Loki [Classified] Arena guide

This is my first guide on SmiteFire, I will update it with some more BBCoding soon (colors etc..)
Still, I hope you'll enjoy it

This guide offers a different view on how to play Loki in arena, I often see people instalock Loki while not doing very well, I hope this will bring new ideas to people to try out new things rather than just following the meta, this is the way I like to play it

I like some irony and fun stuff in my guides so yeah.. don't mind if I do

This guide isn't turned towards pure beginners, more towards intermediate players, I don't mention Auto-attack cancel nor detailed items for this reason

I plan into making more guides soon! :)

Ok Guys, I know what you're probably thinking right now, speed boots to start off is a joke on Loki, we need Power dude! But then what the heck is this starter item in 3rd position, you got to be trolling right??


Well, let me introduce you to a whole new Loki experience..

Average Loki players have always had this tendancy to sneak in and murder those low health running squishies out of the way;

But along with time, other gods became aware to Loki's presence and soon started to pack up as a cattle, leading Loki's army into crisis: should I Ult now and take the risk of being killed or wait until my teammates get crushed and head back home as an outcast?

This question went unexplained for several years until a stranger came up with a solution that soon would overtake the world of smite

What if instead of staying packed with our (for the most part) unefficient teammates, waiting for the moment of our life to end up theirs, we went travelling the world in quest of opportunity?
Such was the question that the stranger asked and highlighted Loki's pure reason of being

And so he went..

Ok, I hope you enjoyed the little RP and are now ready to be transfixed

As mentioned above, the general Loki playstyle in arena is for the most part to stay behind your team, controlling minion waves & side buffs while waiting for an opportunity to strike

What a boring way to enjoy such an awesome god! Stealth, immuned movement speed, teleportation, DOT, think for a moment about Bakasura's kit to visualise how much raw/environmental benefits you get compared to him, he can not hide nor engage&escape so you wouldn't count on him to set up ambushes

But Loki, Loki is the guy
Now, instead of doing what you would usually do and build what you would usually build, your goal is going to be the real Cancer you were born to become.

Start off with Talaria Boots and 1 Healing Potion and Mana Potion or 2 Mana Potion
I know speed boots are not the most beneficial to Loki (or so you think) as he does not benefit as much power and your opportunities to trigger its passive are not going to happen all that often, but note that they cover another mission

Movement speed is the Key here

Run towards buff camps, DOT the first one, Decoy the second, use your mana pot, auto the third and head into the first minion wave, only use your Decoy at this point as you're going to be temporising for a bit, though if your team cleared fast enough and is pushing the opponents, do not hesitate to engage along with them to grab the first blood, but do not overextend.

Keep going safe until you unlock Jotunn's Wrath, you shoudn't even hit minion waves other than with your Decoy unless your team had to retreat

Play your average Loki playstyle as you're searching for the best target to Assassinate, you can try to inform the rest of your team than you're going to engage if you feel they are not really awake*

*Team Response Not guaranteed

Around the time you acquire your 2nd item, buff camps should have respawn and shall become your first priority, try to clear both of them as they will bring you a nice amount of gold that will contribute to your emergence as the supreme leader Cancer, thanks to Swift Wing
You can now decide to Ping the map followed up with a "Take this Jungle Buff" to show the other gods than you're not just a selfish gold stealer

From now on, your mission if you accept it (though you should if you read until here) will be to harass your opponents until the end of the game using dirty tricks all over the place; piss them off enough and you will assure your team an easy win.

Thanks to the crazy amount of movement speed this build provides, you will soon become their worst nightmare, rush towards the sides and try to bait some of them to release pressure on your team, or enforce your own by forcing them to pack and get rekt via AOE / Shock items (ie. Odysseus' Bow type);

Catch up fleeing folks in no time, the 15s duration buff provides some solid opportunities, you will often find ennemies teleporting back to base next to their first pilar, stealth next to red buff while moving towards 'em and make them regreat playing smite this day.

Another risky maneuvre is to stick to the enemy portal when a single god is expected to leave the fountain, while the rest of his team is pushing yours, if you can manage to kill a squishy (Zeus for instance) and then return to assist your team you will probably grab a few easy kills.

Fake engaging while running towards the ennemy block at full speed and Vanish at last second to weaken their teamwork and create opportunities for your team works as well.
These are only a few ways to use your mobility at your advantage, set up ambushes, rescue teammates, punish bad positionning every time you leave the fountain, until late game.

Note that it will take you a few games to adapt to the build, as past this point it is oriented towards fast mana comsuption and often returning to fountain.
Applied pressure until late game will leave scars in your opponents strategy as a team, you should be able to snowball or ensure some of your mates to snowball easily.

If you did well during mid-game, you should be between 5 to 10 kills and none to a few deaths, a couple of assist and your opponents wishing your death IRL.
Now than you're reaching the end of the game slowly comes the end of the harassment phase to develop more into the burst phase, replacing Swift Wing with Bloodforge is going to bring the last powerspike of your kit.

At this point there shouldn't be more than 100 tickets left and you will have to rely more on your team with your loss of mobility (chasing), have a quick look at your opponents build, prioritize your targets, unprotected mages and hunters are the ones you wanna eliminate to release the most pressure

If the score is tight you may have to play it safe and engaging only with Assassinate using Vanish to escape.
In the end if played well Loki might be seen as kind of a spy, people will see you as an dark individual, but your work will have given your mates unsuspected results.