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SMITE God Review – Olorun, Ruler of the Heavens

SMITE Olorun

Olorun, Ruler of the Heavens is certainly first in his class in a very small pool of gods – Mage hunters. Sure, I feel Freya’s burst is better, and Sol’s ability to escape situations is much better than his, but Olorun can Crit! That automatically makes him the better pick, right? Those bigger numbers? I will say that any footage you see of me playing Olorun is probably going to be awful. I’m picking through the matches I recorded as I am writing this, and you will not see stellar plays. I understand how he works, but I am simply not good at him. I do like the concept of Olorun immensely, as a crittable Mage. His kit feels pretty stuffed with things he can do. I mostly like it, but I suppose the only part I really take umbrage with is his 3. The knock-back doesn’t really help you get out of bad positioning, it offers a heal-over-time, and it gives Olorun himself Magical/Physical defense. I don’t hate it, but I am not sold.

Olorun is the greatest of the Orishas and the Ruler of the Heavens. He has also taken Zeus’ position in Olympus, according to the SMITE Lore. Despite being an overwhelmingly powerful god, he sought neither fame nor fortune, and he is sick of watching mortals suffer from infirmity and sadness. It is with that in mind he breaks his former solitude, took the throne of Olympus for his own, and decided that a King was needed – he would be that King. Olorun, King of the Heavens wields the power of the sun and will use it to unite all under his banner. He has a difficulty of “Average”, and I can certainly see that. He brings incredible damage but is not without flaws. Unlike one of the other recent mages (Merlin), he can not simply get away without any real effort being expended.

As the first of his kind (a crittable Mage), he’s got a lot of potential. The longer the game goes on, the more infuriating his damage is – I’ve been slapped from 100-0 in almost no time from his auto-attacks. His builds aren’t exactly rocket science, either. Once he hits 150 Magical Power, he starts gaining free Crit % (15%) and an additional 1% per 10 Magical Power. So it’s not exactly difficult to put together a build. Spoiler – you’re going to wear rings. I don’t think he’s difficult to play, but I do have a feeling his damage is going to get scaled down fairly hard come patch time. He’s regarded in basically every community I’m a part of as being “ridiculously OP”. I think he can be shut down and slowed to a crawl, but when Olorun gets on his feet, his damage can spell disaster.

Abilities:

Passive: Touch of Fate (Buff): Upon reaching 150 Magical Power, Olorun gains 15% Critical Hit and a further 1% per 10 Magical Power from items. However, his Critical Hits only deal 50% increased damage. Olorun also gains 5% extra scaling on his basic attacks.

1st Ability: Focused Light (Damage, Line): Olorun charges up a sphere of sunlight and energy, and fires it up to 2 seconds after hitting the ability. The longer it is charged, the farther it goes, and it will also pass through minions, before stopping on enemy Gods. It can critically hit and provides stacks of Overflowing Divinity. Damage: 100/140/180/220/260 + 55% of Magical Power Cooldown: 12 Seconds

2nd Ability: Overflowing Divinity (Buff, Damage, AOE): Upon activation, Olorun gains increased Attack Speed. Every successful attack on an enemy will provide his Inner Sun with energy (which is visible above his head), with a cap of 20 stacks. During this buff, or for 4 seconds after, Olorun can fire this ability to conjure that Sun to deal damage to enemies in an area. The Sun releases these projectiles faster and more randomly with higher ammo. Hitting the same Enemy will also deal 10% less damage each time (up to 80% damage reduction). Damage: 30/40/50/60/70 +10% of your Magical Power Attack Speed Increase: 40% Cooldown: 14 seconds

3rd Ability: Consecration (CC, Damage, Heal): Olorun expels light from within himself, and knocks back nearby enemies. It also deals damage to them and slows them for 2 seconds. Allies will also be bathed in this light, gaining a heal over time that ticks every second for 5 seconds. For each ally healed, Olorun will gain Physical and Magical Protections. Damage: 60/80/100/120/140 + 20% of your Magical Power Heal Per Tick: 10/15/20/25/30+5% of your Magical Power Protections: 8/10/12/14/16 per ally god healed Slow: 20% Cooldown: 14 seconds

4th Ability: Sanctified Field (Ultimate, CC, Buff): Olorun brings forth Olodumare and Olofi, who travel outside of him. They create a huge area of divine energy that distorts the flow of time. All enemies caught in it are affected negatively, slowing their attacks, casting times, and even their animations by slowing them down. Olorun gains benefits from this field as well. Buffs, debuffs, projectiles, and deployables are also affected by this time distortion. Enemy Debuff: 40% slower, Self Buff: 30% Faster, Duration: 5 seconds, Cooldown: 140/130/120/110/100 seconds

