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Jotunn's Wrath and 
Hydra's Lament are interchangeable, depending on your preference. Jotunn's Wrath offers some pen for higher ability damage, and 10% higher CDR. Hydra's Lament offers higher damage on basics after ability use.Standard Loki build, concentrating on power, penetration, and CDR.
Jotunn's Wrath and Hydra's Lament are interchangeable, depending on your preference.
Jotunn's Wrath offers some pen for higher ability damage, and 10% higher CDR. Hydra's Lament offers higher damage on basics after ability use.
Transcendence
Warrior Tabi
Jotunn's Wrath
Hydra's Lament
Heartseeker
Bloodforge
Charged Morningstar will give you a nice head start on finishing Transcendence, which is a core item for this build.Starting Charged Morningstar will give you a nice head start on finishing Transcendence, which is a core item for this build.
Your early gameplay is mostly going to look to avoid fighting for now, with a strong focus on wave-clear and stalemating, so you shouldn't need too many early potions...spending less on them early means being able to get an earlier Trans online. However, get more potions if you feel the need.
Charged Morningstar
Healing Potion
Mana Potion
Hydra's Lament before Jotunn's Wrath, but Hydra's passive appreciates higher power/pen. Getting Jotunn's Wrath first gives a better base of power, higher early CDR, and some pen to get through early / inherent protections.
Always build these 4 items, and I suggest it in this order.
Some prefer Hydra's Lament before Jotunn's Wrath, but Hydra's passive appreciates higher power/pen. Getting Jotunn's Wrath first gives a better base of power, higher early CDR, and some pen to get through early / inherent protections.
Transcendence
Warrior Tabi
Jotunn's Wrath
Hydra's Lament
Heartseeker provides all of the stats Loki loves, with the passive giving bonus damage. Bloodforge's health shield can be helpful if you need to dive into a teamfight to attempt taking out a high DPS enemy squishy god, and want to come out alive.
Brawler's Beat Stick is great when facing enemy healing. Hopefully you can burst down a mage healer without the need for the anti-heal effect, but even if you can't burst down a 
Hercules, you can really hurt his sustain. In any case, the power and flat pen are very functional.
The Crusher is a solid hybrid offensive option, providing power, pen, some attack speed, and some ticking damage every time you land an ability.
Titan's Bane is an option if facing a tankier team, or even the squishies are building some protections. If you can't decide on anything else, this is probably the closest to a core item in this list.
Magi's Cloak is your extra get-out-of-jail item if facing a lot of hard CC and your 
Purification Beads are down.
Arondight is an option if you're doing well and want to continue the chase after you finish off an enemy with your ult.
Heartseeker provides all of the stats Loki loves, with the passive giving bonus damage.
Bloodforge's health shield can be helpful if you need to dive into a teamfight to attempt taking out a high DPS enemy squishy god, and want to come out alive.
Brawler's Beat Stick is great when facing enemy healing. Hopefully you can burst down a mage healer without the need for the anti-heal effect, but even if you can't burst down a Hercules, you can really hurt his sustain. In any case, the power and flat pen are very functional.
The Crusher is a solid hybrid offensive option, providing power, pen, some attack speed, and some ticking damage every time you land an ability.
Titan's Bane is an option if facing a tankier team, or even the squishies are building some protections. If you can't decide on anything else, this is probably the closest to a core item in this list.
Magi's Cloak is your extra get-out-of-jail item if facing a lot of hard CC and your Purification Beads are down.
Arondight is an option if you're doing well and want to continue the chase after you finish off an enemy with your ult.
Heartseeker
Bloodforge
Brawler's Beat Stick
The Crusher
Titan's Bane
Magi's Cloak
Arondight
Purification Beads and 
Aegis Amulet are your standard relic choices.
Belt of Frenzy is always a great option for quick objective takedown, and 10% increased damage is always nice.
