Cupid - 10 Pearls of Wisdom

Hello all. Cupid is my main character; I have used him in over 75% of my matches and I am level 23. I am not an expert on Cupid and I don't intend to offer anyone the best possible guide or fool-proof methodology for his use.

How to use this guide: this guide is more for someone who is fairly new to Cupid and wants to learn some slightly more advanced play styles and bits of experiential wisdom so they can get going with him quickly.

He is extremely fun to play with, probably one of the most fun in game, and one of the quickest to get the hang of. However, he can be one of the hardest to actually do well with in a team battle because he is so squishy and if you make a mistake, you will end up dead faster than you can VHH.

I might add to this later, such as adding a build, but for now, it's just pearls of wisdom.

Make sure you have had a go at Cupid a couple of times or know his moves and the game in general well, before reading this. I'm not going to explain any thing that's not explained elsewhere.

Note there's plenty of stuff in this guide that applies to any character. Take it or leave it, I think some of it's quite useful. I am more than happy to admit I am wrong if someone can explain, compellingly, that I'm indeed wrong.

Last disclaimer - there are other ways to play as Cupid, there are times when some of the stuff I write is non-applicable/dead wrong, and you are encouraged to use your head rather than blindly rely on this guide. Using your head to kill is what Smite and LoL clones are all about afterall!

In case you don't know, Cupid has a combo:


1. Charge up 10 shots

2. Hit an enemy with Heart Bomb

3. Place your Ultimate directly on top of them immediately after (with them in the middle)

4. Flutter right up to their face (unless you are already in reach)

5. Fire on them constantly and watch their health drain away as the Heart Bomb stuns them, catching them in your Ult, which also stuns them.

I think point 5 is the one I wish to mention most, don't forget they will spend a significant amount of time stunned during this process, that gives you 3-5 free basic attack shots to add to the damage. Be wise with this, and make sure their partner isn't going to muller you while you're at it.

Don't even try this without stun first, they will always escape the ultimate.

If their escape is cool, only use in emergencies.

Be prepared to be surprised at how many enemies this will NOT kill in one go, even if you get it perfect. And be prepared to be shocked at how many enemies this barely makes a dent in. Always go for the weaker and try and do it often because you should have quite a bit of mana if you follow the other pearls of wisdom. And make sure your partner is ready to jump in when you lead with this attack (or you jump in when he/she makes one that creates an opening)

Due to Cupid's maneuverability and high poking potential, it's extremely tempting to be cocky and aggressive. Even when you have truly mastered the way he moves, this is FOOLISH! 3/5 times you can nip in, take a poke and nip out without issue, but 2 of those times you will get caught and lose 85% of your health or die. Whether you're laning or going mid, you need to slow down, be calm and watch closely. It's vital you learn your opponents moves quickly and how to avoid them. Learn the timings, range, CC, as well as play style of your opponents very quickly and work around them. It will involved a heck of a lot of holding back and self-restraint. Just keep dancing behind your minions, generally on the opposite side to your opponents (if they are on the left, be on the right) keep the firing up, and wait for the right opportunity to strike with your combo.



You can get away with minimal points in healing, even right to the end. When you're laning, you can charge up your healing with 10 hits (I call it super healing) and keep it on one or two points right till the end. Your love hearts

You can get away with minimal points in healing, even right to the end. When you're laning, you can charge up your healing with 10 hits (I call it super healing) and keep it on one or two points right till the end. Your love hearts are your main attack tool, and your escape is really handy for being a poker. Being able to zip in/out of a fight quickly are probably more important in most cases at the beginning. When it becomes a brawl towards the end you'll have your healing nearly maxed out anyway and that's when it's most useful.

Of course if your lane partner sucks, or the enemy are really dealing a constant supply of damage, you might want to rethink this. If your partner sucks, you're pretty much screwed anyway as Cupid makes no dent against two opponents by himself.

Get good at this as quickly as possible. It's EVERYTHING for Cupid. Everyone can master it but if you really really can't, give up, you will forever fail at Cupid. It's pretty fast and fires instantly, so it's one of the easier shots to master. It's all about guessing where the enemy is going to be in about 1 second and aiming there. Watch for their dancing to reach some place where they have to go the opposite direction, like when they get to one of the edges. You'll be pretty sure they'll start heading directly away from that edge at this point and you can aim where they're going to be.

