Chronos - Quicksilver

Hello there, I'm Repsol-The-First, and this is my first ever God guide, so don't be too harsh. I don't have too much experience with MOBAs -- the only other one I ever played was a console MOBA called Guardians of M-E, though I'm adapting well to the genre, and to SMITE specifically.

I've been messing around with a lot of builds for Chronos and this is by far my favourite and the one I do the most damage with, in any and all game modes. This build mainly focuses maximizing his Accelerate ability (though I don't level it first or second, I'll explain why later on), using Fatalis and Demonic Grip combined with the massive damage from Polynomicon, giving him an almost guaranteed kill after using the Stop Time and Time Rift rotation.

Basically, this build minimizes CDs, and maximizes Accelerate's effectiveness, for increased burst rotations with Stop Time and Time Rift in quick succession while continuously auto-attacking between abilities for the Polynomicon bonus damage.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Pros:

+ Fast and high burst damage late game
+ Extremely hard to catch with CC abilities
+ Can essentially gain a second life with Rewind
+ Accelerate + Stop Time can guarantee an escape
+ Stop Time can help secure kills in team fights
+ Stop Time + Time Rift can shut down an ADC's attack attempt
+ Wheel of Time allows long lane sustain with sections I and II


Cons:

- Extremely squishy early game
- Low damage output early game
- Consumes mana like Bakasura consumes minions
- Rewind can put you in terrible positions if not timed correctly
- Time Rift has a slight delay after cast
- Rewind has an enormous delay before actually going back in time
- Can be annoying timing Wheel of Time correctly


Overall, the pros and cons are about even, but the upside is that the cons are highly based on your experience with Chronos. It doesn't take all that long to get the hang of timing his passive, and timing his Rewind so that A. You're not in a position that is going to get you bombarded, and B. You don't get killed during the actual start up of the ult (this was my biggest problem when I first started using him).

Wheel of Time

The golden passive that lets chronos pretty much do anything. When you activate Accelerate, the Wheel of Time stops spinning, giving you an additional buff on top of the MS and AS. Section I gives 1.5% health regeneration per second, use this section during the early game for lane sustain. Section II gives 75% mana refund on your abilities. Again, this will be mostly useful during the early game for lane sustain, but you can never go wrong with 3/4 of your abilities' mana consumption being given back to you. Section III gives you a 20% magical power boost, use this section when you want to do a huge amount of burst damage very quickly and get out. And last but certainly not least, Section IV, which gives you 35% magical power contribution to basic attacks, meaning you can completely wreck somebody with the Polynomicon, Fatalis, and Demonic Grip combo. Pretty much just use this when you wanna screw up somebody's day.

Time Rift

I always max this skill first as it hits harder than Stop Time with an enormous 85% AP ratio, plus the CDs much shorter. You shouldn't really be using this on a moving target (unless you're chasing somebody and you place it in front of them) as it's very hard to hit with the half a second delay it has after the cast. It's best to always use this skill in synchronization with Stop Time. You hit somebody with the latter, then you drop Rift under them while they're stunned for instant high damage. With Chronos' Pendant on, the CD on this comes to around 3 seconds, so mid-late game when you're not draining mana so quick, you can drop this around for harassment without using Stop Time first.

Accelerate

This ability is this build's pride and joy after getting Fatalis. Accelerate grants you huge boosts in AS and MS for chasing and high damage once getting Polynomicon and the AS items. Once you fully upgrade Fatalis, you can literally hop around dodging ADCs and other mages while constantly popping Time Rift every 3 secs and auto-attacking the entire time. I use this skill at two different times, the first: to get to my target quick so I can pop the 3-1 combo on them, and the second: after using the 3-1 combo, I pop Accelerate and finish them off. The second is my more used method though. Make sure you use the IV section if you want to secure a kill with this ability as well. This ability can also be used as a great escape if used with Stop Time. Slow them to a stun, pop Accelerate, and book it out of there, but they really shouldn't be able to keep up in the first place (in most cases). Now for the reason I don't level this first or second -- I like to start leveling this once I get Fatalis fully upgraded, so my MS and AS are being bled to their highest potential, plus, Stop Time and Time Rift are much better for the laning phase, dealing with minion waves and such.

