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Sobek - Killer Tank

2 0 44,081
by II_Seraphim_II updated January 25, 2013

Smite God: Sobek

Build Guide Discussion 1 More Guides
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Sobek Build

Starting Build

Build Item Mark of the Vanguard Mark of the Vanguard
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
2
Build Item Mana Potion Mana Potion
2
Build Item Reinforced Greaves (Deleted) Reinforced Greaves (Deleted)
3
Build Item Cloak of Meditation Cloak of Meditation

Core Items

Build Item Breastplate of Valor Breastplate of Valor
Build Item Void Stone Void Stone
Build Item Voidblade Voidblade
Build Item Sovereignty Sovereignty
Build Item Bulwark of Hope Bulwark of Hope

Less Focus, More Tanky

Build Item Sovereignty Sovereignty
Build Item Bulwark of Hope Bulwark of Hope
Build Item Hide of the Nemean Lion Hide of the Nemean Lion
Build Item Stone of Gaia Stone of Gaia

Sobek's Skill Order

Charge Prey

1 X Y
Charge Prey
2 15 16 18 19

Tail Whip

2 A B
Tail Whip
3 10 11 12 14

Sickening Strike

3 B A
Sickening Strike
1 4 6 7 8

Lurking In The Waters

4 Y X
Lurking In The Waters
5 9 13 17 20
Charge Prey
2 15 16 18 19

Charge Prey

1 X
Sobek charges forward at a frenzied pace. If Sobek hits an enemy, he does damage, becomes briefly CC Immune, and throws the enemy behind him. Sobek is immune to knockups while dashing.

Ability Type: Dash, Crowd Control, Damage
Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 12s
Tail Whip
3 10 11 12 14

Tail Whip

2 A
Sobek whips around in a circle, knocking enemies back and doing damage.

Ability Type: Circle, Knockup, Damage
Damage: 90 / 135 / 180 / 225 / 270 (+40% of your Magical Power)
Radius: 20
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 12s
Sickening Strike
1 4 6 7 8

Sickening Strike

3 B
Sobek does an axe attack that damages all enemies in front of him and lowers their healing received. In addition, Sobek heals for each enemy hit, up to 3.

Ability Type: Cone, Heal, Damage
Damage: 90 / 125 / 160 / 195 / 230 (+30% of your Magical Power)
Healing Reduction: 40%
Healing Reduction Lifetime: 5s
Heal: 22 / 29 / 36 / 43 / 50
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 12s
Lurking In The Waters
5 9 13 17 20

Lurking In The Waters

4 Y
Sobek submerges himself, where he gains 20% protections, regenerates Mana, is immune to Crowd Control, may pass through player-made walls, and he Slows all enemies. When Sobek emerges, he damages all enemies in the radius. Cancelling the ability decreases the damage.

Ability Type: Circle, Debuff, Damage
Damage: 300 / 450 / 600 / 750 / 900 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Submerge Slow: 30 / 32.5 / 35 / 37.5 / 40%
Submerge Lifetime: 5s
Submerge Mana Regen: 10% per second
Radius: 30
Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction

Hey guys, this is my first SMITE guide ever, in fact its my first guide of any type ever. Before we begin, I would just like to make it clear that I'm by no means a pro SMITE player. I've tried quite a few gods, but the one that I seem to have the best results with is Sobek (followed closely by Odin). So with that being said, I decided that my first SMITE guide ever should be a Sobek guide. Hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. Im sure pro players will have better advice than I can give, but this should make it relatively easy to get started with Sobek and start kicking butt! Feel free to leave comments. Tell me if it was helpful or not, or if there is anything you would change.

Note: My guide is a bit long and in depth because its for people who have never used Sobek before so feel free to skim/skip some sections.

Pros / Cons


Pros:
- Extremely high survivability
- Amazing utility
- Decent Damage for a strong tank
- Great CC -- Can disrupt, initiate, save allies, run away...pretty much anything!



Cons:
- Charge Prey take a little getting used to.
- Heavily dependent on Focus
- Dependent on teammates -- Can still solo kill enemy gods, but not very efficient
- Minion clearing potential lacking early game
- Very mana hungry early game
- Banned a lot in games so you may not get a chance to use him
- Ummm....sucks playing against him?

