I had another character planned for this week, but I wanted to start digging a bit deeper into the Smite series, which led to me swapping in this build. I played like fifteen games over Smite over half a decade ago, but I remember really liking and playing this character a bunch, so it's fun to bring that to life. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
If you prefer watching over reading, check out the YouTube video on the character!
Let's get into the build for Bellona, the Goddess of War from Smite.
BELLONA, GODDESS OF WAR
CHARACTER Bellona
SOURCE Smite
BUILD GOALS
o Bellona is a goddess of war known for riding with the soldiers that worshipped her
o Whenever Bellona deals or receives damage, her Master of War grants her increased protections and movement speed. She attacks with a greatsword, changing weapons based on the last ability used
o Shield Bash equips her shield alongside her sword as she charges and makes a shield strike. Enemies hit by the shield bash grant her a stack of Block, which prevents damage from basic attacks
o While her shield is equipped, she gains another stack of Block every three successful attacks
o Bludgeon equips her warhammer, which she swings in a circle before slamming down. Her attacks with the hammer cleave targets in an arc
o Scourge equips a bladed whip and strikes in a line, disarming enemies and preventing them from attacking
o While her scourge is equipped, her basic attacks heal her with every third attack
o Her final ability is Eagle’s Rally, in which she grabs a flag, leaps a large distance, and creates a ring that increases the protections and power of Bellona and her allies. Enemies in the area of her impact are stunned
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Ganzi Hobgoblin
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, -Wisdom
o Ancestry Feat: Cantorian Reinforcement
Background: Martial Disciple
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained), Warfare Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Jump
Class & Subclass: Fighter
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Religion (trained), Society (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Vicious Swing
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +2, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +0, Cha +0)
In an effort to demonstrate a goddess dedicated to war, this build uses the martially-minded hobgoblin ancestry but mixes in the ganzi heritage with a specific focus on valkyries and the like, even though she is a Roman deity. Unfortunately, none of the early feats really capture that military feel, so she’ll start off with Cantorian Reinforcement simply to increase her resiliency. Once more, the martial disciple is an obvious choice for her background though she’ll take up Athletics and the Quick Jump that it grants. Fighter is an obvious choice for her class, making her a master at combat and she’ll start with Vicious Swing to lay out some of mightier strikes.
This build is an instance where gear is semi-important mostly by virtue of Bellona switching between various weapons. You could use a shifting weapon rune with a bastard sword to switch between an earthbreaker and a scorpion whip to simulate her other weapons. Alternatively, you can wear a spiked gauntlet on one hand that you keep runed up while wearing doubling rings or commit to going one-handed and shield and using the same tactic but keeping the runes on the shield. When it comes to gear for this build, I will be using the spiked gauntlet strategy. Her main weapon will be the bastard sword with it being one or two-handed, which means that she can equip her shield and with a shield boss, perform her Shield Bash. Fighter grants her Shield Block as a bonus feat, which fulfills the effects of the Block stacks that she gains while using her shield and sword. She can use a maul or earthbreaker for her Bludgeon, with the latter being an option for her weapon if she eventually picks up a shifting weapon rune. Then she can use a scorpion whip for her Scourge, which has the added benefit of having the disarm trait to actually inflict the disarmed conditions on her enemies.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Lightning Swap
o Skill Feat: Additional Lore (Warfare)
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +1 bastard sword, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Dual-Handed Assault
o Skill Feat: Hefty Hauler
o Gear: doubling rings, +1 spiked gauntlet, necklace of knives, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +3, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +0, Cha +1)
o Ancestry Feat: Recognize Ambush
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Fighter Weapon Mastery: Sword (master)
o Gear: +1 striking spiked gauntlet, doubling rings, minor armory bracelet, necklace of knives, cloak of feline rest, ring of discretion
While I think this build is best-suited to using the shifting weapon rune or for automatic bonus progression games due to the variety of weapons that Bellona wields, the remaster helps facilitate the wielding of multiple weapons with Lightning Swap, allowing her to switch between weapons with only a single action or even switching between a weapon and a weapon and a shield. She also takes up Dual-Handed Assault to increase her versatility though this bears a bit more importance if she’s relying on shifting weapon rune since that rune is limited to making weapons that use the same number of hands. So she is limited to one-handed weapons based on her bastard sword, which means she can transform it into an earthbreaker and then use its two-handed damage. Given her role as a war god, Bellona takes Additional Lore for Warfare Lore to keep that skill scaling. This build still mostly follows the idea that Bellona is carrying around these weapons and as such, Hefty Hauler ensures that she can carry around her entire arsenal – a silly use of the feat, but likely necessary one. Her Master of War passive grants her movement speed, which she will try to emulate with Fleet. Recognize Ambush from her hobgoblin ancestry is a fun option that lets her drop a weapon as a free action when she rolls initiative, helping her get in the fray. Since Bellona’s basic attacks are made with her sword and even her first ability still uses, she’ll choose the sword to become a master in first though her other attacks will still be on level with other martials.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Marshal Dedication
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (expert)
o Gear: +1 breastplate, +1 striking spiked gauntlet, minor sturdy shield, doubling rings, necklace of knives, brooch of shielding
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (master)
o Gear: lesser grub gloves, +1 breastplate, tactician’s helm, +1 striking spiked gauntlet, doubling rings, golden legion epaulet
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Inspiring Marshal Stance
o Skill Feat: Battle Planner
o Gear: lesser sturdy shield, ready armor rune, lesser grub gloves, +1 breastplate, +1 striking spiked gauntlet, minor sturdy shield
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Glory and Valor!