Heavenly Wings isn't perhaps a normal choice, since he's got 
Vanish, but if you need that extra boost of speed and Vanish is either on CD or you want to save it, this will help. In a group setting, boosting teammates' speed can also help for chase or escape.
Purification Beads and Aegis Amulet are your standard relic choices.
Belt of Frenzy is always a great option for quick objective takedown, and 10% increased damage is always nice.
Heavenly Wings isn't perhaps a normal choice, since he's got Vanish, but if you need that extra boost of speed and Vanish is either on CD or you want to save it, this will help. In a group setting, boosting teammates' speed can also help for chase or escape.
Purification Beads
Aegis Amulet
Belt of Frenzy
Heavenly Wings
Y
B
A
X
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Recent Updates:
2019/8/31: Guide is current as of Patch 7.1, "Season 7."
 Revision History |
Loki's gameplay. If you want details on general info, I invite you to check out my other guides:|
The Overarching Conquest Guide |
The
Overarching Arena Guide |
Loki is a single-target, get-in & get-out kind of god, who employs his mobility, stealth, and high burst damage to overcome his adversaries. He is not viable in competitive play, but can be a blast to play in any casual mode, depending on team comp.|
Aimed Strike ........... Strengths ........... Aimed Strike
+ High single-target damage + Cheap full build, quick to complete + Great escape capability + Controls minion wave |
........ Weaknesses ........
- Very squishy
- No teamfight presence - Has to get in close for max damage - No sustained boxing capability |
Loki is the only god in the entire game whose entire kit provides 100% or higher scaling from power. This build focuses on the most efficient way to get maximum damage for your abilities through high power and penetration. It is not meant for boxing and elongated fights. Let's get our hands bloody.
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Basic Attacks
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0.75 / .5 / .5 / .5 / 1.5x damage and swing time Discussion: Loki has a relatively quick attack progression, especially through his first 4 hits. The most impactful hit is the first, since his combos always employ attack canceling. This progression could be beneficial, IF he was a basic attacking god. However, as a get-in-get-out god looking to deal burst damage, he's not going to build into items like  Hastened Katana,  The Executioner, or  Qin's Sais...not to mention crit items.Basic attack damage = [base damage (at X level) + physical power from items (not including enemy protections)] * progression. A hunter has no progression (or a constant 1). Where their damage will be relatively straightforward, Loki's first hit would only deal 75%. Crits are calculated from that value, which means where a hunter would crit for double the damage, Loki would only deal 1.5x. This is the main reason crits (and basic attack items in general) aren't suggested. |
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Passive:
Behind You! |
Deal 20% bonus damage from basic attacks when hitting enemies from behind. Discussion: You want to utilize this whenever possible, though this is easier said than done. Enemies will constantly be changing directions, so this works most commonly in the following situations:
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Skill #1:
Vanish |
Loki disappears in a puff of smoke for up to 4s. While invisible, he gains 35% move speed, removes and gains immunity to slow effects. His next basic attack from stealth (or for 2s after) applies a bleed to his target, dealing damage every 0.5s for 2 seconds, and reveals Loki. CD 15 seconds. Leveling Priority: You'll typically prioritize this 2nd (after Aimed Strike) for the bonus damage. If preferred, it can be prioritized before Aimed Strike as it deals higher damage after all ticks are applied. General Use: Stealth Initiation / Escape / Slow Cleanse / Mobility & Chase Discussion: This will generally be used in 1 of 3 ways:
Cautions: If you are hit with DoT (damage over time) abilities, they will allow enemies to see the numerical damage above your position when stealthed. If you are close enough to the enemy, they can hear you when you trigger this ability, alerting them to your presence. If trying to sneak up to an enemy, try to use it as far away as possible. If Loki enters an enemy structures's attack range while invisible, he'll be revealed...don't expect to be sneaky when entering tower range. Use with awareness and discretion, as it is your main form of escape. |
