Bastet, the daughter of Ra, is a mobile assassin in Smite known for her hit-and-run tactics and strong dive potential. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of how to play Bastet effectively, covering everything from early game strategies to late-game team fight tactics.
Understanding Bastet's Abilities
To master Bastet, it's crucial to understand her abilities and how they synergize. Here's a breakdown:
- Pounce: Bastet pounces to a target location, damaging enemies within the radius. For 4 seconds after pouncing, you can press the button again to pounce back to your initial location. Bastet moves 25% faster while in the Return Pounce state.
- Razor Whip: Bastet sends a cat forward at her enemies. If a cat finds an enemy it ensnares them and all enemies around them, damaging them and rooting them for .5s. The cat persists for 4s or until defeated, continuing to attack nearby enemies.
- Huntress of Bast: Bastet becomes CC Immune and conjures a radiant projectile that travels forward in a line damaging and stunning the first enemy god hit. A Huntress of Bast appears near the hit target and a destination is marked at Bastet.
Bastet's early game is pretty solid, and she has good pushing/objective control because your Cats (ultimate) count as minions which are targeted by towers/objectives instead of you taking the aggro. Her 2 is definitely the best early game damage you're going to get because it applies a bleed.
Early Game Strategy
Start at the Fire Giant side Speed Buff (or Red Buff), and group up the jungle camps with your mid-laner. Once the Red and Speed buff jungle camps are cleared together, head towards your remaining speed buff. Your mid-laner should help you clear this buff camp.
You now have 2 choices:
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- You can stay in the Jungle towards the mid lane, looking for a gank on the enemy mid-laner or clear the Mid-Harpies.
- The second option is to head straight to duo lane, and look for a gank on the enemy duo lane (and clear Scorpion).
Bastet has a strong early fight, as she can deal damage from afar and escape easily. Bastet has powerful sidelane ganks, as she has high mobility with Ensnaring Claw to CC her enemies.
Ability Leveling: Mainly I'd level the 2 to max, then the 1, then the 4 and then the 3. The 3 does great damage but I think if you're going late game, the cats definitely will benefit you more.
Early Game Tips:
- Group up camps to cleave them with Pounce and Razor Whip to save mana, or limit yourself to 1 ability per jungle camp to conserve mana.
- Bumba's Dagger is better early sustain for the more health and mana it provides you when your getting your jungle farm off.
Mid-Game Tactics
Begins around ~14 minutes, or when most people have hit Level 12 and unlocked their Second Relic. Most enemy teams have gotten around to warding by now, and team fights become increasingly common.
Group up for team fights and look to dive the enemy backline. Bastet is unique where very few characters can run away from her, as her chase is one of the strongest in the game. Before the fights begin, lightly poke the enemies, but try to not loose your relics.
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Bastet Jungle {One Gank Rules them All}
Late Game Strategy
Almost everybody has hit Level 20, Fire Giant is the most important objective on the map. Starter items become unlocked at Level 20, which results in a damage/defensive spike. During Fire Giant fights, play with your team.
Only dive the backline if your solo laner is doing the same thing, otherwise play to keep the enemy jungler away from your team. Your Huntress of Bast is now more dangerous than ever, as getting grabbed is almost surely a death sentence.
For the Siege fights, you are better off staying with your team and group pushing the phoenix together.
Warding
Effective warding is crucial for Bastet to track enemy movements and secure objectives.
- Green Wards: Early/Rotational wards, you don't go out of your way to place these wards. Place them while already in the area, they are used to prevent blind spots while you rotate.
- Blue Wards: Late game wards, you want to place them as high as possible without getting caught by the enemy doing so. They cut off chokepoints on the enemies side, which lets you know which side of the map they are on.
Combos and Playstyle
The combo is jump in with the 1, apply the 2, jump back if you feel you can't get the kill or just ult, and any mage is pretty much dead early game because the cats will follow the bled target instead of wondering off to kill minions.
Just remember that if there's squishy mages on the map without any escape or even look gankable. Do it...once Bastet is ahead it's pretty much GG if she keeps her lead.
Additional Tips
- Learn the enemies actions and movements and dodge their attacks using pounce and use it at the perfect moment and same with return pounce, once you master this art you will be dodging peoples abilities like a feline!
- Make sure to pounce through walls and use it to your advantage in different situations, some examples are getting the jump on the enemy or escaping and gaining a good amount of distance from you and the enemy.
- Once you've played enough Bastet, you'll come to instinctively know when a razor whip will deal enough damage to finish off an enemy and if your fine to change targets now.