Loki - Burst DPS Pub Stomper!

Loki - The Trickster God!

This build is by far my favorite to play and just so happens to be my favorite god as well. It is highly effective at ganking other lanes and if farmed and played correctly, will shut down your enemy team at midgame and snowball you to victory. The only downsides are the predictability and squishy nature of Loki which will make it difficult to win against teams that know your tricks. I'll continue tweaking the guide until I feel it is easily understandable. Feel free to criticize any of the items or leave tips. Thanks!

Pros: + High Burst Damage + Stealth + Effective at shutting down opponent carries early game + Great mobility + Good damage scaling endgame

Cons: - Squishy! Squishy! And did I say Squishy? - Predictable if played incorrectly - Lacks escapes from CC - Poor in group fights - Useless without a good team

Loki's passive is great for getting extra damage on retreating enemies and from your Assassinate skill since it puts you right behind them. Always attempt to hit creep mobs in the back when farming for that extra damage.

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Vanish This is Loki's stealth skill that allows you to chase retreating gods or to escape if you are in danger. One great thing about Vanish is the 50% speed increase that you get which allows you to do both. It also has a pretty nice bleed over time which is useful for killing off those running enemies or harassing early game. However, don't be predictable and use Vanish when 4-6 feet in front of the enemy as this will only cause them to retreat. Act like you are retreating or heading into the jungle then flank them when they least expect it. Also, it's very easy to dodge enemies when retreating in forest. Just turn a corner, Vanish, then run backwards and past the enemies. Since the enemies will be trying to guess where you are running, most will just continue to follow the path that they saw you run right before you disappeared. Even though it is risky, it could save your life. I would recommend saving your Vanish for escaping only since the bleed over time hardly affects the enemy and is your only true escape skill.

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Decoy This is your bread and butter skill for jungling and pushing lanes heavily. I will max this skill first as I feel the first 1-6 levels don't really focus on pvp unless the enemy is playing out of position. Use your decoy after the enemy creep mobs have stopped moving and make sure you target it with the rangers in the circle. This will pull the enemy melee creeps backwards with the rangers, damage them, and allow you to further push their lane. It is also very effective when defending towers since it forces the creeps on the decoy instead of your tower / you.

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Aimed Strike This skill will add to your massive burst dps when using your BnB combo or after a Vanish. You should try to get your Aimed Strike attack behind the opponent for the extra 20% on top of 220 damage and 100% physical power. When jungling for buffs, you will use Decoy then sweep behind and use Aimed Strike on the creep that has the buff. By the time the skill is maxed, you should clear buffs in a matter of seconds.

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Assassinate Last but not least, your ultimate!! This skill is what makes enemies cringe and whenever it is up, you should be using it to your advantage. If you have the opportunity to Aimed Strike -> Assassinate then use that BnB to your advantage. This will stun the enemy and allow you for a few auto attacks before they retreat. I found the easiest way to accomplish this is to hit 4 to bring up the cursor for your Assassinate and hover it on the god that you are focusing. Press 3 right before you click your mouse and the Aimed Strike will pop just before your Assassinate hits. This most likely won't kill them but you can use Vanish to chase if there is no need to retreat. Your Assassinate is also useful for escaping sticky situations. Sometimes when you initiate a gank you find yourself being out DPS'd / outnumbered from lurking enemy players. It isn't the most effective use of the skill but if it means saving your life, then use it.

This item provides physical power, attack speed, critical hit chance, physical penetration, and movement speed. Need I say more?

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I choose this next because it adds more physical power and 20% attack speed to assist with quicker jungle and creep kills. When early-mid game, I prefer buying it before Devourer's Gloves because the gloves lack the attack speed that you need to get an edge on the opponent when farming and ganking. The 3 stacks of physical protection reduction totaling 21% and an additional 15 points on the enemy are easily obtained after an Aimed Strike -> Assassinate. This will allow you to hit true damage on the enemy through their little amounts of defense early game and allow your lane partner (If physical god) / team to put more damage on the enemy while they retreat. This usually leads to 1 guaranteed kill and a retreat by their lane partner. If they don't retreat, expect a nice double kill *cheer*!

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Devourer's Gloves

The extra physical power and life steal that you gain from this item are great for jungling and easy farming of your lanes. Not only will you be self sufficient, but with all the stacks you get 50 physical power and 20% life steal. Since the stacks are permanent, you don't need to worry about death like you would with Heartseeker. If you are being heavily fed early game, you can rush Deathbringer instead of grabbing the Devourer's Gloves. It takes a bit of extra farm to get but is worth it in the long run.

