Solo Lane in Season 7: Warriors, Bruisers, and You

Hello! I’m PigMayor. I’ve played lots of solo lane throughout season 6 and continue to do so in season 7 because I enjoy being able to soak up lots of damage and deal a fair bit of my own. This guide will primarily be focused on what gods are best for solo lane, how you should function in the solo lane, and what to do going into the mid-late game as you begin to group up with your team.

If you have any questions or want to just discuss solo lane with me, you can most commonly find me on the r/Smite discord server as PigMayor#7234. With that out of the way, let’s get into it!

Due to the fairly open and unrestricted nature of solo lane, paired with the typically low traffic it gets from other roles, just about anyone can solo lane, but that doesn’t mean they should. In my opinion, Warriors, Guardians, and some Assassins can solo most effectively. While Mages and Hunters could be there, it’s not ideal for them because Warriors have better early pressure and roughly the same early damage, and it also means that your team has one less tanky character going into the late game, which is vital. Now that we’ve established which class is most effective for solo, the current top picks for solo lane (in my opinion, based on my rank of low diamond) are, in no particular order:
- Odin
- Cu Chulainn
- Sun Wukong
- Nike
- Guan Yu
- Amaterasu

All these gods have a good deal of tankiness or defense to them, and most of them have some light in-combat sustain that helps them in both skirmishes and longer fights. Warriors are very adaptable and can be effective in many scenarios based on the team compositions of both teams and what items are being built.

The Solo Laner should be focused on buying items to maximize the damage output for themselves and allies while still being tanky enough to dive into the enemy backline and harass their damage dealers. Items yoy should be looking for on most Solo Laners are ones that provide physical power, health, protections, and cooldown reduction. It should also include antiheal if needed, and some auras are more effective in them than your support. These items include but are not limited to:
- Warrior Tabi
- Gladiator’s Shield/Berserker’s Shield
- Breastplate of Valor
- Oni Hunter’s Guard
- Pestilence/Contagion
- Void Shield
- Runic Shield
- Pridwen
- Masamune
- Caduceus Shield (if your god or allied gods have ability healing as a staple of their kit, such as Guan Yu or Sylvanus)

These items all provide defense, power, and/or sustain that all a Warriors want to have an effective and impactful presence beyond the laning phase. However, an important part of Smite is building items based on what you need in a match rather than getting the same items every game (a “cookie cutter” build). This is especially true in the solo lane, as you’ll need to counter build both the enemy laner and the enemy team with your defensive items, but still getting the stats you need most. It’s a delicate balance, and learning what you need most comes with experience both as the god you’re playing and against certain gods.

The early game is very important in every lane — in solo lane, it determines which laner gains the early advantage and allows the advantageous laner to press that lead to their fullest extent to secure victory. The first few levels are usually very even, but as you continue to clear minion waves, get your blue buff, and skirmish with the enemy laner, one of you is bound to slowly gain an advantage, even if it’s just by having one or two minions die to the tower and lose a bit of gold. It adds up, and every mistake matters. If you have the lead, capitalize on it as much as possible by looking to either:
A) Fight the enemy laner directly if you know it’s a fight you can win.
B) Secure your blue buff or the Totem of Ku for yourself and your team to directly allow them to push further ahead.
C) invade the enemy’s jungle, taking either their blue buff or XP camp. This is risky and should only be done if it’s clear you already have a lead and it would be difficult for the enemy to fight you even in a 2v1, or if you know their jungler is elsewhere and cannot contest.
These tactics will let you maintain a lead that you gained early on and allow you to have a larger impact when rotating when the mid game arrives. At that time, you should be multiple levels and a noticeable amount of gold ahead of the enemy laner, who is likely too focused on closing the gap to counter your rotations. And if they do, that’s less farm for themselves as they chase an opponent with an advantage over them.

If you’re the lane contestant to fall behind, don’t be discouraged! The enemy will certainly try to push their lead as much as possible, but there will be a point when it evens out and you can comeback. If you’re losing lane and being bullied, it’s best to simply focus on securing your blue buff, staying alive and clearing minions — in that order. If you die, not only does the enemy get a huge gold and XP spike, but you also lose out on at least two waves of XP and Gold if not more, and is difficult to return from.

Regardless of whether you won or lost the lane, if the enemy laner starts rotating before you do, or the enemy is just missing and you’re not sure where they are, always tell your team to be on the lookout for the enemy solo. Nothing’s more aggravating than getting ganked by a warrior with no communication whatsoever and then seeing your ally just absentmindedly clearing the wave. You don’t have to counter-rotate, especially if you’re behind — just make sure that your team knows there’s potential danger. Use that time to get their tower or jungle camps and force them to come back to the lane as well as lose farm.

As you begin rotating yourself, you become the shot-caller for your team. They should listen to you and will likely follow and actions you take. This means you can use your lead to initiate a gank on the enemy midlaner or jungler (Warriors are very strong initiators at all stages of the game), or it could be calling for the Gold Fury or Pyromancer after a successful skirmish or teamfight. Always try to push the team further ahead and deny the enemy a chance to fight back. Let’s take Nike, for example: she can clear the minion wave very quickly with her first ability, Rend, and has plenty of Crowd Control with her ultimate as well as her second and third abilities. Nike can easily rotate over to the mid lane and use her ultimate to gain a large amount of shields as she allows her allies to pursue the enemy midlaner under their tower and kill them, locking them down with her CC. She can then call for a jungle boss to be taken and still return to lane afterwards like nothing happened. These are the types of victorious scenarios you should be aiming for as a solo laner going into the mid game — win quick skirmishes and take an objective to gain a larger lead. Come late game, those small victories add up as your role changes in larger teamfights.

In the late stages of the game, the enemy damage dealers are a force to be reckoned with and should be taken out as fast as possible. Luckily, Warriors have an excellent mix of damage, crowd control, and defense that lets them run down the enemy damage dealers before locking them in place for their allies to eliminate them. Let’s use Nike as an example again, as she’s easy to play but has plenty of options to utilize her abilities in a teamfight.

You can use your leap to deal some decent burst damage and knock up enemies before using your ultimate to become incredibly tanky and slow the enemy team by a significant amount, usually forcing their relics to stay alive. With your defense from your ultimate, press the attack with your allies and use your first and second abilities to prevent the enemy from harming your allies by absorbing their basic attacks. With their damage gone, your team can safely advance and pick off their damage dealers before taking a major objective— be it towers, a Phoenix, or even the Fire Giant. Or if the initiation fails, you can instead use your abilities to allow your allies to safely retreat to defend or contest an objective the enemy might go for. Teamfights are very volatile, and what’s planned usually does not happen as expected. The most important part of playing as a a Warrior is adapting to fights as they break out to maximize the chance of victory.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I love solo lane because it can have such an impact on the game without seeming like it does. It’s a great role to get started in if you want a low skill floor but high skill ceiling with plenty of options. Hopefully I’ll see you on the battleground in the future enjoying your time as a Warrior!