Smite 2has been frequently regarded by developers Titan Forge Games as the “true sequel” to the popular MOBA,Smite, and looks to take another step forward in the franchise’s evolution. With abrand-new engine running the show, players get to experience their favorite game modes with some of their favorite gods in the highly-anticipated sequel.
In perhapsthe most popular game mode, Conquest, players will need to choose a role to play in the match, which will determine their responsibilities and how they can contribute to the team’s victory. The most advanced of these roles in the Jungler, which requires some skill to master. With this in mind, an understanding ofhow to fill the Jungle role inSmite 2will help you on your way to accumulating those wins.
What Is Jungling in Smite 2?
With therole system becoming more rigid inSmite 2, it is more important than ever to get an understanding of what your individual goals are in the pursuit of team success. Perhaps one of the most important roles in a Conquest match is the Jungler, who is somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades and will try everything they can to tip the balance of each lane in their team’s favor. This involves having an idea of what’s going on around the battlefield, having eyes on the enemy gods, and pushing for dominion over the various buff camps to help support your team.
A Jungle player won’t have a set lane, but will generally follow a pattern of movement revolved around acquiring buffs and creating 2v1 or 3v2 combat scenarios to their advantage. When utilized effectively, a Jungle can have a significant influence over the progression of each teammate’s lane, which in turn will enable a more cohesive push towards the enemy Phoenixes and, of course, the Titan that will earn you the victory.
How To Jungle In Smite 2
Jungling is a more advanced role that players can assign themselves inSmite 2, so if you’re relatively new to the game, it is better to choose a lane-specific role like Solo, Duo, or Mid, and take note of what your Jungle teammate is doing throughout the match. With that being said, there are a few tasks you’ll want to complete if you decide to give the Jungle role a go.
Defend and Support Teammates and Their Lanes
When a teammate calls for support, the Jungler is generally the one to answer first. This is because the other players in ateam are responsible for their own lanes, so to abandon one to provide support means leaving their lane unattended and vulnerable. Junglers can make use of the grass cover to hide or even flank their enemies in an attempt to overpower them and take them out, giving their own team an opportunity to advance.
Gank Enemy Gods
A word you may often see thrown around in games likeSmiteis “ganking”, which is a term used to describe the act of springing a surprise assault on an enemy to create a 2v1 or 3v2 situation. This goes hand in hand with supporting your teammate, but ganking can be done on aproactivebasis, not just a reactive one. With a well-timed gank, you’re able to open opportunities for enemy towers to be destroyed, allowing your team to inch closer to the ultimate goal.
Clear Buff Camps
Another important task is to keep clearing out the buff camps throughout the map. It’s crucial to keep tabs on the ones on your side of the arena, but stealing some of the enemy buff camps is also very useful for getting an advantage. With these buffs, for you and your team, you can use the boons to your advantage incombat situations against enemy gods, the Gold Fury, and the Fire Giant. The last two will offer significant and permanent bonuses to the team that slays them, with the Gold Fury getting stronger with each defeat.
Buff camps will increase in strength and difficulty each time you defeat them, which means you’ll receive greater rewards for overcoming them.
Tips For Playing The Jungle Role
The Jungle role can be a difficult one to master inany popular MOBA on the market, and you can find yourself under scrutiny if your team doesn’t succeed. Since it’s your primary job to keep buffed and support your teammates as best you can, the first thing you should keep in mind is to ignore any negative criticism while learning the role, as you’ll get better with time. Before you dive into a jungle role, however, it would be wise to assume one of the lane roles and see how your team’s Jungler operates. With that said, there are a few tips to bear in mind to give you a fighting chance.
Be Aggressive From The Start
Buff camps get stronger every time they respawn, so get in early and clear them out as quickly as possible. It’s best to get stuck straight into it, as the opening period of the game will have far less surprises and open conflict between your team and the enemy. So, be prepared, buff as much as you can, and see if you can capitalize on being ahead of the eight-ball going into the opening exchanges between the teams.
Communicate and Respond
Smite 2, just like the original game, requires a lot of teamwork to achieve success. Many of the big bosses, especially the Gold Fury and Fire Giant, often can’t be overcome on your own, so it’s important to communicate. Not just that, but being able to get cues from your teammates as to the whereabouts of opposition gods will help maintain a steady strategy and help to anticipate any ganking from the other team.
Using prompts like “enemy missing” will let teammates know when a opposition god leaves a section of the map, so if they leave the right lane, you can expect there might be an engagement in the middle or left lanes. Other prompts will alert you when your teammates are in trouble, so be sure to stay mobile and jump in any time a teammate is asking for help or support.
Target Speed Buffs
Given how mobile you need to be as a Jungler, keeping a speed buff (the yellow ones) for as much of the game as possible will make your life infinitely easier, and ensure you can move between lanes sooner rather than later. As mentioned, camps get tougher with each respawn, so as the match progresses, your speed buff will grow more significant.
Make Camp Steals
You have a bunch of campsguarded by mythical creaturesat your disposal on your side of the arena, but that doesn’t mean the enemy can’t make a play at them. As a Jungler, your goal is to essentially have control of all the camps throughout the map, so don’t be afraid to take a chance on one of the camps on the enemy’s side of the battlefield.
By stealing camps from the enemy, you are depriving them of the opportunity to take the buffs for themselves, meaning the advantage they could hypothetically have over you and your teammates is taken away. At the end of the day, any and all buffs are better in your hands than they are the enemy’s.
Ward, Ward, Ward
This doesn’t just apply to Junglers, but Warding will go a long way to ensuring you’re not on the wrong end of an ambush. Wards are consumable items, like health and mana potions, that you’re able to purchase throughout a match and place as a means of detecting enemy movements. Given how open the map is and how many entry points there are, you’ll want to place one at an intersection that will allow you to detect enemies coming from more than one path.
Wards only last for 60 seconds, to ensure you stock up and use them liberally. With these items active, you’ll have greater vision on the field and be able to respond to enemy ganking before it becomes a significant issue.
Which Gods Should You Choose For Jungling?
One of the benefits toSmite 2’s significantly smaller roster (at least, that’s how it is from launch) is that you have the opportunity to try out most gods until you find one that suits your playstyle best. That’s the best advice you can really get as far aschoosing the right god for you- it’s very much a trial and error process. InSmite 2, a greater emphasis is placed on builds, and more flexibility is given to the player base to enable gods that were previously designed for certain roles to fill in other responsibilities within a team. In the sequel, tanks like Bacchus don’t necessarily have to play like tanks, and the same can be said about pretty much the whole roster. The lines between Guardian, Mage, Hunter, Assassin, and Warrior are certainly more blurred inSmite 2.
That aside, there are still some gods that simply have a better skillset for a more advanced role, like the Jungler. If you’re looking to really get stuck into the role and make it your specialty, you’re able to’t go wrong with characters likeMordred,Loki, orSusano. Melee-heavy gods with a speed advantage are great for clearing out camps, given you can’t hurt them outside their camp range, and springing an attack can be far more effective when you can string together abilities and overwhelm enemies by jumping in with a flurry of melee strikes between them.
