one shot mayhem

try to use and kill everyoneThe Way Loki Should Use His Abilities.
All Loki players should learn how to auto cancel instead of using 1+3+auto combo. The correct combo for Loki is situational. But whenever you want to engage someone, then the normal combo would be: 1->auto->3->auto->2->auto and if needed you use your 4 then auto. With Hydra, you have proc'd it 4 times using this combo!

Stop using your ult to initiate and use it for escapes or kill secures. Using your ult first gives your opponent to counter your entire kit with Aegis and also prevents you to chase the target down if they jump or dash over a wall etc. You will not 1 shot (meaning 1 auto with Loki's entire kit) anyone as Loki unless you have 5 more lvls than a squishy then maybe. Your 1 is to be used for initiation and if the enemy escapes, then use your ultimate to secure them.

Don't use your 3 when you are about to attack. Besides the first thing i posted on this forum about auto canceling (with or without Hydra), if you use your 1 then use your 3 to attack, you are also giving your opponent the general location of your existence and gives the enemy a "heads up" feel. Whenever you stealth in front of someone, people will wait for that 3 sound, if they do then they are about to be surprised. Just do 1->auto then 3-> If you get stunned and they run away, it won't matter because your 1 bleed does the 2nd highest damage in your entire kit! As long as you get your bleed on them then it is all okay. (Especially if you max your 1 first)

Stop maxing your decoy. You can clear almost the entire wave with Decoy at rank 4. Just use your autos to kill the big guys and use your extra skill point on other abilities.

Try to use your stealth as long as possible. Once you press 1, you will be invisible for 4 seconds, at this time you will see your 1 in CD. Meaning that during your stealth your 1 will slowly come back up. Near max CDR, your 1 will take 9 seconds to come back up. Subtract 9 with 4 seconds of your stealth and your 1 will come back in 5 seconds! Using your time during stealth will also make the enemy think you have ran away giving you the element of surprise!

This is a preference but i strongly recommend to NOT upgrade your ultimate until you have finished maxing your 1 and 3. Here are some facts: Yes you will deal MORE damage if you upgrade your ult at lvl 9, 13, and 17. But you will deal LESS damage when your ult is down and LESS damage overall. The reason being is because your 1 and 3 comes up more frequently than your ultimate. So maxing your 1 and 3 as fast as possible will deal more damage overall and deal more damage if your ult is in CD.

Realize how much damage your abilities do. In order from MOST to LEAST amount of damage is: 4, 1, 2, 3.

Use your decoy more than just a clearing tool and auto canceling tool. Use it for body blocking, for blocking autos & certain abilities, and peeling.

Use your 3 "aimed strike" to scare off opponents or make them paranoid. This will give off your position but that isn't the point because you aren't attacking. The goal is to zone the enemy when you are doing objectives.

When you use vanish, don't walk straight, walk the other way to confuse the enemy.

If you get ulted by Ares, and don't wanna use beads or if you do not have beads at the moment, then ult Ares or someone else at the exact time you are about to get pulled. Loki's ult gives him a split second of cc immunity IF USED ON A GOD.

What To And What Not To Buy On Loki!
Don't buy crit. It is a fact that crit deals a **** ton of damage. However the problem with crit is it's chance OF CRT. Loki's who buy crit only get 1 crit item which is DeathBringer. It only has 20% crit chance which is extremely low. Assuming you're building an average Loki build (basically pure pen) then you won't be needed to auto much cuz of your insane damage. Another words, less autos=less crits. To make crit reliable you would need to buy more crit to increase your crit chance to which point you will need to replace your needed items on Loki which then you mind as well build attack speed on Loki WHICH isn't any better. Also if you decide to ignore this advice and buy crit anyways, then it is a lot better to buy Malice than DB because it has been proven that Malice does more DPS than DB especially sense Loki's power is really high. It's better to get pen such as brawlers beat stick than DB/Malice for the 100% chance of penetrating 20 protections and 100% chance of removing their healing by 40%. Last thing, DB only provides crit and power. Crit is luck based which isn't good unless you buy more crit, and power isn't as useful as you think...(keep reading).

