Aphrodite is a unique god in Smite. She is a Mage that is brings a lot of utility to a team composition. With the help of Team Dignitas mid laner Joakim “Zyrhoes” Verngren, we bring you a guide to the Goddess of Beauty. We will go over Aphrodite’s abilities, build options, play style, and when to play her.

Abilities

Center of Attention

Aphrodite’s passive is called Center of Attention. It gives her 4 of each protection for each god near her in a 70-unit radius. This effect stacks up to nine times and applies to both allied and enemy gods in range. This gives Aphrodite up to 36 additional protections which is important because she is a squishy Mage that likes to be in team fights. Extra survivability allows Aphrodite to stay alive longer and keep pumping out spells.

Kiss

Aphrodite’s Kiss ability is her signature spell, enabling her other skills. Aphrodite throws a projectile that interacts with the first god hit, enemy or ally. If the kiss hits an allied god, that god becomes Aphrodite’s soulmate and a visual beam connects the two as long as the characters stay in range. Aphrodite can only have 1 soulmate at a time. When Aphrodite has a soulmate, both gain a movement speed bonus. Kiss’s cooldown is lowered when used on a friendly target. When Kiss connects with an enemy god, the target is stunned for 1 second and if Aphrodite has a soulmate at the time, they become jealous and deal up to 20% additional damage for a few seconds. Aphrodite’s kit revolves around Kiss and choosing the correct targets to Kiss can make or break a team fight.

Back Off!

Aphrodite’s Back Off! ability creates bursts of damage around Aphrodite and her soul mate. Enemies near Aphrodite get knocked back while those near her soulmate are slowed. If a target were to get hit by both shots, they instead only get effect by the burst coming from Aphrodite. Back Off! can be used to peel or aggressively for high damage.

Love Birds

Love Birds is another of Aphrodite’s abilities. She sends birds down a path and any enemies hit take damage over 3 seconds. Aphrodite and her soulmate are healed over time when this spell is cast, regardless if any foes got hit. This spell is Aphrodite’s bread and butter. It is her primary wave clear tool and the source of her healing. Aphrodite can heal herself and a friendly target with Love Birds.

Undying Love

Aphrodite’s ultimate is Undying Love. She causes herself and her soulmate to become invulnerable and immune to damage and crowd control for a short time. Undying Love is an amazing defensive ability. It can be used to break allies out of crowd control effects or save Aphrodite and her soulmate from being killed in a fight. The ultimate can also be used aggressively by pairing with a diving god, making them invulnerable as they jump into the enemy team.

Each of Aphrodite’s abilities have offensive and defensive uses, making her a versatile character. Kiss is Aphrodite’s defining ability and she can extend the rest of her kit to her allies using it.





Item Builds

A mid lane Aphrodite has some options in how she can be built. She can be run glass cannon or utility, based on team compositions and player preference. Starting with Bumba’s Mask and Sands of Time is a good choice. Bumba’s Mask will allow her to deal more damage to camps and sustain her a bit off of the jungle while Sands of Time provides the very mana hungry Aphrodite with much needed relief and mana sustain. Bumba’s can be excluded if you are looking for an early boots pick up or replaced with an efficient tier 1 item such as Tiny Trinket.

Aphrodite has a few build paths she can go depending on the situation. If there are a couple other sources of magical damage on her team, such as a Bacchus and Cabrakan, Aphrodite can afford to build more utility and defensive items to keep herself alive. Aphrodite is likely to build like a more traditional mage when her team does not have many other magic damage sources. In this case, she would build damage and penetration items. In all types of builds, Aphrodite wants to have a good amount of magical power because her heal scales off of the stat.

An Aphrodite is likely to follow up her starter items with Shoes of Focus and Dynasty Plate Helm. These items provide a nice mix of aggression and utility. Aphrodite being a healer also unlocks Rod of Asclepius, which is a great item that provides high power, movement speed, and an aura that increases healing received by her teammates. This is a strong item to pick up in any healing composition and the stats are great on a mid lane Mage. From here, an Aphrodite can build Obsidian Shard for up front damage or Spear of the Magus for more damage after Love Birds has ticked.

One of the Starter items is likely to be replaced with Rod of Tahuti for the power spike while the other can be sold for more damage in Spear of Desolation or Soul Reaver, or for more defensive options like Spirit Robe or Mantle of Discord. Items like Winged Blade against slows and Void Stone for magic defense are situational options that can be slotted into the middle of a build. There is room to build situational and personal favorite items while still being an effective Aphrodite.



An example of an aggressively built Aphrodite in the late game.

Playstyle

Aphrodite is a scaling healer Mage. This means that she has a weak early game but comes online mid to late and just becomes stronger as the game goes on. As mentioned above, Kiss gives Aphrodite a unique playstyle revolving around managing a soulmate that can be difficult to learn, but that is very rewarding when done right.

Laning Phase

Aphrodite has a poor early game and needs to be babysat by either the jungler or support. You do not want to be pushed in during the first couple waves because Aphrodite is not good at controlling the jungle and your team could get behind by losing camps off of the mid not having lane priority. Aphrodite is a pretty safe mid laner because she has good range on Love Birds and 3 spells to peel. The goal of Aphrodite in the laning phase is to just survive, farm, and group up with your team for early skirmishes.

Team Fights

Once the mid game rolls around, Aphrodite comes online. Unlike flanking Mages like Janus and Thoth, Aphrodite wants to be in the battle field, but on her team’s backlines. Aphrodite should be looking to save her carries and switch soulmates as needed. Aphrodite can also peel with Kiss, Back Off, and Undying Love. Offensively Kissing an enemy is also an option because it gives your soulmate additional damage. In addition to utility, Aphrodite can also dish out decent damage on her own. Aphrodite also does well when linked to a late game hyper carry like Kali. She can keep the carry alive as they kill the enemy team. Overall, Aphrodite is great at team fighting and has many tools to keep herself and her team alive to win the fight.

When to Play Aphrodite

Aphrodite can be played with most team compositions, but you want to be pushing or at least even in the mid lane. She struggles against high-pressure compositions and anti-healing gods. For this reason, you want to save the Aphrodite pick for later in a draft so you don’t get hard countered. Aphrodite does really well when paired with a carry jungler such as Kali or Hun Batz because she can make them invulnerable while they carve through the enemy team. Aphrodite also does better when in communication with her team, as talking to you allies allows for more precise plays. Aphrodite is fine in most situations, just be careful about what the enemy can pick in response when you select the Goddess of Beauty.



Zyrhoes playing Aphrodite in Week 6 of the SPL Spring Split

Aphrodite is a unique Mage in Smite. She has a versatile kit that allows her to be defensive or offensive when she wants. She wants to stay close to one of her carries to make the most out of her soulmate mechanic. Thank you to Zyrhoes for helping with this guide. You can find his Twitter here.