The mighty Roman smith, Vulcan, has made his way to SMITE 2. You can play him in the battleground of the gods, utilizing him in the middle lane. When playing as Vulcan, coming up with the best build and items to grab can be difficult, especially given the many changes.
Because Vulcan is a mage, he prefers to be in the middle lane. There are likely build combinations and playstyles that make him a decent solo laner. However, for this breakdown, we’re going to focus on keeping Vulcan in the middle lane, and that means preparing to endure the heavy traffic of the map from the jungler, support, and the heavy present of the opposing middle lane player. Here’s a full break down of our recommendations for how to build Vulcan in SMITE 2.
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How to build Vulcan in SMITE 2
Vulcan is a Mage and is primarily in the middle lane. His abilities scale off Intelligence, so you’ll want to focus on picking up these items. You won’t have to worry about dipping into Strength or finding a unique combination of the two.
He does have an Aspect called the Aspect of Fortification. If you activate it before the match begins, Vulcan’s passive changes. Normally, his passive gives him increased movement speed and mana regeneration after hitting an enemy with an ability. However, that goes away with the Aspect, and when he stands next to his turret, he and the turret gain increased protection and health regeneration. Also, his two primary abilities, Backfire and Magma Bomb, do less damage.
For those who want to try using Vulcan in the solo lane, the Aspect of Fortification might be the way to do it, or you can become a bulkier middle lane player. However, Vulcan primarily deals with unleashing heavy damage to opponents, bursting them down by surging his abilities.
The best relic for Vulcan in SMITE 2
When choosing a relic, there are two choices you almost always want to go with for any SMITE 2 match: Blink Rune or Aegis of Acceleration. You can use Blink Rune to teleport a short distance away, potentially escaping an enemy chasing you down, or close the distance between you and a foe trying to return to their base. Outside of Backfire, Vulcan has no method to move more effectively than hitting an enemy and gaining quick movement speed. Blink Rune can make up for that.
Alternatively, if you’re fighting enemies with abilities that can take you out with a single hit, such as Poseidon’s Kraken, using Aegis of Acceleration can help. You’ll become invulnerable to damage and healing for 1.5 seconds, but you can’t do anything besides move. While you can’t do much in this state, it’s a good way to make sure you don’t end up dead, and you can retaliate against an enemy after they use their ultimate.
An argument could also be made for going with Purification Beads. With this relic, you can become immune to crowd control abilities for two seconds, which is great if you need to escape a grab or a pull from another enemy such as Anubis’ wraps or Baron Samedi’s ultimate.
The best starter item for Vulcan in SMITE 2
When picking a starter item, you have two choices: Conduit Gem or Sands of Time. These are the primary choices when it comes to playing a Mage. For Conduit Gem, it provides a series of stacks, up to 20, that deals three True Damage for each stack with your next damaging ability. Half of these stacks are applied to a god. For Sands of Time, it grants 0.6 mana per second per 10 percent of your missing Mana, and your next damaging ability deals an extra 10 true damage to minions.
For Vulcan, I lean more towards purchasing Sands of Time. This grants a cooldown rate, and Vulcan uses his abilities extremely often, meaning he needs a high mana regeneration rate. Purchasing this early on in the game is a great way to get a lead on your opponent and keep them at bay because you can routinely hit them with your abilities, firing Backfire, knocking them up with Magma Bomb, or replacing the Inferno Cannon.
Vulcan ability level order in SMITE 2
There are four abilities you’ll be leveling up while playing as Vulcan, and he has a passive. You’ll be able to begin leveling up his ultimate when you reach level five, and then at other, preset levels.
| Ability | Ability name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Passive | Master Craftsman | When you hit an enemy god with an ability, you gain increased movement speed and mana regeneration. Also, Vulcan has access to three sets of turret mods you can purchase from the store that you can buy at levels one, seven, and 14. |
| Ability One | Backfire | Fire a projectile in front of you that causes you to dash back, dealing Magical Damage to an enemy. It also marks the first enemy god it hits. Your Inferno Cannon will prioritize hitting the marked god and deal more damage to them. Scales with 80 percent of your Intelligence score. |
| Ability Two | Inferno Cannon | Create an Inferno Cannon that shoots projectiles every second at the enemy in front of them, dealing Magical Damage. The turret remains until it is destroyed or you summon another one. The turret gains all of Vulcan’s penetration score, along with 25 percent base score. It does not trigger item effects. Scales with 40 percent of your Intelligence score. |
| Ability Three | Magma Bomb | Lob a projectile that explodes on impact with the ground, dealing Magical Damage and displacing any enemies in the area of the bomb. All enemies are displaced up and thrown away from the explosion. Scales with 90 percent of your Intelligence score. |
| Ultimate | Earthshaker | Launch a projectile that explodes on impact with the ground, dealing Magical Damage to enemies in the area. It deals more damage the further it travels. Scales with 110 percent of your Intelligence score. |
| Aspect | Aspect of Fortification | Vulcan’s Passive changes from giving him movement speed and mana regeneration to providing additional protections and health regeneration while standing next to the turret. The damage scaling from his Backfire and Magma Bomb go down. |
Of these abilities, the primary one you’ll be using the most is Backfire. It’s an attack that fires in a straight line in front of you, dealing a good amount of damage to an opponent. Because Vulcan is in the middle lane, he wants to clear the lane as quickly as possible. Backfire can do that effectively, and it has a chance to deal even more damage to an enemy god, especially if they’re trying to run away from you because you’ve already cleared the lane.