Skills

Passive: Blessing of the Nile
Sobek's basic attacks that hit an enemy grant him +5 protections and physical power, increasing with focus up to +10, for 4 seconds (max 3 stacks).

This is why focus is important for Sobek. Sure it's been nerfed quite a bit, but this is still a very potent skill to have. With 3 simple hits you can increase your magical and physical defense, and physical power by 30! Thats like a free item right there! Trust me, this passive will help you a lot throughout your entire match.

Active 1: Charge Prey
Sobek charges forward at a frenzied pace. If Sobek hits an enemy god in his path, he stuns them doing 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+50% of your magical power) magical damage and throws the god behind Sobek.

Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana.

Cooldown: 15 s.

This is the defining skill for Sobek. This is why people keep banning him in every other match you play. It's not so much that this skill is OP, it's that it can completely disrupt the enemy's tactics and separate them allowing you and your partner to burn one of them with relative ease. It takes a little getting used to to get the aiming and timing right, but once it clicks, watch the enemy QQ and regret their decision to not ban Sobek. I always put a point in this at lvl. 2 and max it last. The increase in damage is irrelevant. You might get a kill here and there from this skill, but the main reason we want this is the throwback. Also note that this is great move for chasing and escaping and is especially useful for escaping AOE ultimates such as Hades' or Ymir.

Active 2: Tail Whip
Sobek whips around in a circle, knocking enemies back and doing 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+40% of your magical power) magical damage. Has a 0.4 second charge time.

Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana.

Cooldown - 12 s.

This skill actually does some decent damage, and you can use it as a damage dealing skill when necessary, but its shinning trait is its great utility. This skill is useful in disrupting enemies. For instance, in a group match, if Ymir lands his frost breath on your teammates, use this bad boy to knock every enemy god back and effectively cancel any skill they were in the process of casting. This has literally saved my team hundreds of times from the death combo of Ymir freeze --> gang rape from all enemy gods. Another amazing way to use this skill is right after you use your Charge Prey. It tosses them in the air, allowing your ally to land hits while the enemy is incapacitated. It also pushes the enemy further back and is especially useful for enemies with leaps as this prevents them from escaping for a bit allowing you to dish out more damage. Word of caution, be careful who your lane partner is as this can disrupt their skills. Will expand on this more later. I usually put a point into this at lvl. 3 and max this skill second.


Sickening Strike
Sobek does an axe attack that damages all enemies in front of him for 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+30% of your magical power) magical damage and lowers their healing received by 25%, increasing with focus up to 50%, for 4 seconds. In addition, Sobek heals 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 (+10% of your magical power) for each enemy hit.

Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana.

Cooldown: 13 s.

This is a very important skill. I always put a point into this baby first and max it first. "Why Seraphim?" you may ask. Well lets look at what it does. It does pretty decent damage, that's good. It reduces enemy healing by 25% (50% with max focus) thus helping with those annoying healing characters like Hel and Guan Yu and Ra, etc... who just keep spamming their heals. But most importantly, this skill gives you massive sustain! Sure its not as useful (OP) as back in the days when it scaled on focus, but even with it's reliance on magical power (and your general lack of magical power) its still very useful. At max level without any magical power hitting 3 minions (which is common) gives you back 180HP. Now wait til you get later on in the game and there are 10+ minions all bunched up. Use this baby and you get 600HP+ instantly! Trust me, this skill is why Sobek can just keep going when others have to return to base. Learn to love it!


Ultimate: Lurking in the Waters
Sobek submerges himself into a pool of water for 4 seconds. While Sobek remains underwater, he regens mana and is immune to crowd control. Enemies within the pool are slowed by 10%, increasing with focus up to 20%. When Sobek emerges, he damages all enemies in the radius for 350 / 500 / 650 / 800 / 950 (+80% of your magical power) magical damage. Canceling the ability early results in decreased damage.

Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 mana.

Cooldown: 90 s.