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Combat Flexibility: Quick Shield Block
o Gear: +1 resilient breastplate, boots of bounding, lesser sturdy shield, lesser grub gloves, tactician’s helm, +1 striking spiked gauntlet
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +3, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Slam Down
o Skill Feat: Rapid Mantel
o Gear: thousand-blade thesis, +1 resilient breastplate, moderate armory bracelet, lesser sturdy shield, lesser grub gloves, +1 striking spiked gauntlet
Her Eagle’s Rally ability empowers Bellona and her allies, and she’ll start diving into that option with her Marshal Dedication followed up by her Inspiring Marshal Stance to embolden her allies. This ultimate ability also stuns enemies if Bellona lands on them, which she will try to replicate with Slam Down – stunned is a difficult condition to inflict as a martial but prone is a decent way of slowing enemies down. Being prone is a brutal condition with it lowering both an enemy’s attack and Armor Class, which means most characters will burn an action to remove it. Between her use of this feat and the disarm on her Scourge, she takes Titan Wrestler to inflict conditions are larger enemies. Battle Planner feels like a fun way of making use of her Warfare Lore while allowing her to strategize and prepare for battle. Finally, Rapid Mantel is simply generally useful, letting use her Athletics instead of Reflex to catch herself if she falls, which helps given her lower Dexterity. On the other hand, she isn’t lacking in Constitution, but Toughness is still nice for both the extra Hit Points and the lowered recovery check. Her ancestry feat this level is particularly big and the main reason behind taking the ganzi heritage. Glory and Valor allows her first Strike of each round to heal her, akin to the attacks from her Scourge and this is a feat that I’ll likely be making further use of in the future.
This block does also feature combat flexibility which can be adapted to anything depending on how Bellona wants to fight in a die, but I think is best spent on Quick Shield Block – this will let her either pull off more blocks as per her Shield Bash or let her weave in Reactive Strikes with her blocks.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Religion (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking spiked gauntlet, armbands of athleticism, thousand-blade thesis, +1 resilient breastplate, boots of bounding, lesser sturdy shield
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Steel Yourself!
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: +2 resilient breastplate, +2 striking spiked gauntlet, moderate sturdy shield, thousand-blade thesis, greater rhinoceros mask, moderate armory bracelet
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Pride in Arms
o Skill Increase: Religion (master)
o Weapon Legend: Sword (legend)
o Gear: +2 greater striking spiked gauntlet, +2 resilient breastplate, greater doubling rings, moderate sturdy shield, armbands of athleticism, thousand-blade thesis
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Crashing Slam
o Skill Feat: Sacred Defense
o Gear: greater sturdy shield, +2 greater striking spiked gauntlet, moderate grub gloves, +2 resilient breastplate, dinosaur boots, greater demon mask
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5.5, Dex +3, Con +4.5, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +3)
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Improved Flexibility: Disarming Twist
o Gear: +2 greater resilient breastplate, keen weapon rune, greater sturdy shield, +2 greater striking spiked gauntlet, greater doubling rings, greater armory bracelet
Another part of Eagle’s Rally is the protections that it provides to Bellona and her allies and while there aren’t many feats to raise Armor Class, her marshal archetype could allow her to take Steel Yourself or Back to Back. The former grants temporary Hit Points and a bonus to Fortitude saves while the latter helps prevent flanking, both of which could make sense for this feat. She can also take up Crashing Slam, building out of her Slam Down to more effectively put enemies in the dirt. She can gain more feats with her improved flexibility which can be spent on options such as Aggressive Block, Whirlwind Strike to represent her Bludgeon, Disarming Twist for her Scourge, or Resounding Bravery to increase her resiliency. She also becomes a legend with swords, at least to start with.
