Global presence Apollo - Push push push!

Hello there, my name is Phonus, and this is my first guide! I decided to make it because there are few complete guides on Apollo, and he is not used as much as he should. I hope I can help some players trying to have fun and maybe get some suggestions on improving my build.

I have updated the guide and instead of the two original builds, I know offer you a single buid with lots of attack power and critical chance, being aimed at casual Conquest. It is a fairly easy build to play if you are new to the game, but in experienced hands it is a game changer, as you can reach opponents and objectives really fast, take them down and then escape with safety.

As for the guide, I tried to make it in a way that you can read each part separately and it will still make sense. For that, a few things have been included in more then one chapter, so I'm sorry if it seems redundant some times, but if you are reading the same thing again, it is probably because it's important!

If you just want a quick build to hit the lanes, go straight to the Quick review section, and then come back to read the rest when you have time.

Well the main reason why I love Apollo is that he is EVERYWHERE. He has a great mobility and his ult Across The Sky allows him to go anywhere in the map. That makes him really fun to play, you can easily push the right lane alone while your team is pushing the left one, and just hit 4 when you see someone coming to get you, go Across The Sky to the left lane and come down crashing on that team fight, while the opponent who walked all the way to stop you in right lane now has to walk all the way back while you shoot his teammates to death.

As you can see, this guide will focus on this aspect of Apollo! I'll explain it better in the next sections, but what you want to do is always push the lane as far as possible, take the tower/phoenix if you can, then get the hell out of there and keep fighting/pushing somewhere else. If you do it right, the other team won't know where to defend and will watch powerless their towers falling one by one.

There are seven hunters in Smite (so far), who usually play the role of ADC - Attack Damage Carry. This is the role I most enjoy playing, and I prefer to use Apollo, but each of the hunter gods have strengths and weaknesses. So who should you pick?

Apollo Is the easiest one to play, so a lot of beginners start with him (as did I). His skills are pretty straight-forward, and 3 of them can be used as escapes. Nevertheless, he still packs a nice punch in the late game, especially with his Audacity passive.
But his main strength for me, as this guide title suggests, is his global presence. Alongside with So Beautiful, his mobility makes him the best pusher among the hunters, while also allowing him to secure kills better then most assassins with Across The Sky.

But let's take a look on the other gods.

Ah Muzen Cab is extremely annoying. If you like poking people and spamming soft crowd control, he is your guy. He does a pretty decent amount of damage, but lacks a chasing ability, relying mostly on his slows to catch up (and to escape).

Anhur is a pretty bad-*** lion. He probably has the most mean auto-attacks in the game, and his ult is awesome. He also has a nice leap with Disperse. However, he is really bad at pushing compared to other ADCs.

Artemis is really good late game. And that's it. Early and mid game she pretty much only farms and try to reach level 20 before everybody else. She is a decent laner with Vengeful Assault and Suppress The Insolent, and has some crowd control with Transgressors Fate and her Calydonian Boar

Cupid, well... he is cute. I don't really like him as a carry. He is good in the team as he can heal and his ult creeps opponents in a enormous area, but he lacks damage and pushing to be a real ADC. I've actually seen some people play really well with him, but most of the time he just sucks.

Neith is another easy to play carry. Her skill kit has it all: a root, a heal, a escape/slow and a global ult. But she lacks auto-attack power, relying on her skills to do the damage, which makes her better at mid game then other carries, but worse in the end.

Finally, Xbalanque is really good for early game kills, poisoning everybody. And if you do get his kills, you become a really threat in the mid game. Also, he has an escape and a global ult (easily avoidable, but still nice). However, he scales bad into end game, and is not quite as good a pusher as Apollo or Neith.

So, in my modest opinion, the best hunter is Apollo, followed by Neith, Anhur, Xbalanque, Artemis, Ah Muzen Cab and Cupid. You probably disagree, as everyone has his own preferences, but I hope I have at least shown you why Apollo is a good option, especially if you are looking for a pusher with great mobility.

Pros + Global presence with Across The Sky + Great pusher with So Beautiful + Easy to escape with The Moves + Awesome end-game damage with crits + Can take down towers as if made of wood + Good early game + Low skill cap (easy to play with)

Cons - Waaaay squishy - Can die easily if taken off-guard - Bad in mid-game - Depends on communicating team - Lacks a late-game damaging ability - Lacks penetration, tanks are a problem

As an ADC you are looking basically for Physical Power. Attack Speed is important because the more often you hit, the higher your DPS (damage per second) is. You also want some Lifesteal to help with sustain. This build doesn't have much Physical Penetration to shred enemies armor, so don't focus on tanks in teamfights!

