From King Arthur and Zeus to Ganesha and Cthulhu, they’re all here. Broadly speaking each god or goddess fits into one of the following categories.

• Hunter
• Mage
• Assassin
• Warrior
• Guardian

As with other MOBAs, the key to success is team composition and knowing and understanding every god and goddess on the battleground, in order to devise an effective strategy.

This means trying new gods and goddess regularly is definitely beneficial, particularly with new deities being added seemingly all the time.

As in other similar esports games, you can purchase items to help you mount an attack, heal from damage, help you defend yourself and your teammates, or help you to get out of sticky situations.

You are aiming to have your damage as big as possible, so it is harder to kill you and easier for you to dispatch your opponents.

If you are new to the game, you can turn on ‘auto-buy’ which will purchase the items the system recommends for you.

However, either way, you can only purchase items from the fountain in your team’s base, so be sure to return regularly to top up once you’ve earned enough gold to do so.

Each god or goddess has four unique abilities which can be levelled up during the game, and if you don’t know which order to level up your skills, the ‘auto-skills’ feature will do that for you too.

There are several game modes available, but the most popular are as follows:

• Arena – team deathmatch 500 tickets to zero
• Joust – 3v3 includes structures and defences such as tower and phoenix
• Conquest – Uber competitive 5v5 clash of good v evil on Mount Olympus

Completing each game mode earns you favours and experience, which help you to unlock new skins and mastery skins by reaching the highest levels with the same god.

There is also ‘the ultimate god pack’ which will unlock all present and future gods and players can unlock certain skins for free by following SMITE social channels.

Available Bets on SMITE

Because a few smaller sites have cornered the market on SMITE betting, you will find that they offer odds almost daily, so you have plenty of opportunities to place your bets.

The following kinds of bets can be placed on SMITE:

Match-Winner

Since each match features two teams, match-winner is a straight 50/50 bet on which team you think will be victorious.

Where there is a best-of-three or best-of-five situation, you can usually bet on the result of each specific match.

Outright/Tournament Winner

In a tournament situation, you are betting on the overall winner. These kinds of markets usually open in advance of the tournament taking place, where you find the best value, but often run through every stage up until the final.

First Blood

First blood is a more SMITE-specific market (present in some other esports betting markets) which allows you to bet on which team you think will kill the first of their opponent’s heroes.

First Structure Takedown

Another SMITE-specific bet is the first structure takedown market which allows you to bet on which team will be the first to take down one of their opponent’s structures.

Best Sites to Bet on SMITE

SMITE hasn’t quite reached the superstar esports status of other games such as Legend of Legends or Dota 2, so not all bookmakers who offer esports will have SMITE markets.

However, it is growing in popularity, and there is a selection of sites which do cater to SMITE bettors.

We’ve compiled a list of the best sites to bet on SMITE, below:

How to Place a Winning Bet on SMITE

SMITE betting is interesting in that you can employ the usual tactics for the overall and match winner bet, but you need a much more in-depth knowledge of the teams and their tactics to bet on first blood or first structure takedown.

Here are some factors you should brush up on:

• Each team’s current form
• Past form in the same competitions
• Head-to-head stats
• Disruption to a team’s schedule or player roster
• Any psychological factors that can be noted in the news/on players’ social media
• Play-style – eg a more aggressive team may be more likely to draw first blood but may not win the match
• Strategy – is a team more likely to go for their opponent’s phoenix or tower?

The more you know about the teams involved, the more likely you are to place a winning bet on SMITE.

SMITE Tournaments

Community competitions have always been at the heart of SMITE but, as the game has become more established, international tournaments have increased in both size and popularity.

The first major SMITE tournament, was the 2014 Launch Tournament, followed a year later by the first SMITE World Championship. Over the years, other SMITE tournaments have come and gone, however, some events have established themselves as part of the esports calendar.

The following are international SMITE tournaments which have taken place relatively recently.

• SMITE Pro League
• SMITE World Championship
• SWC Placement
• SMITE Console World Championship
• Splyce Invitational All-Stars Event
• Mid-season Invitational
• SMITE Masters

Best SMITE Teams

Although a few teams come and go every couple of years or so, there are eight teams which have established themselves as the best professional SMITE teams in the world.

Based on earnings and league placement, the top teams are currently ranked below:

• eUnited
• Ghost Gaming
• Radiance
• Obey Alliance
• Pittsburgh Knights
• Renegades
• Sanguine Esports
• Spacestation Gaming

History of SMITE

SMITE is a third-person multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game where players get to control gods, goddesses, and other mythological figures.

Developed by Titan Forge Games, and published by Rez Studios for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One, it was first released in 2014.

Generally well-received by fans and critics alike, SMITE has come in for criticism for its depiction of Hindu gods and particularly the fact that they are player-controlled. Rajan Zed, the president of Universal Society of Hinduism called the depictions ‘offensive to the devoted’.

Todd Harris, CEO of Hi-Rez released a not-exactly-conciliatory statement: “Smite includes deities inspired from a diverse and ever-expanding set of pantheons including Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, and Norse. Hinduism, being one of the world’s oldest, largest and most diverse traditions, also provides inspiration toward deities in our game.

In fact, given Hinduism’s concept of a single truth with multiple physical manifestations, one could validly interpret ALL the gods within Smite to be Hindu and all gods outside of Smite as well.

Ponder that for a minute. Anyway, going forward Smite will include even more deities, not fewer.”
As promised SMITE has only added to its pantheon of gods and goddesses, including adding one of the most universally-recognised Hindu gods, Ganesha.

It’s fair to say this controversy probably hasn’t hurt SMITE gain publicity and a 2019 report in VentureBeat put the game’s revenue generated at $300 million, with more than 30 million active players.

It has also become an esport game with more than a little nudge from Hi-Rez Studios. The game’s publishers wasted little time in setting up a professional league system in the same year the game was first released.

Which ensured players who progressed online would be invited to play in offline competitions. The teams were then ranked by their performance in these games and the top teams were invited to compete in the inaugural SMITE World Championship, in 2015.

Teams came from North America, South America, Europe, and China to compete for the $2.6 million prize pool, with the winners COGnitive Prime pocketing just over $1.3 million.

The SWC later capped the prize pool at $1 million, in order to pay out more through the season.