Key Takeaways for Smite Cooldown Reduction Builds
- Cooldown Reduction builds are designed for Gods who have spamable abilities and or get most of their damage through their abilities
- Both Physical Power and Magical Power items can reduce your cooldowns
- There is a hard cap of 40% for your Cooldown Reduction unless you get the Sphinx’s Baubles, which increases it to 50%
Table of Contents
When talking about Smite Cooldown Reduction Builds it’s important to get something out of the way. There isn’t a single God in Smite who doesn’t benefit from having their Cooldowns reduced. However, certain Gods get most of their damage from their abilities, rather than their basic attacks. It’s usually these Gods that benefit the most from CDR builds.
That being said, while Cooldown Reduction as an item stat remains the same, which God you play as will determine which items will be available to you. If you play as a Mage, for example, you won’t have access to Physical Power items.
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The Most Important Cooldown Reduction Items
As a disclaimer, this guide will be comprised of Physical Power CDR items, as we practically covered Magical Power CDR items in our guide on Mana builds.
Soul Eater
Yummy, yummy souls! Soul Eater is probably one of the best all-around items in Smite. Not only does it increase your Cooldown Reduction but it also increases a bunch of other useful stats as well.
Soul Eater gives you +30 PP, +6% Physical Lifesteal, +10 Physical Penetration, and +10% Cooldown Reduction. Its passive also heals you for 2,5% of the damage you deal. By acquiring 100 stacks, this item evolves into a much more powerful version.
It’s a smart idea to get this item as soon as possible, usually right after your starter item. It takes a while to get all the stacks you need for it, but once it evolves – you’re practically set for the rest of the game.
Jotunn’s Wrath
Just by itself, Jotunn’s Wrath is a pretty good item. But, the fact that it can be further enhanced with a glyph makes it an even better item. It’s also a good item to round up your Physical Power builds, regardless if you’re going for CDR or not.
Jotunn’s Wrath gives you +40 PP, +150 Mana, +10 Physical Penetration, and +20% Cooldown Reduction. It can further be upgraded into Jotunn’s Vigor, which increases your Movement Speed and Physical Lifesteal if you fall below 40$ health, or Jotunn’s Cunning, which gives you stacks of Wit. At 2 stacks, the next non-ultimate ability you cast has 25% of its cooldown reduced instantly.
Although Jotunn’s Wrath sounds cooler, in most situations it’s actually more useful to upgrade to Jotunn’s Cunning, as you get more benefits that way.
Fail-Not
Fail-Not is a great item, certainly a must-have if you’re running a Crit build as a Hunter. Sadly, the only downside this item has is that it’s only available to Hunters. That’s a real bummer considering how good its stats are.
Fail-Not gives you +40 PP, +20% Crit Chance, +20% Cooldown Reduction, and +8% Physical Penetration. Additionally, when your ultimate finishes casting, the next ability or basic attack that hits an enemy God marks them, which increases the chance of you and your allies landing a crit on him by 20%, as well as reducing their damage output by 10%.
This is a monster of an item that oftentimes gets overlooked. A shame really, considering how many stat increases it actually gives you.
Relic Dagger
As far as Smite Cooldown Reduction Builds are concerned, the Relic Dagger is probably the most situational item on this list. It’s not a bad item per se, as it even lowers the cooldown on your Relics. It’s just that there are better options if you’re going for a damage-dealing build.
Relic Dagger gives you +350 Health, +10% Cooldown Reduction, +10% CCR, and +7% Movement Speed. Its passive also reduces the cooldown time of your relics by 40s.
One thing that’s a big plus for the Relic Dagger is its price. Compared to the stats it gives you, the Relic Dagger is quite appropriately priced, some might argue that it’s even a steal!
The Perfect Cooldown Reduction Build
As far as Smite Cooldown Reduction Builds are concerned, this one is the most optimal:
- Ornate Arrow
- Soul Eater
- The Crusher
- Rage
- Fail-Not
- Jotunn’s Wrath
Start off by grabbing a Gilded Arrow and upgrade it into an Ornate Arrow as soon as possible. Follow that up with a Soul Eater and start building those stacks. Follow that up with The Crusher, a Rage, Fail-Not, and finally, Jotunn’s Wrath.
