Cthulhu - [Methods of Madness] (S7, Patch 7.7, Conquest + Arena)

Cthulhu has just released, and has been an incredibly popular addition to Smite. This addition has admittedly come with some controversy, but that is not relevant to this particular guide. Cthulhu has a very unique design with an entirely unique size to him, which scales upwards even further when he uses his massive ultimate to intimidate enemies.

....... Pros ....... - High potential damage output during ultimate - Good disruption abilities - Moderately safe outside of ultimate - Absolutely incredible teamfight

...... Cons ...... - No immediate CC / Can be hard to confirm - High health can result in heavy damage from items such as Qin's Sais - Ultimate makes Cthulhu a very large target

Cthulhu is a very unique god addition to the game, which is fantastic news for Smite. However, this also means that he may not be as straightforward as some other gods in the game. I believe there are certain methods which make best/most effective use of his kit. Please keep in mind that this build and guide is developed according to my own playstyle which I have grown accustom to over years of playing Smite and over the recent few days playing Cthulhu since his release. I will discuss his playstyles here in this guide later on, though.

Similar to Baba Yaga, Cthulhu has a bit of role flexibility and everybody is scrambling to determine what is best for him. I have seen builds working him into support, solo, and even jungle. As as preface to anything else, I believe that these are the only roles he should even be tried in. I will break down each of these roles in two sections.

The build theory that can be used for Cthulhu is unique to me in that he seems like he has some flexibility in what playstyle he should build around, however I feel as if each of those playstyles have limited potential items which will be best for that style.

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Passive - Prey on Fear

Prey On Fear is an interesting passive with some really unique visual effects and potential to amplify other parts of Cthulhu's kit. Both his abilities, and the third basic attack in his attack chain will apply stacks of Torment to enemies. When an enemy has four stacks of Torment on them, they go "insane," and will begin seeing abnormal effects on their screen and potentially hear noises which aren't really there. Cthulhu also gains 25 magical power per enemy within 70 units that has insanity. This insanity will last for 20 seconds, and stacks of Torment last only 5 seconds.

This can feel odd or difficult to stack at first, especially in modes such as arena. In conquest, solo lane will have an incredibly easy time stacking this passive due to the nature of boxing in lane. It is important to note for this ability that Cthulhu's third basic attack (which applies Torment) has extended range and can hit multiple enemies.

The Mire is especially good at applying these stacks as both strikes of the ability apply a stack (resulting in 2 total stacks gained immediately).

1 - Sanity Break

This is a relatively close range cone attack which deals damage and reduces enemy attack speed by up to 30% for 3 seconds. Attacking an enemy with this applies 1 stack of Torment, but more importantly will apply 2 stacks if they are facing him. As his passive may feel difficult to stack, it is necessary to consider all minor aspects like this when attempting to apply Torment to effectively use Cthulhu. If an enemy is already insane, this will consume their insanity effect and fear them whilst increasing the damage mitigations of this ability. These damage mitigations are probably my favorite part of this ability.

By default, using Sanity Break will cause all enemies hit to deal 20% less damage to Cthulhu for 6 seconds. However, if enough stacks of insanity are consumed using this ability, the percentage may reach up to 30%.

Keep in mind while playing that the size of this ability will allow you to hit an entire wave with it when approaching from the side.

2 - The Mire

The Mire may be the most difficult part of Cthulhu's kit for most people to grasp. Being able to confirm this can be very difficult. This ability creates an area of increasing size as Cthulhu continues to channel the ability. As it is a channel, CC may interrupt this process. As channeling continues, there will be two strikes of "corruption" which damage enemies within the area and apply additional effects. The first strike of "corruption" will apply 1 stack of Torment and slow enemies by 35%. The second strike will then root enemies. Both of these effects last for 1 seconds from the time that they are applied. The Mire will last for 3 more seconds after the ability is finished being channeled or has been canceled.

As movement abilities may be used to escape this before the initial strikes successfully affect enemies, this can be difficult to confirm. However, particular items may be built to help improve the effectiveness of this ability.