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Skill #2:
Decoy Decoy |
Loki spawns a decoy that taunts all nearby enemy minions. After 3 seconds, it explodes, dealing damage to all enemies in a radius. CD 12 seconds. Leveling Priority: Level this skill first for minion clear/control, but you can consider maxing it last. General Use: Minion Clear & Control / Objective Distraction / Body Block Discussion: This skill GREATLY improves Loki's utility. Instead of being a one-shot god, using this completely stops the standard minion wave in its tracks, helping you push forward when your team is doing well, or delay them from attacking your tower. Since it takes the attention of minions, you can use this to avoid minion damage to yourself, and help you attack them from behind for the  Behind You! bonus damage.In addition, you can drop this into range of objectives before minions or teammates attack, to absorb the first couple of hits. Tips: Place it directly on the first of the back 3 (archer) minions to ensure hitting all 6 minions, as the melee minions will run back to attack it. Has secondary, tricky function as a block. Place it between yourself and an attacking enemy to have it absorb directed attacks. Place it in front of an enemy to cause them to have to go around it...it isn't a large obstacle, but can slow them down. |
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Skill #3:
Aimed Strike Aimed Strike |
Upon activation, the next basic attack does additional damage, and the enemy is also slowed by 25% for 3s. CD 12-8 seconds. Leveling Priority: You'll typically max this first for the burst damage potential (it's essential to use attack canceling with Hydra's procs). General Use: Single Target Burst Damage Discussion: This is your bread-and-butter damage ability. Strong single-target damage + a slow, and when  Hydra's Star/ Hydra's Lament is built, its damage increase piggy-backs onto this. At 40% CDR at max rank, you can use this every 5 seconds!Tips: When combining with your ult, you want to wait to activate this until AFTER you've ulted AND used 1 basic attack, to maximize Hydra's procs. You can prime this ability, as the buff lasts for 5 seconds. At max CD and max rank, you can hit an enemy right before the buff wears off, then almost immediately re-trigger for additional damage. Cautions: As with Vanish, triggering this ability gives an audible cue if enemies are close enough. If attempting to sneak up on an unsuspecting enemy, do not trigger. |
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Ultimate:
Assassinate |
Teleport to your ground target location. If an enemy god is within the radius, backstab that target, doing damage and stunning them for 1 second. CD 90 seconds. Leveling Priority: Level this whenever it is available. General Use: Single Target Burst Damage / Escape Discussion: When this ability is available, you'll mainly use this to initiate your damage combos. It allows you to instantly teleport short distances, relocating you directly behind the target and dealing damage. Can also be used as a last-ditch escape attempt (and can get you outside/through a player-made barrier). This is obviously not optimal, so only use for this purpose if absolutely necessary. Tips: The teleport aspect of this ability allows you to jump behind the enemy front-line to target the more dangerous (and squishier) enemies behind. Try to use it as such whenever possible. |
Here are the standard combos you can use for Loki, depending on the availability of your ult, Assassinate.
Assassinate is upAssassinate is down
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Conquest Solo-Lane Trans Build & Discussion
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Transcendence is desired. The first 4 items are core, while the last 2 are situational picks.Conquest Solo-Lane ItemizationConquest GameplayWardingMid Lane Warding
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Teamfight Modes / No-Trans Build & Discussion
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Transcendence build (which can also absolutely work in these modes). It can work well in all teamfight modes, but you may find yourself short on mana if you don't supplement correctly. Transcendence, extended stays in lane will need to be supplemented with a boosted mana source. If you can determine you can take the mana buff, you can just get a few Mana Potions. Otherwise, consider 
Chalice of Mana to start. 3 potions refilled every time you go out will definitely be helpful.
Wards and 
Sentry Wards can be helpful).
