Every new season debut comes a slew of meta changes for players in Smite. New items, a new map, and god balance changes all impact how good a character is at any given time. Gods that were good last season could become obsolete or they could be better than ever.
The latest map is significantly wider than the previous one, meaning that rotations throughout the map are more commital and take much longer. This places increased importance on movement abilities. Couple that with the new starter items and balance changes, and there are many new faces in competition for the best god in the game. Here are the top gods in Smite, ranked.
Updated April 5, 2022 by Nickolas “Saz” Davis: Smite continues to grow, shift, and change over the seasons. With balance changes occurring multiple times throughout the year, new gods consistently joining the battleground, and reworks of old gods occurring, the best Smite gods continue to fluctuate. Since the last update, they’ve introduced new gods Atlas and Shiva, along with a number of buffs and nerfs for the pre-existing gods. These are the best gods that meet a number of different roles and playstyles. Choosing any of these gods will place you a cut above the rest before you even begin your game.
15 Heimdallr, The Vigilant
Heimdallr is one of the strongest hunters in the game at the moment, but his kit takes some time to learn before you can really perform well with him. His 3 basically makes him gank-proof, but you need to know how to position it and be vigilant with ensuring both ends are constantly up. His ult to remove an enemy god from a fight for a few seconds. That few seconds can make all the difference in a big team fight if your team’s abilities can all be coordinated around when someone’s getting knocked away.
14 Janus, God Of Portals And Transitions
Janus is a character that has struggled for some time thanks to inconsistent damage. Right now his damage output is fairly high if he’s built correctly. Previously, enemies could weave in between the two projectiles that Janus launched. Now, there is a chain that does damage in between the two damaging spheres, making the ability much more difficult to juke.
Janus’ biggest strength has always been the mobility he brings to the team; the new map lends itself to that skill. His ability to move his entire team quickly through the map with his ultimate makes it difficult for the enemy team to gank or do an objective uncontested. To make matters worse for his enemies, anyone hit by the ultimate is sure to sustain massive damage, putting them at an immediate disadvantage for the upcoming fight.
13 King Arthur, Wielder Of Excalibur
The human Beyblade King Arthur continues his reign over the solo lane. He not only does immense damage, but he is also fairly tanky and hard to take down even with help from the jungle. Players can even elect to build him with a more defensive starter item and become the ultimate annoyance for the enemy team.
King Arthur’s goal in the mid and late game is to harass the enemy carries and become a general annoyance and resource sink. He has access to tons of abilities and building him with good sustain items like Stone of Gaia means that he will be a part of the fight for a long time. Throw a Gladiator’s Shield into that build and enjoy soloing the enemy carries.
12 Erlang Shen, The Illustrious Sage
Erlang Shen is another of our shapeshifting gods that is worthy of being one of the best in Smite. If there ever were a Warrior that was built like an Assassin, it would be Erlang Shen. He can throw his spear and stun enemy gods, often poking down their health one throw at a time. At the perfect moment, Erlang Shen and his attack dog can strike and promptly remove enemies from the field.
After picking away at enemy health with his spear, Erlang Shen can dash in as a mink or a turtle and begin the attack on the enemy team. The turtle will offer him a shield, while the mink allows him increased attack speed. In combination with his first ability, a flat damage boost, he can make quick work of foes with the assistance of his team. If ever there were a doubt about his survival, he would simply need to activate his ultimate and survive five seconds. After five seconds, he gains 15% of his health back on top of a flat rate. His ability to focus on one foe, taunt enemies, and gain health and shields elevate him to be a god among gods.
11 Nemesis, Goddess Of Vengeance
Nemesis has always been fairly unique in the sense that she has multiple build paths that are all good. She can be built as an auto-attack carry, ability-based character, and a tanky bruiser. This flexibility means that she can shine in any team composition and is challenging to counter-build. Her ultimate is the premier tank-killing ability as it steals much of the enemy’s protections and health on top of slowing them.
Her mobility allows her to farm the jungle efficiently and quickly which is paramount on the new map. With an ultimate that is ideal for killing tanks, Nemesis is great at ganking solo lane and getting a solo-laner ahead while still being able to kill squishy characters with her normal abilities or auto-attacks. Thanks to her two dashes and multiple slows, few characters can escape a Nemesis who wants them dead.
10 Cabrakan, Destroyer Of Mountains
It’s rare that gods with extremely limited mobility like Cabrakan can be considered this strong, but Cabrakan has the stats to take a top-tier position right now. The lack of mobility is really the only weak point this god has. Aside from that, he’s obviously a tank, but he also does more damage than almost every other Guardian. On top of that, the main thing about Cabrakan that’s always made other players run when they see him is the three CC moves he can hit back-to-back. In a meta currently dominated by high CC builds, of course, Cabrakan is near the top.
9 Cupid, The God Of Love
Cupid has a large focus on mobility and excels at targeting a single individual and dissuading the rest of the enemy team from engaging. A solid basic attack, dash, stun, team consumables, and an area of effect ultimate helps Cupid earn his spot as one of the better hunters in Smite. Cupid’s first ability and ultimate are impacted by how many basic attacks he has hit before activation. Making sure you have all of these stacks before using your abilities can alter your fights drastically. All of Cupid’s abilities help facilitate the use of his main damage dealer as a hunter.
