How to play Cliodhna (Masters Jungler 10.2)

Hello, I'm Archiebaker, a consistent masters jungle player who peaked GM when I grinded ranked, I also play amateur competitive within the EU scene for fun

I have recently been playing a lot of Cliodhna and decided to make a guide, hopefully players of all skill levels learn a thing or two and get to experience smite from a different angle (walls).

This guide will focus mostly on conquest for casuals/ranked although tips can be used for casual modes.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments too! :)

Cliodhna has a unique play style, currently being the only god able to enter walls, you can easily ambush enemies, arriving in a team fight from any angle you choose


+ Very high damage late game, that can be used relatively risk free from walls given proper positioning
+ Doesn't have to rely on frontline to get in range due to Phantasmal
+ Knockup immunity in Banshee's Wail that can be used to avoid crowd control from abilities like Typhoon and Stygian Torment
+ Highly mobile due to Phantasmal and the extended dash range in walls of Lurching Claw
+ Rewards good positioning and teaches you to think of the map in a different way


- Ultimate can take some practice to hit consistently, especially out of walls
- Lurching Claw isn't knockup immune and fairly telegraphed
- Damage can feel low when Tearing the Veil is on cooldown
- Some junglers can run at you early game and give you a rough time


However the con's of Cliodhna can be played around with enough practice

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Phantasmal

Phantasmal is what makes Cliodhna, it allows you to enter walls after one second of running into them, creating further interaction with Banshee's Wail, Lurching Claw and Tearing the Veil. You're untargetable while in a wall so abilities like Fire Shards won't target you, you can also avoid the pull from No Escape by getting into a wall. However you do take damage over time while inside a wall, stacking in intensity, therefore you should try to stay in a wall no longer than 5 or 6 seconds until you feel comfortable. IMPORTANT: YOU CANNOT ENTER A WALL WHEN CRIPPLED OR BELOW 25% HP Advanced Consumables can be used while inside a wall, including placing a ward, however this may give your position away. You don't have to run head on into a wall like Harry Potter, instead you can run at a 45 degree angle, this allows you to get into a wall while being chased easier without standing still.

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Banshee's Wail

Banshee's Wail Should be leveled last, it scales slightly better than Flickering Visions but can be interrupted and dodged easier Remember this ability has knockup immunity while channeling allowing you to immune the crowd control part of some abilities and even ultimates such as Stygian Torment The last hit deals increased damage and silences and deafens any enemy hit for 1.5 seconds (You only need to hit the last hit for the cc) Advanced A well timed silence can cancel channeled abilities like Plague of Locusts or Kusarigama The deafen can also be used to hide team mates loud abilities like Preemptive Strike also this is most of the time accidental due to the precise timing needed Lastly, the ability can be used while in a wall, creating a wider cone that does not require you to channel it, the damage dealt is the same and the last hit will still apply the crowd control, this is great for late game sieges or gold fury and fire giant fights where enemies will be in predictable locations You can combo casting this from a wall with Lurching Claw or Tearing the Veil while the target is silenced and unable to fight back or escape easily

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Flickering Visions

Flickering Visions Should be leveled second, this ability is great medium range poke and your secondary camp clear ability. Successfully hitting this ability causes AOE damage around the explosion, however no AOE damage happens if you don't hit an initial target Try and always hit a god with this as it gives you a 25% movement speed buff for 4 seconds Advanced Hitting a target will give you a type of invisibility where you only reveal yourself if you are hit or hit someone, you can use this to reposition or escape The invisibility can also be used to reposition then enter a wall, giving enemies the slip, however even if invisible enemies will still see a small rift open in the wall where you enter. Awilix cannot cast featherstep on you, even if you have revealed yourself by attacking while invisible This ability cannot be cast while in a wall.

