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Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

This build has been archived and is for historical display only

This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results. We recommend you check out our other Merlin Builds

Vote Vote

Merlin Conquest Mid (9.6)

127 19 352,749

8.9

by updated

Smite God: Merlin

Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Merlin Build

Start 1 (Sands / Magic Focus)

Notes Can alternatively get 1 and 2 s.

Sands of Time

Magic Focus

Healing Potion

Mana Potion

Example Build 1 (Flat Pen Rush)

Notes Can swap either or or for .

Spear of Desolation

Charon's Coin

Obsidian Shard

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Pendulum of Ages

Example Build 2 (Divine Rush)

Notes Can swap for / / .

Divine Ruin

Charon's Coin

Spear of Desolation

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Pendulum of Ages

Example Build 3 (Divine Rush Alt Version 1)

Notes Can swap for / / .

Divine Ruin

Charon's Coin

Soul Gem

Soul Reaver

Obsidian Shard

Pendulum of Ages

Example Build 4 (Divine Rush Alt Version 2)

Divine Ruin

Charon's Coin

Staff of Myrddin

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Pendulum of Ages

Start 2 (Conduit / Lost Artifact)

Conduit Gem

Lost Artifact

Healing Potion

Multi Potion

Example Build 5 (Chronos' Rush)

Notes Can swap for / / .

Can swap for / .

Chronos' Pendant

Warlock's Staff

Obsidian Shard

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Gem of Focus

Example Build 6 (Chronos' Rush + Anti-Heal)

Notes Can swap for / .

Chronos' Pendant

Divine Ruin

Obsidian Shard

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Gem of Focus

Start 3 (Sands / Uncommon Staff)

Notes Can alternatively get 1 and 2 s.

Sands of Time

Uncommon Staff

Healing Potion

Mana Potion

Example Build 7 (Warlock's Rush)

Notes Can swap either or for .

Can swap for .

Warlock's Staff

Spear of Desolation

Charon's Coin

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Pendulum of Ages

Example Build 8 (Warlock's Rush + Anti-Heal)

Notes Can swap for / / .

Warlock's Staff

Divine Ruin

Charon's Coin

Soul Reaver

Soul Gem

Pendulum of Ages

Start 4 (Conduit / Magic Focus)

Conduit Gem

Magic Focus

Healing Potion

Mana Potion

Example Build 9 (Deso Rush)

Notes Can swap for .

Spear of Desolation

Charon's Coin

Soul Gem

Soul Reaver

Staff of Myrddin

Gem of Focus

Start 5 (Shroud / Lost Artifact)

Notes Can go s over s.

Vampiric Shroud

Lost Artifact

Healing Potion

Multi Potion

Example Build 10 (Chronos' Rush)

Notes Can swap for .

Chronos' Pendant

Spear of the Magus

Charon's Coin

Soul Reaver

Typhon's Fang

Sacrificial Shroud

Example Build 11 (Chronos' Rush)

Notes Can swap for / / .

Can swap for .

Can swap for / / .

Chronos' Pendant

Warlock's Staff

Obsidian Shard

Soul Reaver

Ethereal Staff

Blood-Soaked Shroud

Main Relics

Temporal Beads

Aegis of Judgement

Aegis of Acceleration

Alternative Items

The Alternate Timeline

Calamitous Rod of Tahuti

Nimble Rod of Tahuti

Doom Orb

Pythagorem's Piece

Bancroft's Talon

Book of Thoth

Book of the Dead

Breastplate of Determination

Mantle of Discord

Niche Items

Celestial Legion Helm

Jade Emperor's Crown

Winged Blade

Gem of Isolation

Void Stone

Spectral Armor

Merlin's Skill Order Notes (Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often).

Notes

(Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often).

Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt

1 X

1 4 6 7 9

Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard

2 A

2 8 10 11

Flicker

3 B

3 12 15 16 18 19

Elemental Mastery

4 Y

5 13 14 17 20

1 4 6 7 9

Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt

1 X

Eclipse (Arcane): Merlin conjures an orb of condensed celestial energy that grows in size as it travels, dealing damage every 0.4s and marking Enemies hit.
Enemies marked take additional damage if they stay within the outer range of Eclipse.

