Smite: Best Melee Gods for New Players

Smite is a free-to-play MOBA from Hi-Rez and Titan Forged Games. Any game in the ever-growing MOBA genre can be tough for new players, and breaking through the barrier to entry in Smite is no exception – especially if this is their first time dipping their toes in the unique and challenging genre. With its accessible third-person camera view and newly-introduced themed skins from Avatar: The Last Airbender, the game is sure to continue gaining traction with newcomers.

There’s a good reason MOBAs like League of Legends are such massive esports titles – they require hours and hours of practice to master. Smite is no exception, as wayward noobies just booting up the game for the first time may be slightly overwhelmed when confronted with the game’s roster of over 100 unique gods from different pantheons. Narrowing down who to play can be as simple as asking oneself, “Who looks the coolest?“, but unfortunately that would mean every new player would be insta-locking Cthulhu. However, for those looking to improve their essential MOBA toolkit, here are 3 of the best melee gods in Smite for beginners to start honing their skills on the battlefield.

Smite’s Best Beginner Melee Warrior: Guan Yu

Guan Yu is a god for new players looking to get into the thick of the fight and come out victorious. Guan Yu’s role in Smite is what the game calls a Warrior, meaning he has a high health pool with good resistances, but can still dish out severe damage and be a real threat to any opponent caught out of position. He shares many similarities to other gods in the Warrior role, but what sets Guan Yu apart is his relatively simple kit that includes a potent self-heal. This means players who may not yet have a grasp on how much damage their enemies can do can have some of their mistakes forgiven by Guan Yu’s ability to top himself off after he goes in. In general, characters with self-heals are great for beginners for this very reason – being able to correct one’s mistakes and live to fight another day can teach new players precious lessons.

On top of Guan Yu’s self-heal, he also excels in mobility. His second ability allows Guan Yu to charge forward, being able to chase down enemies or quickly escape a teamfight if he needs to reposition or heal up. Guan Yu’s third ability is not only his primary damage source, but it also gives him immunity to a handful of crowd control effects as well. This means he can continue his assault even in the face of the enemies’ attempts to stop him. Guan Yu’s ultimate ability calls in his warhorse, which he mounts and rides through the battlefield, swinging his eponymous weapon the Guandao at anyone who stands in his way. While he’s mounted, Guan Yu is once again immune to CC, making him a nightmare for squishy carries desperate to deny his advance.

Smite’s Best Beginner Melee Assassin: Bastet

Bastet, the Egyptian God of Cats, is one of Smite‘s strongest, and yet still most beginner-friendly, melee assassins. Bastet’s kit is focused around mobility and high damage over time abilities, making her a pain to shake off once she finds your scent – literally. Bastet’s passive allows her to track the scent of enemies she attacks, giving her increased movement speed while chasing her opponents down. Since Bastet also possesses crowd control in the form of her third ability’s root effect, she can be a potent god who becomes nearly inescapable.

If an opponent does manage to escape Bastet, chances are they still aren’t safe. Bastet’s kit has a lot of passive damage built into it, meaning she only needs to be near her enemy for a few moments to apply the extremely potent bleed from her second ability. On top of that, Bastet’s ultimate summons her feline guardians to aid her in hunting down opponents. This means Bastet can get a lot of value out of brief interactions, making her a very beginner-friendly god that will not harshly punish rookie mistakes.

Smite’s Best Beginner Melee Support: Athena

It’s almost unfair to categorize Athena as a beginner character since that might suggest that a more experienced player wouldn’t bother with her. That couldn’t be further from the truth, since the fact remains that Athena is a character who dominates every level of Smite play, from Bronze to Grand Master. Players who are new to Smite and looking to support their team can’t do much better than picking up Athena, as her inherent tankiness, mobility, and crowd control make her an invaluable asset to any team.

Athena’s primary strength lies in her ability to rush down squishy targets, force them to turn and fight her so that her nearby carry can blow them up, and live to tell the tale thanks to her built-in damage resilience. It’s honestly that simple. There isn’t much else to evaluate when highlighting Athena, though she does have a few mechanics that allow players to extract more usefulness from her as they begin to understand the game more. Athena’s passive is the first of those mechanics, making her next auto-attack ranged after using an ability. This allows her to poke her lane opponents, gaining her and her lane partner a health advantage for when she inevitably goes in and steamrolls them with her sheer might. Athena’s ultimate also offers some complexity, allowing players to jump to any ally on the map and, after a few seconds, come crashing down next to them damaging all nearby enemies and offering her teammate a 20% damage resistance buff during her wind-up. Optimal use of Athena’s ultimate requires some map awareness and the ability to anticipate when an ally will need assistance, which can be challenging to assess for newer players. That said, newer Athena mains can always use her ult to simply jump back into the thick of battle on the rare occasion they do die and start stomping face again in no time.

Smite is a game, like many, that is most fun when the player connects with a character(s). While these three gods are a great starting point for new players looking to brush up on their melee gameplay, there are dozens of gods in Smite that offer simplicity without sacrificing effectiveness. Experimenting with who looks interesting and feels the best to play is ultimately a player’s best approach to engagingly learning the game.

Smite is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch.

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