10 Ways to Make Your Ranked Teammates Love You

The year is drawing to a close, and people are filled with the joy and cheer of the holiday season. This doesn’t necessarily extend to Smite, however; some people are just as nasty and unhappy as usual. Your actions in one game won’t really change the crabby and salty people in the Smite community, but you can do your part to make Smite a happier environment for everyone.

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1. Buy Wards

“Wards win games”. It’s an old and often-repeated phrase, but that doesn’t make it any less true. It doesn’t matter what role you’re playing, what build you’re targeting, or whether your teammates are keeping up on their own ward-buying; you’re not any less responsible for warding your own map areas. Even if major objectives and jungle pathways are already warded, pick up a couple of wards anyway. It’s only a 100 gold investment, and the future vision control is well worth it. Besides, do you really want to have your solo laner spamming [Place a Ward for Teleport], and not have a way to shut him up?

2. Play to Your Composition

Recognize what kind of team you’re playing and build your playstyle and strategy around that. If you’re running late-game characters, don’t try and set up ganks or dive as though you have an early-game composition, and vice versa. Don’t hard engage when you have a poke/siege comp, or play conservatively when you have good lane pressure. Smite is a game with many overarching strategy elements that apply to every game of Conquest, but recognizing the qualities of your particular game, team and matchup is just as important.

3. Rotate

Nothing destroys team cohesion faster than unpunished and unmatched rotations. It’s your responsibility to match your laning opponent’s movements to the best of your ability; yes, even if they have a movement speed buff or a global-transport ultimate. You may lose out on farm, or take a bit of tower damage, but ultimately your team is going to lose more from an uneven fight or gank than from a couple of minion waves lost under a tower. Even if you have a good reason not to rotate in a particular instance, be sure to make up for it by doing something valuable like split pushing, or countering the rotation on the other side of the map.

4. Follow the Meta

There is a place for off-meta shenanigans, ridiculous troll picks, and Anubis in every role. That place is not Ranked Conquest. Your Chaac Support or Ymir ADC might have wrecked in casual conquest, but don’t bring it into a serious competitive environment, no matter how well you think it works. The meta is the meta for a reason; some sources even credit the origin of the term Meta to the acronym, “Most Effective Tactic Available”. Don’t ruin someone else’s game because of your pick; people don’t play competitive multiplayer games because they’re fun, they play them because they’re fun to WIN.

5. Learn Every Role

There’s nothing wrong with “maining” a role. Almost everyone does it, up to and including pro players. That being said, don’t enter a game of Ranked Conquest if you’re uncomfortable with any of the five roles and their typical meta picks. Being less experienced in a role is one thing; lacking the basic competency and skill to play one of the positions on a Conquest team is something else entirely. Even if you’re usually able to get the role and the god you want, make sure you’re up to date on the latest tactics and builds for every role, especially the one you’re naturally the worst at.

6. Don't Engage Constantly

Knowing how to engage is one of the Smite skills that’s vital for every player to have; however, it shouldn’t be applied all the time. Farming is just as important as fighting, and significantly more important in the early stages of the game. Playing aggressive isn’t bad, especially if you’re on a character with a good laning matchup or early-game presence, but if you all-in every target you see, you’re only going to fall behind, and pull your teammates down with you. Know when to fight, and when to back off and clear your buff camps.

7. Share Farm

This is another tip that’s extremely hard to grasp for new players, but vital for anyone who wants to have a positive experience at competitive levels of play. Don’t be selfish with your waves and camps. Your team only benefits from splitting the available resources, especially if you have "bonus gold" items like Bumba’s Mask or Watcher’s Gift. Be conscious of where your teammates are on the map, and if they’re moving toward you, don’t start clearing until they’re in range to share.

8. Know Your Mechanics

If you’re playing ranked, you should be playing at the highest level of skill you can; this means you should have put in the research and practice time to know general and god-specific mechanics. You shouldn’t have to ask what things like diminishing returns, freezing a wave, or auto-attack cancelling are. Do your homework. You won’t know everything, but if you don’t know, ask and fix the gap in your knowledge.

9. Don't Blame Your Teammates

This is one of the toughest tips on this list, because if you’re calling out somebody else you may be at least partially correct. The jungler really should have been in position to gank your lane, or that Khepri should have ulted you. Whether it’s true or not, you won’t help anything by cursing out your teammates and spamming sarcastic VGS. That just doesn’t improve people’s gameplay, and only paints a target on your back when you inevitably make a mistake of your own. If the problem is a big one, try to explain the issue and gently suggest an alternate course of action. If the error is minor, and clearly an honest mistake, just let it go and move on.

10. Communicate

Ultimately, anything else on this list can be forgiven and fixed if you’re just willing to communicate. In all the time I’ve been playing Smite, I’ve never seen someone who asked for help with a problem be completely shut down or denied. Communication is what separates the good from the great, and the great from the professional. Know your VGS commands and call VFF. Keep your teammates up to date on enemy ultimates and relics. Explain your problems or advantages, and be willing to engage with your teammates on their own strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t have a microphone or a voice chat program like Curse, get one.

All of these tips are about exactly that: communication and teamwork. It’s possible to carry a game of Smite alone, but as you play against opponents of higher skill levels that becomes increasingly difficult. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can do it on your own. You’re on a team, so play like it. Share Farm. Follow the Meta. Learn your roles and mechanics. Help your allies. Communicate with them. Give them opportunities, and do all you can to take advantage of the opportunities they give you.

Oh, and don’t forget to buy wards.

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