Hades, The Ultimate Undead Tank Build [Arena]

Hello there.

Welcome to my first guide, EVER. I've been playing Smite for about 2 months and I am really enjoying this game.

I started off Smite with Hades and I definitely enjoy playing him. He's tanky and I can stay in team fights for quite a long time (long enough for my assassins and mages to destroy the other team). I don't normally go for kills, I try to help my teammates by either jumping in front of enemies or using Shroud of Darkness to silence and fear the **** out of the enemies. I love being able to go underground and escape with Death From Below after I blink in and suck them in with my Pillar of Agony.

As a tank, your goal is to take as much damage and mitigate as much damage as possible. When the enemy team focuses you, your teammates will have the chance to dive in and wipe them out. Team work is extremely important when you play Hades (I may be wrong if you build AP?).

This guide is to share my play-style for Hades and to get feedback on how to improve my play-style with him. Honest and straight forward feedback is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance :)

1PROS1+ + Tanky + High-sustain + Crowd control Shroud of Darkness + Ranged magical tank + Initiate / escape Death From Below + Great for team fights Pillar of Agony

1CONS1- - Not uncommon to die while using ult - Low damage (unless you're not building tanky) - Ult can be countered with Purification Beads - Ranged magical tank - Dependent on teammates (bad teammates = probably going to lose)

The reason I say that Hades depends on his teammates is because I've lost most of my games that I play by myself. If I play with at least 1 friend, then I mostly win. I can take a lot of damage and outlast the enemy team, but if my teammates don't go in for the kill then I can't really do anything else. But I do plan on building Hades with a bit more damage and seeing how that turns out.

As a tank, you're a bit slower than the rest of the gods. Shoes of Focus gives me that 21% movement speed and also 15% CDR. With the extra 250 mana I can spam my Shroud of Darkness a little bit more to tease the enemies.

blink As soon as I get Pillar of Agony, I blink in when I find the opportunity and my team usually secures the first blood (maybe even 2 or 3) with minimal or no losses.

Having magical protection keeps me alive and a shield that reduces damage by 50% for 1 second is enough time for me to escape with Death From Below.

Then I get some physical protection and health. Allies also gain a +20 physical and magical protection.

Get even more physical and magical protection. I get +2 protections for every god kill or assist (stacks up to 10 times).

magi's blessing This item is great cause it gives me protection, health and 10/25/40% crowd control reduction. And this also absorbs one CC every 60 seconds.

If I'm doing pretty well, I pick up this staff to get some more health and some damage. I usually start to do a lot more damage than people think near the end of the game.

I start with some physical protection and extra mana. I also get a 25% cooldown reduction, which will allow me to use my Shroud of Darkness more when the melee gods come at me.

Then I get some physical protection and health. Allies also gain a +20 physical and magical protection.

Get even more physical and magical protection. I get +2 protections for every god kill or assist (stacks up to 10 times).

witch stone This items gives me physical protection, movement speed, and attack speed. It also reduces attack speed and physical power for all nearby enemies.

mystical mark Grab some more physical protection and health. It also does 40 magic damage per second to enemies that are within 25 feet.

Having magical protection keeps me alive and a shield that reduces damage by 50% for 1 second is enough time for me to escape with Death From Below.

Get even more physical and magical protection. I get +2 protections for every god kill or assist (stacks up to 10 times).

magi's blessing This item is great cause it gives me protection, health and 10/25/40% crowd control reduction. And this also absorbs one CC every 60 seconds.

Get some magic damage and protection and start fighting back. Do some damage to the mages and show them you're not just going to sit there and take their hits. It'll scare them off.

Usually when I play against good mages they have healers with them, so I tend to grab this to reduce their healing and regeneration by 15%.

I don't normally get beads just because I'm tanky. I can get CC'd for a couple seconds and still survive. But I do get them when the enemy Ares or Athena is getting annoying.

I pick this up if I feel like the enemey is keeping their distance and not allowing me to blink in. I really prefer to blink in so I can escape with my Death From Below. Using Aegis Pendant allows me to blink in whenever I need to since I won't be taking any damage.

Your passive is Blight. Enemies are blighted after being hit by a basic attack or being hit by your Death From Below. Blight gives an extra effect to your other abilities.

Your first ability is Death From Below. This skill allows you to go underground and jump to a location. It does 50/90/130/170/210 (+70% of your magical power) magical damage when you land it on your enemies. If the enemies are blighted, they are slowed 20/25/30/35/40%. Skill applies blight. 12 seconds cooldown. TIP: Use this to initiate, run away, or save a teammates life. Definitely use this through walls and pillars to surprise the enemy or get away.