Ability Type: Circle, Damage
Initial Arcane Damage: 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 (+55% of your Magical Power)
Arcane Damage Per Tick: 5 / 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 (+8% of your Magical Power)
Arcane Range/Radius: 60/15,25)
Arcane Duration: 3s
Arcane Cooldown: 14s

Radiate (Fire): Merlin channels a beam of intense fire for 2s that deals damage every 0.25s. Each time Radiate hits an Enemy, it also applies a Burn, dealing additional damage over time.

Ability Type: Line, Damage
Fire Damage Per Tick: 8 / 14 / 20 / 26 / 32 (+18% of your Magical Power)
Fire Burn Damage: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+5% of your Magical Power)
Fire Duration: 2s
Fire Range: 45
Fire Cooldown: 14 / 13.5 / 13 / 12.5 / 12s

Frostbolt (Ice): Merlin hurls a Frostbolt that explodes if it hits an Enemy, dealing an additional 15% damage if they are slowed.

Ability Type: Line, Damage
Ice Damage: 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+55% of your Magical Power)
Ice Range/Radius: 70 / 15
Ice Cooldown: 6s

Cost: 60

2 8 10 11

Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard

2 A

Vortex (Arcane): Merlin deploys a field of arcane energy at a location. After a delay, the Vortex deals damage and pulls Enemies towards the center.

Ability Type: Circle, Knockup, Damage
Arcane Damage: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+60% of your Magical Power)
Range/Radius: 60 / 20
Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12s

Dragonfire (Fire): Merlin summons forth two ethereal dragons that spout flames towards each other, dealing damage to Enemies every 0.25s. If caught in the center of the area, Enemy gods have their protections reduced. The dragons last for 3s.

Ability Type: Area, Debuff, Damage
Fire Damage Per Tick: 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20 (+20% of your Magical Power)
Fire Protection Reduction: 4%
Fire Max Stacks: 4
Fire Duration: 4s
Range: 50
Cooldown: 16 / 15.5 / 15 / 14.5 / 14s

Blizzard (Ice): Merlin creates a Blizzard at a target location that lasts for 4s. After a brief delay, shards of ice start hurling down every 0.5s. Enemies hit take damage and progressively get more slowed while they stay within the area. Enemies hit take damage and progressively get more slowed while they stay within the area.

Ability Type: Circle, Slow, Damage
Ice Damage Per Tick: 10 / 25 / 40 / 55 / 70 (+15% of your Magical Power)
Ice Slow Per Stack: 8%
Ice Max Stacks: 5
Ice Duration: 2s
Range/Radius: 65 / 20
Cooldown (Vortex / Blizzard): 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12s

Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80

3 12 15 16 18 19

Flicker

3 B

Merlin quickly teleports a short distance in front of him.

Ability Type: Teleport
Range: 30
Cost: 70
Cooldown: 24 / 23 / 22 / 21 / 20s

5 13 14 17 20

Elemental Mastery

4 Y

Merlin taps into his inner potential, exploding with energy in the stance he is currently attuned to. During this time Merlin can choose which stance to enter into next.

After the explosion reaches its apex, it collapses in on itself. Enemies are dealt damage from the both the explosion and the implosion and suffer different effects depending on which stance's energy they are being hit by.

Ability Type: Circle, Crowd Control, Damage
Damage: 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 210 (+15% of your Magical Power)
Arcane: Knockup
Fire Damage Per Tick: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+5% of your Magical Power)
Ice Slow: 20%
Slow Duration: 2s
Radius: 25
Cost: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80
Cooldown: 30 / 27.5 / 25 / 22.5 / 20s

Chapter Title

Fire Stance is good for shredding opponents health close range (usually with team setup on CC'ed enemies, so you don't get targeted / interrupted channelling your Fire 1 / Radiate ), and melting objectives, Ice Stance is good for ranged poke as well as slow utility, and Arcane Stance is useful for CC'ing / catching someone out of position with it's pull to the centre of the AoE on Arcane 2 / Vortex . Generally you will use Ice and Arcane for waveclear, and as your 2 primary zoning / poke stances.

Remember that Overload gives Merlin a Polynomicon-like proc to use after each ability, making AA-cancelling pretty effective for Merlin for waveclearing/farming and general dps. An example could be Ice 2 > AA > Ice 1 > AA.

Venenu's Merlin Tips / Tricks:

Venenu's Merlin Mid Guide / Play by Play:

Merlin guide by Haithi:

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Collapse All Comments

Um i am new to merlin and dont know how to play him, but i am basically obligated to learn him since i have the aang skin. What would be the best build right now? And any tips on how to play him. Btw i follow a lot of your buiild and guides and they are honestly amazing

(143) |

Probably Focus > Pendant > Divine > Shard > Reaver > Estaff / filler most games

Check the stuff at the bottom of the builds page / the vids, also i'd advise putting his abilities on instant cast with Ground target and ruler on.

