This is the same for consoles like the playstation and the xbox, as well as the switch.
God Builder is a mechanic that was introduced by hi rez studios a while back, it was a huge quality-of-life improvement over having to do everything manually. It's a fun little way you can enhance your Smite experience. If you can spare the time now, you get to save a lot of time later. You should always try and create the right build that will give you an edge over other players. This will be most noticeable in key moments.
But what do I mean by all of this? Here's what I mean.
How to Use God Builder Smite
Specifically, god builder allows you to select which items you want to appear in your in-game store and which abilities you want to take in sequence. This is an obvious advantage over the standard builds the game gives you. Just watch how the meta changes and jump on the bandwagon as soon as possible.
To do this, just go into the gods' selection and choose a god you want to build out. The god builder tab should be at the bottom of the list. Once you click it, it will take you to the next screen.
The Items Section of the Smite God Builder
The first section that should open up is the item builder section for the specific god you've chosen.
If you haven't used the god builder on that god before, it should appear blank as in the image above. Ok, so, what can we see here?
Firstly, you have your god in the upper left corner. Below them, you can find the level selector. This option lets you select that god's level to see what their stats will look like for that specific level. For most gods this is value will automatically be set at level 20.
Below that, you have the different stats outlined for your viewing pleasure. Starting with offensive stats, followed by the defensive stats, and finally, finishing with the utility stats. Oh, and if you're curious about what HP5 and MP5 mean, you should check out our article on Smite abbreviations, and all your questions will be answered.
And underneath the stats, you can see the items tab. This is where you can place all the items you've previously selected from the different categories. Once you do so, the god's stats are updated, so that you may see what their stats will be like with a full build. This is the best way to gage how effective your god will be with its full build.
To the right of the stats, you have a couple of categories. These are for the different items that you can select. These are divided into 6 categories. Starter items, Core items, Damage items, Defensive items, Relics, and Consumables.
Once you click on any of these categories, a list of items will appear. The search bar is really useful for finding a specific item you may need.
Starter Items
Starter items are pretty self-explanatory, they're the items that you usually take as starters that later build into some other items. It's always good to pick up a starter item, or else you just might get dominated in your lane. Plus, they help out a lot in those initial team fights. Your allies will thank you later on.
Core Items
Core items are the "must have" items for that god. You almost always run these items on that god, regardless of what build you plan on using, as they are just that good. Just be mindful of if you need magical power or physical power items, as you have limited resources to work with.
Damage Items
Damage items are the items that you build to deal damage. This category should be more of a "suggestion", as you'd probably already have placed the more important damage-dealing items in the core category. In this category, you should prioritize variety. Look at the items in detail and what their effect is. It's usually a smart idea to put CC, Lifesteal, and other items here.
Defensive Items
The defense category is for defensive items. If the old saying is true that "the best offense is a good defense", then you'll need defensive items too. The time to kill in Smite is pretty low, so these items help extend that. Sure, you might plan on running a glass cannon, but if a single stun ends up getting you killed each and every time - well then you just might have to consider getting something for that, don't you?
Relics
Relics are also pretty easy to understand. There's a lot of them, so choose them carefully. It's usually a good idea to choose a relic that compliments the god's passive, or alternatively, removes a major weakness of theirs. Don't forget to upgrade that relic by the mid stage of the match.
Consumables
Finally, we have consumable items. Consumables are also pretty easy to understand. You have your mana potions, your health potions, wards that help you be aware of the map, that sort of stuff.
Ability Section of the God Builder
The second section within the god builder is the abilities section.
In the ability section, you can likewise find the stats section. Below that, you can see the god's passive ability, and to the right of that, you have the god's abilities.
How this works is simple. You have the 4 different abilities (or skills if you want to call them that) which your god can cast. Instead of manually selecting which one you want for each level, you can instead go into the god builder and fill in which ability you want to be learned upon hitting a certain level. This is a lot more straightforward than the previous section.
One important thing to mention though. We've talked about turning off auto-buy in Smite in the past. You might want to check that out to catch up. Lots of plays tend to make their gold builds and then leave auto-buy turned on, since now they're sure that they 100% want those items. But here's the problem with that. The game isn't very smart when it comes to auto-buying items. Plus, you might want to buy items in a specific sequence, and that's just something that you cannot preset in Smite's god builder.
Another reason you might want to turn off auto-buy when running your god build is that certain situations require you to make certain decisions. Plus, having auto-buy constantly on will stagnate your progress as a player. We discussed about this in our article about Smite tips and tricks for beginners. The point is. In some cases, this item might be better than that item, this spell might be more useful than that spell. The god builder should be a guide - never a leader. Remember to always take the initiative, your teammates will appreciate you more if you make a good call.