Hey, I'm 0limpium from France. This is my first guide, it could certainly use some improvements so be sure to comment if there is anything you disagree with. I have been playing Smiles since he was released, and he's one of my favourite character at the moment.

Smiles is a short-distanced (almost melee) fighter character. He excels in initiating fights, disengaging, and he's pretty good in small skirmishes, in which he can deal quite a massive amount of damages pretty quickly, and even get a kill if he's followed by his allies.

He has powerful tools, such as his Trapper's hook, which allows him to tether his enemies on a short distance, and his Tail whip, which allows him to knock his enemies back.

Here's a quick list of the main advantages and disadvantages of Smiles :

Pros :

• Strong iniator
  
• Very tanky (third Awesomenaut behind Clunk and Derpl when it comes to the highest HP, and amazing HP regeneration)
  
• Nice amount of damages
  
• Can easily engage and disengage
  
• Good duelist

Cons :

• Trapper's Hook is hard to land
  
• Lacks of mobility
  
• Reliant on his teammates
  
• Reliant on his abilities (which means he's weak when they're on cooldown or when he's silenced)
  
• Massive sprite and hitbox

Description : High reptilian jump.
Jumps : 1



Description : Fire your flamethrower and set everything ablaze.
Damage : 23 (36,11)
Awesomenaut Damage : 31 (48,67)
Attacks per second : 7,7

Comments :

• Smiles fires a flamethrower at people for his basic attacks.
  
• His attacks are short-distanced, and resets quite quickly (7,7 attacks per second)
  
• Smiles can move while attacking (even while going backwards), but his movement speed is decreased

Description : Throw out a hook that will connect with enemy Awesomenauts and lets you drag them around the map for a short duration.
Damage : 100 (157)
Duration : 1,1s
Reel in time : 2s
Cooldown : 10s

Comments :

• This skill is why Smiles is such an awesome iniator. It allows him to tether any enemy who comes too close, and drag it along with him.
  
• Most of the time, catching an enemy with Trapper's Hook while you're with your team will be a guaranteed kill.
  
• The cooldown on this ability is a bit long though, and it is quite hard to hit, so don't use it foolishly. Try to wait until your enemy makes a mistake (using his last jump while he's in your range for instance) or to be almost sure to hit before using it.
  
• Note that this skill ignores the enemy droids, so you can hit someone who's staying behind his droids.
  
• Some Awesomenauts cannot be pulled while tethered in certain circumstances. For instance, you can't pull Nibbs during her Fire Breath. However, she will be dragged to you when his ability is over.
  
• Trapper's Hook won't tether Derpl while he's on his Siege Mode. Still, the damages on hit will be dealt, and you will get healed if you took the Snapper Trap upgrade.

Description : Smack your foes with your reinforced tail, knocking them back.
Damage : 300 (471)
Knockback : Yes
Stun : 0,2s
Cooldown : 6,5s

Comments :

• This skill has a quite short cooldown and high damages, and it's quite versatile.
  
• You can use it to knock nearby foes back, which is very precious when an ally is being chased, or when the enemy team is engaging you.
  
• As the cooldown is quite short, you can also use it to push, hitting a wave of droids back.
  
• You can also use it to push enemies back to your team or turret, if you manage to get behind them.
  
• This skill can also be used to finish off targets thanks to its high damages, but be careful though, if you don't kill your target, they will be out of reach.

Here's the standard build I suggest you for Smiles. Be sure to read the explanations below to know why I suggest you to go for this build, and to get more situational suggestions.







The first thing you'll find yourself needing while playing as Smiles is to upgrade your Trapper's Hook in order to have more chances to hit your target and in order to keep it longer. That's why I suggest you to go first for Bush Telly and Electric Magnetic Winch.



Then, you'd like to give the enemy some more damages when you catch them, that's why you'd like to go for the Inscribed Lighter and for one rank of Pocket Dog.
Inscribed Lighter makes you leave flames on the ground while attacking, which deals a lot of damages to targets who stays in it. This makes you push a lot faster.
Pocket Dog allows you to burn your target while attacking them, dealing damages over time. It deals 100 damages over 4 seconds at first rank, and 200 damages over 4 seconds at second rank. And it reloads every 4 seconds. This will help you to deal a lot more damages on short skirmishes.



You might begin to feel that you need some tankiness, that's why I suggest you to take one rank of Power Pills, which gives you more HP, and to go for Snapper Trap.
Snapper Trap allows you to heal yourself each time you hit someone with the hook. It heals 250 HP, and scales with team levels.
Right after taking the Snapper Trap, before you go for the Med-i-cans, I recommand you to take the second rank of Pocket Dog, which will give you way more damages on hit.



