Cupid: Fly like a Bee, Sting like a Bee.

Greetings Readers,

My name is JunkMasterson and I am an XBox One Smite Player. My GT on XBox One is Xealot7. I have a MOBA background in League of Legends, DOTA 2, and Infinite Crisis, and am currently in Gold in Season 2 of League Conquest (Scrub, I know). I have played the XBox One version of Smite since the closed beta and consider myself to be Carry Main who has a preference for Cupid. I have only written one other guide prior to this and it was for Warwick, my jungle main from League of Legends.

This point of this guide is to provide accurate (hopefully) information on what I feel is one of the sleeper picks for League: Conquest matches. While Cupid can work in the Solo lane, this guide will focus almost exclusively on the Carry role in the Duo/Long lane with a traditional support in lane with you.

So, without further ado, I will get on with

One of the most frequent questions I get, and have gotten, during Season 2 is why Cupid. Or, more precisely, "OH MA GAWD, NOOB, MEDUSA AND XBALLER OPEN N U TAKE CUPIT!!! GG FF10 SCRUB." Ok, so that is only a slight exaggeration. Typically, it is a more covert, sarcastic, and passive aggressive variation of the same. Nonetheless, it seems many people wonder about the Cupid pick. The answer, for me, is surprisingly simple; Versatility.

Sure there are certainly stronger picks, but I feel that Cupid has a well balance and versatile kit that makes him effective in all aspects and phases of the game. He is a menace in team fights with his 1 and his Ult, he has above average mobility with his 3, He is strong with just his basic attacks, and can deliver quite the punch with his 1 and ult. He has a good, safe laning phase, with his escapes, nearly limitless mana regeneration, sustain for his support, and he has the ability to split with relative safety. Cupid is even able to zone enemies and secure objectives with his 1 and Ult. Cupid may not have one thing that he does better than other Hunter's, but his versatility makes him a welcome addition to nearly all team compositions

Pro's:
Two forms of Hard CC that do great damage (Heart Bomb and Fields of Love).

AoE Ult that slows, cripples, damages, mezmerizes, and stuns in a large area (Fields of Love.

Lull moderate/low health enemies into a false since of security with delayed damaged abilities (Heart Bomb and Fields of Love)

Built in dash that provides large attack speed boost to you and movement speed boost to allies (Flutter).

Exceptionally usefully passive (Lovestruck) enhances other abilities with a 1 second stun.

Almost limitless mana for you and healing for your support (Share the Love).

Heart Bomb can kill unreachable enemies (Thor, Nu Wa, Rama, Thanatos, Apollo, etc.) in their ults.

Con's:
Only escape has a long (15-19 seconds) cooldown (Flutter).

Can be very mana hungry early if support doesn't pick up hearts (Share the Love).

Only buff/steroid (Flutter) is attached to dash/escape.

Heartbomb is a skill shot, and as such, can be unreliable.

Ult takes can be unwieldy and takes practice to his consistently.

1v1 boxing potential is lower than most other hunters.

Yes, I understand that starter items are in the game for a reason. Yes, I also understand that starting Tier 2 Transcendence leaves you with no, nada, none, zip, zilch (ok, yes you get the point) life steal. If you prefer a more traditional start, the I suggest starting with Death's Toll/Spiked Gauntlet/Healing Potionx1 and alternating the build order of your first two items (ie, rush Devourer's Gauntlet 1st then build into Transcendence). I also understand that some people are adamant about getting boots 2nd as well. That is up to you as well, but below I will explain in detail why I build the way I do.

Transcendence: This item is truly amazing. At Max Stacks it provides 66.5 Physical Power, 1050 Mana, and 6mp5 for a measly 2600gp. The sooner you get this online the faster you hit like a truck, and rarely run out of mana. Considered a core item. Must build as 1st or 2nd item. Building 3rd or later leaves it underpowered (no stacks) for too long and leaves you seriously lacking in the physical power area.

Devourer's Gauntlet This is your second and final stacking item. The sooner you get it online and start stacking, the better. Devourer's gives you 55 physical power and 25% at max stacks. Bloodforge has more immediate effects and Asi is cheaper. If you are in a bind/playing form behind, or having trouble farming, then I would suggest Asi. However, the sheer amount of power you get from this and Transcendence is unparalleled by any other two items in the game, save maybe the nerfed, boom or bust Heartseeker.

Ninja Tabi: Boots are kind of a big deal. Don't get me wrong, I have tried getting rid of them by using Hastened Fatalis and Golden Bow. It can work, however it is iffy and I feel that the boots are more cost efficient. Ninja Tabi vs. Warrior Tabi is another question. The physical power is very nice, but at this point we need attack speed. Cupid's passive it built by getting 8 successful basic attacks off. This means cupid needs attack speed. If you substituted Asi for Devourer's then you can consider Warrior to make up some physical power here. Otherwise, go Ninja.

The Executioner More Physical Power, and some much needed attack speed. The passive is the part. With your auto's you can stack up to 24% physical protection reduction on top of a flat 18 physical protection reduction. This is great for you, but also will helps out the friendly physical goods on your team. reduction is not the same as protections, so keep that in mind.

