The Sneaky Buttstabs of Loki: A Guide to the Viper

Hey guys! Whats up? Welcome to the guide that is for the viper in the jungle, master of the fog of war, Loki! This is my custom build and I can't guarantee it'll work EVERY match, but every build isn't set in stone and it can be adjusted match to match.

MATCH BASICS:

1. Know when to chase and when to back off or else you may chase into the entire enemy team
2. Pay attention to the locations of your enemies
3. If you get the opportunity to kill someone, take it. Period.
4. If you are alone in a lane, keep an eye in the jungle and on the mini-map, don't want any ganks
5. COMMUNICATE!!! MIAs, Incoming enemies, Locations, etc. VERY IMPORTANT TO CALL THESE!

Ah, Loki, everybody's least favorite god to play against, but extremely fun to play as. Why? Because one minute you're farming, next you killed someone in seconds. By the time the game is over, your team will be worshiping you and the other team will be screaming "F*CKING LOOOOKIIII" in pure rage.

But I have one question:
Bro, do you even dancho? (its a joke, look it up)

Pros:

Stealthy, hard to find/chase
Many escapes
High Burst Damage
Can get in, kill someone, go back around, kill another person, and then go back to base in minutes

Cons:

Squishy
Squishy
Im serious, Loki has a low threshold of damage taking
If you're caught out, you die
No teamfight contribution
Weak early stage

Loki @ Level 20

PHYSICAL
Power-Physical: 86
Attack Speed: 1.38
Penetration-Physical: 0
Lifesteal-Physical: 0
Critical Chance: 0

MAGICAL
Power-Magical: 0
Lifesteal-Magical: 0
Penetration-Magical: 0
Mana: 910
MP5: 11
Cooldown %: 0

DEFENCE
Protection-Physical: 69
Protection-Magical: 48
Health: 1895
HP5: 22
Movement Speed: 375

PASSIVE: Behind You!
When hitting enemies from behind you do 20% more damage


ABILITY #1 Vanish
Loki disappears in a puff of smoke. While invisible, he is immune to slows and moves faster. His next basic attack from stealth (or for 2s after) applies a bleed to his target, dealing damage every .5s and reveals Loki.

Damage per Tick: 30/45/60/75/90 (+25% of your physical power)
Damage Duration: 2s
Stealth Duration: 4s
Stealth Movement Speed: 35%
Cost: 70/75/80/85/90
Cooldown: 18s

ABILITY #2 Decoy Decoy
Loki spawns a decoy version of himself that taunts all nearby enemy minions. After a short time, the decoy explodes dealing damage to all enemies in the radius.

Damage: 90/155/220/285/350 (+80% of your physical power)
Decoy Lifetime: 3s
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80
Cooldown: 14s

ABILITY #3 Aimed Strike Aimed Strike
Upon activation, Loki's next basic attack does additional damage with a short time. The enemy hit is also slowed.

Damage: 60/100/140/180/220 (+100% of your physical power)
Buff Lifetime: 5s
Slow: 25%
Slow Duration: 3s
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8s

ULTIMATE (ABILITY #4) Assassinate
Upon activation, Loki teleports to his ground target location. If an enemy god is within the radius, Loki will backstab that target doing damage and stunning them.

Damage: 150/225/300/375/450 (+120% of your physical power)
Stun: 1s
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90s

(I'm not separating them into categories, after all the order's at the top)

Ninja Tabi
Every build needs some kind of boots/tabi/shoes/greaves some time in their line-up, and these boots provide a bit more critical chance and why not give yourself a bit more burst?

Executioner
The Executioner is a great item in general, Loki with it is just wow. It shreds through a squishy's HP and the penetration STACKS! What's not to love about that?

Fatalis
A lot of people say this is a **** item, but I have a soft spot for it. It gives a lot of attack speed, which is good so you can get it done fast, and extra speed along with no backpedal slow, to help with escapes and catching up.

Hydra's Lament
I have no idea why people don't use this on Loki more, it's just Polynomicon for physical gods. 125% bonus damage after using an ability, holy **** that's a lot of damage, just add this effect on Aimed Strike, practically a one-shot for squishies. Boom.

Qin's Blades
After Loki's added swing chain in the Hun Batz patch, this item became extremely good on him. His little rapid-fire attacks will do heavy damage and if your target has a lot of HP it'll do more damage and you'll even shred through through even the tankiest opponent.

Deathbringer
What physical damage dealer doesn't eventually get this? The only two downsides of the Deathbringer are that it requires a big money commitment to finish it and that it does practically nothing until you finish it.

Rage
Ever want all your attacks to be criticals? Combine this with Deathbringer and you practically will be critting every strike. AND if that attack doesn't crit, it will give a stack of MORE critical chance!

Frostbound Hammer
This is a good substitute for Fatalis if you don't like it. Instead of being able to outrun them, you'll slow them down to slow them some more.

Heartseeker (jungle and mid lane only)
If you have the time for stacking and you are making sure you don't die a lot, this is an excellent item to get. With stacks finished, you gain 50 physical power. I don't use this item in Arena and Side-Lanes because in Arena you're going to be fighting other gods more than minion waves and in the side-lanes because you have to share the waves.

Focused Voidblade (Focused) Voidblade
Very popular item for Loki, because of its protection, physical power, and penetration. On every Loki build you see this. I sometimes don't get this because Im doing well and have no need for it/better item in its place, but I would recommend getting this on every build.

