The Scribe of Secrets has kept in the shadows as blood was spilled in the Battleground, but no longer – Chaos has gained an upper hand, and this sorcerer supreme will watch no longer. This powerful traditional Mage is here to show his enemies he hasn’t just seen victory, he wrote the book on it. So follow us and we’ll teach you every trick and build ever written when it comes to Thoth, the Scribe of Secrets – and the Arbiter of the Damned.
Thoughts on Thoth
Thoth is a potent addition to Egypt’s already formidable line-up of traditional Mages, joining the ranks of magical powerhouses like Anubis, Isis, and Ra. While he might not have quite the potency of the dark hellhound, or the support potential of Ra, Thoth’s damage, mobility, and superior skillset leaves this new arrival with a thing or two to teach his magical friends in the Egyptian pantheon.
Where other Egyptian (and game-wide) magic-users have “walking mincemeat syndrome” – that is, little to no way to escape a gank or focus fire – Thoth brings all the raw power, wave clear, and damage of these vulnerable powerhouses in addition to at least some measure of safety in his ability to Evade and Punish.
Thoth might not be the safest Mage in the game, but his survivability and potency in punishing clustered enemies (or outright deleting squishier targets with his Final Judgement) can certainly turn the page in what would’ve otherwise been a losing game. Careful positioning and game awareness is paramount, as always, but with a little practice using the abilities we cover below you’ll soon be writing whole new chapters in your competitive Mage game.
Abilities
If it’s one thing we learned from recent all-stars like Fafnir, it’s that free is good and 20 free penetration is more than the base pen of some fully built items. This allows Thoth to focus on other areas of items like raw Magical Power or Cooldown Reduction and leave the Penetration items for much later in the game, as his excellent passive does most of the work. This means Thoth is going to power earlier and for much less gold than other Mages that don’t essentially get free passive items as they murder minion waves.
Kills per stack: 30
Penetration per stack: 4
Maximum Penetration: 20 at 5 full stacks
Activate this ability, and you’ll see your three power shots hovering nearby. While simple left clicks will send these penetrating hieroglyphs through any number of nearby enemies (and deal plenty of damage), Hierglyphic Assault is best paired with the Glyph of Pain – and ability we’ll cover below which adds not only damage but effective range to the Assault. Practice lining up this 1-2 combination (and the slightly slower than average missile speed of the Assault) to clear minion waves and punch through enemy clusters alike.
If these attacks pass through the Glyph of Pain, their range is increased by 30.
Damage per shot: 35/55/75/95/115 (+25% of magical power)
Glyphs spawned: 3
Cost: 60/65/70/75/80 mana
Cooldown: 8 seconds
As both your primary wave-clear and your go-to ability for damaging enemy players, Hieroglyphic Assault is Thoth’s primary level up. Pick it early, and pick it often.
Taking a page straight out of the “Competitive Mage” handbook, Thoth’s Evade and Punish is a much needed escape in the high mobility world of Season 3 SMITE – and a powerful chasing tool to secure escaping targets other mages would have no hope of catching.
If these attacks pass through the Glyph of Pain, Both the Dash and the Projectile’s range are increased by 30.
Damage: 70/110/150/190/230 (+60% of magical power)
Slow: 20/25/30/35/40%
Slow Duration: 2.5 seconds
Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 mana
Cooldown: 18 seconds
While it’s heavily advised to keep Evade and Punish available to save yourself, and allowing the range increase of the Glyph of Pain and your long-reaching nuke Final Judgement to be your securing mechanisms, the dash (and the increased range of the dash through your Glyph) is available if the situation calls for it.
Unfortunately, the cooldown remains the same regardless of ability level, so pick up Evade and Punish early (level 4 at the latest) and leave it to level for last.
The bad news is, Glyph of Pain is Thoth’s primary set-up mechanic for dealing damage to enemies and objectives, and his best way to support his team outside of actually just deleting whatever’s in front of him. But since the “hieroglyph” he summons is actually more of a “gigantic wall made of lasers”, it’s pretty obvious when Thoth is about to move.
Thoth and allies’ Basic Attack projectiles receive a reduced damage bonus, but no range increase.
Ability bonus damage: 15/25/35/45/55 (+10% of magical power)
Basic attack damage: 5/10/15/20/25 (+5% of magical power)
Cost: 55 mana
Cooldown: 5 seconds
The good news is, at 5 seconds it’s used easily and often – allowing you to stagger comboing your abilities, or just throw up “fake out” walls to aid your basic attacks, and keep your enemy guessing as to when your medium-damage basic attacks are what’s coming through, and when they’re about to be under a Hieroglyphic assault.
It’s worth noting that this does increase damage on objectives – even towers and Phoenixes. While your Assault won’t touch a tower’s HP (being an ability), the Glyph of Pain will for you and your nearby allies. 55 might not seem like a lot, but easily adds up to hundreds of damage in only a few seconds when you and your friends are all firing through the Glyph.