Your next ability is Shroud of Darkness. This is a cone attack that will silence enemies for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2 second(s). If the enemies are blighted, they are also feared. Great skill to annoy the enemy team and prevent them from using their skills when needed. 15/14/13/12/11 seconds cooldown. TIP: Use this to stop people from channeling. You can stop Bacchus while he is using his Belch of the Gods, Tyr's Fearless, and much more. Definitely use to make sure you or your teammate can escape by preventing them from using any skills.

Devour Souls does 75/110/145/180/215(+60% of your magical power) magical damage in a 20ft radius. Enemies that are blighted will detonate, doing damage to nearby enemies and healing your allies for 30/40/50/60/70(+15% of your magical power). 15/14/13/12/11 seconds cooldown. TIP: Use the healing to your advantage. You can stay in team fights much longer if you can heal yourself. Later in the game, you start doing a lot more damage than you started out with. Blight an enemy and then using Devour Souls on them, you will slowly eat away their health away.

This is your ultimate, Pillar of Agony. It's a great skill to initiate with, either after using Death From Below or blink. It pulls enemies in for 4s and doing 45/60/75/90/105(+30% of your magical power) magical damage as they are being sucked in. 90 seconds cooldown. TIP: Amazing combo with Ao Kuang, Zeus, or Poseidon. Not only is this a great skill to initiate with, you can also use this skill to save your teammates by pulling in your enemies before they get to them. Don't hesitate to use your ult!

I like to play safe since I'm not very tanky in the beginning. Once I get my Pillar of Agony I linger around the side pillars to wait for an opening. If I see an opening, and my teammates are ready, I'll blink in and activate my Pillar of Agony. The enemies will get stuck and we usually get first blood. If I go in with full health, I"ll be able to use Death From Below to escape. If the enemies jump out of use their beads, most likely my teammates will be waiting for them and they'll be destroyed instantly.



VIDEO: Loki and I find Zeus out of position, so we quickly take advantage of that to get our first blood. Notice how we back off as soon as we get first blood, we try not to get greedy :D




VIDEO: Here's what NOT TO DO. It was the beginning of the game, I don't have full health yet I dive in. I panic and try to silence the enemy team with Shroud of Darkness, not exactly sure why I did that since I could've just ran. I almost die, but luckily my team was there to help and get first blood.





TIP: Be patient and don't dive in by yourself. In early game, if you get focused by 2 or more gods, especially if they have CC, you're pretty much ****ed. Wait and communicate with your team and see if they're ready. Baiting doesn't work quite well at this stage of the game, you're not tanky enough yet. Also, minions do a lot of damage, so don't just stand in the middle of them thinking you're super tanky (at least not yet).



As you start building your Bulwark of Hope, Sovereignty, Breastplate of Valor, or Hide of the Urchin you can start being a little bit more risky. You'll feel like a mini-tank and you can probably take on 2 gods at a time without being completely destroyed. By this time, you should be annoying them with Shroud of Darkness by silencing and fearing them. It's a great way to stop enemies like Neith from jumping away, 2 seconds is enough time for someone like Loki to come in and drop her health down to 0.

TIP: As you get a little bit more tanky, you can hold off minions a bit better now. Also, don't hesitate to just go in with Death From Below and fear them with Shroud of Darkness and then damaging and healing with Devour Souls. You should be in and out within 3 seconds. I can go in to a group of 3, maybe even their whole team, and come out with around 75% health. And the more you dive in and use your Pillar of Agony while your team cleans up, the more the enemy team will be afraid and stay back.



By this point, if your team is dominating you will realize that you're doing quite a bit of damage. You can dive in to their whole team and still survive long enough for your teammates to come in for the kills. Often times if the minions are close to our portal and my teammates are healing / buying, I'll jump in front of the minions, with their whole team there, just to stall enough time for my teammates to get back. Since their team is focused on me, they forget that my teammates are right behind them.

TIP: You're pretty damn tanky, so don't be afraid to stand in the middle of team fights. Also, stand in front of your teammates if they're about to die so you can take damage for them. If the enemy team is doing a lot of damage, learn to adapt and buy protection accordingly. Breastplate of Valor and witch stone if their warriors and hunters are owning and Void Stone and Pestilence for mages.

blink

Use the pillars and walls as an element of surprise. The enemy team won't see you coming when you blink or use Death From Below into their team, followed by Shroud of Darkness and Pillar of Agony. Shroud of Darkness will silence and fear them for 2 seconds, not allowing them to escape. Make sure you land your Death From Below, that way Blight is applied. If you don't land your Death From Below, either hit your auto attacks if you're not in range or just use your Shroud of Darkness and Pillar of Agony right away. I like to aim for mages like Zeus, Poseidon, Ao Kuang, or anyone else that cannot escape without using beads. This way you'll most likely guarantee your team a kill. Don't be disappointed if everyone escapes or if you only trap 1 or 2 gods. Practice makes perfect. Timing also matters a lot too. Near the end of the game, when everyone has their builds, I will jump into the middle and pull them in with Pillar of Agony. If I have more than 50% health, I will stay and fight. If I have less than 50% health, I will start running away and let me teammates do the killing.



