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Branmuffin's Joust Tips (Y11, Patch 11.1 "Year 11")

20 1 40,681
9.8
by Branmuffin17 updated January 26, 2024

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Introduction

Recent Guide Updates:

2024/1/26: Guide is current as of Patch 11.1, "Year 11." Updated general details for Year 11. Added and adjusted some tips. Updated the tier list w/ Kreshoa's YouTube video.[/url]

Revision History

Hi everyone,

Making a quick "guide" about tips for the Joust mode. Feel free to add your own tips in the comments; if you'd like, I can add them to the main dialogue.



This will cover basic Joust concepts, and I hope to compile additional information over time, with the help of others.

Joust Overview

Legend:
  • Damage Buff Camp: 1 of these, composed of 2 Tigers and 1 Tiger Buff Holder. Spawns at 2:00 into the game, respawn time of 3 minutes (180 seconds).

  • Speed Buff camps: 2 of these, on the same side of the map closest to the phoenixes, composed of 2 Tree Demons and 1 Tree Demon Buff Holder. Spawn at 0:10 into the game, respawn time of 3 minutes (180 seconds).

  • Mana Buff Camps: 2 of these, on the same side of the map, composed of 2 Turtles and 1 Turtle Buff Holder. Spawn at 0:10 into the game, respawn time of 3 minutes (180 seconds).

  • XP Camp: 3 of these, 1 across from the Demon King camp and 2 on the same side of the map close to the Damage camp. Composed of 2 Tree Demons. Spawn 0:10 into the game, respawn time of 2 minutes (120 seconds).

  • Bull Demon King Camp: 1 of these on the side of the map. Spawns 4 minutes into the game, respawn time of 5 minutes (300 seconds).

General Joust Details


From SMITE Wiki:

Joust is a fast paced 3v3 Game Mode. Players are able to join this game mode from account level 1.

There are jungle camps on the sides of the map and only one short lane protected by one tower and a phoenix. The objective is to destroy the enemy's defenses, and ultimately their Titan.

This mode contains a unique boss objective: the Bull Demon King. Upon his defeat, the team who defeated him receives a special buff for a short time. Additionally, the foremost structure of the enemy team is disabled for the buff's duration. Only phoenixes and towers can be disabled. If neither structure remains and the boss is defeated, the phoenix will be disabled if it should respawn during the buff's duration.

Joust Mode Stats:
  • Starting Level: 3
  • Starting Gold: 1,500
  • Setup Time: 45 seconds
  • Speed and Mana Camp Initial Spawn Time: 0:00
  • Attack Speed Buff Camp Initial Spawn Time: 0:25
  • XP Camps Initial Spawn Time: 0:30
  • Damage Buff Camp and Celestial Comet Initial Spawn Time: 2:00
  • Bull Demon Spawn Time: 4:00
  • Gold Spooling: 7/second
Buffs:
  • Damage Buff: 20% damage + 10 mag power / 5 phys power. Best taken by the god with the highest (and easiest) damage potential..

  • Mana Buff: +15 MP5 to you and nearby Allies within 55 units. Restores 4% of your missing mana upon damaging a god with an ability. Taken by the main ability-based god. Can be taken by a tank if they are mana-hungry..

  • Attack Speed Buff: Increases Attack Speed by 15% while basic attacks reduce the target God’s Protections by 2% plus 2%/1% of your Physical/Magical Power from Items for 3 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times. Typically taken by the ADC, but anyone with good basic attack function can use this well.

  • Celestial Comet / Indra's Scepter: The Comet crashes down at a random location, dealing a small amount of damage and knocking back gods in the area. It has 10 pips and can be damaged only by basic attacks. Each time it is damaged, a chunk will fly off it, and picking it up grants 3 XP and 5 gold. After the comet is destroyed, Indra's Scepter will spawn. Due to needing to be close to enemies to deal damage, Indra's Scepter is best taken by the god that will be close to enemies most often...usually the tank/front-liner.

  • Bull Demon King's Might Buff: Grants 4% HP5 and 2% MP5.
Bull Demon King details: The strongest neutral monster in Joust. This monster has 25 Physical and Magical Protections and 75% reduction on Lifesteal from attackers. Its basic attacks are melee and do Physical damage. Defeating it grants the “Bull Demon King's Might” buff to each living member of the team, granting +4% health regen per 5 seconds and +2% mana regen per 5 seconds, as well as disabling the first defending structure of the enemy team for 90s.

Bran's Thoughts: The Bull Demon is a key objective. Its main advantage is that when you defeat it, it disables structures of the enemy team...no more hiding under their tower/phoenix and protecting it. This makes it incredibly easy to push objectives (or prevent the enemy from pushing yours), and as such is something you should always have your eye on.

