Hel: A Support's Guide for SMITE

23 Mar 19

Guides

Izanami

Hel: A Support's Guide for SMITE

An in-depth guide to Support Hel: Goddess of the Underworld.

I know what you're thinking, especially with Bacchus being a top pick right now. With him getting Chug at level 1 and his 50% anti-heal debuff with Belch of the Gods, there is no possible way Hel could be good in the support role. But there are so many other reasons that her kit is so strong, and this will be a guide that isn't just for Conquest, but all other game modes as well. Let's go through some scenarios and builds where she'll work, starting by going through her kit.

Hel is a ranged god from the Norse Pantheon and is classified as a Mage.


Her passive is called Stance Attunement. It's a buff and it gives her bonus damage and healing the longer she stays in a stance. At max stance length, her Dark Stance provides 20% damage and her light stance allots her 20% healing. When you're constantly switching back and forth, although helpful, you want to keep in mind you do more when you let the Stances reach their fullest potential. Channeling through both stances is important to make sure you and your teams are receiving the best of both worlds. When you're supporting, your heals aren't going to do as much because you are building tanky. Be mindful and if you can get away with waiting a few moments before a heal, do so. Hel's abilities do not share cooldowns. If you use an ability in one stance, it does not go on cooldown in her other stance.

Her first ability in dark stance is called Decay. Hel fires an orb at her enemies. This orb passes through minions and explodes with a 12 unit radius (as far as animation, think of it as a small Nox ultimate). If building cooldown, you'll be able to fire this ability every four to five seconds depending on what cooldown items you have. It has such a short cooldown that being able to spam it as much as possible is helpful. It is decent poke, even if she is purely supporting, because it is constant. Her Light Stance first ability is called Restoration. When Hel fires this ability at an ally, they and herself are healed. (Only on a successful hit.) When she tosses it at an enemy, it only does damage to the enemy God. Restoration can also go through walls. Like mentioned before, it is on a short cooldown so you'll be able to heal quite often.

Dark Damage
70/120/170/220/270 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Light Damage
70/120/170/220/270 (+50% of your Magical Power)
Light Ally Heal
60/90/120/150/180 (+30% of your Magical Power)
Light Self Heal
60/90/120/150/180 (+30% of your Magical Power)

Decay/Restoration will be your safest lane clear especially at level one. You'll want to upgrade this ability first.

Hel's second ability in her Dark Stance is called Hinder. This ability is a ground target and when placed slows them for 3 seconds and reduces their Magical Protections for the same duration. Her second ability in Light Stance is called Cleanse. She removes all Crowd Control effects instantly and protects them from new ones for a short duration. Again, upon building cooldown, this ability is available to use every seven to eight seconds, providing Purification Beads for your team! A well-placed Cleanse can turn a teamfight in moments. Imagine timing a Cleanse so none of your teammates get pulled in by Ares. Or Xing Tian.

Dark Protections Debuff:
5/10/15/20/25
Dark Slow:
20/25/30/35/40%
Light CC Immunity Duration
1.5s

Although in a teamfight these two abilities will be very helpful, at low level they aren't as useful as you'll need. I suggest leveling this ability last, unless the enemy team has a ridiculous amount of Crowd Control early that your carry is not able to get out of.

Hel's third ability in the Dark Stance is called Repulse. This is an AoE (Area of Effect) ability. She conjures a dark burst of energy that does damage to all enemies in the radius. Her Light Stance ability is called Inspire. Hel releases a burst of light energy around her that heals herself instantly and applies a heal over time to her allies within radius every 1 second for 6 seconds. Hel gains increased bonus movement speed which she shares at a reduced amount with her healed allies.

Dark Damage
80/130/180/230/280 (+70% of your Magical Power)
Light Self Heal
60/90/120/150/180 (+30% of your Magical Power)
Light Heal per Tick
10/15/20/25/30 (+5% of your Magical Power)
Light Movement Speed
25%
Light Duration
6s

This ability is very strong in teamfights because it gives her and her allies healing and movement speed. I suggest leveling this ability second but continuing to level it over her 1. As someone who suffers from being able to hit a skillshot when needed, the AoE will help the team overall, especially since you're gaining movement speed as well. Pair this with her Hinder ability and you and your team will be able to outrun most enemies. If she or an ally gets caught out with CC, she can Cleanse and continue to flee.