By the time you complete your Deathbringer you will have 160 Physical Power, plus the stacks from Devourer's Gauntlet! That is 190 Physical Power, and almost ALL of your attacks will be Critical Hits! You will kill mages, hunters and assassins as flies!

Ok, so let's check the items

Starter

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This item was not originally in my build, but as Subzero008 told me in the comments, it goes beautifully with Audacity, helping a lot with sustain in the early game.

Core Items

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You should start buying tier 1 CBoots, which will give you Attack Speed, Movement Speed and Physical Power. In your first recall, around level 5, buy the tier 3 Warrior Tabi, to get more of those and some Physical Penetration



Your next item should be Devourer's Gauntlet, which will give you more sustain through its Lifesteal, so you don't depend on potions so much (besides the extra Physical Power). You also wanna build it early to get those stacks going.


Hastened Fatalis is a item I like to get in order to have some more Movement Speed. I have experimented a little with it, and I think it accounts for a fun game as you can flee running backwards while shooting your chaser. Also, it helps split pushing. A lot. On the other hand, it lacks a little bit of punch in the late game, so you might wanna get one of the alternative items I suggest later on.

OK, now we're talking! 30% Critical Chance, a passive that stacks more chance if you don't crit, plus some additional Attack Speed and Physical Power. This will put you back in the game as a dangerous death machine. We just need something more to finish the build... something that really brings death to your opponents... something like...


The Deathbringer!! 20% additional Critical Chance, along with Rage will make sure almost every hit is a crit, and to make those really hurtful, let's add 50 Physical Power and a passive that gives you +50% Critical Hits Damage!!



With this you will almost every time get a surrender before you get to your sixth item, but if you do have the opportunity to build your killing Apolllo even further, you should use one of these items.

Optional Items

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You may wanna buy Qin's Sais instead of Hastened Fatalis, as it gives you more Physical Power, and its passive makes sure tanks don't get too comfy with charging you. It's really up to you and the situation whether to get this, Fatalis or some other item.



Golden Dagger Golden Dagger is my favorite last item to get. Adds 35 more Physical Power to your build, 10% Critical Chance to make sure every hit is a crit and just a little bit of Movement Speed to help your positioning. But the true marvel of this item is its passive: all basic attacks become AoE (Area of Effect)! Loki is hiding from your arrows behind a Guan Yu? Just aim at the Chinese warrior and both will be dead in a blink. An ally Hades or Ares pulled everyone close together with a Ult? Shoot them all and kill everybody!

Now, for other items. You might wanna get Soul Eater for additional Lifesteal and some extra health if you are dying too much. Some people prefer it instead of Devourer's Gloves, but as you will be roaming a lot, I think its aura goes to waste.
If you are having trouble with enemies with too much protection, Titan's Bane or The Executioner will help you pierce through their armors. [[Void Shield] will also help you in that while providing some protection for your own if you are dying too often.

Actives

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Meditation Remember now, this build focus on global presence. Meditation is a must for that. As you will see in the next sections, you will be popping your Across The Sky to travel all the time. When you land, you will probably be out of mana. So you just hit Meditation and keep fighting! Get tier 1 in your first buy, along with some potions for sustain, and then get tier 3 towards the end when you feel you might need some quick heal.

Purification Beads is great against a heavy CC team. If you are up against Ymir or Ares it is a must. It is also good against Hades, but remember that The Moves can be used to escape his Pillar of Agony, as well as some other skills (including roots!). Basically, pick Beads to get out of bad situations.

Aegis Amulet is good instead of Purification Beads if the other team doesn't have so much CC, but has some great damage dealers. Spirit's tempest, Release The Kraken! and Searing Pain can get you killed in no time, but with Aegis they are not a problem!


If you think you don't need Beads or Aegis, you might wanna get Girdle of Inner Power to buff your attacks, but I don't think it's needed. I prefer playing it safe and staying alive to come back and kill them in the next fight.

Consumables

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There is not much to say here, you wanna start with 3 Healing Potion and 3 Mana Potion, and then keep buying them as you go. In the late game they won't be much needed, as you will have Lifesteal to stay alive and Meditation to give you mana after using your ult, but you might wanna keep 2 Healing Potion with you just in case.
After completing your build you can (and should) buy Potion of Physical Might or Elixir of Power to help you bring down the enemy Titan.

Audacity - your auto-attack buff
After ten hits your passive skill buffs your attack speed in 100% for the next 5 hits. This is great to take down towers. Also, this allows for quick heal using lifesteal and to kill enemies in no more then five seconds in the end game.

So Beautiful - your nuke
This is your bread and butter. Apollo uses his musical power in a straight line in front of him. Minion waves stand no chance against this, and pity the god that stays in the way! Always try to hit opponents that are close to the minions to keep their health low. At skill level 5 you will probably kill the archers with a single hit of this skill, so max it first to push push push!