The (obviously) best time to kill it is when you've just won a teamfight, and the enemy has perhaps only 1, max 2 alive, hopefully at lower health so they are hesitant to challenge. Best if you're in condition to take it down as a team, and are already in the middle of the map, while the enemy has to retreat and heal, buying you precious seconds. Later-game, a high damage-output god with some lifesteal can easily kill it by themselves.

Preferred God Composition / Item Suggestions

God Compositions


In a 3v3 mode, team composition is just as important as other modes. All team comps should be balanced (2 physical + 1 magical or 1 physical + 2 magical), to prevent the enemy from easily counter-building your team.

However, with 5 classes, at least 2 of those classes will not be present in your composition in any given match. I will cover some basic points to consider, and will then provide my suggested team composition.
  • Objective Clear: Having at least one god that can quickly clear objectives (e.g. towers, phoenixes, Bull Demon) is extremely helpful. Often, you'll have only a temporary advantage and opportunity to push the lane, so you want to make the most of it. ADCs or other gods with basic attack focus are usually best at this.

  • Wave Clear: Yes, this is different than objective clear. It's typically best if you have one god that can quickly clear waves from distance (this is often a mage). The more quickly and efficiently you can clear minion waves, the more time you have to attack the enemy gods, go for jungle camps, etc. Mages tend to be most effective for wave clear, though some mages are better than others.

  • Crowd Control: Although in any given match, you can get away with weird comps, all squishies, etc., your best bet is to have as much CC as possible. This provides you with the ability to set up kills, peel for teammates, etc. Guardians and some warriors typically have the most CC in their kits, though some mages work here too.
This brings me to what I feel is the optimal team comp:



Hunter + Mage + Guardian
(High-CC Warrior can sub for Guardian)



Why this comp?
  1. It covers the main points above...Objective Clear (Hunter), Wave Clear (Mage, situationally hunter), Crowd Control (Guardian). The hunter should be built with the standard ADC mindset for high objective damage. The mage is typically best with burst damage potential, though they can opt for a bruiser mage if preferred. The most effective guardians seem to be the ones that not only have CC but also have good offensive inclinations, such as Sobek, Bacchus, Kuzenbo, etc.

  2. 2 magical gods, 1 physical: Keep in mind that the map's damage sources (objectives, minions) deal physical damage. By only having 1 physical god, it forces the enemy to counter-build with magical protections (which are only helpful against gods) if they want to reduce incoming damage. This means possibly less enemy physical protections, so they will be less inclined to tank tower damage, for example.
Some alternate team comps that tend to be popular are:
  • 2 Guardians, 1 Hunter: Lots of CC in this comp, hopefully with some displacement from gods like Sobek, Atlas or Kuzenbo. The hunter can mostly farm safely until they have enough items to deal significant damage.

  • 2 Warriors, 1 Mage: Warriors often have some CC and pretty good damage output while still being tanky. They can be aggressive together and make things tough early-game for the enemy team, while the mage can nuke from the backline. This comp typically wants to win early as their damage can fall off later and their objective push isn't as strong without an ADC.

  • 1 Assassin OR Aggressive Warrior, 1 Mage, 1 Guardian: This comp can have some good damage output from both the assassin/warrior and mage, and the physical gods can usually pump out good damage even when they build some protections.
Helpful God Attributes
  • Mobility (Initiation / Escape): When possible, choose gods that have some form of mobility, such as a leap, dash, or teleport. Being able to close on a retreating enemy can help you secure a kill, but even more importantly, having a method to escape a dangerous situation is key. It is almost always safer than the alternative...when in doubt, have an out.

  • Mobility (Through Obstacles): Some abilities allow you to bypass obstacles, which can come in the form of either existing walls of the map or player deployables ( Odin's Ring of Spears, Ymir's Ice Wall). These are by far the most valuable forms of mobility. Keep in mind that leaps that can get you past wallscan give you a huge element of surprise or the means to escape otherwise certain death.

  • Aggressive Guardian / Building: When you use my main setup, you have 2 magical gods. Having an aggressive guardian that can build with some offensive or bruiser focus can give additional advantage to the mage on your team (e.g. building Void Doumaru), and in a smaller 3v3 match, gives your team more damage potential to help secure kills. Other examples of items that provide some offensive function include Ethereal Staff, Magi's Revenge, Archdruid's Fury and Pridwen.

  • Healing: Lifesteal has been reworked, and now works less effectively on minions, so it's meant to help sustain you in a fight. Gods with actual healing abilities can help you sustain for longer without having to back. The Chalice of Healing, especially for squishy gods, can also be really helpful.

Suggested Gods to Pick or Ban (Not An Exhaustive List)


In Casual Joust, you can pick whoever you'd like. In Ranked Joust, each team bans 5 gods, and you will want to consider your picks and bans carefully.

The list below encompasses those that may give you better success, whether choosing to play them or preventing them from being played by the enemy team.