Hel's 4th ability is a buff called Switch Stances. In Dark Stance, Hel's abilities give her increased magical power. In Light Stance, they give her increased protections. The passive of this ability is that she gains increased MP5 and 50% of the benefits gained from her ultimate are shared with allied Gods within 30 units. It is like having extra aura items on the team.

Dark: Magical Power
30/40/50/60/70
MP5
15/20/25/30/35
Light: Magical and Physical Protections
13/16/19/22/25

Even though this isn't an active ultimate ability, I suggest leveling it when you reach level 5 and whenever you're able to after that. She receives MP5 and protections which she then shares with her allies. As a support, you'll want to protect them as much as you can. Leveling this ability helps and keeps her better protected.

Like mentioned, she does not have an escape, but the abilities in her kit can keep her from getting locked down in certain scenarios. Crowd Control immunity plus 25% bonus movement speed will help her out of most situations.

Build

A starting build for Hel in the Support role would be Guardian's Blessing, Tier 1 Boots, 3 Mana Pots and 3 Multi Pots. As far as your Relic, take whatever your Carry requests. Upgraded Heavenly Wings, Shell, and even a Meditation Cloak could help you outlast your counterparts in lane a little longer. Hel relies heavily on Mana because she does have six abilities. Consider buying Mana Pots over Health Pots, because she can heal herself and her ally if need be. The rest of her build would look something like this, although all builds are situational for who you are against

After finishing Shoes of Focus, which will provide you with a little mana and cooldown, you'll want to continue down that path. Cooldown is vital on Hel so she can be as useful as possible in a teamfight.

Consider purchasing Breastplate of Valor and Genji's Guard. One provides Physical Protections and the other provides Magical, but both will provide you with Cooldown Reduction. Breastplate gives you Mana and 20% Cooldown Reduction and Genji's gives you 10% Cooldown Reduction and 40 MP5. With three full items, you now are at max Cooldown Reduction, have mana, and a significantly raised MP5. Additionally, Genji provides a passive that is helpful to Hel. If she is struck with Magical damage, it reduces all your cooldowns by 3 seconds (only occurring every 30 seconds).

After this, a Lotus Crown is very helpful. You'll get 20 more MP5, 50 Physical Protections and Magical Power, but its passive is great. When Hel heals an ally, Lotus Crown gives them 20 Increased Magical and Physical Protections for 5 seconds. Add that to her 6 second tick heal, and they get 11 seconds worth of protections.

The next item I would consider would be a Rod of Asclepius. You can interchange the build order with Lotus Crown if need be. Since Hel is going to be tanky and the scaling on her healing isn't going to be as high as it could be, Rod of Asclepius will be useful here. It does give her a nice burst of power coming in with 90 Magical Power, but it also gives her health and movement speed which will help her in the long run as well. Paired with her Inspire, she will be pretty quick. RoA is an Aura item which grants Allied Gods within 70 units to have their Healing Increased by 10%. If an ally has taken or dealt damage in the last 5 seconds of being healed, their healing is then increased an additional 5% totaling 15% increased healing. RoA does not stack with other Rods and the bonus healing given is only healing from abilities.

Like mentioned previously, each item built is situational. If you're up against a team where their magical Gods are putting in most of the work and are pestering your carries, then I would lean into more magical type items such as Void Stone.

If there is healing on the other team, whether from abilities or items, consider getting a Pestilence. It has high Magical Protections, a decent bit of health (200), and reduces healing by 25% within 55 units.

If there are pesky slows that you don't want to waste your Cleanse on, a Winged Blade would be a great pick up as well. It gives 300 health, 20% crowd control reduction and 10% movement speed. When hit by a slow, you are made immune to slows and your movement speed is increased by 20% for 4 seconds. (Only occurs once every 30 seconds).

Hel works well with:

Xbalanque: His CC immunity in his dash allows Hel to not waste her Cleanse on something trivial, and she'll be able to save it for something that may impact a teamfight a great deal more. Since Xbalanque has great clear with his Bolas, it allows Hel and him to stay back and clear safely.

