SMITE Season 4 Item Guide: How to Build Mages

One of the most important aspects of performing well in SMITE is itemization. When to build what, which character synergizes with which items, what item clusters go together…it’s a lot to take in. So it’s not really a surprise that one of the biggest mistakes newer players make is simply building incorrectly, and getting farmed as a result. They didn’t do their homework, and it shows on their Win/Loss screen. 

Luckily, if you’ve been here before for our God guides, or our best picks for Mid lane, Solo, ADC, or Jungle, you already know we’re here to be your SMITE Gradesaver. While common item clusters and ever-changing stat lines may be a long story, we have a cheat sheet on how to build for every role.

Let’s start with one of the most flexible god types in SMITE — the mage.

How to Build a Mage in SMITE

Raw power and mana are the name of the game for most Mages. You usually have just one job — bringing the pain to as much of the Battleground as possible. So in most cases, you’re going to want to focus on building up a little bit of Magical Penetration to keep base resistances low against other squishy targets. And CDR is going to be your best friend, too. 

Standard (All-Purpose) Mage Build

Who Wants It: Standard mid-game dominant mages that are fairly one dimensional – all they do is bring the pain and maybe a little CC.

Gods It’s Good For: Agni, Janus, Zeus

Main Items: 

• Shoes of the Magi
• Book of Thoth
• Chronos Pendant
• Obsidian Shard
• Rod of Tahuti
• Book of the Dead

Starter items:

• Soul Stone (if aggressively dueling)
• Sands of Time (if passively farming)
• Vampiric Shroud (if mixed)

Sporting a little bit of everything, this is more or less the standard look for most Mages in Season 4 of SMITE. While the order may change, the overall roster very rarely does. (An Anubis, for example, may want Book of the Dead as his first or second item, rather than last.) With MP5, CDR, Penetration, Power, and survivability all rolled in to a single build, this is the default approach for your standard damage Mage.

If you’re not coming under heavy fire or taking much poke damage, and thus don’t need so much survivability, Soul Reaver can take the spot of Book of the Dead to massively increase your kill potential in a single rotation.

Mage Assassin Build

Who Wants It: A small but slowly growing subset of Mages that are functionally burst assassins. 

Gods It’s Good For: Ao Kuang, The Morrigan

Main Items:

• Shoes of the Magi
• Polynomicon
• Soul Reaver
• Obsidian Shard
• Rod of Tahuti
• Chronos Pendant

Starter Items: 

• Soul Stone + Bumba’s Mask (if jungling) 

Some mages are mages only in their magical damage, but really they’re magical assassins. They’re not here to spread death over the Battlefield — they’re here to move in, instantly annihilate one enemy, and move out. Sporting an absurd burst damage package in Polynomicon and Soul Reaver, and the single biggest power item in Rod of Tahuti, this build is for them.

If your Mage Assassin already has fairly low cooldowns or solid mana usage, or the enemy keeps escaping with a sliver of health left over, replacing Chronos Pendant with Ethereal Staff can sometimes give you that last little push you need to seal the deal. 

ADC Mage Build

Who Wants It: Basic attack reliant Mages that left click as often as they use abilities. ADC players from Europe. 

Gods It’s Good For: Sol, Chronos, Freya

Main Items:

• Shoes of the Magi
• Hastened Fatalis
• Demonic Grip
• Polynomicon
• Obsidian Shard
• Rod of Tahuti

Starter Items:

• Vampiric Shroud

This build is for Mages that value Basic attacks more heavily, prefer sustained damage output to raw burst, and are totally aware of what they truly are — Hunters. 

With the Hastened Fatalis and Polynomicon keeping your basic attack damage sharp, Obsidian Shard filling in for Titan’s Bane, and Rod of Tahuti doing all it can to boost your overall damage output…this build is the default for those Mages who wandered off into the old Duo lane and decided to stay. 

Healer/Support/Tank Mage Build

Who Wants It: Healing Mages more at home in the middle of the fight than sniping from the backlines. Solo lane or support role Mages. 

Gods It’s Good For: Hel, Chang’e, Aphrodite, occasionally Ra (when he’s not his team’s primary magical damage dealer)

Main Items: 

• Shoes of the Magi
• Shield of Regrowth
• Breastplate of Valor
• Lotus Crown
• Rod of Asclepius
• Rod of Tahuti

Starter Items: 

• Sands of Time (if alone)
• Watcher’s Gift (if supporting)

There’s a subset of Mages who exist in the strange, blurred line of “traditional mage, except also a frontliner”. Their damage output isn’t nearly as high as other magical varieties — which this build won’t help with — but that’s also not really their job.

This build is for usually for those Mages (with a self-heal) who have taken up the mantle of the Solo lane or the Support role, and focuses on making sure you and your allies stay safe and in the fight. 

This build has everything a mage needs to keep their team rallied and topped off during long fights. You’ve got a ton of Armor and MP5 in Breastplate of Valor, a fair bit of additional health and some mobility options with Shield of Regrowth and Rod of Ascelpius, and two fight-breaking utility effects for your team with passive Healing increase and the Lotus Crown effect.

As a final word of warning…

While these builds are rock solid, they are overarching outlines for character archetypes, and should be treated as such. These item guides are solid starters, and good standards to hold your itemization to — but each character is just a little different, and those last few steps towards mastery are ones only you can take. With these tricks in your spellbook, though, you have everything you need to get started. 

Now go forth and Conquer.