Mastering Athena in Smite 2: A Player’s Guide

In Smite 2, most gods are designed to take on various roles. You can select any god for any position, but if the team doesn’t communicate effectively, picking an unsuitable god can lead to challenges during gameplay.

Athena stands out as one of the few gods who excel in both Jungler and Support roles. Each role offers a distinct playstyle, and when played correctly, Athena can significantly boost her team’s performance.

How to Play Athena in Smite 2

Athena is predominantly a melee character in Smite 2, but she can also perform a ranged basic attack. Her skills offer a blend of defensive and offensive capabilities, allowing players to adapt her playstyle to different scenarios.

When fulfilling the Jungler role, Athena often plays more offensively and may focus on activating her God Aspect.

Passive Ability: Reach

Athena’s passive ability, Reach, enhances her melee basic attack, transforming it into a ranged attack for a short time after using an ability.

Tips for Utilizing Reach

While Reach may not be the most powerful passive ability, it can be advantageous when used aggressively. This range helps Athena secure kills on fleeing opponents, especially when activated after using her movement skill, Dash.

Ability: Preemptive Strike

Preemptive Strike is Athena’s primary movement ability, allowing her to dash forward after a brief charge. If she hits an enemy, it deals damage, slows them down, and grants her additional protection when hitting another god.

Effective Use of Preemptive Strike

Preemptive Strike is versatile and works best when used offensively. It serves as a strong initiation for combat, especially when targeting enemy gods, and can restrict their escape routes if timed correctly.

This ability can also be a defensive tool, allowing Athena to escape from danger. It excels in this regard due to its quick charge-up, particularly against gods without movement skills.

Ability: Confound

Confound disrupts enemies in a target cone, inflicting damage and forcing them to attack Athena instead of their intended target.

Best Timing for Using Confound

Confound can be highly beneficial when employed correctly. Generally, enemy minions target your minions, leading to mutual damage. By taunting the enemy, you redirect their focus onto yourself, ensuring that your minions remain healthy as they advance towards the enemy tower.

This ability proves especially useful when Athena plays as Support. However, it can also be valuable as a Jungler depending on the situation, particularly when it comes to protecting allies who wander into the jungle.

Ability: Shield Wall

Athena’s Shield Wall can devastate enemies within its range, summoning spectral warriors that attack twice on every enemy within the area, applying a slow effect for two seconds.

Effective Use of Shield Wall

Shield Wall shines when Athena is surrounded by foes, whether they are minions or enemy gods. It spans an area of 3.2 meters around Athena, posing danger to anyone nearby.

QEnemies can still pass through the spectral soldiers, so it doesn’t act as a solid barrier. Nevertheless, this ability inflicts substantial damage with its two strikes, and any attack that slows its targets proves troublesome for adversaries.

Ultimate Ability: Defender of Olympus

Athena’s ultimate ability, Defender of Olympus, allows her to teleport to an allied god anywhere on the map. Upon arrival, she grants them a temporary shield and increased movement speed while dealing damage to nearby enemies. Additionally, she is immune to crowd control effects during this ability.

Best Timing for Defender of Olympus

This ability is particularly advantageous for a Support god. By monitoring your team’s health, you can provide additional support to allies in need. However, as it has a lengthy cooldown, use it wisely to maximize its potential, ideally to turn the tides of battle.

This ability also serves Junglers well. The ability to teleport across the map enhances their unpredictability, allowing them to catch enemies off guard effectively.

Aspect of War

Athena’s God Aspect, Aspect of War, alters her ultimate. Instead of teleporting to an ally, she can now teleport directly to an enemy.

Unlike the standard version, this aspect enhances her damage while she’s channeling the ability, lasting just over three seconds.

Best Timing for Aspect of War

The Aspect of War is best utilized when Athena is playing as a Jungler, as it allows her to ambush unsuspecting enemies easily. Teleporting directly onto your target is an effective strategy for securing a quick kill.