3 - Rushing Terror

This ability is the easiest to confirm crowd control within Cthulhu's kit, albeit a bit lackluster as peel if used in a supporting role. Cthulhu dashes forward and creates two damaging lines on either side of him for the duration of the dash. Enemies hit by the damaging portions of Rushing Terror are not only damaged, but are also knocked back and stunned for 0.4 seconds. The ability also applies 1 stack of Torment to all enemies hit.

It is also important to consider that for this ability is that if used as peel to attempt saving an ally, it will place you in a dangerous position behind the enemies which also doesn't allow you the potential to body block enemy shots for your ally anymore. This is best used as a peel only when you are already behind the enemies during laning phase in Conquest.

Note: If you use this ability to hit an enemy using both your own body and the projectiles, you will gain 2 net stacks of Torment on that particular enemy.

4 - Descend into Madness

Descend Into Madness transforms Cthulhu into a massive, highly destructive monster which can EASILY sway the course of a teamfight. Cthulhu's maximum health is increased by 30% during this form. All enemies near Cthulhu as he transforms gain stack of Torment similar to Sanity Break; one stack for being within the area, and another if they are facing Cthulhu at the time of transformation. This also applies the debuff effect of Sanity Break as well.

During his transformation, he gains an entirely new set of abilities. This may be canceled at any time.

There is some interesting flavor text at the bottom of this ability description in R'Lyehian, an alien language developed especially for the Cthulhu mythos. The text itself is as follows:
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

This translates directly to: In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu dreams

NOTE: Just as a tip, you can heal in the fountain while in this ultimate.

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1 - Sever

Interestingly, Sever is both Cthulhu's first ability while in ult, and his basic attack. By default, this has a cooldown of 1 second because of this fact. Sever is a massive strike towards the ground of 3 projectiles that all apply a protection reduction debuff to enemies hit. This debuff stacks, with 3% per hit up to a maximum of 15% reduced protections for 5 seconds. This has a surprisingly long range, and is a pretty massive area of effect. Additionally, there is no mana cost for using this during the ultimate. This is consistent and very high damage output during his ultimate, and a fantastic tool for Cthulhu.

2 - Devastate

Devastate is a much more self-explanatory ability. Cthulhu can fire a circular area-of-effect blast up to 70 units away which deals damage and knocks up enemies. This does cost mana unlike Sever, however also has a very short cooldown sitting at just 5 seconds. This knockup can be used effectively as either a simple damage option, or as an excellent crowd control (as knock-ups are the best CC in this game) for yourself or your team.

3 - Transfuse

Transfuse is another unique ability, and probably one of the most interesting parts about Descend Into Madness to me. When using this ability, Cthulhu damaged enemies in a massive area of 60 units around him. However, he also damages Cthulhu for 6% of his maximum health (increased due to the ultimate) and healing all allies in the area for up to 14% of their maximum healths. Additionally, they receive up to 40 bonus power and a flat 20% movement speed increase for 3 seconds.

You can not kill yourself with this ability, as if Cthulhu is below 20% health he will not take any damage - this does, however, come with a drawback in that the effects granted to allies will be reduced by 1/2.

This ability alone, and the way that it works during teamfights, is absolutely incredible. I have considered Lotus Crown as a good option simply for Transfuse. I unironically do believe that this is the single greatest ability in Cthulhu's kit.

In order to determine Cthulhu's viability in the support role, it is most important to first evaluate the crowd control and potential peel that he possesses in his base kit.

Within just his base abilities (without considering his ultimate, Cthulhu has a potential slow up to 45% or an easy to confirm 10% slow in the form of The Mire.

If Cthulhu has successfully driven an enemy insane using his stacks of Torment, his Sanity Break ability has a CC in the form of a 1.5 second fear. Otherwise, this has an ensured attack speed debuff of up to 30%.

Finally, Rushing Terror is accompanied by a 0.4 second stun and a knockback.