Stop Time

One of the easiest stuns to hit in the game. Massive AOE with enormous range allows you to hit your target nearly always. I like to get this first in Conquest, as it makes for a great minion wave clearer and it's Chronos' only form of CC, so it helps with a bit of early game harassment, despite you being very squishy. Make sure you always take into account the fact that the damage from this ability applies twice, so looking at the base damage + AP%, you'll see it does 220 (max level), plus 80% of your magical power on top of that, impressive, but still less than Time Rift. This is also a great addition to team fights, if you can stay in the back and take the enemy off guard while they're trading with your team, you can pretty much assure that your team will win that fight. Don't get too crazy for kills though, I usually just support in a team fight with this ability and Time Rift, my team mops up the kills most of the time. And as I said in the Accelerate description, this ability works great escaping during those early stages when you don't have Fatalis up.

Rewind

This is Chronos' ace in the hole, although it can screw you over big time if you don't time it correctly. The feelings people get after trading with you for about 10 secs only for you to go from no health to full health (most of the time) before they even know what's happened. It can save you and it can kill you, I can't remember how many times I screwed myself over with this when I started with Chronos, but I stuck it out, and now I pretty much never mess up the timing and positioning. To summarize, if you don't want to die, use this.

Shoes of The Magi

These little babies gift you with some nice magical power, a hefty amount of mana, MS, and a little bit of penetration. Shoes of Focus isn't needed due to Chronos' Pendant giving 25% CDR, so stick with the Magi for that pen against tanks.

Chronos' Pendant

A must item for Chronos in my honest opinion. The CD is utterly incredible for his 1 and 3, allowing him to literally spam the hell out of them, combined with Accelerate's 75% mana refund, you could practically trade forever. This item gives some sweet MP5 during the mid game, and some nice magical power. Overall, a great item for any mage, but definitely a must for Chronos. Once I get this item, I act a little more aggressive due to Time Rift having such a short CD, I mostly just harass until I get my next item, which is when I try to secure kills a lot more.

Polynomicon

A must item for most mages, especially those auto-attacking mages like Chronos and Freya. Like I said for the last item, once I get this, I get very aggressive, and start to secure kills a lot more. Popping Stop Time, auto-attacking in between for the extra AP damage, then popping Time Rift, and auto-attacking again, then dropping that sweet Accelerate and securing the kill with that last burst from Poly and auto-attacks. If a kill isn't secured after this then you were probably trying to kill an Ares. This item also goes great with the next two items.

Demonic Grip

Just a quick note: the purchase order for this and Fatalis is completely up to you, both work great in either spot.

Now, on to the item. It grants you a huge amount of magical power, and a large amount of AS, which is just perfect for Chronos and this build. It also has a pretty great passive -- every time you hit a basic attack, your target's magical protections are reduced, stacking up to 21%. Brilliant. Not much can be said on this item, other than the fact that it works great in combination with Polynomicon and Accelerate. Helps a lot with burst damage.

Fatalis

The item that's gonna make your Chronos an absolute killing machine. Just look at that beauty, 30% AS, 10% MS, plus three 5% AS stacks on top of that, not to mention that amazing extra in the passive..you no longer move slower when moving backwards, so you can back up from an enemy with Accelerate active constantly smashing on them with auto-attacks, and they'll never catch you. This item pretty much guarantees you ain't getting hit with no CC while you have your two active, it makes Chronos a true speed machine. It'll make it damn near impossible for ranged ADCs like Artemis to hit you with them crits, or Neith to hit you with her stun (unless it's her ulty). All around a great item for any mage that auto-attacks a lot. Although this item sacrifices MP, I think it's better off in the long run, as I said, this build focuses on Accelerate's effectiveness of securing kills.

