Chronos - Revenge of the killer Auto Attacks

This build is currently undergoing development, so some parts will be missing within the build!

Welcome to the first guide of mine. This guide will be for Chronos. My main role within smite is the Jungle, however I have played my fair share of mid lane, so my understanding of the core function of this lane is still there.

This guide does go over a very common build for Chronos! It is more of a guide for a person who is new to Chronos, and wishes to learn him and his build!

Just a pre-warning: This guide is quite detailed and very bland at this moment. I am working on improving it!

The Build that we are going for massive damage with auto attacks. So the items placed in this build will help with this. In this guide i shall go through the pro's and con's of each item and skill and help you understand the allover power of this god. There may be parts missing within this guide, so leave a comment with ideas that you would like to see, as well as improvements.

Chronos' Lore:
Existence is measured in age. How many years has a mortal lived? What was the construction date of the Parthenon? When were the cosmos formed? Time begins at birth, at creation. But, inevitably, time for all things comes to an end.

Except, of course, time itself.

Bearer of the clock of eternity, rimmed by signs of the Zodiac, the Keeper of Time, Chronos, counts every tick of the second hand, preventing interference with that essential forward momentum.

If he knows who or when the eternal clock was wound, Chronos does not tell, but upon the first stroke, he came to be. Emptiness was the ocean, then, and his only companion was Ananke, Queen of Fate. Together, their powers divided the vastness into heaven and earth and sea and sky. Thereafter, Chronos became an observer, the watchman of infinity.

Patient to a fault, Chronos knows no urgency. He does not fear pain, or war, or death, for he is time itself and will outlast all. For this reason, his presence on the field of battle is alarming. This war between Gods must portend a conclusion so dire as to threaten the very existence of time. Perhaps, all the Gods should begin counting the seconds of the eternal clock. There may be few of them remaining.

Pro's
- Able to kill an enemy hero in 1v1 almost all the time late game
- Quite durable with Rewind
- Able to contribute to team fights with massive damage and stuns
- Ranged damage so can avoid getting close to a lot of god's
- Good disengagement from a fight if low in Rewind and Accelerate
- Able to regenerate life, save mana when casting abilities and deal extra damage with the Accelerate and Wheel of Time


Playing as Chronos, the Con's outweigh the Pro's early game due to the low amount of damage, life and mana you will have however, as soon as you hit mid to late game, the Pro's heavily outweigh the con's as you have 2 escapes, in Accelerate and Rewind, as well as the ability to regenerate health on the fly, stopping Accelerate on number 1 of the Wheel of Time

Con's:
- Easily killed early game
- Requires a reasonable amount of farm to become powerful
- Rewind can be difficult to pull off efficiently
- It can be difficult to use Time Rift and Stop Time effectively due to the aiming and speed of the abilities
- Difficult to stop assassins such as and due to their huge damage output and, for Loki his stuns and bleeds, and for Fenrir his lifesteal and ability to stay next to you with Brutalise
- Low Defense so easily killed if found by more than 3

His Cons may seem to be a bad start to this hero however, most of these only affect his early game, as after playing this god for a good amount of time. Most gods struggle to kill Chronos after level 9 due to the stun, Polynomicon damage and his ability to restore all of his life with Rewind

So now that you understand his Pro's and Con's, you need to understand his kit and why each item has been picked!

Vampiric Shroud

This, i find, is a key item to start with if you are starting in the mid lane on conquest. As each killing blow you make towards a minion will allow you to have a better chance of sustaining within the lane. It also comes built in with some extra life, so you will be slightly tankier as well! Selling this item towards the end of the build is important, as other items will give you better stats than this will, but it is excellent in the laning phase.

Shoes of Focus

Shoes of focus are an extremely important part of this build just down to the fact of the 15% cooldown reduction they give. That 15 second cooldown reduction may allow you to get that 1 extra Time Rift or Stop Time giving the kill or forcing them to return. It will also allow you to use Accelerate more often, giving you more damage, healing or mana reduction. This will also increase the usage of the Polynomicon, as it will allow you to use more abilities, giving you much more damage from the passive on this item. Not forgetting about the 21% extra movement speed, this will give you a better chase and escape, and will allow you to get back into lane faster if the unexpected gank happens.

Shoes of the Magi are also a valid choice, as you do not have the worlds most penetration from this build, so if you find that you are not doing enough damage, and you are still casting the abilities that you need within a good amount of time, i would advice taking these instead.

