Smite

To clarify: according to datamining the next god after Nike is listed only as "G84". Last year Amaterasu, the first god in the Japanese pantheon, was similarly listed as "God72". This, combined with Hi-Rez's usual openness to dataminers, strongly indicates that G84 is the first in a brand new pantheon.

I'm personally happy about this, because this falls in line with what I've wanted them to do since starting the Japanese pantheon last year: releasing a new one every year following, at least for a while. There are nearly a dozen other pantheons that are long overdue for representation, and while the Japanese got an impressive four gods this year the Hindus didn't receive anything and the Mayans and Romans only got one each. The bolstering of the top four (Greek, Egyptian, Norse, and Chinese) would be a little less frustrating if there were half a dozen pantheons in the same boat as the Hindu.

It's a little early for Hi-Rez to hype it up themselves (they didn't mention the Japanese was coming until late November-early December), but I honestly hope they don't. I don't want them to waste time throwing a New Year's bash every time a new pantheon comes out, especially when all it does is pimp out more chests. Just launch it, maybe do a video, then get on with it.

edited 3rd Nov '16 6:09:23 AM by Watchtower

AMC = Ah Muzen Cab? You mean he was bottom-tier and useless until now?

Since he was on my list of gods I'm comfortable playing, I now want to know who are the current top gods in the metagame, and how well is the placement of the following gods (also gods I find myself comfortable using):

• Bacchus
• Khepri
• Amaterasu
• Bellona
• Chaac
• Guan Yu
• He Bo
• Janus
• Ra
• Artemis
• Nemesis

I only play this with friends, or at least people I know, but the friends I play with will become unreachable in a couple of months; Watchtower, do you have a group of friends of some sort?

edited 3rd Nov '16 9:47:46 AM by AngelG55th

Yeah, Ah Muzen Cab was generally considered weak primarily because he had no movement abilities in a game where mobility is king (next to CC). That's still a major weakness, but at least now he's a lot closer to balanced.

Generally speaking, Athena, Thor, and Janus are always top-tier in some way or another, due to the very nature of their kits. Ao Kuang, Erlang Shen. Jing Wei, Fafnir, and Terra are among the current top gods right now, as far as I can tell.

As for your list:

• Bacchus: Generally considered one of the stronger supports right now, though you have to go full-aggression with him.
• Khepri: Used to be OP, but is still very strong because of his ult.
• Amaterasu: Very strong.
• Bellona: Used to be OP, but is still very strong because of all the options in her kit.
• Chaac: Now considered around balanced.
• Guan Yu: Considered one of the strongest warriors right now, in part because of how well he can work as a support.
• He Bo: One of the weaker gods for a long time. The few mobility options he has put him at risk, and he's really mana-hungry.
• Janus: Noted already.
• Ra: Balanced to slightly below, depending on who you ask.
• Artemis: Like AMC she suffers from no movement abilities, but the buffs to Tusky sometime back have helped push her more into balanced territory.
• Nemesis: Has potential, but is generally seen as too risky.

I actually haven't been able to play in the past couple months due to my gaming laptop breaking down. I'm actually considering possibly transitioning over to PS 4 because of that. Sorry about that.

edited 3rd Nov '16 7:14:15 PM by Watchtower

Well the good news is that Hi-Rez listened, and removed the delay on Susano's first 1. However, the damage spread still stays. Also for the Tornado knockup, you need to just wait for 1 second first instead of waiting until fully charged.

Although I play this, I never really had any MOBA experience before this game, therefore I'd like to ask how exactly are you supposed to play Assassins in general; they are squishy, mobile and seem to not contribute a lot to teamfights.

I would like to have at least a basic skill level with all the game's roles, you see.

Assassins are squishy and mobile, but they also do a lot of damage, or, more specifically, a lot of single-target damage. Their strength isn't meant to be in jumping into the middle of teamfights. It's meant to be in chasing and taking out one or two targets in isolation.

Wanting at least a basic understanding of all roles is the right mindset to have, so you're already on a good start. I can't claim to be an expert at all, but if you have questions on Smite or on MOBAs in general feel free to ask.

Right. So Assassins basically just whack minions (as if there were characters that DON'T do that ), occasinally taking potshots at isolated enemies, hoping to score kills, get fed and then really start killing?

Assassins usually hang around in jungle, and then do ganks after they whack jungle minions (Just be careful of invades). But on non-Conquest maps, they may participate in whacking minions. But most importantly, if they don't have a poke (some, like Mercury, has a poke), their job is to follow up their initiator to pick off one enemy that is mispositioned, their single target damage and other means of CC can make the enemy die quick.

edited 5th Nov '16 3:48:59 PM by ChrisX

When it comes to team fights, Assassins like to pick off key members, like a Hunter in the back lines or someone retreating. Some assassins jump into the fray quickly for damage before jumping right back out, like Susanoo and Bastet, but most of the time you dont want to lead the charge. Especially if thier Tank is healthy. CC is never a good thing for someone so easily squashed.

What would a poke be?

Also, about my "whacking minions" comment - my Smite games are about 60% Arena, 30% Joust, 10% everything else, and I've not played a single Conquest yet.

I'd like to warn that one shouldn't mix up or combine role (Solo, Mid, ADC, Jungle, Support) and class (Warrior, Mage, Hunter, Assassin, Guardian). There are Assassins that can be taken into solo lane, where they'll do their share of whacking minions.

