Solobek Season2

Hello, I'm Radioativo in Smite, Diamond IV in conquest, and I have been playing solobek for a while and I really like it,
so I thought I should share my experience with him and help other players playing him more because I think Sobek is a bit Underated by Smite players.
the other reason I made this guy was because Sobek is freaking awesome,
and when I mean awesome I don't mean OP, I mean funny to play and very good if played well.
Sobek deals good against almost every solo laner in the current meta,
after his last buff, so you should consider playing him in the solo, because he just rocks.
This is my first guide in SmiteFire, I hope you enjoy it. Fell free to send me your
suggestions and critics, I'm always open to new opinions ofc.

I always start with Mark of the Vanguard for some reasons:
- 1st: makes you tanky enough early game to be agressive and don't take much damage from minions
- 2nd: it's the best counter for Bluestone Pendant, because it reduces the damage you take from it by around 80-90%.
You will only take like 2-4 damage from it, which is nearly nothing.

The potions are for the early sustain you need, because sobek is very mana angry until he gets level 6/7 or until he
gets his ultimate online. So you really need this ammount of potions otherwise you can get a really bad early game,
and we don't want that for sure.

I prefer the purple boots in sobek, not only because it uses less mana from skills since the recent buff he received,
but also to help you clear well the wave because you have more power and penetration. This works for poking enemy in
lane as well.

Void Stone: After power boots, going Void Stone is the key to win the lane against enemy mage.
This item is Core item in Sobek in every build, because of how awesome it is. Increases your Magical Power, your
protections and reduces enemy protections. That's all you need as a Solo laner: utility (magical resist reduction in
enemies), tankyness (magical resist) and magical power to kill squishies.

Ethernal Staff: This item is a Must-Have item as well, because of how good it is: Gives you
Power with the more HP you have, Gives you a lot of HP and a lot of Mana, and that's all you want to have as Sobek.

Spirit Robe and Mail of Renewal: The order in which you buy these 2
items depends in the way the game is going and depends in what you are needing at the moment.
Spirit Robe is essencial against mage teams, because normally mages have good CC's and you need
this item to engage against them, turning tankier when you get CC'ed, so you can survive a CC chain pretty well.
Get Mail or Renewal if your team is far ahead and you are starting to rotate a lot and get kills,
this will let you keep the momentum and doing your job as solo laner. So basically if you are losing ->
Spirit Robe, If you are winning -> Mail of Renewal. Keep in mind that you
should get booth, sooner or later.

Rod Of Tahuti is here for the obvious reason: It's power is so big, that in addiction to
Void Stone's passive and Ethernal Staff's Power, you will be killing
Mages with your 4 Skills easily if you do it well. Order: use your prey drive, then use your 3 and 2 next, wait for
their Dash and then use your ultimate, enemy mage should die.

After you get boots online, you should rush Divine Ruin to start Wrekting the enemy laner.
You're Sobek, you already have 50% healing reduction in your 3, so this makes you a really good counter healer.
If you add this to Divine Ruin, enemy healer wil only heal 10% of what they would
normally for 4 seconds. That is a lot man! Imagine the frustration of enemy Aphro/Hel when you are using this.
They will be like "Please man, I can't heal s***!" Save your 3 to when Aphro uses the Doves, they have a short
delay of around 1 second before they start healing her and damaging enemies, so just is your 3 at this point and
she will only heal like 30 hp instead of 300. For Hel is a bit diferent, but she can't heal the wave anymore if
you use your 3 in the wave. You should play agressive against this Gods, because you can and you should be
able to get some kills in them, but don't get too greedy because you can get ganked if you're not careful or even
get killed by enemy laner.

Void Stone is next item for the reason I already spoke about, it reduces their Magical
Resistance for 1/2, and you will do a lot of damage believe me, and they will only do around 30% to you of the
damage you do to them.

Ethernal Staff for the reason I already said: HP, Mana and Power.

Mail of Renewal for the sustain and utility in team fights.

Rod of Tahuti for the damage in squishy targets (mages mainly)

Weakening Curse is here for more healing counter. Even after its nerf, it's still viabled
and allows you to AoE counter the healing.

After boots, you should get Breastplate of Valor ready as soon as you can. This item gives
you great mana sustain early game, as well as amazing defense and cooldown, which means great utility, so you can
harrass your opponent more often after this. If you are winning the lane, get Ethernal Staff
for more damage and more rektness in enemy hunter. If you are losing, get Midguardian Mail
right away, will help you a lot tanking his damage and stay in lane. You should get both, one after another,
depending in the case.
After 3 items are completed (not including starter item), you should get Void Stone,
not only for the Magical Power and Magical Resist, but also for your Mage and Support dealing more damage to nearby
enemies, because of Aura. This item is completely worth is utility, trust me.
As last item sell the starter and get Tahuti when you can, and you will rekt Carry's.

Don't forget to get Shield of the Underworld, this Active is a MUST-HAVE item in this build,
no Adc can 1-1 you with this, trust me. Pop it when you're about to use your Ultimate, and after adc used his escape.
This should be garanteed kill. Even if you die after that, you did your job, you killed one of their carry players.

