If you follow the Smite eSports scene, chances are you had the opportunity to see some fantastic games during the Smite Super Regionals. In usual fashion, the LAN stage always brings out some unusual team compositions and strategies that break the meta, and the team that made the biggest statement at Super Regionals was Elevate. Elevate surprised just about everybody and claimed their spot at the Smite World Championships, and they did it with a very unique strategy. Let’s break down Elevate’s 3 Guardian 2 Hunter team composition, and why it was so successful.





Early Pressure

The main objective for a 3 Guardian 2 Hunter team composition in the early game is simply to prevent themselves from falling behind too far. The easiest way to make sure that happens is by picking safe gods. Many times this LAN, we saw Elevate draft Xing Tian, who is a god that can safely clear waves from his own tower, in the solo lane.

Aside from picking strong and safe Guardians, Elevate also made sure to pick strong Hunters with early pressure. The early pressure from the two Hunters compensated for the lack of pressure coming from their Guardian jungle, and at the very least ensured that they would not lose the early game so badly that they could not come back. If, by chance, the team is able to get a lead early, the 3-2 composition is very good at snowballing the game, since three Guardians provide a huge amount of crowd control and are tankier than the opposing team can handle, which is exactly what happened in Elevate’s last game on day 4 against Trifecta.

Ah Muzen Cab's early pressure and lane clear makes him an ideal Hunter for this composition. The peel offered by the Guardians also help compensate for his lack of an escape.



Late Game Focus

Often times this team composition is expected to fall behind in the early game and into the mid game, simply because the early pressure isn’t there. That being said, it isn’t too big of a deal. The 3-2 composition is fairly safe from behind, since the three Guardians are very difficult to kill and the two Hunters should be able to get enough early farm to keep up with the opposing carries.

The tankiness and crowd control the Guardians have allows them to survive very well in team fights, as well as protect the two Hunters. From behind, Elevate was able to play to the strengths of the composition, which is to delay the snowball from the other team. If the other team can’t win a team fight cleanly, they won’t have an opportunity to take objectives, and the later the game goes the stronger having three Guardians becomes.

When the 3-2 composition reaches the late game, the three Guardians become extremely hard to kill and, between them, they will have a decent amount of magical damage to make up for not having a Mage. The two Hunters will be able to take advantage of all the CC coming from their frontline, and shred through the enemy team, as well as power through enemy structures very quickly.





Objective Play

To keep it simple, Hunters have the best objective DPS in the game, so having two of them makes playing around objectives very easy. When fighting over objectives the two Hunters are allowed to focus the Gold Fury or the Fire Giant, while the three Guardians zone the enemy team. Often, it is as simple as that since the DPS is so high from two Hunters, but even if the enemy team is able to approach and contest, the CC from the Guardians allows the two Hunters to easily switch their focus and kill an enemy player.

Defensively, this team comp is also very strong at contesting objectives. The Guardians are very capable of disrupting the enemy team and getting close to the enemy team, causing chaos or locking down an opponent. This allows the two Hunters to get closer and either kill an enemy player or look to steal away the objective.





Strong Team Fight

Elevate’s 3-2 composition also made sure that their team fight potential was very high, similar to playing a healing composition, the 3-2 composition thrives in longer, sustained teamfights. Since the Hunters are going to be putting out DPS instead of burst damage, the longer the team fight lasts, the more damage the two Hunters are going to be able to deal. The Guardians can force the team fights to be extended because of how much damage they can absorb, often forcing the enemy team to overcommit to find a kill on just one player, allowing the rest of the team to collapse on the enemy.

The survivability the 3-2 composition has makes winning a fight against it very difficult. Even if the fight doesn’t start out well, the Guardians can provide so much protection to their Hunters that it is hard to win a fight cleanly against them. The enemy might overcommit or you might be able to force important ultimates and relics out of the other team. Additionally, trying to fight against a team that is so hard to kill can be frustrating for the enemy, and could force them into making a few bad decisions which could turn the team fight in your favor.





Comfortability

Perhaps the most important part of why this composition works so well for Elevate is comfortability. Everyone on their team is entirely comfortable playing these off-meta picks, whether it is Athena jungle or Ah Muzen Cab mid.

Even more important is that these kind of picks suit their playstyle as a team. In his post-game interview after beating Trifecta, Elevate’s jungler Mohaned “Cherryo” Dewedar explained that he doesn’t enjoy playing Assassins and waiting for his time to strike. His playstyle is the initiator, the person who is in the middle of the fights setting up his team, which is why he enjoys playing Guardians in the jungle, and why he makes it look so unstoppable.

Athena is one of Cherryo's best gods, and it is often target banned by the other team.

Elevate plays this composition so well because it fits their playstyle, and they certainly aren’t afraid to break the meta with it. They made a statement at Super Regionals by sticking to a strategy that worked for them and proving that they knew exactly how to pull it off. While this sort of composition might not work in every ranked game, if Elevate have shown us anything, it’s that no one should be afraid to break the meta, and play to their strengths.

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