Stop buying Fatalis on Loki...What is wrong with you? (Unless you are going for fun and building pure attack speed then go ahead :P)

Attack speed does not work on Loki. You will burst someone almost as fast as building pure pen, however you won't have CDR and auto'ing people to death just prolongs the fight which can get you killed. Another words, you don't wanna be visible when attack someone.

Build Hydra before you buy Jotunns. They both have 40 power so that cancels each other out. Hydra has passive mana regen which is better than 150 mana you get from jotunns. Now it's 10 pen from jotunns VS Hydra's 1st passive. Hydra wins because 10 pen is not much and if you auto cancel we Hydra then you will deal more damage than Jotunns. Also Hydra is cheaper so you can get it faster with 15% CDR compared to the expensive jotunns and its 20% CDR which isn't a big difference.

Stop buying Transcendence in ALL GAMEMODES. Thanks to Hydra's 2nd passive, you won't be needing Trans any more. Also, by not getting trans you will use Loki's early game. Yes Loki is early game as well because if you upgrade your 1 and 3 first you will kill fast. The only reason why you would think Loki isn't early game is if you BUILD STACKS Looks at you... and if you are prioritizing your skill points into your decoy. One argument that people have to fight this statement would be this. "But Trans gives me 90+ power and Hydra only gives 40." Well you see, it's a very common misconception that power will increase your damage that you DEAL to the enemy (Physical DMG only). But did you know that this build (lvl 20): Boots, Hydra, Jotunns, Titans, Crusher, Brawlers, will deal MORE damage than building: Trans, Boots, Jotunns, Titan, Hydra, Brawler. The first build has 230 power while the 2nd has 288 power. So how does the first build deal more damage than the 2nd build? That is because everyone in the game has base Physical Protections. Power means almost nothing if they have defense to mitigate it. Lets use a top tier mid lane god. Raijin base defense at lvl 20 is 71 physical protection. Now it's time for math. The 2nd build will have 30 flat pen and 33% penetration. The formula is: (71 x (1 - 0) - 0) x (1 - .33) - 30) which will bring Rajin's protection 71 to 17.57 or 18 physical protections. Loki's 3 does 220 + 100% of power which equals to 584 not mitigated damage. Lets add it to 18 protections. (100 x 508) / (18 + 100) which is 430.5 damage or 431 your 3 will deal against Raijin. Now lets look at the first build which has 50 flat pen and 33% penetration against 71 protections: (71 x (1 - 0) - 0) x (1 - .33) - 50) which is -2.43 but there is a rule where you cannot go below 0 so Raijin is left with 0 protection. No need for another formula, just add 230 + 220=450. 1st build does more damage than 2nd... As you can tell you deal more damage with less power and more pen then more power and less pen. The 2nd build is an average Loki build and the first is a bit more unrealistic but since Trans means nothing with his 90 power, then it leaves 1 slot open. You can buy crusher to deal more damage or get defense or get what i get which is bloodforge.... "But you just said power isn't...SHHHHH" You get Bloodforge not for the damage but for the passive and sustain. Much like how we got Trans for mana but no longer need it thanks to Hydra. Lose a bit of damage and get some sustain. :)

Facts About Loki That YOU NEED TO KNOW!
Loki's passive isn't crit. Crit is 2x damage off of your basic attack. Loki's passive just adds 20% damage from behind off of your basic attack. (Because of this, people think that DB will work well with Loki because they think his passive is crit, It's true that the passive works well with any crit because crit applies first then 20% bonus damage from passive is added but then again, 20% crit chance is very low.)

Loki's Decoy doesn't block neith ult, and doesn't proc bluestone. This is because Loki's decoy is classified as a "pet" such as Bastet Cats.