He certainly does have enough crowd control to be viable in a supportive role. Though, there are some concerns here. The Mire can be hard to confirm as almost all hunters will have a mobility to escape it early game. Rushing Terror will either displace you in lane or require you to get behind the enemies in order to properly peel with it. [Sanity Break]] requires Cthulhu to have stacks of his Torment in order to be put to use with full effect. Without those stacks, there is not a technical hard CC within this ability.

So for peel in-lane or potential for saving allies in immediate danger, Cthulhu has a slow, attack speed debuff, a 0.4 second stun, and a brief knockback.



I personally believe that this is the best role for Cthulhu in conquest as of now according to my experience. Cthulhu has an extremely easy time applying stacks of Torment throughout typical solo lane boxing, allowing him to make full use of his kit much more. Although he does not have any sustain built into his kit (actually the exact opposite), he is fairly safe due to his ultimate and decent escape ability.

Cthulhu's wave clear is incredible when using The Mire, and the base damage of the god allows for some very strong early-game pressure. With any sort of cooldown reduction built, his ultimate also has a very short cooldown. To use Cthulhu to his fullest potential in solo lane do not be afraid to use his ultimate simply for the massive damage potential in his new kit. However, be mindful of using Transfuse when in solo lane, as you sacrifice your maximum health ONLY for the sake of damage due to the lack of nearby allies.

I actually also find the nature of solo to be a driving factor in my decision regarding his best role. By the time teamfights start, a support will be a few levels lower than all other players in the match, whilst a solo should be one of the two highest levels. This translates into teamfights in the form of even more potency with Cthulhu's ultimate, which would otherwise not get nearly as much worth when playing as a support. That being said though, the ultimate is still effective when played by a support role.


I find it very odd that this became such a quick trend for Cthulhu. However to be fair, I must evaluate his ability to jungle according to role standards and kit requirements much like I did for support.

Cthulhu has a mobility in the form of his Rushing Terror. This ability has a 16 second cooldown, and costs 60 mana at level one. The distance traveled here is just 5 units shorter of Fenrir's jump ( Unchained), reaching 50 units. For transparency, Unchained also costs 60 mana at level one, and has a 15 second cooldown.


Junglers must have reasonable ability to clear their camps in the jungle, allowing them to quickly rotate between lanes and also farm up reasonably. This is the start of where Cthulhu begins seeing some problems. According to base damage alone, The Mire is the better option for Cthulhu when attempting to clear camps in the jungle. However, it is important to consider other aspects of these abilities. Assuming a typical jungle start with Assassin's Blessing and beginning to build an item such as Spear of Desolation (Credit to SwifterHypno for this jungle build that I used for testing and reference), I did some further testing. It is first crucial to consider that Sanity Break has a cooldown of just 10 seconds at level 1, whilst The Mire has a base cooldown of 18 seconds. If clearing a full camp on his own, Cthulhu should expect to receive about 100-120 damage from the minions at the start. The third basic attack in Cthulhu's basic attack chain is a cone which can hit all minions of a camp, which is an essential part of his kit for this role. Clearing a camp at level one will take approximately 10 seconds using either his 1, OR his 2, meaning there is no significant difference in clear time. Therefore, due to the much shorter cooldown, Sanity Break is by far the better option for clear in the jungle.

Regardless, it is still absolutely mandatory to buy Hand of the Gods at the beginning of the match in order to keep up with the enemy jungler. Despite this fact, I believe Cthulhu does (possibly arguably) have enough clear to support himself in the jungle.

First, I want to consider the ability that we leveled just before ( Sanity Break). If this is our primary clear in the jungle, this is what will be relied on most in the very early game if any ganks are necessary. There is no immediate CC for this ability as Cthulhu will not have the ability to set up stacks on his gank victims, and this is a fairly closed ranged ability. Compared to The Mire, it is an inferior gank tool. While Rushing Terror may be used to dive into a lane for a gank, The Mire has a large amount of telegraphing. Cthulhu is not a sort of jungler who is capable of surprising his enemies with a gank. When walking near walls, he is often taller than the walls around the map and can be seen by the lane he is about to gank. When going for a gank, he will have no stacks on enemies to output easy CC. His strongest damage, The Mire, is not usually viable for ganks as it offers too much time for the enemy to escape out of the reach of Sanity Break.