Question for you for Gem of Focus vs Pendulum of ages.

So right now I’m running a build of chronos pendant, spear of the magnus, rod of tahudi, spear of desolation, soul gem

Now with pendulum of ages(sands of time evo) I get 20% past the ceiling of 40% CDR (I’m at 60% in this build). However when I max out sands of time to pendulum of ages I also get the damage buff. With PoA I get max magical damage at 1000 — with 500 pot and 3000 pot

With gem of focus(conduit gem evo) I get around 973 max magical damage — with 500 pot and 3000 pot. However gem of focus gets % increase to damage, move speed and damage reduction to those that get hit with my abilities. Which may do more damage than the PoA build then?

With Merlin I like all these CD reductions built in and the extra utility like Spear of Desolation (it’s CD reduction during the group stage with getting kills and assists make it so my abilities, even ult, are nearly always ready)

Soul gem also is great with my succession of attacks and getting healed

SoM is helpful early game with a bit of healing and when my CDR isn’t the best, my 3-5 combo ability burst do deadly dmg.

Tahudi is self explanatory, finishing kills made easy

IMO GoF(conduit gem) probably is better due to the extra % damage that is provided (in stacks) that doesn’t show up in the magic damage total (plus full build is only 30 magical damage difference from PoA build, which the stacked passive seems to make up for)

What do you all think?

I kind of want to do SoT then sell it at level 20 for soul reaver (since I cannot switch starter late game for GoF)

(143) |

Selling SoT for Reaver is way too late to be getting Reaver. Reaver is core on Merlin (well, most mages, but especially Merlin) and getting Reaver that late is kinda asking tanks to shrug off your damage.

Your build needs Shard, and if you need Divine you swap out Deso / Magus / Soul Gem typically for it.

Estaff is also pretty good atm, i've been generally getting it over Tahuti / Soul Gem on him as of late.

I usually don't bother with Pendant in Sand's of Time builds at all (I don't find it efficient generally outside of early game, when it comes to Pendulum + Pendant), but you could maybe justify it if you're running Pendulum and Pendant as the lone CDR items (though it does waste the 500 gold power pot's 10% CDR, but that's a minor thing).

I usually go Focus with Pendant builds, the lack of cdr at lvl 1 is fine-ish cause you're rushing Pendant anyway so it's not long you'll be lacking CDR, Conduit passive helps with poke / clear / pressure, and with the Conduit + Lost Artifact start you don't really have mana issues.

Deso isn't that great base stat wise till the upcoming buff, and even then it's just ok, the main draw of the item is the passive, which is often just a "win more item".

And yes, Focus does have less power than Pendulum, however it does directly buff Reaver procs which Pendulum doesen't and it gives you more survivability.

Usually I go Conduit (Focus) > Pendant > Soul Gem / Divine / Estaff > Reaver > Shard > Estaff / Tahuti / Soul Gem on Merlin most of my games.

Just remember that Estaff procs don't count towards player damage so you don't necessarily always realise how effective it is during a match / at the end of the match when looking at player damage.

But yes, with your current build, there's not much reason to run Sand's / Pendulum. For something close to your current build either go Focus, Pendant, Deso, Soul Gem, Reaver, Shard or go Pendulum, Deso/Magus, Soul Gem, Reaver, Tahuti, Shard (or Pendulum, Deso/Magus, Coin, Soul Gem, Reaver, Tahuti/Shard).

Also thank you again. I’m really not trying to challenge anything you’re saying I’m legit just trying to learn

Thank you so much for your input. I’ll try these builds tonight.

To Follow up on some of your points, for my own education. Why wouldn’t you want higher CDR with Merlin? With the build i put up there I get almost constant abilities available to me late game, especially group fights with SoD, which allows me to beat up the tanks with a constant array of abilities.

SoM early game (after chronos) puts the 7.5% more damage buff. I can drop an arcane swirl, arcane pull, ult, flamethrower 1, and flamethrow 2 with those.

