SMITE: How to Play King Arthur

Become the king of the SMITE Ranked ladder with the Wielder of Excalibur, King Arthur!

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With the SMITE World Championship shaping approaching, so does the end of the 9^th season of Hi-Rez Studios’ third-person MOBA. With that, the ranked season is concluding soon, but in these last few months, players can make a final push to reach the Division they desire – and one of the best tools to achieve that is a strong God to play with!

And who could be stronger than the King of Camelot, the Wielder of the legendary sword Excalibur himself, King Arthur! In SMITE, King Arthur is a Warrior who does best in the solo lane and can be a force to be reckoned with in the early game and later parts of a Conquest match.

King Arthur Abilities:

Passive – Steadfast:

King Arthur is unique because of his Passive, Steadfast: he doesn’t have the regular four activated abilities of a SMITE God; instead, he can swap between Standard and Combo abilities by using his spells, as, after a Standard one, you get into Combo Stance, and vice versa – and the cooldowns of his abilities are tracked separately in the stances, meaning he can rotate his spell in quick succession. His Standard abilities have blue icons, while the Combo ones are yellow, so it’s easy to tell which Stance you are in after a glance.

Steadfast also grants King Arthur stacks when he hits enemy Gods up to a maximum of 4 stacks, each one giving him 1% Damage Mitigation and 20% bonus Ultimate Energy Gain. His auto-attacks also have unique properties, as they all cleave, hitting all targets before him and making King Arthur lunge so he can chase his enemies while attacking. But he has a drawback, as he can’t gain Attack Speed from items and other sources – Attack Speed increases his Energy Gain instead.

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1 – Overhead Slash/Hamstring:

His first ability is Overhead Slash in the Standard Stance: King Arthur smites his enemies before him, dealing heavy damage and sending forward a slashing attack. Enemies hit by the Smash take extra damage from the Slicing attack.

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In Combo Stance, Overhead Slash changes to Hamstring: Arthur swipes at the feet of his enemies with Excalibur, damaging them and applying Cripple, meaning they can’t use movement abilities for a few seconds.

2 – Battle Stomp/Uppercut:

While in Standard Stance, King Arthur’s second ability makes him stomp on the ground, dealing damage to enemies around him and slowing them for a few seconds.

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After using an ability, Battle Stomp becomes Uppercut, which lets King Arthur rush forward, releasing an uppercut at the end of the charge, or when colliding with an enemy God, launching them into the air and dealing damage.

3 – Twin Cleave/Bladestorm:

Arthur’s third ability is Twin Cleave in Standard Stance, which lets him charge forward, slicing twice. Both slices damage enemies while reducing their protections, making this ability ideal as a combo starter.

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While in Combo, King Arthur can use Bladestorm, swinging Excalibur around him while damaging enemies five times, then striking one final time, dealing more damage. The King is immune to Knockups while spinning.

4 – Sundering Strike/Excalibur’s Wrath:

King Arthur’s Ultimate is not swapped by using another ability before, but by charging Excalibur up with Energy by using other abilities and stacking Steadfast. Above 35 Energy, Arthur can use Sundering Strike, stabbing forwards after a brief windup, damaging enemies and stunning them for 1 second.

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Above 80 Energy, Sundering Strike turns into Excalibur’s Wrath. This ability lets him charge forward, and if King Arthur hits an enemy God, he launches them into the air, barraging the target with 6 strikes, then sending them back down to the ground, dealing damage to the enemy God and all targets under them.

Combos:

King Arthur has a wide array of abilities, and he has many combos to get the better of his enemies. One of the best ones is starting everything off with Twin Cleave, then using Uppercut to lock an enemy in place, and finishing up the first rotation with Overhead Slash. After the Slash, you can use Battle Stomp, then Bladestorm, so the enemy can’t easily escape the barrage of attacks. If the opponent is still standing, you can finish them off with Excalibur’s Wrath, as you surely gained enough Energy to unleash the might of Avalon.

If you’re fighting a God with one or more movement abilities, you can start with Battle Stomp and follow up with Hamstring for the Cripple effect so they can’t just jump away. After landing the Overhead Slash, follow your target with either Uppercut or with Excalibur’s Wrath if you have enough Energy. Twin Cleave into Bladestorm can work wonders, especially if you follow the most important rule, putting two points into Bladestorm before maxing out your first ability, as the jump from 10 damage a slash to 30 is huge in the early game.

Build:

For Starter Items, you can never go wrong with Bluestone Pendant on an Ability-based Warrior. While Bluestone doesn’t provide tankiness, it deals crazy damage. But Warrior’s Axe works for tougher matchups, while Tainted Steel is still the best choice against healers, which still run rampant in the Solo Lane. If you go Bluestone, the more universally applicable upgrade is Bluestone Brooch, but if the match needs it, Corrupted Bluestone can also work Arthur.

For Relics, Teleport Glyph can help you have an easier laning phase, as you can TP back after a bad trade or leave the lane with an unfavorable wavestate. After level 12, you can either go Aegis Amulet or Purification Beads if you need it, but Blink Rune can help you close the distance or teleport you straight into the enemy backline.

If you can get away with it, Gladiator’s Shield is the best early-game item you can buy, as you can proc its passive eight times if you master Arthur’s ability rotation. Sovereignty works wonders for defense, but if you need a mix of both, Manticore’s Spikes are the way to go, as the item gives a huge boost to your defenses, and the fragments give extra damage – which you can get by launching your enemies into the air with either your Ultimate or Uppercut.

Your last two items depend on the game, but more protections never hurt, as you’re supposed to be the other frontline next to your Support. So items like Genji’s Guard, Mantle of Discord or Spirit robe should work wonders, but Aura items such as Heartward Amulet should be considered as well if the enemy team has a lot of magic resist.

Now that you know the basics of King Arhtur, get out there and win ranked games! For Avalon!