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Clean Up Crew - Thanatos Build S9.6

86 23 194,596
8.5
by Bossinitup updated July 17, 2022

Smite God: Thanatos

Build Guide Discussion 26 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Build Summary

Start

Build Item Bumba's Dagger Bumba's Dagger
Build Item Morningstar Morningstar
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
3
Build Item Multi Potion Multi Potion
2

Final Build

Notes The Build has changed quite a lot since I first started playing. I've tried to keep up with the meta. Hopefully you enjoy.

Notes

The Build has changed quite a lot since I first started playing. I've tried to keep up with the meta. Hopefully you enjoy.

Build Item Bumba's Hammer Bumba's Hammer
Build Item Transcendence Transcendence
Build Item Hydra's Lament Hydra's Lament
Build Item The Heavy Executioner The Heavy Executioner
Build Item Heartseeker Heartseeker
Build Item Deathbringer Deathbringer

Thanatos's Skill Order Notes Balanced leveling with tendency to get your 1 whenever possible.

If I'm playing against something with slows in their kit, such as Posiedon, I'll go heavier into 2 than 3. Just because it gives you a little more umph when chasing down on someone hiding behind some sort of slow cc ability.

Notes

Balanced leveling with tendency to get your 1 whenever possible.

If I'm playing against something with slows in their kit, such as Posiedon, I'll go heavier into 2 than 3. Just because it gives you a little more umph when chasing down on someone hiding behind some sort of slow cc ability.

Death Scythe

1 X Y
Death Scythe
1 4 6 8 10

Scent of Death

2 A B
Scent of Death
3 11 14 16 19

Soul Reap

3 B A
Soul Reap
2 7 12 15 18

Hovering Death

4 Y X
Hovering Death
5 9 13 17 20
Death Scythe
1 4 6 8 10

Death Scythe

1 X
Thanatos flings his scythe at an enemy, dealing damage and an additional 10% of the target's maximum health against enemy gods. Enemies hit are slowed for 3s and heal Thanatos based on damage dealt. Consumes 4% of Thanatos' current HP when used.

Ability Type: Projectile
Damage: 100 / 170 / 240 / 310 / 380 (+60% of your Physical Power)
Bonus Damage (Gods): 10% of Max HP
Healing: 50% of damage dealt
Slow: 20%
Cost: 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65
Cooldown: 12s
Scent of Death
3 11 14 16 19

Scent of Death

2 A
Thanatos senses death, gaining immunity to Slow effects and additional move speed and Physical Penetration for 6s. His speed bonus increases up to double when moving toward an enemy god within the instant kill health threshold of his Ultimate. Consumes 4% of Thanatos' current HP when used.

Ability Type: Buff
Penetration: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
Move Speed: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30%
Bonus Speed (Low Health): 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30%
Cost: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40
Cooldown: 13s
Soul Reap
2 7 12 15 18

Soul Reap

3 B
Thanatos swings his scythe, dealing Physical damage and Silencing enemies he hits. Thanatos moves at a reduced rate while swinging. Consumes 4% of Thanatos' current HP when used.

Ability Type: Cone, Silence, Damage
Damage: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+70% of your Physical Power)
Silence Duration: 1s
Cost: 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45
Cooldown: 14s
Hovering Death
5 9 13 17 20

Hovering Death

4 Y
Thanatos flaps his wings and ascends for 5s, unable to be hit. While airborne, he moves unimpeded at an increased speed before diving to his target location, dealing damage. Enemies below a Health threshold are instantly killed. All others are Stunned. Consumes 8% of Thanatos' current HP when used.