Rage and DeathbringerCore critical chance items on all hunters. Rage really ups your crit chance with its passive, so it is best to bring it online earlier. Deathbringers passive takes your crits from 200% to 250% crit damage. This makes your crits hit harder. I believe crit'ing more often comes before crit'ing harder, but ultimately it is what you are comfortable with. Rage is cheaper and therefore you can typically get it online faster than Deathbringer anyway.

Renters:
Ichiaval: Some much needed attack speed, some much appreciated penetration. The selling point for this very cheap item though, is its boxing ability. I mentioned before that one of Cupid's Con's is his underwhelming 1v1 boxing vs. other hunters. The passive here gives him a chance to shine. Make 3 basic attacks and you raise your physical power by 30 and lower you enemies by 30 for a total swing of 60 physical power. This is a good "rent" item, much like Asi. If you are behind, or need the most early game power for your buck, you could get Asi and Ichiaval early, then sell them back for Bloodforge and Executioner late game.
The best of the rest.

Asi is a great item, I tend to use it instead of Devourer if I die early without getting a kill or assist on the enemy duo lane. Also a good item to get online if your support is feeding like crazy. This item can be sold for Bloodforge late game.

The Best of the Rest:

Hastened Fatalis is so much fun. I interchange it frequently with Ichiaval. You lose a bit of boxing potential, but you gain quite a bit of chasing/kiting potential with the extra movement speed and the passive which removes the movement speed debuff from attacks. The problem becomes a lack of penetration.

If the enemy team has a lot of hit points, Qin's Sai is amazing. If they are a very tanky comp, say Geb support, Ymir Jungle, and a tanky solo laner, then I would get Qin's and Executioner and drop Ichiaval and Deathbringer. in that case, I might even go for Titan's Bane.

Brawler's Beatstick is great to counter healers or lifestealers. It gives physical power and penetration as well, so it is a worthwhile item. Just becareful, building this will leave you with very little attack speed. Consider your items carefully.

Actives:
I believe, like Zapman, that you should wait as long as you possibly can to by actives. The more you spend on actives early, the longer it takes to get your build online and stacking. Don't get me wrong, as cupid, you have to have beads against an Ares. Beads against and Ymir is great as well. Is the enemy jungler a Fnrir? Beads again. That being said, if the enemy support is Geb, and the jungler is nemesis... screw beads. Cupid's dash can get/keep you out of a lot of trouble. Oh, no, Hades Ult? Flutter and, your out of there. No need to bead out of that.

I typically wait until later to by actives. That being said, her are actives I like.

Purification Beads: Sometimes, you just need them, otherwise, you're dead.

Shielded Teleport: Being able to get back to your T1 quickly early game, getting to Gold Fury or Fire Gaint via ward mid game, or going to a deep ward and split pushing/backdooring can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Aegis: Being able to laugh off a late game Posiedon, Zeus, etc. ult is well worth the price. A lot of this depends on how well you use your Flutter, and how good you are at positioning. I only take this vs. high damaging AoE comps.

The final and more important item. Wards.

Yes, you are the carry. No, that does not give you an excuse to no buy wards. There are only two excuses for not buying wards on every back:

1)You do not have enough money to buy one after purchasing a core component, or Tier 3 item.

2)You already have two wards in your item slot.

Caveat: If you aren't buying wards because of #2, you need to ask yourself two questions. Do I already have two wards out? And if not, what are they doing in my inventory and not in the jungle?

I won't mention wards again, I promise.

Passive- Lovestruck: This one is easy. You make 8 successful auto-attacks, and it empowers all of your abilities except your Flutter. It makes your Heart Bomb and Fields of Love apply a one second stun on detonation, and it it increases the healing on your Share the Love. This requires little effort on your part, save to count and be careful how/where you use it. For max benefit I typically save it for my Heart Bomb or Fields of Love. Because Share the Love will reset Lovestruck every time you use it, it is best to use Share the Love only after you have reset, Lovestruck and the count is low. That is, unless you do not intend to engage in the next 5 or so seconds so you can reset your counter.

Heart Bomb: When you first start using Cupid, this can be exceptionally difficult to hit consistently, and that is one of the key differences between good Cupid, and bad Cupid. Keep in mind it takes approximately one second for Heart Bomb to travel to its maximum distance. This means try to predict where the enemy you want to hit is going to be and fire it there, not where he is. Remember, Heart Bomb has a 3 second delay. This means that you can lull your enemy into a false sense of security. Drop a Heart Bomb, then try to bring the damage, by the time he realizes what has happened and turns to flee/disengage, Heart Bomb explodes, damaging him, and any nearby enemies and minions. If you Lovestruck procks, this can stun all of them, often giving you time to followup and get the kill. I have also gotten quite a few Tower Dive kills from this. They run under tower, thinking they are safe, and then die 3 seconds later. This is also great against enemies like Rama, Nuwa, Thanatos, Apollo, Thor, Sun Wukong etc. who like to pop their ult to get away with 10% of their health. Drop a Heart Bomb and laugh as die in their ult, and have to wait on it to come off of cooldown.

