Lighting up my World! (3.16)

Pros

High Defense
High Health
Great at securing kills for team
Revive!!
Can get out of bad situations himself fairly easy
He's huge! (Body Blocks for the save!)

Very low damage
No minion clear
If skills are on cooldown then your are basically useless
He's huge! (Easy to get hit by skills/basic attacks)
Slow

Starter



Mark of the Vanguard
This is by far my favorite starter item. The biggest benefit is having the damage reduction from all sources including minions. Minions are very strong early game even for a support role. As Khepri you generally are going to initiate in lane to secure a kill. Generally by using your Solar Flare or Abduct. This is going to aggro the minions! Watcher's Gift is never a bad choice especially for conquest. But I tend to use Vanguard 90% of the time.



Shoes
Tier one boots. Provide a small amount of movement speed at the beginning. I generally do not upgrade the boots after this point. There are situational times where later on in the build I upgrade them. It all depends on how the game is going. If we are winning then I always upgrade them after my 3rd or so item just to get the cooldown and extra speed. Often times I sale them to get my 6th and last item. Sale Mark of the Vanguard first!



Mana Potions
Any time you recall to base make sure you get AT LEAST 4 of these. Khepri is mana hungry. And as I stated before...if his skills are on cooldown(or you run out of mana), then you are almost completely useless to your team! Khepri will even spend hours clearing one minion wave by himself! Sustain is key to keeping up with gold and levels! Nothing feels worse then having your ult up and watching a team mate die because you were "Out of Mana!" Mana potions become less needed once you get to late game but it still never hurts to have them on you at ALL times.



Healing Potions
This are very important in the early game! Khepri has no heals. The only time I would even consider skipping these is if you have a healer next to you at all times. But even healers have to recall or die so you cannot rely on them 24/7. Keep two or three on you at the beginning until it's time to bring out the wards! I generally stop focusing on healing potions once I get a defense item or two online. But even then...it's never ever a bad idea to have these on you at all times!


Side note to potions: I rarely use the Multi Potions. Some people may choose to use them after the first recall combined with wards or even at the start. I suppose it's personal preference but you will realize that Khepri is hard to kill and mana hungry in the early game. I am not against using them at all. It's just the way I spend my gold and learned is the most beneficial to Khepri.


Core Items with and without Heavy CC


magi's blessing
Magi's Blessing
Let's cover this item first and why I love it so much on Khepri. It's all about the health and passive more then anything. It's simple...a CCed Khepri can't do ANYTHING to save his team mates. And good enemy players know that a CCed Khepri is an open door opportunity to kill someone else on your team. This item basically provides a free purification every 70 seconds. An example: Enemy team has Athena...your team gets rushed! What's going to happen? You(khepri) is on the front line and immediately get CCed. While that is happening the rest of Athena's team is going to rush past you and take out your team! Can't place your ult on anyone while staring down Athena! This item can be used offensively too! Another example: Enemy has Anubis who is well....pretty easy to kill. You go in to use your Abduct and what happens? He turns you into a mummy! If the passive is up then it completely ignores his wraps and you grab him anyways. Securing a kill for your team! Always be aware of when the bubble is around you and the passive is up. I can sit here and give you a million examples/advantages to this item. Especially with the new relic system and the regular purificationPurification having such high cooldown. Now if the enemy team has VERY little CC then I skip it all together. This item is situational but ALWAYS on my list of consideration when heading into a match. Only downside is the low defenses.



Wards
I really should not have to go into much detail on how important these are. EVERY PLAYER...EVERY ROLE...EVERY GOD should be getting at least one or two of these EVERY time they go to base. No EXCUSES!! Get wards and place them! Wards save lives! The amount of gold and experience you lose because you got ganked and didn't see it coming is FAR worse then spending some gold on wards! Even sentry wards should be bought throughout an entire match! If you find enemy wards then you get 50 gold for destroying them. So you get gold back. And you didn't lose gold and experience because you saw that Cabrakan sneaking up behind you so it's win win all around for the entire team! BUY WARDS PEOPLE!!


As we discuss the rest of the items...I'm going to talk about them as if you did not get Magi's Blessing on a mathematical and strategic level. My builds are never the same from game to game but do generally consist of the same items...



Winged Blade
Lot's of benefits from this item. Lots of health. CC reduction. Movement speed. And most importantly...the passive. Again...smart enemy teams WILL CC you as much as possible. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to try and get to a team mate to save them but you have constant slows preventing you from getting there. It's also a great passive for getting out of danger at a quicker pace.


Mathematically...you want to build Adventurer's Blade then immediately go into Hide of the Urchin. After that you will complete Winged Blade.


