User:Gregsrock/sandbox

original article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smite_(video_game)

Intro
The current state of Smite has been influenced by the many games that have preceded it. This includes titles such as LoL, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Heroes of Newerth, World of Warcraft, and DotA. The MOBA's have helped form the roles while MMO's have helped dictate the PvP style. There are five main roles that are commonly played at the top level of Smite in conquest mode.

Solo
The solo lane typically takes the lane on the outside that has the towers closer together (a.k.a. short lane). This is because the solo lane is often times by himself, and thus is more prone to ganks. The solo lane is best played as a god with a strong mid-late game, and good early game sustain. All of the healers have been effective in this role, as well as some of the warriors. Really, almost any god can be played in the solo lane as long as their damage in the late game scales well.

Jungle
The jungle player is the one who roams around the jungle camps and often performs the most ganks. Good jungle gods are effective at taking a target from 100-0 health quickly. Most junglers will start to fall off in the late game, but are very effective early game. Most often the jungle role is filled by an assassin, although this is another role where almost any god will fit. As long as you remember to gank when your team needs it and have a good jungle route you should do well in this role.

Mid
The mid player is just like it sounds, the player in the mid lane. The mid is almost always a high damage mage with a lot of lane clear. The mid needs to be the most wary of ganks, as they have the most angles they can be attacked from. This player also has the burden of assisting with the mid camps throughout the game. The mid gold camps are worth a significant amount of gold to the team who kills them, so knowing when each of them is up as well as having that area warded can all fall under your responsibility as a mid player.

Support
The support player is usually either a guardian or a healer (more often a guardian). The support goes through the laning phase with the ADC in the side lane with the towers further apart (a.k.a. long lane). They take the long lane as they have the peels of the support player to help escape ganks more easily. The support player should be the tankiest player on the team, meaning they should be stacking defense items (unless it is a healer, in which case the solo often ends up tankier). The support excels at starting engagements and peeling for teammates.

ADC
The ADC (or Attack Damage Carry) is essentially a glass cannon. Usually played by the hunter, the ADC deals a ton of damage from a distance and can often become the scariest god in the late game. The ADC is also scary in the sense that if they are missing from a team engagement, they can easily push down a tower or two on their own.

How to Learn
While you can read about the roles and meta as much as you want, watching good players play the game as well as playing yourself will get you a lot further towards becoming a skilled player. If you are interested in watching competitive play and learning the meta at the highest level you should visit the Smite e-sports cite page or their twitch stream page. If you are interested in learning what gods are performing exceptionally well in the game, there is a tier list created by a former pro and current caster named dmbrandon that is worth checking out. He ranks all of the gods by their overall utility in conquest mode.

Once you think you have the hang of the meta and begin to get better scores and compliments from teammates in casual mode, you can begin your quest in ranked mode. The atmosphere is quite different in ranked than it is in casual, so be prepared before you dive in. Other than the required god masteries, there is an article released by the pro team Dignitas which outlines a few things you should have and know before you start playing ranked matches. Remember, it is best to pick one role to improve upon at a time. Even the pros only play one role in competitive matches.