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GRANDMASTER MEDUSA ADC GUIDE!

13 2 29,199
8.8
by TottiGR updated April 9, 2024

Smite God: Medusa

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Medusa Build

Starter Cowl Build

Notes Leather Cowl is one of the best starters for fighting and sustaining in lane, providing you with movement speed when you are alone, lifesteal, attack speed and power.

Spiked Gauntlet will evolve into Devourer's Gauntlet.

Golden Shard it is always the best choice because will provide you of Golden Gooseberries passive so you will have a really good early push!

Notes

Leather Cowl is one of the best starters for fighting and sustaining in lane, providing you with movement speed when you are alone, lifesteal, attack speed and power.

Spiked Gauntlet will evolve into Devourer's Gauntlet.

Golden Shard it is always the best choice because will provide you of Golden Gooseberries passive so you will have a really good early push!

Build Item Leather Cowl Leather Cowl
Build Item Spiked Gauntlet Spiked Gauntlet
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
3
Build Item Multi Potion Multi Potion
2
Build Item Golden Shard Golden Shard
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads

FULL COWL BUILD

Notes Leader's Cowl is insane for team fights in late game because it gives you attack speed in area for your teammates and will provide you with lifesteal (sustain), 250 health that can make a difference between surviving or not, good amount of power and an incredible attack speed stat.

Devourer's Gauntlet is essential on an basic attack damage build because it gives you flat penetration, power and lifesteal (you always need sustain as a hunter).

Envenomed Executioner is a cheap item that enables you to decrease enemies' protections when you hit them with an auto attack and good attack speed stats. Later in lategame you should evolve it to the envenomed because it will decrease enemies healing and shields when they get hitted by an auto.

Demon Blade provides you good critical chance, power, attack speed and penetration. Always a good choice because of how many stadistics provides to yourself.

Dominance provides you with the essential stats that a hunter needs: attack speed, power, mana sustain and an incredible penetration percentage on basic attacks.

Devoted Deathbringer is a really good choice as last item. It fits perfectly on the crit build because will increase your crit damage and your critical chances. The glyph will also provide you of much power that will help you with the DPS into objectives or structures.

Temporal Beads provides you with immunity to CC and cooldown reduction.

Aegis of Acceleration provides you with immunity to damage that will help you peeling yourself and avoid enemies' ultimate skills or big damages.

This build is meant for competitive because your enemies are supposed to be in communication and playing smart so you will be in most of the cases only hitting tanks or junglers that are trying to kill you. Most of them will have more than 200 hundred physical and magical protections and more than 3000 HP so you will need to have bought penetration items for being able to kill them as quick as possible.

Notes

Leader's Cowl is insane for team fights in late game because it gives you attack speed in area for your teammates and will provide you with lifesteal (sustain), 250 health that can make a difference between surviving or not, good amount of power and an incredible attack speed stat.

Devourer's Gauntlet is essential on an basic attack damage build because it gives you flat penetration, power and lifesteal (you always need sustain as a hunter).

Envenomed Executioner is a cheap item that enables you to decrease enemies' protections when you hit them with an auto attack and good attack speed stats. Later in lategame you should evolve it to the envenomed because it will decrease enemies healing and shields when they get hitted by an auto.

Demon Blade provides you good critical chance, power, attack speed and penetration. Always a good choice because of how many stadistics provides to yourself.

Dominance provides you with the essential stats that a hunter needs: attack speed, power, mana sustain and an incredible penetration percentage on basic attacks.

Devoted Deathbringer is a really good choice as last item. It fits perfectly on the crit build because will increase your crit damage and your critical chances. The glyph will also provide you of much power that will help you with the DPS into objectives or structures.

Temporal Beads provides you with immunity to CC and cooldown reduction.

Aegis of Acceleration provides you with immunity to damage that will help you peeling yourself and avoid enemies' ultimate skills or big damages.

This build is meant for competitive because your enemies are supposed to be in communication and playing smart so you will be in most of the cases only hitting tanks or junglers that are trying to kill you. Most of them will have more than 200 hundred physical and magical protections and more than 3000 HP so you will need to have bought penetration items for being able to kill them as quick as possible.

