Be Map Aware Or Be Scared!

When playing smite, regardless of the mode, map awareness is a must! There is nothing worse than pushing your lane or an enemy to turn around only to find the enemy team behind you, to which you end up a bloody mess. Not only will you be glad that you have that awareness, but so will your team!

 

What Is The Deal With Map Awareness Anyway?
Overall map awareness allows you to know what is going on where, which could potentially save your butt! It is a good habit to constantly check your mini map, as you would your rear vision and side mirrors whilst driving. By forcing yourself to do so, you will eventually find yourself doing it automatically as you proceed further into the game. By doing so you can easily tell where to go in case of an unexpected gank, it also lets you know your team mates positions, which can determine what you can or cannot do, like charging in for a kill because you have that back up there.

 

Why Do You Need Map Awareness?
SMITE is made up of so many different metas, this means that any team you face can have different opinions on their positions. Players do not stay in their lanes for the entire duration of the match, they move, so therefore it is vital to know where and who is safe, and to know your surroundings. Your enemy team is not always going to be positioned the same as yours and map awareness can help you to have eyes on where and who you cannot visibly see, and it really does work to your advantage, knowing where the enemy team are and what they are doing.

 

Who Can You See On The Mini Map?
You can see your team mates at all times on your mini map, except if they are dead. As for enemies, you can only see an enemy if they are:

1. Under your Tower/Phoenix/Minotaur
2. An ally can see them
3. They are attacking your minions
4. They are near an allies ward (Sentry Ward, Ward, or Eye of Providence)
5. They are near an allies placed skill e.g. Arachne's 'Broodlings' (Eggs), Artemis' 'Trangressor's Fate' (her floor traps). These will show up as 'Blue Dots' for ally traps and 'Red Dots' for enemy traps on your mini map.

How Can Map Awareness Affect Your Game Play?
Having good map awareness allows you to move about freely as it will give you more confidence to be able to engage with the enemy more, because you have a better understanding of your surroundings. It will help with your decision making thus making it easier for you and your team to support one another. It can also help with escapes from what could be a messy situation, if you can see that the enemy is approaching to attempt a gank, it could allow you the time to retreat and save you from a possible death.

My Conclusion
Overall, it is going to provide you with a lot more in-game knowledge and allow you to better your skills and your playing by knowing where everyone is. I found that once I had a good understanding of the mini map and was able to get into the habit of looking at it almost every 5 seconds it boosted my confidence as a player and made me feel more comfortable when it came to initiating and pushing.

Map awareness seems like a small problem and not something that you would really need to worry about when you first start off playing the game, but really, it is the complete opposite, you notice the difference in your game-play almost instantly, and if you are anything like me, you will get super excited when you start dodging ganks and getting kills all because you could see where everyone was and were able to act accordingly. It may be called a mini map but the benefits of understanding and having awareness of it are gigantic!

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Happy Gaming!