Again, use the pillars and walls to your advantage. Often times you can escape with less than 50 health just by using Death From Below through a wall or pillar. It'll confuse the enemy and they'll just turn their attention to your teammates (hopefully they're not low on health). Running into the buff camps is a great escape too. The enemy will start hitting the minions instead and that will give you time to fly through the wall and back to base.



VIDEO: Hel and I went in too deep, so we get caught. As soon as I land after Freya uses Banish on me, I use Pillar of Agony in hope to saving Hel. Unfortunately I am too late, but I am able to escape. I notice my teammates are coming from the middle, so I run towards the jungle then I use Death From Below to fly back to the left side of the wall. This forces Freya to go to the right then left and into my teammates.




Also, pay attention to who is chasing you. If Ares is behind you then give yourself enough time to use Death From Below before he silences your Death From Below with his Shackles. I've died a couple times because I planned on escaping after the enemy followed me closer to my base, but then I realize that Ares has silenced my Death From Below, preventing me from escaping.



Maybe I'm not playing Hades right, or maybe he just really is dependent on his team. I won't be sure until I try building him with a little bit more damage. I also like playing with friends so that might be anther reason why I enjoy and prefer playing with people I know rather than random people. If your teammates are getting focused a lot (either by their assassin or everyone), stick by them and try to stand in front to take the damage. Use Shroud of Darkness to silence and fear and hit them with Devour Souls to scare them away. If your teammate is about to die and you think you can save them, use Death From Below or blink (if you have it), then Shroud of Darkness to silence and fear them. This should give your teammate enough time to escape.



VIDEO: I see Vamana in his giant form, but he's super low on health. I use Death From Below to get close, then I silence them with Shroud of Darkness to prevent them from casting any skills on Vamana. With the help of my team, we prevent the enemy from killing our baby.




If you know someone who's good at Zeus, Poseidon, Ao Kuang, or Ra then communicate with them consistently. Telling them when you're about to use Pillar of Agony is going to change team fights. Also, use your body to block enemies from getting closer to your teammates. This may be a waste to some people, but you can use Pillar of Agony to save your teammates by pulling the enemies away from your team. It's useful so don't hesitate to use Pillar of Agony.

Hades is a fun god to play if you enjoy being tanky and also being very mobile. And don't forget that he is a RANGED MAGICAL TANK, that's insane!

Here are the key things I want to emphasize on:

#1

He's a tank, he can take damage, but not in early game. Play safe until you get some protection and health from Bulwark of Hope and Sovereignty. Your goal is to take damage and NOT DIE.

#2

Once you start building tanky, harass the enemy team with this combo: Death From Below to blight, Devour Souls to damage and life steal, then Shroud of Darkness to silence. Also, assist in taking care of minions now that you are more tanky.

#3

Use the walls and pillars to your advantage. Death From Below or blink to initiate and escape. Element of surprise will throw the enemy team off and allow your team to destroy them.

#4

Keep an eye on enemy gods with CC like Bacchus, Ares or enemy gods like Arachne, Tyr vamanas and others. You can cancel their skills with Shroud of Darkness, often times annoying them and making them hesitate before using it (knowing that I can just cancel it).

#5

Don't get too greedy early / mid game. You may be tanky, but if you get too risky without the help of your team then you're just going to feed the enemy team. Play safe enough to get most of your build, then you can start taking risks and tanking 5 enemies at once.

#6

Communicate with your team. Remember that mages like Zeus, Poseidon, Ao Kuang and others have ultimates that are great combos with Pillar of Agony. Even just having one other friend that you know, like a Loki, can change the game when you get each others backs.

#7

Learn when to initiate and when to escape. If your team is around, initiate when the opportunity presents itself. Do not dive in if you are under 50% health and the enemy team has full health. Run when you are outnumbered and have no backup.

#8

Last but not least, just have fun. It's okay if you die here and there. It's also okay if you end up with 0 kills, as long as you have 0 deaths and 25+ assists. You're a tank, you don't need kills, you just need to help your team win.

Credits to Rozart's Hades Build. I used this item build and since then it hasn't disappointed me.

I also received help from luckybomb with some tips on how to build a guide. Check out his guide for Loki!

And a great source for BBCode is here.

I think I covered most of it, at least this is what I can think of.
Let me know if I missed anything.
I would greatly appreciate any feedback to improve my skills with Hades :)