Build Item Leader's Cowl Leader's Cowl
Build Item Devourer's Gauntlet Devourer's Gauntlet
Build Item Envenomed Executioner Envenomed Executioner
Build Item Demon Blade Demon Blade
Build Item Dominance Dominance
Build Item Devoted Deathbringer Devoted Deathbringer
Build Item Temporal Beads Temporal Beads
Build Item Aegis of Acceleration Aegis of Acceleration

Crit Choices

Notes Bladed Boomerang fits really good in the critical item build, it provides you with good power, attack speed and critical chance. Insane for dueling the other hunter during early game and wining trades. You should always look to buy it instead of Qin's Sais as a third item, always after Executioner.

Notes

Bladed Boomerang fits really good in the critical item build, it provides you with good power, attack speed and critical chance. Insane for dueling the other hunter during early game and wining trades. You should always look to buy it instead of Qin's Sais as a third item, always after Executioner.

Build Item Bladed Boomerang Bladed Boomerang

Penetration Choices

Notes Atalanta's Bow provides you with physical penetration, good power and a lot of attack speed. If you want to buy it against gods with slow you should always buy it instead of Fail-Not.

Titan's Bane it is always a good choice if you need more penetration in your build but I think it is enough if you have bought Executioner and Dominance.

Qin's Sais you should always buy this item because of its passive, it is really strong for killing supports and solo laners (tanky gods).

Fail-Not provides you with multiple insane stats like critical chance, penetration, CD and power. It is also good because having some critical chance will be essential for late game fights and more important, doing more DPS to objectives like Fire Gigant, Gold Fury or Pyromancer.

Notes

Atalanta's Bow provides you with physical penetration, good power and a lot of attack speed. If you want to buy it against gods with slow you should always buy it instead of Fail-Not.

Titan's Bane it is always a good choice if you need more penetration in your build but I think it is enough if you have bought Executioner and Dominance.

Qin's Sais you should always buy this item because of its passive, it is really strong for killing supports and solo laners (tanky gods).

Fail-Not provides you with multiple insane stats like critical chance, penetration, CD and power. It is also good because having some critical chance will be essential for late game fights and more important, doing more DPS to objectives like Fire Gigant, Gold Fury or Pyromancer.

Build Item Atalanta's Bow Atalanta's Bow
Build Item Titan's Bane Titan's Bane
Build Item Fail-Not Fail-Not
Build Item Qin's Sais Qin's Sais

Actives

Notes Phantom Shell is a strong option when the enemy team has an auto attack jungler like Mercury, Kali or Bakasura... instead of buying Aegis as second active (mitigations will save your life while you can use autos).

Notes

Phantom Shell is a strong option when the enemy team has an auto attack jungler like Mercury, Kali or Bakasura... instead of buying Aegis as second active (mitigations will save your life while you can use autos).

Build Item Phantom Shell Phantom Shell

Medusa's Skill Order

Viper Shot

1 X Y
Viper Shot
3 8 11 12 14

Acid Spray

2 A B
Acid Spray
1 4 6 7 10

Lacerate

3 B A
Lacerate
2 15 16 18 19

Petrify

4 Y X
Petrify
5 9 13 17 20
Viper Shot
3 8 11 12 14

Viper Shot

1 X
Medusa gains increased attack speed and her basic attacks become augmented, shooting Vipers that poison the targets hit dealing damage over time.

Ability Type: Ranged Basic, Buff, Damage
Damage: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 (+10% of your Physical Power) every 0.5s for 1.5s per charge
Attack Speed Increase: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80%
Viper Shots: 4
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 10s
Acid Spray
1 4 6 7 10

Acid Spray

2 A
Medusa hurls back and spits out acid that damages the first enemy hit and sprays out acid in a cone behind them. Enemies hit by Acid Spray will have their healing taken reduced. Acid spray will explode on statues Medusa has created.