Demonic Grip

This item is the core part of an auto-attack mage. It supplies a large amount of attack speed, as well as magical power. But, the largest reason, if the attack speed wasn't enough, is the penetration debuff it applies on each auto-attack, for up to 3 auto-attacks. This is a key item to build if you are going for a auto-attack oriented build.

Polynomicon

So here it is, the dreaded item for any player against . Just this item will give the power to kill almost any god. The Polynomicon gives your next auto attack 100% of your magical damage as extra damage. If you combine this with Accelerate stopped on 3, you are getting even more magical damage, increasing the Polynomicon damage, tearing through the enemy god's hp. If used in the strategy below correctly, even tanks that have not built heavy magical defence will most likely die from this item, or at least be 1 or 2 auto attacks away from that point. What you have to remember, is that you can only get the prock of this item every 4 seconds, so the extra damage what will contribute to your bust will be a little less. Saving your abilities in order to make full affect of this item will ensure the burst damage needed.


So these are the 3 MOST important items for this Chronos build, the other 3 items can be build whenever and however you want, but here are some helpful tips on when each item is at its most useful depending on the enemy team.

Telkhines Ring

This item wrecks most most gods, and allows all of your auto attacks to do a small, but effective amount of extra damage. However, this item is affected by magical protection, so the more magical protection that they have, the less effective this item actually becomes! If you are going to purchase this item, you will want to get it as your second item, before Demonic Grip, as it is not (really) a good item during the mid-late game.

Rod of Tahuti

This is, once again, one of the most important parts of this build. The Rod of Tahuti gives you a huge increase to your magical damage as well as a large bonus to your MP5. This item will give you a lot more sustain in your lane as well as a large amount of extra magical damage for the impending Polynomicon that is on its way. I would advise always purchasing this item within your build, as it supplies your auto-attacks with extra damage as well as makes Polynomicon a monster to fight against.

Focused Void Stone

This item is still, extremely useful for most situations however can be delayed if there is not an enemy tank, or someone who has a good amount of magical defense. However, it is also an extremely useful item for you in lane if you are facing an enemy with high magical damage due to the magical defense that comes with this item. This item I usually prioritize first due to the stats on it, however can be delayed if Gem of Binding allows you to lock down kills easily, and you are not struggling for sustain.

Gem of Binding

Once again, a useful item for Chronos, however it is not usually needed to be build until mid to late game. This item gives Chronos a large amount of magical power, what of course will increase the damage of the Polynomicon and will give a good amount of slow when enemys are hit by your abilities. However, if you feel like you are struggling to hit your Time Rift and Stop Time, i would advise swapping this item out for Gem of Binding, down to the fact auto attacks are usually easier to land and with Accelerate, more auto attacks are coming out. This item will also allow you to chase enemies that are running from the fight, and kill them before they can make a good get-away due to the fact of the slow it provides

Breastplate of Valor

Currently being developed.

Actives

Meditation

This item will allow you to restore some HP that you have lost and will also allow you to recover mana if you are struggling with it. I would advise this item for early game, whenever you can afford it, as it will allow you to stay in lane for longer, allowing your farm to be higher. This is a useful item if you are new to the game, as it can also provide you with a small amount of sustain at level 3, providing you with extra life. However, after some experimenting, i have found leaving this item out of the build is a clever idea, as purification beads, and aegis come in more helpful in the long run.

Purification Beads

These are extremely useful for a lot of reasons. These allow you to escape from ALL CC's, giving you a higher chance to get away and survive if you are low or escape from CC's when the team needs your damage to save someone. A great usage of this item is on Ares and his ULT. This item will not stop the damage that the ult will do, but will stop the drag back to him, what usually ends up in bad news, especially for a character with low defenses. I would almost always pick this item up as Chronos, as he has no CC escapes, unless he times his Rewind to perfection! Remember this item can also reduce all your ability cooldowns by 5 seconds if it is level 3. So using this item in order cast a Rewind or Accelerate to escape is a good use of this item in my opinion.

