First, let’s address the elephant in the room: you’re going to have to adjust your way of thinking to the Support role if you want to feel good about playing Ganesha in SMITE Season 4.
His passive, Good Fortune, makes it nearly impossible to actually claim a kill as your own. So if you’re a “support by carrying” Ares type who can’t stand having a 0 in the K of your KDA, pick a different god. But if the only number you care about is what’s in your W column, however, Ganesha is one of the strongest supports in the game.
Why Ganesha Is So Good in Season 4
Currently, the three most powerful components of SMITE gameplay are Mobility, Crowd Control, and Cooldown Reduction. Who goes where, who can lock down who, and how often they can do it are more game-defining metrics than anything else — including that all-important damage. Ganesha may not have substantial damage from anything other than his 4-into-3 combo, but he’s such an all-star at those three main metrics that it hardly matters.
Ohm is without a doubt one of the most flexible and powerful crowd control abilities to date. Silence is a potent variety of CC, and having repeated, reliable access to it on such a durable god is a massive boon for any team.
In one spell, Ganesha grants bonus protections to nearby teammates, stops enemy channels, prevents enemies from using gap closers to pounce on high-priority teammates, and secures enemies that can no longer leap or dash away to safety. And since he can do this every 10 seconds (6 with CDR), suddenly the enemy team just doesn’t work a good portion of every engagement.
When you add in his ability to lock down a single-target hit with Remove Obstacles and the occasional 2-10% damage boost to allies, Ganesha does everything a Support player wants to be doing — and he does it well.
How to Play Ganesha in Season 4
Your two main modes of play are fairly straightforward. You’ve got lockdown and peel, both of which (mostly) revolve around two abilities in reversed order.
Locking Down a Target
If your carry (or whole team) is hunting a target and you want to make sure that enemy gets sent back to the Fountain, get as close as you can and hit it with Remove Obstacles. Don’t worry if a Ymir wall, Thor wall, or Odin ring is in the way — they’re no trouble for the Lord of Obstacles.
Once the enemy is tagged with Remove Obstacles — and takes several hits while standing still — begin channeling Ohm and follow them to prevent them from using any mobility tools or relics they have at their disposal. This can be a little awkward to do, given Ohm’s relatively small cone of effect and the fact that the silence will only affect enemies almost directly in front of where you’re aiming. To make sure you’re hitting it correctly, check for the telltale “…” icon that indicates an active silence on your enemy.
You can also use Ganesha’s nasty damage combo to take out a large chunk of an enemy’s health and give your teammates easy pickings. Raise Dharmic Pillars beforehand, then tag the enemy with Remove Obstacles while they’re on one of your blue laser walls of death. This will allow you to rack up a significant amount of damage while keeping the enemy pinned, and should spell a spoon-fed kill for your carry.
Peeling a Target
If you’re attempting to peel for a fleeing ally, you want to invert the strategy you use for locking enemies down. Channel Ohm first so your teammate can create some space with a mobility skill, while the enemy lags behind and tries to chase the old fashioned way.
Once you’ve successfully created that gap, Ganesha will likely be a little behind enemy lines. So you can either use Remove Obstacles to lock down the chasing enemy for arriving reinforcements, or use its quick charge to get yourself out of harm’s way.
To peel for yourself in a pinch, you’ll have to learn to backpedal while Ohm-ing before doing a quick about-face and immediately slamming Remove Obstacles to get away.
How to Build Ganesha in Season 4
In terms of itemization, there’s not much deviation from the stand-by builds that most supports default to. We recommend the Standard Guardian support build for new Ganesha players:
- Shoes of Focus
- Sovereignty
- Heartward Amulet
- Stone of Binding
- Breastplate of Valor
- Genji’s Guard
You can tweak this build as necessary to accommodate for any particularly troublesome enemies or give your team a little extra boost where they need it. Feel free to swap out Stone of Binding for Gauntlet of Thebes if the enemy has lots of flat armor penetration. Or trade Mantle of Discord for Genji’s Guard if you’re taking a little too much heat while channeling Ohm.
When to Pick Ganesha For Your Team
Best Ally Gods
When you’re building a team that plays to Ganesha’s strengths, look for allied Mages and Hunters that require a little bit of lining up for their heavy-hitting skills or Ultimates — like Ra, Scylla, or Hou Yi. Dharmic Pillars also makes a fantastic target for large AoE ultimates, like those from Vulcan, Thor, or Poseidon.
Best Matchups/Counter-Picks
If you’re facing enemies that attempt to shape the battlefield with terrain — like Terra, Ymir, Thor, or Odin — Ganesha can go a long way in making sure their earth-bending abilities don’t slow your team down.
Similarly, if there are enemies who get a lot of their damage from channeled abilities — like Nox, Ares, or Guan Yu — picking the God of Success can make for an easy victory. (And let’s be honest, it’s about time we got a decent counter-pick to Nox).
Worst Matchups
Try to avoid picking Ganesha when you’re facing enemy gods that tend to frontload or use hard-to-disrupt combos for damage — like Sylvanus. Also avoid pitting him against enemies that can maintain considerable damage through silence — especially heavy auto-attackers like Kali or “deployable” mages like Vulcan.
Remember: Ohm is Ganesha’s strongest tool. So if that silence isn’t going to serve you well in the matchup, chances are Ganesha isn’t the support you want to pick. (But luckily for you, there are lots of other awesome supports in SMITE Season 4 that you can choose instead.)
Victory!
With Ganesha on your side, nothing can resist you (or your mighty Ohm). So assume the Lotus position. Breathe deeply. Find your center. Then go forth and conquer! But be sure to come back and tell us all about the obstacles that fell before you with Ganesha, the God of Success.
