Smite patch 0.1.1666 change list and discussion

Ever-so-faithfully exactly the day after a guide was written on it in order to invalidate that guide, Smite has seen another patch.

The good news is, it’s another awesome update, so we’re not mad at all.

The better yet news is, we’re here to discuss the changes it brought and what they mean for the game.

Without further ado, raise the curtain, Act 1: god changes!

God & balance changes

• More magical power scaling gods have had their basic attacks switched from dealing/scaling physical damage to magical.  

  • Ares, Bacchus, Freya, Guan Yu, Hades, Sobek, Vulcan, Ymir

Don’t underestimate this change. It provides a huge buff to all magical melee fighters so that their basic attacks are more than just a slowdown. Notably, magical gods will now actually be able to do something to towers and phoenices, other than lightly brush them and wait for your carries to arrive. Aside from Freya, no one received a compensating nerf either, as if those gods hadn’t been instalocks in tournaments already. Since mages already received this change in the last patch, every magical god in the game now uses magical power for all of her attacks.

• Bacchus

  • Drunk-O-Meter

    • The buff provided from the drunk state has changed from +5/15 Physical Power to +10/30 Magical Power.

  • Intoxicate

    • The buff provided by the ultimate has been changed from physical power to magical power.

Not much to see here, only accomodating Bacchus to whacking his enemies in the face with the power of magic. Well, and a slight buff, though it’ll likely be offset by people now being able to mitigate all of his damage through magical protection.

• Chang’e

  • Moonlit Waltz

    • The cooldown on this ability has been increased from 14/13/12/11/10s to 20/18/16/14/12s.

As a diehard fan of dem jukes, this change stings, but it’s reasonable. Since Moonlit Waltz is not commonly leveled until all other skills are maxed, it actually meant a 2s cooldown buff. Considering it used to start at 16s cooldown and get 2s off per rank, this is only a 4s nerf across the board.

• Fenrir

  • Ragnarok

    • The bite will no longer deal damage to the Fire Giant, Gold Fury or Minotaur.

Fenrir’s ultimate hurts. A lot. Now it won’t hurt the objectives any more, so it’s slightly harder to rush them down now. Of course, every other ultimate in the game still works, so there’s that.

• Freya

  • With Freya’s basic attacks changing to magical damage and scaling, the damage potential of her basic attacks has increased substantially as she builds magical power.  Because of that, the damage and scaling of Irradiate and Pulse have been adjusted to compensate.

  • Brisingamen’s Blessings

    • NEW PASSIVE – Freya’s necklace grants her an additional +15% magical lifesteal.

  • Irradiate

    • The base damage has been reduced from 50/70/90/110/130 to 40/55/70/85/100.s

    • The magical power contribution has been reduced from 35% to 20%.

    • The +10% physical lifesteal buff on this ability has been removed.

  • Pulse

    • The magical power contribution has been reduced from 20% to 15%.

    • The +10% magical lifesteal buff on this ability has been removed.

Seeing how much face Freya already melts, it’d seem unfair to give her the shiny new autoattacks without a tradeoff. Extensive testing is required to see these changes to their full extent, but it seems like Freya’s damage should overall stay the same. She does gain a lot of sustain though, now able to deal a fair amount of damage and heal herself without even using any mana.

• Hel

  • Inspire

    • This ability now gives her and her allies 20% movement speed for 6s at all ranks.

Lovely. Personally, I would have put this onto her 2, but what do I know. No one complains about running much faster after getting your face mended back into an unmelted state.

• Sobek

  • Tail Whip

    • The distance that enemies are knocked back has been reduced.

    • The amount of time that enemies can be knocked back has been reduced.

Sobek’s control is legendary, and he only deserves this nerf. Maybe I’m biased because I hate anything that’s as top tier as he. When none are powerful, all are balanced. Still, don’t forget that he gained a major damage buff in the same update due to the scaling change.