This is where things get VERY situational. Generally I build Hide of the Urchin first. You could go straight for physical or magical defenses. Or even a cooldown option. The next items are in no specific order at all.



Hide of the Urchin
ALl around GREAT item. Health, mana, and defenses. And getting it early is best so you can start getting your stacks as soon as possible. This item only gets stronger over time. There is really no reason NOT to get this item. The only time I would consider it is if the enemy team was stacked with all physical or all magical Gods. Or unbalanced with four physicals and one magical type of situation. Do not skip this important item.



Breastplate of Valor
Very good item against physical teams. Plus the mana and cooldown reduction on this item makes it "FANTASTIC!" Definitely try to get this online early if possible.



Bulwark of Hope
All around great item. Maybe even OP. CC reduction = AWESOME! Health = AWESOME! Gives a good amount of magical defense. And lets not forget the life saving passive. Makes it great when going against burst mages! It's their worst nightmare. I almost always try to get this unless something like Pestilence is needed for anti healing.


Last Item Choices


At this point you probably already sold Mark of the Vanguard. We are creeping into late game. You need to step back and analize how the match as been going. Are you winning? Are you dying a lot? Are you getting a lot of assists? What is the enemy team doing? We are going to briefly discuss offensive and defensive options in the late game depending on how the match is going...


Offensive Items

At this point in the game, your team is dominating. Towers are gone, there are winning team fights at the bull demon, or the enemy team is constantly on the run. Maybe you guys need an extra push in to their phoenix or Base. Here are some good offensive choices!



Gem of Isolation
Such a great item. And even veteran Khepri players do not think of how powerful this item is on him. It's not even about the magic power. Its about the health and passive. Health is always a good thing! But let's talk about the passive. Damaging abilities slow the enemy. This is like giving Rising Dawn extra utility purposes. Whether its for chasing an enemy down or slowing them to keep them from getting to a team mate. Rising Dawn with a slow = OP and super annoying to the enemy team. They will quickly realize you mean business at this point. I only get this item if things are going our way! Please take note of that. This is not an item I pick up every game. Sometimes I even get it as my 5th item. Khepri is alreay a CC heavy god and this compliments his kit very well.



Soul Reaver
Really...the main benefit from this item is the passive. It provides unexpected damage to the enemy. It's always nice to be taking out chunks of health. Its a quick and easy way to give support God's a little offensive boost without having to invest lots of items into your build. I ONLY get this if we are winning or I'm not dying at all. The extra mana is a plus too.



Shoes of Focus
Generally...I sale my starter boots at the end. Especially if the extra defense is needed. If we are winning a game or even if its an even game...then I'll finish them. Mostly for the mana, speed, and cooldown reduction. It's not a bad item to have at all. But not absolutely needed.


Defensive Items

At this point in the game your team is losing. Or maybe the match is even between the teams. Or maybe you guys are winning and you just want to be even MORE tanky. Here we will discuss possible defensive items to add to your build.



Mail of Renewal
I personally get A LOT of assists with Khepri. This item goes of the list of mathematically most efficient items(will be discussed on build two chapter). I acutally get this item quite frequently and often times way before my last item. The healing it provides from kills/assists is insane. Most games I get 20+ assists with Khepri so the passive is always doing it's job. Sustain is key to Khepri doing his job well. The enemy team will take advantage of you not being in lane so overall this item is great for Khepri. It works against objectives too. And as a tank you will be taking the hits from these objectives. It's always good to get health back when they come down so either A. You can continue the push or B. Use the health to escape. HP5 is always a plus and same with the cooldown reduction.



Mantle of Discord
One of THE best defensive items in the game. TONS of protections. Cooldown reduction...enough said. And then the passive compliments Khepri very well since you are an "In your Face" type of God. So you will get those stuns! Only downside is the cost...but it is well worth it.



Spirit Robe
All around great item. Especially if the enemy team is CC heavy. The passive will allow you to soak up insane amounts of damage when under hard CC. Provides a good amount of crowd control and cooldown reduction on top of that. Plenty of magical and physical defenses. Very powerful defense item. I especially like to combo it with Magi's blessing if the enemy team is full blow CC heavy.



Genji's Guard
I really like this item. And I do not get it often enough. Most the time there are better options. The passive is great for Khepri since his skills have a somewhat higher cooldown. And any opportunity to get seconds knocked off your ult is great. This item has high magic defense and provides MP5 as well.



