Items in SMITE are objects and artifacts that provide special benefits and/or abilities to a god beyond their basic capabilities, increasing their statistics and empowering their attack and defense. They are only sold at the store at the fountains on each base. Items cost Gold to purchase, and they can be sold back for 66% of the original cost. (However, they can be sold for their full price as long as the player has not left their fountain or used the item.)
Items are arranged in several categories: Consumable items, Relics, and Passive items, which are subclassified in Starter, Offensive, Defensive and Utility items. Passive items have branching tiers that allow players to upgrade them into different, stronger versions of the original item which can then be upgraded once more.
A list with all current items sorted in different categories (like type, tier or the stats they provide) can be found here: List of items.
Consumables are one-time use items that are removed after they are activated. Each god can only carry two different consumables at a time, but most allow of players to carry multiple quantities of each one. Wards and Sentry Wards are an exception to this as players can only carry two wards and one sentry ward at any time.
Chalices are early game consumables that allow players to invest an initially large amount of gold for a stack of Potions or Wards that can be refilled by returning to base. However, selling these yields no gold if the player leaves their fountain or consumes any charges.
Relics are a special type of activable items that grant useful extra abilities. Once used they will go onto cooldown before they can be used again. All players start with an empty Relic slot and a Vision Shard relic. Players can fill the empty slot with any relic for free, and at level 12 the Vision Shard relic can also be replaced with any other relic. If one changes their mind or selects the wrong relic, it can sill be sold back and switched as long as the player hasn't left the fountain or used it, as doing either will lock the relic in for the rest of the match. Relics can be upgraded with 500 gold, increasing their potency or giving them additional effects. These upgraded effects are shown on the relic's description in yellow. Upgraded relics will inherit any remaining cooldown from the original one.
Passive items are the most prevalent. Each one provides a bonus to one or more stats like Health, Movement Speed, Magical Protection, etc. Each god can only hold up to six different passive items. Most Tier III Passive items also provide a unique Passive effect, like auras or "on basic hit" effects, and more. There are also some Tier II items referred to as "bridge" items, which are cost efficient and grant useful passive effects. While most Passive items can be acquired by anyone, there are a number of items that are restricted to gods with a certain type of power (Physical or Magical); these are mostly the ones that provide Power, Lifesteal or Penetration bonuses. Some items are also restricted to certain classes or game modes. Players can usually carry more than one Passive item from the same item tree, but they can't acquire two of the exact same item or a lower-tier item if all of its upgrades are unavailable. There are some item trees, such as the Boots/Shoes and the Mask trees, where two items within the same tree cannot be purchased.
Passive items are classified in different categories: Starter, Offensive, Defensive and Utility. Starter items are items with a single tier whose bonuses and unique passive effects are most useful on the early stages of a match but gradually become less useful as time goes by. Offensive items provide boosts to stats related to attack and damage output (Physical & Magical Power, Attack Speed, Critical Strike Chance, etc.). Defensive items provide bonuses to stats related to defense and self-preservation (Physical & Magical Protection, Health and HP5). Utility items provide boosts for miscellaneous stats (Cooldown Reduction, MP5, Movement Speed, etc.) or provide supportive and team beneficial bonuses (like Aura effects).