Rod of Tahuti

An absolute must for any mage that does burst damage, a definite must. With a whopping 125 MP, plus the passive's 25% MP, you'll be hitting like a steamroller in conjunction with Polynomicon, Fatalis, and Demonic Grip. You just can't go wrong with this item. If you want, you could get the tier 1 of this item for some early game mana sustain, but since Chronos' Pendant gives some, I don't really think it's necessary.

Alternative items
I won't go into too much detail for these, just brief reasons as to why they'd be good alternatives

Gem of Binding
Huge chunk of MP, nice sustain with the HP boost, a decent mana boost, and an amazing passive. Guarantees nobody will ever be getting away from you with the slow from auto-attacks, something you'll be doing a lot of with this build.

Obsidian Shard
Pretty much a given why this would be recommended. Purely situational though. If your up against some annoying tanks/bruisers with high magical protection, put this on for some extra pen, also gives a nice bit of MP. This combined with Shoes of the Magi and Demonic Grip will have you tearing those tanks down.

warlock's sash
This item and the next are recommended for newer Chronos players who are having some trouble staying alive. This'll grant you a fat HP boost and a nice mana boost for you to spam that Time Rift.

Ethereal Staff
Same as above item. Having trouble surviving? Pick this up, and you'll be a lot less squishy, though I don't recommend once you gain more experience with Chronos.

Focused Void Stone
Gives nice MP, protection, and penetration. Again, if you're having trouble with those annoying tanks, pick this up and tear 'em down. This'll also help knock down some of those high damage mages with the 50 magical protection you get from this item. All in all, a good one to consider, but again mostly situational.

meditationMediation

I'd say this is a must for Chronos. He burns through mana so damn fast early-mid game that you just need some other way to keep it high. You shouldn't need to use this for a while if you use Accelerate's second section though.

Restoration Shard

Not much I can say about this one other than it's good for some sustain. Max charges and it gives you a hefty amount of health back to avoid backing if things are heating up in the match.

Aegis Amulet

Perfect for those moments when you're about to get hit with an ult and you just can't get Rewind out fast enough. Best used when you're getting bombarded by Freya or when Ymir's about to pound you with his ult and you just can't get away (which should be unlikely).

Purification Beads

Utterly vital if you're up against someone with hoards of CC like Ymir's. This is also the active that will save your *** when Ares pulls you or Hades ults.

Girdle of Inner Power

Use this if you just wanna hit really hard. That point in the game when you're no longer worried about sustain and you just want some extra oomph to make people cry.

Ares

Watch out for this dude. He's pretty much gonna ruin your speed with his Shackles and No Escape. I don't really know how to counter Ares, so sorry about that. Hopefully someone can tell me and I can update this.

Loki

Early game, Loki is gonna make you rage, with Chronos being super duper squishy early game, you're gonna be getting dived like there's no tomorrow if you're low on health, so make sure you pick your engagements carefully when laning against him. If the Loki's jungling, don't over-extend or you'll pay for it. With him being able to close the gap between the two of you so easy, there's pretty much nothing you can do about it if he catches you by surprise. Just be cautious and be patient, wait for an opportunity to strike him down, and you'll be fine.

Fenrir

Just like Loki, be very very careful when you engage him, if you're tower hugging low on health, he'll jump in and nub you so fast you'll think the Flash just used the Speedforce, and there will be nothing you can do about it.


That's all I've got for bad god match-ups at the moment, I'll add more when I can. These three are my personal troubling gods that have royally pissed me off in some games, you may not have any trouble with them, but I sure as hell do.

Overall, Chronos is an extremely fun god to play, and he is, in my opinion one of the best gods in the game. Extremely versatile, mobile, powerful, and just awesome.

I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible so I can update this guide and make it as good as it can be, and if anyone tries this build out, be sure to tell me how you did in the match/s.

Remember this is my first guide, so go easy on me. :D

Thanks for reading, hope you have as much success as I've had with this build.