Pros:

  • Unlimited Power: Seriously, Olorun just dumpsters damage onto the field. His late game takes him from being mild-mannered ADC/Mage to being an elemental force of nature. Since he’s an attack speed mage that can crit, you have options to build him as an ADC-style, or burst Mage style, whichever strikes your fancy. His late game is absolutely ferocious, and even if there are times when his kit might feel mediocre at best to you, he has damage for days. That’s all a mage/hunter needs – numbers. He’s got ‘em in spades. He can stop people from escaping with his ultimate and just chase them down and melt them.
  • Wave Clear for Days: No matter what mode you’re playing, it’s important to have wave clear. As a hunter/mage, it’s your job to push your minions up, and obliterate the other team’s squad. With his 1 and 2, he can absolutely crush waves with the greatest of ease. Plus he can crit with his autos, and as a mage, that can be really stellar. The more his minion wave is pushed up, the safer he can box the other player, or simply poke from a nice long distance. Especially with his 1, that goes through and damages enemies, and can hit the other god from a much greater distance than most of them can hit him. Thoth maybe? This gives him an advantage even in unfavorable positions.

Cons:

  • His Early Game: Honestly, Olorun felt absolutely terrible at the start of the game, especially in non-Arena modes, where you don’t start at level 3. Only having one of his abilities to start, with fairly expensive spells and low damage all around? It’s a rough start. Sure, lots of gods have it rough in the beginning, but Olorun’s also a hunter/mage hybrid with zero escapes. His ult is the closest thing to an escape, and would you spend a 100-second cooldown because you did something silly? Now you can’t use it in a teamfight/gank/something useful.
  • Survivability is Key: Olorun’s survivability is absolutely awful. It is, it really is. His knockback is not an escape, and you “can” potentially escape using his ultimate, but all they have to do is pop beads and run you down. In this present meta, hunters stay in the duo lane on their own, farming. Virtually every Hunter worth their salt has a lockdown or a chase ability. Freya, Artemis, Rama, you name it, they can chase. With an ultra squishy god that has no escape and a weak early game? He is not going to want to travel alone. Sure, he can melt people late game, but that doesn’t do him any good if a jungler and hunter just kick his teeth down his throat for the first 10-15 minutes of a game.

 

Gameplay:

Olorun’s kit seems pretty full of options and abilities, and you’d be right! As I just said, I don’t think he does very well on his own in a world of other gods with movement abilities. In the duo lane, he’s going to be fodder for anyone else who can juke his shots, and CC him down. However, in the mid-lane, he’ll shine bright like a diamond. His wave clear is phenomenal, and not quite as many mages can hold him down. There are a few though that I’d be worried about, like Poseidon and his infuriating puddle-o-cripple. If he can be held down, he can be killed, and that’s just how it is. Since Olorun is easy to camp, he’s going to likely get camped every single time he’s in a game, because 1. people are going to hate that you picked an “op god” and 2. that jungler is going to get fed nice and easy. He does have an incredible poke, but once he’s burnt his kit, there’s nothing left. Especially since his cooldowns feel like they’re very much on the high side.

Now, Olorun can’t peel for himself or getaway in a bad situation, but where does he shine? Teamfights! One of the most important parts of Smite is team fighting, especially around Objectives. So what does Olorun bring to these? First off, he has a literal boatload of damage. He actually drives massive ships filled with numbers into squishy targets and sets them on fire with the power of the sun. He can snipe objectives with a fair amount of strength between his Auto Attacks, 1, and 2, or knock people away from them, at least a little bit, with his 3. But what really makes him worth picking is how huge the area his ultimate occupies is. The ability to slow down time for 5 seconds within the full range of any objective in the game is not to be sneezed at. This includes taking Titan. Olorun gains a buff while in the time slow, and everyone else has to suffer. If he has the Attack Speed (and if you’re building him right, he will), he can absolutely decimate a weak objective, or even if they aren’t. Even animations are slowed down in this time zone, as are buffs, debuffs, et cetera. This makes his power to change the course of a game will be wild and strong. Even if Olorun himself is behind, you can place that huge field in the right spot and let your team take Fire Giant or Harpy. It’s got a long cooldown, so it has to count. Placing it incorrectly, or placing it and watching the enemy team just run out of it, is not only deflating but costly. Players can Beads and simply run away from it, so you have to be aware of who has what, and can make themselves immune to the effect of his ultimate. But just because he’s squishy, doesn’t mean he’s lacking in options and ways to come back.