There is potential for Cthulhu to be able to apply pressure to lanes, however. I simply do not believe he has the ability to commit to lane ganks unless enemies are misplaying/overstepping.

In the case of junglers, these sorts of assassins who do not have very good gank potential early game have incredible late-game performances; one example of this is Kali. Later in the game, Cthulhu has some unrivaled damage output for a jungler when built as a full damage god. Through my testing, when at full build and level 20, Cthulhu should be capable of killing most gods with 3000 health or less in under 4 seconds using his basic attacks, The Mire, and Sanity Break. He is also able to clear any jungle camps using Sanity Break and one basic attack. Just to note, he is not capable of solo-killing the Fire Giant, so please don't try it.

Verdict:

I believe that because of this late-game potential, he can be viably considered a late-game hyper carry, and be made viably in the jungle to a CERTAIN extent. I still, however, do not find this to be his best role.

I did my best to offer explanation of items at each stage of the build within the build guide above. However, there is more that can be offered in the way of detail. I simply want to take this section to individually discuss each of the items I consider important topics of discussion for Cthulhu.


[1] Gem of Isolation

Gem of Isolation is, in my opinion, one of the best items you can build on Cthulhu. This is primarily because of The Mire. This ability is usually very difficult to successfully trap enemies within. However, Gem of Isolation helps to make this process infinitely easier. However, the use of the item goes far beyond just one ability. Also worth noting is the fact that every ability in Cthulhu's kit is an area of effect both in and out of his ultimate (during ultimate, his basic attacks to not proc item effects, though).


[2] Breastplate of Valor

Breastplate of Valor is probably one of the greatest defensive items that can be built on Cthulhu. The cooldown reduction is important due to his longer cooldowns, but he also benefits immensely from the inclusion of more MP5 and protections. With this item built (ignoring any other items), Descent into Madness should be down to a 70 second cooldown which is absurdly short for the quality of the ability.


[3] Bulwark of Hope

Bulwark of Hope was a super unexpected choice for me. However, the passive meshes so well with Cthulhu's ultimate and playstyle (at least my playstyle with him) that I find it to be a core item. This item offers a shield of up to around 350 health, which may not seem like a huge deal at first. However, due to the nature of Cthulhu's ult and his lack of an escape until he transforms out of the ultimate (whilst suffering from a momentary inability to use any abilities, similar to Fafnir), this shield is exactly what Cthulhu needs to be able to stay in for however long he needs to and safely get out with his life. The actual stats of Bulwark of Hope are nothing to shy away from, either. I find that the crowd control reduction of this item is also unexpectedly helpful because enemies will always attempt to stun or otherwise CC you out of The Mire channeling.


[4] Pridwen

Pridwen should not be combined with Bulwark of Hope due to conflicting shields, but is another viable option. As mentioned previously, Cthulhu is very vulnerable as he transforms back into his normal body and his ultimate ends. Pridwen is an item much more targeted at this issue than Bulwark of Hope, which I actually consider just better than this option; but it all comes down to your personal preference and playstyle.


[5] Ethereal Staff

Ethereal Staff is an item that I also think meshes very well with Cthulhu as a god. Stealing away health and mana from enemies as he hits them, Cthulhu's high health only continues to climb higher and higher as he stays in the fight. This also allows him to use his heightened ultimate damage to exploit the enemy's reduced maximum health.


[6] Hide of the Nemean Lion

Hide of the Nemean Lion is almost mandatory the vast majority of the time, the way I see it. Items that enemies will built that feature percentage-based damage absolutely cripple Cthulhu's ability to survive in fights. Most notably, these are Qin's Sais, Heartseeker, and Soul Reaver. Particularly for Qin's Sais and hunters in particualr though, Hide of the Nemean Lion is the only hope that Cthulhu has at defending himself from the massive damage numbers he is struck with when faced with these builds.