Ability Type: Line, Debuff, Damage
Damage: 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+85% of your Physical Power)
Healing Reduction: 40%
Healing Reduction Lifetime: 5s
Range: 45
Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
Cooldown: 14s
Lacerate
2 15 16 18 19

Lacerate

3 B
Medusa quickly slithers forward, damaging enemies she passes through. The first enemy god she encounters causes her to stop before she damages and roots the god hit.

Ability Type: Dash, Root, Damage
Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+70% of your Physical Power)
Root Duration: 1s
Range: 55
Cost: 70
Cooldown: 15 / 14.5 / 14 / 13.5 / 13s
Petrify
5 9 13 17 20

Petrify

4 Y
Medusa removes her mask revealing her true face, delivering a powerful blast from her horrifying Gorgon gaze. Enemies take damage and are stunned if they are looking at Medusa. Enemies not looking at Medusa take 85% damage and are slowed. Enemy gods that are killed during Medusa's gaze will turn to a stone statue and remain behind as a reminder to others.

Ability Type: Cone, Stun, Damage
Damage: 300 / 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 (+100% of your Physical Power)
Stun Duration: 2s
Movement Speed Slow: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%
Slow Duration: 3s
Range: 70
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90s

Medusa Threats

Tap each threat level to view Medusa’s threats

Max
4
Major
0
Even
0
Minor
0
Tiny
0

Medusa Synergies

Tap each synergy level to view Medusa’s synergies

Ideal
4
Strong
0
OK
0
Low
0
None
0

Introduction

Hey, this guide is brought to you by TottiGR! I started playing Smite on PC in February 2014. I have been playing competitive since 2016 and I have been a professional Smite player between March 2020 to July 2023. I have played in different teams like JustF6, Gilded Gladiators or Tartarus Titans this last year in the Smite Pro League (You can always check the SmiteVod Youtube Channel where there's my proffesional games recorded). I have peaked 3500 MMR GrandMaster/Masters in Ranked Conquest on PC plataform every season since 2017 (SEASON 4). I also made Smite Masters (LAN) 4 times in 2022 so I really think I have the knowledge in guiding about the ADC role in SMITEGAME. I hope you find this guide as a useful learning resource for playing Medusa as an ADC.


Here are my socials:

Abilities

Medusa's Abilities


Passive - Sidewinder

This is a passive that requires no direct thought, but lends itself to making Medusaa more effective fighting god. You will mostly not see much benefit except when you are building increased movespeed objects.

It consists in: No movement penalty when side-strafing, and 50% of movement penalty when you are moving backwards.


Ability 1 - Viper Shot

Medusa shoots out 4 vipers in quick succession that poisons the targets hitted, dealing extra damage. It provides you of attack speed when casting the skill that can be really useful for trades!

You should always look to use it in different situations like earlier in the fight (due to extra ticking damage), and when you're able to confirm hits more easily (enemy is stunned from or otherwise CC'd from teammates' abilities.


Ability 2 - Acid Spray

Medusa shoots out acid that damages the first enemy hit, and sprays out acid in a cone behind them. This is your main clear ability for pushing minion waves and jungle camps, allowing you to hit the entire line if you target the front minion in a wave.
It also provides good poke potential, as you can hit the minions and do equal damage to enemy gods from the cone spray if they are close.


Ability 3 - Lacerate

Medusa main escaping or starting a fight ability, when using the skill, the first enemy god she encounters causes her to stop before she damages and roots the god hit, healing are also reduced for the god that has dashed into.

There are different ways of using this skill:

Offensively, you can use this to initiate a fight or a trade.
Defensively, use it as an escaping way, but make sure you're not being blocked by an enemy god, or you'll be stopped.


Ultimate - Petrify

Medusa removes her mask, delivering a powerful blast. Enemies take damage and are stunned for 2 seconds if they are looking at her. Enemies not looking at her take a lot of damage and get slowed but not stunned! Enemies that are killed by her ultimate will turn into a stone statue and remain behind.

It can also be used deffensively as an inmunity to enemies CC's and as a slow over them, avoiding chases or ganks!