Another cool strategy to use is to Flutter right in to their face, or even better, just behind them. If you can time it well you can flutter and end the dash with the heart bomb so close that you don't need to worry about timing. Just aim for the face! And why I say just behind them? Because you can GUARANTEE that if they see you behind them, they will immediately panic and run backwards so aim just in that path and it's a perfect interception every time. Just, for the love of the god of love, make sure a) you're not too low level that the minions will carve you to paste b) you have a good escape/backup and c) you're not wasting this risky move on a tank or someone who it won't be useful to stun....

Your one and only aim: STAY IN THE LANE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.

Firstly, get meditation. Secondly encourage your partner to get your hearts and give him/her a constant supply of them - they give you mana back and keep the health up. Thirdly, keep your HP up however you can: by being careful, by using pots if necessary (always keep some - you can sell them for full price anyway and sustain is important for Cupid), using your Share the Love hearts and generally being good.

You don't need to be good early on, so don't keep going back and buying items, or playing risky and dying/going back to restore HP/MP too much. Much better you play it safe and on the down low and STAY IN LANE.

Cupid can really replenish himself if played properly and seeing as he is Carry, you want to milk that as much as you can. If you don't kill your opponents but you keep sending them back, that's ok! You want to out level them as quickly as possible. Take advantage of all the tricks in the book - last hitting, farming as much as possible, sending your lane partner (where applicable) back so you can level a bit, grabbing jungle minions when passing by. Just try and outlevel your opponents. If you can't kill them, poke them till they go back.

Before you know it you'll be rich and high level and you can really come to your own.

There are only about 10 enemies that Cupid can sucessfully bring down by himself when duo laning. They are also very squishy. Don't get cocky and wait for the perfect combo to finalise the enemies, especially early on. Instead work hard with your laning partner to watch for your combos, and either get them when they are stunned during the combo, or finish them off at the end. You need to make sure you get out once your combo is over, and stay behind your partner who is hopefully a beefy tank or bruiser.

When mid, you can use a combination of very careful, selective play, your combo and enemy mistakes to bring them down. You will always have to finish them off with your arrows unless they are super-squishy or you really out-level them, so be sure to a) leave your flutter for those finishing blows, b) time it right so you have a nice chase till they reach their next minion train, c) you scare the hell out of them so they do indeed run in panic. I'd say when in mid, you will not get your first kill until at least level 6 or 7, so play it safe until then and BE PATIENT. You can get the edge if you play efficiently and perfectly and once you've made the first kill or two, and are out leveling them, it becomes pretty easy. Make sure you are following 2. above "Stay Back"

The stun, super flutter and super healing that result from having 10 shots are Cupid's edge. Have them on hand at all times. It takes a while to get used to this but just letting you know, newbies, keep it in mind.

But, be mindful that if you aren't going to heal or shoot any time soon, don't save the 10-shot. Use your Heart Bomb and farm that gold and xp (you should have plenty of mana replenishment to allow for a bit of spamming). If you don't have stun occasionally, it's better than being under-leveled. It doesn't take very long to get the 10-shot back.

Oh and when you've stunned an enemy, unless he is way behind the minion line, try and be there to shoot him a few times with your basic attack. Don't be wasteful, god of love.

The popular list is great in most cases. Sometimes you'll find that the enemy you are regularly facing is a bit aggressive and regularly goes for a basic attack showdown - so go for as much attack speed and maneuverability as possible. Cupids cool downs are quite cumbersome and his abilities are fairly weak so bear in mind that you are going to have to put a lot of faith in your pew-pew ability. Especially towards the end when you've got a lot of items, that's the thing that's going to make you the main damage dealer of the team. Which brings me to point 9.

A lot of times you might make the mistake I always make, even to this day, of forgetting that you can do pretty well with your basic attack, even early on.

When your team mate, for example, is thwacking away at some scampering enemies that are reeling from the shock of your awesome combo, don't just think "oh I'm in cool down, what can I do?", go and hit them with your arrows! You'd be surprised how many times they will make the difference between a B-ing enemy and a corpse.

Obviously, towards the end, with most builds I can think of, your pew-pew is going to be your main damage output, but just don't forget about it in the early stages.

Cupid is seriously fun to play with and to play against, so enjoy him. He is bubbly and maneuverable and it's a pleasure to play with him.

This is also good tactically:

1. If you're having fun, you will play more positively and play better.
2. If you're having fun, your team mates will pick up on this and it will boost their morale (which is desperately low in general with the amount of negative, taunting, blaming high-tempered gits all over the place), and they will play better.
3. If you are fun, and joke a lot and taunt a lot and generally make a lot of cute noise, it will almost be a pleasure to lose to you, which in psychological warfare, is vital. If people are happier to lose to you, they will take more risks and call your bluff more often.