Olorun’s powerful, but his start is weak. Even if he’s behind, his kit could see him still influence the course of a game, with some serious Galaxy Brain plays. Even if I’m terrible at landing lots of Autos on Olorun, what I like about him is once a teamfight really kicks into high gear, people are leaping and popping ults, and all of a sudden, ZA WARUDO! If you hold your cooldowns until you’re in his ultimate, you can take someone from 100-0 in short order. Once they’re deep within the walls of your ultimate, activate 2, and start popping shots at someone with Auto-Attacks like a railgun. Launch the AOE for it behind them and use the 3 to bop them backward into all of the blasts. As far as abilities, I’d take his 2 first, because his 1 is not a threat at level 1. I’d consider two points into his 2 first, just to enhance how strong his blast is, and because you can turn it on and smash waves with Auto Attacks. His 3 has a lot of potentials, but it requires you to be frighteningly close to people, or really know what’s going on, but the heal/protections don’t feel that potent in the early game at all. This lack of escape function makes him more skill based in my eyes (even with his terrifying AA damage).

Itemization:

There are three items that I feel like are absolute must-buys for Olorun. Once he has a few key pieces of gear, he is online and ready to get down to business. Olorun needs Bancroft’s Talon, Shoes of Focus, and Demonic Grip. Bancroft’s Talon is key for lifesteal, getting your magical power started, and of course, more mana! This puts him right on track to start building his passive. Demonic Grip offers the magical pen he needs, some movement speed, attack speed, and magic power. I can’t see a point in time when I don’t want this item on my build. Shoes of Focus are again, standard ADC Olorun fare. I don’t typically have room in my build for CDR, so these would just have to do. Even with the recent weakening of Gem of Isolation, it would do also very well on Olorun. Mages who do tons of damage now also having a slow? Yes, please. As far as I’ve seen, it does influence the AOE damage on his 2, so having it the mid-late game would be fun.

Personally, I like building tons of damage, or any Rings that also influence Magical Power. Going rings is neat, but it’s not my favorite build. I do prefer to sneak Shaman’s Ring in if possible though. Typhon’s Fang+Bancroft’s Talon is amazing if your enemies aren’t building Anit-Heal, so I’d build Bancroft’s, then something else, and watch their builds. Obsidian Shard, Divine Ruin, and Rod of Tahuti are all incredible, since they are huge power spikes for your Magical Power, plus they offer useful effects. Divine Ruin is for those anti-heal situations, and Obsidian Shard to deal with heavy tank compositions. Both of those items are great in the 4th/5th item slot, to try and turn things back into your favor. I’m torn on Hunter’s Blessing vs. Mage’s Blessing, but after a few matches, Hunter’s Blessing might be the better choice. Once you’ve sold your boots and bought Elixir of Speed, consider something silly and fun like Spear of Desolation.

Key Items: Bancroft’s Talon, Shoes of Focus/Boots of the Magi, Demonic Grip

Useful Situational Items: Typhon’s Fang, Shaman’s Ring, Toxic Blade, Divine Ruin, Obsidian Shard

Final Thoughts:

Despite being absolutely terrible with Olorun, I do like him. When I write these, I ask myself how likely they will be picked/banned in high-tier gameplay. I honestly think pro teams can utilize Olorun the way he should be played – with plenty of peel. If you don’t have peel for him, he’s going to be miserable, then he’s going to be toxic, and everyone’s going to be sad. I can see him being fairly high on the pick-ban tree, thanks less to his damage, and more to his powerful he is in the objectives scene. He can force a team off of an objective simply by being there, and through his ult, he can potentially secure things all on his own. I feel like Olorun follows a trend of gods this year that are fun to play, that has a lot of potential in team fights, but also do an incredible amount. However, his heal is game-breaking in the least, nor the protection buffs. Olorun’s damage might be a little on the high side, but he’s not exactly difficult to kill, either. If he’s got support with him in the duo lane he’ll thrive there, but the way the current meta seems to lean (solo duo lane), he ought to spend his early game being safe, hanging back and poking, as far away from a Jungler as possible. The Oloruns that succeed will have ward coverage though. He’s a lot of fun, but he has a very high-risk, high-reward playstyle. Olorun does a lot, can crank out damage the longer the game goes on, but if you single him out, he can dissolve into a puddle of muck. That being said, I enjoyed playing but have a feeling he’s going to see some damage nerfs before too long.

Final Tier: B

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