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At this point, you will be mid game and will be able to effectively crush their mages/squishies. If you haven't already shut down their carry, it may be too late to do so but the Voidblade will lengthen the amount of time you are able to sustain battle during all of the chaos and continue to lower their physical protection. This item can be picked up earlier if you have fallen behind or are struggling to stay alive.

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This is when your Loki will start to get downright dirty. With an additional 30 Physical Power plus 33% physical penetration, expect enemies to be easily dropped to 25-50% health after your BnB combo. If you do the math, after the 3 stacks of executioner you reduce enemy physical protection by 30 points and have 54% physical penetration. This amount of penetration is absolutely absurd for the burst damage that Loki does.

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If you make it this far in the game, Deathbringer is a no brainer for the extra physical power, critical hit chance, and crazy passive. At this point you will be pretty much unstoppable with any teammate assisting you. If you already picked up Deathbringer earlier, you can purchase Voidblade at this point or Qin's Blades if the enemy team is building high physical protection, especially to counter Hide of the Nemean Lion

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Advice: The first two items purchased should always be Warrior Tabi -> The Executioner. Items 3-6 are purchased depending on farm / enemy item build. The more you play Loki and gain smite experience, the easier it will be to effectively analyze the enemy team to decide which items will benefit you the most.

Your most effective skill for pushing creep waves and jungling is Decoy which I max slightly after or before Aimed Strike depending what lane I'm in. I usually attempt to take right lane as I am most comfortable with this side plus the speed / CD buffs are helpful for ganking and the further pushing of waves, but mid is a great lane for Loki. I would rather leave blue buff for a mage or support on my team who needs it. If playing against gods that don't require Purification Beads, grabbing a Motivate will help you smash those towers early game and keep pressure on your lane. With this combo you are arguably one of the best lane pushers in mid to late game. Your main focus for Creeping/Jungling should be keeping your lane pushed and not on the jungle. Only use the jungle when you are leaving base after a return or if your lane is pushed hard and there are no ganks available.

Team work is rather difficult for Loki in the sense that he is not the best in group fights. To use him effectively in a group setting / fight, try to flank the enemy team through the forest and wait for your team to initiate a CC or catch a fleeing enemy. For the group fights, focus on the squishy mages and those that haven't a bit purchased in defensive items. After initiating, you will either cause the enemy to flee or they will CC you. If they flee then chase if applicable. If they CC, now would be the time to use Purification Beads and retreat with Vanish if overwhelmed. Staying in the lane and full on rushing the enemy is asking for a death sentence since Loki is so squishy throughout most of the game unless you have been fed. If you are playing mid, be aware of the side lanes and the health of the enemies in them. If both are lower than 50% or too over extended, feel free to gank that lane and pick up an easy double / kills for your team. In side lanes after pushing the creep mobs to their tower, I like to gank mid if possible and continue to jungle buff and push waves.

Endgame: Even though Loki does crazy high burst, he can easily be focused by 3 gods and taken down pretty quickly. Unless there are very low health gods pushing your towers/phoenix you should try to avoid the initiation phase of big 4v4 / 5v5 group battles. What you can do is distract the enemy team and force them to return to base. Pushing a lane by yourself may be risky but you have your Vanish and Assassinate to escape. Once you start destroying their towers (usually left or right lane), they will be forced to focus on you because your pushing ability allows you to easily burn right through their towers and phoenix at mid/late game. Once again, you are being a nuisance and distraction while giving your team another chance to push or grab Fire Giant. Only use this strategy if the enemies are grouping up as a 4 or 5 man team and pushing one of your lanes because it may backfire if you do it at the wrong time.

Not yet 30, but I feel most of this would apply to any ranked game.

All in all, Loki is one of the best gods for disrupting the enemy team and causing havoc. The ease to which he can pull off his skills and his pushing ability make for one of the top assassins in-game. If you play smart, you force the enemy to always be on their toes as you can come in and strike at any minute. If anyone has played against a Loki and heard Vanish or Aimed Strike pop when a bit over extended, you know the fear you will be putting into your opponents. Play smart and utilize mind games and you may find yourself with a nasty streak of wins. Feel free to up vote the guide and leave Rep+ if you feel its warranted. Thanks and enjoy!