The Early Game illusion

I am writing this guide in order to clarify some statements I hear a lot in game chats.

This guide is for people that quits or surrender after 10 minutes because of erroneous interpretations of the game mechanics.

This guide is also for people who are looking for arguments when facing those statements.

Let's consider this guide as an "open" guide; I'm starting with a few statements and I'll update it based on your comments. I need your help to make this guide more relevant, more complete!
Please provide new quotes, we'll try to find the best answer! ;)

Those are the statements I hear a lot at the 10 minutes mark :

---

Statement #1

"We should surrender now, no way we can make it!"

---

Statement #2

" Thanatos is just too OP, let's quit!"

---

Statement #3

" Cupid, Ymir, the best duo lane ever!!!"

---

Statement #4

"Pff, Freya and Chronos just sucks. Why people even pick them?"

---

I won't let you down my friends, it's time for you to understand why you are mistaken.

It is an illusion as it does not take into consideration every aspect of the game. Otherwise, you would always see the same gods and combos in all competitive games.

It does not happen in high ranks because players KNOW how to deal with those situations.
It only works well when people lack some knowledge of the game. Either god abilities and passives, positioning or simply lack of using actives.


I am not saying that snowballing is not a real thing, I am saying that it can be mitigated and that there are some comeback mechanics in the game.

A part of each statement is actually perfectly true. But the reasoning behind it is wrong.

Let's analyze those one by one.

Statement #1

"We should surrender now, no way we can make it!"

That's the statement I hear the most. People even rage quit because they really believe there is nothing they can do about it.

If you're behind after 10 minutes, it does not mean that the game is over.
Yes, you might have fed the wrong guy, but it's does not mean you can't turn around the game at some point.

• There are "come back" mechanisms in the game.
• There are builds and strategies that will allow you to stay competitive when behind.
• There are gods that are strong early game and that can drop off late game while some only shine late game.

You HAVE to learn how to fight when you're behind, because you won't always be ahead.
Even if you're loosing it does not matter, learning from people that might be stronger than you is a smart call.

Also, the game does not care if you're behind in Gold and XP, the only thing it cares is which Titan dies first.

And trust me. It's way more rewarding to turn around a game and win it while you were behind.

Statement #2

" Thanatos is just too OP, let's quit!"

As said earlier, some gods have stronger early games than other and Thanatos is the perfect example for this statement. What does it mean to be strong early game?
It means that the damage those gods can provide at between level 1 and 5 are way above other gods. This is simply the result of the gods stats and abilities.


Let's take an example with Thanatos and Nemesis.

---

---

Health

465

546

---

Build

potion of physical might

potion of physical might

---

Ability

---

Base Ability Damage

100 (+100% of your physical power) + 10% of max target HP

80 (+50% of your physical power)

---

Total Damage

100 +20 +55 = 175

80 +10 = 90

---

As a result, at level 1, Thanatos deals twice as much damage as Nemesis, plus he heals from 75% of damage dealt (so 131 HP back) which compensate a lot from his lack of HP.

However, Thanatos is really squishy and has no protection contrary to Nemesis that has Retribution and Divine Judgement. Plus, Nemesis' passive ( Scales of Fate) works amazingly when players have full builds, but early game, it does not help as players have almost no power in their build.
Thanatos as a strong damage output early that can help him snowball until mid game. But Thanatos is not really strong in team fights while Nemesis brings a lot in that area.
That's it for this example.


To conclude:

There is no god with amazing early game AND amazing mid game AND amazing late game. The game is designed in order to provide a balance; if you have a strong early game, you will most likely fall late game.

If you pick a god with strong early game, YOU MUST use that to your advantage and try to end the game early. Making people surrender is a really valid option.

If you are on the other side, you MUST know this. They WANT you to surrender as they will fall is the game keeps going.
Brace yourself, make sure the game lasts long enough for you to level up and finish your build.

Statement #3

" Cupid, Ymir, the best duo lane ever!!!"

Some gods have good synergy, some don't. Knowing them and knowing how to counter them is key.

For that matter, Cupid and Ymir have a really good combo.