You'd also like to get the Med-i-cans. These will increase your HP regeneration. Note that you can take them anytime you feel you need them, as they're dirt cheap and can really help you survive and stay at the front. The reason why I recommand to take Snapper Trap first is because it allows you to play more agressively and to surprise your enemies, who might take risks attacking you while you're low in health and then find out that you can heal yourself. Remember that each time you'll hit someone with Trapper's Hook, you'll heal more than 250 HP thanks to Snapper Trap.
Med-i-cans would be more appropriate in situations in which you can't heal yourself using the creeps or health packs, or in which going for a grab is dangerous and costs you too much HP. Most of the time that's not the case.



After buying all these tanky items, you'd like to go for some more damages. Barbie sauce will give you better attack damages, which will help you clear waves of droids and doing more damages when you get close enough to an enemy naut.




In most situations, you'd like to go for the Swamp Gummies at this stage of the game. This will raise your movement speed, but this will also give you a big HP regeneration boost while you're inside of a hiding area. Thanks to your Swamp Gummies and your Med-i-cans, you'll be healing ridiculously fast in those areas. You can take advantage of this when you're fighting or when you're being chased.

When you can't handle the burst of your enemies (you get too much damages on short durations), or when you can't handle their CCs (Crowd Control, such as slows, stuns, knockbacks, etc.), you should consider going for another item.



At this stage of the game, things might become a little harder. Teamfights will begin to occur, and you'd like to block your enemies longer. I suggest you to go for My first machete, as it allows you to slow your foes' movement speed for 2 seconds each time you hit them with your Tail Whip.
You'll slow by 12% at first rank, and by 24% at second rank.
Right after My first machete, you would like to take your second rank of Power Pills, which will gives you a nice HP steroid.




You're close to the end of your build, and now you'd want to upgrade your Tail Whip. I suggest you to go first for the Gnome King, which will increase your damages on Tail Whip. Then, you'd like to go for the Sandworm Tail, as it will allow you to deal more damages (180 damages, and it scales with the team levels) on foes who have more than 50% of their HP.

You can trade Snapper Trap for one of those three other upgrade. I wouldn't trade the Electric Magnetic Winch or the Bush Telly, as they're essential in my opinion.

Candy rope will allow you to have more presence in teamfights, allowing you to decrease by 20% the damages dealt by your target while tethered. This can help if an enemy naut is dealing too much damages and is impossible to deal with.

The Knot Meister reduces your Trapper's Hook cooldown by 40% if you successfully hit with Tail Whip. This is a great tool for dueling, but only to take if you don't need the lifesteal of Snapper Trap.

Dinosaur Hook will give you more damages on your Trapper's Hook, which is always nice.




The Dirty Apron makes you deal 35% more damages with your Bush Fire on targets that are stunned, snared or slowed. You could maybe trade Pocket Dog for it when you have many CC on your team (Scoop's Frozen Hammer, Froggy G's Splash Dash, Gnaw's Acid Spit with the Tentacle Soup upgrade, etc.)

The Roadkill Shashlik increases the range of your Bush Fire. It can be useful sometimes, but I don't think it's worth to trade it with another upgrade.




The Unicornian Butt is another viable way to get some more CCs. It increases the stun duration of your Tail Whip from 0,2s to 0,5s. The reason why I prefer to take My first machete is because it lasts for 2 seconds, which allows you to escape or to chase your target better. Even if your target dashes away, you'll be able to catch up thanks to the duration of the slow.

The Wooly Geurt allows you to have your Tail Whip more often. It's quite useful, but I personaly prefer to deal more damages when I use the Tail Whip than having it more often. By the way, I think the base cooldown on Tail Whip allows you to push without feeling that you'd be needing a shorter cooldown.




In some situations, you should trade your Swamp Gummies for one of those.

The Barrier Magazine will help you handle the burst of your enemies, by absorbing a part of the damages that are dealt to you. It absorbs 5% of the damages dealt per rank. You should take it when you take too much damages on short durations.

The Baby Kuri Mammoth will reduce by 30% the duration of any debuff that affects you. You should take it when you're experiencing troubles against enemy teams who have too many CCs.




You should avoid to take those upgrades.

The Rodent Smoker allows you to heal each time you kill something with your Bush Fire. You will be healed by 90 HP at first rank, and by 180 HP at second rank (it scales with the team levels).You will get the heal over 5 seconds. It does not stack, nor reset. The reason why you should avoid taking this upgrade is because you have already enough heals. It could be interesting but it would costs you damages, making you tankier but also less dangerous.

The Warbot "Heart" grants Tail Whip the ability to strike friendly droids, increasing their attack speed by 100% and their movement speed by 25%. This effect lasts for 10 seconds. It's a really interesting upgrade, as it allows you to push lanes quite faster, without even being there. Most of the time, you won't need it anyway, because you have enough pushing power already.

