Assault is a smite gamemode similar ARAM of league where you and your team fight the enemy team in a 5v5 one lane brawl, but there is a catch, everyone is given a random god with the option to reroll or switch with your teammates.

Assault is in my opinion one of the most fun gamemodes becouse of the intrinsic casual vibe within its rules. Everyone is testing new gods and strange off-meta builds just for the purpose of having the most fun.

Another quirk of the gamemode is the inability to go back to fountain which means the only way for you to buy items and/or regenerate your healthbar in full is to go out in a blaze of glory fighting.

Some tips for newer players for this mode:
Lifesteal is more worth in this gamemode as you have limited avenues of regenerating your HP, in that vein healing characters and anti-heal are crucial for an assault match.
there are also orbs of healing allong the lane that provide an AOE heal to your teammates. I recommend pinging your team if you need one of the orbs giving your wounded teammates the ability to heal too.

and most importantly, have fun with the gamemode. Its not competitive, you don't need to worry about common smite etiquette so go wild and be godly.

Duel is the 1v1 mode of Smite 2, ported over from Smite 1 it allows players to test their mechanical skills in a head to head format.
The map is the same as the 3v3 Joust mode having one lane 1 jungle and 4 camps, 2 blues on each side , 1 red and 1 purple as contested buffs, in addition there is 1 main boss near the purple buff that disables the enemy towers for a duration of time.

There are 2 starts that are worth mentioning. Most aggressive start is trying to contest red buff. This buff is a very big power multiplier and usually there will be a level 1 fight around it, if the red is won you can take the portal towards purple buff and then get your blue for a triple buff start. The other start is on blue and then to lane. this leaves up red but if your god is worse at level 1 brawls it might be a better option.

Build wise my recommendations are to build somewhat bruiser with some tank items that directly counter your enemies damage type. Every solo laner knows defence items are more valuable early game than offensive ones.

Thats it, go try duel with this information and most importantly have fun.

Cabrakan Aspect : Wall Demolitionist
This aspect will give Cabrakan a more damage focused build and creates synergies with allied gods that place walls.

2nd Ability - Refraction Shield
While passive is charged Cabrakan does not stun enemies with the use of Refraction Shield but instead can make any walls made by him or his teammates collapse and do damage and a slow effect.

Ultimate - Tectonic Shift
The Tectonic Shift now creates an almost complete circle leaving only one spot empty towards Cabrakan

This aspect allows Cabrakan out of the role of engage and peal and more into the role of secondary engager or gank setup more suited for roles like jungle or a different kind of support of what he usually is. Removing the stun aspect is a big nerf to his kit but the cost seems fair considering what a comp full of wall placers like Thor,Odin,Yimir maybe even Anhur.

Some of my tips to newer players that are trying Smite 2.
Don't be ashamed of playing against bots for the first couple of games, they are plenty challenging even for a casual but experienced player. It will help you learn your characters and the feel of the game.
Play with friends, everything is better with friends, and if one of them knows what they are doing ,even better.
Watch youtube videos on builds or characters, it helps a lot to visually experience what a "good player" might do in different situations
And most importantly, have fun. If the game is getting exhausting or you get tilted, I recommend taking a break. The game will be there when you come back

Smite 2 from the perspective of a Smite 1 casual

Smite 2 the sequel to Smite is in my opinion the best step Hi-Rez could have taken in developing their game. The move to UE 5 was very much needed, as UE 3 was starting to show its age. Now its easy to see all the benefits of having the newest software with easier accessibility.

Now about the gameplay.

Its amazing, can't and won't say its perfect, far from it actually but the potential is already there, more fluid movement, better ability scaling and easier configuring of said abilities. It's night and day seriously. I don't understand the Smite 1 hangers-on that say Smite 1 is better, but the costumer is always right in matters of taste.

Now for the change I feel needs the most improvment, the graphics. while the UE 5 engine makes all the lights and textures 10x better the game lacks its personality. The graphics ,in my opinion, should be styelized to give smite its colour back, the saturation is insane by default. I had to lower it manually. The UI is simplistic and stuff like the jungle camps and ground ruler are faded. I think Hi-Rez knows this and I believe in their ability to fix this and even improve on it

tl;dr

smite is great, still a work in progress but already better than its predecessor. Cant wait to see smite 2's future