Vulcan

# Building

##General

For builds, check [this page](http://www.grappul.com). While building in Smite is very situational, grappul offers a nice basic build that off of which
you can base your own, optimized build. If you want me to go into details on a certain item / on all of them simply say so and I will.

##Useful items

**Book of Toth**
While Vulcan is a pretty average mage when it comes to building (he thrives on CDR, Magical Power and Penetration), however, ss he's usually played in Mid or Solo and has expectional waveclear, BoT works well on him.

#Skills

##Skilling
Keep in mind that everyone has their own preferences and that the "best" way to skill is the one that best suits your playstyle. There are, however, some basic guidelines that are worth following, which are what I'll try to list below.

###Priority
4-1-3-2 / 4-3&1-2^a

*a - Most people strictly focus their 1 for maximal laneclear. Personally, however, I've found that having about 2 - 3 points in your 1, combined with your turret, is often enough to clear your wave effectively so I sometimes start focusing my 3 over my 1 at that point. I only recommend this when you're outpushing your enemy and want to get more poke off, though. Keep in mind that this is not the normal way to skill him but rather personal preference.*

###First five levels
2-1-3-1-4

###General

Don't skill until the very second that you're going to use it. Keep your skillpoint ready incase the enemy tries to invade / your team needs you. Be ready to put a point in your escape ability if you need to get out quick: it's better to
lose out on a little bit of earlygame power instead of giving away first blood.

##Heavy Shot
Pretty much useless to be honest. Doesn't have a great effect on the game as Vulcan rarely uses basic attacks.

##Backfire
Pretty good laneclear. Does good damage and pushes you back a bit, which can help get you of dangerous situations quickly. It also applies a mark to the first person hit which will then be prioritized by your turret and take 10% more damage from it.

##Inferno Cannon
A wonderful ability. Vulcan places a cannon that attacks everything in a relatively large cone-shaped area in front of it. Has synergy with Vulcans' 1. It takes additional damage from sources that aren't enemy Gods (e.g. minions, jungle camps, etc.).

##Magma Bomb
One of the most annoy- best poke abilities in the game. Vulcan quickly throws a Magma Bomb at the target location, damaging and knocking everything & everyone up. Good CD, good damage, good knock up. It's executed relatively quickly, although the target location does show up for the enemies while being executed.

##Earthshaker
Great for zoning and doing damage. Does more damage the further away from Vulcan it hits but has an indiactor so enemies know where it's going to land.

#Tips

##General
Vulcan can be very agressive - he has good damage and his turret allows him to rotate quite alot while still maintaining lane presence. You have a lot of poke potential which you need to use. You can deal insane ammounts of damage with your full combo (more details below) and often kill enemies oeven if they have 3/4 of their health left. This does leave you unabel to fend for yourself though, so be careful.

###Use your 1 to escape damage
While your 1 doesn't knock you back too far it's still very viable. You can also use this when you're running away from someone: turn around quickly, lob your 3 at them, place your turret in their way and backfire.

###Use your 1 to tower dive
Your one has a pretty good range and as it knocks you back a little, it's pretty good to use for towerdiving. If your enemy is under his tower, lob your meatball at them (your 3) and while he's knocked up quickly follow up with your 1. Even if that puts you under the tower you'll get off some good damage and be out of there again in no time.

###Don't put your 2 in the middle of the lane!
Try to put your cannon down at the side of the lane (facing towards the lane, obviously) because this way the enemy can't clear the wave and destroy your cannon with a single skill (which he could if you placed it in the very middle) but has to actively attack the turret itself.

###Your 2 has multiple uses
Your turret isn't only there to help you clear your wave or to do damage to your enemies but has many other uses besides those:

####a) zoning enemies
People are generally reluctant to get too close to a vulcan cannon unless they have to, as they don't want to take unnecessary damage

####b) stealing camps
If your enemy is dumb enough not to destroy a cannon that you deployed near a camp, it could possibly steal the camp. This wont really happen if you're up against good players though.

####c) giving you vision
Your cannon might not be as good as a ward, but it does give you a little bit of vision if it attacks someone

####d) helping your teammates
If your teammates are rotating to clear a camp, you can place your turret to aid them with killing the camp. Especially if it is your support that's rotating (who generally doesn't have very good clear on his own) this is really helpful.

####e) leeching exp
This is very useful if you're playing mid and the midcamps are coming up: Place your cannon at the camp that you don't plan to clear yourself. Not only does it do have all of the effects from a)-d), but it also allows you to gaine exp from clearing the camp.^1

####f) tanking
In some cases it's usefull to have your turrent tank the damage for you. This includes, but is not restricted to: towers, phoenixes, objectives (GF / FG), jungle camps (especially early game).

*1 Haven't tested this in season 2 but I don't see why it wouldn't still work*

###1-2-3 combo
This is your bread and butter and the reason why a lot of people hate facing vulcan. You can deal an insane ammount of damage, but since you put 3/4 of your skills on CD you're very vulnerable to counter attacks.

####a)
People often forget to use the secondary effect of their 1 in regards to their 2. Not only does your turret prioritize marked targets over others (your turret will stopp clearing the wave and help you slay your opponent) but it will also do additional damage to it. Use this to your advantage, e.g. when clearing waves (if your enemy stands close / in his wave, backfire through it, doing damage to the lane and leaving him marked for your turret to do damage to him) or even just in a straight up 1 vs 1 fight.

####b)
Your full combo is based on the idea mentioned in **a)**. Utilizing the knock up on your 3, you can more easily set up the afforementioned combo aswel as having your turret get off a free hit before the enemy can reacht. You hit them with your 3, place down your cannon and backfire.

###Use your ult on objectives and teamfights
People tend to evade your ult quite easily if you use it at max range, as they can see the targeter on the floor and can easily escape it, so it can be somewhat hard to use it effectively at max range. There are, however, some situations in which this is not the case: namely objectives and large teamfights. If your team wants to take Fire Giant or Gold Fury, you can launch your ult either as you're walking towards it or when it's already low (to zone your enemies and stopp them from trying to steal it, or to punish them if they do). If your team has good communication you can also use it where you expect a huge teamfight to be and coordinate your attack accordingly (e.g. you launch your ult from the jungle onto midlane and your Ymir blinks in and freezes them, stopping them from getting out in time).

###Don't be afraid of using your 4 on close range
While your 4 gains in damage the further it travels, it can also be used in close quarter fights. If you're in a tight spot and you're not sure if you can win the fight without it, don't be afraid of "wasting" your ult, even if it's a 1 vs 1 fight. I keep mentioning this in every God guide but it's true: people often don't use their ults enough because they're scared of wasting it. I'm not saying you should spamm it, but there's no shame in using launching it directly below for some additional damage.


Edit: For some reason, the formatting doesn't work correctly on this sub (it does on others). Sorry about that.