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Lurching claw

Lurching Claw Should be leveled first as it scales the best and lowers the cooldown, it is the main mobility in your kit, when using this ability you should always try and dash through your target, turn 180 degrees then cancel the ability to hit both parts. Be careful not to dash head on into someone with a cripple such as Scylla with her Sic 'Em] as the slash part of the attack won't go off or big AOE fields such as [[Sunbreaker as you have no easy way of getting out. I highly recommend checking the advanced section for this ability as it has some really interesting mechanics that are crucial to becoming a good Cliodhna player Advanced Lurching Claw needs to be used carefully, just because you can hit 3 targets with it, doesn't mean you should (unless they're all low of course) This ability can be cancelled early by right clicking or pressing 3 again, therefore its important not to spam cast it while in danger as you may accidentally cancel it without dashing to safety The camera can be freely turned while casting, changing the angle of the slash attack The ability can be used while inside a wall to increase the dash distance (up to double), this allows you to gank targets a lot easier as you spend less time running It also makes your pathing much harder to predict because you can go in a fairly long wall, only to dash out the other side and deal high damage a second later

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Tearing the veil

Tearing the Veil Should be leveled whenever you can, it has a 60 second base cooldown and allows you to store up to two charges at once, similar to Agni's Rain Fire. The ability stays open for 5 seconds or until destroyed by 3 enemy god auto attacks. It does a burst of damage upon the rift opening, which happens roughly after 1 second of casting as well as tick damage rapidly to anyone caught in the rift along with a 6% slow stacking up to 6 times. This ability is best used while targets are grouped up and under the effects of crowd control such as Taunt or No Escape Advanced The ability can also be cast in walls, up to 3 can be stored that automatically activate when ANY enemy goes past, therefore if you set them up for a siege defense, make sure your mid laner is clearing the enemy minions. Try to place Tearing the Veil where it can't easily be killed by enemies (They can only hit the initial spawn point). The ability is fairly hard to hit due to its cast time and relatively thin width, therefore I recommend mostly casting it while outside of walls giving you more control in the rotation of the ability, as casting it outside a wall lets you more easily cover whole walk ways However casting it from within walls is better during sieges or objective fights, where you can come from unusual angles and stay safer due to the fact you're inside a wall

Levels 2 to 4 ordering is situational!

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Level 1
Start by putting a point into Banshee's Wail, although this does less DPS (as you can't auto attack during it) than starting Lurching Claw, its much easier to make sure you hit the minions of all 4 jungle camps

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Level 2
You'll likely put a point into Lurching Claw for mobility, encase any nasty enemy jungler tries killing you, it also allows you to look for a level 2 gank on mid or solo by coming through a wall on your unsuspecting victim.

However leveling Flickering Visions is good if you want to help your mid laner clear the mid wave and are wary of dashing in vs high cc high damage mid jungle combos like Mercury and The Morrigan

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Level 3

Then get Flickering Visions which increases your overall damage output and gives you some more clear and utility with the invisibility and movement speed buff.

If you've already leveled it level 2, get Lurching Claw

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Level 4+

Level Lurching Claw when you can't level Tearing the Veil as the cooldown and damage goes up on this, making it the best ability to level

Max Tearing the Veil > Lurching Claw > Flickering Visions > Banshee's Wail

This applies exclusively to conquest, if you're not interested in conquest feel free to skip this section!

In most scenarios, you have 4 options early game on how to play the first few minutes, playing this correctly can net you a kill or two and set you up nicely to a strong mid and late game while putting your laners ahead as well

Practice all four of these and see which works best for you, remember to check what gods are on your team and against you to determine the best place to pressure and gank at the start.

• Clearing 4 camps with mid and solo into solo lane gank
  
• Normally you'll wait around the end of the second arrow for the enemy solo laner to push up, then go in and gank
  
  
  
• Clearing 4 camps with mid and solo into mid gank
  
• You can come through the wall as shown, be careful if the enemy jungler does the same, you may find yourself in a 2v2
  
  
  
• Clearing 4 camps with mid and solo into mid wave into speed into either duo or mid gank
  
• This is a good start if you want to hit level 3 before ganking and your duo has done green + purple + xp camp, it gives your mid laner some pressure too. You can choose to gank mid or duo after doing your speed buff
  
  
  
