User blog:The5lacker/Going smiteless

It's something that I keep seeing, and it's something I do myself quite a bit if I think I can get away with it. But I keep seeing players go smiteless for no reason. They'll go smiteless at blue, and then...continue on their merry way, going through wolves, wraths, and then using Smite at Red.

Is it just me, or is this completely bonkers? Whenever I use smite at blue, it's usually up again by the time I get to red, even with champs with outrageous clear times like Elise. I know not many people remember that Mastermind is a mastery, but even without that, the cooldown of Smite is really, really short. Not using it when it's needed just seems foolish to me.

I only go smiteless if I intend to steal Red right after Blue. The experience buffs to the two of them are enormous, allowing me to reach level 3 by the time most people are hitting 2, which means an early gank can deal enormous damage if an enemy isn't prepared for it. In addition, by stealing the enemy Red, I'm both denying them valuable XP and damaging their overall clear times and gank potential, so it's a win-win.

The question I have to ask is this: What is it with people going smiteless for no discernable reason? It's not like NOT using a highly damaging ability decreases your clear time at all. If anything, the massive reduction in damage and slower Blue could leave you more open to counterjungling. So what's the deal, junglers? Why are you going smiteless? Is it just because you heard the word once and decided it sounded cool?