As soon as they hit level 5, they'll proceed as follow :

• Ymir blinks in, use Frost Breath to stun the enemies.
• Cupid uses his Fields Of Love to slow after the stun is over and Ymir uses his Shards of Ice for an additional slow. YOU CANNOT GET OUT.
• If you still are alive, you'll be mesmerized from Cupid's Fields Of Love to make sure that Shards of Ice will finish you.

So, basically, if you don't know how to counter this, you're dead.

But it's quite easy to counter. You should buy Greater Purification. That's it. Use it, get out of the area of effect and you're fine. 2 ultimates down on their side vs. 2 beads down on your side. Counter engage and they are now in a bad position.
By the way, it could work also with Hou Yi + Ymir even tho it does not apply a double slow.

Also, this combo is good during the laning phase, but during team-fights it's almost impossible for Ymir to stun more than 3 enemies at once and when using his ultimate he takes a lot of damages. As a consequence, this combo won't work that well in late game.


That was just an example, but here are some additional combos that are really powerful in the laning phase:
NB: There are MANY combos, this list is not exhaustive at all.

• Hercules or Sobek or Geb or Sylvanus or Bacchus + Awilix
  The support will knock you up in the air and Awilix will use the Gravity Surge on you before she can finish you with Feather Step.
  
  Solution: Use Greater Purification to stop the knock-up and prevent the Gravity Surge to work. It's gonna be about reaction time between you and Awilix but you should have an advantage as you can use it BEFORE being pulled in the air due to the CC immunity Greater Purification provides.
  
  
• Athena or Khepri or Xing Tian + Medusa
  The support will taunt/pull or throw you (in case of Xing Tian) so that Medusa's Petrify will hit you while you are looking at Medusa, thus dealing extra damage and stunning you.
  
  Solution: Again, use Greater Purification during the taunt/pull/knock-up to avoid the second damage wave coming from Medusa.
  
  
• Ares or Fenrir + Poseidon or Zeus or Kukulkan
  Ares will blink in, use his ultimate to pull you all at the same place, then the mage will throw is ultimate to make sure you take a lot of damage. Same for Fenrir except that he'll probably jump instead of blink and that he can only target one god.
  
  Solution: Again, use Greater Purification during the pull.
  /!\ Beware of the CC immunity time vs the channeling time of Ares' ultimate; don't use it too early!
  
  
• Ares + Artemis
  Ares will blink in, use his ultimate to pull you all at the same place, then Artemis will use her ultimate to stun you one and kill you one by one.
  
  Solution: Again, use Greater Purification during the taunt/pull/knock-up to avoid the second damage wave coming from Artemis.
  
  
• Odin + Poseidon or Zeus
  Odin will lock you inside the Ring of Spears and will possibly hit with Gungnir's Might to slow you down while the mage will throw his big AoE ultimate.
  
  Solution: For this one, beads are almost useless. Two options: Aegis Pendant/ Greater Aegis to cancel the damage or Combat Blink to get out of the cage if you don't have a leap.

Statement #4

"Pff, Freya and Chronos just sucks. Why people even pick them?"

It's almost the same idea that saying that Thanatos is OP (early game). If you only refer to the first 10 minutes of the game, some gods won't be "online" yet because they need their core items built in order to really have an impact.
Those gods are mostly what people call "Hyper Carry". They will need time and gold to shine but they will deal more damage than regular carries in the late game.
Freya and Chronos are good example of those, but they are not the only ones. Xbalanque is somehow an hyper carry. Some assassins can be as well, for instance Kali, Ne Zha, Mercury, Nemesis or Arachne, especially if played in the solo lane.

As a result, if you pick those gods, you should know that you'll only be relevant after 20 minutes.

Also, those gods are generally hard to play, but don't give up, it is worth spending some time!

There is no magic recipe, but if there was one, it might look like that:

• Ward a lot
• Tank up
• Group up
• Steal objectives

That's the main idea. Always try to find something from your fights. If you can't get a kill, try to get some actives (beads), a tower or a Gold Fury.

