Bastet Arena Destruction Guide (Season 4)

Hi there, welcome to my Arena guide on Bastet! My Name is Mike and I'm here to share my knowledge of Bastet with you. Consider this a guide to becoming a better Bastet in Arena. I won't be considering any other game types other than arena, so please understand that you may have have success with a different build in another game type. On that same note, the build I'm discussing will not be a versatile build, it is a rigid build that will consider strictly items that boast power, penetration, and cooldown. I use this setup on a regular basis, and it is very powerful. I get a ton of kills and have a ton of fun, what more do you want from an arena match?!

PROS
High Burst Damage
Sneak Attack!
Very Lethal Ult
Great DOT
Damaging Passive
Great Escape
Strong Ult Early Game
Offensive Kit
OP AF When Fed


CONS
Very Squishy
CC Crushes Bastet
Ult Has Low Health Late Game
Laning Minions is Expensive
Easy to Annoy Teammates
Return Pounce or RIP


Play Video

Bastet is an assassin that specializes in Single Target Damage. She is very squishy, and should never be in battle longer than needed to expend all her abilities. Bastet epitomizes Get In, Get Out tactics, and she can be surprising and potent. This build is full of items that encourage Bastet's abilities, not her Basic Attacks (AA), with the exception of equipping Hydra's Lament.

Early game Bastet is a patient waiting game. Wait for almost any god to get to 50-60% health, and pounce. If you continually pounce on full health enemies, you will not get many kills. Wait. It's hard at first to not pounce as soon as it's off cooldown, but wait. I promise it will pay off. Wait until your opponents spend their abilities or get hit a few times, and then pounce. Also use patience with Bastet's Ult. Timing = Kills

By Midgame you can be miles ahead. Don't worry about building stacks from minion kills, you can expect consistent 10+ kill games with this build. Keep being patient with your abilities, and stay behind pillars to set up your pounce and ensure a sneaky getaway. Figure out which opponent is the squishiest, and stalk them. Any god at half health or lower should be wary and cautious around you, so try being sneaky ftw.

Late game is more of the same. If you were fed early, by late game you should be aiming for your Godlike medal. Remember that many gods catch up to Bastet in late game, so be extra vigilant to hunt only squishies or noobs.


Play Video

Open Wound

***Note*** The 4.3 patch buffed Bastet's Open Wound damage from 15% to 20%

Open Wound is Bastet's Passive skill, and it is offensively potent if used correctly. Good news, it's easy to use correctly. Just chain your abilities one after another (See Ability Combo Chains section), and you can proc your passive each burst. Razor Whip is the most deadly ability to remove the wound and deal 20% additional damage, because you level up Razor Whip first, and it has great damage numbers. So if you land your Pounce, follow up with your Razor Whip. If you miss with your Pounce, cast declaw next, so you can apply a wound before removing it with Razor Whip. Trust me, after a few hundred times casting Pounce, you'll be a pro at applying and removing wounds.

How to Maximize Open Wound

Land your Pounce! Take off from behind a pillar or wall, and make sure you land it. If you follow a successful Pounce with Razor Whip and cat call, your opponent will be feeling awfully sorry for himself. Or herself.

Pounce

Your #1 Initiate. Your #1 escape. A solid damage dealer. Applies your passive. I love this ability. The ability to pounce in, use the rest of your abilities, and pounce out can be absolutely devastating to enemies. Bastet's Pounce and Razor Whip is a lovely combo that is easy to execute.

How to Maximize Pounce

Take off from a hidden, defensive spot. Behind pillars and walls are perfect in Arena. When you return after smashing an enemy, general confusion will ensue as to your whereabouts. Don't pounce on enemy gods that can easily CC you and ruin your return trip, either choose someone else or wait until your target has spent their CC abilities. Rotate your take-off spots, as well as your targets. If gods begin to congregate at your take-off spot and wait for your return, you are becoming predictable.