To help with that, the Inferno Cannon is the ability that should get the next series of levels. It’s a reliable turret that you strategically place in the lane, gunning down enemy gods and minions. For most enemies, it’s easy to overlook this turret as it won’t do too much damage, but over time, it can gradually make it much easier for you, as Vulcan, to land a Magma Bomb on them and then hit them with the Backfire as the finishing blow, all the while taking damage from the Inferno Cannon. Plus, it plays extremely well with the new turret mods Vulcan gets in SMITE 2. You might event want to swap to leveling up the turret first.
Finally, the last two are Magma Bomb and Earthshaker. As Vulcan’s ultimate ability, Earthshaker is exceptionally good at hitting enemies running away or ambushing them from the jungle if you have a ward or allies nearby fighting them. It does more damage the further away you are from them, so firing it at a maximum distance is recommended.
As for Magma Bomb, using it to open an engagement throws an enemy into the air, allowing your Inferno Cannon and Backfire to do the most damage. This is why you want to level those up first, as they’ll do the most damage and by why you take them out.
With a better breakdown of how these abilities work, here’s how you should level them during every SMITE 2 match.
- Backfire: 1/3/6/7/10
- Inferno Cannon: 2/8/11/12/14
- Magma Bomb: 4/15/16/18/19
- Earthshaker: 5/9/13/17/20
How turret mods work on Vulcan in SMITE 2
You can choose from nine turret mods while playing as Vulcan in SMITE 2, which are new to the game. You choose one mod at levels one, seven, and 14 from a selection of three, and by the end of the game, you should carry three. Your combination will change depending on the mods you want to use and how you want to build your Vulcan. Some of these mods are more suitable to work with each other than others.
Here’s a full breakdown for all turret mods you can get as Vulcan in SMITE 2.
| Turret Mod | Level Available | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Alternator Mod | One | Unlock the Thumper Turret by alternating between an Inferno Cannon and Thumper each ability activation. Thumper pulses out an attack around it every second, dealing Magical Damage to all enemies. Thumper’s rank matches the Inferno Cannon’s. Cooldown is 12 seconds. |
| Dual Mod | One | Unlock the Thumper Turret as a consumable item, and you get it for the rest of the game. It pulses out an attack around it every second, dealing Magical Damage to all enemies. Thumper’s rank matches the Inferno Cannon’s, and has a cooldown of 20 seconds. |
| Efficiency Mod | One | Do not gain access to the Thumper ability, instead your passive grants 10 cooldown reduction in addition to the other effects when triggered. |
| Resonator Mod | Seven | Thumper gains 150 increased HP and applies an attack speed debuff for three seconds on hit. |
| Shrapnel Mod | Seven | Inferno Cannon applies additional damage over time on hit. |
| Thermal Mod | Seven | Backfire and Magma Bomb deal additional Magical Damage. |
| Masterwork Mod | 14 | Thumper gains 300 increased HP and applies physical and magical protection buff to allied gods hit for three seconds. |
| Surplus Mod | 14 | You can have two Inferno Cannons out at the same time. |
| Seismic Mod | 14 | Earthshaker Trembles enemies hit for two seconds. |
The first choice of turret mod is the most important, as it means you’ll unlock the Thumper. It’s a small turret that sits in a single spot, similar to the Inferno Cannon, and releases a pulse of damage. If you choose to grab this, you’ll want to stack benefits with it, such as the Resonator Mod and then the Masterwork Mod. However, you can also lean into the Inferno Cannon, grabbing the Shrapnel Mod and then the Surplus Mod.
It all comes down to your playstyle, as you can choose to focus more on Vulcan’s turrets, or increasing how often you can use his abilities in a SMITE 2 match.
The best items and builds for Vulcan in SMITE 2
There are several combinations of items that you can grab for Vulcan, but the most important ones are all focused on Intelligence. With these items, you’ll be increasing Vulcan’s Magical Damage in SMITE 2 and making him an offensive force throughout a match. Here are some of the best items you can grab for a standard build as Vulcan.
- Sands of Time
- Soul Gem
- Obsidian Shard
- Spear of Desolution
- Soul Reaver
- The World Stone
- Rod of Tahuti
Those are some of the classic choices, but you don’t want to build those for every match. Sometimes, you want to branch out. Here are some other items you might want to swap out with any standard build you make for Vulcan in SMITE 2.
- Blood-Bound Book
- Polynomicon
- Gem of Focus
- Divine Ruin
- Staff of Myrddin
- Gem of Isolation
- Book of Thoth
- Doom Orb
- Dreamer’s Idol
Regardless of how you build Vulcan, he’s a difficult opponent to face off against in SMITE 2. The real trick is mastering his turrets, and finding a way to get those to deal heavy damage to an enemy without them noticing it.
Published: Jan 24, 2025 06:14 pm