SMITE Patch Talk: 4.16: Summer Knockout

Behold! The Empress of Tomorrow – Terra! Wait, not Asuka?

This isn’t the biggest patch of the Summer of SMITE, but certainly one of my favorites for a few reasons. In patch 4.17 there’s going to be an Event for “Connor’s Cure”, a foundation dedicated to fighting Pediatric Cancer. If that sounds familiar, you watch WWE, like myself and Colton do, or you were around last year! Last year in SMITE, we at MMOHuts were extended a hand to participate in the “Xing Tian’s Mountain” Charity Event. The Bottom Tier Team (myself and Colt) were the participating parties and on day two of the event, we took first place. We held it until the very end, winning $20,000 for Connor’s Cure because we were incredibly dedicated to helping a cause we feel so strongly for.

To see the WWE and SMITE working together makes me happy, and for every purchase of the bundle in that event, Hirez will donate a dollar to Connor’s Cure. Personally, I’d like to have heard Alexa Bliss or Asuka voice her because they’re two of the best going right now. Their sass and personality would have gone quite well with the skin. So make sure on patch day that you get it, and support a great cause. It’s one of the highlights of my career as gaming press. That’s the biggest part of this patch, no matter how cool the skins are. But let’s talk about those briefly, or at least list ’em. There are some bug fixes, and some major nerfs and a few buffs, but all around it’s a nice solid patch of updates, fixes and prep for the next one. 4.17 is going to be wild as we get closer and closer to the end of this Season. Let’s begin!

Skins:

• Bearly Buzzed Bacchus: Complete the Summer of SMITE event! It’s Bear Bacchus Buzzed on Honey (sorry, couldn’t make the alliteration last longer)
• Bae Watch Cuchulainn:  Surf’s up! Another of the Summer of SMITE skins! He’s seeing a lot of skin love right out of the gate. Riot could learn something from this (Looking at Illaoi here, guys).
• Fire Dancer Xbalanque: Summer of SMITE skin, and the last one! He’s another character seeing a lot of skin love, but I’m not sure if it will top JAG.RAR.
• Dropkick Terra: Exclusive for Connor’s Cure bundle. Her hair reminds me of Asuka, and that’s wonderful. #TheStreak
• Serenity Vamana: He looks kind of familiar … A parody of someone who “Experiences Tranquility”, only he can walk. And become a big Baby Robot. It’s in a chest, so get hunting.
• Maha Rakta Ganesha: Love that red tone! A new skin for Ganesha, which it’s about time for! This one’s direct purchase.
• Artio Mastery Skins: They’re here in this patch, and they look sharp.

Project Olympus Rolls On:

Experience ... hostility.

On a personal level, this is the part of Project Olympus I’m the most worried about. Vivox (Integrated Voice Chat) comes in 4.17, and it’s been a nightmare in Paladins. At least in matches with random people. It’s less stressful to be on with friends in Discord/Skype/etc. Almost everyone who I’ve listened to on Paladins has their mic on 100, and swears, yells, or spouts nonsense/forces me to listen to their parents yell at them. Yeah, that’s happened. Yeah, it’s awkward. The Learn Tab Glossary, however, is an update I can get behind. Whether you’re new to MOBAs or a hardened, bitter vet, can potentially find something they didn’t know there. SMITE has a lot of terms and features that aren’t used elsewhere, and can certainly be a boon to those in need. I’m very leery of the voice chat though; at least people can be easily muted.

Item Updates/Bug Fixes:

Wow, there were a lot of God bug fixes in this patch, more than I realized. Most of them are just “Pet” clarifications, for the purpose of the Fire Giant bug fix. None of these were major, game-breaking bugs, but for clarification’s sake. For example, Ganesha’s “Good Fortune” now displays how many kills he’s granted to his allies and Ah Muzen Cab now accurately displays the range for “Stinger”. Fire Giant summons lava pools under everyone he’s fighting. What this used to mean is that certain Gods that have pets/adds will have their pet killed immediately from the lava pool damage. However, he no longer hits pets/adds with lava pools, and clarified the following Gods to have “pet” abilities:

• Arachne: Broodlings
• Kuzenbo: Nene
• Loki: Decoy
• Sun Wukong: Somersault Cloud

The Modern-Day Maharaja! Jinder ... I mean .. Ganesha!

On the Item front, so many Relics were nerfed/changed! Sundering Spear lost 20 seconds off its cooldown, whereas Heavenly Wings lost 10% of its decreased movement speed buff (down to 30%), which was probably for the best. It’s an incredibly strong tool to engage/disengage with, it was more or less a must-buy if you want to coordinate sick plays. The most tragic of these nerfs is the weakening of Magic Shell (15-12 Health Shield Scaling per level, and an increased cooldown, up to 150s). I’m bummed about the last two, because I buy them very frequently as a Guardian/Healer. One of the changes this patch was a definite positive, in Shaman’s Ring.

• Shaman’s Ring: Increased cost (2200-2300), Increased Magical Power (60-80), Evolved Shaman’s Ring Passive now only applies from Damaging Abilities. There were some powers that were marking players with its passive before the damage actually ticked over for an ability and that’s no good! Now it works as intended I imagine, and is a very attractive item for lots of damage dealers.
• Telekhine’s Ring: Decreased cost (2700-2400, wow!), and now it should stack its passive from DoT abilities. Updated the description to clarify the effect only stacks on Damage dealt to enemy Gods.
• Dynasty Plate Helm: Delightful. Increase in Physical protection (25-35), which is a godsend. This should make it a very appealing item for mages/squishies to deal with physical Gods.

God Nerfs (balance): 

Oh, bother.

Lots of nerfs all around this update! Some of them I’m horrified about (even if they need them. . .) like Artio, because I love Artio and I wanted her to stay nice and OP for as long as possible. But she needed some reduction in her kit all around. Skadi also needed her nerfs, because she can just do crazy damage and CC people down without a whole lot of work. Just look at her showing in the SPL/Relegation matches if you don’t believe in the power of Skadi. Chronos took a mild nerf, but there’s a really big change in this patch, and the winner of 4.17 is Khepri!

•  Khepri: Scarab’s Blessing: Scarab’s Blessing is now able to proc immediately. Blessed be! Players should no longer be interrupted while casting it. This is a change I’ve been waiting for for literal years.
• Cu Chulainn:  Barbed Spear: Increased healing reduction (40-50%). This is another very lovely change to an already powerful warrior.
• Artio:  … Lots of stuff. Decreased Magical Power Scaling on Maul Prey (35-30), Base Damage lowered (Down 10 in all ranks), Life Tap lost some slow (20-10%), decreased self healing (5 in all ranks)
• Chronos: Time Rift lost some Magical Power scaling (85-80%), Accelerate Decreased Section IV basic attack damage buff (45-35%) … Maybe he’ll appear less often in the duo lane.
• Skadi: Decreased physical power scaling from Permafrost (60-50%), and decreased bonus movement speed (instead of 40% at all, 20/25/30/35/40) … Not sure if this is enough.
• Susano: Increased movement speed (365-370, slow down there, Sonic) and Wind Siphon lost two seconds off its CD (18-16).