Items #1-3 (Core Items)
Items #4-6 (Situational Picks)|
Clash / Joust / Siege Gameplay
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Vanish (needed for escape). Your main focus until you get your ult online should be waveclear. After getting your ult, look for damaged enemies you can quickly eliminate, but make sure you give yourself avenues of escape (e.g. don't dive into the midst of all 5 enemies to secure a kill, knowing it's basically a deathtrap).|
Arena Gameplay
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Loki isn't a team fighter, nor is he particularly adept at 1 v 1. You may feel a bit stupid or useless for mostly staying out of a big fight, but it's in your (and your team's) best interest. Counter your periods of ineffectiveness by watching the field, positioning yourself well, and helping gank a retreating, injured enemy to secure a kill or adding your damage at an opportune time in a bigger team fight.Jungle Camps/Early Game:Leveling and Being OpportunisticGoing all outEnd of the Match
Here are some gameplay videos for your amusement. Although other gods have seen some major changes, Loki hasn't, and his gameplay elements are still applicable, even on older (S2) videos.
So Much CC (S2)5 Hunters? Loki's Wet Dream (S2)Loki v Loki Part 1 - The Tricky Menace (S2)Loki v Loki Part 2 - The Attack of the Other Loki (S2)Loki v Loki Part 3 - Revenge of the Loki (S2)Caution Breeds Dominance (S2)Pretty Okay (S4)
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The Overarching Arena Guide |
The Overarching Assault Guide |
The Overarching Conquest Guide |
|
Bacchus: An Alcoholic's Chugging Guide |
Freya: Pulsing to the Beat |
Ganesha: Selflessly Gifting Kills |
Shifu Guan Yu: The Battle Master |
Loki: The Backstabbing Bastard |
Medusa: Getting Everyone Stoned |
So that's it! If you like what I've done and how I try to improve the guide, anyone is welcome to suggest a god for me to work on next.
Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, etc. Feel free to add me/invite me if you want to play!
Brandon / PC IGN: Muffinman17 / PS4 IGN: Branmuffin17
Thanks to the following people:
| For general Arena knowledge and in-depth help with builds / calculations |
| For help with builds |
| For multiple suggestions for better presentation! |
| For aesthetic ideas and templates to make the guide prettier |
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Copyright © 2019 SMITEFire | All Rights Reserved
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getting back into smite after a couple of months, so just want to know thanks!
He's playable, but he's not a strong pick and his burst damage has been hurt significantly. You can still make him work depending on level of competition, enemy matchups, and how good you are with him.
You: "It should, but I've honestly never checked."
You may want to check, especially considering that Decoy is a pet I believe.
Never actually thought about
I don't want to see any Loki, and here we are, blessed by his nerf.
I'll consider prioritizing
Vanish absolutely has higher damage potential in a single strike. The only thing about leveling this skill, though, is damage increase. Aimed Strike not only increases damage (yes, it's significantly lower), but it has a significantly lower cooldown, and the CD decreases with each level. Combine that with getting Jotunn's first, and the 30% CDR between that and Trans means Aimed has a 6.3 second CD.
- I personally don't always use
Vanish for the damage in an initiation or in the middle of a fight. I often prefer to save it just in case I need to escape, or in a chase situation to secure a kill. I thus might not always see the benefit of prioritizing Vanish. On the flipside, I will ALWAYS use Aimed Strike in any engagement.
- Not sure how much you use this strat, but something to consider. You'll never get
Vanish off 2 times in a single engagement (unless that engagement is overly long). With the 30% CDR before Hydra's gets you to 40% in my normal build progression, you can get 2 activations of Aimed off in a couple of seconds, if you activate it a few seconds before starting a fight. Even if you're not all that prepared, you'll get 2 off in 6-7 seconds. Vanish? 10+ before Hydra's, or as you build Hydra's first, if you don't have Jotunn's yet, 12 seconds.
- Side note: we can note that in Weak3n's video that you referenced, he also got
Jotunn's Wrath before 
Hydra's Lament. He also didn't get Trans until late, which is also something you can do. (also, read the comments below the video...other people are pointing out some reasons why leveling Aimed first can be beneficial...lots of discussion on that)
- Jotunn's before Hydra's does give you some other advantages. It has 10 flat pen, which means base damage of abilities, as well as basics when not getting the Hydra's proc, will be higher. (Also, Hydra's 50% higher damage isn't actually 50%...it's 50% BEFORE mitigations, so more pen makes that more effective) 10% higher CDR means more utility, whether it being your ult up more quickly in case you can use it right as it comes off CD (I admit, not always the case), as well as obviously generally lower CD on everything else.