As your kit’s necessary combo mechanic, and a fine damage increase to your main gun Hieroglyphic Assault, pick up the Glyph of Pain early, and level it second, just behind Assault.
Thoth’s Ultimate, and the quickest way to slam the book shut on enemies, Final Judgement deals an incredibly massive amount of damage in a penetrating lineshot when fully charged. For comparison, Poseidon’s Kraken deals 340+60% of magical power in the dead center of his Ultimate, meaning Thoth’s Ultimate does nearly twice the damage of one of the most iconic finishers in SMITE.
Thoth may activate this ability again to fire the ability early, doing a reduced amount of damage based on the number of pages currently summoned.
Damage: 360/440/520/600/680 (+140% of magical power)
Cost: 90 mana
Cooldown: 75 seconds
Oh, it also receives the range and damage bonus if fired through Glyph of Pain. This means that later in the game (when mages have around 600-700 ability power), this can deal between 1500-2000 damage depending on an enemy’s magical protections and your (passive-boosted) magical penetration.
From a distance, this skillshot can rather easily be dodged – but Final Judgement wants to have a few words with any enemy not watching Thoth, and most of them are “DIE”.
As an Ultimate, you’re going to level Thoth’s Final Judgement whenever available – but don’t only hold it back to secure kills. Pushing four digits of damage straight through an enemy cluster is as fantastic a way to start a teamfight as it is to end one.
Team Comp
Thoth has done his reading when it comes to competitive Magery in SMITE’s Season 3. And while he’s still a very traditional mage, he has all the markings of a competitive powerhouse. Despite the fact that he literally wrote the book on Magic, Thoth is best slotted into a team that’s looking to poke down an enemy from a distance before moving in to mop up what’s left.
Look for long range allies such as Neith, or mobile frontlines that can move with him such as Amaterasu, or Xing Tian. Also, because of the way his Glyph of Pain interacts with basic attack projectiles, generally the more ranged attackers your team has, the better.
Items
Start with Soul Stone to keep your mana high, and your damage and bullying potential even higher. If you’re planning on clearing waves more than boxing, but taking poke from long range enemies such as Isis, Vampiric Shroud is a fine (if ultimately less potent alternative). From there, start building the book you wrote on magic – literally the Book of Thoth – and pick up some Shoes of the Magi to give your passive magical penetration a boost, while keeping your power and mana regeneration high.
In typical fashion, Chronos Pendant is your next pick-up, followed by the Rod of Tahuti. Finish out with Soul Reaver for a bit more upfront punch (or maximizing your Final Judgement’s ability to completely one shot most enemies). Alternatively, you can pick up Spear of Desolation to keep your sustained DPS astronomical.
Finally, (if there’s any enemies left alive by now), feel free to swap out the Soul Stone for whatever you might need – usually whichever of the final two items you didn’t pick up. But Divine Ruin or Gem of Isolation are also fine purchases against healing compositions or in games where you need to peel for yourself, respectively.
Here’s the TL;DR:
Gameplay Strategy
While he might not be as naturally dominant as power-only picks like Zeus, Thoth isn’t too far off, either. Use your Glyph/Assault combination to quickly clear enemy waves – and harass any enemy foolhardy enough to stick near their minions while you do so.
Thoth is powerful, and easily capable of harassing multiple enemies through terrain or units, so take advantage of this whenever possible. Don’t be afraid to walk up near the front of your line to ensure some of those Hieroglyphs go through the enemy gods along with their minions. Chances are pretty good you can manage to score noticeable damage while still being able to quickly retreat behind a wall of friendlies – or, in some cases, not have to retreat at all thanks to your increased range.
While you should always have your Evade and Punish at the ready to… well…evade and punish gankers, Thoth will find very few enemy lanes in which he’s forced to play passively. One of the most dominant Mage items in the game is the Book of Thoth for a reason, so don’t be afraid to let your enemies know it. Poke them down early, poke them down often, and try to find hidden angles to set up a Glyph of Pain / Final Judgement combination – and write a few final words to any enemies caught in the blast.
In short, whether it’s in a full teamfight or just a small lane skirmish - stay safe, but don’t be afraid. You have more range and at least as much power as most Mages in the game, so harass down enemies before finishing them off with Final Judgement, or an Evade and Punish/Glyph/Assault combination. This “hell from afar” strategy will keep your kill count rising as your write your name in the “Winner” column game after game.
“Death from afar” might be the oldest trick in the book, but with the Scribe of Secrets the writing’s on the wall – so go forth and conquer! But be sure to stop back and tell us how you wrote yourself a few final “W’s” in the last months of SMITE Season 3 with Thoth, the Arbiter of the Damned.