Razor Whip

Bastet's most important ability to land. If you miss this ability, your Cat Call will be nerfed and a large portion of your damage dealing potential will be cut. Razor Whip is the only ability in Bastet's kit that applies a bleed. As such, ALWAYS hit with Razor Whip before casting Cat Call. Most of your kills will come from either her whip or cat call when set up by her whip.

How to Maximize Razor Whip

A good Bastet will always have a wounded enemy when casting her whip. If you miss your Pounce, be sure to apply a wound with declaw before casting her whip. 20% bonus damage applied to Razor Whip from Open Wound can equal 504 damage (+ 80% of your physical power) over the 4 second duration. Because Razor Whip is leveled up first, it makes sense to focus on connecting it with the damage bump from her passive.

Declaw

This is a projectile attack that can be tough to land for beginners to Bastet. Declaw is a decent poke ability, however in this build it is not leveled up until last. For me, Declaw is a bit of a skill shot. Not necessarily requiring skill to land, but requiring skill to determine when to use it. A positive of declaw is the cooldown. I occasionally use declaw to attack lane minions, and with the short cooldown I can reposition and target enemy gods with my full kit available.

How to Maximize Declaw

Bastet always has enemy gods running in the opposite direction. This is a nice function of being such a potent feline, and having an ult that makes enemies say, "Okay I'm outta here". When an enemy god turns his/her back on you, cast declaw. Once you get the hang of open wound, utilize declaw as a means to APPLY a wound. If possible, you don't want declaw to remove the passive wound - it is an underleveled skill (in this build) until late game that has lower damage than your other skills. In most of my combos declaw is used right before I return with Pounce. Finally, Use declaw to poke at gods or lane minions in between bursts.

Cat Call

This Ult is fun. No skill shot required, just fire and forget. Timing is crucial, however. Correct timing, and you can get kills almost every time you cast Cat Call. Your cats will hunt bleeding enemies first, otherwise they will attack any enemy in range. This can be frustrating when there is a low health god but your cats are attacking a full health guardian who is closer. Razor Whip is therefore an obvious pre-cursor to this ability. Occasionally, you will find Cat Call is necessary for an escape. If your cats are focused by enemies, they can die quickly, so try to target enemies on their own or gods that have their back to you. Don't release your cats too close to the enemy fountain, enemies can retreat easily and towers will eat up your pets. Recognize that your cats last for up to 10 seconds, so mid/late game you may have opponents still distracted by your ult when your other abilities cool down.

How to Maximize Cat Call

Don't cast your cats on a god at full health or anyone who hasn't been hit with Razor Whip. Low health, retreating enemies are perfect targets. If you anticipate a squishy enemy god is about to take damage from your teammates, begin your flank so you can catch their retreat.

Ultra Focus Burst

Pounce, Razor Whip, Cat Call, Declaw, Return Pounce

Chase Combo

Pounce, Declaw, Razor Whip, Return Pounce

Surprise Burst

Declaw, Razor Whip, Cat Call, then Pounce

Sticky Fingers Burst

Pounce, Razor Whip, Cat Call, Sundering Spear, Declaw, Return Pounce

Bluestone Pendant
Even in Arena, a starter item is nice. A little power and the passive should make this item self-explanatory, especially on a god as ability-oriented as Bastet. Sell this item to make room for your 6th item.

Transcendence
This item is important to purchase before shoes so you can have an edge in power by the mid game. Bastet thrives when she can get ahead early, and this item is imperative for that edge. Build after Bluestone. You can expect a full transcendence to be online 2:30-4:00 into the arena match.

Warrior Tabi
The power you get from this item is more important than the attack speed and mana that you get from Ninja Tabi. Not much else to say about shoes. Buy them after Transcendence.

Jotunn's Wrath
Power, penetration,and cooldown reduction. All staples of this build. Buy this item right after you get shoes.