Item changes

• Magi’s Blessing

  • This item has changed to the following:

    • +350 Health

    • +30% Crowd Control Reduction

    • PASSIVE – Absorbs a single hard crowd control effect once every 60 seconds. When this occurs, the owner also receives 1s of cc immunity.

Now gives slightly less sustain and less up-front defense. However, it is now much better at doing what it wants to. No longer is the bubble chewed up by a single tick of Agni’s methane fumes, no longer will you be sitting in a Mummify wondering where your life went so wrong because one of Anubis’ hands burst your bubble. Eating a CC when you shouldn’t is the second to top cause for death in Smite. Magi’s Blessing will ensure you stay in the fight to avoid and deal damage, both with its absorption and with the duration reduction.

• NEW – Soul Reaver

  • Price – 3100g

  • +100 Magical Power

  • +300 Mana

  • PASSIVE – When a god takes damage from your abilities, they take 15% of their maximum health in additional damage. If multiple gods are hit, the damage is applied to the one with the greatest maximum health. This can only occur once every 60 seconds.

It’s essentially a Rod of Tahuti with a blasty Qin’s Blades effect. Due to its cooldown, it would probably serve best on a bursty mage like He Bo or Agni, or on a mage-style Chang’e to deal the damage over and over again with her sustain. Time will show if this is utilised and by who.

• Teleport and Shielded Teleport

  • When a player is teleporting to a tower, there is now a better visual indication at the tower during the channeling time that the player is incoming .

Remember all those fun times when a monkey came out of literally nowhere while you were pushing and got a penta? Yeah, nobody liked that.

• NEW – Eye of Providence

  • Tier 1 – This is an item that allows you to place a ward every 90 seconds, allowing you to see enemy movements where you place it. It does respect line of sight and can’t see through walls. It remains for 1 minute or until killed.

  • Tier 2 – This is an item that allows you to place a ward every 90 seconds, allowing you to see enemy movements where you place it. It does respect line of sight and can’t see through walls. It remains for 2 minutes or until killed.

  • Tier 3 – This is an item that allows you to place a sentry ward every 90 seconds, allowing you to see enemy movements and wards where you place it. It does respect line of sight and can’t see through walls. It remains for 3 minutes or until killed.

Sightstone, is that you? On a god who wards a lot, like everyone in a competitive setting ever, this can easily pay for itself. On rank 3, the ward is even better than what you can buy! That said, it does cost an active item slot. Time will have to tell if it’s worth it.

General changes

• [Several changes have been made to improve visual style and performance.]
  

The game is pretty, oh so pretty. Various animations and elements have been brought up to date with the newer style. No one can complain about better graphics. Notably, there is now an outline around all solid elements, showing you exactly where you can and can’t go. Also, you can now ping locations close to you through the voice menu, and cancel voice commands with the right mouse button. Since voice locks all other inputs, this will help avoid some stupid deaths.

• New Skins:

  • Tyr Dark Judgement

  • Arachne Golden

  • Neith Golden

  • Golden Cupid

• Voicepacks:

  • Tyr

  • Hercules

  • He Bo (includes He Bro Easter Egg)

What would fit the game better than a spider, a baby, and… whatever Neith is, all made of solid butter? Well, even though I think that most gold skins are ugly as hell, at least your god cards will allow you to boast with all of your secured kills. You can now also give out voice communication with the incredible vigour of Tyr, Herc, and He Bro.

• Tyr has been added, fulfilling the role of yet another physical bruiser.

Oh yeah, I guess that guy’s in now. Woo-hoo. I’ve been told that he looks awesome and is heavy fun without being heavily overpowered. I guess that’s good for everyone and stuff. Look, I hate bruisers because everyone plays them as junglers. No one needs yet another team of four junglers plus you.

Interested in Smite? Check it out through this link and start playing for free! If I happen to be online when you are, send me a message and we might play together! (Username is, obviously, Toraka.) This message is not sponsored, unless you count giving me favor and being an awesome game as sponsoring.