HOW 2 PLAY CONQUEST (for real Human Beans)

Written as of 10.2, should still be mostly-accurate for the next few years.

Conquest Introduction / Basics

Conquest is the largest, longest, most complex and 'Default' gamemode of SMITE!!!. While other gamemodes have respectable populations and their own tactics unique to each; Conquest is widely regarded as 'the most important' mode, and is the mode the game is generally balanced around.
Conquest has 3 lanes, with 5 roles (listed below). Each lane has two Towers (Tier 1 and Tier 2, the latter having more health and dealing more damage) and a Phoenix, that all join together at the Titan; the final objective placed next to a given team's spawn. In between the 3 lanes, there's an expansive Jungle with a close fog of war - with labyrinthine pathing, multiple mob camps and a few bosses. Minions spawn in waves of 6 behind each Phoenix and run down a lane until finding an enemy to attack; with the 3 types being Melee, Archer and Brute.
Destroy a Tower, it doesn't come back.
Destroy a Phoenix and your Minions become empowered (however the Phoenix will respawn after a while), and their Titan becomes vulnerable to attack.
Kill the Titan, you win.

Simple in concept? Yes.
Simple in execution? ...No.

Phases of the Game

While not official or restrictive by any means, a given Conquest game will almost always go through a set progression of phases.
Each role adapts to these 'phases' differently, and though it is rare to kill a Titan in anything but a the last phase of the game, they all affect the overall outcome (with Surrenders neither being a rare nor shunned mechanic) (no need to be an F7'er if you ain't gonna win - Is a painful and dragged out win worth more than a begrudged surrender, and 40 minutes of your life?).
Typically, when a God is said to have a 'strong earlygame' or 'strong midgame', it's not that they have best chance of 'winning' outright in that phase, but instead are typically better in that phase of the game, as to which their strength allows them to 'snowball' and be in a more ready position to kill the enemy Titan earlier (the analogy being a snowball rolling down a hill, becoming more and more unstoppable). Snowballing not only puts your Gold and EXP gain ahead, but also can be used to limit the enemy's Gold and EXP economy; putting increased strain on them being able to reach their own respective endgame. This is a pretty fundamental concept, and each game you'll usually have a few people snowballing vs their mirror, some keeping pace with their mirror and the others being snowballed and trying to catch up without being too far behind. If all 5 players are being snowballed, the game is essentially unwinnable, so a Surrender is usually initiated.
Throughout this, you may have noticed I have not yet mentioned the word 'Elimination' or any variation of the concept of 'God Kills'. That is correct. Conquest is *not* a kill-focused mode. It is an objective-based mode, where kills play into the objective play.

Phase 1: Laning Phase (Earlygame)

The most set-in stone phase, this phase usually lasts between Lv1-5.
In this phase, each lane knows roughly what they're doing (and what everybody else should be doing), and sticks to their lanes either farming up minions, or putting pressure on their mirror counterpart. Whoever can get ahead first in this phase will generally control their lane / map region for the rest of the game; so making plays is extremely important, and fuckups are far more punishing. It's no small statement to say that a game can be won or lost in these vital first few levels - or at least, it will be a slog to come back from if a team does poorly.
Aside from the Jungler, ganks are extremely rare. Objectives are ignored almost entirely. Towers are not a priority and T1 Bastions get whittled down. Only the starter and sometimes first item are complete here, with a slight focus on consumables.

Phase 1.5: Roaming Phase

Almost identical to Laning phase, this phase usually lasts between Lv6-10.
The only difference being that Jungler has to make more judgement calls as to which lane / objectives to go for; and that Support will begin to assist in both Duo and Mid. In both cases, more of the team is beginning to roam rather than sticking to more fixed lane-based gameplay. In this phase, if a given lane is ahead, the laner may also choose to abandon their lane for a while to roam over and gank a neighboring lane, to also help get them ahead. The most likely laner to roam is Mid, then Solo, then rarely ADC.
Ganks are increasingly common, objectives become a factor, the 1st Tower in a lane becomes a more valid target. The second item usually gets completed around this time, starting on the third.

Phase 2: Teamfight Phase (Midgame)

Similar to the Roaming phase, but with some increasing differences, this phase usually lasts between Lv11-16.
In this phase, all roles may begin roaming around outside of their lane together, if the situation is appropriate; leading to many teamfights as the two deathballs clash with each other. If any teammates have fallen behind, they can use this phase to rely on their teammates (who are in a better position) to claw their way back from behind.
This is the phase where ganks are most common, which will often spiral into 4-5vs4-5 man teamfights. Objectives are still a factor, but bosses also become targets. This is the phase when most of the Towers in a given match are cleaned up, and pressure begins to build on the Phoenixes. The third and fourth items are built around this time, meaning tangible builds start to come online more, and become more of a factor to counterplay against than simply the base kit of a given God.

Phase 3: Siegeing Phase (Lategame)

The final phase of the game, this phase usually covers between Lv 17-20, and all the time after it.
Both teams push and pull at each other, kicking off 5-man teamfights either at the foot of a Phoenix, some length along Mid or at a Jungle Boss. While the results of these fights obviously vary, it will usually end with the losing team's survivors heading to their fortified base, to withstand a siege from the surviving team, as the victors try to break in past the Phoenixes and defenders, to attack the Titan - with the focus for the survivors to stall as long as possible to cover for their team's long respawn and to then start another teamfight with fresh health bars on home turf. This phase can either be over in an instant after a teamwipe leads to an uncontested Titan kill, or last a long time, as neither side is able to decisively invade the enemy base (which can give the time for Phoenixes to respawn and allow Titans to regenerate).
At this point, every God has their core Abilities functionally maxed out, and is 'complete'. Builds are usually finished (Final items are complete, Starters get their upgrade, Glyphs are chosen and some may choose to substitute earlygame items out for later ones). Any excess Gold is spent on upgrading Relics and either buying Sentry Wards or the more expensive stat-boosting Consumables. Ganks don't happen (as the team is generally lumped together, with no focus on lanes), Jungle Bosses are now major factors and all eyes are on the prize, that is the Titan.

.

Structure Stats and Mechanics

• Bastion: 1,200HP
  - Only at T1
  - Spawns when the match begins.
  - Unlike other structures, can be hit by Abilities. They can be 'healed', but suffer a 90% penalty.
  - Cannot be liferipped off of.
  - Has 65:55 flat Phys:Mag Prots that ignore % Reduction, but not flat Pen.
  - Rewards 50 Gold locally on death, split across anyone nearby.
  - If the Tower falls, these fall with it, and do not give Gold.
  - Basic Attacks can be fired through, as a one-way-wall for Defenders. Some Abilities ignore structure collision, some account for it.
  - As an aside, the Outermost one is the 'safer' one to attack, since it leaves whoever it attacking it less open to ganks.
• Tower 1: 1,600HP ¦ 215 Phys dmg (x1.2 for each consecutive strike)
  - If there are no enemy minions in it's AoE, gains 50% DR.
  - For each Bastion standing, gains 15% DR.
  - Immune to most (functionally all) Abilities.
  - Cannot be liferipped off of.
  - Has 125 flat Prots that ignore % Reduction, but not flat Pen.
  - Immune to all Item Passives, with the exception of a Basic Attack damage increase after using an Ability (Hydra's Lament / Polynomicon) or any other effect that increases the flat damage of a Basic Attack.
  - Takes a further 20% less damage from Physical Basic Attacks, and 20% increased damage from Magical Basic Attacks.
  - Basic Attacks can be fired through, as a one-way-wall for Defenders. Some Abilities ignore structure collision, some account for it.
  - Rewards 125 Gold globally.
• Tower 2: 2,900HP ¦ 290 Phys dmg (x1.2 for each consecutive strike)
  - Same mechanics as above.
  - Immune to all damage until the structure before it is destroyed.
  - Rewards 150 Gold globally.
• Phoenix: 3,400HP ¦ 300 Phys dmg (x1.2 for each consecutive strike)
  - Same mechanics as above.
  - Recovers 25% of previous max health on respawn, regenerating to 50% of previous max (e.g. on it's second respawn, will only have 750 maxHP once regenerated)
  - If all 3 Phoenixes are currently alive, the team gets a movement buff upon leaving spawn.
  - If any Phoenix is destroyed, then the gate next to it will open freely for the enemy team.
  - Rewards 150 Gold globally.
  - As an aside, the Duo-lane Phoenix is considered the most valuable, as to defend enhanced waves there means somebody cannot contest Fire Giant attacks.
• Titan @2 Phoenixes, 4 Towers (Maximum HP while vulnerable):
  10,700HP ¦ 430 Phys dmg (x1.2 for each consecutive strike) ¦ 100:61 Phys:Magical Prots
• Titan @0 Phoenixes, 0 Towers (Minimum HP possible):
  5,500HP ¦ 250 Phys dmg (x1.2 for each consecutive strike) ¦ 60:45 Phys:Magical Prots
  - Passive 30% Pen.
  - If there are no enemy minions in it's AoE, gains 50% DR.
  - Takes damage from Abilities, but cannot be liferipped off of.
  - Immune to CC, but affected by item effects, including ALL Prot reductions.
  - Instantly regenerates 15% health when losing all God-only aggro, will then slowly regenerate to 100% over time. If one lone enemy God with no minions goes in-and-out of it's area 6 times in quick succession, it can (and will) regenerate from 10% back to 100% health near-instantly.
  - Completely immune to damage if all 3 Phoenixes stand, including if one respawns (but only after it loses aggro from the last engagement).
  - Takes a further 20% less damage from Physical Basic Attacks, and 20% increased damage from Magical Basic Attacks.
  - For every Tower destroyed, loses 650 Maximum Health, 30 initial damage and 5:2 Phys/Mag Prots. Phoenixes are treated as the value of 2 Towers.

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Roles

The Role you take dictates how you will be playing each game, to the point where it wouldn't be that far off to say that Conquest is in fact 5 gamemodes in 1, given how differently each role approaches a game.
You'll pick your role in advance before queuing, and likely be put into it after matchmaking does it's thing. If you don't know the raw basics of what you're doing in Conquest; there's a good chance you'll fuck up YUUUGELY and be the key factor as to why your team loses (with resulting flaming and BMing, with it's delightful playerbase that thinks they're 1000 ELO ahead of where they really are).
That's not to say you should be scared of Conquest, or avoid it - it's fine (expected, even) if you're a weak link in the chain while you're new. You just proverbially have to make sure you're not a nonexistant link in the chain (or worse yet, a link in the enemy's chain). Knowing the bare minimum of your role should be enough for those vital first few games, as you grasp the basics of gamesense and gameplay flow..... which is why this is here.

Suffice to say, I will be keeping this part general for longevity's sake (so it'd still be relevant come Season 69+). Each role in of itself has it's own internal God meta (who's the top dogs, and who's unplayable), internal item meta (which items give the best bang for your buck, and which items counter them), internal 'best starts' (what loadout you first leave the spawn with, which Jungle camp you start at, and the initial pathing to your lane from there) and how Aggro / Passive the role is for a given patch. This all comes together to make the overall meta as for how it impacts other lanes - and this can be different on a God-by-God basis or change patch-by-patch on a whim, on as much as a minor numbers change to a single item.
You can choose from there to look up (or just ask in-thread) what the current meta holds and expects of you.

What's the Easiest / Hardest?

As for which Role to choose, the common recommendation is Solo. This is because Solo 'can' have a less aggressive mirror (as you focus on Minions and Mobs) and because failing here has less of an impact on the other lanes (because until lategame, they barely interact with anyone outside of a few circumstances).
As such, outside of this guide, many would generally rank the difficulty of each role as:

SOLO ¬> ADC ¬> ¬> MID / SUPPORT ¬> ¬> ¬> ¬> JUNGLER

I disagree. In part because I'm argumentative, in part because people are outside of here are morons (as you should already long know from lurking 4chan) and finally (and most importantly) in part because I'm a fucking genius and the birds themselves sing their praises of me and my autism atop the morning dew (ELO Bronze -3 btw).
In order of how newfag friendly each role is, I would rank them:

ADC ¬> ¬>SOLO ¬> ¬> MID ¬> SUPPORT ¬> ¬> JUNGLER

This is because, while Solo is definitely the easiest once you get past it's Skill Floor (at that point, it's hard to do badly as Solo, hard to do amazingly); the initial Skill Floor itself, and the required knowledge of the internal Solo meta is both difficult for newer players to grasp (who don't even know what each God looks like); while the knowledge 'learnt' from there carries across very little in terms of the other roles. In short, Solo is an insular, high floor role. Not good for newfags.
Instead, ADC has an extremely simple skill floor. That being - 'don't die', 'farm constantly', 'be present for nearby teamfights' and 'land your shots'. The last is even easier if you choose a new-player-friendly God with easy to lead / land ranged Basic Attacks and Abilities.
While there's a little bit more weight on your shoulders on what people expect from you, what is on your shoulders is easier to do. If you can get those things quickly down, you'll do fine.
The ADC item meta is notoriously stale - one optimal-Basic-Attack build applies to 80% of the Hunters at a time, so it eases you into the shop. Your Jungler or Mid can confirm kills for you, on targets you've brought down low with your high damage - while the Support can do most of the musclework for you, acting as a personal bodyguard in the early and lategame. And your main job is to shoot at stationary targets (structures). Better yet, Supports are usually the most chill players on a team, so if you just tell them in advance that you're new, they'll often help you more (provided you listen, and don't repeatedly get yourself into situations that they have to sacrifice themselves to bail you out of). That, and the ADC has generally little in terms of expected Objectives or Ganking. While you will be more of a focus for being gank-ed than Solo, this lack of needing to do anything other than don't die (as in, be among the least deaths of your team) and land your shots mitigates much in terms of strategic misplays. You should know with basic common sense when a teamfight is nearby enough for you to be present for.
Finally (and something that gets overlooked far more than it should), as ADC you do damage, and big teamfight shit happens! That's not a downside! You can actually see your name in the little box at the top quite often in the match, with the dopamine ping of 'doing the right thing'! As Solo, being limited to your lane, you will rarely see big teamfights until lategame, and if the enemy Solo isn't equally as new as you are (which they very probably won't), they'll just trample over you (Solo being a notably snowball-y role if you let it) - leading to a slow paced and possibly frustrating start to SMITE (but hey, at least you didn't affect the rest of the game, for the your SPL-tier teams in sub-account-Lv30 Casual queue).
As long as you understand that as ADC, you'll have the health of a small teacup and the damage of a bazooka, you can get stuck into fights, and have some fuckin' fun for your first few games!

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Now, for the introductions to each role. If you're new, I'd advise to skim all their short parts, but only read the long part for the role you want to try (just so you don't get too confused / overwhelmed - I am trying to keep it simple).

The image below details the 'starts' of each role - this is which camps you're going to begin with, whose buff is whose, and what you want to do with those camps. It's pretty simple. If you don't bother to look at below, you are going to get flamed, because you are immediately going to be fucking over the other people on your side of the map, from match start, if you don't know what you're doing.
I repeat, it's simple, just figure it out. It doesn't require a diploma to understand.
Additionally, for each role, you've got added a 'roaming' map. The Conquest map is large, but ultimately, everybody has their 'areas' until lategame. Each map shows your usual stomping ground in the deeper shade, while indicating where you might go in the lighter shade. If it's not shaded in, you're rarely going to be going there (if ever). Naturally you'll understand when to break the mold and go somewhere you shouldn't be with gamesense, but until you get that gamesense, just stick to the shaded areas until teamfighting phase. You're going to get reported if you're a Solo laner lingering around in the Duo lane.

Naturally, the maps may go out of date come any later Seasons, but the general areas themselves should still hold true. I do try to help maintain this doc either ways.

So!
In role-que order:

Solo

Short:
Solo is the role that occupies the Fire-Giant-sided Solo lane; whose towers are slightly closer together. From the usual Order-sided PoV, it's the Right lane.
Solo is typically populated by the Warrior class, with the most diverse meta of all roles (with at least 1 God from each class able to mechanically play it, but notably less Hunters); all of which share an ability for longetivity in-lane and being able to build hybrid between Power and Prots. Its commonly associated buff is the Blue buff, which focuses on MP5, and a %Mana restore whenever damaging an enemy God.
Additionally as of S10, Solo now contests a Silver Buff, a bonus-buff which focuses on Cooldown, scaling upwards with level, along with the Totem buff, which locally increases damage dealt and once taken grants that buff to the entire team's structures, that gives the same damage buff along with a huge short-term MP5 buff.

Solo operates uniquely to the other lanes, as it is almost entirely divorced from the rest of the game until teamfighting phase. There's nothing of objective importance on the Solo-side of the map, other than the Solo lane itself and the lategame Fire Giant. Your job is to duel with the enemy Solo in terms of racking up Gold and EXP, to get an level advantage on them and their wider team for lategame (Solo often being the first on a team to hit Lv17-20 in a game with few kills), usually fitting into the team as the offtank / hybrid.
The benefit of getting an advantage over your mirror is so central to Solo, that your item build will be almost entirely dependent on countering your mirror to an extent, on a match-by-match basis (meaning Solo has a definite increased focus on Item Shop knowledge). While not the most action-packed role, it's straightforward, and you're nearly entirely responsible on your own gameplay / performance.
As an added result of the lesser-interference, Solo also has a well-developed internal meta and matchup focus; so there's quite a plethora of writing to look into, if you find yourself playing there.
You may be tempted to compare it to Duel. Don't. It's not like Duel.

If you like to know what you're going to do for a given match, prefer Duelling to Teamfighting, and possibly just want something to zone out to by yourself (once you know what you're doing) - Solo's the role for you.

Long:
Loosely modifying another Anon that explained Solo perfectly:

• Solo lane is all about farm, so you have to understand how your Gold income works beforehand.
  Main thing is not missing your waves, but not getting caught up over them. Even if under tower, your wave will always give you 100% EXP income when alone (no matter who kills what), so the main thing is to simply be in the general AoE of an assist for a minion kill, so you're not too far behind on levels.
  As for Gold, if you land the last tick of damage on a minion, you get full reward (~200G for a wave of 6), if you are in the general area when a minion dies, you get a mostly-reward (~150G/wave), if another teammate is with you, you split it between you (~75G/wave), and if it goes under tower, the reward for a minion killed by a structure is always 3 Gold (18G/wave).
  Killing minions isn't as much for farming Gold, as much as it is so you don't also have them attacking you once your mirror has finished clearing. Because those Minions hit like fucking trucks - if they're all targetting you, they do not fuck around and do not let you live for long until you've got some Protections. online You kill the minions quick to stay alive longer, the extra farm on lasthits is just a bonus (which is why there's less of a focus on lasthits in Smite and more of a focus on fighting, unlike LoL / DotA where it's the name of the game).
  Manipulating waves (eg building them up, bulldogging, stalling, dragging) is a load of minion AI bullshit in it's own right, so just ignore it while you're new.
  tl;dr tip 1: Just be near your waves, and clear them when you can.
• Next, deaths in Solo aren't bad because they're deaths, but because it's less farm for you.
  Think of it this way - if you are getting pressured out, if you sit under tower and just let it come under, you get 100% of the EXP and 10% of the Gold, on top of 1 minute or x12 your HP5 in healing (between the last wave you just took, the wave you missed and the next wave, at 30 seconds per wave). With a Green Pot, you should get ~1/3rd health back. If you instead die, you reward the enemy Solo with Gold, then get 0% EXP and 0% of the Gold from the next 2 waves, even more if you don't get to TP back.
  So, sitting out one wave is a maximum swing of ~200 Gold to the enemy (when you add Totem to the mix), while a death is a minimum swing of 600 Gold (then plus Totem, plus Blue buff, plus potentially losing Tower, up to a 1k swing). You can miss 3 entire waves by being in a different lane, and it's still not as much as the swing off of one death. That said, you don't want to sit under the tower all match, because the difference builds up, and your mirror can begin to deny you more farm the further behind you are.
  If the enemy is outclearing you, back off, and just focus on living - they'll get bored and fuck off to do something else. If you constantly try to poke away at them because you're very low but you 'dont want to miss wave', they will just turn on you and grab an easy kill on a low-health target, and then you'll miss even more waves.
  tl;dr tip 2: Really, really avoid dying.

• Waveclear. Understand it.
  You don't need to stupidly out-damage your opponent (ie, full damage Solo retards), but you do need to be able to clear the wave at roughly the same speed they do. Any extra damage is meaningless once you both fullclear off of 1-2 abilities, so from there it's all about how bulky you are into your mirror, and how much you can bully them to deny them farm. The bulkier you are, the longer you last, the less waves you potentially miss. If an enemy starts attacking you, and you think you can fullclear faster, just fucking ignore them, clear wave, then attack them back with your 6 minion-buddies. For all you know, your mirror might just be trying to pull minion aggro to group them for their AoE to hit the full wave, not to seriously try to kill you. It's generally said that once you have one Prot item online, you don't have to worry as much about dying (without being highly out of position) and the next 2-3 Prot items only reinforces your 'unkillability' into your mirror's damage type.
  Early on, the value from a full-prot item will almost always means you will outlive anyone who has a full-damage item. Abilities can miss, Protections can't. This is also in-part why Solo is typically populated by Warriors, whose general defining trait is that their ability damage is frontloaded in their base damage, as oppose to their scaling damage. This means that they are less reliant on building damage items to increase their output, but theoretically get less of a return if they were to build damage. To compare, with two off-classes that prove the concept;

  • Despite having good health recovery and high amounts of CC; Ne Zha struggles to clear earlier minion waves effectively, and thus Ne Zha is (currently) a rarer, niche sight within Solo. His primary clearing ability (his 1 / Ring) is heavily scaling-focused, and even though it will do great damage in the lategame if he builds full damage (since he is typically balanced towards Jungle), it's lack of base damage prevents him from using it effectively in Solo.
  • Cthulhu on the other hand (a 'common' solo Guardian), can completely clear an entire wave of minions quite early on (and beyond) by levelling his 2 / Mire ability. It's designed in a way that players should be able to avoid both damage ticks, however the Minons are much more static, and will take all the damage of the duration - hence, its high total base damage means that Cthulhu can immediately begin building to counter his mirror, while Ne Zha is stuck having to build damage simply so he can keep up in terms of EXP.

  This is in the context of a Guardian and an Assassin - all Warriors have this kind of frontloaded base damage. The example is so you can understand why Solo has a diverse meta, and the determining factor for if you wanted to try an off-class yourself.

  tl;dr tip 3: "Just enough damage to clear wave" is just enough damage to clear wave.

  Past all this for the Earlygame; your priorities are staying alive, clearing the minion waves, contesting neutral farm (nearby sources of EXP / Gold that aren't minion waves) then boxing a bit / zoning out / playing chicken with the enemy Solo (while you wait for a new minion wave to arrive) - in that order. Both of you want to get ahead of both team's EXP economies (since Solo will get *all* the EXP for that lane to themselves - over Mid / Duo, who often have to share quite a lot with Support and some with a passing Jungler). By doing this, Solo is both able to initiate lategame earlier (at a benefit to their team), and are able to mitigate the naturally lower EXP that taking up a more Tanky / Hybrid role entails lategame (since you won't net as many kills, instead more Assists as you peel / aggressively set up for your team).
  For a Jungler's first rotations, you are not usually priority for ganking, so you can play relatively safely as a 1v1 to begin with. The Jungler may arrive for 1-2 ganks before laning phase is over (when they can still score a kill), but after that, you should be pretty much completely on your own. The Jungler will however, usually make time to drop your blue buff as they farm the camps on your side of the Jungle, so you don't have to waste time clearing it, and in turn continue farming the lane. While this is an important aspect of the Jungler's early priorities and something you can usually expect, it's not tantamount, and they may have other things to do at the time. Don't flame them if you don't get Blue dropped and don't flame if you don't get any ganks - just play around it. As of S10, you can pull Blue under your tower if you need it ASAP, albeit at the 'cost' of pretty much all it's reward.

  This follows into the next aspect of Solo's counterbuilding - staying power. And the reason for this is simple - the more time you stay in lane, the less potential EXP you miss out on. If you have to go back to base, it should be exclusively for making yourself able to stay out even longer, and only when you've got item to buy. This should be done as fast as possible, hence why Solo laners usually take Teleport Glyph as their first relic, to minimise time away from lane, and will use it immediately reaching back to spawn, as they buy items while it casts.
  To begin with, Solo also often starts the game with slightly cheaper items from the shop, so they have more in the way of consumable potions for increased sustain - they are also the only role where it's common to see people take the Health / Mana Chalices. That's because for an earlygame Solo, leaving the lane to go back to fountain to recover Health / Mana can put the enemy Solo ahead in terms of EXP (which they can from there begin to bully you and make gaining EXP even harder). That, and Solo is the only lane that will be chugging enough Green pots to get full value out of them. Don't forget a Green and Purple Potion stack with each other if you need some short-term hyper-regen.
  Finally or your items themselves, Solo prefers to custom-build based on their enemy - which in simple terms means building items that the provide the Protection that the enemy outputs. If the enemy has to take longer to bring you down, you have more time to farm up the lane as you ignore them (provided you can clear fast enough). Better yet, if you can additionally neutralise an enemy's entire build / God;s kit early (such as building Anti-heal, Anti-slow or Anti-crit), you can de-fang their pressure for the rest of the phase.

  Past all that, prioritise Totem if you can.
  It's a team-wide buff / Gold reward, and it's the only real way Solo lane can subtley influence the lane before they leave it. Don't underestimate it - it's a silent but huge factor if you can secure it enough. don't forget that it gives you the damage buff while in it's radius too, so you can use it to help clear waves faster, or be more aggressive if you intend on going for a kill.

• The Late Earlygame / Roaming Phase, plays functionally identical to the above.
  The only difference is that your playstyle might alter a little bit depending on if you're ahead or behind by a large margin - notably, the stronger of the two opting to be more oppressive when zoning and / or invade the weaker's Jungle to steal away EXP and their vital Blue buff (while the weaker is forced to either continue farming to make back EXP, or have to try to fight a stronger enemy).

• In the Teamfighting Phase you're, once again, staying in your lane for the most part.
  They don't call it Solo for no reason.

  The difference this time is that Mid may choose to come in for a gank (as their thought process is more evenly balanced toward Solo than Jungler since they don't really have objectives to worry about as much). In addition to this, if the Jungler / Support joins them, this will often lead into a full blown 3-4 v 3-4 teamfight in your lane, where you'll want to play around the middle of the pack (Support being your Tank, Mid being your artillery, you + the Jungler occupying the space inbetween - substituting out where relevant). After - you'll usually stay right where you are, and continue to lane Solo, solo, as the rest of your team begins roaming again.
  If both Solos are doing well, neither will usually leave their lane in this phase; however if one has built up a substantial lead for themselves, they may choose to rotate and gank Mid or even use their Teleport Glyph to go as far as Duo for a short while (rare - only really if Duo's getting pushed back hard), confident that the EXP they pass up on will still leave them ahead of the enemy Solo. Also consider helping to take Gold Fury if you've got some time to burn.
  At a point only determined by intuition as to when you've got enough EXP to last you / when your team needs you; the Solo laner will ditch their lane entirely and join up with the team, often as the last member to join the deathball. This leads into...

• Finally, in the Siegeing Phase, Solo lane will usually be abandoned entirely. Even split pushes are most often down Mid + Duo.
  You'll join up with the other 4 players on your team, and from there either attack their Phoenixes, or defend yours; moving with the team itself over directing / leading them. Since Solo is usually the Offtank, your goals here are to either peel for your DPS's (more in the way of zoning away and being a bulldog at enemies that begin to poke, over the Tank's role of absorbing damage) or to use your increased bulk to, yourself, try to aggressively force open points of weakness that your DPS's can exploit. I'm not saying you should run straight into a 1v5.... I'm saying you should run into a 1v5 in a calculated manner, with your team behind you. Naturally, this will change on a match by match basis - some Solo Gods can choose to build more aggressively, to do more damage themselves actin as an off-brand Jungler / 'Diver' - while some Solo Gods have more CC to set up kills for their DPS's, acting almost as a bootleg Support. The former has an easier earlygame but less of an impact late (when their damage heavily falls off), while the latter has a much harder earlygame (struggling to clear waves and seceding neutral farm) but a much stronger lategame (since 2 Supports is far better than 1).
  Owing to your usually higher level (because you've spent the better part of half an hour farming up), you should also be able to initially steamroll most encounters you run into for the initial part of this phase, at least until everybody else catches up to your level (or if they can catch up before you win). Note however that if you dive in after you lose your level advantage, unless you're a Solo with a large shield / safe escape, you'll probably die, as you lack either the Prots to survive or the Power to pull off a teamwipe (unless you're playing some Gods that shall not be named) - stick closer to your team for the most part, push away at the enemy front lines and drive a wedge between any stragglers on the outer edges.
• Ideally at this point... - you win!

Addendum:
I cannot stress this enough, if you are into a high-pressure mirror who heavily outclears and bullies you - you just have to take the L and sit under tower.
Does it feel good? No.
Is it fun? No.
Is it the only chance you have at winning the game? Yes.
After a while, you'll get levelled, you'll get items online, you'll be able to knock their teeth out. *Provided they're not fed.*
DO. NOT. FEED. THEM. KILLS.
It will only get worse.
You are going to ignore this - but don't say I didn't warn you.

Mid

Short:
Mid is the role that occupies the central Mid lane.
Mid is typically populated by the Mage class, with a very restrictive God pool (usually Mages-only), not because other classes can't fill it's gameplay requirements of high-damage AoE Abilities, but because it's the only role in the match that can reliably fill in for high Magical-type damage (which Guardians lack, and the other 3 classes don't have). The reason for this is to split the team's damage across two types (and not be hardcountered by the enemy building purely Physical Protections). Many Gods can play a Physical Mid, however it's only ideally accompanied by a much, much rarer Magical ADC or Magical Jungler.
Its commonly associated buff is the Red buff, which gives Power, then multiplies your Power by a small amount.

As Mid, you're the one who thrives in teamfights, as you sniff around for kills. Your lane is the most hotly contested in the game, with both teams needing to cycle through it constantly, so larger scale conflicts happen much more readily in Mid.
Mid is definitely the hardest of the 'lane' roles, as you need to pay attention to the map for when you think you can kick off a teamfight in your team's favor - not a gank per se, as you're not necessarily intending it on being a surprise attack or outnumbering them - you're mostly ensuring the conditions are best for your team to win an XvX. Also, as a result of your damage usually being in the form of Abilities, it's also a usually more mechanically demanding role, depending on the God you pick - some have generous near instant-damage AoE's that can catch full teams with ease, others have tiny AoE projectiles that an enemy can avoid on reaction. Finally, as your lane gets lots of traffic, you should also be the one to call where you see enemies travelling through your lane, so your team can react or counter accordingly.

If you like teamfighting, or just fighting with most of the enemy Gods for a given game, with more active gameplay in juggling your aggression and keeping an eye on the whole enemy team in terms of opportune targets - Mid's the role for you.

Long:

• In the Earlygame / Laning phase, Mid will grab their Red buff (usually with the assistance of another teammate, depending on start) and will play..... extremely passively.
  At this point in the game, Mid is the frailest God on the map (Mages typically having lower health+prots than even the Hunters) - and unlike in the Duo lane, Mid has no Support to back it up and is under high threat of being torn apart by a rotating Jungler. The only backup it has is if their Jungler is nearby.
  Mid cannot afford risk at this point in the game, and so the only place that it is safe is pretty much directly under Tower. You would be hard pressed to see Mid too far away from it's own tower line, and if it is, it's got a deathwish. You've gotta clear wave as safely as possible, and if that means playing like a bitch for the first few levels (especially until you get your mobility online, if you even have some), then so be it.
  Additionally, since Mid's items are often expensive, it may be the case where it's best to recall before you've got a full item online - a Tier 2 item and some potions isn't a concession, it's gaining an edge. Mid always wants to get it's first item online as soon as possible - no matter what the meta is.

  Mid has no objectives right now, and is too weak to effectively clear camps by itself, so the only thing you need to focus on is clearing wave. If the enemy Mid approaches you, let them, they're begging to be killed by the Jungler. Additionally, if the Jungler is nearby, it's completely fine to leech the Mid harpies from them (an influential source of Gold and EXP) - many times, the Jungler will even want you to leech (eg throwing an ability like Poseidon 3 / Scylla 2 over a wall, then returning to towerline to deal with wave), because once the Mid can fend for itself, the Jungler has one less thing to worry about.
  After that point, you'll roughly have hit Lv5, got your first item, and moved into the Roaming phase. That's where things start to get interesting for you.

• Come the Roaming phase, and the Support will begin to show up in your lane. This means it's no longer a deathwish to leave towerline!
  You wana chase some kills - now's the time, because Support's got your back! Additionally, since you've now got some damage online, you're not complete shit out of luck any more, and can both turn on ganks (aka protect yourself) as well as expand your focus to taking some neutral farm aww by yourself.
  widdle baby wanna oracle? go geddy!
  baby waby wanna wed buff? go geddy!
  wickle baby finky wanny sum harpy warpy bakcamps? Don't. Your Jungler will despise you with the burning rage of a thousand Suns if you take it's back camps - stick to contesting your own buffs and the camps in the centre of the map, since you've got more than enough to occupy yourself with. Mid Harpies are yours to share with Jungler though, whoever gets there first gets them.

  That said, Roaming phase is not limited to your Support.
  As Mid, you're the most flexible lane in terms of ganking (given your position in.... well... the middle of the map), and at this point you're going to want to start pressuring other lanes with your presence and backing up the Jungler / Support if they get themselves into deep shit. You've not got the outright kill potential of a Jungler (not until you've got a few more items online), but you can gank nonetheless, and your presence does have aggressive influence (unlike the Support, who is mostly peel). This is the 'thought process' that makes Mid the hardest laning role. As Mid you *need* to be putting pressure on the other lanes, and unlike Solo or Duo, you are not at the liberty to just stay in your lane and just farm up every wave, ganking whenever convenient.
  You *are* going to leave your lane after clearing some wave at some point, you *will* miss waves as a result, and you need to make up for it with good decision making in terms of where to be, to mitigate the worst of it. Your mirror may choose to sit in lane and get ahead - that's fine, they're useless. A Mid that is 2 levels down and has an extra death, but has rotated 4 times is exponentially more valuable than one that's just been a happy camper in lane and done fuck all, trying to maintain a lead and doing nothing with it. If you're too far behind however, you need to be aware of when you need to sit the fuck down and farm up to be effective again - Mid is still ultimately *your* lane, and you get first dibs on the farm there. The moment you've clawed enough of a lead back with your reserved farm to not be a non-threat, start looking around the minimap again for suitable places you can be.

  Most of the time, you want to helping Duo, since ADC is the most important member of the team to keep ahead, and the Support will rotates between Duo and Mid (which will help keep you alive). That said, if you think you're not going to get anything done there, it may be better to simply focus on contesting neutral farm, being at hand to bail out your dumbass Jungle (/ Support) or even invading the enemy jungle.
  Careful with Solo ganks - especially if they're building Magical Prots into their mirror. Solo has very little influence on a game, the trip there is long and devoid of farm, and the Jungler is already at hand for them. That's not to say never gank Solo - it's to say that you should only gank when you genuinely think you can make a difference (eg, Jungler is in Duo, and both Solo laners are kissing your side's towerline at low health - aka the enemy Solo begging to be killed).

  tl;dr You know that template of 'le coomer'? That's you.
  ">does nothing but think of when it's a good time to rotate"
  ">only reason he's in his lane is to farm up so he can roam with a lead to burn"
  "OH GOD I'M..... I'M ROOOOAMING"
  Cringey as it may sound, that mental image genuinely will help.

• Now, we move to Teamfighting phase. You're still going to be roaming your ass off, but this time the rest of the team may decide to follow you on your frolick through the Jungle. You should have more of a lead to burn at this point, and should be more at liberty to be out of your lane, contesting the minor Jungle Bosses (Fury / Pyro). You don't really 'move to teamfights', as much as you kick them off and people gravitate towards you. You're the rude sonnuvabitch who's starting them - and again, decisionmaking is key. If a fight is bad - ditch it and call for a retreat. If there's nothing to do (Bosses are down, camps are down, ADC just wants to be left alone in lane to farm up), just sit in Mid and farm for yourself. The moment there's somthing to do, you skidaddle. That's not a word you see used every day.
  Now you're at this point in the match, Jungle Bosses also become a focus. If a teamfight goes well, target Fury or Pyro. If a teamfight goes amazingly and you get a deicide; Fire Giant is free. If you want to bait them into a teamfight, start Fury / Pyro, then drop it if some retard comes along. Clean them up, finish the Boss off.
  Overall, this phase plays similarly, except you've got more damage and are thus more dangerous. Keep in mind to maintain your lead - don't fall behind in levels, just do some waves if you need them. If your Mid Tower 1 drops, don't sweat it, it's the least important Tower on the map, and you can still more than easily farm with some safety (with how much your team should be moving through Mid to help you).
• Finally, it's Siegeing phase. You're the second highest priority target on a team (after ADC) and usually you're the one fishing around for kills, as the ADC obliterates structures and zones out the enemy tanks with the frontline of their Support. If you struggle to confirm kills, you're going to have a bad time, but the Jungler (and to a lesser extent the Solo) is there for you to be the cleanup crew, for anything that gets away with 1hp after you've chunked the other 99% away.
  Since your damage is almost certainly going to be Ability-based, you need to remeber that your damage is... well... ability-based. While it sounds like I've just repeated myself, what I mean is that, if your abilities are on cooldown, do not be a fucking moron and put yourself in danger's way for a HUGE 100 damage Basic attack onto a 5,000 health tank that can pluck you into certain death. With some exceptions, your Basic Attacks do next-to-no damage, so stay away from the firing line. Your home is the backline, and even if you have short-range abilities, there's no use putting yourself in a position for them if you can't even use it on cooldown. Weave in-and-out of your range, and try to stay alive - keep in mind that the Jungler and Solo are probably going to try to dive you (hence, while the ADC is still your priority target, the Jungler is the one who is going to be easiest to kill... provided you don't get jumped on cooldown).
• Ideally at this point... - you win!

Carry (ADC)

Short:
Carry (often, and henceforth referred to ADC - Attack Damage Carry) is the role that occupies the Gold-Fury-sided Duo lane; whose towers are slightly farther apart from each other. From the usual Order-sided PoV, it's the Left lane.
ADC is typically populated by the Hunter class, with the most restrictive God pool of all the roles (almost Hunter-Class only); with a focus on Basic Attack Damage (ideally of the Physical type). The reason for this is simple - something needs to be able to quickly destroy Structures / kill the Jungle Bosses, and kill the Titan. Physical + Ranged Basic Attacks are the best at it, typically hitting harder than Magical Basics and not needing to close the gap like Basic-Attack Assassins. Without a God that can quickly destroy a Structure, a team will have a much harder time ending a game.
It's commonly associated buff is the Purple buff, which focuses on Attack Speed and Basic Attack Damage.

ADC is a laning role all about damage. It shares some traits with Solo, in that it's focus is on farming up within it's lane, however the similarities end there. While Solo builds Protections to outlast its mirror, ADC goes all-in on damage and relies on it's team to protect it. Your goal is to output as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible, and get to the point you're doing that damage as quickly as possible. Your goal is not to keep your teammates alive - their goal is to keep you alive (....within reasonable limits).
You farm. You farm. You farm. Then you delete anything with a pulse. That clear? Good.

If you just like killing players / doing high damage, and like the idea of having somebody having your back for most of a match, as well as the potential to be an absolute demon if left unchecked - ADC is the role for you.

Long:

• At gamestart, you'll team up with your bro, the Support, clear a few camps with ol' buddy, grab your Purple buff then head into lane.
  Then, you shoot at the minions. And you do not stop shooting at those fucking minions. Welcome to the next 25 minutes of your game.
  Every second you are not shooting at something, you aren't farming. And every second you aren't farming is a second longer it takes for you to reach full build. And every second longer it takes for you to hit full build, is a second longer your entire team has to wait. ADC is not a strictly selfish role - it plays selfishly, to benefit the entire team. You're only going to go for kills if it's a more efficient use of your time (because kills pay that ca$h money). And if you think a fight is bad, a waste of your time or (worst yet), a chance of you dying (and thus losing time to farm), you're going to go "lolnope", call a retreat, fuck off yourself and let them deal with the consequences. Doesn't matter if they think they could have won it - if you're not confident, your word is final and they can shut the fuck up.
  So back to this phase in the game - earlygame in the Duo lane. The Support is your bodyguard. They exist to make sure you're safe to farm wave, until you've got some survival online (usually in the form of your first item, which is either a liferip item, or a general powerspike). The Support might damage minions, but never last-hit them - their job is purely to be annoying / zone the enemy, while keeping you alive at all costs, while feeding you kills if possible. All you've gotta do is clear the wave - not only for your farm, but because whoever clears wave first can start putting the tacks on the enemy Duo, and can consider neutral farm while the waves are down. After the enemy minion wave is dead, that's when you can start focusing on the enemy Duo laners. Sure, if yu've got a good poke ability, throw a cheap AoE at them, but make sure your main focus is on clearing that damn wave.
  After the wave's cleared, work with the Support for your aggression. While some ADC's can set up and net themselves some early kills, the issue is that you're playing into the enemy Support who will likewise be zoning you for the safety of their teammate, much like yours is for you. If your Support moves forward, move forward, if they move back, move back - while your focus is always clearing waves, the Support is making judgements as to if they want to initiate for you or not, which is what they'll want you to follow up on.
  After the first boxing match between the two Supports, you should find yourself closer to one of the towers - don't go for it. You won't do any meaningful damage to it, especially while the Bastions are up. If you feel safe, take the inner one, if you want some breathing room, go for the outer one.
  Also you might think stealing the enemy Purple buff is a smart idea - don't got for it, not right now. Different reason however; it's only safe if you know the following factor won't be arriving - the Jungler. Typically, a Jungler will have cycled around from Mid by now, and will be lingering around the sidelane like a bad smell, waiting to turn all that chip damage you and your Support have accumulated into two very easy kills. If your Jungler rotates in - great - the same happens but the other way around, you're going to have a small fight.
  Either ways, earlgame is simple. Keep at those waves, until either you or the Support needs to cycle out to recover health / mana. For now, it's a smooth phase.

• Roaming phase, and soon enough, your Support is going to have better places to be. They need to leave at some point, in part so they're not leeching a portion of your farm. It's a balance - the earlier they leave, the more farm there is for you, but at the same time, the riskier it is for you (as you're left to a 1v2 until the enemy Support rotates away). If you're confident, tell them to help mid, they should get the idea.
  From here on out, your job is simple. Farm. And do not stop,

  Now you're alone, additionally, you're going to need to grab some wards for yourself - it's up to you to plug up enemy Jungle corridors to make sure you don't get ganked. You had some breathing room to begin with, but now the Support is less of your bodyguard, and more like your personal-reinforcements (for if you're behind and vulnerable, or about to get severely outnumbered). They need time and information, and if they only have 2 seconds to react to the minimap showing the enemy Jungler chasing you, it doesn't matter how fast they run, you're on your own.
  You're the highest priority target on the team, so don't be suprised to see multiple 2-3man rapesquads in one game, on their way into your lane to FUCK YOU UP and send you back to spawn. You've gotta balance hyperfarming with staying alive - risk and reward.
  Is the enemy Purple buff up - is it safe to steal?
  Is the enemy pushed under tower - is it safe to go past the tower line to chip it down?
  Do you need 200 more Gold for an item - is it safe to be greedy and just take one more wave with just enough mana for your escape?
  Is your Jungler being chased through your side of the map after a gank-gone-wrong-gone-violent-gone-sexual - is this nice, safe, uncontested wave worth more, or the potential double-kill if you back them up and keep them ahead? What happens if you die - can you recover? If you ignore it - are they going to zoom in on you next anyways?
  It's all a balance.
  That said, if your team is spending too long in your lane (aka Arena lanes), it's completely justified for you to tell them to fuck off. You need the farm more than anything else - no matter how much they think they're helping, it's all for nothing if they're leeching away any chance at a lead. Assert yourself if necessary.
  Other than that, there's one paradoxical thing left to keep in mind. In some cases, the first side to lose their tower will usually have an easier time farming from there on out. By losing the 1st Tower, the minions will meet closer to 'losers' side of the lane (making farming easier for them), while also keeping the ADC closer in pathing to the Midlane (making gank-reinforcement faster), and placing them in a position to farm their side's Jungle camps more easily. Sometimes, it's more oppressive to keep their Tower alive for a few minutes longer, giving you more safe farm. That said, it's much, much harder for the loser to take the winners 1st Tower by themselves after that point, simply because of how far away it is without any cover.

• Teamfighting phase! Have you been having fun powergrinding? Hyperfarming? AdjectiveVerbing? Good, because you're going to carry on doing that shit until late.
  Same shit as before. Only difference is that now it may be more of an effective use of your farming-time to delete Jungle Bosses with the team, or show up to Mid to pick up some kills. Especially if you've taken Tower 1, Midlane brawling is going to be somewhat safer than being alone in Duo - at the *cost* of losing out on farm. You can join or leave the deathball as you please - if you want to pick up some fat waves in Duo, don't be afraid to ditch the team and focus on yourself. That said, as long as you're with the deathball, the team can much easier take Objectives and Structures. You're reaching a point where you'll be putting out some serious damage, so you're able to just turn on Jungler ganks if needs be - your offense has become a strong defense, affording you good zoning presence, provided somebody else is nearby to protect you.
• Sieging Phase, and it's finally your time to shine.
  You are the Battering Ram that your entire team is rolling into the enemy base - except you can also delete anything that gets in your way. That said, stay back, play back, play safe. You are a glass cannon, and no, that means you WILL die in 1-2 abilities. Your entire team's push pretty much ends with you, so not only is the entire enemy team staring at you, but your team wants you to stay alive at all costs. By that, I mean that 1 ADC left alive is far more dangerous to an enemy team than the Solo, Mid and Support combined. You can push towers by yourself, and you can lock down an entire lane by yourself while defending just by preventing the minions from coming in. Many times, if you've got enough liferip, it's perfectly acceptable to disengage for a few seconds during a drawn-out Siege to heal off of nearby Jungle camps (provided you're not gone for too long).
  If you're new enough to be reading this guide, you will not know when you can bruteforce a push by yourself, so just let the Support and Solo engage and set everything up for you. The moment you're under a structure, your focus should shift almost-entirely to burning the fucker down - every second you don't, means whoever is tanking the shots will be taking an exponential amount more damage with each shot. I assure you - no matter how much you think you're helping by 'zoning' the enemy or chasing kills, your Tanks are going to appreciate it far, far more if you just delete the fucking tower / phoenix / Jungle Boss first... then kill what's left over. Mid's primary job is to kill, your primary job is to bulldoze.
  Past this, you do need to know about splitpushing. While somewhat more advanced, if a game is grinding down to a halt and neither side is making progress, even with Enhanced Fire Giant at 30 minutes, on occasion you'll be expected to run down a lane on the opposite side of the map with a group of minions, while your 4man team keeps the enemy distracted and prevents them from heading back. The minions soak tower shots, you're still as destructive as before. Usually (given typical God-choices), only you and the Jungler are effective at splitpushing, and the Jungler has more things to juggle around, while being 'less safe' at split-pushing - leaving you, the ADC as the best candidate. The most common 'plan' for splitpushing is for your team to contest Fire Giant, while you blitz down the Duo lane as fast as you can, take the Phoenix, then rejoin them. The key thing to consider is to avoid minion aggro at all costs - the entire enemy team will see you if you get too far ahead of yourself and get 'noticed', so instead of one guy coming over to contest the pushed-up minion wave, the entire enemy team will just disengage, head back and delete you, before confidently taking the 5v4. Just let the waves meet, then kill them as fast as possible. Retreat the moment you think you're in danger. If your team whines about it with how late into a game it is, don't worry, they can get fucked.
• Ideally at this point... - you win!

Support

Short:
Support is the role that, initially with ADC, occupies the Gold Fury sided Duo lane (whose towers are slightly farther apart) before controlling the entire ADC-to-Mid friendly area of the map. From the usual Order-sided PoV, it's the Left lane.
Support is typically populated by the Guardian class, with a diverse God pool; all of which focus generally on Crowd Control to set up kills for their allies and building bulkily (if you're new to MOBA's, Support does not equate to always Healing teammates, it's just a potential secondary factor of it). It's commonly associated buff is the Green buff, which increases on Maximum Health and Maximum Mana, scaling further upward with Protections, with some bonus HP5 slapped on top.

Support is not the easy role you think it is. If you think it's too easy, it's because you're a dogshit Support and are contributing nothing.
Support is the least played, least appreciated, least mained, least carryable, most underestimated (in terms of difficulty) and most constantly long-term impactful role in the game. A role where you're both expected to die, and need to stay alive. Where you need to read minds, and make your own calls. A thankless job that you're just going to have to get used to being flamed for, because even if you do well - it's often hard to tell. Summarily, you are indisposably, vitally disposable (that does make sense, read it slower).
Also, if you think 'Flex' on your role select means an even split between roles, you're far wrong - it means Support for about 80% of games.

If you like being extremely hard to kill, being the pivot of a teamfight, cucking the enemy out of their plans to kill your teammates and don't mind that much that you pass up on kills... or generally just like being the good-guy of the team - Support is the role for you.

Long:

• To begin with in the Earlygame, you're going to stick with your little buddy the ADC. They don't call it Duo for no reason, and you're the bodyguard of the two.
  Clear your buffs, head to lane, do not miss the first wave (just don't - it's got a bonus minion in it specifically for you). From there, you're going to balance two things - clearing the wave as fast as you can (try not to last-hit them) and zoning out the enemy. Despite being "Support", you're the aggressive one early on, while the teapot behind you tries to turn itself into a glass cannon (focusing on waves, and only following up on your setup when opportune). You're 'supporting' them by being their shield AND their club early on. Just remember that at all times, minion aggression still applies to you. In fact, playing around minion aggression is most of this phase for you. If you directly damage the enemy to zone them, the minions are going to turn on you and start burning you down - but you could also tank a shot and instead turn the minions on their ADC.

  • Have you got zoning skills that don't deal damage?
  • Do you want to pull some aggro so your ADC has an easier time clearing some more 'grouped up' minions?
  • Can you bluff your Abilities to keep them away?
  • Will holding onto your abilities be more valuable, so you have the mana / them off cooldown for later?
  • Can you bait the enemy into wasting mana and then have them on the backfoot?

  It's a deceptively complicated role, and you are going to get your shit pushed in, if you just think 'Support' just means standing next to your ADC, doing nothing but holding onto your peeling ability and your team-focused relic and waiting for the enemy to do things. You need to be proactive, and not reactive.
  Overall, your priorities are to keep the ADC alive, then to make sure your ADC wins lane. Any way you want. Pressure the wave, pressure the enemy, bodyblock for your teammate, use relics, ward up, etcetera. Hell, kill the fucking enemy for all you care - but that better not be because you're building any damage, you rascal cunt..
  That said, don't get greedy and overextend. Any Jungler worth their salt won't be going after the ADC when they gank Duo - they'll be looking at you. You might be the bulkier target, but you're also the more immobile one, the one without Beads / Aegis and the one more likely to be low health, since you bodyguard for the little guy and build up chip damage. And if that Jungler gets an EZPZ kill on the target with no mobility (you), it's the enemy team who are going to get fed. Support is not an excuse to go 0-9-3. If you're bad at the game, don't play Support - it's tempting because it's bulky and it's reliant on your teammates, but don't If you don't know what 'supporting' even looks like, or are still learning what things look like and what to look out for, you're going to be more of a benefit to the enemy team, while not knowing where you're going wrong and thinking it's "ok" to die as a Support (which it is, but only when you *know* why it was ok to die in a scenario).
  Past all this, you're going to be lingering around in this lane like a bad smell, all the way up to Roaming phase. Seize neutral farm when you can, be cautious if you want to steal their Purple buff. Don't forget to take a few Green potions too, you'll want them - you're not going to get your Green buff again once it's worn off, unless the Jungler / Mid clears it for you. Don't spend 50 seconds smacking at the camp, it's not that important.

• Roaming Phase is named after you. Can you guess what it means?
  You're going to roam. Congratulations, you're a genius. Pick up a diploma on the way out of this doc, you've earned it.
  Roaming Phase begins roughly around the time you either finish building your first item (almost always a stacking Prot item), or once you've got your Ult online. It's not a fixed 'point' in the match - it's when you feel comfortable enough that you can leave the ADC alone, and they're not going to be eaten alive if caught out. The earlier the better, because this is the part of the match when you have to consider your next mechanical factor - leeching.
  As a Support, you don't get kills, you don't clear waves and you don't get reserved Jungle Camps. Instead, your only source of Gold and EXP income is going to come from leeching off of another teammate (which is why you build Support starters). For all of the last phase, you've been leeching from the ADC... but it's cool because the lane is designed for it and the ADC needed your help the most. Now you need to think about who you're helping and why. And while it's ok to be the lowest level God on your team (expected even) (unless somebody is majorly fucking up), you still need to get some Gold and Levels.
  Consider Roaming phase similar to a travelling /biz/iness. You're going to head to lanes, and 'charge them' for your 'Support' services - and by charge them, I mean leech their waves (whether they like it or not) (whether they complain or not). Your main two clients are the ADC and the Mid, because they need the help the most, and have the most loose change to be able to 'afford you' in their lanes helping them. The Solo may appreciate your un-asked-for services, but wants you in and out as fast and as efficiently as possible (never stay for more than 1-2 waves if possible). Meanwhile the Jungler will tie a noose and fucking hang you from a nearby tree if you try to leech their (equally restricted) farm - you can take their camps and share with a laner, but you should never going to deliberately follow / share from the Jungler.
  Supporting is fundamentally the same;

  • Peeling
  • Setting up
  • Helping clear waves faster (without lasthitting)
  • Bodyblocking
  • Intercepting chokes and cutting off escapes
  • Soaking damage / tower shots
  • Warding
  • Keeping minion waves from going under tower (so the returning laner can farm them without losing the reward)
  • etcetera
  • etcetera

  All shit that everybody likes to see when you arrive. You gotta make your services worth it.
  Picking your clients is the more important factor; because every retard and their mother can do that stuff I just stated - and as we've previously mentioned, Support is not a easy role, and that skill floor starts to really kick in around about now. Since you're not actually going to be focusing on doing damage, you need to be paying more attention to the map - making callouts and moving around 30+ seconds before you're needed somewhere.
  Your microgame is easier, so your macro needs to be top-notch. This is how Supports diff each other.

  • Is an enemy laner going to push up to the tower line soon (and will they be ripe for a punish)?
  • Is your Mid functionally worthless and you'd be better off helping the ADC all match?
  • Does your ADC just need to be left alone to cook for a while, and get some un-leeched waves for their level?
  • Is your Jungler going to need bailing out of a sticky shituation? Is you heading there going to get yourself killed too?
  • Is your ADC a skittish-type or an aggressive type? Is it worth setting up for them if they're going to run on you, or would it be better to stay close and focus on peel so they don't worry?
  • Do you think the enemy has a Ward over a high-traffic area? Is it worth Sentry'ing?
  • Is the enemy Jungler moving over to Duo or Mid? Should you stay in Mid if you think Solo might be moving over, and leave the ADC to their fate with a callout?
  • Should you confirm the kill, or give your Mid a split-second to take it? If you give them that split-second, is the enemy going to escape?
  • Should you just fucking kill some cunt by yourself?
  • ... are you realistically gonna die because of a bad teamfight? Is it worth making sure a DPS teammate gets out safe, or should you take one of the enemies down with you?

  All these (and more) are the questions that constantly run through a good Support's mind. If you think you can just sit afkSupporting all game, you are dead wrong - and anybody who thinks a Support cannot hardcarry under the right conditions is (objectively) incorrect. Yes, it's hard-er to hardcarry than the other roles - but once you know what you're doing, it's very, very far from impossible. To this day, the Support has historically been the most long-term valuable and influential role in the outcome of a match for SMITE - it's the team leader. Granted, that's often because "any Support" is better than "a shitter who doesn't want to play Tank and thinks full damage Loki counts as a Support".... but still. It's an important role

• As you move into Teamfighting phase... shit's the same. You're just going to keep at what you're doing, but with the additional consideration that you may have the Solo / Mid hovering out of their lanes / at hand too. Aside from tanking Jungle Bosses when appropriate, nothing differs.
  Around about now, just check your level. Don't let yourself fall too far behind, since it's easy to lose sight of things. Play things safe if you need to you get some farm (possibly even take a few unattended waves). If you fall too far behind, your bulk won't keep up and you'll just be an easy target. You'll support more longer-term by just playing a bit selfishly if so.

• Finally, it's Siegeing phase. It's the point in the game where it's vital to all be grouped - not because you need them, but because they can (and will) die in seconds without you. And, whether you like it or not, whether you're ahead or behind, and whether you've built for bulk or built damage - you are the front line of the team and your level is pretty much fixed now. No more farming, you will reach Level 20 much, much slower. This is the part of the game that full-damage retards regret like no business, because the Support *always* is the frontline. If not, your team does not have a tank, and as such, has absolutely no forward pressure towards structures past Minion waves (which, if even a single DPS is alive, are not going to do shit). If the team does not have a Support, they probably aren't winning the game.
  You decide where the 'core' of the team moves. If everything's clear, you're the one that needs to balance your forward aggression - if you don't want to go under that damn fucking Tower because you think something is off, the team doesn't get to dive the Tower. The Solo might fill in for you, and the Jungle might try to do their own thing, but ultimately, they follow you, because you're keeping them alive and choosing what the best thing to do in their interests is. It's your duty then, to tell them where to go and keep them alive. It's your duty to pull it back a bit and turn on anything diving your backline - you need to have eyes glued on the front and back of your head - and a few extra 'eyes' (Wards) in the Jungle will help too. Make sure the enemy pathing to the Fire Giant is warded (not just the Fire Giant itself) and if you're going to be fighting in a lane, warding off a lane-entrance helps a lot too (to tell when someone is flanking).
  First up is Jungle Bosses. Gold Fury is nice, but lower priority (Oni Fury's are nicer still, but again, lower priority). Usually you will want to take Fire Giant before a major push - not just because of the power buff, but because EFG at 30 minutes means you're have to spend less time getting facefucked by the enemy structures and you can recover lots of your health with it. That said, the enemy also wants Fire Giant - it's a neutrally placed boss. You've got as much time as you want to take, so let the Fire Giant dance continue for a while if you want to wait for a good opportunity. If you want to force their hand, pull Pyromancer, not Fire Giant - because once you pull Fire Giant, you're the one investing your health, and your timer is how long your teammates can kill the thing before it kills you.
  Fire Giant pulls are simple - you take aggro; the Fire Giant will start to wail on you (lowering your damage, so not the DPS's). Since you do no fucking damage, there's no use trying. Stand on the enemy-half of the pit, and use those Fire-Giant Rifts to your advantage, creating knockup-lines as you patrol the outer-rim with your zoning abilities, soaking damage and shooing off anything that comes. Your team should focus on Fire Giant (remind them repeatedly with VGS pings if they don't), not you. Don't be afraid to drop your investment if things get hairy, and make some calls - your priorities are keeping your team alive so you can win the game in a push.
  Moving onto pushing lanes, a key thing to consider is that momentum is absolutely key in this phase (especially when playing with randoms);

  • If you've got 4 other players waiting outside Mid Phoenix for a Minion wave after a teamwipe, (unless you've got a very bad guy feeling that something else needs attending to; ie, Jungler coming in from the sidelines needs dealing with) - you are going to ping the shit out of that Phoenix, spam "Attack!" with VGS, then proceed to facetank up to 90% of your health before deciding what to do next. You're the team's tank, you're their cover so they can deal with the structure / enemy team.
  • If your team begins wiping the enemy - even if you're low on health and likely to die, you need to maintain strong forward pressure so the enemy can't escape, so your DPS's don't get turned on,and so your 4-man team is now uncontested as they take an objective (even if it's at the cost of your own life - your OffTank can fill in while you're gone). Don't forget that even at 20% health, you may still have more staying-power than your full-health Mid does (20% of 4,500 + 80% reduction from Prots / Mits > 100% of 2,100 + 30% reduction from Prots). Push comes to shove, you can still peel without facetanking, and your team can play around you being low-health bait that a greedy enemy may want to take their chances with. Gamesense is vital in this regar in knowing when you will and will not get yourself killed, and when it is / is not worth it.

  Other than all that, your job is still the exact same as it was from the first second - Support your team, keep them alive, and make it easier for them to kill the enemy. Zone enemies, collapse on dives and sacrifice your health / life whenever the moment calls for it.
  Oh, and try not to walk your team into tight chokes that the enemy has covered. Trust me on this one.... rarely goes well.

  • Ideally at this point... - you win!

Jungler

Short:
The Jungler is a complex role that occupies the Jungle, and is expected to help all lanes accordingly.
Jungle is typically populated by the Assassin class - however has a relatively diverse God pool, with some Gods of every Class being able to also play it. If a God has good chase, good camp clear and high earlygame burst, they can Jungle. Jungle's commonly associated buff is the Yellow buff, which focuses on Movement Speed (scaling even higher for a short period, after Jungle mobs are defeated).

Without question, Jungler is the hardest role in the game, and has a high Skill floor that reflects that. If you are new and think Jungle is probably easy enough to play at your level - it's not, and you can't, Mr Dunning Kruger. You should ideally know the fundamentals on how to play all three laning roles in advance, so you'll know what each member of your team wants from you.
You are the glue that keeps a team together, and you will respond to everything on a by-match basis. A good Jungler can hardcarry a team of 4 potatos better than any other role, and barely even be seen while they do it - but that comes at the downside that you definitely need to know what you're doing. A minute in advance before you do it. You have no reserved 'spots' to farm, and nobody is there to help you if you fall behind.
The Jungle's a big place, and you're a very little God.

If you like actively juggling / prioritising multiple responsibilities, playing every match completely reactively, as well as being able to aggress on all lanes of the map (or just don't like being held to one lane) - Jungler is the role for you.

Long:

• Jungle Earlygame is the most streamlined and stratified the role gets - and as Jungler, you or your mirror are expected to get first blood - and the huge, snowballing amount of Gold that comes with it. While the meta 'path' the Jungler is expected to initially take varies greatly by meta (ie, DYOR or ask in thread for your current patch), it usually involves at least picking up Yellow buff, clearing a Harpy camp and now with that EXP and being the first God on the map at Lv2, taking on either the enemy Jungler as you both meet in the middle of Jungle at the same time, or immediately ganking a lane.
  Time is of the absolute essence. If you can reach a lane early, you've got a very good chance of securing an easy kill before their Jungler does (since, while misleading, you are literally twice the level of everyone else in the match at that point). If you both arrive at the mid-Jungle at the same time, you'll have to duel extremely aggressively with one another (hoping your Mid shows up to give you the advantage). If both of you back off, or a conflict doesn't break out between you as you zone each other out, you'll each move to Mid and poke at each other there for a short time.
  If neither of you pick up a kill, you both have no time to linger around for long - and will rotate through Mid to (usually) head to Duo (varies depending on map layout for a given patch, but the one on the farther side from where you started). What you do on the way is, again, completely dependant on the meta or even what's on the map and where - but the end result is that now you'll be sat on the sidelines of Duo lane, and getting ready to quickly jump in. This is the end of your rotation, and where you'll burn off any remaining Mana you had, as you specifically target the ADC (maybe clean up the Support if they're low). If you encounter the enemy Jungler here again, continue to aggress them, and initiate the second you think you can take them on. If the enemy ADC is dead, clean up camps to burn the rest of your mana (your Jungle buff should be nearly out by now), your rotation is over. If your ADC / Support is dead, you'll need to make a judgement call, and usually occupy the lane with with one until the other returns (and then you can go back).
  The result of this conflict (or, your first rotation) will pretty much dictate the flow of the entire game for you from here on out. The conditions are simple - if you, your mid or your ADC / Support are dead because you failed somehow - you're playing behind. If you manage to beat the enemy Jungler in a duel, or successfully carried out a gank (thus forcing the enemy Jungler to occupy the lane you emptied for a while) - you're playing ahead. If somehow neither of you scored (kind of like landing on Green when betting between Black and Red in Roulette) - repeat until one of you gets a lead. The reasoning for this is simple - if you killed the enemy Jungler, they'll be without Speed buff, and thus you'll be able to farm quicker - meanwhile if you killed one of the laners, their Jungler will be lagging behind, giving you free reign as to what you want to do in the Jungle before they arrive for the scraps (while losing time on their Speed buff for rotating).
  It's actually surprisingly simple in concept from here on out - whoever's ahead gets first pick of any objective, but should choose if getting first dibs is more important than maintaining a lead and oppressing / sabotaging the enemy Jungler - on the offchance a better objective opportunity presents itself later (usually you'll choose the latter - it's both more fun to fuck with them, and more effective long-term). Meanwhile, whoever's behind needs to catch up as quickly as possible, without sacrificing their expected utility to the rest of their team (after all, there's no use getting ahead if everybody else suffers as a result, and you can't really do anything with your lead in the non-lane).
  While you'll still probably be below Lv 5 / your Ult at this point, functionally you'll transition into roaming phase now, much earlier.
• There is no set plan or 'usual gameplay' from here. You're the Jungler. Until lategame - you Jungle. It's all about personal judgement from here on out, both for Roaming and Teamfighting phase, and why Jungle is indisputably the hardest role to get right. You may hear the phrase "muh rotations" or "gotta lern muh rotations" if you're new to Jungle - forget it. This isn't LoL / DotA, you have no fixed 'rotation path' and if you try to force it, I'm sorry, but you have clinical autism and I can't feed you the meds to fix that in a doc like this. I'll simply name off all the things you can consider from here on out - it's up to your intuition to decide which takes priority on the fly:
  • Ganking: The bread and butter of the Jungler experience, attacking a lane with an element of surprise and forcing the enemy into an outnumbered confrontation. I'm only putting this first because it's important to get *right* - not as much that it's 'more important' than what's below it, when it comes to prioritization.
    *The key aspect of a gank is ensuring you lose as little health as possible, while maximising the amount of damage you do.*
    Most Junglers rely on a high-damage burst combo, and the ones who don't are usually unique outliers who approach this conundrum slightly differently. If you can deal 90% of their health before they land a hit on you, and escape with only 10-20% of your health lost from minions - you've done your job. If you in turn take 60% of your health chasing them with Basic Attacks and waiting on cooldowns to secure the kill from there - you've failed, as you've gotta go back to base, and cannot gank other lanes / jungle further. You're goal is to get in, then get out - unless you're at the absolute end of your rotations anyways and are going in with the full knowledge you could die from it (such as suiciding into a tower from behind, to deal the last 5% health on an ADC, securing Duo lane for a while). If you can take a chunk out of a laner's health without taking much damage, you can continue doing your job in the Jungle almost uninterrupted, while they are now either forced to let your laner dominate their lane, or disengage and head back to base to heal (which will take them more time than a death in the Earlygame anyways). Naturally, confirming a kill is optimal (which you will still want do most of the time) - but it's better to live to see another gank and pull back a bit (so you can jump back in once you're off cooldown), than it is having to return to base every time you cross Mid.
    Jungler is the role most fucked-over by tunnel-visioning on kills, and while it'll work out fine in the lower ranks, where you won't be punished for murderhobo'ing - you're predominantly an objective role that still requires good PvP skill, not the other way around. Your backcamps will be stolen, your team won't have their buffs, the enemy Jungle will know exactly where you are at all times, and the moment you trip while murderhobo'ing, you won't recover, because that giant kill-bounty you've built up will cover the cost for all their deaths, as you've done nothing to put your own team ahead. Hey - nobody said it was going to be easy. A gank is a way to secure the 'objective' that is the lane in question, or to put you ahead so you can confirm more objectives by yourself - not killing-for-killing's-sake.
    While there's no set way to ganking, the least effective way is usually entering via the most direct lane entrances (not only because they're usually warded, but because the enemy can often directly see you coming). Instead, the three 'better' ways to gank are either to come in from behind an enemy after entering their jungle (creating a pincer maneuver), to use an ability to leap over / through a terrain wall (an immediate form of surprise), or to use the commonly-ran Blink Rune to initiate (essentially being unreactable to respond to before your attack). Oh, and above all things, do not die - even if you don't confirm the kill as a result, the point of ganking is to try to snowball your laner, not theirs. If you feed the enemy laner, you've done the opposite of what you intended, and have put the enemy ahead. Your zoning presence alone, and the lingering caution the enemy laner plays with should be more than useful enough to your laner - don't die.
    In the earlygame, you can pick up a lot of semi-easy kills this way, given Jungler's stronger earlygame strength - but don't let it get to your head, and most importantly, don't abandon your job as Jungler to just chase kills. You're not helping anyone for being 4 levels ahead while your team trails 2 levels behind their team; because the enemy Jungler has just been playing the objectives instead of going near you, stealing all your team's buffs and proxying all your team's waves uncontested.
    As for your approach to ganking each lane:
    • First of all, no matter what, if the enemy is kissing one of your tower lines, it's a free kill. Doesn't even matter about priorities, if they're that far up and you can't reliably confirm something on all but the slipperiest or tankiest of targets, stop playing Jungle.
    • Duo is the most important lane, the hardest lane to gank, and the one you want to be hovering if possible, since you can win a game off of a fed ADC.
      A Duo gank shifts in priorities - early on, the ADC will almost always be too slippery. They usually have a combat dash, will usually have Beads or Aegis, and might have the Support holding a Shell, Wings or Horrific for them. If they're a free kill, kill them, if they're not already dead, ignore them and go for the Support once they burn any movement. Maui just swung? Kill him. Athena just dash-taunted? Kill her. Ares? (lmao) Kill him. Your goal is not to get the highest value-kills possible, but instead to impact the lane's movement, and an ADC without a Support early on is just going to get bullied. Yes, the ADC is higher priority, yes Support takes longer to kill. Despite that, the Support has less ways to avoid dying - they only have their early bulk, and once you bully / zone off the ADC, it's a 3v1. If the ADC didn't fuck off, it's a double kill in Duo.
      Later on, you'll start to have built up your burst with items, and the Support will start to fuck off from Duo to help Mid / Solo. If the ADC is alone, now you focus on them, since you'll influence the lane just by killing / bullying them away.
    • Mid is the lane you'll realistically be hovering the most, as you cross between Jungles. It's the middle-priority lane; Midlaners are fucking dangerous if they get ahead, but not as much as ADC's, since they're limited by cooldowns and can't bust strucutres / bosses as easily. Most Mids lack your mobility, but can match your burst, so unless you're confident you can out-trade, be somewhat less gung-ho about marching in to kitdump their ass, else you get turned on by a Mid who has all their cooldowns up. Most decent Mids will be hovering around their own towerline anyways, so it's more just a case where you being visible as you cross between Jungles will be enough to get them to fuck off and let your own Mid seize the pressure advantage. That said, a free kill is a free kill, and if they're baited away from their tower line and off cooldown as they chase your own Midlaner to try to confirm a kill, it's easy pickings.
    • Solo is the least important lane to gank, but is the easiest one to score kills in, especially early. If you want to pad your stats, grind out Solo, if you want to win, avoid Solo (or be in-and-out as fast as possible). In general, you have a very small window for when you can realistically gank Solo - until they've gone back to base to finished their first defensive item (~Lv1-6). Before that, a gank is enough to set your Solo up to snowball their lane for the rest of the game. After that, they're just going to take too long to kill for it to be worth it, all while you leech too much of your own Solo's farm. If they're building the same prots as you (eg Assassin Jungle into double-Physical mirror Solo lane), you almost cetainly are never going to kill them after that point, and not without the ADC or Mid rotating in too. Even if they're not building the Prots of your damage type (eg Mage Jungle into a double-Physical mirror Solo lane), it's still not going to impact the game in the long run after that point. Just clear / invade the enemy Blue for your Solo, and leave Solo in peace. If the enemy Jungle focuses Solo, it gives you free reign to camp Duo uncontested, and realistically, the Solo should keep pace just with the amount of farm you leave them, just by not leeching.
      You may hear the term "cringeganking" thrown around and shunned - ignore them, do it if it's appropriate. Cringeganking is when you immediately rotate to Solo after clearing your first Yellow upon starting the game, to the point you get there before they even hit Lv2. The idea behind it being 'looked down on' is that there usually aren't any objectives on that side of the map so early, and that any kill is 'useless' because the enemy Solo will TP back in instantly and ignore any 'advantage' you buy that lane (with Beads being off cooldown by the next time they die), while the enemy Jungler homes in for an uncontested Duo gank. This is all correct, until you account for First Blood. If the Solo laner is a ridiculously easy kill early on (aka Anubis, Tsukuyomi, any Hunter, etc), cringeganking confirms you're getting a fat paycheck and denies everyone on the enemy team it. On the other hand, if you're looking at an extreme-pressure Lv1-2 Solo (eg Jorm, Bellona, Hades), cringeganking is off the table. I can't tell you how dangerous each Solo is super early and their resultant 'cringegankability ratings', it's just something you'll need to know, ideally by having played enough Solo beforehand.
  • Harpy Camps: Jungle has a tight schedule, but even less in terms of EXP sources. You have no dedicated lane, and unlike Support, you're not welcome to linger in lane and leech waves. Hence, you'll need to regularly clear Harpies just to keep yourself topped off, even when getting kils.
    If you're behind, focus on these, if you're ahead, sabotage the enemy and steal them from their side. Invading enemy camps is not for your own farm, but to deny theirs - you recieve less Gold from enemy camps, and if they weren't going to clear them anyways, they won't even notice the time you wasted doing them (meaning that, in terms of farm, it's always better to prioritise your own side). Don't underestimate the priority of this one - for example, grabbing some Harpy camps before hitting up a teamfight to get a level up, then cleaning up what remains is far better than arriving to an enemy team of full healthbars as you continue to fall behind in your farm.
  • Buff Camps: While Yellow buff is definitely 'your' buff to keep for the entire game, securing camps can save your team lots of time and keep them active in their lanes. Clearing Red, Purple or Blue buff for a temmate and leaving a few pings gives each respective lane a nice boost to their strength, and, functionally, is equally valuable to you as a Harpy camp.
    You especially want to be making sure you help clear Blue / Solo - the Solo laners always like when you clear it for them early (given their focus on needing to stay on the field as long as possible, and lower camp-damage) and it offers increased rewards (since it's just the 1 Satyr, instead of 3 mobs). On the flip side, invading for enemy buffs is probably the best form of sabotage you have available to you, in the same order of priority too. As of Season 10, leashing is gone, so you can literally deliver buffs to your allies if you don't mind taking a bit of chip damage.
  • Warding Jungle Chokes: A simple one, but difficult to fill in for given Jungler's harsher Gold economy and the limited supply of wards you get at one time (unless you're running Eye of the Jungle - in which case you'll just shit out so many wards, the less troubling issue becomes which camps will give you best vision, as you constantly hit your 2 Ward limit and cancel a previous one out). In short, while each of your teammates should have their own lanes warded up, you should be getting vision for your own team in the expanses of the Jungle that they can't cover. Essentially your wards are early alarms. While your Support can fill in on the friendly side, dropping yours at high-traffic areas of enemy jungles or at enemy buff camps can go a long way. If all else fails and your team doesn't ward - one at Fire Giant, one spare for yourself and clear the Oracle Harpies at Gold Fury when you can.
  • Invasions: Essentially scrounging for kills in a place you're really not supposed to be. While there's the basic aspect of simply invading the enemy Jungle to steal camps / buffs, the two aspects (almost unique to Jungler) is invading their jungle in the earlygame pregame, and hopping a wall to finish off an enemy who thought they'd be safe under structure / in their base. In both cases be careful - there are specific mechanic that prevents you from doing this...as easily.
    For the former, there's the pre-game Invaders Curse, which drags you down with a vicious 30% AS debuff, along with 30% reduced movement and healing - meaning that you'll probably want to be a strongly-earlygame, Ability-ended jungler who can confidently kill within a combo, and anticipate a target who you think you'll confidently be able to take on. LoRez thinks they've put an end to it with Invaders Curse, they haven't, it's just harder. Most importantly, know what you're doing - it's an extremely risky strategy that can, much-easier-than-not, snowball against you.
    For the latter, not only are you dealing with Minion Waves and Structures blocking your escape, but the doors in-base have the same Debuff akin to a lock, along with taking 5s to open (essentially trapping you inside unless you take out one of their Phoenixes). If you decide to do this, while you won't be hindered by any mechanical debuff (unless they take shelter under a Phoenix), it's usually going to be the end of your rotation (given how far away you are from your usual stomping grounds to help your team), and because you'll likely need to either burn a Blink Rune or an Ult just to get inside their base owing to the thicker walls outside of the gates.
  • Proxy Waves: While sometimes done by other roles too (mainly Solo), Proxying a wave is clearing a wave in advance for a lane, by going behind the currently active Tower. The main value of doing this (over the immediate Gold / EXP reward) is that it frees up the lane to be left alone for a while, as enemy minions won't be present. There's numerous applications for this, from buying a laner who's being pushed up to their tower some breathing space to retreat, or ensuring the current wave of minions on an empty lane will be able to push the tower (with you and the respective laner present to attack the tower). The downsides being that unlike Jungle Camps, a minion wave will take forver to clear and offer you no sustain, you'll usually need to push quite far into the enemy jungle to exit into the lane to proxy the wave in question, you're going to be trapped in and fully visible to the entire enemy team once the minions see you and if you've got poor timing, you'll be waiting a while for the minions to actually arrive. Ideally, know where the enemy team is before proxying, and have a GTFO ability for when the rapesquad shows up to try to punish you.
  • Hunting the enemy Jungler: Simple as it sounds - for the entire first half of the match, you and your mirror are the major ganking threats to each team. Take the enemy Jungler out, and your team is safe until the enemy starts their next rotation, you get to invade their jungle uncontesed and you get rid of the Jungler's active speed buff. If you think you're nearby because you can hear SFX / see VFX, actively hunting down the enemy jungler and ambushing them is all you need to do to have an advantage.
  • Ambushes: Predicting an enemy movement, thus setting up behind a choice corner or with an ability for an optimal attack - something you can only really do if you've got good vision into the enemy movement lanes or just extremely good gamesense. The most common target for this will be the Mid (rotating into a side lane to aggress) or ADC (passing through Jungle to Purple on the way back to their lane) - Support and Solo, while valid targets, usually take too damn long to kill (unless you know they're low) to adaptively slot into your rotations, meanwhile the enemy Jungler could be anywhere and doing anything (requiring even more vision / gamesense to be able to guess where they're going...unless it's obvious)
  • Jungle Bosses: The big boys of the Jungle.
    You can solo the Fury depending on your lead and how far along in the game you are (especially if you've got good lifesteal), but this will usually take a while, and eat most of your healthbar. Gold Fury offers your team a substantial Gold boost to their economies (moreso than the other two Furies) and a small defensive buff to all standing structures depending on how many players are underneath; Primal Fury buffs permanently makes all Jungle camps easier / safer for your team to clear (said buff stacking and including clearing later Bosses), and Oni Fury spawns a single super-wave of minions on all 3 lanes. However, Fury is probably the easiest boss to killsteal owing to it's high-traffic location, and comparatively low health / single-targetting, so make sure you both save a set of burst cooldowns to finish it off, and ward up around the area / clear the Oracles to avoid this happening. On the flipside, just sitting in wait and letting the enemy Jungler do all the hard work for you to pick up a Boss kill and an enemy kill shortly after is an absolutely viable strategy. Careful of teamfights kicking off though, as ADC, Mid and Support may all show up to help if they're nearby and free to do so - Jungler isn't a role known for it's teamfighting prowess.
    On the topic of Fire Giant....don't. Almost no As of S10, no Jungler can solo Fire Giant at any point outside of specific scenarios (which still results in most of your health gone), and it's the most commonly warded area on the map. He's just too high health and high damage - he's designed to be taken down by a team (and even then, he can still survive 3v1's). His little buddy across from him though (currently the Pyromancer)? Sure, you can solo that one - but again, remember that the enemy probably has vision on you, and similar killstealing notions as the Fury applies, and for a lesser reward at that. Remember to save a stun for when it tries to channel it's aura.
• Come Siegeing Phase, not even your role in a teamfight is fixed, with most Junglers usually building Hypercarry, but many able to pivot into Offtank (never a maintank though). You'll mostly abandon your usual 'jungling' choices as ganks are almost useless (since everyone's grouped), buffs can be confirmed as a team and getting caught on your own is a death sentence. The two generally permissable exceptions to this rule is using your increased movement to quickly go off to solo the Fury, in preparation for a push / siege respectively - provided you don't miss out on a teamfight and re-join immediately.
  If you're playing a Hypercarry role as Jungler, you'll typically try to get around the enemy team to exploit blind spots in the back of the team, that will allow you to tear through their squishies with an element of surprise. Remember however, that their squishies can kill you just as fast you can kill them, so both make sure to get a well timed attack off and don't get too greedy if it starts to go south (you can always attack from a different angle later).
  If you're playing an offtanky / bruiser role as Jungler, you'll be staying closer to the core of the team, peeling for your team and poking at the enemy. Where you often differentiate yourself from the Solo playing Offtank, is that your heightened mobility should allow to both dive in and out again, serving as a more direct distraction they'll have to deal with, at the cost of generally having lesser Prots than a typical Offtank owing to common Jungle builds and items. Split up the enemy team, zone off anybody who dives your team yourself.
• Ideally at this point... - you win!

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