So with my early game, I have decent CDR and can do a combo to really hurt someone

Then mid/late game I have constant cooldown ready witn my 40% CDR and the utility of SoD

I feel like I am missing out by not getting Soul Reaver tho but the utility of SoM and SoD are hard to pass especially when they help with dmg pen too

https://www.reddit.com/r/Smite/comments/r5qwiq/math_builds_for_midmages_patch_811_bonus/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

That link also has some curious insight on how nice CDR is in team battles— doesn’t entirely support my build but more so about CDR in general

Load more comments (7 more replies) →

(143) |

The builds I have given all have 20% CDR at minimum. 30% is ideal on someone like Merlin from a lategame perspective, but if we factor Pendant passive alone it's completely fine to just go for 20%.

Magus isn't always reliable cause it's single target, compared to say the pre S7 version of Magus on Merlin which was core cause it had like 50 prot shred on it and worked on multiple enemies.

oooooooo!!! Didn’t know that about mag. Okay that’s a game changer. What do you think of this; focus, chronos, reaver, SoD, soul gem, tahudi

40% CDR
10% pen + SoD pen
Reaver % scaling
Plenty of mag dmg

I still get the benefit of 40% CDR and SoD for grouping and still hit hard between reaver, focus and tahudi

Order (not including starter);
Chronos, soul gem, SoD, reaver, tahudi (or should I move tahudi up?)

(143) |

Take out either Deso, Soul Gem or Tahuti for Obsidian Shard.

So, either Focus, Pendant, Deso, Soul Gem, Reaver, Shard.

or, Focus, Pendant, Deso/Soul Gem, Reaver, Shard, Tahuti.

You have been wonderful. Sorry for all the questions. I’ll be testing everything you mentioned!!

With my first post build, my usually damage is 50-58k damage per game. (30-40 min games)

I’ll keep in mind that shard is very important

From what I got from this; reaver and shard are musts for Merlin.

Need at least 20-30% CDR

I cannot thank you enough

(143) |

20%+ CDR is what I go for Merlin and some other mages (Discordia, Morgan, Tiamat for instance). On all mages you generally want 20%+ pen (usually can be just Obsidian, but it depends on mage and their build path, and the current meta mid build path which I gave out as the one I mainly use, has it's main percent pen come from Shard, which was "Conduit (Focus) > Pendant > Soul Gem / Divine / Estaff > Reaver > Shard > Estaff / Tahuti / Soul Gem").

How important is life steal to you? Is it a “must have” for Merlin?

(143) |

Generally no. Especially cause it's not always easy to fit in over more important items, but it's allright to get (e.g. Soul Gem or Magus) if you don't need Divine.

Thank you man!!!

(143) |

I haven't updated this yet, I have up to date Merlin builds on my mid build guide though.

Edit: It's updated now.

(1) |

I am an Arena main. I used to build when I played a lot of Merlin around season 6 or 7, but the build no longer feels as viable.

Shoes of Focus > Chronos Pendant > Divine Ruin > Charon's Coin > Rod of Tahuti > Soul Reaver

I build CDR early because Arena matches are much shorter and the pace tends to be quick so the ability to switch stances is a cornerstone of my playstyle. Any recommendations to improve the build? I tried one of your builds (Tahuti Rush), and it felt decent.

(143) |

(I need to update these again)

For Arena: Tier 2 Boots start.

Rush > > / > > > > .

If you can sell boots if you had leftover gold and bought , sell it for or maybe even .

Or > > > / > > / > > boots for Reaver / Tahuti.

My last Merlin Arena match I went this: https://smite.guru/match/1148268420

Like the build, im more a fan of starting with soul gem because the sustain

(143) |

I think Soul Gem is a bit weak to rush straight after boots. If im going flat pen as well I usually want that first after boots instead. Also Soul Gem passive scales better the later on in the build you are.

I would greatly recommend gem of isolation it is rather quite gross on him especially in his fire stance no one can run from him

(143) |

It can work situationally, but the item isn't near as strong as it used to be on him (item got nerfed a season or 2 ago), plus with Merlin's damage nerfs you can't really afford to build it too much over other items.

That and lategame you mainly use Ice and Arcane stance.

(1) |

Poly is never worth on merlin. Sure it corresponds with his passive but its not going to be better than buying extra powwer or pen. You are going to be getting most if not all your damage off from abilities not your passive (or Poly).

(143) |

I saw Prettyprime build it on the lifesteal build he uses in ranked, and I think in one game of SCC or SCC (?) he built it.

Not my favourite pickup on him either but I can see it if he's doing a Typhon's lifesteal build, also Poly was buffed at start of season.