  
• Clearing 4 camps with mid and solo into speed and back camps
  
• This lets you hit level 3 without appearing on the map, it means the enemy solo laner has to play careful as well as their mid and duo, however most experienced players will know once you hit level 3, where you are on the map, from here either gank mid or duo similar to above
  

• Bluestone Pendant although not a jungle starter item, the hp5 and mp5 and high damage in addition to less camps to clear on the new conquest map makes it ideal for ability based junglers.
• Jotunn's Wrath Power, flat pen and cooldown, and most importantly, cheap, a great all around item.
• Bloodforge or Soul Eater depending if you want more damage and movement speed go Bloodforge or more sustain go Soul Eater, you can also go straight into brawlers into an early Heartseeker if you get a lead.
• Brawler's Beat Stick A fairly cheap item, with power and flat pen, get this if you need antiheal into gods like Hercules, Hel, Sylvanus etc.

Note: Soul Eater can feel nice when learning Cliodhna to counteract Phantasmal health drain while in a wall

Although some players may be tempted to go defense on junglers I would highly advise against it on Cliodhna, the reasons being

• You have little crowd control, if you're not doing damage you're not much use
• You have insane damage and burst potential
• Your positioning should be more than enough to make sure you don't take damage, especially since you can get into walls

With that in mind

• Heartseeker is an insane item, the fact is does more damage per proc in quick succession synergises really well with clios ability to quickly cast her Banshee's Wail in a wall, then quickly Lurching Claw out and Flickering Visions
• The Crusher is similar to Heartseeker however it does less damage for subsequent ability procs, it has 10% pen as well and is generally better at killing squishies than Heartseeker, however there is no reason you can't go both
• Titan's Bane is great for killing tanks, if the enemy frontline is fed and your team can't seem to kill them, pick this up 5th or 6th
  

Situational items
Sadly, there isn't many situational items for Cliodhna, you do damage, that's about it, therefore you don't benefit from utility items and you can't really box, however you could try these items if you really want

• Stone of Binding is cheap, gives 40 of each protections, 250 health and the passive procs on your ultimate and 1st ability, reducing protections of the enemy god for you and your team mates to take advantage of
• Magi's Cloak you should never really need this due to being able to go into walls to get out of harms way, however if you're learning or finding yourself constantly cc'd to death by abilities like Ragnarok you could pick this up
• Mantle of Discord the cooldown is okay, the passive can stun people in an AOE around you helping you get into walls

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How to play Cliodhna (Early/mid game)

• Focus on farming and getting a lead over the enemy jungler, hitting level 20 first and getting Bluestone Brooch is a huge power spike that can win your team the game
• Try to stay out of sight as much as possible, making all the enemies play scared that you could be in any wall or anywhere is a big advantage for you and your team
• Look for ganks when possible, you can dive towers by using Lurching Claw out of a wall on an unsuspecting low hp enemy
• Try not to box the enemy jungler unless your ahead, most junglers will fight better than you in a 1v1

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How to play Cliodhna (Late game)

• Remember you can set up to 3 Tearing the Veil's in walls and leave them there, however be careful when doing this because you won't have any to use actively if a fight breaks out
• You can go in the fire giant wall and cast Banshee's Wail and Tearing the Veil if the enemy is doing the fire giant then exit from the way you came in (or even use Lurching Claw to create more distance
• Similar to above can be done for sieges
• If an enemy is running at you, use Flickering Visions and run away with the invisibility and movement speed buff, it can be a good idea not to Lurching Claw as this will temporarily reveal you, where as if you just run away, people won't know which way you've gone

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Things to remember

• The damage you take from being inside a wall stacks in intensity, don't stay in one too long
• Lurching Claw should mostly be used from within a wall to give you extra mobility
• A big chunk of your damage comes from Bluestone Brooch late game, its a good idea to farm for level 20 and get this asap, even over finishing an item such as Titan's Bane or Heartseeker

Thanks for making it this far into the guide!

I hope everyone has learnt something new about one of my most recent favourite gods Cliodhna if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment on the guide and I will try to answer them whenever I can

You can also direct message me on discord
Archie#0464