Smite Season 6 is underway and introduced a new God -Merlin,The Master Wizard. Merlin owns when played properly. Definitely puts out insane amounts of damage and has a great double escape if need be. Having him in Arena can steal so many of your kills with his vortex power alone. So, when you get around to mastering a Mage, he should be your top potential choices. In this guide, 5mmo.com presents you how to best build and play this new God and Cheap Smite Gems to unlock Him.

 
Basic stats

Merlin's base stats are as follows.
Health: 370, +75 per level.
Mana: 250, +55 per level.
Speed: 355, +0 per level.
Range: 58, +0 per level.
Attack Speed: 1, +0.8% per level.
Basic Attack Damage: 34, +1.5 per level, +20% of his Magical Power. He also has no progression.
Protections - Physical: 10, +3 per level. Magical: 30, +0.9 per level.
Regeneration - HP5: 6, +0.48 per level. MP5: 4.8, +0.44 per level.
 
Build

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Abilities/Leveling Detials
 
First Level Options:
At the start of the game, putting a point into  Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard is safest due to the range. Use Blizzard on the Speed Buff camp, then switch to fire stance to use Dragonfire on the minion wave safely at distance.
 
The alternate choice for level 1 is Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt. However, this is riskier, because in order to hit the entire wave with  Radiate, you have to stand adjacent to the front minions while channeling, putting you much closer to the enemy and making it easier for enemies to hit you. In addition, during the channel, the enemy can decide to get hit briefly, turning the minions on you for high early damage.
 
Up To Level 5:

At level 2, get the other damaging ability you didn't pick up at level 1.
At level 3, you have a choice. The safe choice is to put a point in  Flicker for the escape, though it can also be used offensively to gank. Otherwise, prioritize  Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt, and pick up  Flicker 4th if you're confident in your safety.
At level 5, put a point in  Elemental Mastery as it is an additional ability that provides damage in addition to your other abilities.
 
Level 6-20 Prioritization:

After level 5, prioritize  Eclipse / Radiate / Frostbolt first. (Also, suggested to use Instant Cast for this ability)
Then  Vortex / Dragonfire / Blizzard (but pick up  Elemental Mastery as soon as it's available at level 13/17/20). 
Only pick up  Flicker when it's the only option.

Arcane Stance

Arcane- Throw out eclipse for a direct hit and place vortex right after to pull an enemy towards the center or to keep them inside the radius. Really good for punishing the people attacking your teammates. Most of the time the enemy won't have the time to react to anything hitting them. By the time they do their health will be gone and the pull will interrupt their damage.
 
Fire- Not a very good stance. Protection reduction on dragon fire isn't enough. Radiate hurts but not enough. This stance can be good for raw damage versus single targets but doesn't offer any CC.
 
Ice- Use blizzard for the slow and damage. Hit with frost bolt after for extra damage of the slow. This stance is good for focusing on 1-3 enemies with burst and control. Unlike arcane, Ice has granted CC with its slow.
 
Summary of combos- Fire stance is sometimes good for single target damage but can't lock down enemies very well. Arcance and ice are both very good. Arcane is good for wide AOE and is preferable for large team fights and helping teammates who have enemies on them. Ice is good for general fighting and good for lockdown. I'd say I use arcane the most because it is great for poke but ice is the most reliable to bring enemies down and killing them.
 
How to use stance change effectively- Cooldowns are separate, so every time you change stance the 1 and 2 will be up (flicker doesn't change because it is only one ability). Try to start fights in arcane and use the 1-2 combo and switch to ice. Use the 2 and then hit with frost bolt. Try to weave in those empowered autos when you can. If done correctly, you should be able to get in one more ice combo before switching back to arcane. The ult can be used for some lockdown and maybe as an escape if you need it.