The SMITE 2 Closed Alpha 2 update has introduced Nu Wa to the game, the Guardian of Heaven from the first game who specialises in magical damage and scales with intelligence. Once you've had some time to get to grips with her in SMITE 2, including any changes to her kit, we want you to teach us how to play her!
Create a guide on how to play Nu Wa in SMITE 2 (not the original SMITE), covering whatever relevant aspects you wish from playstyle to abilities, items, strategy, strengths and weaknesses, how to win your likely matchups and so on - obviously, the more comprehensive and useful your guide, the better your chance of an award!
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Time for a guide to one of the most complete heroes in the game (in my opinion), Nu Wa has a bit of everything, invisibility, group control, a global ultimate, roots. However, you need to have a good sense of movement and positioning, as I'll cover in the guide
Skills:
Passive - Strength of Wood: You will root opponents hit by your auto-attack, it has a 15s recharge time but reduces as you attack
Skill 1 - Mysterious Fog: Throws a fog forward, providing invisibility for you and allies, as well as dealing damage to enemies. This is an excellent skill for those with a sense of the game to start fights or even provide a disengage.
Skill 2 - Clay Soldiers: Summons clay warriors to attack nearby enemies, reducing their protection (this skill focuses on gods).
Skill 3 - Shining Metal: Launches a projectile that deals damage, if it is fought with the clay soldiers, it explodes dealing damage and stunning enemies and towers in the surrounding area. This combo will also grant you Strength of Metal, amplifying your auto-attack.
Ultimate - Fire Shards: You jump and have visibility of everyone, sending meteors to a selected location, this damage is in percentage of life.
Builds:
I end up following what I see in tacter, as I don't think I'm good enough to develop my own:
Early game: Focus on farming, your hero is good at pushing minions, remember to abuse Clay Soldiers + Shining Metal
Mid-game: Your hero is very good at leading the team, especially with fod, use and abuse it with your team, especially if you can ambush them
Endgame: Positioning is the key to everything, you're very vulnerable, so remember your Mysterious Fog or even your ult if you want to buy time (it's an excellent finisher for fleeing enemies).
Nu Wa is a great Mid Laner in Smite 2. She brings Crowd Control, Stealth, Minion play, roots, and a Global Ultimate. Nu Wa has had some reworks in Smite 2, Primarily Her Passive, Strength of Wood, is now based off of a cooldown and after a specific amount of autos. I really love playing with her.
Passive – Strength of Wood
Every 15 seconds your next Basic Attack will Root all targets hit. Damaging an enemy with a Basic Attack reduces this cooldown by 1s.
Ability 1 - Mysterious Fog
Nu Wa summons a fog that travels forward. She and her allies inside it become invisible, and enemies within it take damage over time. The fog lingers after reaching its maximum distance.
Ability 2 - Clay Soldiers
Nu Wa summons clay soldiers that charge at enemies, dealing damage and reducing protections. They prioritize attacking enemy gods.
Ability 3 - Shining Metal
Nu Wa sends out a piece of metal that explodes when it hits an enemy or reaches maximum range, dealing group damage. If it hits her clay soldiers, it causes them to explode, dealing additional group damage.
Ultimate - Fire Shards
Nu Wa become CC Immune and ascends into the sky and sends out fire shards to strike all enemy gods. This ability deals global damage based on a percentage of each enemy health.
When to use your skills:
Use Mysterious Fog for zoning, escaping, and engaging fights. The invisibility can provide a good escape tool or help you initiate on the enemy team without them seeing you approach.
The soldiers are fantastic for engaging in fights and applying pressure. Their protection reduction pairs nicely with your other abilities, making them ideal for setting up damage combos.
Shining Metal is your primary burst damage tool. Use Clay Soldiers followed by Shining Metal to maximize your combo potential. Blowing up your clay soldiers causes devastating damage in team fights.
Fire Shards can finish off low health gods anywhere on the map, or apply pressure during team fights by chipping down everyone health. It is a fantastic tool for executing enemies you can not directly reach.