How To Play Medusa

Gameplay Start / Early Game:
  • Start at the Gold Fury side Green buff. When it spawns, hit it with an auto attack to leash/aggro the camp and pull it towards the XP camp, meanwhile the support deals damage to the camp, after doing both things, you two will go to the purple buff, do it and then come to lane to push the minions.

  • After these camps are cleared you will be level 1 so will need to take 1 minion of the first wave to get level 2 and level up your dash Lacerate so you will have an skill that can be used for escaping or for starting a duo lane fight by stunning the enemies and dealing a lot of damage to them.

  • After pushing 3 wave, shield buff will spawn so your support and you will go for it depending of the pressure wave; if you have no wave pressure you will need to ask your jungler for coming to fight it or just leave it, but if you have hardly won the push of the wave you should use your attack speed shard to do it as quick as possible, for securing the buff you should always maintain your Acid Spray available. Anyways, I do recommend as a hunter that if someone comes to contest, you should always try to fight them instead of securing the buff because you have a really good god for early fighting.

  • After picking it up make your way back to the centre of the lane. If you think it's going to be hardly difficult to secure the buff, just run back into the lane and pressure the enemies by pushing the wave quickly.

  • From here you will usually fight the enemy ADC and support during wave pushes in lane with your own support. Most of the fights you should take are around shield buff and depending on yours and their early pressure/clear around your own purple buff or theirs (remember you can pull the Purple buff wherever you want so if you have no pressure / you are low hp ask your support to be in the pit before it spawns and tell him to leash it as far as needed to not get invaded by the other duo lane)

  • This hunter has a really good fighting kit of skills so you should be always looking to fight 1vs1 the other ADC (if you are ahead). Don't try to risk your life so you can poke the enemy ADC from the distance by using Acid Spray in the enemy hunter and then trying to hit the shots of Viper Shot, this will poke him out and easily convert him into an easy kill for your teammates. I need to clarify that if you don't wave any wards spotted on the map remember you should always take care of it. Just be confident during laning phase, your confidence will play a really good paper on succeeding, so just try it out. If you don't risk you will never achieve :p.

  • An important advice as an ADC main is to be active in communication, always try to tell all the information you can to your team like your own purple, shield and their purple timer (if possible), if there is any one spotted in the wards you placed, if someone is trying to dive you, if they are doing Gold Fury... This type of information will make your jungler and support pathing to gank your lane easier and make you having bigger chances of getting a lead over the other hunter.

  • REMEMBER to always buy wards, warding correctly with aggressive Sentry Wards will determine half of the game around the Gold Fury objective and warding defensively will make you be more aware about possible ganks so you will be safer in lane.

Mid Game:

  • As the match goes towards the mid game, other than the usual farm opportunities you'll be looking to rotate over the Stygian Beacon for your team and try attempt, contest and steal (if the enemy is attempting to kill them) the Gold Fury.

  • Remember to rotate when there is no duo jungle remain like purple or shield buff and to have the wave pushed before rotating because you will fall much behind in farm compared to your enemy ADC. (DO NOT ROTATE IF YOU ARE 2 OR MORE LEVELS BEHIND THE OTHER HUNTER!)

  • When the Beacon spawns often both teams will try rotate over to control it, especially the mid, support and jungle. You will need to think about who is more likely to have their teammates to rotate over first to impact your decision if contesting the beacon will be worth it and if there is any kill potential around the objective.

  • As for Gold Fury opportunity they will vary on factors such as: your team's overall objective shred, your ADC's current objective shred / build, your team's map pressure, how strong each team's teamfight is, where on the map everyone is (i.e. if one team is doing Gold, the other may decide to do Pyro as a smaller trade), if any members of the enemy team are on a respawn timer, etc...

  • It is so important to have warded (with Sentry Wards if possible) the Gold Fury during the Mid Game because it is the principal objective between minute 10 to 20 with the Pyromancer.

  • Stay aware of rotations (jungle and support) during this minutes because your death as ADC will be a really good factor over pulling Gold Fury or even burst it. So your team won't have any chance of contest.