8 Cthulhu, The Great Dreamer
Cthulu truly is an Eldritch horror in-game. As a guardian, he has some of the best defensive base stats and crowd control abilities available. Put him into the solo lane and you have a god that will do good damage, has good crowd control and mobility, and is unreasonably tanky. It will take any team more time and resources than they would like to use to take down an enemy Cthulu.
When using his ultimate, all of Cthulhu’s strengths get amplified. His abilities are massive and will do large chunks of damage to entire teams if they stay grouped up during a fight. Few abilities are “I win” buttons, but Cthulu’s ultimate is one of them. It is hard to compete with a character that is very hard to kill and brings great damage and control to a team fight.
7 Danzaburou, The Legendary Tanuki
Danzaburou is a trickster tanuki who excels while living in the chaos of the battleground. His inherent shapeshifting ability allows him to transform from his tanuki form to a leaf and a rocket. Both are extremely useful in engaging in combat as well as disengaging. If that was not enough to satisfy, he throws coin purses full of gold at his enemies to slow and heavily damage them.
Danzaburou’s ultimate ability allows him to transform into a rocket to engage in a fight or chase down terrified foes. His ultimate can also be fired on its own to stop incoming foes while he makes his escape. He can summon a forest of bamboo and fly away as a leaf in the wind, with his enemies scrambling to find which leaf is him. These antics help Danzaburou earn his spot on the list and make his gameplay interesting.
6 Tsukuyomi, God Of The Moon
Tsukuyomi is an absolute menace coming out of the jungle. He brings good control and great damage to a team fight. An excellent ganker, few can survive a Tsukuyomi showing up in their lane. He thrives at taking out a single target, but if played well, he can take down multiple enemies and get out with his life. With a stun, a slow, a disarm, and an ultimate that brings Tsukuyomi to the enemy, it is difficult to get away.
In a team fight, he is great at taking out an enemy mage or hunter. He can blink in and use his kit to kill enemies, ulting any targets that are fleeing. Engaging with the ultimate forces the enemy team to defend which allows his team to collapse on them while Tsukuyomi still has access to his whole kit. An excellent choice for anyone who wants to jump into the thick of the fight.
5 Bellona, Goddess Of War
Bellona was the first god to feature a disarm, which disables her opponents from using basic attacks. Her kit is unique in that every one of her three main abilities alters her basic attack. One ability gives her lifesteal and increases her attack range, another gives her block, which absorbs an enemy basic attack, and the final one lets her hit multiple gods at once at decreased damage. Bellona is one of the best gods in Smite because she is so versatile and has great survivability. The right combination of her abilities can put fear in enemies as they run away. Unfortunately for them, Bellona’s ultimate is often used to close distance on retreating foes and start the fight all over again.
4 Cu Chulainn, Hound Of Ulster
The premier lane bully, Cu Chulainn abuses Manakin Scepter like no other. With his rage-based transformation mechanic, it isn’t unlikely that he gets an early kill or even wins a two-on-one against the enemy jungler and solo. With Manakin Scepter, Cu Chulainn can out clear and out-box nearly everyone. It also allows him to run at hunters and render them completely useless.
In team fights, he shines at harassing the enemy hunter. Players can use the normal form ult to engage on the enemy team and then just solo their carries once transformed. He’s one of the few characters who starts off strong and maintains it throughout the whole game. A good Cu Chulainn can almost singlehandedly carry a team to victory.
3 Scylla, Horror Of The Sea
Scylla is the premier burst mage in Smite. A character renowned for her insane damage and game-changing ultimate, Scylla will win games all by herself. She has abilities that are very hard to miss, a good escape, and an ultimate that can nearly one-shot squishier characters, as well as reset itself on a kill. She can use her 1 to root three enemies who are bunched up and throw her 2 down on them for enough damage to kill or nearly kill them all. She has a weaker early game than many other mages, but if the game goes into the mid-game and late-game, Scylla will dominate.
2 Thoth, Arbiter Of The Damned
Thoth is not only one of the strongest mages currently in the game, he’s also a great god for new players looking for someone with a simple but powerful kit. Thoth’s not that complicated. His kit almost entirely center’s around sending out waves of damage-dealing magic blasts, with a fairly-effective dash for when things get sticky. He has high damage output from early on as well, which can lead to some pretty easy early-game sweeps if you can control the mid-lane from the get-go.
1 Yemoja, Goddess Of Rivers
Yemoja is undebatably considered one of the most broken gods in Smite right now. Her mana is replaced with Omi slots, and mastering this mana-alternative is a key part of Yemoja’s build. You have to pay close attention to how many abilities you can use with your limited capacity of Omi while continually aiding your team. Yemoja is largely a utility guardian above all else, with unparalleled control of the battlefield with her various abilities. Her third ability opens a water portal that can either propel gods that pass through it and buff their movement speed, or it can launch them backward. Her ultimate raises water on two sides, allowing Yemoja to block enemy gods between two waves.