Serenade - your crowd control
This is your main crowd control skill. Hit it when you are trying to escape to mesmerize your opponents with your beautiful voice and bolster yourself with protections, then hit 3 to escape. You can also use it offensively, when chasing down someone, use 3 to catch up, then mesmerize him to better position yourself before you resume shooting. Finally, it can be used to help a friend escape, just mesmerize whoever is chasing him to give him an advantage.
Warning: Damage breaks the effect of mesmerize and wakes up the opponent! So if you are escaping, be careful not to hit your opponent by mistake after mesmerizing. And beware, minions or oblivious teammates can render your mesmerize useless.

The Moves - your escape
This skill is a great initiator, you deal damage, knock aside opponents, debuff them and buff yourself and allies. Combine it with Serenade and So Beautiful to take away a big chunk of your opponents health.
But if you can't finish them, you are left there with all your abilities on cooldown, so unless you are really confident on getting the kill, my advice is to keep it as an escape. The gank went wrong? Hit 2 and 3 to mesmerize and get out of there. You are being ganked? Same thing. Sobek flung you into an ambush? 2-3. Basically, every time you are somewhere you don't want to be, 2-3 to slide away to safety. If you are getting stunned too much, remember to buy Purification Beads and go beads-2-3 to escape.

Across the Sky - your ticket to anywhere
This is Apollo's greatest gift. When you have enough mana, you can literally go across the entire sky and land anywhere in the map. That is already so cool. I mean, you are riding a pure gold chariot drawn by fire horses across the sky. But that's not enough, when you go down you also do a pretty nice amount of damage and knock back enemies. It has a few uses:
First, the easiest one, just use it to move around the map. Be it to go back to your lane, to go help an allied god, or to go get an unattended tower, you will travel faster than your enemies can react.
You can also use it as an escape. Enemies bloodthirsty coming onto you? Press 4 and watch them trying to get you before your chariot does. But be careful, it has a looooong charge up time (4 seconds), so they might as well succeed in doing so. Oh, also use it to get out of Odin's Ult, Ring of Spears.
Another use is as an initiator. While your opponents are distracted watching your tank or bruiser, you come down from the sky knocking everybody to different sides, ensuing chaos in the meantime. Just be sure that your allies will follow-up, and that you get out of harms way as soon as you land, as is really easy to die after doing so (there is a reason why the tank and bruiser normally initiate instead of you).
Finally, the most fun use, kill escaping enemies. Always pay attention to other lanes. If you see someone getting away from a fight, get on your chariot and land on top of them, finishing off with So Beautiful or auto-attacks if needed.
Remember, you do damage while you are descending, not when you hit the ground! So if the enemy has low health, target their current position, no need to guess where he is going!

Your role

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Your role in the team is to be the AD Carry. That means you have to farm as much as you can during the game to deal astonishing damage in the end, bring down towers, phoenixes and titans in a blink. The main thing to remember is that you want to be aggressive in the early game, careful mid game when people start to get their builds, and then aggressive again in the end game.

As for where to go, as the name of the guide suggests, you can go anywhere! The best position for you to be is in the duo lane, with a guardian like Ymir or Geb. You could also work with a warrior or even mages.
If you venture on the mid or solo lanes, be more conservative. You can take down most soloers before level 5, but they get the advantage when they have their ult.

Basically:

Level 1-5 -> farm while trying to get early kills
Level 6-10 -> get buffs and money to complete your gloves, be careful
Level 11-15 -> Split push, avoid confrontation unless you are sure to win
Level 16-20 -> Kill kill kill!

Early game

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First of all, buy tier 2 Combat Boots for the mobility and attack, and then spend the rest of your money on sustain items.

Before starting the game, get a buff with the help of your partner and/or the jungler. In the first levels what you want to do is farm as much as possible, and if you can, kill an opponent before level 5. If you have some skill (and some luck) you can easily get 3 kills before level going back to base, what will really help your game.

You should use your 1 to deal damage to the entire wave (if possible, poking the enemy god) and finish them off with auto-attacks. Stay in lane as much as possible, at least until level 5, using meditation and potions for sustain. When you have to go back, make sure you push it as far as you can (preferably to the opponent's tower) and then go back. TELL YOUR TEAM YOU'RE GOING BACK. I can't stress the importance of communication enough. Just hit [VSTB] and a good team will cover your lane as you recall.

When you go back, complete your Warrior Tabi and get started on your Devourer's Gloves. Stock on potions and use Across The Sky to go back to lane. If you think you can kill your opponent, land on his head, use Meditation, Serenade, So Beautiful (getting minions with it) and arrows away to finish him. If he is too far or with health to high for you to get him, just land in the middle of a minion wave and clear it fast.


