During Hi-Rez Expo 2018, several announcements were made for Hi-Rez’s MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) SMITE. One such announcement, that had been datamined back in late summer, was none other than the addition of the Warden of the Underworld: Cerberus. He was officially released on January 9th and can be purchased for 11,000 favor or 200 gems. For players who have purchased the Ultimate God Pack DLC (downloadable content), Cerberus will be added to your God list right away. Here is a breakdown of our favorite three-headed dog’s lore, abilities, and other general information.
Lore
For those who have passed and paid the toll to cross the river Styx may travel safely into the Underworld; however, those whose hearts still beat will only find a treacherous creature awaiting them. Cerberus has three large wolf heads, each sporting sharp fangs and green ghostly burning eyes. He was brought into this world with the task of guarding the gates into the Underworld and any living person that set foot on his shores became his next meal.
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Abilities
Passive: Any time an enemy God within 40 units of Cerberus is healed, that healing is reduced by 20% and Cerberus receives 40% of the heal. This is huge in large group fights and will actually allow Cerberus to feed off of the other team’s heals. The other benefit is that the enemy teams healing is reduced by 20% thereby making a healer’s work harder.
Paralyzing Spit: Cerberus reels his tail up and spits venom from the snakes mouth, damaging all enemies in its path and stops on the first God it hits within 45 units. This is a great clear ability that can be combined with a basic attack or Cerberus’ Ghastly Breath ability. Using these attacks makes Cerberus’ heads alert and when he casts Paralyzing Spit, it now not only comes from the tail but also his mouths. If you do combo these, each shot that hits the same enemy from Paralyzing Spit’s damage is reduced by 20%, but if all 4 hit then they become stunned.
Ghastly Breath: During this attack, each of Cerberus’ heads release a noxious fume in the form of a cone. Any Gods that are hit by these fumes also have reduced protections for a short period. Those who are hit by the center head will be slowed as well.
Soul Expulsion: This is Cerberus’ leap ability that deals damage on impact. What really makes this ability different from other leaps is that it forces the souls out of enemy Gods. As he kills the souls of the enemy gods, Cerberus heals himself up as well. This is another quick way for Cerberus to heal up during team fights.
Stygian Torment: Cerberus’ Ultimate Ability is one of the best Lore-based ultimates I have seen in a while. As Cerberus howls, souls from the Underworld rise from below him. Enemy Gods caught below him will be forced up and take damage. After a short period all the enemy Gods will then be thrown down directly in front of Cerberus. This means that if he were to turn during the attack they would still follow. This is a great way to set your team up for other Ultimate attacks or to remove some enemy powerhouses from a group fight.
Recommended Item Builds
While Cerberus is a very well-rounded God, he does lack some traits like mobility and has truly hard crowd control abilities. As always I suggest starting with boots unless you want to be outrun by everyone in the beginning. I would then suggest items that buff his cooldown reduction. All of his abilities take more than a few seconds to become available again. With his ability to combo, you will want to make sure abilities are almost readily available. When it comes to defensive items, remember to take a good hard look at your enemy team. If they are packed full of mages then go the magical defensive route and likewise for physical damage Gods. Adding in healing based items would also benefit you as well, increasing the heals you would receive from his passive.
For help with a good starting build or to see what others are using, I would recommend checking out SmiteGuru. They offer tons of different item guides and a place you can create your own item build as well.
Personal Review
I was so excited for the announcement of his release at Hi-Rez Expo 2018. I am a huge mythology buff and have always loved the stories that included Cerberus. It can be hard to create abilities for Gods and try to keep them true to their story. The developers really hit this one out of the park. As far as game play goes, he is amazing. To be honest, I am not really a fan of Guardians, but I had a lot of fun playing him. He almost feels more like a Warrior with magical abilities. Each time I have played him I had another support as well so it allowed me to really focus on dealing damage and setting up combos.
Who I Am: A nerd by the strictest definition. I enjoy diving straight into my favorite fandoms without a care in the world. I live on video/board games, fantasy movies and TV, and all things geeky.
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