Smite Medusa Build Guide: Pure Ability Medusa (Until they finally nerf Bumba's Hammer)

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Smite God: Medusa

Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Build Summary

Start

Notes Go to jungle often to take advantage of your dagger. Alternatively you can opt to rush

Bumba's Dagger

Boots

Healing Potion

Mana Potion

Extended Build

Core

Notes That being said you won't be able to build your ASAP

Transcendence

Warrior Tabi

Bumba's Hammer

Example build 1 Non crit Dom

Notes If you need to fit in healing sustain then:
isn't bad because of how it can stack on jungle and 5% ability heal
is great but expensive.

Personally I would replace to do so

Bumba's Hammer

Transcendence

Warrior Tabi

The Crusher

Hydra's Lament

Dominance

Example Build 2 non crit Heart

Notes If you need to fit in healing sustain then:
isn't bad because of how it can stack on jungle and 5% ability heal
is great but expensive.

Bumba's Hammer

Transcendence

Warrior Tabi

Brawler's Beat Stick

Hydra's Lament

Heartseeker

Example Build 3 crit dom

Notes Very powerful and huge Malice procs to spam your abilities.

Bumba's Hammer

Transcendence

Warrior Tabi

Rage

Heartseeker

Malice

Example Build 4 crit dom

Notes More auto attack focused and if rng smiles on your crit on a hydra proc its FAT damage

Bumba's Hammer

Transcendence

Warrior Tabi

Malice

Dominance

Deathbringer

7th item/alternatives

Notes And obvious some of the other items in builds#1-4 that you didn't use can be used as a 7th item aka

Titan's Bane

Bloodforge

Magi's Cloak

Mantle of Discord

The Executioner

Original Build

Notes This is what I had originally buiit the core of Evolved Transcendence and is still prominant.

I personally still think is the only weakness and just get as the 6th item

Bumba's Hammer

Transcendence

Warrior Tabi

Devourer's Gauntlet

Hydra's Lament

Dominance

Fixed to be more viable

Shoutout to Branmuffin17 for bringing more viable and comprehensive ways to build this.
Again my 2 cents. Take one of those build paths and just slap Bloodforge in is how I woukld play because I am not good enough to play without lifesteal. Enjoy~

Build overview

399 auto attack damage
1.22 attack speed
20% penetration (30% on auto attacks)
29% lifesteal
40% cooldown reduction
309 power

Not to mention the passives of:
Hydra's Lament
Bumba's Hammer

Now what about your abilities you may ask?
Viper Shot has it's DoT of 35(+30.85) w/ 6s cooldown
Acid Spray has it's damage at 290(+246.8) w/ 8.4s cooldown
Lacerate has it's damage at 280(+246.80) w/ 9s cooldown
Petrify has it's damage at 700(+308.50) w/ 54s cooldown

Anyways, I feel like alot of people will dislike this build because it has a starter item that you can't use until mid/late game but that's how some solo builds are too. Another thing people might hate is the early game and low attack speed. In my opinion early game feels the same as season 7. And with Hydra and Bumba's you don't really care that much for attack speed. Try it out, it's alot of fun and extremely satisfying. (Oh and your tower clear might be bad early/mid game)

Bumba's Hammer is broken

So it's an item that gives you 10% penetration and 20% cooldown reduction and after you use an ability your next basic attack that hits will gain the following:

+80 true damage (in case you didn't know this ignores protections but not damage mitigation
-1s on all your active cooldown INCLUDING your ult
+5% of your maximum health healed

And unlike where you need to land the basic attack within 8s, the buff for the next attack doesnt remove unless you die or somehow lose your hammer. (Synergizes very well with

So enjoy the benefits of mage scaling on abilities as well as physical scaling on your auto attacks.

Also let's not forget the 300 health and 200 mana which for Medusa's effectively ~15% moore hp and thanks to that's a free 6 power. Ok maybe it's not that cool.