Loki's Passive DOESN'T APPLY to ANY of his ABILITIES! Not even his ult ironically "... Loki will backstab that target doing..." (cuz its an ability and not a basic)When you are invisible, having those "!!!" marks above you means two things. Either you are revealed or there is someone doing a camp, FG, or GF nearby. (Use Loki's vanish like a radar)

Loki's decoy doesn't remove backdoor protections. This means that Loki isn't a good backdoorer against towers and phoenix's.

When you are invisible, laughs, taunts and jokes will not be played. However, claps can be heard but can give your position away.

Loki is both over powered and under powered. He does well in low play and sucks in higher play.

Loki's Infiltrator skin makes the loudest but shortest noise when using "Vanish and "Aimed Strike". Loki's Grim Mariachi skin makes the quietest sound but the longest noise when using only his Vanish. (His 3 plays a super quiet guitar noise but it's almost impossible to hear it when you are in game).

Be careful when you are about to ult someone who has leap a leap or teleport because if they leap or tele at the same time as you ult them, they will escape while you are backstabbing the air...not a joke either. This is because you ulted them when they were "Targetable" but since the animation of Loki's ult takes a while, by the time you stab them the enemy will have leaped or tele'd away leaving you looking stupid and leaving the enemy unharmed because they are "Untargetable" during leap or tele.

Where Is Loki Good At? (Gamemode and Lanes)
Loki does well in any gamemode besides, Conquest, Assault, and 3v3 Joust.

Conquest is a team-based game which Loki lacks. If you pick Loki in conquest then you have to decide which role to pick. However if Loki is picked in any role he will make the team suffer. Loki Solo reduces frontline for teamfights and will encourage an invade early game. Also having Loki in solo for "Split pushing" isn't as good as you think. If you didn't pick Loki in the first place then maybe you wouldn't of needed to split push because the game wouldn't have become a 4v5. Loki Mid removes the mage which is a need for magical aoe and burst. Having the mage going solo and Loki going mid isn't an effective method because again, no frontline. Also Loki in Mid needs to upgrade his decoy for clear so he won't fall behind but if he does then his ganking potential is ruined and vice versa. Loki ADC is a better option because you aren't ruining the frontline and you aren't ruining the balance between magical and physical gods in the game. However one thing that makes this not a good is the lack of range and lack of teamfight which duo lane has a lot in. Loki jungle is the worst role for Loki. Same as mid, if he upgrades his decoy for buff clear, then he will lack gank damage, vice versa. Also the obvious fact that Loki can't team fight.

Assault is because well...How are you going to sneak up from behind if you stealth in the front? Also Assault is a constant team fight... GL

Loki in joust isn't great because of the fact that Joust is a closed place with only 1 side of a jungle and the Gods that are picked usually have the most cc, such as ***ba, Nox Hou Yi pick or etc.

"NEW" Starter Items For Conquest!
I will not add builds in this thread because everyone has a different building style. All I am stating is what items to specifically NOT BUY. Items like void shield, crusher, any defense is all up to you because they all are decent items for situational moments. However I will give one opinion on the starter build for CONQUEST because of the fall of Trans. Get bluestone and boots with 4 health and 4 mana pots for any role besides jungle. I'm aware blue stone doesn't proc on decoy but it does proc on everything else. The point of this build is to use Loki's early game and to rush boots and CDR for better rotations.

"NEW" Tricks With Loki!
When pushing a wave to attack a tower, if the minion wave is behind, then go behind the big minion and start to zig-zag to keep in pace with the wave to ensure reaching the enemy tower as fast as possible without being targeted.

Spam laughing isn't just a fun thing to do, you may also use it to irritate or taunt the enemy. Humans will act like humans so whenever you kills someone, spam laugh their corpse to get them to focus you rather than someone else in your team. This will mean that it will be harder for you to re-kill that target but also makes it easier because people who use anger and frustration as a fighting tool will tend to mess up more frequently.