SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained – Neith

SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained is a column dedicated to introducing prospective players of SMITE to its massive back story of lore. From the Greek to Hindu, each week we’ll look at two characters from a major pantheon and provide a quick recap of their history and in what capacity their digital incarnation will represent on the field of Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming MOBA.

Lore: Neith is a complex goddess due to her age in ancient Egyptian mythology. An early god mentioned as far back as the First Dynasty, Neith was first known as the Goddess of War. Like the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis, Neith is routinely depicted with a bow, her weapon of choice. In later periods Neith’s name, meaning water, allowed her to take on a creationist role seeing her morph in the embodiment of primordial waters of creation. Water being highly valued and respected in Egypt. Later, her hieroglyphic use of a loom morphed the water aspects to that of one as a weaver of fates creating the world anew each day.

Not as well known to Western cultures as the likes of Ra or Anubis, Neith is the mother of the former and his brother Apep. In her later interpretation as the water goddess it was said that the “Nurse of Crocodiles” was the mother of Sobek, the father likely being Khnum, the god and source of the Nile.Neith’s many titles, roles and personalities have seen her rule over the battlefield, giving warriors their strength and tending to them after death. She’s woven the fate of the world on a daily basis, even contributing her time to help dress the dead and mummified and bore some of the most important deities in Egyptian mythology. Yet, there aren’t many tales of her feats.

In-Game: Neith is a ranged physical fighter that makes heavy use of her weaver lore. Upon killing a god, they’ll drop a broken weave on the ground. Her abilities have secondary effects when a broken weave is in the vicinity. This can include healing her, rooting opponents and stunning them. Utilizing these secondary effects is difficult, but makes Neith an incredibly supportive and tough to catch god.

Neith is built with numerous ways to get out of a jam, from backflips to roots and stun. As such, she’s not as squishy as Artemis. With this in mind players can feel free to go heavy into Physical Power items such as Qin’s Blades, Deathbringer and Physical Penetration items like The Executioner. Be sure to increase her attack speed when applicable.

Further reading:

• Neith on Wikipedia
• Egyptian Mythology on Wikipedia

Head over to SMITE: Demigods, Deities and Gods Explained for details on all of the playable characters.