- Note the S6 nerf. The 25% reduction in his damage output on the first hit will apply to the Hydra's proc as well. That bonus damage from Hydra's is NOT going to be the 50% as it reads. It's only going to be a 37.5% increase (before mitigations, which will further reduce it). Want some simple calcs? Here. For ease of consideration, base 100 damage. Hydra's proc would make it 150. In S6 6.1, that base 100 damage would now be 75. Hydra's proc (0.5 * 75) = 112.5, or a bonus of 37.5%. Yes, it's still bonus damage, and yes, he needs the bonus damage especially due to the nerf, but it's not doing as much for you as it used to. Jotunn's absolutely provides some benefits that Hydra's does not.
Your points are good, but they're also one-dimensional. I'm not saying your direction is bad, and obviously you can absolutely benefit from prioritizingStill trying to provide some direction for those that do choose to play him.
In all honesty, I expect HR to make small buff adjustments to his kit so he doesn't just fall off the face of Asgard.
Also, in my non-Conquest builds, I offered a slightly funky basic attack oriented build to try to take advantage of his 4 quick-progression abilities that I'm sure you're going to love. XD
No I don't love the build. Might want to rename it "100% LETA build".
And dammit, serious? I thought it was both damage and AS progression. If it's just damage, then...ugh. I know people hate Loki, but that's such a stupid nerf. Should adjust both.
Fine, dropped that build. Just keeping it to the norm.
For ability combos, you don't inlcude Decoy at all.
I haven't seen any guides detailing this yet, so I could be wrong, but I like to include it in my combos.
What I've found is that dropping it on the enemy before using
What are your thoughts on this?
One other thing I should add is, lol, my usual combo. In those ult combos, I talk about using Aimed first...but most of the time, I go straight into
I do talk about Decoy being used as a block in the ability section (just a brief mention), but don't find it fits in a "combo" section for that use very well. I should mention not just against directed attacks, but also for blocking retreat and stuff.
Thanks for the suggestions, they are good and I will have those adjusted.
I apologize, O' Muffiny One.
Hmm... I like the new Optional ability uses for the combos. He has quite a few ways he can go about using his kit, so you have to be a bit general. I think you did a good job with it, though.
When I've done revisions, it's mostly been just going through the item updates and adjusting when there were changes. I'll fix that.
As for
Then again...I sort of want to try a
Also, 10% CDR when not going Trans, and also 60 power. It's an alternative to Bloodforge, which has similar power, all things considered.
https://www.smitefire.com/smite/guide/loki-the-lane-controlling-jungler-14232
In any case, I'll check yours out and see what's going on.
In most ways, Clash is like a bigger Arena, but it's that bigger part that's the issue. Base isn't as close, so his biggest issue, mana consumption, needs to be considered.
I see 4 things you can generally do:
- Get one of the mana buffs. This is great for him anyway in the early game because it also provides CDR, and he really, really wants his ult up as often as possible. However, taking it instead of a teammate that can deal AOE damage, for example, will potentially reduce your overall team damage output. Keep that in consideration.
- Get
Hydra's Lament before 
Jotunn's Wrath. The MP5 aspect it provides will be at least somewhat helpful. Maybe pick up a couple of 
Mana Potions every back to fortify.
- Grab a
Chalice of Mana early (doesn't have to be at the start, but shortly thereafter.
- Get
Transcendence 2nd, then Jotunn's (and down the line) after. Obviously you'll never have mana issues if you get this, and power is something he always appreciates. Trans is a historically common item for him anyway.
I would also consider a movespeed item (likeHope this helps!
FYI I just converted the guide to cover some extra builds, and gameplay discussion for the various modes as well.