SMITE 2 beginner's guide: Tips for understanding gods, roles, and teamwork

SMITE 2 is a fun, fast-paced, and team-driven MOBA, so there are plenty of reasons to play—but it can be daunting for beginners.

We’re here to help! We've compiled tips about the gods, roles, and team play for those who are either new to SMITE or new to the MOBA genre more broadly. Keep an open mind, and remember to have fun as you learn!

Find a god you like and stick with them

SMITE 2 can be difficult to understand. Jumping from god to god—especially right at the start—makes picking up the mechanics even harder, adding a layer of unnecessary learning.

Try a few gods out, sure, but then choose the one you enjoy most and then focus on learning the game. Switching between gods is much easier once you know how the game's basic mechanics work. Jumping between too many gods early on can slow down your understanding of the fundamentals.

If you’ve played similar games before, like Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, or even League of Legends, then you can look for gods that have playstyles that mimic your favorite characters in other games. Of course, you’ll eventually want to try a variety of gods and get a feel for what you like in SMITE 2 specifically, but it’s good to start with something vaguely familiar and comfortable.

If you haven’t played a similar game before, then try a god you like. Playing any game is as fun as you make it, and if you know a god's background or enjoy their design, then you’ll be more likely to have fun.

With that being said, as you play more, you’ll want to try out a few different gods across roles.

 

Learn gods that fit several roles

Like any multiplayer game, you’re going to run into people who refuse to play various roles. Whether they want to play their main god, try something new, or simply don’t care, some allies won’t be team players.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to stay flexible and learn at least the basics of some gods across most roles in the game. That doesn’t mean you have to main each one, but having them unlocked is a good idea. No matter what game mode you’re playing, you’ll want certain roles to be filled, and it's best to have a god (or gods) in your stable that fits the gaps in your team.

Explaining roles that are specific to Conquest is the easiest way to look at the roles in SMITE 2. If you play mostly Arena or Joust, these roles aren’t as set, but they’re still useful—especially in Arena, which focuses on team fighting, so team composition is important.

SMITE 2's roles are as follows:

• Solo: A bruiser or off-tank god whose goal is to focus on disrupting enemies.
• Jungle: Gods that can deal a lot of damage quickly or can support teammates as they roam and gank lanes.
• Middle: A damage dealer who excels at securing objectives efficiently.
• Support: Tanks or gods with supportive abilities who focus on buffing, debuffing, healing, or other mechanics to disrupt the enemy team and give their teammates advantages.
• Carry: A god that focuses on dealing damage to objectives and enemies.

While these roles are flexible, it’s important to have a team composition that can function together.

Many gods are made to work in multiple roles. Each god’s page will have several one-word descriptions that explain what they're good at and what roles they excel in. Gods can also be filtered by role before a match, if you want to streamline your options.

Luckily, you don’t have to stress about picking the perfect god for each role. SMITE 2 generously gives players a token to unlock a god every time they level up, and it’s very easy to get a collection going even early on as you start to get a feel for the game.

You also don’t need to be an expert at each role to succeed. Just being prepared to play a god in a role you’re forced into can be helpful.
 

Arena is a good place to start

There are several different game modes in SMITE 2, and it can be challenging to decide which one to play. However, Arena offers several benefits that the others don’t.

Arena lets you focus on the main themes of SMITE 2 without many distractions. You’ll be able to pay attention to jungle camps, minions, and enemies in a way that's easier and lower-stress than Conquest. You can generally see most of the map, which means you don’t have to worry about enemies coming from behind or beside you. And you’ll constantly be around teammates, which gives you a solid grasp of how teamfighting works.

These mechanics are important in every mode. However, in Conquest and Joust, other mechanics are layered on top that make SMITE 2 more complex. This isn’t a bad thing, per se, but it can make things harder for beginners.

Hop into Arena until you feel very confident in what you’re doing moment-to-moment. You can take your time in Arena and focus on what you need to learn most—or just get experience in-game. It's the best option, whether you’re trying out a new god for the first time or doing something more complex, like learning how to buy items.
 

Don’t ignore jungle camps

No matter what game mode you play, jungle monsters are incredibly important. Not only do they give buffs, but they also provide gold and experience. Gold and experience will keep you leveling up and buying items, which is arguably more important than the buffs themselves.

Getting behind the enemy team in terms of experience and levels is a death sentence. Levels matter when it comes to damage output and your health—and at the beginning of the match, it even affects what abilities you can use. Jungle camps are vital for staying at the same pace, or even ahead, of your enemy.

It’s easy to ignore the jungle camps, especially if you’re playing in Conquest. However, there are plenty of camps around each lane, and while junglers are meant to secure camps, they’ll more than likely miss a few. That’s where you come in.

In Arena, meanwhile, most players will immediately take the left-side jungle camps before heading to the middle of the map. There are only a few camps in Arena, so getting them as they come up is pretty easy to do.
 

Be careful with auto-buy

In SMITE 2, new players will have auto-buy on default. This means that anytime the player returns to their home base, the game will purchase items that go towards a set build that the player chooses at the start of the match.

Auto-buy is a great learning tool. It lets you learn the game without worrying about buying the completely wrong items. However, there are a few problems with it. First of all, you can’t deviate from the plan or grab any single-use items if you have auto-buy turned on. This means you can’t buy consumables like wards or potions to replenish your health and mana. These items are very important, especially if you’re playing Conquest or Joust.

It also means you can't adapt to the specific enemies you’re up against. This is something that’s pretty important as you learn more about SMITE 2. Optimizing builds and choosing items that give you scenario-specific advantages is important.

Learning to buy items is something every player should eventually do—maybe not at the beginning, if you're starting with no knowledge of SMITE 2 or MOBAs in general. But when you feel like you’ve got a good grasp on the game, then try learning how to build your character correctly.
 

Play with your team

SMITE 2 is a team game. No matter how amazing you are at the game, you’ll never soar to the top by doing everything alone. In fact, in most cases, you’ll lose.

It’s very important to work with your teammates. Whether you agree or disagree with what they’re doing, following them and working together increases the odds of a play working out. For example, if you see four of your teammates trying to push a lane while all five enemies are on their way to counter, go help! Whether you think you can win the fight or not, your team has much higher odds together than separated.

Likewise, don’t try to do too much on your own. If you’re wandering around alone, it’s much easier for the enemy to take you out. If there’s an objective you want to go for, then you can use a ping to try and rouse your teammates.

SMITE 2's pinging system lets players communicate quickly and efficiently. They’re easy to use and understand, which makes a big difference in the middle of a match. There’s also an in-game voice chat that players can use to communicate. Voice chat is push-to-talk by default—check your key binds in settings to find your assigned key

If you haven’t already, be sure to download and check out SMITE 2 on the Epic Games Store.