Bronze league players, yes, it gets better!!! But....

...it really depends more on your attitude than anything else.  Let me explain why.

So you've been pwning face in Arena and Conquest and Assault and figure that this game is just too easy.  I'm going to hop in and try league, how hard can it be?  You then proceed to feed your lane and lose 8 of the 10 qualifying matches and find yourself in Bronze IV.  You rage at your jungle for not ganking, you rage at your support for not saving you, you rage at everyone for being bad, all in bold face type (because you aren't in Curse Voice).  If you've ever seen a soccer game of 7 year olds running after the ball in a big clump, well, that's you.  Ask any of those kids how well they played and they will tell you that they are going to grow up to be professional soccer players.  All they know is that they can kick the ball well, and that they feel that is all that is necessary to be an amazing soccer player.  By the time those kids hit 9 years old they start to realize that they need a whole lot more than just to kick the ball, there is positioning and teamwork and strategy.

I'm not saying you are 7 years old, just that the effect is the same.  There is actually a name for it, the Dunning-Kruger effect.  Its actually a psychological trick that gives us a whole lot of undeserved over-confidence when we first start learning something new.  If you've ever been in a game where you've been blamed for the loss, it may not have been you, it may just have been the others looking for a scapegoat because in their mind it sure wasn't them that lost the game.

When moving from casual to league many people have this confidence in their ability to play the game that is a bit inflated, due to the fact that casual play is generally more about landing abilities and hitting buttons and very little about teamwork and strategy.  To be successful in ranked it takes a lot of teamwork and strategy as well as hitting abilities.  The ability to get into Curse and work with 4 strangers that you have probably never worked with before is a skill in itself that often needs a whole lot of work at first.

So how do you make things easier on yourself and increase your chances when you first start?  Realize that ranked is a whole new ball game.  Realize that you will have a lot to learn and that there may be other players that aren't as good as you and many that are better than you.  Find the good ones and follow their lead.  Find the less experienced ones and instruct them politely instead of berating them.

Once you make it out of Bronze league you will start to see more people in curse, more people in the right place at the right time, and a whole lot less dc's and rage quits.  For every game that goes badly, focus on your own performance and what you could have done better.  Focusing on what other people could have done better, beyond a friendly reminder here and there, will not help you achieve your own goals of climbing the ranked ladder.

Thanks for reading and good luck!

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How have some of the new or refreshed gods changed the meta?

Since I made my first post about the current meta we've had a lot of new or refreshed gods enter the mix.  Let's take a look at each one, how they changed the casual scene, the ranked scene and then how they impacted the competitive scene and what adjustments have been made since their release. Its important to not that a when a god is released, whether it is a new god or a new kit for an old god, they are not available in ranked or competitive play, usually for about two weeks.  Hi-Rez is willing to let new gods and abilities affect the meta, but they don't want them to be mandatory or game breaking.

Nu Wa - August 5th, 2014

Nu Wa was always a split push specialist.  She was popular in ranked but never saw the light of day in the competitive scene.  The rework gave her a fairly reliable stun/cc/damage combo as well as the coveted global ultimate, joining other global ultimate gods like athena, apollo, and janus in the first pick first ban list.  She can be seen in all three conquest types (casual, ranked, competetive) very regularly as both a mid and solo.  She is not among the easier gods to play however as her combo relies on understanding minion AI and her ultimate can be wasted easily if used at the wrong time. Even with this being said, she remains popular in casual as she is a very fun god to play.

Cabrakan - August 19th, 2014

Released with much fanfare as having a very unique kit, Cabra was quickly relegated to the back seat in conquest. His kit isn't really a counter to any other god.  As a support he doesn't have the CC to compare to any of the other top guardians, and as a solo he doesn't really have the damage nor sustain.  He does see a fair amount of play in Seige and Arena, but without some sort of retooling he probably won't see play in conquest any time soon.  Oh, and this is after two rounds of buffs to his damage, animations and cooldowns.

Arachne - September 10th, 2014

This little spider launched strong, was toned down a little but still maintains the respect of many as a strong jungler.  She falls into the category of a Loki or Thor that are amazing if they are snowballing, but are tough to play from behind.  She does have more sustain than any of them and often is compared to Bakasura in how you want to jungle with her.

Odin - September 10th, 2014

Originally thought to be very strong this god saw a lot of play early on and still does in casual and somewhat as a counter-pick in competitive.  His new kit is now exciting and fun, but the leap is telegraphed enough that it is completely avoidable by any competent player.  He's fun to play and okay as a solo, jungle or support, but there are far better choices for each role.

Sylvanus - October 1st, 2014

Sylvanus is considered extremely strong even after some severe nerfs after the PTS testing and the initial testing in casual.  He is not an easy god to play however and hasn't really seen his full potential as this writing.  The guardian most played order goes Athena, Ymir, Geb, Sylvanus, Ares, then Bacchus. Sylvanus will likely find his footing soon though, once the supports start learning how to make full use of his heal.  Also, with the regional qualifiers coming up in competitive, I think more than a few teams are counting on Sylvanus as being their ace in the hole.