Witchblade
I'm only including this because of the 3.16 buff it got. It definitely makes this a very good item. It will even make the Midgardian Mail obsolete. Tons of physical protections. And is especially useful against basic attack hunters/assassins. I still prefer Winged Blade...but this item is great as well.



Pestilence
Get this item if the enemy team has healers! Get it as soon as possible! You need to shut down the healing asap! Replace Bulwark of Hope with this item if needed.


Relics

A quick overview of the most common relics I get depending on who and what I'm up against:

sprint

sanctuary

curse

meditation

shell

purification

I just wanted to make a small note of this build. Mathematically this IS the current tankiest build any support role can do. Extremely high health. Extremely High defense. Max cooldowns. Has a chunk of cooldown reduction as well. You will be soaking up SO much damage with this build. As you can see, you build Adventurer's Blade and then go straight into Hide of the Urchin before completing Winged Blade. You can even build Spirit Robe first if you absolutely needed to do so. The calculations on this build do factor in gold cost. And is based off average gold amounts during early, mid, and late game to maximize effectiveness at all stages of the build. Only build Mail of Renewal if you aquired at least one kill before you get to that point. Otherwise build Stone of Gaia. You make it to late game with this build and you will be unstoppable.

Many players have different styles of play with Khepri. I generally adapt to my surroundings or who I'm going up against. For the first five levels in the game, I for the most part, like to play a bit passive. Get a feel of how the other team is playing. Now if I see a prime opportunity to set up a kill then I most definitely take it. Just don't get yourself killed early or that will set you behind right away. I like to sit back and throw my Rising Dawn on the minions early game...at the same time trying to hit the enemy Gods with it so they take poke damage as well.

Once I get my first defense item and things are going well, I kick it up a notch. Focusing my pulls on squishy targets. Grabbing tanks can be good to get them off your team mates or take them out of a team fight for a small period. You can even root the tank and pull the squishy. Keep throwing Rising Dawn on team mates and enemy gods! It's a lot more helpful then you may realize, especially once its max level.

Late game you can go all in just about ALL the time. Be super aggressive. Continue to pull, root, buff, and debuff! Cooldown Reduction should be online so spam them abilities in team fights. Make sure you use them at the right moments though. Don't want a team fight to begin and have to sit there and wait for skills to come back online. Im constantly letting team mates know the status of my ult. I encourage them to be more aggressive when its ready and a little bit more passive aggressive when it's down.

What to do when a team mate is near death and your ult is down? Grabbing the enemy while they run is the most effective. Rooting enemies to help them escape! Throw your buff on the team mate to give them damage reduction. Body blocking is so easy to do with Khepri too! If the enemy team is rushing a tower with minions and you are the only one around, step in front of the ADC or mages and let them hit you at least once. This will aggro the tower onto them and there is a good chance they will run! Grab them and let the tower kill them! Khepri may not do a lot of damage but he sure can defend a tower if played right.

Khepri is a great counter for gods you leap, dash, or blink in with. An example is Odin. Odin jumps on minions or at your team...as soon as he lands you can Abduct him while your team goes ham on him. Susano...he's done. Tyr and his ult...done. Bastet's leap....done. Grab those God's that dare to leap near you! You got team mates with CC? That makes them easy targets. Anubis Mummifies them and throws his Grasping Hands under them, then go in for the the pull to further the damage. The options are endless. Always thank outside the box...or even think of the obvious for the ones with common sense :P Stay close to your team mates at all times. Watch the health bars. Check them on a regular basis...every 5-10 seconds. Best thing a Khepri player can do is learn to read the enemy God's. Within the first five to eight levels you SHOULD already know exactly how the enemy Gods are going to play. Who they are gonna target the most. Who is the easiest to set up kills on.

Khepri is my favorite God. I didn't purposely become a support player. Majority of players do not want or like playing support. I am the type of player that lets everyone else choose their role and then I go from there. So it just became MY role over time. And out of all the Support Gods, Khepri is by far my favorite. He is a lot of fun to play if you know HOW to play him. Communication is key.

I feel like I got rushed towards the end of this guide. It took way more time then I thought it would. If anyone has tips to add or positive feedback then please do so. I don't have time for negativity and will not respond to it. I'm pretty sure there is stuff I missed and I will be updating it over time. If any major changes come along in the patches then I will adjust accordingly. Currently this guide is going off patch 3.16. I hope this guide helps others in the Smite community.

I currently only have one very short video on Khepri and plan on making a better longer one. But I want to share it with you guys and once I make a better one I will most definitely update it and insert it here. I will also share a video by Raynday gaming that I found to be hilarious yet very true among us Khepri players lol.

My Video
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Raynday Gaming's Video
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-RespectedFlea