Amaterasu Introduction (Smite 2)
Amaterasu, the Shining Light, is a versatile warrior in Smite 2, embodying the power of the sun and offering a unique blend of support and damage. As a goddess of light and honor, Amaterasu excels in both offensive and defensive roles, with a kit that provides healing, buffs for her allies, and crowd control to disrupt enemies. Her ability to balance between dealing damage and enhancing her team's performance makes her a valuable asset on the battlefield.
With a combination of high mobility, sustain, and team utility, Amaterasu shines as an adaptable warrior who can influence the outcome of any fight, making her a reliable pick in any role, particularly in Solo or Support.
Why Play Amaterasu?
Amaterasu is an excellent choice for players who value versatility, team utility, and a balanced playstyle. Here are key reasons to play Amaterasu in Smite 2:
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Strong Sustain and Healing: Amaterasu’s passive and abilities offer healing for herself and her allies, allowing her to stay in fights longer and support her team effectively.
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Team Buffs: Her Aura of Brilliance provides movement speed and power buffs, making her invaluable in team fights and helping her team engage or disengage with ease.
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Crowd Control: With Heavenly Reflection and Dazzling Offensive, Amaterasu can stun enemies and deal significant burst damage, giving her both offensive and defensive options during battles.
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High Mobility: Amaterasu’s Swift Vengeance dash offers excellent mobility, allowing her to close gaps, chase down enemies, or escape from dangerous situations when needed.
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Lane Dominance: In the solo lane, Amaterasu's ability to poke, sustain, and buff herself with movement speed gives her a strong presence and makes her difficult to push out.
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Flexible Playstyle: Amaterasu can be built as a tanky frontliner or as a bruiser with more damage, depending on the team’s needs, making her a flexible and adaptable warrior.
Amaterasu is perfect for players who want a warrior that not only deals good damage but also provides valuable utility and support for the team. Her balance between aggression and team-oriented play makes her a great pick in various scenarios.
Amaterasu Strengths and Weaknesses
- Amaterasu Strengths
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Team Utility: Amaterasu excels at providing valuable buffs to her teammates through her Aura of Brilliance, increasing both movement speed and power in team fights, which can swing engagements in her team’s favor.
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Sustain and Durability: Her passive Illuminating Strike and Heavenly Reflection provide healing, allowing her to stay in prolonged fights. This gives her strong lane sustain, especially in the solo lane.
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High Mobility: With her Swift Vengeance dash, Amaterasu has great mobility, allowing her to chase down fleeing enemies, initiate fights, or escape when needed.
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Strong Crowd Control: Amaterasu’s Dazzling Offensive provides a multi-hit ability that can stun enemies, offering strong control in team fights and one-on-one duels.
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Versatile Playstyle: Amaterasu can fill multiple roles, including solo, support, or even jungle in some cases. Her flexible build path allows her to go tanky or bruiser, depending on what her team needs.
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Late-Game Impact: Amaterasu’s utility and AoE abilities scale well into the late game, making her a constant threat in team fights, where her buffs and stuns can have a large influence.
- Amaterasu Weaknesses
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Relatively Low Early Damage: While Amaterasu provides great utility, her early-game damage can feel underwhelming compared to other warriors. She relies on itemization to scale her damage effectively.
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Skill-Dependent: Amaterasu’s effectiveness depends on landing her abilities, especially Dazzling Offensive and Swift Vengeance. Missing key abilities can reduce her impact in fights.
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Vulnerable to CC: Despite her mobility, Amaterasu can struggle against teams with heavy crowd control. If locked down, she can be eliminated quickly before utilizing her healing or buffs.
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No Hard Escape: While Swift Vengeance provides mobility, it’s a short-range dash that can still leave her vulnerable if out of position. Without the ability to blink or teleport, she can be punished for overextending.
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Lane Pressure Early: In the solo lane, Amaterasu can be bullied early by aggressive laners who have stronger poke or wave clear. She often needs to focus on surviving until she gains items and power spikes.
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Long Ability Cooldowns: Some of Amaterasu’s abilities have relatively long cooldowns, especially Dazzling Offensive, meaning she needs to choose her engagements carefully and can’t spam abilities in quick succession.
Amaterasu’s blend of utility, sustain, and crowd control makes her a strong, flexible warrior, but mastering her positioning and timing is key to maximizing her potential in Smite 2.
Amaterasu Abilities
Amaterasu Ability Leveling Order
- Divine Presence (ABILITY 1): 3-15-16-18-19
- Heavenly Reflection (ABILITY 2): 2-8-11-12-14
- Glorious Charge (ABILITY 3): 1-4-6-7-10
- Dazzling Offensive (ABILITY 4): 5-9-13-17-20
Amaterasu Ability Combos
- Amaterasu Ability Combos coming soon!
Amaterasu Items
[Triton's Conch] should always be your first item. The aura of it stacks with your 1, and it's like a double Ama 1. Must build item.
Second item should be the defense type you need for your solo lane opponent. As always when looking at defense items, counter building is a priority. Keep that in mind when building defense items! A nice general pair of defense items Ama likes is Berserker's for physical and Shogun's for magical. They both give her attack speed, which is great. AS in smite 2 is a lot less abundant than in Smite 1, so it's a lot more difficult for tanks especially to get AS.
Third item is also a rather fixed slot, [Gem of Focus]. Gives you a boost of Int (Ama is an Int character. Idk what the game says, Int is better than Str on her) and a boost of CDR. The passive stacks off of each use of Ama's 1, so she can keep it stacked very easily. Fantastic item on her.
Fourth item you need to go the defense you did NOT go in the second slot. If one damage type in particular is a worry, then feel free to go a second item in that defense type. Generally though, here you'd slot in the Berserker's/Shogun's (whichever you didn't go yet).
Fifth and sixth item are very variable, debating on what you need at the time. The optional items listed above are nice flex items that work on Ama depending on the matchup. I do highly recommend Spirit Robe, though. It gives prots of each and gives her a lot of Mitigations when she gets CC'd (Ama is a bit squishier than only tanks due to being a late game hyper carry as well, so the Spirit Robe mitigations when CC'd (her biggest weakness) is really helpful).
Finally, these are just items that I've tested and found to work decently/well on Amaterasu! Definitely do not take this as an end-all-be-all, there's gotta be more items she works well with. This is just a collection of, in my experimenting, the most consistent items.
Conclusion: Amaterasu
Amaterasu is a dynamic and versatile warrior in Smite 2, offering a unique combination of healing, crowd control, and team utility. Her ability to provide buffs and sustain for her allies makes her an invaluable asset in both solo and support roles. With strong mobility and crowd control, she can engage in fights, disrupt enemies, and protect her team effectively.
While she may face challenges in early-game damage and vulnerability to crowd control, skilled players can leverage her strengths to dominate the battlefield. Amaterasu shines as a reliable choice for those who enjoy a balanced playstyle, capable of adapting to various team compositions and scenarios. With the right strategy and positioning, Amaterasu can lead her team to victory while embodying the power of the sun.