SMITE, the MOBA that pits deities and monsters from various religious pantheons against each other, is still going. Its most recent addition, Cthulhu, is one reason SMITE still stands out in the MOBA scene. Already there are myriad ways to play the new god, not just in roles, but in item builds.
To better understand the ways Cthulhu can be played, it is important to understand his loadout in SMITE. Cthulhu's powers focus on scaling defense and attack at the same time. While he does possess some CC (crowd control) power, his biggest asset is being too large to ignore AND too large to kill at the same time. His ultimate emphasizes this by turning him into an enormous monster. For those who want to try the Great Old One themselves, some of the best ways to play and build Cthulhu are laid out below.
ROLE
Since the announcement that Cthulhu was coming to SMITE, fans have wondered what role would he play on a team. The answer seems to be mostly that of a tanky bruiser, and it's a role he plays very well. With abilities that let him soften the enemy team while growing his own power and an ult that shelters friends while towering over foes, he is almost always a problem for the enemy team.
In terms of position on the team for the early game, many agree that Cthulhu works best as a solo mid-laner in SMITE's conquest mode. His abilities make for easy wave clear, and he can be a serious bully early on. He also scales up very well, so the more experience he has all to himself, the better. That said, since Cthulhu was released into SMITE, players have experimented and found he also makes a good support.
This emphasizes his late-game potential early on, while keeping him useful throughout the game. He has also been found to be a capable jungler, although his ganking potential is lessened by being taller than the walls that would normally hide his approach.
BUILD
Cthulhu's early game build vary's between players, taking everything from Guardian's or Warrior's Blessing to Mage's Blessing in the early game. It largely depends upon what role he wishes to fill, but some things stay constant in the late game. His boots of choice are, universally, the Shoes of Focus. When it comes to Core Items, a few pop up over and over again. These are: Stone of Binding, which slows enemy gods hit by abilities, Mantle of Discord, which stuns enemies when Cthulhu drops below a health threshold, and Ethereal Staff, which steals max health from enemies.
All of these contribute to Cthulhu's survivability, crowd control, and damage stacking, which is where players want him to excel. It might be good to try some gods before Cthulhu to get a feel for these items if they are unfamiliar.
Also appearing as nearly essential is Hide of the Namean Lion, especially against physical damage assassins. Rounding all this out is Bulwark of Hope and the Gem of Isolation, which makes him much scarier. His most popular active seems to be the Teleport Glyph, to get him where the action is fast. It's hard to say if these will be useful in Prophecy, the SMITE auto-chess game, but fans can only wait to see Cthulhu in Prophecy to find out.
SMITE is available for PS4, PC, and Xbox One.