Striking introduced a new pantheon of gods called the Elders, and the first to represent them is Cthulhu. He is the High Priest of the Old Ones, and although he is powerful, there are many more terrifying beasts than him. In Smite, he brings two new status effects that many who face Cthulhu will become familiar with: Torment and Madness.
Torment is the first part of Madness Strike. When Cthulhu launches, he will be the only one capable of tormenting other gods, but others in the Pantheon of the Ancients will likely have the same ability. Torment comes from the final hit of Cthulhu's basic attack combo and all of his abilities. The first initial attacks of his chain only deal regular damage, but if he hits you with the final blow, that's when the torment stack occurs. All he has to do is hit you with that final attack. He doesn't have to do the full combo on you for this to count.
When you have four stacks of torment on you, it becomes madness. While you have the madness you will start to see animations all over your screen in the game. These include floating eyes, tentacles, and you will hear additional sound effects as if someone nearby is flashing on you. or the sound of a Loki using their stealth ability. These sound effects can occur even if no one in your game is blinking or there is no Loki on the enemy team. During this time, Cthulhu receives 25 magical powers for each enemy who has madness facing him. The madness effect lasts for 20 seconds.
Insanity is the real problem. Torment won't do anything to you, not until you've hit four stacks. You can try to avoid receiving these stacks by dodging Cthulhu's basic attacks, but all of his abilities also apply torment stacks to you. It will be difficult to prevent the madness from happening to you, especially during aggressive engagements with Cthulhu. The only thing you can do is prepare for the annoying sound effects that occur when you have it, and prepare for Cthulhu's extra magical power stacks while you have it.