Ability Type: Circle, Stun, Damage
Damage: 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 / 250 (+80% of your Physical Power)
Kill Health Threshold: 24 / 28 / 32 / 36 / 40%
Stun Duration: 1.5s
Bonus Move Speed: 150%
Radius: 15
Cost: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80
Cooldown: 90s

Thanatos Threats

Tap each threat level to view Thanatos’s threats

Max
1
Major
2
Even
1
Minor
1
Tiny
1

Thanatos Synergies

Tap each synergy level to view Thanatos’s synergies

Ideal
1
Strong
0
OK
0
Low
0
None
0

Extended Build

Relics

Notes Based on other enemy team comp will tell you whether or not you can go Blink first. If you're look at and Ares, Fenrir, Scylla then go for beads. Looking for that heavy CC. Otherwise you're safe going Blink.

Utilize blink early to blink into the tower on low health ADC and Mid. I wouldn't waste it blinking into lane unless you really believe you would lose the kill.

Beads is a must since you have no escape besides Ultimate.

Notes

Based on other enemy team comp will tell you whether or not you can go Blink first. If you're look at and Ares, Fenrir, Scylla then go for beads. Looking for that heavy CC. Otherwise you're safe going Blink.

Utilize blink early to blink into the tower on low health ADC and Mid. I wouldn't waste it blinking into lane unless you really believe you would lose the kill.

Beads is a must since you have no escape besides Ultimate.

Build Item Blink Rune Blink Rune
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads

Introduction

I'll Start this off by saying the old "Thanatos isn't good late game" is an excuse used by players who aren't good with him. He's easily one of the best gods in the game. If used properly his kit, bar none, is the top notch. %damage on his one; pen/mov speed on his two; silence on 3; execute on 40% health to finish it off. The early game ramp will be good in any season with Thanatos's early game damage. Giving the ability to achieve a win every game in any season.

Basic AA Cancels and Ability Usage

I'll take this time to explain how pertinent it should be in learning auto-attack canceling.

3-AA-1-AA for CC gods.
AA-1-AA-3-AA for squishy gods that need to die fast.
2-4-AA-1/3-AA-3/1-AA order of abilities is dependent on gods and health pool remaining.
4-3-AA-1-AA for gods that you're afraid of dashing out immedietly.

1.Death Scythe
This is your main point of damage and poke. Many a time I have seen people half-healthed early game and in their tower. It's important that you are hitting this 90%+. If not go into a casual game and simply practice hitting it. The time it takes to go from thrown to landing can be very hard to get used to. One hit can be the difference of winning a fight and losing it miserably.

2.Scent of Death
I almost guarantee you use this at the wrong times. Don't wait to use it mid-fight. Use it to travel the jungle faster and use it BEFORE you engage. If it comes up in the middle of the fight, SAVE IT. Use it again to detach from the fight or to chase down someone low on health. The only times you should use it in a fight is two things. You're using it for the passive on a tank or someone like KKK used his projectile to slow you; A Poseidon dropped a pool; Any type of slow that puts you out of position. Don't just use it all Willy-Nilly. Preemptively think about when you'll need it in a team fight and when it's best to use it. It changes EVERY team fight.

3.Soul Reap
This, in its own right, does very good damage. As the game progresses, if you need outside damage then level this before your 2. The same with this as your 2. Utilize it at the correct times. Can you just pop it immediately? Or should you save it for something like Guan-Yu spin attack, Ares fire, or even to prevent a mage from dropping ult to allow two more basics? This can put a team fight off cadence and set you ahead.

4.Hovering Death
The ability that was so good they had to copy it onto two other gods. Should be saved for finishers where you can't chase and most preferably supports and tanks. Also used to just ult into duo lane and secure kill as fast as possible. Not much to say about this. Many people say that the only thing Thanatos can do late-game is ult in and engage. Please don't fall for that wives tale. This Ultimate changes team fights 100% of the time if you get execute off. It could set you up in the next team fight where your team is at 30-second timers and an enemy is at 70 seconds. Allowing a future 4v5 at Fire Giant or Phoenix.