She has Powerful Leap to extend the range of her Leaps and then uses her nature as a god for Sacred Defense to bolster her Hit Points. From her ancestry feats, Bellona can take Pride in Arms to gain another reaction that she can use to bolster her allies since she does offer some protections to her allies with her ultimate.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Swipe
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: major armory bracelet, +2 greater resilient breastplate, greater boots of bounding, greater sturdy shield, +2 greater striking spiked gauntlet, moderate grub gloves
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Rallying Cry
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking spiked gauntlet, greater frost weapon rune, major armory bracelet, +2 greater resilient breastplate, keen weapon rune, greater sturdy shield
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Whirlwind Strike
o Skill Feat: Legendary Professional
o Gear: bracers of strength, +3 greater striking spiked gauntlet, major sturdy shield, major armory bracelet, +2 greater resilient breastplate, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient breastplate, bracers of strength, vorpal weapon rune, +3 greater striking spiked gauntlet, greater frost weapon rune, major armory bracelet
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +6, Dex +4, Con +5, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +4)
o Class Feat: Ultimate Flexibility
o Skill Feat: Battle Prayer
o Ultimate Flexibility: Savage Critical
o Gear: +3 major striking spiked gauntlet, +3 greater resilient breastplate, sandals of the stag, armbands of athleticism, major sturdy shield, quickstrike weapon rune
After using Bludgeon, Bellona’s attacks hit in an arc, which she can represent with Swipe but when she initially activates it, she swings its in a circle, which will be represented through her Whirlwind Strike. Then with the flexibility associated with her gameplay, given that she uses a sword, sword and shield, hammer, and a scourge through her different abilities, Ultimate Flexibility felt like the best fit for her, letting choose a third feat each day to take up whatever she wants. She can take up feats conducive to a particular fighting style or more generally useful options such as Savage Critical, Sudden Leap, or Blind-Fight. To represent the leap of her Eagle’s Rally, she takes Cloud Jump and then Rallying Cry from her ancestry feats will help her bolster and encourage her companions. Legendary Professional makes use of her Warfare Lore whereas Battle Prayer simply lets her channel her divine might as a god.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: Obviously, Bellona wants to take up the Marshal Dedication, taking additional feats such as Rallying Charge, either Steel Yourself or Back to Back (whichever you didn’t take), and possibly taking up the Cadence Call feats. A major benefit is that she can take a few feats, such as Swipe, earlier. Beyond that, she probably just gets the most benefit by going for a combat-oriented multiclass archetype that has combat style feats that you like.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Bellona is a ganzi hobgoblin fighter with the martial disciple background, serving to reflect her role as a deity of war. Her passive, Master of War, is slightly underrepresented with Fleet giving her increased speed and the two-hand trait of her bastard sword represents the greatsword she usually wields. As a fighter, she automatically has Shield Block for the block function of her Shield Bash and can switch to using her bastard sword in a single hand. She can use her combat flexibility as a fighter to further gain Quick Shield Block, representing the stacks of Blocks she can generate with her attacks. She can use Lightning Swap to switch out her weapons and take up her Bludgeon with a Whirlwind Strike and then using Swipe for the basic attacks that it affects. She can use a scorpion whip for her Scourge, which has the disarm trait that she can further elevate with Twisting Disarm from her improved flexibility. For the actual healing from it, she relies upon her ganzi heritage and takes Glory and Valor! This heals her on the first Strike rather than every third, but is otherwise difficult to represent. She can leap into the fight with Quick Jump and Cloud Jump for the gap closer of her Eagle’s Rally, and uses Slam Down for the stun effect that it can impart by landing on an enemy. As for the buffs that it provides to her allies, she takes the Marshal Dedication with the Inspiring Marshal Stance while the protections come from Steel Yourself! or her Rallying Cry.
This willful warrior wields a wide wall of weaponry with which to whack wicked wildcats, wasting the worst in her waging of wars.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerds, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog. I'm changing up next week's build a bit because I have plans for a multi-melee martial master.
Have a fantastic Friday!
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