Agni, The Bruiser

Against the Grain: Agni the Bruiser
Against the grain implies doing things that aren’t quite natural, or contrary to popular belief. So obviously we must delve into itemization and skill combinations that are not thought of as being necessarily good if we speak of going against SMITE’s grain, that is to say against the ‘META.’ This is Against The Grain, where I do my best to show you the strange and bizarre, while also showing it can be viable in higher level gameplay.

Agni, The Bruiser?
In most cases, Agni is not (and generally should not) be thought of as being viable as a bruiser. There are, however, situations where you should consider it, as well as new items to look into. The specific situation for the Agni Bruiser is when you have enough burst damage from other teammates along with an enemy composition that is dripping CC from every one of their pixelated pores. During the closed beta, it was actually fairly normal to see most mages sporting at least one defensive item in their builds. As old items were redesigned along with new items being introduced, the standard mage model fell almost exclusively to glass cannon. Agni requires a few things to be viable in my opinion - he needs some measure of CDR (Cool Down Reduction), and a survivability mechanism. With the traditional glass cannon build, you’ll grab Shoes of Focus along with Chronos Pendant or Breastplate of Valor for the CDR, and then grab Greater Purification Beads or one of the Aegis actives for survival. That being said, with the proper item synergies, a bruiser Agni can actually become a fairly disgusting force to fight against, especially in the narrow jungle paths.


--ITEMS
The Items
My item build is half standard, half unconventional. Your end build will be Pythagorem’s Piece, Shoes of Focus, Warlock’s Sash, Spirit Robe, Gem of Isolation, and Rod of Tahuti. As for a starter item, you can either do a standard Warlock’s Sash and Tiny Trinket, or Rush Pythagorem’s Piece to second tier, and grab a few blue potions. Each item is linked to the overall build, and synergizes with not only Agni, but other items as well.
Pythagorem’s Piece
With season 2, Pythagorem’s Piece received a significant buff; with the addition of 10% CDR. This means the item is finally viable outside of our beloved noodle. This item provides an aura buff for you and allies, as well as the 10% CDR. Agni loves power, but he loves CDR more than anything. If the match continues, you might want to switch this out for a penetration item like Void Stone.
Warlock’s Sash
Warlock’s Sash is a good item on Agni regardless, but the synergy between Sash and Spirit Robe is the focus for today.
Spirit Robe
An unconventional item, but the reason it works is because of the solid defense stats, the passive, and the juicy 15% CDR. This item, Along with Pythagorem’s Piece and Shoes of Focus, push your CDR to the cap of 40% CDR. It also compliments the Warlock’s Sash, working to effectively double the damage necessary to kill you. It’s fairly impressive how only 40 protections can double the damage it takes to kill Agni.
Gem of Isolation
This can be a bit unconventional as your situational item instead of penetration. Going with the bruiser build, you want to be pushing out more control than anything, and Gem of Isolation is the best item to do that. Since Gem works with every single one of Agni’s abilities, this means Agni brings a total of 6 CC attacks, including all 3 stacks of his ultimate. This allows your team to do more damage, or forces the enemy to disengage.
Greater Blink
No, I did not mix my actives up. I say grab Greater Blink on Agni with this build. By building a tankier Agni, you can effectively be a secondary initiator. Use blink as a Tyr would, Blink behind people, drop your flame wave, and then dash through them to safety. You’ll be softening the entire group up for your team while remaining relatively safe, as well as slowing them down with your Gem.