  • Not dying over rotations, map awareness and warding are highly important over the games. You will always need to position yourself beside de midlaner for peeling each other over team fights (call who is doing engage on you, relics and this type of stuff that is going to make an easier way to make your team win the team fight)


Late Game:
  • As for late game teamfights, most often you will be positioned in the "backline" (behind your team's solo and support - who generally are the "frontline") and will play around your midlaner to deal with the enemy frontline and jungler, while making sure to put out as much damage as possible to the highest threats on the enemy team.

  • Make sure you have upgraded Temporal Beads and Aegis of Judgement before going into the Fire Giant. I really good advice is to use actives as soon as the solo laner, support or jungler engages on you to try to avoid as much damage and crowd control as possible, if you stay safe as an ADC on a late game teamfight, your team will have enough DPS to do Fire Giant or if you kill all your enemies, you can even finish the game.

  • When it comes to Fire Giant opportunities, often there can be stalemates where both teams will try to force a teamfight or look for lone picks in order to gain an advantage, sometimes involving one team going for a non fully committing attempt at doing the objective to bait the other team to step up.

  • BE CONSTANTLY CALLING ALL THE INFORMATION: WHEN THEY ARE ENGAGING ON YOU, BE ALWAYS SURE ABOUT YOUR DECISION MAKING, IF YOU DOUBT YOURSELF OR EVEN YOUR TEAMMATES YOU WILL NEVER SUCCED!

How To Ward As ADC

Low Pressure Warding:

Here are warding spots for ADCs if you are behind with gold or experience compared to the other hunter. If the enemy team has your purple timer you should always try to Sentry Wards your purple buff and make sure to call your teammates at least 1 minute before spawning.


In case you have low pressure god but none is invading purple you can also ward like in the photo below. You will always know when someone is coming and you won't have to outposition yourself to ward so you will be safe.


Normal Pressure Warding:

Over here is shown the ideal normal pressure warding spots around duo lane, you should always look to Sentry Wards defensively and use a normal ward on the offensive position. Enemies could Sentry Wards your normal ward so you should call your support for warding there.


High Pressure Warding:

In case you have a high pressure duo set up (hunter with good clear and fighting capability and a support with crowd control, push and mobility) you should look to invade purple buffs. This type of wards will make an easier way for you and your teammates to come over purple pit before spawning and being ready for stealing it [you will always know who is coming to gank you so you must be prepared for getting ganked over duo] .


Late Game Warding:

When you start fighting around Fire Giant, you should always look to ward in the same places as a midlaner because you two (ADC and Mid) form what we call as "backliners" (the roles who are supposed to deal DPS and damage to enemies), you will be sharing the responsibility for this rather than handling it alone, especially when it's not safe for you to step up to place deeper wards. Any wards placed closer to the objective within the Fire Giant pit tend to get destroyed by Sentries more often than not, so they tend to not be reliable.

Remember, minions act as moving wards in the lanes, and are able to spot nearby gods. If your towers are down, keep your minions pushed up as much as possible to provide an extra set of eyes and pressure.


  • White Circles: These are all offensive locations that allow you to spot enemies near to or approaching objectives, and are helpful in covering multiple approaches. The closer you get to the Fire Giant, the more contested those spots will be and the more likely enemies will try to counter-ward. The ones closest to the enemy base can give you very early notice.

  • Red Circles: Fairly obvious, but it's always good to have vision on the main jungle objectives, especially the Fire Giant. Sentry Wards are key here, as they allow you to spot and remove enemy wards. You can place wards directly on top of the objectives, or put them slightly to one side to try to spot enemy wards or protect yours from being detected.
Counter-Warding: Enemies may drop wards on your defensive side in similar (opposite) spots to where you would place yours. If the Fire Giant is already covered and you have a spare Sentry Ward, place them in these spots to limit the enemy's vision on your team.

Defensive Warding: If you're pushed back to your phoenixes or inside your base, locate your wards in the nearby jungle and general approaches.

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