Level Up Order:
In first 3 levels, start with Ability 1 > Ability 2 > Ability 3. After that you can max out the ability 1. Don't forget to increase your ultimate whenever possible. After that you can max ability 2 and ability 3, in this order.
Best Build:
For me this is the best build for her.
Book of Thoth : Book of Thoth offers a massive power spike once fully stacked, giving Nu Wa the mana and power she needs to stay relevant in the game.
Chronos’ Pendant : Cooldown reduction is key for Nu Wa to use her abilities more frequently.
Spear of Desolation : High power and flat penetration will shred through enemy protections, making Nu Wa a serious threat.
Soul Reaver : Soul Reaver’s passive will allow Nu Wa to deal additional damage based on a percentage of the enemy’s health, which is great for burst damage, especially against tanky targets.
Rod of Tahuti : For additional burst damage and its passive that increases damage against low-health targets, this item is crucial for executing targets, especially combined with Nu Wa’s ultimate.
Nu Wa Combo :
First, Summon Clay Soldiers to send them into the fight. Second, Use Shining Metal on the soldiers to cause them to explode, dealing group damage. Third, Activate Mysterious Fog for invisibility and extra damage over time. Finally, Finish with Fire Shards to execute low-health enemies.
PS: U can start with Mysterious Fog too.
PlayStyle:
Early: Focus on farming and poking enemies with your ranged basic attacks and Shining Metal. Use Clay Soldiers + Shining Metal for wave clear. Dont be so aggressive, you need at least 2-3 items for more damage.
Mid Game: Roam with your team and use Mysterious Fog to engage or disengage safely. The invisibility and movement speed will allow you to reposition efficiently. When your Fire Shards ultimate is available, look for low-health targets across the map that you can pick off from a distance.
Late Game: In team fights, position yourself carefully, as Nu Wa is squishy. Use Mysterious Fog to stay safe, then summon your Clay Soldiers and follow up with Shining Metal for massive group damage. Your ultimate should either be used early to soften up the enemy team or saved to finish off fleeing enemies.
I've enjoyed playing with Nu Wa. As I've said in other guides I've done, MID is my favorite lane, so I was able to play a lot with the character before making this guide.
I thought she was a very complete character for her style of play. She brings Crowd Control, Stealth, Minion play, roots, and a Global Ultimate.
What's more, she's a character who gains a lot of buffs from using her abilities, so you can deal very good damage to your opponent right from the start of the game.
She's not a character who moves around a lot, so it's essential to be well positioned so as not to be “evaporated”.
That said, let's talk about each skill:
Passive (Strength of Wood): Basically you pin your enemy to the ground every 15 seconds based on the number of basic attacks he has taken.
Ability 1 (Mysterious Fog): You throw a fog (in an area) forward. This fog area deals continuous damage to the enemy and hides you and gives you movement speed. It's great for making a surprise attack or running away.
Ability 2 (Clay Soldiers): You become a necromancer (just kidding). You summon 3 clay warriors to help you, as well as gaining the penetration buff
Ability 3 (Shining Metal): It's a very good skill because it allows you to make combos. It leaves your basic attack with area damage and explodes if it touches a clay warrior. It's great for doing a lot of damage when used well!
Ultimate (Fire Shards): It's pretty basic. You jump and gain visibility of all the enemies, then unleash meteors on all the enemies in the selected area. It's great for team fights
For the builds, I couldn't create an author, so I'm going to give you some guidance on the auto-builds that the game offers. The image is in portuguese, but I'll translate it and explain everything below:
Concentrated Damage: It's the first and best build. It guarantees very high and explosive damage. If you hit a combo, it's a sure kill. This build makes the most of both the ultimate and Nu Wa's 3rd skill!
Interval Reductions: This build focuses on reducing Nu Wa's cooldown. It makes the most of Nu Wa's passive, allowing you to control the opposing team more effectively. You won't deal as much damage, but you'll make the enemy very angry!
Hybrid Basic Attack: As the name implies, it values the damage of the basic attack. I personally didn't like playing with it very much, it made the character very limited!
I think that as an initial guide, you can understand the character and begin to formulate your own style of play. I hope I've helped!