Share the Love: Share the Love is great assuming you remember a few key things. You should only pick up the hearts if you are in dire staits, or if no one else is going to pick them up. They have a high mana cost until your Transcendce is up, but there is a trick. They cost 50mp to drop. However, if an ally picks all three of them up, you get 90mp returned. This means, if your support is paying attention, he gets a ton of health and you get unlimited mana. Things to keep in mind. Do not drop these in front of your minions. Your support will take more damage/poke than they are worth to pick up. Do not drop them too far behind you. Your support will run back to pick them up and if your enemy is paying attention, you will get jumped on while your support has his back to them. I find it best to drop them so that the first heart drops just in front of your archer minions, but behind the melee minions.

Flutter: This is your main dash ability. It is useful for engaging as it can quickly put you in range and gives you up to a 30% Attack Speed Steriod after its use. The AoE that is left on the ground also gives a movement speed boost to your allies which can help them get into the fight. It is also fantastic for disengage as you get away, your support gets a speed boost to run away, and if, after using it, you have to turn and fight under tower, that 30% AS boost can be the difference between life and death. Just a note, this is the only ability not affected by Lovestruck (passive).

Fields of Love Who doesn't love a nice big AoE ability that slows the enemy, cripples the, which prevents them from dashing out, drops a lot of damage, has a long mesmerize affect which allows you to get in place, and if Lovestruck is active, adds a one second stun in addition. A well placed Fields of Love can win a team fight, make for an epic rotation/gamk, and can zone enemies away from key/critical objectives. A whole lot of fun when teamed with an Ares and you know that the enemies beads are down, or they don't have them. Shortly after he begins pulling, drop your ult. They will be stunned form his ult, you drops some AA's, then your ult pop's, causing damage and stunning again, you AA, Heartbomb, AA. They want to dash, but Ares has already put his chains in them. They die. If they do get away, your Heart Bomb goes off, killiing them. If not, they are in no condition to continue the fight.

Just like any other god, Cupid has those that he synergizes well with, and those he does not. He also has those that he can wreck, and those who give him nightmares. I will detail some of my favorites as well as mention a few of the more annoying matchups for Cupid.

Ally Supports:
Ares: I love Ares. He has no innate sustain so you two are a match made in heaven. Oddly enough, he is technically your father and Aphrodite your mother, so don't be annoyed if your support is always saying, "Whose your Daddy!" and expecting you to say you are. Here is why we like Ares: His chains do a ton of damage and prevent enemies from dashing away, allowing you to shoot them in the back repeatedly. He has an AoE damage spell and he can buff you with some much need physical protections. He is rewarded for building Auras, and since you will always be close, guess who this helps... that's right... YOU!!! When teamed with an Ares and you know that the enemies beads are down, or they don't have them, you should prepare for a double ult. Ares blinks in, Ult's and pulls them back. Shortly after he begins pulling, drop your ult. Not where he currently is, but where he will be when he finishes pulling. They will be stunned form his ult, you drops some AA's, then your ult pop's, causing damage and stunning them again. Usually the enemy Hunter will be dead. You AA, Heartbomb, AA on the support as the he runs away. They want to dash, but Ares has already put his chains in them. They die. If they do get away, your Heart Bomb goes off, killing them. If not, they are in no condition to continue the fight and have to back. This should be a double kill. If they have beads, wait on them to use them. They will be cocky. You can then drop your ult knowing they can neither dash away not ult. Smash the ADC then.

Ymir: Ymir blinks and freezes, you both Ult, they can't dash out of your ult, keeping them in his ult. They take massive damage from both ults. It is ugly, but super effective. Also, he has a slow and walls. The CC is real, the CC is good, the CC is real good. It is impossible to miss a Heart Bomb is your enemy is frozen.

Athena: Heart Bomb is easy to hit when Athena taunts. She can Ult to you and you can dash in, causing massive damage to the enemies. If things get bad, she can taunt them as you run away.

Enemy Supports:
Sylvanus: He has it all. Hard to kill, sustains his carry, can lock you down and pull you in. Bad news. He also has a ranged AoE auto that can be very annoying.

Geb: Knock ups are very annoying, his shield is just so good and able to almost completly negate your Heart Bomb and in some instances your Fields of Love. Hard to kill because of his unparalleled tankiness and Roll Out.

Athena: Once she gets on you, she is almost impossible to get off.

Enemy Carry's
Medusa: She hits hard, her dash is as good as yours, She can put a lot of damage on you when you are behind you minions with her poison, and her ult range is longer than you expect it to be. If she hits you with an ult and her dash is up, you are dead.

Xballer: His ult is very annoying as you can't use your dash while it pops or you are stunned. Not being able to see is also a pain. He can hit you behind your menions with his bolas, and his mobility makes him a pain.

Thanks for all the feedback. This guide is still not complete, but should be ready completely in about a week. As always, please leave feedback, good or bad, and let me know how I can improve. I hope you learned something from this guide, and if not, I hope it was at least an enjoyable read.