Devourer's Gloves Devourer's Gloves
Stacks of lifesteal for sustain and physical power for well more burst. Thats it.

Titan's Bane
Heavy flat penetration to get through the toughest of tanks and to ignore any armor the squishies have.

JUNGLE EXCLUSIVES

Bumba's Mask
Just the jungling starter, it will give you 10% health of the monster's HP when killing a buff camp minion/gold camp fury, and after killing the boss you get extra speed and MP5

Midas Boots Midas Boots
To keep you from falling behind and possibly pulling ahead, Midas Boots will give you 5 extra gold per second (GP5?) and basic boot movement speed.

Im not an expert with getting good pairs off with gods, because any god can be with another if you work hard enough, but some are better with others. NOTE: This is a list of my favorite gods to be paired up with.

Ymir

Ahh, Ymir what carry/assassin isn't good with him? He has a stun, a slow, a wall, AND a major "Oh gods, I better get the brown out of here" tool, AKA his ultimate.

Ares

Ares, god of war, not a support tank, but an OFFENCE tank. He'll go balls deep for a kill and go into a tower to nail it down. Along with a slow and a pull and hopefully bravery, why not go with him?

Sobek

Sobek, the Troll of the Nile, and one of the most annoying tanks to deal with. They think they've escaped, then *BOOP!* charge prey'd back into your grasp!

Guan Yu

Two words, Heavy. CC. A slow, a stun, and a silence. Not to mention a nice little heal to keep your HP at a good level

Aphrodite

Aphrodite will practically remove all squishyness about Loki. You get damaged? Her birds will heal you right back up. Her stun also boosts your damage, also a free Aegis Amulet, Beads combo

Hades

A benefit for both, Decoy lines up the wave for him to dash on and his fear and ult won't let the enemy escape.

Ra

Honestly, I like to lane with Ra because of his AMAZING heal, and his OK slow. Mostly the heal.

Thor

Why not lane with your own brother? He's got heavy CC and will be sure to help in securing the kill. Also his 2 can hellp get you out of tight spots because it will not only stun, but wall of ALL movement, except jumps and flying (Valkyries Discretion, Across the Sky, Anvil of Dawn)

Xbalanque

Xbalanque, one of my favorite carries, good to lane with and to play as, his ult will prevent them from getting away and doesn't his poison slow....nope ._. Anyways, he can also be a pain in the butt if he steals kills. (I don't say this with Thor because we're both melee)

This one isn't going to be to long because it's not too hard. Lets make this short and sweet.

Begin. Get your start on your build, but I think you really don't need potions. Go out of base and head to the edge of the wall where red buff is. When minions spawn, if you can kill some minions, but if its too dangerous just hang around the area and gain passive gold and exp. until level 4 when you get your decoy.

NOW ITS TIME TO KILL SOME PEOPLE!
Since its early on, let others get your target low and then come in with vanish, apply aimed strike, and STAB, STAB, STAB! They're dead! Easy right? You could also go with some low people who are hanging around. When your ult comes, be sure to use it, but DON'T ULT INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE TEAM.

After killing a person:
If you have half HP or lower, go back to base
If you have low mana, go back to base
If you're in a bad spot and can't find an escape route, go back to base
If not, wait for the opportunity to kill another unsuspecting victim

EMERGENCY AVOIDING
Neith ult.: Put up a decoy and stand where the arrow is behind the decoy
Chasing people: Vanish, and turn around and run, they'll try to predict you
Ares, Hades, Odin/Any confining ult: Aegis and run away, Beads if its a heavy CC(Hades and Ares), Ultimate away
(not so emergency) Xbalanque Ult: Run, stop at the 2nd to last rune, then keep going.

Im not going to make any of these strategies too long, because it'd be boring and its not all that hard to play Loki.

Start your build, but this time get some potions, if you get tier 2 Tabi, get 2 mana pots and 1 health pot. NOW WE'RE OFF!

For now, don't decoy your waves until level 3 because if you have low mana and have the chance to kill someone, there is a massive chance that your plan to get a kill fails, and you have no mana to escape. Level 3, this is where if you work together with your partner, you can secure a kill, maybe a double-kill, but if you get caught out, immediately fall back or else you'll die.
For now, do not back until you have enough to finish your boots or you're really low.

Once you hit level 5, start going for ganks, but make sure not to roam too much or you'll fall behind, and a behind Loki might as well be a D/C Loki

WORKING ON IT, Never really midded or solo-laned that much, all I know is my build.

Buff order:
1. Mana
2. Bottom Gold Camp
3. Speed
4. Mid Gold Camp
5. *pause* Go for a gank
6. Damage
7. Bottom Gold Camp
8. CDR
9. Mid Gold Camp
10. Gank again
If they don't have a jungler, do the same route on their camps

Remember, buff camps have a 4 minute respawn time (240 seconds) and Gold Fury/Fire Giant have a 5 minute respawn time (300 seconds), but Loki is a possible jungler, but he's not as strong as maybe a Hun Batz or Arachne jungle, I wouldn't really recommend jungling as him.

Now that you're done going through my guide, LESGO KILL SOME PEOPLE!
But seriously, Thank you for reading and for support! But remember, teams have to work together, but don't take any bs from raging teammates. They shouldn't take it so seriously, its not life or death.

I have no idea what to say now. Umm, [VVGG]Good Game! and [VVGL]Good Luck!