Aegis Amulet

This is quite a useful item as it will allow you to negate damage what could kill you or weaken you a huge amount. However, using this item requires precision and skill as if you use to early, you could be trapped in between 5 enemy gods and if used to late, you could already be dead! This will allow you to stop huge amounts of damage, such as Poseidon ult and Neith ult what would usually kill you. Building Aegis Pendant will allow you to escape easier, however be wary of knockbacks, roots and stuns, as these still affect you during the duration of this active. If they have a heavy lockdown team, the aegis amulet might be a better option, but may still be a problem.

Hand of the Gods or Fist of the Gods

This item will greatly improve your chance of winning lane, as Chronos does not have an amazing wave clear within the first 5-10 minutes of the game. Using this item will allow you to kill of a wave at a greatly improved speed. Once you have a spare 600 gold, upgrading this item to a Fist of the Gods will give you a longer stun lock to keep enemy gods in, greatly improving the chance of a kill, or forcing a Purification Beads out in order to save their life. Be wary while using this item, as a god like Agni can just use Path of Flames to escape the stun lock, wasting your Fist of the Gods

Overall Analysis

Fatalis or Hastened Fatalis

Whenever i use this item on Chronos, i come out with a lot less damage output, allowing other gods to get a quick kill on me. However, with the recent changes to Chronos' number 2, Fatalis has found its way into my build a little more often. Attack speed is extremely important for Chronos however, i find that you get a reasonable amount from Telkhines Ring and Demonic Grip (If you pick these up) and when you activate Accelerate you get a huge bonus to your attack speed, as well as sustaining your movement speed while auto attacking, depending on your level! Hastened Fatalis is not as important due to the ability of his number 2 Accelerate, as it has the passive of Hastened Fatalis already attached to it, so normal Fatalis gives you more benefit for the mid-late game.

These items contained in this guide i have found to be the most useful for Chronos in this build down to the fact they give great utility to Chronos, as well as a huge amount of burst damage, sustain and give good benefiting factors in a team fight. These items will also allow you to survive most assassin attacks, if used correctly.

Wheel of Time - Passive

Section I:

If you get low, this will allow you get get yourself healed up. It is extremely useful if you are being chased and you are low on HP, as this could save your life.

Section II:

This section is extremely important towards the early stages of the game, as it will ensure your sustain within the lane. Having 75% of your mana refunded ensures that you will not have to go back to the base as often. Stop accelerate on section 2 of the Wheel of time each time you want to clear a wave.

This is extremely important to remember!

Section III: +20% Magical Power

This is one of the more important places to stop. It will increase the damage of your Polynomicon as well as the rest of your abilities. It also gives a small increase to your auto attacks. This is extremely useful to stop on down to those factors. This is extremely good for early game kills and team fights. What you have to remember although, is that Chronos is classed as an auto-attack god, so ensuring his auto-attacks are powerful is one of the key things about him!

Section IV: +35% Magical Power Contribution to Basic Attacks

I use this in mid to late game, as your magical power should be at a huge amount and with the increase of attack speed with Accelerate and the Polynomicon, you can auto attack most people to death with just this on, but i would not advise you using this in a team fight, as auto attacks are less valuable.

Time Rift - Skill 1

This is an extremely useful ability, as it has a huge amount of damage output, and scales really well with the amount of magical power that you have. Using this with Stop Time's stun will put most gods down to a low amount of health, allowing you to finish them with your auto attacks. Upgrading this to its maximum first is one of the most important things to do, as it gives you a much better harass in the early game, as well as a large amount of damage output in mid game!

Accelerate - Skill 2

Probably the most important ability for Chronos. Use this to either start a team fight or to chase down an enemy, or to heal you when you go low, if you need to escape from enemies and Rewind is not available. All in all, using this on cooldown in fights will maximize your amount of damage from your auto attacks, and improve your auto attacks! Upgrading this to max 3rd really will help you lock down those kills in mid to late game. But does not really offer much in early game, as it does not effect the Wheel of Time

Stop Time - Skill 3

This ability is extremely important for Chronos, as it allows you to stun the enemy, allowing you to follow up with either a Time Rift or a barrage of auto attacks. This is also a great way to harass the opponent while in the early part of the game. Using this while trying to escape will also help you down to the stun it offers! This ability is the second ability you want to max out down to the fact of the stun and damage it offers. If you have taken a Fist of the Gods you can keep the god in a longer stun lock, allowing you to follow up with devistating auto attacks, or a Time Rift. There is a large catch to this skill however, as quite a few gods, for example Agni have an ability what makes them immune to CC abilities. This being Path of Flame for Agni.

