Overview

Susano is, at present, one of the strongest Gods in SMITE. His mobility, utility and kit flexibility makes him a serious threat. Although he has some mobility thanks to his Passive (it provides movement speed when his skills are on cooldown) he does have an invaluable teleport. Although it isn't as quick as some other skills that offer a teleport, it does provide a useful engage/disengage. The combination of pulls and teleports can be invaluable for team fights and in many respects allows him to choose when to engage - and how - depending on the circumstance. Finally, his kit has a surprising amount of AOE damage with three of his skills capable of attacking multiple enemies, making him particularly strong in team fights involving multiple Gods. 

Updated: 25 July 2016

Lore

Like his sister, Amaterasu, Susano was born to rule, but he was tempestuous, with a flaring anger, wicked tongue, and a penchant for destruction. Their father, Izanagi, would have none of it and decreed that Susano live in the Underworld. His mood dark at this news, Susano committed heinous acts of vandalism and murder. Acts that sent Amaterasu into shameful hiding.

Cast low, Susano descended to earth on his way to the Underworld. He carried only his Ten-Span Sword, and regret for his actions. What had his defilements achieved but to envelop the world in darkness? This was his nature, to broil like a storm, to frighten and destroy what stood in his path.

But a storm could also herald life.

At a river side, Susano ventured upon an elderly couple, weeping and cradling their young daughter. Eight children, they'd had once, but now only one remained; seven devoured by the eight-headed serpent. Susano was resolved. To atone for his crimes, to prove his father wrong, to better himself, Susano would slay this beast.

Eight traps he laid, one for each head of the creature, with eight tubs of aromatic saké as bait. Slithering forward, the Orochi spread its gruesome heads to drink from the trapped tubs. Susano cut the rope. Gates dropped. The heads were imprisoned. One by one, he chopped the eight necks, until only the wriggling tail remained. Sweeping his blade split the reptilian hide, leaving notches in his blade but revealing a brilliant sword inside: the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi.

To his sister, he gave the blade. An act of atonement, but not an apology. His true nature would never change, but his intention could.

Though seen on the battlefield of the Gods, Susano's fight is not truly against those foes, but within himself. He is a raging summer storm, struggling to focus that destructive power at evil, and atoning when the innocent are harmed.

Abilities

Swift at the Summer Storm (Passive) - Susano's Passive increases his movement speed by 4% for each skill on cooldown. Were you to burst an opponent you could gain the maximum of 16% which, when stacked with boots (18%) is a considerable speed boost. The issue is that it doesn't last long and is, in practice, primarily used for retreating or chasing down someone trying to escape. Unsurprisingly the speed boost also allows you avoid attacks much easier, giving you a greater edge against ADC's. 

Storm Kata (1st Ability) - A triple attack, Storm Kata allows Susano to hit multiple enemies in succession. Controlled by the player, it's up to you - within a 3 second window - when you use the subsequent swing. The damage across both swings is the same (195 at maximum level) but both have different telegraphs. The first attacks in a cone, the second in a circle around Susano. The final swing provides Susano with a dash forward that he can use to follow up with, or retreat when needed. It's key that when using Storm Kata you remember that your third swing is a dash so that you don't rapidly unload all attacks and waste it. Finally, you can rick click after using each attack to then use your basic attacks, left clicking again allows you to use the next chain of the sequence. 

Tip - Only the first two attacks of Storm Kata deal damage. The third is for mobility or disengaging when you need to.

Jet Stream (2nd Ability) - As a conal attack with (roughly) a 90 degree arc, enemies caught in the center of Jet Stream are pulled towards him. Those on the outer edges take damage. There's no limit on the number of players that can be pulled but you have to be conscious of when you do and don't want to pull an enemy God. If you just want to damage someone from afar, use the edges of the telegraph to do so. If you want to pull - line them up but be sure to also have your other skills available or at the very least, have your 

Tip - Try to always pull a high value target towards you so that they're out of position. Be sure to have Storm Kata available so you can deal high damage when they're next to you.

Underhanded Tactics (3rd Ability) - Jet Stream is a long ranged DOT that will apply itself to the first target hit in its path. Its range at 55 units is surprisingly long and its damage reasonable (80 per tick). While it's never going to kill a full health God, it's value is the fact you can then trigger the skill again, within 3 seconds, to teleport to them. What's particularly strong about Jet Stream is that if you do teleport to an enemy God, its cooldown is reduced by 8 seconds, allowing you to cast it again in 5 more. Finally, should you not make contact with a God the whirlwind will remain in place for a few seconds but will still allow you to teleport to it.

Tip - You can fire and teleport to your Jet Stream in a heartbeat - use this to save yourself when you need it to quickly escape enemy players. It's as much a defensive skill as it is offensive. 

Typhoon (Ultimate) - Undoubtedly one of my favorite Ultimate abilities in the game, Typhoon is incredibly strong. When cast it will slowly begin to pull enemies towards its center. During this period enemies 

Skill Order

Item Purchase Order

Tactics

Early Game

Susano doesn't have great clear, making some of his early Jungle farm challenging. His kit is good enough for the job, he just doesn't excel at it. Despite that, early game is all about getting to level 5 for your Ultimate ability as quickly as possible. Once Susano has Typhoon he's in a much better position to gank lanes and play much more offensively. 

Mid Game

I'd probably argue this is Susano's strongest game period simply because most enemy Heroes aren't at their full potential while the amount of control and damage he has on his skills is unrivalled. Whether he's teleporting in, pulling enemies to his team or causing havok with his Typhoon, he's a real threat. If you can secure several kills during this period, it'll allow you to gain huge momentum. 

Late Game

His late game isn't amazing and while he doesn't fall of a cliff, his power is noticably lower than others around him (certainly some of his Assassin peers). Although you can quite easily maintain a maximum damage loadout, it's sometimes worth buying some defensive items here and instead use your utility to control team fights rather than attempting to secure all the kills yourself. 

Matchups

These God Threat Levels (1 being lowest threat and 10 being highest threat) are to help you determine which enemy Gods can give you a headache. For the Gods listed here, take extra care as they're particularly dangerous for Susano. 

Tips

This list of tips and tricks are just a handful of things we think will help your Susano play. We'll continue to add to the list as required and if you have any tips you'd like to share, let us know in the comments below and we'll place them here. 

1. Utilise your strength early and mid game to secure kills as quickly as possible. Susano falls off late game, so use this time get ahead of the pack. 

2. Susano is all about utility - a DOT, a pull, a teleport, a knock-up - it's all invaluable crowd control. 

3. Regardless of your utility you're first and foremost an assassin so always try to prioritize squishy targets.

4. I would argue Wind Siphon is your most valuable skill simply because the pull, as a skill that's used first, allows you to then follow up with Jet Stream should your target try to escape.

5. Remember that Typhoon deals no damage until you cause it to knock-up the enemy. You can trigger the knock-up instantly if you quickly double tap the skill.

6. Use Jet Stream to poke at the enemy. Its DOT damage is reasonable and can be cast from afar without putting yourself in any danger.

7. You can use basic attacks in between your barrage of skills when using Storm Kata. Use this to increase your damage output during the rotation. Should you need to, you can also rapidly fire off all three attacks leaving no room for basics.

8. Jet Stream is your primary method of escape and to teleport to the Whirlwind, you don't need to have hit a target. Sound out the whirlwind and then teleport to it quickly.

9. Be extra careful around Gods that can slow or root you. Without items you've no ability to mitigate the crowd control.