Aight, this Ultimate is pretty good. Not the best ever, but still pretty darn good. You get mana regen, CC immunity, and it even applies a slow effect, and if your following my guide, you're focus should be around 95-100 so you get the full effect of it! Its good for finishing off enemies and also pretty good as an escape move. Try to aim for the squishy targets with this skill especially the ones without leaps (Anubis, Artemis) as this can take a HUGE chunk out of their health. But be aware that people usually learn the timing for your skill and will pop Aegis right before your attack hits. If you notice people doing this, remember you can just right click to cancel early. Sure you do less damage, but less damage is better than no damage!

Items

Starting Build

This is the build order I would suggest when you are just starting out with Sobek, or just have that weird feeling in your stomach that this won't be an easy match. Mark of Vanguard gives you some well needed early game defense and health. Trust me, this baby is really worth the 750 you spend on it. Besides, you can always sell it later on to reclaim your item slot. I normally suggest selling it end game, or when you have 1 magical protection item and one physical protection item at the very earliest.

As for meditation, I always take it. It only costs 250 gold, and despite the nerf introduced a long while ago (no more MP5 when on CD) it's still worth it. This gives you a heck lot more sustain when in lane and allows you to be more liberal about using your skills which is always a good thing.

Buy potions as you see fit. I normally get 2 of each, sometimes even going as far as 3 of each, but it all depends on your confidence and skill level. I think a safe way to start would be 2 of each.

You can always tweak this as you see fit. Perhaps you wanna just skip Mark of the Vanguard all together and just go straight for the boots. Or maybe you feel meditation is a waste of time. Change it up to best suit your play style! All I'm showing here is a safe way to start which works very well.

Core Items

Breast Plate of Valor
This baby is awesome! Not only does it give you physical protection (which is awesome cause you're a tank) and focus (more tankiness) it also gives you a CD reduction! Now you can spam all those skills that people hate so much about Sobek making you 25% more annoying! You'll be a super Egyptian troll! A definite must.

Void Stone
So we are pretty much getting this for the magical defense and the focus but the magical power and magical penetration sure are some great bonuses to have! So not only do take less damage, you now dish out more! And lets not forget that your magical power directly affects the healing of your Sickening Strike, so now you are healing more!

Void Blade
Aight so lets see what this baby does for us! Gives you physical protection and focus, two things we obviously need. But then it goes above and beyond the call of duty by giving us some attack power which, alongside our passive, makes your swings hurt that much more, and some physical penetration which makes them hurt even more and makes our physical damage partners more deadly! Dont think just cause you got this baby you can go all Rambo and pimp smack fools to death, no, you cant...I tried. But it helps, trust me it does.

Alternatively you could forgo the void blade and instead opt to go for...

Sovereignty
With this item, your basic attack damage will be reduced, but instead you get a lot more tankier! You get +10 more focus and +5 more physical protection than with Void Blade, you get +450HP and the aura that gives you and allies an extra 20 magical and physical protection aint shabby either! Take this item if you wanna get more tanky. Either way you cant go wrong.

Bulwark of Hope
This is the final core item. This item is heaven sent and will save your *** more often than not. Not only does it give you goo magical protection (+60), a good health boost (+450) and a decent focus boost (+15), it also gives you one of the most awesome skills to have in game; 50% DAMAGE REDUCTION!!!!!.......for 2 seconds every 60s. Yeah it sounds very situational but trust me, this will piss off a lot of people. Those 2 seconds are the difference between life and death. They give you time to escape the battle. And watch how pissed off someone gets when they use their ultimate only to have you take 50% damage because this baby popped. It really is worth it.

Optional/Situational Items

This part is pretty much up to you. The core build should get you going pretty well. I will elaborate more on this part on my following update as I'm still trying to see which items really make a difference. For now, just think it through. You can get more CD reduction if you want, or more defense or more attack power/ magic power. Whichever you think you need. You should have a solid start already and be pretty tanky and beefy. Will update this part though with some suggestions real soon. Just dont wanna recommend something I havent tested thoroughly. Oh yeah, regardless of whether you choose Void Blade or Sovereignty, you can always buy the other one as an optional item! And remember to sell Mark of the Vanguard for an extra slot and some gold.

Buying Order
This all depends on your lane composition and which characters you have more trouble with. If its a magic lane, start with a magic defense item. If its a physical lane start with a physical defense item. I like to alternate between magical and physical items so if i buy a magical item, i will buy a physical one next. If its a mixed lane, I will usually start with a physical item first (Breastplate of Valor) Maybe its just me but that CD reduction is heaven sent and I wanna get is asap without compromising my safety.