Now you should start to get more careful, as some ults (notably Ao Kuang's and Anubis') can kill you in one moment if they catch you off guard. As soon as you can you should buy Aegis Amulet or Purification Beads to avoid dying. After level 6 you can easily clear buff camps, try to do so as much as possible, without starving your jungler. Stay out of trouble until around level 10, when you should complete Devourer's Gloves

Mid Game

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Now you have your tier 3 gloves, time to get some stacks! Team fights will start to happen more often, and you, my friend, will be a prime target. So why rush into them? Look for unattended lanes and farm away! Only when you get started on Qin's Blades you should get involved in fights, and only if you are well fed! If you are behind in level, try to farm nearby lanes and finish off fleeing enemies. But don't be an *******, if your team is in trouble, Serenade can help them escape. Again, COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEAM!! Otherwise they might engage fights assuming you will help them while you are farming.

So here starts the fun of this build. If your team is doing well enough, you are free to abandon them and roam around, split pushing other lanes. Doing so will help you advance in level quickly, while confusing the other team. After level 11 you can clear waves fast with So Beautiful, and escape easily with Serenade and The Moves if someone tries to gank you.

Your pattern here should be

1) Push the lane until someone shows up
2) Hit 4 to escape before the enemy reaches you
3) Help your team if they are in trouble
4) Go to another lane and start pushing again

You can skip step 3 if your team doesn't need help, and you can recall whenever you need, but remember, the key here is to use time efficiently! You want to level up fast in order to prepare to the end-game. Also, if in step 2 you are sure you can win, you might wanna stay and fight, but be careful! If the enemy escapes you will have wasted precious time, and if you die you will lose even more time!
If you play it correctly, you will confuse the enemy team, who will have to choose constantly between trying to stop you and open the other lanes for your team, or stay where they are and let you take their towers down one by one.

End game

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After level 16 you should be able to easily take the gold fury down by yourself, so do it as often as possible! Keep split pushing, but now you are a bigger threat to other enemies gods, specially after getting Rage, so you can enter fights more often. Always focus on the squishier enemy, and if they try to get away, Ult to chase them down! But remember, you are also pretty squishy yourself, so be careful!

After you get Deathbringer almost every hit will be a crit, so you can start relying only on your auto-attacks. If someone starts escaping, use The Moves to chase them, Serenade to mesmerize, reposition yourself and then go back to auto-attacking.

Also, if you chose to go with Golden Bow, as I do, every basic attack deals Area Damage, so sometimes in team fights you can just shoot anything that moves at will, and the squishier gods will die! This is a easy way to get Double Kills (and sometimes Triple or even more if they are stupid enough to stay together while you shoot them down)

You will also want to bring down enemies phoenixes as often as you can. You can do that with a minion wave or with a tank to get the damage. Ymir and Geb will take almost no damage in the time you will need to kill that bird. Keep track of the respawning time, the phoenixes will rise from the ashes after 3 min, be sure to kill them again before they have full health.

Coming soon!

Coming soon! Comment which gods would you like to have tips for playing against.

Basically, what you want to do is to be aggressive early game, careful mid game and aggressive late game.

Use So Beautiful to clear minion waves, Serenade and The Moves to escape and Across The Sky to move around the map.

After level 10 you can roam around, so push whatever lane you see unattended and get out of there before being killed. You can move around the map fast, use that in your advantage. If you see an enemy overextending a lane, call a gank and go Across The Sky to kill him.

Always communicate with your team. Gank when needed, help them when they ask for it, warn when you are leaving your lane.

In the end-game, stay behind your tank or bruiser and kill the squishier enemies (mages, hunters, assassins, you name it). Keep split pushing if needed, try to take phoenixes as often as you can and keep them dead! Pay attention to when you kill them, they will get back up in 3 min.

If you like playing with Apollo, you should also check this other guides. I have used them a lot when developing my build:
Apollo, Riding in style - Penetration focused build by TemplarExile
Twin gun, objective stealer - Laning guide by Adamantiun
Apollo, God of physical carrying - Apollo guide by Mrhappy1227

Also, I read this guide in order to learn how to make my own. If you ever want to make a guide, you should check this out first:
Making a guide - an in-depth guide to making guides by LoL player jhoijhoi

Well, thanks for reading my guide, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have enjoyed writing it! If it helped you in anyway, please upvote before going to the lanes. If you didn't like it, or you think there should be more info, please comment so I know what to change. Also be free to ask questions (in the comments or in messages to me), I plan on adding a FAQ section someday.

2014-01-21 Published first version of the guide
2014-03-21 Updated Items section, included Death's Toll, substituted Qin's Blades with Hastened Fatalis