Structures

Structures are defensive structures and one of the main objectives in most Game Modes in SMITE.

Towers and Phoenixes are defensive structures that prevent minions and enemy gods from advancing. The Titans of Order and Chaos are the final objective in most game modes.

These structures will fire projectiles at targets within their attack range (which is cleary defined on the ground) that deal physical damage until the target leaves the area or it dies. They also feature damage escalation; each successive hit deals an additional 20% of the initial hit as damage (i.e., the second hit is 120% of the first, the third hit is 140% of the first, etc.)

When a physical god attacks a Tower with their Basic Attack, Towers will only receive 85% of their Basic Attack damage. However, when a magical god attacks, the Tower will take 120% of their Basic Attack damage.

All of these structures feature a mechanism known as 'Backdoor Protections' which grants them 50% damage mitigation when no enemy minions are in their attack range. This is meant to deter players moving ahead of their minions to 'backdoor' the enemy structures and instead follow a more advisable strategy.

Structures have specific rules for prioritization (also known as "aggro") of enemy targets:
 * The first enemy (god or minion) to enter the structure's attack radius is targeted and will continue to be attacked until the target dies or leaves its range (although once fired a shot can follow its target far outside of the structure's range).
 * If both enemy minions and gods are in range of the structure, minions will be targeted first as long as there is no further source of aggro.
 * Therefore, when the current god target leaves aggro range, priority will default to minions.
 * Once all enemy minions are dead, the structure will then target the nearest enemy god.


 * If an enemy god within the structure's range deals damage (in any form) to an allied god within the structure's range, the structure will automatically target that god.
 * If multiple enemy gods enter the structure's range, the first to enter will be targeted and will continue to be attacked regardless of the other gods' actions until that god is dead or out of range.

Structures usually have a unique appearance on each game mode, but generally all versions behave in the same way with some slight changes for balance reasons.

Towers & Phoenixes
These structures are immune to most abilities and can largely only be harmed with Basic Attacks. Every structure, except for Tier 1 Towers, is invulnerable until the structure preceding it is destroyed. Destroying a Tower or Phoenix rewards each player on the destroying team with gold, and rewards participating players with a slight increased bounty. Destroying a Tower will also reward the team with experience, while destroying a Phoenix will spawn Flaming Minions in that respective lane and weaken the enemy Titan.

In Conquest, Assault and Siege, each side's lanes are protected by two Towers and a Phoenix. In Joust and Clash, there is only one Tower and Phoenix per lane. Arena has two Invulnerable Phoenixes, each guarding an entrance to the fountains.

Interestingly, Towers and Phoenixes are treated as map walls for the purposes of abilities such as Hou Yi's Ricochet while still being able to be hit through by abilities such as Anhur's Impale, including not being able to have certain area of effects placed behind them, but upon being destroyed this restriction is removed for abilities while keeping the structure completely unpathable.

Debuff penetration effects like The Executioner and Void Shield's aura, do not apply to Towers and Phoenixes. Certain Flat Penetration bonuses from items and abilities do work against them however.

Most item effects will not damage structures, as they are treated as abilities. Some exceptions are:
 * Hydra's Star/Hydra's Lament's passives
 * Polynomicon's passive

Tier 2 Towers
This Tower is no different from the Tier 1 Tower aside from the fact that the Tier 1 Tower must be destroyed before the Tier 2 Tower can be damaged.

Phoenixes
A Phoenix cannot be damaged until all Towers in its lane have been destroyed. When a Phoenix is defeated, the team that defeated it will begin spawning Fire Minions in the lane of the destroyed Phoenix. A Phoenix will respawn after 4 minutes (3 minutes in Assault) with 25% of its health and will regain health over time up to 50% of its previous maximum health.

Titans
These entities have a high amount of health and strong melee attacks. While active, they can move freely from their resting spot and will chase their target until it leaves the Titan's attack range or dies, upon which it can further prioritise targets. When there are no more enemy units inside its area, the Titan will instantly regain a portion of its health and return to the center of its designated area. A damaged titan will gradually recover it's missing health over time as long as it is out of combat.

Titans are invulnerable as long as all of their Phoenixes are still alive. They lose this protection as soon as one Phoenix falls, and become weaker, losing maximum Health and other stats, as more of their Phoenixes and Towers start to fall. Whenever a Phoenix comes back to life, the Titan will instantly regain one of its defense buffs, to the exclusion of full invulnerability; a Titan will remain vulnerable as long as it remains in combat, even if all of its Phoenixes are up. They are treated as units, and unlike other structures, Titans are affected by protection debuff items and damaging abilities but are still not affected by Crowd Control effects, healing reduction, or attack speed debuffs, and can neither be critically hit nor lifestealed from, although they still trigger on hit heals. Titans will also instantly destroy any player made terrain such as Ymir's Ice Wall by moving through them. Titans have a 20% scaling damage bonus with each hit, as a Tower or Phoenix, and a natural 30% Physical Penetration for them upon their targets. Whichever team manages to slay the enemy Titan first will be victorious.

Fountains
The Fountains are areas within each team's bases where players can purchases items and restores their health and mana. While technically not structures, they are still counted as entities for gameplay purposes. Players that walk into the opposing team's fountain area take 35% of their health(14.28% per tick) as true damage each half second, but are still able to purchase items from them. The only exception to that is the Fountain in Assault where you can only ever buy items on spawn or respawn while not having left the fountain yet.