Poseidon- Stick'em with the pointy end

Hi guys, my name is Trevor (RS duce). I have been a big fan of Poseidon for a very long time now. I have been wanting to make a guide for him for a very long time now. I always appreciate feedback, so please let me know what you guys think. I am also open to any changes that you think would improve the guide. Thanks again guys, and I hope you enjoy the guide.

Pros

+ Great wave clear + Best kill combo in the game + Great for any team comp + Good sustain + High scaling leads to a devastating mid/late game + High Mobility/strong rotations + Variety in skill moves ( Tidal Surge(long range poke), Trident(self buff), Whirlpool(AOE DOT + cripple), Release The Kraken!(AOE knock up + massive damage)

All of these abilities allow Poseidon to have a lot of success in the mid lane. With Poseidon you are very powerful in all stages of the game (early,mid,late game). Since he has great wave clear, you can offer a lot of early game pressure. Also Whirlpool is just a great ability for any situation.

Cons Potion of Physical Might

+ mana hungry + no true escape + useless when abilities are on cooldown + Burst damage can be avoided easily with aegis/purification beads + Very low natural protections and health scaling; very squishy + can be hard to hit the knock up with Release The Kraken!

At this time, there aren't very many drawbacks to posiedon.Most other mid laner's have to deal with the same problems.

Starter Items

Vampiric Shroud is still the best starter item for Poseidon. This will give you plenty of sustain because of the ability to clear minion waves at such a low level. The additional 100 health + 5 mp5, is nothing to scoff at in the early game. Just remember, you need to last hit the minion to receive the passive (10 health + 10 mana for each minion last hit)

This will give you even more sustain and is a very good plus safe pick. You won't finish this item until you build Bancroft's Talon as your third item. You still want to buy this item though for the early lifesteal.

This will allow you to sustain in lane for a decent amount of time. Make sure to not use the potion until you are under 50% health.

Same as the Healing Potion, don't use until you have 50% mana or less.

Shoes of Focus


There there is really just one reason why I build Shoes of Focus over Shoes of the Magi. That reason is for the 15% CDR. Since the rest of the build has no CDR items, this is really your one spot to get it. I know Shoes of the Magi is better with Book of Thoth, but its either that, or have no CDR. There is nothing more frustrating when you should have your abilities up, and they're not.


Spear of the Magus


For those few people that say you don't need penetration....well your wrong. So imagine Penetration as a bonus to your god’s stats, and Protection Reduction is a debuff applied to enemy gods. To calculate damage, the usual formula is applied: Damage*100/(Protections reduced by penetration +100). Let's say for example Poseidon with no magic power uses Release The Kraken! which should do 610 damage to a god with no magical protections and we are going up against a good with 200 magic protections. We will use Spear of the Magus as the penetration item.

• With Spear of the Magus: (610*100)/(125+100) = 271 damage
• Without Spear of the Magus: (610*100)/(200+100) = 203 damage

Spear of the Magus is the single best magical penetration item (at max stacks) against enemies with up to 262.5 magical protections (which even guardians usually don’t reach in a normal conquest match). It should be noted that you need to apply the 2 ticks of damage with your abilities before the full penetration takes effect.

Book of Thoth


This item takes care of the two biggest needs of Poseidon, magic power and mana. The best part is about Book of Thothis that the more mana you have, the more magic power you will receive as well. You have to keep this passive in mind when building the rest of the items for Poseidon. You also want to build this as soon as possible to be able to get up to 75 stacks early in the game. After you build this item, unless the enemy god built Doom Orb, you will have the advantage in terms of magic power.


Bancroft's Talon


This is the time that you finish building your Tiny Trinket. For Poseidon, this is the best option if you need magical lifesteal. This is the only lifesteal item that will allow Poseidon to use the item passive on a regular basis. I have tested Polynomicon with Poseidon, and while it does give you an extra 300 mana(10 magic power), you still fall 15 magic power and 2% magical lifesteal short. Plus Bancroft's Talon passive is great for team fights and really most situations. While Polynomicon's passive is only good for a single target.


Gem of Isolation


This item is really just OP on Poseidon in this build. With the passive from Gem, Whirlpool will slow any enemy gods by 25% while pulling the enemy into the middle of the whirlpool. Enemy gods will not be able to escape this making them an easy target for Release The Kraken!. You also get an additional 8 magic power on top of the 70 magic power from Gem because of the passive for Book of Thoth. Gem of Isolation works best when it is paired with Poseidon.