Here is kind of an example of how the cooldowns feel:
(Of course don't spam like this but it is nice to have a low cooldown stun and escape)

Double Stacking with Devs

This is the unfortunate choice I've made. Life steal imo is very necessary for hunters but the options are Soul Eater which will overcap you on CDR and is also another stacking item, Bloodforge which is hella expensive in early game, Asi a little pricey early game, weaker endgame but also contradicts the whole ability based idea.

So what to do?

give up on life steal altogether because Bumba's Hammer is good enough sustain endgame
Use Asi or Bloodforge
Use Serrated Edge

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(81) |

You cannot build on hunters.

whoops LOL

removed it. Thanks for the catch

Comment has been deleted

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(143) |

Bumba's is actually pretty strong on certain characters, not really Medusa though.

(143) |

"Anyways, I feel like alot of people will dislike this build because it has a starter item that you can't use until mid/late game but that's how some solo builds are too." - Also you're double stacking. I think it's pretty self explanatory why that's bad.

"Anyways, I feel like alot of people will dislike this build because it has a starter item that you can't use until mid/late game but that's how some solo builds are too." Again I don't particularly find this a deal breaker. Bumba's Hammer Guan Yu is a disgusting tank. Animosity erlang shen is disgustingly power.

wrote:

Also you're double stacking. I think it's pretty self explanatory why that's bad.

Yeah and that's sort of the unfortunate choice I've made. Life steal imo is very necessary for hunters but the options are which will overcap you on CDR and is also another stacking item, which is hella expensive in early game, a little pricey early game, weaker endgame but also contradicts the whole ability based idea.

When I ran this build, the double stacking didn't feel too bad but of course that's anecdotal. Anyways gonna add this as a note. Thanks!

(143) |

Bumba's Hammer Guan Yu you can get away with it cause he abuses it a lot and you can afford to get Teleport in Solo. Animosity Erlang is mostly bad outside of Arena.

(394) |

Also potentially overcapping on CDR...60% end-build in your meme build, which may or may not be on purpose but even as a meme is pretty awful.

Why would you build Devo's in a full-ability build? If you restructure your CDR options, your best self-heal choice for abilities is through , as you get some ability lifesteal, but it also has CDR.

meme build is not good yeah. It's a horribly inefficient build that only works if you are snowballing the enemy in gold. That being said, if you somehow do get to build it... it's pretty gross with how often you get passive off

You build Devo for the power and healing on auto attacks. Despite being ability based the majority of your healing will be done thru AA (full scaling of physical life steal with 40% damage from hydra + 5% from Bumba's Hammer). I really do like as an item but sadly the other cooldown reduction items are much more necessary imo. Maybe if I suggest would make more sense

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(394) |

I would say that even if you could get to the point you could build it (e.g. way ahead), you still don't want to build it. When you overcap like that, you're just throwing away some stats for nothing, e.g. getting less out of the item and overpaying for what you do get.

So if you don't mind, let's work on optimizing an ability build a bit. We can explore both crit and non-crit directions.

Non-Crit Build

So when you are dedicating the build to ability use and getting 30-40% CDR and don't commit to basic attack function (e.g. any attack speed), then you're not getting much use from Devourer's Gauntlet. You mentioned Bloodforge, and I do think that might be your best option when you're maxing CDR through Trans + Hydra's + Hammer. Yes, it's expensive, so you might be best served picking up a few Healing Potions here or there to tide you over in the earlier portions of a match.
That said...I don't know that rushing Trans is necessary here. I don't know what mode you're going to use this in, but if it's for Conquest as a mid-laner, for example, Bumba's Dagger is a cheap starter and you'll get plenty of use out of it in the side harpy camps, your red camp, and any others you might attack in the meantime. Sure you can skip it and just get Hammer when you're 20, but for 500 gold, I'd take that extra camp damage and the small sustain it provides.
I wonder how much damage Hydra's will do in the earlier portions of the build. Let's assume you listen to me and you drop Devo's. I think Hydra's would be fine if you pick up some pen before it. Depending on how flex you want to be with your attack style, you could opt for The Crusher or Brawler's Beat Stick in the Devo's spot. That will give your attacks a bit more oomph (and in the case of Brawler's, give some extra utility).
I think I'm okay with Dominance, and you do cover alternatives I would consider here, namely being Titan's Bane and Heartseeker. I would consider Dom more if you built into The Crusher earlier, for example, while I might just go into HS earlier if you got BBS.
I don't think many of your alt/7th items should be considered...I guess you could consider Shifter's for the power, but I'd probably avoid Frost/Rune, and only pick up Magi's / Mantle if really, really needed.
End build would look something like:

V

OR

OR

Tabi replacement could be whatever you really need / want. Bloodforge can slot in late, or you could get BF a bit earlier and get the Dom / HS as Tabi replacement.