Titan's Bane
More power and a bunch more penetration. Build after Jotunn. If you get ahead early, you'll be buying items like this before enemies can keep up with their protection items. That's how you snowball.

Hydra's Lament
All items up until this point have been crucial items for this build. However, Starting with Hydra, and later with Masamune, feel free to adjust your item choice. That said, Hydra is a good pick for this build, giving you more power and more cooldown. If you haven't been mixing in basic attacks with your combo chains, make sure you start mixing in basic attacks after you build Hydra. This may sound silly, but up until this point in the game you can have success without landing any basic attacks. The potential of this item is only realized if you can utilize the passive.

Masamune
The last item I choose in this build. There are a few alternates I sometimes choose, but here's why I like Masamune here. 50 power + 10% movement speed are both useful to this build. The health bump and the passive don't hurt, but it's the movement and power that make this a reasonable choice. By the time this item is online, you'll probably have enemy gods who retreat whenever you get close. Being 10% faster at chasing will get you kills here.

Alternate Items

Bloodforge
That 75 physical power is awfully tempting, but Bastet really doesn't utilize lifesteal well. If you regularly land basic attacks with Bastet, you may consider taking Bloodforge more often. The power and the passive of this item make it a popular choice on many Bastet builds, but I only replace Masamune with Bloodforge if I feel like I'm not hitting hard enough. If you are trying to chain kills regularly in Arena, the passive on Bloodforge can be really nice.

Brawler's Beat Stick
If the enemy team has 2+ healers, consider the stick. The power and penetration are nice for this build, but I only ever build this item over Masamune when there are healers to counter.

Bastet has many enemy gods that she's opposes well. Some of the specific gods that are easy and enjoyable to stomp on include:

Zeus
Zeus is a squishy mage who cannot cope with Bastet's mobility. Wait for Zeus to spend any/all of his abilities, and pounce in. Sometimes 1 burst can take Zeus from 100-0.

Ah Puch
Another mage that can't hang with Bastet's mobility. Whether you approach from the front or side, just leap over the incoming corpses and begin your face-to-face with Ah Puch. It's usually a brief interaction.

Ah Muzen Cab
Even though AMC has some mobility and a little CC, he generally flees at the sight of Bastet. Chase him down, he's tres squishy.

Bastet
Yes, Bastet crushes Bastet. Outwait her, and note where she initiates her pounce from. Stalk that takeoff spot, and wait for her to return Pounce. Very squishy, and easy to outsmart.

Ra
Bastet's favourite sight is undoubtedly when Ra casts Solar Blessing. Enemy gods will congregate in a spot perfect for pouncing. Don't get distracted by stronger gods in the heal pool, dump your whole kit onto Ra and return pounce. Smashy smashy.


Play Video

This list could be longer to include all gods that can CC Bastet, but here are her least faves:

Neith
Neith is that hunter that combines her CC abilities and escape to nullify much of Bastet's attack. Spirit Arrow and World Weaver are two lullabies that can put Bastet to sleep.

Ares
Running Purification Beads is a good choice when opposing Ares to counter his No Escape. However, Shackles is also annoying, as Bastet can't return jump when shackled.

Awilix
Gah, stupid Awilix. Gravity Surge can be the bane of Bastet's existence. Also, Feather Step can be devastating. Just avoid her and go somewhere else, or recognize when she's on cooldown.

Hercules
When Hercules knocks Bastet up with Earthbreaker, then combos into Driving Strike, Bastet will often miss her return Pounce. Patience with your pounce is a virtue here.

Eset
The stun from Spirit Ball and the silence from Dispel Magic can really disrupt Bastet's combos. Isis is squishy and is therefore a lucrative target, but beware the CC.

Other Abilities to be Wary of

Bastet CANNOT return Pounce from the following abilities:

Fields Of Love from Cupid
Transgressor's Fate from Artemis
Whirlpool from Poseidon


***Note** Bastet CAN return Pounce from out of Pillar of Agony from Hades