Also his passive procs reaver too, another reason to utilise it when you can.

Edit: Removed Poly

(13) |

Build 3 has no flat pen?

(143) |

Flat Pen kinda falls off late, I guess you could fit in Magus or Deso (though Magus is only good in Fire Stance if you get 5+ ticks on a abilitiy compared to deso), also build already had 30% cdr and I didn't want to cap it when power pot exists (outside of Chronos/Deso/Myrdinn combo with their passives).

Actually screw it. I'll just swap soul gem for Deso.

(13) |

It wasn't a complaint, I was just curious about your item choices.

I always pick flat pen third to deal damage to assassins, and is almost always a welcome pickup anyway.

Load more comments (5 more replies) →

(143) |

I don't think there's a game I haven't picked up Divine Ruin yet, Deso is just a bit too expensive to get for me usually.

(13) |

I was talking with Loonatik_ a few days ago, he said that he always goes Divine, even if the enemy team has no heals. His reasoning is that Divine it's more cost efficient than Deso.

He replaces Shoes with Deso, tho.

(105) |

gonna agree on the divine, on top of that if someone gets a bit of lifesteal which several classes do they won;t get as much value out of it during a fight

(143) |

Also if enemy has fire giant buff as well it has value.

(143) |

Deso can work over Soul Gem but I wouldn't swap Tahuti's place for Deso. Deso doesen't really do much late to tanks, while Tahuti will shred them. Myrdinn also has percentage pen to help with that as well.

(143) |

Trelli doing magi boots start (was 5 man vs 5 man comms though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0fnI4VDWfU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzSDANjdyMU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shz567wYMMw

Very Solid Builds

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Merlin Conquest Mid (9.6)

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Table of Contents

Merlin Conquest Mid (9.6)

Smite God: Merlin

Merlin Build

Start 1 (Sands / Magic Focus)

Example Build 1 (Flat Pen Rush)

Example Build 2 (Divine Rush)

Example Build 3 (Divine Rush Alt Version 1)

Example Build 4 (Divine Rush Alt Version 2)

Start 2 (Conduit / Lost Artifact)

Example Build 5 (Chronos' Rush)

Example Build 6 (Chronos' Rush + Anti-Heal)

Start 3 (Sands / Uncommon Staff)

Example Build 7 (Warlock's Rush)

Example Build 8 (Warlock's Rush + Anti-Heal)

Start 4 (Conduit / Magic Focus)

Example Build 9 (Deso Rush)

Start 5 (Shroud / Lost Artifact)

Example Build 10 (Chronos' Rush)

Example Build 11 (Chronos' Rush)

Main Relics

Alternative Items

Niche Items

Merlin's Skill Order Notes (Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often).

Notes

(Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often).

Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt

Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard

Flicker

Elemental Mastery

Chapter Title

Leave a Comment

SmiteFire & Smite

Smite 2 Gods

Smite 1 Gods

Merlin Conquest Mid (9.6)

Smite God: Merlin

Merlin Build

Start 1 (Sands / Magic Focus)

Notes

Example Build 1 (Flat Pen Rush)

Notes

Example Build 2 (Divine Rush)

Notes

Example Build 3 (Divine Rush Alt Version 1)

Notes

Example Build 4 (Divine Rush Alt Version 2)

Start 2 (Conduit / Lost Artifact)

Example Build 5 (Chronos' Rush)

Notes

Example Build 6 (Chronos' Rush + Anti-Heal)

Notes

Start 3 (Sands / Uncommon Staff)

Notes

Example Build 7 (Warlock's Rush)

Notes

Example Build 8 (Warlock's Rush + Anti-Heal)

Notes

Start 4 (Conduit / Magic Focus)

Example Build 9 (Deso Rush)

Notes

Start 5 (Shroud / Lost Artifact)

Notes

Example Build 10 (Chronos' Rush)

Notes

Example Build 11 (Chronos' Rush)

Notes

Main Relics

Alternative Items

Niche Items

Merlin's Skill Order Notes (Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often). x Notes (Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often). Close

Notes

Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt

Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard

Flicker

Elemental Mastery

Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt

Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard

Flicker

Elemental Mastery

Chapter Title

Leave a Comment

SmiteFire & Smite

Smite 2 Gods

Smite 1 Gods

Merlin's Skill Order Notes (Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often).

Notes

(Can prioritise 2 or 3 points in your 2 before maxing the 1 if sitting in Ice Stance early more often).