Rod of Tahuti


Really not much to say about this item except that no matter what, you will always build Rod of Tahuti as your 5th or 6th item. That rule applies to all mid lane mages. Something a lot of people don't know though with this item, it does increase the damage done by your auto attack. That fits in great when you use Trident.


Actives


These two actives will give you the most benefit. CC (crowd control) just wrecks Poseidon, buy beads and don't worry about it anymore. Also from experience (both having this done to me/ doing this to other people), using blink over a wall then using Whirlpool and then Release the Kraken!}} is really OP.... but very fun if you are controlling [[poseidon.

Warlock's Sash

Warlock's Sash
This is an option if you are not 100% comfortable with Poseidon in conquest. You won't have as much magic power with this item, but at full stacks, you will have an additional 600 health. If you buy this item, substitute it with Book of Thoth. If you do this you will lose 425 mana, 15 mp5, as well as 16 magic power.

Polynomicon and Hastened Fatalis


This is a really fun troll combo in arena. All im going say is that Trident will be a lot of fun. If you do this build in arena, make sure that you max out you CDR. Shoes of Focus with Chronos' Pendant will take care of that for you.


Chronos' Pendant


If you would like to have some CDR to be able to spam your abilities more, this is the item that you want to get. If you do buy this item, replace Gem of Isolation. Not the best item to take out, but you really need to have everything else.


Magi's Blessing

Magi's Blessing
If you buy any protection items at all, just buy magi's blessing. This gives you everything you need, plus it has a great passive.

This has been a legendary matchup every since these two gods have been around and have been viable. Poseidon's level 1-5 is much stronger than Agni's. He has more push and because he is clearing much faster, he will usually get level 5 before Agni which opens up instant kill potential. Once level 5 does come around, Agni has safe push and strong poke from afar. This matchup is pretty much a game of tic-tac-toe, Agni has his dash, but Poseidon has a cripple. Poseidon has Kraken, but Agni has a dash which he can get off before the cripple applies from whirlpool. Agni has strong ranged poke, but Poseidon is very mobile. Poseidon and Agni practically check each other and (when played properly by both parties) it is a stalemate. In lane, I would have to give the edge to Agni as he is far less mana intensive and has safe, ranged clear to prevent a Kraken combo as well as a dash. However, the one thing that Poseidon really excels at is rotations. With his movement speed, Poseidon can out rotate Agni and pick up kills in other lanes.

Anubis has strong clear from level 1 which can catch a new Poseidon off guard, however if you wait out level 3 when you can fully clear his push becomes less and less useful. The pure nature of Anubis as a mage makes him very vulnerable to ganks and he roots himself for 2 of his 3 damaging abilities which makes it an absolute cakewalk getting a Kraken combo. Poseidon has the mobility to make landing a wrap very difficult and he will also out-rotates the Anubis with ease. The edge goes to Poseidon.

Chronos gets out pushed for days and his weak early game it abused by Poseidon's strong push. Chronos does have rewind for the Kraken combo, but if you're ahead the burst can be too much and he has the potential of dying during the wind up. Other than that, it's a pretty easy lane for Poseidon, look to rotate and punish the weak Chronos early game.

This is an interesting matchup. Poseidon does have much better clear, but with the setup potential and poke that He Bo has he can very easily kill you with a Waterspout into Crushing Wave. He Bo is immune to damage and cc for the duration of his ultimate, so if you decide to go for a Kraken Combo, he can ult out of it and turn on you quickly. It's in your best interest to use your better push to force He Bo into losing gold and wait for a jungler assisted gank. If you can find kill potential go for it, but always be weary.

Isis has very strong push, especially if she decides to buy a blue pot. Without a blue pot, she's very vulnerable to the Kraken Combo even with Circle of Protection. In the early stages of the game the heal is not much and your damage can usually go through it. If she does go blue pot, lose some gold until level 3 and just wait the time on it out. The point of a blue pot is to look for early kills, and if none are gotten, that's a wasted 450 gold that she's been set back. Be careful of her cc as you're one of the squishiest mages in the game and use your strong clear and mobility to your advantage.

Janus has always been a very safe god. His safe clear, high mobility, and damage avoidance with portal make for a very hard target to lock down. You do have stronger early push so that's one thin you have going for you. He can use his portal to avoid a Kraken Combo and Through Space and Time allows him to keep up in rotations with you and even potentially out-rotate you if he leaves lane first. If you can bait him into a portal on the ground which is perfect setup for a Kraken Combo. Ward up constantly and try to be the first to rotate, you have to be ahead of his global presence.