The Piggy Bank will instantly give you 100 Solar. Sometimes you might find yourself needing some more Solars to buy an upgrade, and you might want to take the Piggy Bank but please don't. It will cost you one Utility Upgrade slot, that you could use to take something really useful. The only situations in which it's useful to take the Piggy Bank is when the game is almost over. For instance, if the enemies is destroying your base, you might want to take it in order to upgrade one of your ability so you can have a chance to push them away.


I personally upgrade basic attacks early on most characters. This way you're not completely useless when your spells are down, and you can push without troubles. However, upgrading Tail whip first is not foolish, as it will give you a better burst in the early game.
I think that the damages on Tail whip are high enough without any upgrade to leave it like that until later in the game. Focusing on Bush fire allows you to push faster and to deal more damages to turrets, which are immune to Tail whip. It also contributes more to your dueling power.

For the sake of clarity, I gave names to the trick&combos I'm setting out in this guide. Those are personal (they are not given by the game) and are not supposed to be relevant.

• As I told you earlier, Tail Whip is a versatile tool that will allow you to push, disengage, engage, and finish off targets.
  
• It has great damages, a likely short cooldown, and it's hard to miss so you can use it often.
  
• The only way you might miss it is if your target jumps shortly before you use your ability. Be aware of that and try to use it when your target used their jumps.

• The easiest combo and the one you'll spam in the early game. Capture an enemy with Trapper's hook, burn it as much as you can thanks to your basic attacks while moving backwards, and then just throw him back with Tail whip when you feel like you're done. That's it.
  
• This basic combo is always useful. Its main purpose is to deal a high amount of damages without taking too much yourself, which is achieved by knocking your target back to where it came from as soon as you're finished.
  
• You can also use it to get a kill, when your target is low on health or when your allies are nearby. Remember to be cautious when you use Tail whip. In some case, don't use it, as your allies may be able to finish your target and get a kill. If you push your target back, it may escape and that'll be over, or even worse, you'll end up chasing and putting you in danger.
  
• Getting the Pocket Dog upgrade early will help you deal more damages. You can also upgrade Tail whip's damages, which I do not recommend as said in the build explanation section (part 2).

• When you shoot your Trapper's Hook, you want the target to go quickly back to you right after. This is achieved by moving backwards as soon as you launched the skill. When your target will be hit, it will quickly moves towards you.
  
• Watch the gif from the Little Skirmish section. As you can see, when I catch the Yuri, he's quickly brought back to me, because I moved backwards right after casting my Trapper's Hook.
  
• You should use this trick for three reasons :
  
  1. It surprises your target by quickly dragging her into your team.
     
  2. It puts your target way more in danger by allowing you to drag it further.
     
  3. It reduces your exposition to the enemy team, so you might take less damages.

• To achieve this combo, you'll have to get close enough to land first Tail whip. Then, while your target is getting knocked back, catch it with your Trapper's hook (be sure to take advantage of the Sprinback effect), and burn it with your Bush Fire.
  
• This combo is particulary useful when your enemies are pushing a turret. Using Tail Whip first will clear the droid wave and knock everybody back, then using your Trapper's Hook will let you capture back one of the enemy Naut and put him under the turret's fire for a while.
  It might also be useful when you're hidding in a hidden spot and can get close enough to a target to hit it with your Tail whip.
  
• Using this combo instead of the Lil' Skirmish one will allow you to make a quicker burst and gives less chances for the target to escape.

• When you're chasing, remember to stop using Bush fire while your target is out of range. Smiles' movement speed is reduced when he's using Bush fire.
  
• Unless you have boots or unless your target's speed is low, you won't be able to catch up to it most of the time though, as Smiles' movement speed is just average. You can expect your target to do a silly move and be able to catch it, or have a teammate slows it or catch up to it.

In the early game, be sure to push droids waves using Tail whip and Bush fire, and swap often to other lanes to help your allies and push. The main point here is to quickly gain Team Levels and Solar.

Be sure to swap also as it will allow you to surprise your enemies and maybe catch them with your Trapper's hook, allowing you to combo them and deal them a massive amount of damages. Remember not to greed, don't put your life in danger if your enemy is escaping with a very little HP. Of course you can chase, but always be cautious (you can be ganked, your target can block you under their turrets, etc.). Remember by the way that you're not the best chaser of the game, as mentionned earlier.

You can also hide in hidden spots, then when an enemy shows up, catch him with Trapper's hook or push it to your team using Tail whip.

Pick health packs and kill creeps as soon as you lack a bit of HP, as your role as an iniator will put you in danger everytime you go for a prey.

To make a long story short, be sure to push and to punish your enemies every time they do a mistake. You're a hunter, so hunt them all down.

In the late game, you'll become nearly unkillable thanks to your high HP and your amazing HP regeneration (Snapper Trap, Med-i-cans, Swamp Gummies). Your huge hitbox makes you quite a good tank too. Your role at this stage of the game is to iniate the fight, do as much damages as you can and be sure to soak up as much damages as you can without dying.

Remember that you're not a tank but a fighter in the first place. The point is that, most of the time, you'll find yourself with less tanky Nauts. That's why you should protect them as much as possible.

Try to stick as much as possible with your team at this stage of the game. Play defensively when your teammates are pushing somewhere else or are not with you. You should try to stay back, and not engage unless you're sure that your allies can come pretty fast or/and your target can't get help fast enough and can't destroy you back.

When you're with your team, before engaging, be sure to check that the conditions are fine. Good conditions would be, for instance : enemy team's most annoying spells are on cooldown (Sentry's Black Hole, Nibbs' Fire Breath, Yoolip's Robo Dinos, etc.), one of their Naut is away and can't come immediately, they tried to engage you, and your team successfully disengaged, or you feel that your team has a way better teamfighting potential. Then try to get someone with your Trapper's Hook, and use your flamethrower.

Try to keep Tail whip to disengage if things are not going well, to knock their tank(s) and annoying Nauts back, or to secure a kill. This skill will also be useful when you're being engaged as well.

Don't forget to follow up with what you did in early game, any time you get to see an enemy Naut out of position, be sure to catch it and do it a basic combo (Lil' Skirmish or Boomerang). If your team follows up it's a kill.

When you killed an enemy Naut during a teamfight or because he was out of position, and if your team is not exposed to any danger (you're out of HP and their Nibbs is still alive for instance), go for their turrets or base. Go on the most pushed lane, make sure that one of your Naut pushes the other lane as well, then join you, and damage their buildings as much as you can.

If things are not going well, and you can't win fights, try to safely push and remain at your turrets. If you successfully clear a droid wave then catch an enemy Naut while your allies are near, you'll be able to kill him and get the advantage back. Don't get too cocky after that though.

Any healer will do awesome with you. They'll keep your health topped off, making you definitely unkillable and allowing you to keep hunting all the time.
Yoolip and Voltar are awesome teammates for you too because they will benefit a lot from your Trapper's Hook (Pull an enemy into Yoolip's Dinos or allow Voltar's Suicide Drones to attack), and they can follow up your Trapper's Hook with their abilities (Voltar can shoot Suicide Drones on your enemy, and Yoolip can ensnare him).

(You may ask your Yoolip to take the Dino Poop upgrade on his Robo Dinos, so that they leave healthpacks on the ground)

MORE COMING SOON

• Smiles is weak when his skills are on cooldown. Try to attack him only when his Trapper Hook is down and be sure to dodge his Tail whip.
  
• Smiles lacks of mobility, so be sure to take advantage on that while chasing or fleeing.
  
• Try to initiate only when his Tail whip is on cooldown, so that he cannot disengage.
  
• Beware of hidden spots, in which Smiles could hide in order to gank you.

This section aims at giving you some cool videos of Smiles' gameplay and Smiles' kill compilations, along with some cool stuff about Smiles. Be sure to share your stuff with everybody in the comment section.

This video from SlowWolf really helped me making the build I suggest you for Smiles. It also shows you some competitive gameplay for Smiles, which is cool. Be sure to watch if you need something concrete after reading this guide.

This video is a cool kill compilation from PenguinPandaZero, which features clips from himself and from Kydrex.

Here's a skin suggested by a player. I think it would be pretty cool if Ronimo could make it real ! You can find the topic on the Awesomenauts forum here[www.awesomenauts.com].

Thanks for reading this guide. I hope it has given you some useful tips and that it helped you getting better at playing Smiles.

If you liked this guide, please rate it, and if you want to add anything or discuss about something, be sure to leave a comment. Now shh, you gotta trap the little buggers...

This part lets you know what edits have been made to the guide since its creation.

• 08/28/2017 - Gifs in the Combos&Tricks section, and some minor corrections
  
  • The Tail Whip and the Trapper's Hook are now correctly assigned to their mouse buttons in the Skills section
    
  • Added more space between each comments on an upgrade in the Build part 2 section
    
  • Added the gifs for (almost) each trick or combo mentioned in the Tricks&Combos section. Couldn't find a nice "Recoil".
• 08/25/2017 - Major visual changes, and modified Build Section
  • Changed the avatar of the guide
    
  • Added title banners for each part
    
  • Modified the Skills pictures
    
  • Modified the Build section pictures
    
  • Modified the Synergie picture
    
  • Couldn't upload the gifs for the Trips&Combos section (they were too heavy). Working on a solution.
    
  • The suggested build (aka Standard Build) has been modified
    
  • Added some more informations on every upgrade you can take.
• 08/18/2017 - Guide was uploaded