A poke is any kind of attack that designed to quickly hit an opponent from a distance. For example, Mercury's poke is his Made You Look ability.

edited 5th Nov '16 4:39:43 PM by Watchtower

I think I get it. What would be an Assassin good to learn how to play that class? Thor, maybe?

Edit: more characters for Watchtower to assess their viability:

• Agni
• Anhur
• Chang'e
• Nu Wa
• Vulcan

edited 5th Nov '16 7:30:40 PM by AngelG55th

Thor's definitely a good choice. As for the ones you listed:

• Agni: Often called "the focal point of balance", though lately he's been seen as a bit stronger.
• Anhur: One of the stronger Hunters available.
• Chang'e: One of the weakest gods currently. She's a healer with a very weak heal, and she's considered sub-par in her best position (Solo).
• Nu Wa: Considered balanced, even more so since they updated her minions' AI.
• Vulcan: Considered balanced, especially after his passive change.

Y'know, I was thinking what if there is a Smite-like game, except it just involves historical legends. Kind of similar to those things at Fate Stay Night or Arena Of Fate, except strictly history's legends, not anything mythical. Something similar to having Joan of Arc, King Arthur, Oda Nobunaga, Erik the Red, Lu Bu, Richard the Lionhearted, Genghis Khan, El Cid, Leonidas, etc in one brawl.

Think of it like Civilization or Fate series meets Smite. What do you think? Would it be nice to counterpart Smite's stuffs? Though I guess we have to come up with how they got around with the whole magical mumbo jumbo (if it's Gods, it can be handwaved...)

edited 6th Nov '16 5:53:02 PM by ChrisX

well we already have Guan Yu, who actually existed

"Have a good day. Have a good week. Have a good month. Have a good year. Have a good life." ~Civia

MOBAs are already so over-saturated, but I would kill to play a F/SN one. It's just perfect for this style of game.

Wasn't there already one that had Tesla and Little Red Riding Hood or something?

That's Arena of Fate, of which I've really heard nothing else at this point. Looking around superficially, Wikipedia claims their game director left in September, which can't have been good for it - that being said, its subreddit claims a large update dropped around a month ago so that certainly didn't kill it.

I don't think Arena of Fate counts, it's like a mash up between history, mythology and fairy tale. For instance, I don't think Red Riding Hood existed historically...

There are some Chinese deities that were formerly mortal, but then again, only Guan Yu was eligible for that. China has no shortage of military personnels that aren't deities yet. For instance, aside of anyone else from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, even if I'm not sure how involved he is with war overall... Wong Fei Hung? Or if we go by Japan... Yagyu Jubei?

edited 6th Nov '16 10:25:18 PM by ChrisX

Me and Assassins. I get it: they're mobile, squishy and excellent hit-and-runners. What I don't get about them is that abilities don't seem to hit hard enough to kill things that aren't severely weakened first. Are you meant to rely on their autoattacks as well? That, and trading blows for too long doesn't usually end well for the Assassin.

many assassins are auto-attack based, yes

"Have a good day. Have a good week. Have a good month. Have a good year. Have a good life." ~Civia

That depends on which Assassins are you using, are you using those who likes Normal Attacks or Skills better? An assassin that likes Normal Attacks usually can be seen with how they like to strike with normal attacks, either they have a skill that buff their normal attacks or stats temporarily, or doing a debuff on the enemy, or overall, their skills don't do much damage.

Mercury and Kali is a good example of Normal Attack assassins: Mercury's 2 buffs his autoattack power and speed, making him good for rapid fire strikes, especially after you displace them with 3. Aside of her mostly inaccurate poke, Kali has a short range area stun and her Ult renders her unable to die for a few seconds, so she'll have to make best of her auto attacks. For these, you'd want things that enhance your auto attacks more. Lifesteal, Crits, Attack Speed, etc.

And then there are assassins that does damage more on their skills. For example, Bastet, Thor. For this, they'd want to shoot down the majority of their skills to catch down and kill off the enemy. Unless you're sure you can kill them in one go, always save their escape skill in case things go south (so if that fails, poke them then run off, then do it again). For these, it's mostly on Penetration, and sometimes there are options for extra tankiness.

And then there's those who mixes both things together. The shining example? Fenrir. Has two escape/chase moves and one of them being a nuke. Sounds like a Skill-based assassin? Except his howl makes him a nightmarish auto-attacker because it buffs his attack and gives him lifesteal. For this, you can balance out how you build him, if at the time skills will deal more (Early game, where Fenrir is still squishy enough so he can't risk auto attacking), build on penetration or more tanky stuffs. But when he's fed enough and it's time for his auto attacking to shine, sell some gears for auto attack gears.

Assassin is one of the most demanding classification in the game, requiring you to be more aware of your surrounding in addition to how you build things up.

I don't play this game alone, only with friends; what could I do to enjoy this early going where I am going to do mediocre-to-terribly at any role I choose?

try bacchus

can do a bunch of damage, a ton of CC, and can tank attacks pretty well

"Have a good day. Have a good week. Have a good month. Have a good year. Have a good life." ~Civia

Already doing so, but I'd have to shed autobuy for him because he's best built full aggression according to Watchtower. Can you give me a build?

Besides that, I can't aim his bellyflop for crap

im not one to ask about builds

i just build damage until i start taking more than i can dish out, where i build a single defence item

"Have a good day. Have a good week. Have a good month. Have a good year. Have a good life." ~Civia