Erlang Shen Crit Jungle Build - S8 Conquest

Here, some further explanation so you will better understand how these mechanics work.

https://www.smitefire.com/smite/god/erlang-shen-78

Take a look at the bottom where his statistics are. In the "progression" box, it says:

".75/.75/.75/1.1/.9x dmg & swing; 4th: AOE dmg"

This progression says both damage and swing. You always work off a general damage value...it's a combined "damage" of base damage and items that provide power...see also in his statistics his base damage is 39 (+2) + 100% of physical power. Will give you an example.

Let's say you're level 5, and that the only item you have is Ninja Tabi, which provides 20 physical power. Your base damage value would then be 39 + (2 * level 5) + 20 (power) = 39 + 10 + 20 = 69. This value is before mitigations come into play.

Then progression is considered. Many gods (example all hunters except Heimdallr) have no progression, meaning their attack is a steady 1, 1, 1, 1. Each attack would then deal 69 damage (before considering minion or god mitigations). Erlang Shen is different though. As mentioned before, he's got some weird numbers.

So...that damage would be (69 * 0.75) / (69 * 0.75) / (69 * 0.75) / (69 * 1.1) / (69 * 0.9), or in other words 51.75 / 51.75 / 51.75 / 75.9 / 62.1. Note also that 0.75 is damage and attack speed, so the first 3 hits come quicker, the 4th hit is a bit slower (but deals AOE damage), and the 5th hit comes just a bit quicker.

Then you add crits into the mix. Crits are multipliers. If we're not considering the additional multiplier in the passive of Deathbringer, crits add a 2x multiplier. Just considering the first 3 hits, that would be (69 * 0.75 * 2) = 103.5. Seems like crits are just fine, right? Well, compared to a god that has 0 progression and the same general 69 base damage, they would deal 138 damage to your 103.5. So, in a general sense, gods that have quicker attack strings (at least some attack progression numbers below 1, such as Arachne, Kali, etc.), they will generally get less actual function out of crits than gods with no progression.

Where quick attack strings work is with Qin's Sais like Big Damage said. Qin's applies a set amount of damage on each hit, regardless of progression. So if you can hit more quickly, you'll get more Qin's procs. Another item that has similar function is the Benevolence upgrade Animosity, which was why it was a popular item for Erlang in a Support role before that item got nerfed.

Anyway, hope this helps some understanding of these mechanics.