Assassins

Guardians

Hunters

Mages

Warriors


Key Items


As with god composition, certain items can provide a greater advantage in this mode over other items. These are some of the item types I feel can provide an advantage:
  • Horrific Emblem: This item, and especially the T3 upgrade, got a significant rework and provides bloated effects...slow, enemy damage decrease, anti-heal, anti-shield.

  • Relic Dagger / Bewitched Dagger: If facing an enemy basic attacker, Relic Dagger is a great item to pick up along with Horrific Emblem and a second teamfight relic for higher use. The Bewitched Dagger glyph upgrade specifically helps to slow down those basic attackers' damage output, and you're no longer limited to just one glyph.

  • Specific Aura Items:

    - Protections: Depending on which enemy gods are chosen, Sovereignty or Heartward Amulet (in addition to Gauntlet of Thebes or Prophetic Cloak) can be pretty helpful for the tank to grab early and help reduce damage for teammates.

    - Penetration: Void Shield and Void Doumaru situationally make sense to grab for the protection reduction effect for increased damage output.

    - Anti-Crit: Spectral Armor is basically essential when facing enemy crits.

    - Anti-Heal / Anti-Shield: Besides Emblem, you've got a variety of other items that can reduce enemy healing and shielding. Consider Tainted Steel and its upgrades, Pestilence, Contagion, and Erosion when needed.

Joust Tierlists

If you're looking for good gods to pick, take a look at Kreshoa's recent review of Yash's tierlist.

GM Kreshoa's Review of Yash's Ranked Joust Tierlist (2023/12/31)

Joust Warding

Warding is arguably a bit less important in Joust compared to Conquest, but that doesn't mean you don't need to do it. It's helpful throughout the game, and whether you're winning, losing, or in a stalemate. The following locations are the ones I consider most common.

Keep in mind, it's EVERYONE'S job to ward. Vision = Awareness outside your field of vision. Awareness = Advantage.

Early-Game Warding

Legend:
  • Green: Standard warding locations in the early game. The two locations near the mana buffs are the most commonly used, and give you good vision for when enemies are looking to flank the main lane for gank attempts.

    You can put a ward near the Red buff if you want to keep an eye on the enemies going for it.

  • Red: If your team is being the aggressor, or you've got abilities that can go over walls, this ward can be helpful in attempting to steal the buff when they're looking to clear it. It is also used for general vision of the enemy coming back to lane from the side.


Mid / Late-Game Warding


As the game progresses, and the towers have fallen, wards start getting pushed out to either side, with a stronger emphasis on warding the Bull Demon. You should consider regular use of Sentry Wards for counter-warding purposes.

Legend:
  • Green: Safe / defensive warding locations for when your tower is down and you want to protect the locations where you're likely to be. This prevents the enemy from easily surprising you as you're concentrating on the lane minions.

  • Yellow: The same locations, but on the enemies' side. These are good for when you're pushing for the enemy's Phoenix or Titan.

    They serve a second function, in giving you forward vision if your team is looking to take down the Bull Demon safely.

  • Magenta This ward (preferably a Sentry Ward) gives you direct vision of the Bull Demon area, specifically to make sure the enemy won't take the objective without you contesting it (or at least preparing if you can't contest safely).

Random Tips

(To be populated by me and others as feedback comes in)

  • Farm!: There are several jungle camps in this map, and you shouldn't forget about them. Farm up as much as possible to give yourself extra XP and gold. If you've pushed the enemy back or gotten a kill or two, look to steal camps on their side of the map if you have enough time. Keep an eye on the camp timers and do what you can to secure as many as possible. Staying ahead of the enemy team in farm and levels gives you a pretty obvious advantage.

Some Of My Guides



If you liked this guide, check out my other ones below!


The Overarching Series



The
Overarching
Assault Guide

The
Overarching
Conquest Guide



Individual God Guides



Bacchus:
An Alcoholic's Chugging Guide

Freya:
Pulsing to
the Beat

Ganesha:
Selflessly
Gifting Kills

Shifu Guan Yu:
The Battle
Master

Loki: The Backstabbing Bastard

Medusa: Getting Everyone Stoned

Conclusion

For this guide, I'm looking for additional tips to add, so please feel free to comment and throw in anything you've learned that can help give you an edge in your matches.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, etc. Feel free to add me/invite me if you want to play!