Nu Wa is a brust damage best suited for the Mid Lane, Her abilities allow to deal significant brust damage.
Abilities
Celestial Shield (passive) : basic attacks and abilities grant her a shield that absorb damage.
Mysterious Fog (skill 1) : Nu Wa creates a fog that deals damage over time to enemies within it.
Shining Metal (skill 2) : Nu Wa Throws a spear that deals damage and slows enemies.
Celistial Beam (skill 3) : Nu Wa fires a beam that deals damage to all enemies in this path.
Fire Shards (Ultimate) : Nu Wa launches fire shard that explode on impact and dealing massive damage to enemies.
Game Strategy
on early game focus clear minions, poking anemies, and leveling up. always bewarw of your position in fight, stay behind your frontline to avoid getting caught out.
on Mid and Late game stay position yourself in the backline during team fights to maximize your damage output, save your ultimate for high priority target, and focus build items that enchance your brust damage and survivability.
I want to focus on how to utilize Nu Wa as an ADC that hopefully can extend beyond just current builds.
With Nu Wa, pairing her with a lane controlling support (fenrir, ares, bacchus) should do well. With her being immobile her level 1 - 3 lane can be pretty scary if the enemy can cc her. Positioning safely on the other side of the lane as the enemy ADC should make them choose to hit you or the wave. Hitting the wave with your 3 (at least melee minions) and the autoing should give you strong lane clear.
In lane 1v1s, you're probably playing as a reactionary adc. What I mean by that is waiting for the enemy to use one of their primary abilities (wave clear/movement) before starting a fight. Another option is to prioritze clearing the wave with 3 only and then saving other utilities if they try to fight you off your 3 being down. Don't stay too far up the lane. You don't have movement so pressuring their tower by yourself is very dangerous.
In the mid game, try and travel with your teammates to objectives like gold, naga, pyro, and fire giant. Using the portals is a safer option than running through the jg if you're going across the map.
Late game, you may become the primary target for enemy teams to try and kill with their ultimates and high cc abilities. Try the best you can to utilize your ult to stay safe in a fight and let your team turn on those diving. Once you land, play with your support and/or mid laner to combo your cc with their damage/cc.
If under a phoenix, throwing the 1 to help clear lanes is a good option. Use your 2 and 3 to target enemies that dive way too deep. If you get jumped on with no help, then look to ult to buy time for yourself.
Nu Wa is one of the two newest ported gods from Smite 1 in the most recent alpha patch. Her kit is very faithful to her previous kit, with the only change being to her passive. She's still best played in mid lane with a full Intelligence build, although you could probably attempt her as a crit ADC thanks to her new passive additions, which i'll run through now.
Nu Wa's new passive has two parts:
A root on auto attacks (a bit like Smite 1), but it's now on a 15 second cooldown (reduced by 1s for every auto attack hit), and not on a 5 auto attack build-up.
A buff for a few seconds after casting each ability:
On casting her 1, she (and any allies that walk into the fog) gain additional movement speed.
On casting her 2, she gains (a very significant amount of) flat penetration. (it's like 25 flat pen, its nutty)
On casting her 3, she gains explosive AOE auto attacks, similar to Jing Wei 2 but a slightly larger area. The root part of her passive will root all enemies hit in the AOE if it is active.
On casting her ult, her auto attacks gain extra range and projectile speed, very similarly to Hachiman 1.
All of these buffs can be active at the same time, meaning you can have auto attacks that travel further, faster, explode on hit, and root all enemies hit - hence the possibility of crit ADC Nu Wa.
Her ability combo remains the same as Smite 1:
2 (Clay Soldiers) - aim the targeter on the enemy god.
Auto Attack - AA cancelling is still important, as it is on any other god. This also lets your minions have a chance to dash at the enemy, as well as maybe allowing you to root them.
3 (Shining Metal) - aim to hit both the enemy god and the soldiers you spawned, doing way too much damage and stunning them.
Auto attack - more damage.
If needed, 1 (Mysterious Fog) - pretty much just extra damage to confirm the kill, as well as giving you some movement speed to get out faster.