I find that playstyles vary drastically from person to person, and even just a person's playstyle can determine how they perform on a particular god. However, I wanted to share my own playstyle that I've developed with Cthulhu and my own experience with the god in case anyone might find it beneficial. If anyone else has a differing method that they go ahead playing Cthulhu, please let me know and I'd love to include some information here about your particular style of play.

In Arena, I tend to have a much more passive early-game. The Mire is excellent at clearing minions, and in the words of Branmuffin18, Minions are an EXTREMELY important aspect of Arena!!!

There are really two ways to go about this during a game, and I think it depends on what sort of pressure is being applied by enemies. With the rest of your team also looking to clear minions, Sanity Break is a nice tool to instantly deal a good chunk of damage to all minions in a wave. But if the enemy is applying too much pressure or poking you away from the wave, The Mire is also an excellent tool. My only reservation about using The Mire on the wave every time is that you lose your biggest base teamfight ability and peel.

Once both Breastplate of Valor and Gem of Isolation are built, you can start to play a bit more aggressively. You can put on that poke and pressure now using The Mire because of the stacking slow you apply to enemies within the area. Keep in mind when using this that there ARE multiple objectives to be considered when trying to root an enemy. Firstly, there is the obvious damage and potential for team follow-up on the ability. However, you can also use this as a tool to force out an enemy's movement ability. Also consider that the second strike roots, but that DOES NOT mean the enemy has to be within the circle for both strikes. If an enemy is chasing an ally, don't place The Mire on top of the enemy, but instead do so on your ally so that they can easily escape as the enemy attempts to avoid the second strike. Still be very careful with Descend Into Madness at this point, as you lack any escape or "get out of jail free card."

Next, get your Bulwark of Hope online. Once this is done, you can honestly go wild with your ultimate. But as soon as that shield comes up, don't stick around. If you've let yourself fall to the point of receiving that shield then it is time to transform out of your ultimate and use your Rushing Terror to get away.

The rest of the build is up to you, ideally using recommendations from my build guide above.

Start the game here by just using The Mire to clear waves. You can throw out some hits of Sanity Break as well just to whittle down the enemy solo laner's health. Your mana should be perfectly fine if you've got the blue buff, so you can go wild.

The Mire is a good tool if you are about to contest the Totem of Ku, as it offers the damage you need to progress through the totem, but also dissuades the enemy from getting within range to attack it themselves.

Generally, if you repeat all of this during laning phase you should have some good success. Once you've got Breastplate of Valor built, there really isn't too much the enemy solo laner can do against your cooldowns.

Descend Into Madness is a super useful tool here, though as I mentioned before, be very mindful when throwing away your health in lane to use Transfuse - there are no allies to receive benefits. Worth noting with this ability though is that you can see over the walls of solo lane, you can see to the enemy blue, in between the enemy towers through the jungle, look around pyromancer, etc.

Later in the game you should have some very dominate teamfight presence in the form of your ultimate, and be sure not to tunnel-vision the enemies. Consider the healing of Transfuse and don't be shy to use it to support your team.

Supporting with Cthulhu is very similar to what I've explained regarding the other two roles. However, I feel it necessary to reiterate how The Mire is best used as a peel. Do not place it on top of the enemies while trying to save your ally and let them escape. Place it on your ally who is running away (hopefully) so that the enemies are either forced to go around and out of their way, or are slowed and rooted.

I would also consider using Descend Into Madness (your ultimate) before an enemy jungler is ganking your lane. If you have the knowledge or suspicion that it will happen, don't wait until they arrive, it is infinitely more difficult to gank a lane with a 160 foot tall beast ready to heal, peel, and damage than it is to gank an 80 foot tall beast with a slow and a dash.

Let me know if there are any tips you have, or any recommendations you have for my guide! I'll be working on adding a general tips section within the next day or too as well.

Thank you!