Brandon / PC IGN: Muffinman17

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1
DaDte | December 27, 2020 7:21am
Hey, there is new tierlist from trelli so you might update your guide :^)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bXwKxtcSyE
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | December 27, 2020 11:30am
Hey DaDte, I saw that but hadn't really thought about adding to this guide. Will do, thanks for the reminder!
1
Big Damage (37) | May 18, 2020 2:28am
Just letting you know that GulfWulf and Devampi's tips in the bottom are outdated, you can't rush for a teamfight at red anymore because it spawns at 2 minutes on the new map.
1
Devampi (105) | May 18, 2020 10:08am
Well it was the old joust map so I dunno when bran updated it for the new one XD
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | May 18, 2020 8:46am
Ahhh, thank you for that. Yeah, I guess I should do a minor update on this.
1
boogiebass (46) | January 11, 2020 1:13pm
Odin/Zeus/Cupid combo is really nice here. Odin with the rework may get picked up more now.
1
Revenant7755 (1) | January 11, 2020 3:26pm
What rework?
1
boogiebass (46) | January 11, 2020 3:45pm
They reworked his 3 and 4. Read patch notes
Load more comments (1 more replies) →
1
Revenant7755 (1) | December 22, 2019 6:38am
Just want I wanted lol. I feel that gods such as Sobek and Fenrir are op because they can pull players out of their safe zones if their not careful. I also feel that gods with long range ults such as vulcan is pretty powerful and forces the enemy team too go back farther from their towers-I got a few easy kills because some people would be under the tower recalling and I would obliterate them from far away lmao. You can add those gods to your list if you want.
1
Kriega1 (143) | December 22, 2019 7:25am
Sobek's pluck can be countered by Hel, Chiron and Geb. Or self abilities like the Chang'e immune one. Or Purification beads / magi's cloak.

Vulcan is good for his lane pressure, including his turret. His ult isn't really why he's so powerful, though it can help for Bull Demon secures.
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | December 22, 2019 5:47pm
Nonetheless, Sobek should also be pretty good. That pluck has a low enough CD that you can outwork beads and some of those other canceling abilities, and you're not guaranteed to go against someone that can counter him well.
1
Revenant7755 (1) | December 22, 2019 4:54pm
Ok, how do you feel about Baron Samedi? I find him extremely useful in keeping pressure on the other team
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1
Gulfwulf (81) | December 21, 2019 9:35pm
At the start of the match, most teams will make a beeline for the red buff because it's considered to be the most effective buff in-game. The problem with doing this is that you can lose out on minion XP and gold if the waves kill each other and you're not in assist range. It's also easy to give the enemy team a firstblood if you're not careful. Losing the red buff doesn't mean the end of the game, but losing both the red and your blue, as well as most of the initial wave, can put your team at a severe disadvantage.
1
Devampi (105) | December 22, 2019 9:08am
gonna add onto this that sometimes beelining for the red buff can be a huge mistake. A fight will always break out if both teams do it and in most cases will be favorable for the stronger lvl 3 team. In case of the weaker lvl 3 it's better to start blue (or if you're feeling daring the enemy blue). Your mage can stay in lane longer for the wave clear and maybe even give you an edge that the enemy needs to choose for losing minions or taking their blue. leaving someone behind can result in a kill for your team etc.

Another thing that gets overlooked (a lot in lower lvls of play at least) is the (current) XP camp, it's easy to sneak it for a lot of gods and can give your team an edge.
1
Gulfwulf (81) | December 21, 2019 9:24pm
Quoted:
In a 3v3 mode, team composition is just as important as other modes. All team comps should be balanced (2 physical + 1 magical or 1 physical + 2 physical magical


Quoted:
As the game progresses, and the towers are have fallen
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | December 21, 2019 10:46pm
Typos from quick writing, thanks for catching them. Think my mind was going for "and towers have been destroyed" or something.
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | December 21, 2019 9:03pm
Alright, got something up at least. Let me know what you all think.
1
DV-8 (35) | January 11, 2020 12:09pm
Another nice guide, Bran. You did a good job covering the basics and there's not much that I could think to add.
Branmuffin17 wrote:
Escapes: When possible, choose gods that have some form of escape, such as a leap, dash, or teleport. It is almost always safer than the alternative...when in doubt, have an out.
To elaborate on this point, it is advantageous if your god's form of escape can transport them through/past walls. This provides more opportunities to engage/escape, especially if your opponent lacks this type of mobility. Joust in particular has many heavily walled off areas, so being able to navigate these more efficiently can give you an upper hand.
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | January 11, 2020 7:21pm
Hey DV-8, thanks my dude. Miss you.

And yes...that point is a great one. I honestly was only thinking of the most basic parts of having that mobility, but especially with the increased jungle, being able to go over obstacles is a huge benefit. Great point.
1
Gulfwulf (81) | December 21, 2019 9:32pm
Another great guide, Bran. How do you feel about Yemoja? While she may not be an AoE healer like Hel, she does have some great single-target healing and area CC.
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | December 22, 2019 2:13am
I figure she should be pretty strong. If she uses her ult horizontally, she'll block off almost all paths for the enemy to traverse if their mobility is down. Her recent buffs should help things too.
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