Rewind - Your Ultimate (Skill 4)

This, in my opinion, is what makes Chronos one of the strongest gods in the game. One of the big things to remember however, if that it takes you back to the exact place, amount of HP and mana as you were 8 seconds ago, It does not effect your buffs and actives! Getting low on HP? No problem! Need to reset all your cooldowns to confirm a kill? No problem! Need to make a quick getaway? No problem! This ability is one of the best ults in the game in my opinion! There is only one downfall to it however, it takes a while for it to start up. This period you are highly vulnerable to damage. This ability has the skill to save your life, or end it. This ability does not really improve with the amount of levels in it, as it does not reduce anything but its cooldown, making it the lowest priority skill.

Harass

Use Time Rift to knock down some of there life. Also use Stop Time if you know it will hit them, and then follow up with a Time Rift

Kill Combo

Using Stop Time to stun the enemy, you then follow up with either a auto attack (if you have Polynomicon) or a Time Rift. Once you have done this, Use Accelerate, stopped on IV on the Wheel of Time and unleash the auto attacks!

Early Game

In early game, Chronos will usually take the roll of Mid or solo lane. Using Time Stop to harass the opponent god is a great way to either set up a kill for your jungler, or for you to get a kill once you know you can. If you are certain you are able to get a kill, using Stop Time first allows you to stun them, giving you the chance to follow up with a Time Rift or a barrage of auto attacks using Accelerate, stopped on section IV.

For wave clear, start by auto-attacking the minions as they come from the enemy tower, (however be wary of the enemy god in mid lane and jungle, as you are a ripe target for damage while doing this, doing this will hopefully put the melee minions with the archer minions) , you will want to use Accelerate stopped on section 2 of your Wheel of Time, then you will want to use Stop Time for the double damage on the minions as well as a small stun, while using a Time Rift on the archers to finish them. Auto attack the melee minions to clear the wave afterwards. If you picked up a Hand of the Gods, You would want to use this on the archer minions, however if you managed to group the minions up together, hitting them all will ensure a full wave clear.

Be careful for ganks from there jungler however, as Chronos is a large target for the enemy team to wipe out in the early game, due to his late game hyper-carry ability. Using wards is a great way to avoid this problem, and if you do find yourself in the middle of a gank, Rewind (If you have it!) out of there!

Mid Game

In mid game, Chronos will be able to roam around, searching for quick and easy kills. It is also important to stay with a team mate, as you do not want to get caught out. Mid game is very prone to team fights. Using Stop Time is a great way to stun all of the opponents, allowing you to get a perfectly placed Time Rift ontop of one of them, and also give your team a great chance to come out on top.

Once again, make sure you are being extra vigilant, as the enemy team will most likely be searching for you, as you bring a large amount of burst damage as well as a good amount of stun to a team fight. Rewind is a great way to escape them at first hand, Accelerate will allow you to get away from them, as your movement speed is insanely fast!

Late Game

While playing Chronos, I find it extremely rare that you reach late game, as you are either underpowered or extremely overpowered that one of the teams have surrendered by this point. However, if you do go into late game, it is extremely important to use Rewind and Accelerate at the right points, as a death at this point could cost your team a lot! Using the combo ( Stop Time, Time Rift, Accelerate stopped at IV and auto attack) You are usually able to win most 1v1 situations. Using this combo in a team fight will also allow you to get a few good shots off. Just remember, at this point you have Polynomicon so after each ability, try to squeeze in an auto attack, just so you get that proc.

In late game, it is paramount that you use Rewind just to keep yourself alive, as at this point, the enemy team will target you out in a team fight, unless your are weaker than one of your team mates. It is rare that you will have to use Rewind to confirm a kill.

In summary, Chronos is an extremely powerful god, if the enemy team allows you to farm and lock down kills. Using your kill combo is extremely important just to make sure you can kill them off, before they get you. Be aware of assassins, as they are going to try to kill you before you get chance to farm yourself up, and be extremely aware of junglers, as they will rip through your life in early game.


If you have any advice in how to improve this guide! Feel free to leave it.

Special Thanks:
Jordenito

29/1/14:
Updated the guide to contain information about newly added items, as well as the skill changes. Added Hastened Fatalis to the build, and changed the idea of Fatalis in the items section. Changed Hastened Fatalis to Fatalis after fully understanding the affect of Accelerate.