Nox - October 29th, 2014

Unfortunately, for how cool this god looks, she is currently considered very weak in general with not much going for her outside of as a debuff monkey, which in all honesty, He Bo could do better.

So there you have all the new gods.  The success stories can be seen in Nu Wa, Arachne, and Sylvanus, while Nox and Cabraken are pretty abysmal failures leaving only Odin as the fun but not good enough god.  Nu Wa is really the only one to make it to the first pick, first ban tier though.

Thanks for reading, have fun and remember to sign up for email alerts at the top of the page as well as to check out any of my other posts.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of playing a support role in Smite?

I often hear folks say that they don't want to play support in league because it is so much harder to carry a team to a win.  Don't believe it!  Any position can help carry a team to a win. There is a reason we track KDA and not just KD ratios.  The players that complain about not being able to carry a team as a support are the ones that play a guardian as if it were a carry and expect that it will work out to get them a high KDA and therefore a win.  Playing support is not just being a tank!  You obviously want to build as tanky as you can but you also want to play to keep your dps alive.

Here are some of the symptoms of a damage minded player trying to support:

1. Chases fleeing players because he thinks one in hand attack will get the kill when in reality his low damage would require at least 3 hits that he will not get before the enemy team collapses on him.
2. Lunges into a group of players and then engages the enemy tank while all of the dps players walk around him and kill the back line mages and hunters.
3. Never seems to have any wards in inventory and there are none on his side of the map, nor on the Gold Fury or Fire Giant.
4. He rotates to mids and then tries to gank and then failing that sticks around to leach a wave of minions instead of taking down the harpies and going back to duo lane for farming.
5. He buys CDR boots instead of Midas Boots because "Damage!"
6. 20 minutes into the game and he still doesn't have HoG 3, but he does have Blink 3.
7. He seems to think picking a warrior is viable in league.

This player might be an amazing mid, adc, jungle and/or solo, but really needs to read up on what he should be doing as a support.  Support is unlike any of the other roles, and playing it like any of the other roles will not only not allow you to carry but it will get you the loss.

So let's form a priority list of what a support needs to do during the game.

1. Rotate to mid harpies every 3 minutes
• Uncontested mid harpies will allow the enemy team to snowball quickly, it is not just your team losing the xp/gold but their team gaining the xp/gold.
2. Sentry ward on Gold Fury at the 6 minute mark and ongoing.
3. Sentry ward on the Fire Giant at the 15 minute mark and ongoing
4. Be sure to not use your HoG 3 if there is even a chance that someone will call for GF/FG
5. Call for GF/FG at appropriate times:
• Opponent's Support and any HoG 3 players are dead
• Support is seen backing when 3 or more of your allies are around GF
• You Sentry GF/FG and see that it is unwarded and all players are out of line of sight of the enemy.
• More that 3 of the enemy team are dead.
6. In group/team fights, prioritize your CC to set up your team for big damage or to save a teammate's life, do not use CC to set up for your own weak damaging abilities.
7. If all of your abilities are on CD, body block!  If one of your squishy dps is getting hit the best thing you can do is try to stand in between them and the opponent.

Build tips:

1. If you have a mage/assassin in solo lane and your team seems to be doing well in the damage department:
• Watcher's Gift, Midas Boots, HoG 3, Sovereignty, Stone of Gaia, Hide of the Urchin, either Voidstone or Witchblade and then the other.
2. If you have a player building tanky in solo lane, usually a warrior like Chaac or Vamana, you can go a little more damaging/CC:
• Watcher's Gift, Midas Boots, HoG 3, Breastplate of Valor, Voidstone, Hide of the Urchin, Witchblade and then either Soul Reaper or Bancroft's Talon.

Alright, so now to the task at hand, carrying a mediocre/bad team to a win.  First off, your team's ELO is going to be close to your own, generally, so no matter how bad they seem, they have earned the right to be in this game with you; and even if they haven't, it will do your blood pressure good to just assume they have.  That being said, you may end up with a person who mostly jungles playing adc or a player that only plays solo attempting mid.  The best thing you can do as a support is to figure out the weakest link and protect them, while ensuring that the best player is getting fed.

Let's take a look at the advantages of playing a support over any other role:

1. You aren't expected to land auto-attacks
2. Support favors intelligence over reflexes (though good reflexes don't hurt)
3. Support favors teamwork over individual skill
4. Building tanky will give you a larger margin for error

The disadvantage are:

1. You won't do much damage, so if everyone else dies, you are pretty useless unless you have blink and HoG3 and they are pushing GF/FG
2. You don't have your "own" farm, so you will always be leaching off of the adc/mid/jungle.
3. Even though you are expected to roam, your ability to gank is heavily reliant on dps following up on your initiation.

So that's the jist of it.  Don't assume players are bad.  Let your dps get the last hit on everything.  On the rare occasion you do go to gank, be sneaky: hide behind walls, avoid walking through common ward locations, use sentries at common ward locations.  And lastly, check out streamers like Incontinentia, Eonic, and ShadowQ for support tips and tricks.  I don't think any of them are particularly great casters, but they are clearly great supports, and you can learn a ton from just watching a game or two.

Have fun!