Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of War and Love, has arrived to Smite. She is a physical hunter and will primarily serve in the Carry role. You will have the chance to play in multiple game modes, and how you build her will vary. There are a few ways to do this. We have a handful of recommendations for you to make a practical build. This guide will cover the best build for Ishtar in Smite.

How to build Ishtar in Smite

The best relics

You will have the option to purchase a relic immediately when playing as Ishtar. There are multiple to pick from, but we highly recommend grabbing Purification Beads if you’re playing a Conquest match. You will primarily use these to evade any enemy team’s potential ganks to your lane, roots, or stuns. You want to save it for opportunities where you can effectively escape a situation. If you can’t, it’s better to take the death and not waste these items or to ensure you don’t waste them on a feint attack. After you’ve done that, eventually make sure to buy the upgraded Temporal Beads.

The second option will vary. You may want to go with Aegis Amulet or prefer to select Horrific Emblem. If you’re looking to deal a heavy amount of damage in a short amount of time, Belt of Frenzy. You’ll want to do this to take down enemies, cornering them while you have this in your back pocket.

The best starter item

Regarding the best starter item, you have three primary choices for a Carry: Death’s Toll, Gilded Arrow, or Leather Cowl, although many may also want to consider using Bluestone Pendant as a fourth candidate. For Ishtar, Leather Cowl will be extremely effective, as this is a good way to increase Ishtar’s attack speed, physical lifesteal, and MP5 early in the game. You can evolve it into Hunter’s Cowl. The second best option will be Bluestone Pendant because Ishtar will use many of her abilities through a match. You can upgrade it into Corrupted Bluestone.

Ishtar ability level order

Here’s the breakdown of the level order you want to put your points into Ishtar’s abilities during a Conquest match.

  • 1 – Imbue Arrows: 1/3/6/7/102 – Rolling Thunder: 4/8/11/12/143 – Jolt: 2/15/16/18/194 (Ultimate) – Blades of Retribution: 5/9/13/17/20

The best items for Ishtar

Ishtar is a powerful Carry who will be consistently using her abilities. She will be mana starved throughout the battle, and if you can find a way to ensure she has plenty of mana to use those abilities, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with her. Using her first ability, she will have plenty of attack speed increases, meaning you won’t need too many attack speed items to get the most out of this character. Here’s the first build we recommend you use to highlight Ishtar’s unique playstyle.

  • Hunter’s CowlTranscendenceThe Ferocious ExecutionerWind DemonAtalanta’s BowSilverbranch Bow

This will be a good starting build for you to out and test. There are plenty of things you can swap out, depending on what you need when battling against particular enemy gods. Here are a handful of anti-heal items for any character who is consistently healing or using lifesteal.

  • Shadowsteel ShurikenToxic BladeBrawler’s Beat Stick

If you would want to stack some lifesteal into your build as Ishtar, there are several options you can swap into your item selection.

  • AsiBloodforgeDevourer’s Gauntlet

Alternatively, if there are particular enemy gods that are extremely tanky and they’re hard to kill, it is your job to focus on them. Here are some good physical items you can select that may help you.

  • The CrusherDominanceHeartseekerDeathbringerRage

Ishtar will be a problematic god to master. You may struggle with figuring out how to best use Ishtar’s arrow abilities and finding the best options for any given situation. Finding the right build will be critical, as not all of her Imbue Arrow abilities gift her an attack speed buff.