Alternate Build 2: Less Focus, More Tanky
I just started messing around with this build and it's been working out quite well for me. With this build your auto attacks do less damage but you get a lot more tankier. Sure you this pretty much makes Sobek's passive useless, but the extra armor and health you get from these items more than makes up for the loss of the passive. It's a bit too early to say but this plays a lot easier than the other build, but avoid soloing gods cause th damage you do is negligible.

Creeping / Jungling

NO! just NO! I don't want to see you creeping/jungling, OK? Maybe later on (and by later on I mean LATER ON...like level 14+) you can sneak in real quick into the jungle take a buff and hope no one sees you and calls you a noob for taking 10 years to drop a buff camp. So please, for the sake of all Sobek players, avoid buff jungling. You dont even really need it. You shouldnt be using stack items, and your good enough as is and the buffs are generally better of spent on your allies. You could get the blue mana buff, but by the time you can solo it in a respectable amount of time, mana wont really even be a problem. In conclusion...DONT DO IT.

Gameplay Strategies

Ok, time for us to go over some general strategies that are very effective. Dunno how effective they would be at the higher level of gaming (aka vs. Pro SMITE players) but so far, this has worked out perfectly for me.

Solo (Mid) Lane
Im not gonna say its impossible it's just not recommended. Before I made this guide i played a game as mid lane Sobek, and while it ended favorably and I did pretty good, I wouldn't recommend it. As Sobek, you're built to work with a partner. Your a support character through and through. Also your ability to take down minions is laughable at best, unless you expend copious amounts of mana, in which case you leave yourself vulnerable to enemy harassment and attacks. Im gonna say much on this since I've only played Sobek mid once. I'll try it out more and then update this section of the guide later on.


Duo (Side) Lane
This is where Sobek should be. Now when looking for a lane partner, it's imperative that you find one that can deal out a lot of damage. So optimal partners would be people like Bakasura, Arachne, Bastet, Sun Wukong, Loki, etc...You get the general gist of things. If they are character who dishes out a lot of punishment really fast, you wanna lane with them. I do want to add a word of caution when laning with characters like Artemis and Anubis who have stuns that are highly dependent on the immobility of the character. Using your Tail Whip after Charging Prey can disrupt their attack and make a mess of things. So be sure to communicate whether or not you should use it or not. Now lets get to some general tips on playing Sobek:

LVL 1 - 4:
Play it safe here. Just move up to minions and use your basic attack. This is important because not only do you conserve mana, it gives you stacks of your passive further increasing your defense. If your health drops, wait til a fresh wave of minions comes and use your Sickening Strike to hit as many minions as you can and get some health back. Once you hit level 2 you should have Charge Prey and can start going for some kills. Just try to look for the squishiest character and pull them back so your team mate can kill them. Make sure your Sickening Strike is not on CD so that you can Charge Prey --> Sickening Strike --> basic attack. Once you reach level 3 your killer combo should be Charge Prey --> Tail Whip --> Sickening Strike --> basic attack (unless of course you're laning with Artemis or Anubis. With this combo, you should be getting kills relatively easy.

LVL 5 -11 :
I normally avoid going back to base before lvl 5 cause you can always make more money, and I dont wanna fall back in lvls, but if you need to go back earlier then do so. Its better safe than sorry. And sometimes maybe getting that 1 lvl of an item can really save your hide. Anyways, at lvl 5, you wanna stick to the same combo using Lurking in the Waters to finish off squishy enemies, to escape possible death, or to scare of enemies that may be chasing your squishy partner. Just keep it going and watch as your enemies die, and you and your partner get fed. In general I dont like to roam other lanes to gank. While I have a lot of utility, my damage isn't very high and thus a kill isn't certain and I worry about leaving my squishy partner in a lane alone to deal with 2v1. It better to just let your partner go gank while you defend the lane. Its safer and usually more efficient that way.

