Shadowsteppin' (Updated 2014-02-10)

I will be moving this guide over to my main shared fire account. I will be keeping the guide in largely the same format but I plan to update and reorganize the data. I play many MOBAs so i decided to do away with all my old single accounts that have accrued over time.

Once I get this guide back up to snuff I'll republish it and hopefully it will be helpful again.

EARLY GAME You have two primary goals early game: SURVIVE & FARM. If you cannot do those things, you become worthless. You need to play intelligently as an assassin. An assassin doesn't charge a battlefield of people. He isolates and destroys them in an instant. Play safe, play smart, and above all wait for your moment. If you can't see it, you will learn to. The most paramount portion of early game is how fast you can stack your items. Leveling Decoy will begin to one-shot waves. Start taking RED/BLUE buffs for buffs, XP, or even just gold. Hand of the Gods should always be on CD. MID GAME This is when you have gotten both of your stacking items and boots. You should roam looking for opportunities but keep your waves and jungle clear. Getting maximum stacks is your goal here. Jotunn's Wrath is a great pickup for the CDR. You will start being able to spam Decoy netting you efficient GP5. You should start dealing some pretty nasty damage but stay cautious. You are an assassin. Buy wards and start trying to pick off the enemy jungler or low HP targets fleeing in the jungle. Remember you are just KILL SECURING. Try to make sure you are cordial with your team. They will be more likely to feed you/give you attention. LATE GAME Just blow people up. The most important question you need to cycle through is: "Is it safe." Sure, you can zero all non-tanks. And yah, It'll be a 4v5...for 2 seconds. And then the guy they helped and fed and babied is dead and it's a 4v4. You need to be able to come and go effortlessly, taking out targets without being touched. If you get low, lifesteal a camp. Come back and zero another person. Overwhelmed, split push. You will need to chose between crit and burst here. Crit is better for general comps, but against a squishy team, burst will be more effective. I enjoy the burst because it fits nicely (Max AR PEN, Max CDR, and the items have good synergy).

HEARTSEEKER

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HEARTSEEKER This is a pretty standard opener for some people. I prefer to not use risky items or items that I know are going to be sold. That being said, this is a good item, and is regularly rushed before a normal build. Its up to you to decide if its too risky or how/when to trade it in (usually late game after a death).

CORE

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WARRIOR TABI Very standard. Pretty much a no brainer. CDR boots would be a bit of waist on Loki. He needs all the raw power he can get early game.

Devourer's Gloves

DEVOURER'S GLOVES Stacking items traditionally end up being more powerful than static ones. This will give a you a little bit of sustain. It will also scale nicely in to late game while keeping you focused on farming.

TRANSCENDENCE Another scaling item which is chosen for most of the same reasons. It alleviates most of your mana issues and gives you a nice chunk of damage as well.

JOTUNN'S WRATH Again a pretty standard pick. Gives you everything you need. Scales with Transcendence, grants armor pen and some flat damage. Still a necessary item even after the nerf.

OPTIONS

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witch stone

Utility Loki was a whimm but it actually ended up being pretty good. If your team needs a little buffer or you just feel like changing it up, utility Loki can be very fun. Maxes out CDR early for lots of mind games in whichever lane/role you take. Strong team items and some defense also helps round you out so that you are a threat by merely being alive, yet you are incredibly difficult to actually suppress. You're damage won't be extremely high, and 1v1s will also be difficult. Utility Loki requires skill but above all it requires awareness of the situation, positioning, team strength, and player skill. You will also be drawing a lot of attention off of otherwise heavily focused carries.

BEHIND YOU! Loki's passive may seem lackluster. Most people's initial thought is: "How often will I manage to be behind my opponent." STOP. This passive has amazing synergy and when used correctly, is deadly. It multiplicatively scales that 20% bonus with your damage from both crits, hydra and any steroids such as potions or your aimed strike. The result is 1k+ single hits. This just gives further incentive to a mechanic you should already be following.

VANISH This is your money maker. Proper usage of this skill will determine success or failure. Knowing when and how to stealth separates the bad Lokis from the good ones. Vanish can be a powerful escape tool or gank/initiate tool. Timing, precision, and judgment have to be learned for this skill to be utilized to its fullest.

decoy

DECOY Lokis primary wave clear ability. Level this first to farm quickly and safely. It also saves a lot of turret damage. When laning, drop on the ranged creeps as the melee will run back to it. This will ensure that you hit all the wave that you have easy back hits on the tougher melee mobs. When jungling, attempt to place it just behind the large mob to ensure you are proccing your passive for faster clears. This ability has some more advanced tactics explained later.

aimed strike

AIMED STRIKE This is your damage. Has a lowish cooldown, scales with your passive, and slows the enemy. Do not forget to keep activating this in skirmishes. Too many proc it at the start and forget about it (because most physical abilities have longer CDs).

ASSASSINATE This ability kills more Loki than any other ability in the game. When to ult, separates the good Loki's from the god-like ones. You should not always initiate with this ability. Sometime it is best used as a low CD combat blink. It is usually better to stealth > aimed strike than to all in. Know that, if you use your ult you had better zero someone. Comes with a good amount of damage and a nice little stun. The blink is fairly long range and can pass through walls so there are many possibilities for this skill.

FIST OF THE GODS This active helps Loki's early lane/camp clear and builds into a nice little aoe stun. This item is very popular right now in all positions/lanes. I would hold off on the upgrade until you have the money left over unless you have some good interrupt opportunities. Which also makes this item extremely strong vs enemies with channeled attacks/abilities.

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COMBAT BLINK Allows you to make suicidal moves and survive. I love taking this active as it requires a very high skill level to make it effective. Use this to jump structure, walls, aoe, and just about anything else you can think of. Becomes very strong and long range when you chain this with Assassinate. I also don't upgrade this into combat blink until I am sure there will only be team fights left (lower CD is way better for laning phase ganks). DOES NOT BREAK STEALTH.

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AEGIS AMULET INVINCIBILITY. At the sacrifice of healing, dealing damage, or even moving. Can be used to cleanse CC, tank high damage ults, or buy time for your team to get there. Has 1,000 uses. Pendant variation allows movement but doesn't stop CC so chose wisely. I tend to go pendant in arena for reference sake.

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PURIFICATION BEADS Use this if the enemy team has a ton of CC. Has a lowish CD and can get you out of many scrapes. It will also lower your already super low CDs on use. You can effectively chain Vanish and Aimed Strike back to back with this skill and a little timing.

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SHIELDED TELEPORT The goto map presence active. Can be used on wards and turrets. You can get some nasty ganks off using this. It also allows you to trade near death and get back to lane to save the turret or secure a kill. CD can be a little restrictive. Shielded Recall also has awesome synergy with Vanish.

I have been playing MOBAs for about 4 years now; video games in general for 17 years. I have played DOTA, LoL, HoN, and obviously SMITE. Loki is my favorite god currently.


I enjoy writing out guides and formatting them. I will take anything you have to offer and try to better the guide. I did place a lot of effort and thought into this guide so please be gentle.


I am generally pretty mild mannered, but feeders and leavers put me on edge. BEWARE!!!


This guide is meant as a general Loki guide but has a bit of focus on mid for tactics and explanations. I tend to play him there so I feel more comfortable talking about it.


If you have a question, would like to comment, have found an error, or would like to help this guide, please leave a comment below. I am open to suggestions.


And please at least try the build out and read through the guide before commenting or voting. I'm not the world's best or most experienced Loki player, but I have placed thought and effort into my decisions. Hopefully, they work for you too.

Tiermonster: http://tiermonster.com/
Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Smite
Reveal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs1-VvN2hxw
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki