Persephone - This Goddess Is Broken (S7 Guide)

PERSEPHONE

Hello guys, and welcome to my Persephone Guide. On this guide, I'm going to talk about her abilities, interactions, match-ups and a few things you might not know about her.

Persephone

Persephone

Harvest

Bone Rush

Bone Rush

• Buy your starting item and consumables.
• Add your skill point to Bone Rush.
• Proceed directly to the Mid Lane.
• Cast Bone Rush twice (once on each side of your side of your lane). This way, you will have 2 Harvest seeds already germinating on your lane. Be careful not to cast Bone Rush too far, or the seeds will end up germinating on the enemy's side.
• Proceed to the Speed Buff to help your Jungler clear it. (You should have more than enough time to get there and cast Bone Rush one more time to clear it).
• Return to your lane and use Bone Rush once again to hit the entire wave, and IMMEDIATELY after that, auto attack your Harvest seeds (that should now be flowers) so they poke your enemy.
• Note: If you started with Restored Artifact, you'll notice that despite having casted Bone Rush 3 times in a row, you'll still have enough mana to clear lane and side camps with no problems.
  
  The above strategy has always been really effective for me. The reason being that, since the enemy mid lane is also auto attacking the wave (and not just casting abilities), they suffer from the slow penalty when attacking, so the flowers coming from activating
  Harvest will most certainly damage them (remember that flowers prioritize Gods over minions).
  
  I know what some of you might be thinking: Persephone's flowers are easy to dodge. Well, yes, once you get used to them, they can be dodged. However, they can't be dodged while auto attacking. To effectively dodge them, you have to move. Because of that tiny reason, the enemy Mid laner is already at a disadvantage:
  • If they decide to move and try to dodge the flowers, then they'll stop doing damage to the wave and will start losing wave clear, so you can proceed to do small harpies and then Red Buff a lot more quicker than them.
  • If they decide to keep clearing, they'll suffer damage from two flowers, and they'll be forced to start using their consumables, leaving them vulnerable from and early gank, or even more poke.
    
    After reaching level 3, everything should be even easier. The amount of poke you can do with
    Harvest is insane, and you're not really easy to be ganked with your Harvest and Flourish combo.
    

    MID GAME

    
    
    The amount of damage that Persephone can bring to a teamfight is just crazy. However, some people struggle to land Bone Rush or to use Harvest effectively when in the middle of a big teamfight.
    
    I recommend the following strategies:
    
    • Spam Harvest and use Flourish to explode seeds while fighting in close quarters.
    • Use your Harvest + Auto Attack immediately after using Flourish to do massive damage instantly.
    • When being pushed back in a lane, but it's certain that the enemy will try to dive to either destroy tower/phoenix or simply to kill you/a teammate, then spam Harvest in a small area and wait for all seeds to evolve into a Sprout. Once the enemy approaches enough, use Flourish to activate all Sprouts so they turn into Flowers and wait for the massacre to happen.
    • Make sure to use Grasp of Death whenever the enemy team is grouped up. This ability is huge and can have plenty of follow up even if it is destroyed (also, the damage is nice).
    • Note: In my honest opinion, I don't like Grasp of Death being used as a sniping ability to finish off kills (even if it has an infinite range). While killing an enemy that was only 1HP across the map can feel amazing, you're also sacrificing your biggest teamfight potential. I agree, though. It feels amazing.

      LATE GAME

      
      
      By this point in the game, the enemy team will be wary of you. The amount of damage you will be doing is going to be really intolerable, BUT be wary: you may be focused, and if you die quickly, then your team is losing a big asset.
      
      The strategy at this point on the game is pretty much the same: dealing sustained damage.
      I still recommend you to:
      
      • Use Harvest at any time you can (even if you're not fighting/clearing). This helps a lot in the long run, because of Pomegranate Seeds. Remember that this passive helps you to obtain +3 gold per seed everytime you return to your fountain and if you have stored more than 25 seeds.
      • Remember that when Pomegranate Seeds activates, you become untargetable and all your mana pool is regenerated, so you can use this to your team's advantage.

Let's see Persephone's abilities in more detail:

This passive brings a lot to the game. Anytime you activate your seeds with either a basic attack or Flourish, those seeds will be stacked in your passive meter. At 25 stacks, the passive meter will be shown as "full", however, the counter really stack at 100 seeds. The reason for your passive meter to work this way is that at 25 stacks, anytime you may be killed, you can still keep fighting with 50% reduced damage and restored mana. And that's not it! Pomegranate Seeds are also sold in the fountain for +3 gold per seed. This means that, at full stacks, you can get +225 gold once you back OR are killed! Regardless, getting 225 extra Gold out of nowhere is really handy.

Persephone's first ability is called Bone Rush. This line attack consists in 2 sections: The first section throws a projectile that stops upon contact with a God, a minion or a wall. The second section is the damaging section, and as soon as its finished casting, it will leave behind a seed that can be left to bloom or be activated with a basic attack. Note: Bone Rush's damage CAN pass through walls, but the seed left by this ability CAN'T.

Persephone's second ability is called Harvest. This ability allows you to place a seed (or skull, as the description suggests). This ability has a maximum of 6/6/8/8/10 skulls, so if you try to place, for example 11 skulls when your maximum number is 10, then your first skull placed will wither (disappear, and stack into your passive). This ability has an inner cooldown of 8s per skull. This means that when you place a skull, another will be generated in 8 more seconds. The amount of skulls that you have available will be shown in your passive meter. The first skull placed will heal Persephone if it is activated maximum 3s after it's been placed (with either a basic attack or Flourish). After 4s, this skull will turn into a Sprout and will explode if activated in a circle area, doing damage and slowing enemies. After 24s, the skull will turn into a Flower that will follow and bite nearby enemies (this ability prioritizes Gods over minions, or jungle monsters). After 120s, the flower withers and its seed will get stacked on your passive meter. Harvest's skulls will go to your passive regardless of their activation (auto attack, Flourish or wither). This ability has a percentage damage reduction when you hit the same enemy multiple times with either the explosions or the bites from the flowers. Note: The percentage reduction only lasts 0.5s, so you can easily deal full damage with your Sprouts and Flowers really easy if you are patient.

Persephone's third ability is called Flourish. This is a leap ability that allows you to escape or engage while also activating any skulls, sprouts or flowers in the area. This ability is a leap, so it is vulnerable to cripples and Gravity Surge. As with all leaps, Flourish has an immunity frame. This ability will make any and all Harvest's seeds in the area to evolve to the next stage AND activate them at once. (So, if you have a skull, Flourish will make it evolve to a Sprout and instantly explode; if you have a Sprout, Flourish will make it evolve to a Flower and instantly activate them as well). After using this ability, your next Harvest cast will place a Sprout. This ability is a bidirectional leap, meaning you can either leap forwards or backwards. Flourish can go through walls.

Persephone's ultimate ability is called Grasp of Death. This ultimate ability is great, especially in teamfights. It is a line attack with infinite range that stops upon hitting an enemy God, a wall or certain player-made deployables. If it hits an enemy God, they will take damage and will be surrounded by a wall, incapable of leaping away from it and having their attack speed reduced. Nearby enemies will also take a minor damage from vines and will also be crippled for the duration. This ultimate has a lifetime of 5s or until it is destroyed (requires 5 basic attacks to be destroyed). Enemies are pulled to the center of this ability if they get too close to it. Trapped enemies outside of the wall won't be able to move further than 55 units away from the circle area. Phantom Veil can be used to release an ally from the core wall, however, it is pointless to do so since once away, they will still be entrapped by the vines.