Your ult is not really part of a combo, just use it to finish off low hp enemies as usual - although you could also try using it to engage a fight for some initial damage and the AA buff.
For some typical Nu Wa builds:
Mid (Full intelligence): Conduit Gem (Archdruid's Gem) > Book of Thoth > Gem of Focus > The Cosmic Horror > Soul Reaver > Rod of Tahuti > Obsidian Shard. Alternate Items: Divine Ruin, Polynomicon, The World Stone.
Very straight forward character to play but honestly one of the hardest to win with but we can break it down.
Strength of Wood
PASSIVE
Very much the same concept as Smite 1. Her auto attack roots enemies on hit but in Smite 2 every 15s you are getting a root rather than stacking yourself. Hitting your auto attacks on enemies does subtract 1s off this cooldown so it is always in your best interest to consistently try and get those auto attacks in.
Mysterious Fog
ABILITY 1
Nuwa casts a circular skill which is her fog at her targeted location. This briefly increases her movement speed. This is generally good for safer clearing in mid lane if you are under pressure or getting out of trickier situations on top of just providing extra burst damage to her combo.
Clay Soldiers
ABILITY 2
In my opinion this is Nuwa's core skill and can be used in many ways.
This skill deploys minions in front of nuwa which dash towards the nearest enemy or the enemy Nuwa chooses.
The minions themself do damage on dash, damage when they auto attack an enemy and also applies penetration.
Shining Metal
ABILITY 3
Nuwa fires a line ability at a range of 10.4meters which deals moderate damage. If hitting a minion this causes a further explosion damage on the target and also applies a stun if the enemy is within the range of the minions during this time.
This skills is really good poke but beware once it is down Nu wa can be a prime target due to her crowd control being down.
Fire Shards
ABILITY 4
The infamous hated ult of Smite 1 if you are on low HP.
Nuwa is crowd control immune during this ult and flies in to the air and hits all enemies within range of her ultimage. Upon landing she gains a buff called Strength of Fire in which her basic attacks get a buffed range and also increase in speed.
Where to play Nuwa.
Nu wa is primarly played in mid lane due to her safe wave clear. She generally holds her own and plays around anti dive by protecting herself when the enemy solo and jungle are diving you.
She does have the ability to play in ADC is characters like Neith and Cernunos are picked in mid but it is not recommended.
Aggressive Nuwa combo
This combo revolves around pressing her 1 and walking towards the enemy. This does put her in danager but the rewards may be enough to use it this way.
Start by fogging the ground and throwing out her clay soldiers. This can be followed after a root from her auto attack or by itself. Once the minions are out you can instantly fire her shining metal and stun the enemy. If it is safe to do so auto attack as much as you can and finish with her Fire shards if needed.
Control Nuwa combo.
Throwing out clay soldiers is always strong but you don't always need to explode them right away. A lot of Nuwas strength comes from having her stun active most of the time. Many players will pre use their actives to avoid the stun or damage from Nuwa so throwing it out first and rooting may be the best way to get the enemy to run away. This allows followup later from your jungler or an instant dive in from the rest of your team as you finish with your ultimate.
Nuwa tips.
Breaking their ankles
One of the better uses of her fog is to walk around in side it to avoid enemies. Generally staying on the outer ring of the fog makes it harder to be hit and potentially make the enemy miss their skills or even end up saving you from a failed gank. You can also use this strategy in more of an offensive way by firing off the fog from within the jungle and not going inside it which possibly makes the enemy think they are being ganked or you are inside it.
Nuwa Build
Start with Conduit Gem. This item helps your early game by increasing your clearing ability. The following item can be Book of Thoth. Nuwa is a late game scaling character so building towards that late game will benefit you. Next will be The cosmic horror. This synergises with Book of Thoth to get your bonus cooldown. Next will be Soul reaver. Nuwa has a lot of damaging skills and makes great use of this item and it even helps her with the more tanky targets. Next will be Obsidian Shard. One of the core mid items and again helps with any form of enemy protection. Lastly Rod of Tahuti. More power and penetration aiming to help you hit as hard as possibly lategame.