After boots ready, go straight Void Stone for the reason I already explained. The effect is added
to all Magical Damage dealers in the game, which makes it even better here.
The priority between Stone of Gaia and Ethernal Staff is explained by the
development of the game. If you are winning -> Ethernal Staff, if you are losing ->
Stone of Gaia (Pestilence if enemy team has good healing).

You need Breastplate here for the utility. (Get Spirit Robe if they have
5 magical)

Tahuti is for the combo damage.

Get Breastplate after boots for the same reason I already told.
If you're losing for a huge diference, I recommend not getting Mail of Renewal after
Ethernal Staff, because its passive will be useless. Instead get more tanky Item like
Witchblade (Really good to counter physical damage and attackspeed, but be aware to
tell your support you're buying it, so you don't buy 2 Witchblades. Many supports buy
it so be aware of that. If your support will buy it, get something else like MidGuardian
or Hide of the Nemean Lion. I don't recomend getting more than 2 physical protection
items in Sobek, because his passive and his Ultimate already give him 45 protections, and you may reach the
cap and we don't need that. Void Stone is here for the same reason as always: utility.
I would go for Soul Reaver/Obsidian Shard if enemy team is too tanky, which may happen here.

SOLOBEK PROS

- The most tanky in the game with his passive and ultimate
- Very good overall damage
- Able to kill squishies late game with all 4 skills
- 4 forms of CC (stun and pull in 1, knock up in 2, heal counter in 3 and AoE slow in ult
- Great hp and mana sustain with Sickening Strike and Lurking in the Waters
- Easy to poke enemy laner while still hitting the wave and clear
- Great engage tool with Charge Prey
- Amazing utility for teammates
- Good mobility and really hard to gank him
- Good at chasing


SOLOBEK CONS

- Very poor clear early game, which makes you:
lose early waves to the tower because you can't clear fast enough
- Not the best lane clear until you get full boots and level 6
- Charge Prey can be hard to hit if you don't have enough practice, and can put you into a very bad spot if you fail. Don't dive with it unless you're absolutely sure about what you are doing.
- Can be mana angry if you don't use your skills wisely
- Can be outpushed easily by better clearing enemies
- Poor tower damage
- You are vulnerable in your ultimate for 4 seconds

So first of all, start with mark, boots tier 1 4 pots each and do yellow and blue with your jungler. Tank blue for a bit if your jungler doesn't clear well, you get can tank the buff quite well with mark. If you reach late to the lane (which will happen a lot of times cause you have bad clear), don't fight and avoid poke from enemy minions and player, just fall back and clear in tower, waiting for next wave. Don't waste your mana in vain if you can't clear well. Try positionating yourself in order to hit enemy solo laner with your 3 + 2 combo to clear the wave and poke him. If you cleared faster than him pull him with your 1, if he is 1/3 hp or near that, wait for him to use his escape and then use your ultimate, should be easy kill for you. Try recalling only when you have gold for full boots and teleport tier 1 at least. When you return, you will be able to clear very well now, keep na eye in the map to see wher enemy jungler is. If you are seeing he is far away, get agressive and poke your opponent, make him waste mana, make him have to go back so he loses exp. If he is getting rekt by you, freeze the lane and don't let him farm. If you do this, you will get a really great distance from him and he will be more and more behind the more the time you can do this. If you have mana and hp and mid is having a fight, go help. Only teleport to other lanes when you have teleport 3 online. At this time, you should go to your lane on foot and just use teleport to reach faster the teamfight in the other part of the map. If your enemy laner isn't in the lane, clear the lane fast and rotate to help your team ganking, stealing buffs or doing your own buffs. Your team needs you in teamfights, so always try to be there. Don't overextend in stealing buffs or towerpushing because you can be caught up or ganked if you don't have ward vision. Late game is where you shine the most. Pop shield of the underworld when you are about to use your ultimate so they can't attack you. Focus enemy adc or mid, or help yours, depends in the case. Try pulling someone to your team for a 100% kill secure, but be smart doing this, you can get in a really bad spot and have to waste your skills to escape instead of doing damage. Save your ultimate when they wasted their escapes, and it's almost 100% kill garanteed. Zone fire giant and gold furies, be the frontline enemy team is afraid of. Sobek is OP doing this, believe me. So I think it's all from what I remember. Tell me if something is missing.

- Always try to hit enemy laner when you use your 3 + 2 to clear
- If enemy is too close to your tower, pull him to the tower and then knock him up to put him even further away.
- Wait for his dash to use your ultimate and it should be easy kill.
- If you are against healers, mainly aphro, use your 3 when they use their healing abilities, so they won't heal very much.
- If you are against Chronos or Adc, don't take poke from basic attacks, just get close, poke with skills and go back, wait for cooldowns and do the same.
- When getting ganked use your 2+3 skills to see if you can kill any of them + minion damage, if you can't kill any of them use your 1 to escape. Just use your ultimate if it's absolutely necessary to escape.
- when your jungler ganks, go straight to enemy and use your 1 to put him out of position, if he dashes, use your ultimate to secure kill. Sobek is really good at chasing.

I hope this guide changes the way you look at Sobek, and I hope you enjoy playing him in the solo lane, because he can be really good... Good luck Solobekers!