You both have excellent clear and Kukulkan is extremely safe. He's pretty immobile which leads to a decently easy Kraken Combo to land, but if he's cautious he can sit under tower all day. Spirit of the Nine Winds has always been a devastating ultimate, always, always, always be cautious and try to avoid it as much as possible. Use your mobility to your advantage and out-rotate him all day. If he steps up, release the Kraken and punish his immobility.

Not much to say, you out push her and she has very little mobility to avoid a Kraken Combo. Damage her when she's invisible in her fog so you don't miss a Kraken. Otherwise try to rotate often to match her global presence.

He has strong push to almost match you own. However his heal really numbs the damage from a Kraken combo. He roots himself with Searing Pain which can make landing a Kraken Combo that much easier, just hope he can't sustain through your damage. It's going to be a very stall lane so look to rotate and abuse your movement speed. Not much to say, Poseidon is a hard counter to Scylla in lane. His strong clear abuses her terrible clear. His rotations from his mobility abuses her poor mobility. Their burst damage is comparable and have an equally strong level 5. Poseidon is very mobile making it hard for Scylla to land her skill shots, meanwhile Poseidon has cripple to deny Scylla escape and allow for a very easy Kraken Combo. Obviously, once the laning phase is over Scylla has more cc and she has more constant burst damage with Crush, but she will be so behind and always playing catch up with Poseidon. His clear is no where near yours, but his poke is absurd. The burst damage you can take from a 3-1 combo from Vulcan is scary. Your cripple does counter his only, mediocre escape but getting to him will usually need a brave dive and some missed skill shots from Vulcan or jungler assistance. Again, abuse your push and look to rotate often. Similarly to Scylla you hard counter your younger brother. His clear is nothing compared to yours, he's very immobile which leads to an easy Kraken Combo and easy rotations. The lane should be an easy win for the most part. Zeus does have terrifying damage, so avoid it the best you can. Your push is far stronger than his, but the natural protections he gains makes him near unkillable at full hp. As I've said time and time again, abuse your rotating power and focus on another lane. Unless you get help from another source of damage, it's unlikely that you'll solo kill him. At the most look for an opportunity after he's just used his ultimate, otherwise forget about it.

I can not stress enough how powerful your mobility is. Because Smite is based around skill shots, movement speed is the most valuable stat you can have and it's given to you for free. The thing that sets Poseidon aside from other mages is his mobility; the only other mage having comparable mobility is Janus.

When using your Kraken, it can be and should be used defensively if need be. It slows in all parts of the circle and has a knock up and stun in the center making for immense zoning potential. If you get jumped by a Bastet for instance, and she dumps cats on you, drop the Kraken at you feet and run. The cats will take the knock up/stun and so will bastet if she doesn't back off. This works for any defensive situation, maybe you don't drop in at your feed, but at a choke point where you're being chased.

Use Tidal Surge to your own advantage defensively. Tidal Surge moves very slow and is very easy to dodge. So, slow someone with Trident and then drop a whirlpool under them, when they're slowed and trying to get out Tidal Surge is much easier to land. You can push them back into Whirlpool or just easily land it and get damage off.

Always try to have your passive meter full. The mobility and extra damage is invaluable on a mage. After a complete Kraken Combo rotation your tidal meter will be empty. Use Trident to quickly restore it.

Offence

• Basic Attack: 214
• Power: 663
• Attack Speed: 1.08
• Lifesteal: 12
• Penetration: 15

Defensive

• Physical: 52
• Magical: 30
• Health: 1970
• HP5: 16

Utility

• Movement: 425
• Cooldown: 15
• Mana: 2170
• MP5: 43

Item Passives

PASSIVE - You permanently gain 10 mana per stack, and receive 5 stacks for a god kill and 1 stack for a minion kill (max 75 stacks). Additionally, 3% of your mana is converted to magical power.
PASSIVE - You gain +15% Cooldown Reduction.
PASSIVE - You gain 1 additional magical power per 1% of your missing health.
PASSIVE - Enemies hit by your damaging abilities have their magical protection reduced by 10 and an additional 10% for 5 seconds (maximum 2 stacks).
PASSIVE - Enemies hit by your damaging abilities will move 25% slower for 2 seconds.
PASSIVE - Increases magical power by 25%.

Hope you enjoyed the guide, here are some helpful videos for you guys.


Lassiz

Play Video

Check out my other guides as well:

Chronos

Ah Puch

Janus

Scylla

Ra

Jhoijhoi's Guide to BB Coding.



GunnerMC97 from tier-monster