LVL 12 - 20
Around this time, give or take a few levels, some towers are down, maybe you've gotten to someone's phoenix. Either way the laning phase is over or almost over. This is when people start roaming around and grouping up. Also this is around the time you can safely tower dive. Some people do it earlier ( I do sometimes depending on the situation) and some later, but around lvl 12 is a good time to start. What these means is that if that enemy has little health left and they just ran back into their tower? go after them and finish them off! You'll survive! just try to make sure you have more than half your health please :P Also you can start tanking towers sparingly. You cant tank a full health tower to destruction, but a damaged one? yeah that's safe...just make sure no enemy god's are ready to tear you apart.

At lvl 16 you should be able to tank a tower from full health given you have an ally there to attack the tower with you. In general, just keep doing what you were doing!

Team Work

This is gonna be a short area dedicated to group fights. In general you want to initiate and disrupt. That high damage dealing squishy god you see? throw them into your team and watch them get burned down instantly. You can take out an entire team 1 by 1 doing that! If your team mate is looking a bit weak and about to die, run towards the crowd and use you Tail Whip before you get inside, The animation lasts a bit so it still whips people while you move forward and it will knock them back away from your fleeing ally.

Dont forget that you can use your Charge Prey as an initiator, escape, and to save an ally by throwing an enemy that is chasing a fleeing ally. I would also like to mention one last thing in regards to using your ultimate. People generally tend to stick together in team fights, so you can effectively use your ultimate to spread a team apart. When they see your area of effect, people try to run away. Now you need to learn to not be greedy. Sometimes you cant get the whole team with your ult, so pick one victim and make them your priority. If you can hit 2 or 3 people that's great, but if they start splitting up, stick to your one victim. And this victim should never be a tanky character, unless they are at 25% health or less. Yes I colored that cause its very important! you see Ymir with 50% health and Artemis with 100% health. I guarantee you that if you hit Ymir, he will survive the battle and escape to his base with 30% health left. You hit Artemis, the ult alone will cut her down to 50%-40% of her health then you can just tear her apart. So remember, go for squishes. you dont have the damage to be taking on tanks.

Also dont forget that your ult slows people down up to 20%. Use this to your advantage when running away or to slow some enemy god chasing you ally. If all fails and there is no hope of catching a god with your ult, just turn around and go into a large group of minions and wipe them out. Not very useful but its worth the extra gold you get by last hitting and it helps your minion wave progress.

General Gamplay Tips

1) A fed carry is better than a fed Sobek. Try to let your lane partner last hit and try to let them kill the enemy as much as possible. Also another thing you can do is when both lane enemies are gone, just move away out of exp range so your lane partner gets bonus exp. Or you can be hyper-aggressive and push the enemy so far back that they dont even get any exp. All are valid ways of getting your lane partner fed early. Not a necessary tactic but can be helpful.

2)Fire Giant is nice, but not necessary. You're a tank. Even with FG, your damage output is not all that hot. Sure it hurts but your other characters that are made for dealing damage benefit more from it. So when we get FG and I see my Anubis is in trouble and I have sketchy health, what do I do? If I feel I have a good chance of saving him, I dive in and try to help him escape. Hopefully we both make it out, but even if I die and he escapes, I dont lose much (other than the insanely long respawn time). FG while useful on me isnt necessary. But on Anubis, its makes him a death dealing machine. So its better he have his FG than I do. Im not saying commit suicide, im just saying a burst mage or high physical damage character with FG is more useful than a Sobek with FG.

3)ALWAYS HIT MINIONS 3 TIMES WITH BASIC ATTACKS BEFORE CHARGING INTO BATTLE! Seriously dude, dont waste your passive. Increase your protection before jumping into the lions den. That way if anything goes bad you can still get out.

Summary

OK guys, thank you for reading through this. I know its a lot but i meant this to be useful for both newcomers to SMITE and veterans who just wanted to try Sobek for the first time. Feel free to leave some comments. I accept any comments. Praise, disapproval, suggestions, anything. Im not the best Sobek player out there, and Im here to learn too, so if you have some advice or dont agree with something I said, please let me know! Will try to update when new patches are announced and will streamline it more and add more info as time goes on! Have fun!

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1
Krantos | February 19, 2013 9:00am
Good detailed guide. Thanks for writing it. Was very useful for me :)
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