SMITE – My Hunters
Hunters are who you go to if you want to spit out as much damage as possible consistently. They may not have the biggest burst damage but they will blow you up late game and grow stronger than any other class the longer the match rolls on. Get a good enough lead early on and you can single-handedly pubstomp an entire enemy team. Granted, it doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s hilarious. Provided you’re the one doing the stomping, otherwise it’s a exercise in the futility of using voice commands to tell your team to fall back and stop walking into the meat grinder. These are my favourite hunters who I’ve All Damage Carry’d many a team with. Whether it’s arrows, spears or finger guns, they’re bringing the pain.
Cupid – My first hunter. It was in my first days of playing and (at the time) I hated every god in free selection but by chance he was in free rotation that week and I begrudgingly picked him assuming I’d hate him like the rest. I suppose one of his arrows must have hit me, as I fell head-over-heels for the cherub god of love. He may be known more for sharing the love, but he can more than hold his own in a fight. He’s a great all-rounder and is also the only hunter with the ability to heal his team or himself by dropping hearts in bunches of three. His heart bomb can stick to targets dealing damage both on impact and on detonation, making it great for finishing low health targets. If his passive is stacked, it’ll also stun!
His dash is fast and covers a good amount of distance, leaving a trail that increases movement speed. His ultimate is essentially a huge bomb which slows and cripples anyone stood on it and mesmerises (stunned until damaged) anyone caught in the explosion making it a great initiation or finisher tool. He’s often played in a very passive manner by players wanting a safe pick. I think that’s a shame, as his potential shines brightest when he spearheads the enemy and catches them off-guard with a surprising amount of damage and disruption. Some players aren’t fond of his cartoonish appearance as it clashes with the rest of the gods, but I like that contrast, it makes him pop out. I think it matches his happy-go-lucky attitude.
“HAH! You have the audacity, to compare yourself, to ME?!”
Apollo – If I had a single word to describe him with, it would be “cocksure”. As the god of music, all he cares about is the performance and having a good time. Whether he’s firing, sliding, singing or flying down from his flaming chariot, he’ll be whooping, hollering and laughing the whole time. Much like Scout on TF2, sometimes it’s just fun to be the smug git. I’m not even ashamed to say that’s what drew me to him, because he’s as entertaining to play as he is in person. His first ability is a line shot with decent range and damage, Apollo strums his lyre producing a single chord so beautiful, it hurts. At least that’s what the description says. What it doesn’t say is far more interesting, considering that it can pierce through anything.
Through a minion wave, a tanky teammate blocking the fatal blow or a wall they’ve escaped behind, INCLUDING their spawn. Nowhere is safe. This makes it an incredibly potent attack for finishing enemies where your basic attacks can’t. It’s also just really damn funny eliminating someone who thought they’d got out alive. His serenade mesmerises anyone within the radius (and gives him physical protections) which is perfect in any scenario. Attacking, defending yourself or teammates and for launching counter-attacks on your would-be killer. Mix that with his dash which buffs his movement speed and knocks aside enemies and a map-crossing ultimate and you’ve got a very slippery, but more importantly very fun, hunter.
“Everything the light touches… IS MINE!”
Anhur – He’s a carry god through and through. Everything in his kit is designed to let him be as self-sufficient as possible. No bells and whistles, just a very powerful hunter in the right hands who excels in single target damage and lockdown. His second ability, impale, deals large damage but sends an enemy flying backwards. For obvious reasons, this can be more beneficial to them than it is to you. However, impale will stun if you manage to pin an enemy to a wall. Unless you’re playing conquest, it isn’t very likely that your enemy will conveniently be near a wall. This is where his first ability comes in. He can summon a stone obelisk which slows any enemy caught within its shifting sands as well as buffing his damage against them.
Mastering the art of pinning moving enemies is what makes Anhur as gratifying to play as he is. Predicting how the enemy will move and seizing on that moment by summoning the obelisk and immediately skewering the enemy to it, leaving them helpless for the picking. You get that same rewarding rush of excitement every time you nail it. His jump is pretty slow but can knock up an enemy briefly if you land on them. As you can imagine, this chains wonderfully into an impale to a near wall or even your obelisk if you’re REALLY quick. Finally, Anhur’s ultimate is a rapid-fire of eight spears (which I call rockets – because they go boom) which are perfect for finishing fleeing cowards who you weren’t finished with yet.
All my hunters have done a thorough job of turning their enemies into pincushions. But, like my assassins, it’s time for them to take a rest. But I have no doubts my new hunter will be top dog, even if she does give all her enemies the cold shoulder. It’s fine, I’m sure Kaldr will warm them up for her.