Ares: One thing about Ares is that he is an All-In type. He either walks or blinks in and then relies on his teammates to do the best they can to take down the enemy team. But who is looking out for him? If a Hou Yi ults an Ares, he's stuck in that slow and damage. Hel can cleanse him out of all CC so he can return safely back to ally lines. She can heal him up and continue on the fight with the added movement speed.

Most carries can benefit from healing and movement speed, especially those like Xbalanque who have rather safe clear. The further away from a fight Hel can be, the safer she is.

Hel is weak against:

Odin: Odin's Ring of Spears is strong against healers and especially against Hel, since she does not have an escape. If Hel or an ally doesn't provide Hel with a Phantom so she can escape the ring, then she is a sitting duck inside. This ability has 100% healing reduction. Allies caught in here with the Hel are sitting ducks, unless Odin's team does not follow up.

Serqet: Serqet has several ways in and out of a fight, but she also offers some pressure for Hel and her allies. Her Last Breath reduces all healing for its duration to 0.

Sobek: On top of the 50% reduced healing his Sickening Strike gives, his Charge Prey can be troublesome for Hel as well. She can be tossed into enemy lines away from Allies who she then cannot reach to bounce a heal off of. If the enemy has her and can lock her down, she will be easy pickings.

Chang'e: Chang'e has anti-heal in her Moonflower Dance, reducing healing if struck by 50%. Her Waxing Moon ability is also a bit tricky if Hel is caught with her allies, as she cannot use her Cleanse until the duration of Chang'e's ultimate is over, leaving her and her teammates incapacitated for a duration.

Osiris: Lord of the Afterlife, if landed, reduces all healing to 0. Pair that along with Judgement Tether which will provide a stun for his team to capitalize on.

These are to name a few, of course all Gods with built-in anti-heal are going to be a bit of a pain for her.

Hel is strong against:

Ymir: Being able to cleanse Ymir's main form of setup (Frost Breath, a stun that lasts at max length 2.25 seconds) renders him almost useless. Hel can also cleanse the 40% slow from Shards of Ice.

Ares: Shackles can be cleansed to allow an ally to dash, leap, or teleport away. It takes away the cripple and allows them to escape. Also, if timed correctly, Hel can Cleanse No Escape.

Hades: Pillar of Agony pulls enemies in. If your ally does not have their Purification Beads available, a Cleanse will help them escape.

Bacchus: If timed correctly, Hel can Cleanse the knock up from Belly Flop and the stun from Belch of the Gods, although all that are hit with this ability will still receive reduced healing for 4 seconds.

Xing Tian: Hook Slam's root can be Cleansed as well as Whirlwind of Rage and Steel, allowing allies to easily retreat or jump on enemies who were awaiting setup.

Athena: As annoying as she is, Athena's Confound (Ability 2) is exceptionally strong. Timed well, you can Cleanse it completely, or even if she does land the ability, its effects will be interrupted and your allies will be able to escape.

These are to name a few, but Hel is strong against most Gods with Cripples, Roots, Stuns and other forms of Crown Control.

Items That Counter Hel:

Cursed AnkhThis relic reduces healing received by all for 10 seconds. Upgraded Ankh also causes allies to take more damage if they're healed within its use by 20%.

Pestilence: See Above

Divine RuinEnemies hit with abilities have their healing reduced by 40% and reduced regeneration for 8 seconds. (Magical only).

Brawler's BeatstickEnemies hit with abilities have their healing reduced by 40% and reduced regeneration for 8 seconds. (Physical only).

Toxic Blade: Enemies hit with Basic Attacks gain 20% reduced healing, stacking up to 2 times and lasting for 8 seconds.

Horrific EmblemThis relic reduces Movement Speed of all enemy Gods within 35 units by 30% for 5 seconds. Upgraded reduces damage output by 15%.

Hel's early game may not be the best, but once she reaches mid to late game, her potential skyrockets. She is able to easily and quite often turn a teamfight. Whether it be from her CC immunity, heals, movement speed to allies, or slows and debuffs to enemies, she is sure to make their game a little harder. Hel is considered a burst healer, but don't let that stop you from trying her out even if there is anti-heal. She isn't to be taken lightly, she is the Goddess of the Underworld after all.

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