potions along with Hand of the Gods level one as Bacchus has low minion clear early game and in general.

Ideally you want to try and stay in the lane until you get enough for your Plated Greaves, around 2140. I pick these up for the extra damage reduction, it's insane how much more it does for Bacchus when you look at his passive. It turns out to a total of 15% damage reduction, which is pretty nice.

Generally I wait until I have enough for level two of Gaia's Stone which I pick up for the needed sustain. Bacchus has mana issues with how I play him, especially after picking up a Breastplate of Valor. The mp5 and hp5 is much needed, and 70 magical protection can never hurt. After finishing off Gaia's Stone I pick up Breastplate of Valor as soon as possible, this is the very core of my build simply because it lets you capitalize on Bacchus's abilities. When your abilities are on cooldown, you are generally dead in the water. Breastplate of Valor minimizes that window.

Mystical Mark allows you to just dance around enemies and continue to do damage while chugging wine by the gallon and chuckling. I find myself picking up lots of kills with the Mystical Mark DoT after bursting a low health god who then tries juking me. It also works well simply because of how much CC Bacchus has, it's easy to capitalize on that DoT without having to go out of your way.

The latter two items which change based on the team composition are based really just on maximizing your tank powah while also adding a bit of magical damage.

| Drunk-O-Meter (Passive)

Bacchus loves the drink and as Bacchus drinks from his jug, he becomes more intoxicated. When he is Tipsy, he takes 5% less damage, and gains +5 Physical Power. When he is Smashed, he takes 10% less damage, and gains +15 Physical Power.

This is the passive that allows Bacchus to be the beast of a tank that he is, early and mid game you will usually only hit Tipsy simply due to the massive mana cost of keeping your passive at Smashed.

| Chug (Skill Key #1)

Bacchus takes a drink from his jug, filling his Drunk-O-Meter 22/28/34/40/46% and giving him a 15/20/25/30/35 protections, for 6s. Bacchus celebrates when he kills an enemy god, giving him 10% on his meter.

Cost: 50/80/110/140/170 mana.

Cooldown: 15 s.

This is your number one most important skill, although it should not be maxed first simply because of the huge mana cost. I choose to max this last due to the lack of damage benefit coupled with mana problems until late game.

| Belly Flop (Skill Key #2)

Bacchus jumps into the air and, not so gracefully, comes slamming to the ground belly first, knocking all enemies into the air and dealing 90/130/170/210/250 (+70% of your magical power) magical damage. If he was Tipsy, all enemies are also slowed by 20%, for 2s, after they land.

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

Cooldown: 16 s.

Belly Flop, a glorious display in which you slam your flab into the enemy at high speeds. Aside from being kinky and enjoyable for all, this ability is your escape initiator and chase ability all in one. Use this sparingly, you can also use it to interrupt some abilities that are channeled or duration. For example, Fenrir's Seething Howl, Freya's Pulse, Bakasura's Butcher Blades, etc.

| Belch of the Gods (Skill Key #3)

Bacchus lets out an obnoxiously loud belch, doing 20/35/50/65/80 (+15% of your magical power) magical damage every .5s for 2s. If he is Tipsy, enemies are stunned for 1s and their healing is debuffed by 25% for 3s at the end of the channel.

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

Cooldown: 14 s.

This is your amazing crowd control ability with damn close damage to Anubis's Grasping Hands. Without this, Bacchus would not be able to solo lane. This has FANTASTIC damage coupled with a stun. Use this in lane to harass, get the archers in a minion wave low enough to one hit, or couple it with Belly Flop to obliterate the whole wave when you arrive closer to level 8.

| Intoxicate (Skill Key #4)

Bacchus smashes his jug of wine on the ground, intoxicating all nearby enemies for 8s and doing 250/325/400/475/550 (+70% of your magical power) magical damage. If he is Smashed, Bacchus also gains 20/30/40/50/60 because of his anger over his lost wine!

Cost: 95 mana.

Cooldown: 90 s.

This is your ultimate, getting everybody drunk without their consent. Sort of like a date rape, although more violent. I generally do not engage without this up, and when it is up I go hard. See a mage or squishy character at half hp? Belly flop right on their spinal cord, drop your Intoxicate and burp all before they land on the ground. Follow up with some basic attacks, they're a lot stronger when you use this ultimate. But that's not it, you can also use this to save a teammate getting chased or initiating a team-fight. It's especially effective against melee basic attack reliant gods, because it forces gods to move around in a completely random pattern similar to being drunk as hell and stumbling around every which-way.

In summary, Bacchus is a damn good god to use for solo lane. Be warned though, you need to follow the duo lane. If you get in a 1v1 lane versus Odin or Vamana you will likely get your butt handed to you on a silver platter simply because both of them have better farming capabilities, higher sustain and you really won't be able to get them low enough to burst down.

I play Bacchus on solo lane simply because I love how effective he is in team fights, your presence is felt a whole lot more while solo laning simply because until you get the core items on Bacchus he really isn't very scary. Once I get my Stone of Gaia and Breastplate of Valor, generally I'm unkillable and able to constantly throw out slows, knockups, stuns, and a decent amount of damage. Don't just take my word for it though, feel free to try it out for yourself. That's what I made this guide for, because commonly whenever I roll solo lane people in lobby question if I'm serious and doubt the fat man.

Oh, and all your mutton are belong to me.