Gold Fury

Some people think you can only go Gold Fury if the enemy ADC and mid-laner are dead. Actually, you could get it with everybody alive. Sentry ward the Gold Fury to get vision, wait for the enemy jungler to rotate to the solo-lane, then group up (ADC with lifesteal, mid & jungler) and take it while their focused on the solo lane (their mid will probably rotate as well). Leave the support in the lane so they won't suspect your attempt too fast.

Fire Giant

There are only 2 ways to take the Fire Giant. Do it after a successful engagement where most of the opposite team is dead and cannot contest it (that would probably mean you're ahead)... or steal it.
Not all gods can steal it, but it is worth giving it a try. With a Geb/ Eset/ Hou Yi/ Ymir's ultimate (for instance), if you manage to sneak out and use it as the proper time, you might be able to steal it from them. As they probably took a lot of damage doing it, you might have here a real turn around opportunity.

The following tier list is based on the base stats/abilities of the gods and the standard starter item in the current meta.

I consider in this list the first 5 to 10 minutes. As a result, it mostly comes to your laning phase and/or ganks potential.



I won't go into much detail here, but basically I consider you'll go either Bluestone Pendant or Transcendence tier-2 or Devourer's Glove tier-2 as a starter for hunters, Soul Stone or Vampiric Shroud for mages (or magical solo-laners), Bluestone Pendant or Death's Toll for warriors (solo-lane), Bumba's Mask for junglers, Watcher's Gift or Mark of the Vanguard for guardians.
As a result, it gives a good advantage to gods that takes advantage of Bluestone Pendant compared to gods with Death's Toll in the current meta.

Picking a god with a "bad" early game is not a problem. Play it safe at the beginning of the game and farm to be ready for the late game.

Also, in the duo lane, if you pick two gods with early bad lane clear (like Geb and Xbalanque), ask the jungler for some help to release the pressure from the opposite team. The risk is that the other team could finish the game before the 20 minutes mark.

This second tier list is based on the base stats/abilities of the gods with standard builds in the current meta between 10 and 20 minutes. It is mostly based on the gods potential to rotations and/or ganks.
For instance, if you have low mobility and bad escapes, you'll be an easy target, thus most likely B/B+ tier.

It does not consider any snowball effect.

This last tier list is about the late game potential of your god. How powerful you are with full build (or at least 5 items - approx. 20 minutes or more) and how you can impact team fights and/or split push (or both).
Having a lot of CC in your kit will help.

That's a weird word I know. Basically, it's the science that comes down to using the good items at the good time.

If you stick with your usual build when you're behind, you will probably end-up being snowballed, as you'll have 2 tiers or even 1 item less than you enemy
As a result, if you're behind, you might need to reach the gold efficiency instead of the pure power efficiency. Some items are great when you have a lot of gold and you're ahead.

Stacking Items

Stacking items are absolutely great. For late game.
If you go Transcendence or Devourer's Gauntlet you should know that you'll have less boxing potential than a god going with Soul Eater or Bloodforge until you finish stacking.
Same goes for Warlock's Sash and to a lesser extent Book of Thoth.
As I still see that from time to time, I will stress that out again : DO NOT START STACKING AFTER 10 MINUTES. That's too late.

Physical Protection

For instance, let's say you're the solo laner and you gave away first blood. Forget Mystical Mail, you're opponent will have it while you're still on tier 2 ( Steel Mail). But you can have Midgardian Mail (2250) at the same time (of even before) he does get Mystical Mail (2850), which will help you a lot.

Same goes for Mail of Renewal. It is a great item, but kinda expensive (2415). If you want physical protection, Runeforged Hammer is pretty awesome compared to its price (2050)

If you're a magical damage dealer, Breastplate of Valor is really good as well for its price (1950).

Magical Protection

When it goes for magical protection, Stone of Gaia is really good and not too expensive (2250). If you don't have enough, you might consider Silver Talisman as it is also really good for its price (1225). You can have it early and transform it later to the tier-3 of your choice.

Attack Speed

The Executioner and Qin's Sais are probably the best attack speed items in the game. Tho The Executioner is not too expensive (2200), Qin's Sais really is (2850).
Ichaival is a really good option for a low price (1700), same goes for Asi (1750).