Smite: Top 5 Funnest Gods to Play in Arena (3/19/13)

Fun is highly subjective and this list is open to change as the game itself does. In fact a lot of my choices were influenced by the last major patch which introduced the cripple mechanic. Hi-Rez has made a few game changing patches in the past, so I expect to see more in the future. So as of 3/19/2013, this is my list of the Top 5 funnest gods to play in Arena.

Many of you will probably disagree with me on this choice but Aphrodite is one of the few gods in the game where you are constantly doing something. She is a fully support God so if you go into a match expecting to get a lot of kills then you aren't going to have a good time. Once you accept that you are there to fully support someone else and really make them shine, you can get over a low kill count and enjoy the other carnage you can cause for the enemy team.

Aphrodite is probably one of the harder gods to play to the fullest potential. She is based entirely on her "soul mate" mechanic where she can buff the speed and damage of whoever she connects to and then use her other abilities to heal them and emit a powerful attack that slows from out of your soul mate. Her ultimate is also a low cool down immunity buff which can easily turn the tide of a battle.

Game after game you can just utterly destroy teams if you have a good soul mate. That being said, she is only incredibly fun to play if you have a friend to fit that role. By yourself, the lack of communication with whoever you pick as your soul mate will result poorly. However, if you have a friend with you in some sort of voice chat, then you can completely wreck town. So with that point I had to make her only the #5 spot, despite how ridiculously fun it can be to force an enemy team inside their base halfway through a match.

"Oh Bastet [Dog Panting] if only you knew..." -Anubis

Bastet is extremely fun to play in any game mode. In Arena, she is actually fairly powerful all game due to her Pounce. The ability to jump ahead and then use jump again to return to where you were makes for some interesting game play. On several occasions, I was able to jump into the fray, kill an enemy god, and jump back just as the rest of the team converges on me.

She also can do some major damage with her Claw attack which causes a damage over time effect. Early game, this will score you a majority of your kills and it is quite satisfying to see it happen. You also tend to have very few deaths because of her mobility. Now her ultimate is a bit lack luster in Arena, as her cats tend to be killed almost immediately after being summoned. Though on occasion, your cats server a purpose of making enemies back off or helping out in a 1v1 fight that happens on the sides every now and then.

If you play her right, as Bastet, you'll almost always end up with an incredibly good Kill to Death ratio. However, she only reaches the #4 spot for me because I swear she is cursed! I will often get 20+ kills and only 4-6 deaths but still lose the match. One game I even had 34 kills and still lost! I don't know how and I don't know why but what I do know is that this only happens to me with Bastet! So no matter how much I love that kitty cat, this terrible history I have with her leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Until rather recently, I did not enjoy Ares in arena. His ultimate was incredibly lackluster due to the fact that all the enemy team had to do was buy Purify Beads or Aegis to completely counter it. He was still a tough tank but did not have much to show for it. However, with the introduction of the cripple mechanic, Ares became incredibly fun to play.

Ares ultimate is still fairly weak but you will still get a few amazing pulls with it every now and then which can really turn the tide of battle. But the real fun is now in his chains which cause the cripple effect. Not only do his chains slow, they also make it so the enemy god can no longer use a jump or dash to get away. All you have to do now is run in and chain a mobile god and let your team get to work on them. Or you could simply chase down an enemy mage, chain them up, and burn them to death with your flame thrower.

Ares is also one of the toughest tanks to kill. He has naturally high defensive stats and when you play him, the enemy team will ignore trying to attack you and simply run away. Despite this, Ares still hits hard! It is borderline overpowered to be honest. Often when I play Ares I end up with the most kills on my team simply from all the damage over time effects he does while also only going either none or a couple deaths.

Loki is the true embodiment of the tag, Assassin. I despise fighting Loki due to how strong he is, of course I love having him on the team as well. Not only is he mobile, hits hard, and can assist with creep killing, he also forces the enemy team to play differently. When facing Loki, you always have to watch your back because if you don't, you'll regret it.

Loki has stealth which makes him run incredibly fast and his ultimate is a teleporting strike. With these powerful tools on your side, you can make quick work of an enemy and then flee. Often you will go around the back to the enemy team, pick your target, use your ultimate to reach them, kill them in a few seconds and then stealth to get away. If the enemy team doesn't start to wait for you to act, then you will be unstoppable and become fed really fast.

The only real downside to Loki is if the enemy team starts to specifically go after you. Always being alert and using everything they have to kill you. This happens every now and then and you will go from an unstoppable killing machine to easy prey.

I will admit that I am completely bias on this choice. Guan Yu, ever since he was first introduced, has been my favorite god in the game. He has good defensive stats, he is incredibly mobile, and can deal a lot of damage. He is also the only god that can single-handedly turn the tide of a game if you build him right.

If you give him cool down reduction, gem of isolation, and some good amount of damage, Guan Yu can dance circles around the enemy team while doing some damage and providing great initiation strength. His ultimate makes up for the lack of tank items if you built that way, giving him a tool to crowd control while also doing a lot of damage. With Gem of Isolation, he is also one of the best gods at slowing enemy players with his Charge and Taolu Assault.

Really though, I just have the best win record as Guan Yu with a 4:1 win/loss ratio. And that is with around 200 arena matches played as him. Truly he has been the God I have had the most fun with in Arena.

Please leave any comments or suggestions below. I admit I'm rather anti-mage in this list and I would love to hear anyone's opinions on their own gods.