Crit build

First of all thanks for at least humoring the idea rather than completely disregarding because a hunter is using Bumbas.

I definitely need to work on formatting to make a flowchart like that because that probably looks more sensible. I'll have to try the whole start.

Do you mind if I like your stuff into the guide? Not taking credit or anything but it's clearly more sound. The best part about being wrong on the internet is someone can prove you right.

I'll clean up the 7th items for sure.

One thing I'll comment and perhaps this is more of a personal opinion is my disapproval of . Since substantially increase the power of your AA and lifesteal can only trigger on AA, I've found to be weaker and weaker.

(394) |

So here's the code I use in various guides, and obviously you'd have to tailor for individual builds.

Code:

[responsive][row justify-content="center" align-items="center"]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Bumba's Dagger size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=5][color=#33FF33]V[/color][/center]
[icon=Bumba's Hammer size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Transcendence size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Warrior Tabi size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=The Crusher size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=4][color=#33FF33]OR[/color][/size][/center]
[icon=Brawler's Beat Stick size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Hydra's Lament size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Dominance size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=4][color=#33FF33]OR[/color][/size][/center]
[icon=Heartseeker size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col][/row][/responsive]

Code:

[responsive][row justify-content="center" align-items="center"]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Bumba's Dagger size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=5][color=#33FF33]V[/color][/center]
[icon=Bumba's Hammer size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Transcendence size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Warrior Tabi size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Rage size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=4][color=#33FF33]OR[/color][/size][/center]
[icon=Malice size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Heartseeker size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=4][color=#33FF33]OR[/color][/size][/center]
[icon=Dominance size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col]
[col margin="5px" width=20][img]https://i.postimg.cc/T2qb2B5J/Nice-Png-green-arrow-png-350824.png[/img][/col]
[col margin="5px"][icon=Malice size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"]
[center][size=4][color=#33FF33]OR[/color][/size][/center]
[icon=Deathbringer size=40 border="1px dashed #33FF33"][/col][/row][/responsive]

You can copy that right into your guide rather than snipping and pasting a pic for better resolution. And of course, you can adjust for your preferences as preferred, change the outline color, etc. You're welcome to use that base code for whatever in the future also.

You do you; I'm giving suggestions but you 100% don't have to follow it. I was an assault main my first year, and an arena main my 2nd year playing. The first time Conquest was my most played mode was in S7, so I'm the last to harp on non-meta builds, and in fact I enjoy the concepts some people create. My own Medusa guide usually has a hybrid/ability build or two somewhere within it.

is a functional late-game item for a god that's focusing at least in a hybrid sense for ability damage, and has damage in all 4 of her abilities, so I feel it's a solid item. The high power and the % pen is also obviously great for general use. But if you don't like it, or you find you're facing a pretty squishy enemy comp, then it's less appealing.

(81) |

What do you think of using on hunters? Personally I would but something else with more oomph like or .

Load more comments (3 more replies) →

(143) |

Starter, Devo's, Ninja, Exe, Qin's, Obow, Starter Upgrade, boots for Void Shield, would probably be a viable build path, would come down to the individual hunter / match though.

Obviously as founder of this build, I should not recommending any builds to anyone. That being said, if you look up PandaCat on youtube, he runs what Kriega mentioned with variations based on the matchup and the ADC.

that being said if you do end up running and , you almost certainly will not need the . Your tank shred is already pretty high and if you need defense would do you better.

(143) |

Void Shield stacks additively with Executioner and is an option if you want both a phys defense option and "pen" in the specific build path I mentioned.

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