Pros / Cons

Pros

    Early Game Ramp
    Insane Burst Damage
    High Movement Speed/Scent Speed
    Passive Pen/Slow Immunity
    Execution
    High Sustain All Game

Cons
    Not Tanky Under CC Sustained Damage
    No Jump or Dash
    Countered by Hard CC

Team Work

In team fights, you should be constantly on the lookout for the rotation to pick Mid and ADC. DON'T front-line. Let your tanks do their job. If they don't see a good spot to initiate then there's a reason. If they get mad at you for not initiating, don't start out of peer pressure.

There's two types of team fights. "Jungle Fights" and "Lane Fights" and both should be regarded as and dealt with differently. Be aware of your team retreating or re-positioning.

Lane Fights: Could also include fights at Fire and Gold. You don't save ult for Tanks. Use it to start fight when your Support/Solo push in. Use that Warrior/Support spearing into the enemy team as a queue to initiate. Trust in your team to finish spearing into the enemy bubble and helping you not die immediately.

Jungle Fights: Use the jungle to your advantage. Rotating and poking out to find a spot to re-initiate constantly. Try for last hits as much as possible as it heals you and keeps you in the fight longer. *It's not "Kill Stealing" it's "Kill Securing". Be on the look out for as many 1v1's from ambush as you can since this is where you shine. You're a panther in the jungle.

Creeping / Jungling

I always start 1. His third attack chain is aoe and should be more than enough to handle clear at lvl 1. I prefer to 1 to take advantage of his passive and 1 heal when clearing so I can regularly heal to max or close to.

I've played using other items first but only seen success with only Frostbound in season 2.

Look for last hits as much as possible since your heal off them from the passive. The amazing thing with Thanatos is you can jungle for prolonged periods of time without backing since he doesn't use much mana and heals heavily from passive and 1 combo. Try to stay up to date on camps as to maximize XP gain. You'll spend a majority of time in mid and duo since you want to kill ADC and Mage as much as possible, putting them behind. Very rarely am I in a position to constantly gank solo. This shouldn't be a problem if they ward. This doesn't mean you should ignore solo. If they're getting ganked multiple times without you rotating then you failed in helping your team.

As a jungler, it should be your main priority to ward and know what's happening in your jungle. Buy a "Chalice of the Oracle" after 3rd item buy. This allows you to see what's going on and where you should be and should have been. WARDS WIN WARS. I swear to god if you and your team ward you will, on average, win more games. If you take anything from reading all this, ward. High wards on Duo side will always help you and your ADC.

Counter jungle. Farm and get kills so your team can farm and get kills. Don't be afraid of being aggressive and trying to win.

Summary

Welp, I hope this helps someone. Thanks for reading and enjoy being apart of the Clean Up Crew.

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Collapse All Comments

1
Gulfwulf (81) | April 18, 2021 5:38pm
I would drop manakins and get Bumba's Hammer instead seeing as how Than's more of an ability based god than one who uses his auto-attacks aside from getting the hydra proc. I would also probably swap out The Executioner for Serrated Edge and get The Crusher after boots.
1
Bossinitup (1) | April 18, 2021 8:58pm
Yeah **** this current build. Just went Crusher into Shifters and it smacks.
1
Gulfwulf (81) | April 18, 2021 9:38pm
I keep forgetting about Shifter's Shield. :/
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1
Serabi | April 18, 2021 5:25pm
this entire guide is just wrong. crit on thana, no bumbas resets, claiming thana is "late game" when he is the definition of snowbally

i would recommend looking up pro's opinions first before leading the smite community the wrong way
1
Athiticous | September 7, 2022 4:05pm
The problem with pros is that they all pretty much follow the same Meta. There is no trying new things, because if it ain't broke don't fix it. So I say do whatever you want, and pick and choose what works for you.
1
Bossinitup (1) | April 18, 2021 10:07pm
Thanatos' kit mirrors Thor's in ways and he's counted as a late game god. Big hit on 1. 3 acts as both the AOE and CC. Ult stuns but also executes.
1
Big Damage (37) | April 18, 2021 10:17pm
Thor is not a late game god...
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1
Big Damage (37) | April 18, 2021 9:32pm
Crit Thana has been around in the meta recently but it's still not as good as a normal power/pen build imo. Also the best builds I'd say for those 2 paths are:

Bumba's Dagger > Warrior Tabi > The Crusher / Brawler's Beat Stick > Hydra's Lament > Shifter's Shield > Heartseeker > Bumba's Hammer > Swap boots for Void Shield / Bloodforge / Titan's Bane

Eye Of The Jungle > Ninja Tabi > Stone Cutting Sword > Rage > wind demon > Deathbringer > Protector Of The Jungle > Swap boots for The Executioner / Toxic Blade / Titan's Bane / Bloodforge
0
Bossinitup (1) | April 18, 2021 9:52pm
Ew. His passive already gives cooldown reduction. There's no reason to double stack passives in this way when you can gain more benefits from other items. My build isn't an end all be all to Thanatos and in the end he should be played the way that best suits you.
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1
Bossinitup (1) | June 21, 2019 3:01pm
I'm gonna change up build again and switch out the normal build for meta build.
2
boogiebass (46) | June 21, 2019 3:10pm
Be sure to let gulfwulf know, i think he said he played thanatos.
2
Gulfwulf (81) | June 21, 2019 3:15pm
Only in Assault when I'm forced to to maintain a balanced team comp. I'll remove my down-vote, but I won't upvote as long as there's a build with db as the lone crit item listed. At least get Rage before it.
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1
Bossinitup (1) | June 17, 2019 6:18pm
Updated and added a Current Meta build.
1
Bossinitup (1) | February 26, 2019 5:11pm
Gonna try out bloodforge and executioner. Will post with an update.
1
Kriega1 (143) | February 26, 2019 5:15pm
Bloodforge not executioner. Executioner you only build on Thanatos in duel.
1
Branmuffin17 (394) | February 9, 2019 8:44pm
No offense, Boss, but I just don't get how so many people like to get a single crit item in their builds, with that item being Deathbringer. I do get that his basics hit hard. And for the 25% of the time it crits, it will be nice. But there's a reason pros don't build it on him. 25% is just not reliable enough, mathematically.

You say a lot of good things. I think you know how to play the god, and probably very well at that. Maybe you can do this in a glass cannon build because you know how to take advantage in your matchups. I'm glad you talk about warding, and who you aim to gank. I also like how you talk about how and when to use his 2.

You also build some good things. You don't build too much flat pen (likely in consideration of his 35 pen at max rank of his 2). You don't overcap CDR. And you list some functional situational items (though BoV shouldn't be one of them).

But I do wonder a bit at Trans. Yes, power is nice, but it's not like his scaling is amazing where the power is super worth it. He doesn't need the mana nearly as much as most other gods, due to his ability costs relying in part on his health. And while the CDR is nice, it seems like you could get another item that likely costs less and get deeper into your build more quickly.

I get the allure of Katana. It can work, even when others say it doesn't. It's definitely not meta, but that's okay.

But, and I know this is your build and not a build meant to cover everyone, but some situational items are also missing IMO. Hide of the Urchin. Mantle of Discord. Void Shield. Ancile. Titan's Bane.

And finally, your skill leveling seems off to me. I can understand maxing his 1 first, and of course leveling his ult anytime you can. But at the start of a match, Soul Reap is the way to start. Same base damage as Death Scythe, but instead of 1 target, you hit everything in the cone, which means it speeds your clear significantly. Why do you get 1 first?

My first 3 levels would be 3, 1, 2. You have 1, 3, 2. Why?

Finally, I'd suggest fixing your start. You have the full Warrior Tabi in there. If you start with movement, it should be Boots...but I'm thinking you get T1 Jotunn's ( Mace), or if you really still want Trans, T1 Trans ( Morningstar), though I still don't think Trans is the best way to go.

I'm not saying that I'm the better Thana player by any means, but based on my knowledge, I expect the above comments should have some merit.
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