Smite

What? Odin does no damage? Not really. Pop in 2, jump with 1, MASSIVE damage.

I don't think I have quite a lot of least faves, but if I have to say, it could be... Tyr. I play at around 300 ping, so landing his skills, especially on melee, will become a chore and more than often gets me killed. And usually, an enemy-controlled Tyr would become an absolute beast. But that's just gameplay-wise, personality-wise, I'm kinda amused with Tyr's No Sense of Humor.

edited 16th Feb '15 2:07:07 PM by ChrisX

Okay, tried that combo out for Odin, and yeah, that really does do good amounts of damage. I just still wish that damage was more spread out around his kit, because I don't like feeling like I have to rely on that one combo to handle myself.

Anyway, good stuff came out yesterday: Bellona, the Goddess of War has been fully revealed, and I'm really liking her so far. As a Lo L player, the weapon changing reminds me somewhat of Udyr, but it's nice to see she still has actual abilities outside of said stances. She's also got a real badass look to her.

Ymir also got a much-needed remodel. I like that they kept close to his original design but actually made him look like ice now, rather than whatever blue blocky thing he was supposed to be before. The giant metal club is also a nice addition.

We've also got datamining updates. The Xbox skins seem to be in the same vein as Twitch-Ymir and Curse Apollo, and will most likely show up whenever the Xbox One beta starts. Arena and Joust also seem to be getting reworks, which sound interesting. Medusa now has a placeholder card, which seems to be setting her up as the next god, and we've already got hints at the next one on the list: the Mayan death god Ah Puch.

The Medusa placeholder card makes me laugh, really. It's a snake/cobra with a photoshopped boobs on it.

That being said I DO love playing as Sobek and scoring accurate Charge Prey, and then tossing the enemy to oblivion. And if they are trying to latch on me, I just go "Get away from me, you monkey!" and then Tail Whip, then run off with Charge Prey.

As far as existing Pantheon God-wishlist... I'm still waiting for Hindu's Ganesha.

edited 20th Feb '15 1:54:11 AM by ChrisX

Bellona, the Roman Goddess of War, enters the Battleground of the Gods as Smite's first (well, second if you count Nemesis' original classification) female Warrior in the latest patch!

The new free god rotation is: Isis, Sun Wukong, Sobek, Anhur, and Fenrir.

edited 25th Feb '15 4:34:44 PM by SonicWind

Technically speaking

Nemesis was the first Warrior but was reclassified to Assassin due to how people played her and her kit setup not really being Warrior eqsue

Bellona however has a much more Warrior style kit and playstyle...

<.< >.>

She kinda looks like Riven's Black haired Twin

edited 26th Feb '15 12:09:44 AM by FrozenWolf2

Hou Yi took a vacation for a day before returning because...

I dunno, I think Riven has the vibe of spiky hair more than Bellona. Plus... Bellona seems to have more bravado than Riven being a bit more soft-spoken and angst-ridden. I'm thinking more along the line of Legion Commander (just not being racist).

Also lately there's been some complains that Nemesis' assassin style is nerfed to ground that she can work as either Assassin or Warrior in spite of classification.

Greek still has no Warrior, Chinese still has no Guardian.

That being said... next God according to Datamining is apparently... Medusa

Another patch, another datamining.

Medusa unfortunately isn't coming just yet, but the little bits of her moveset seem interesting. Can't really say much without knowing what it's going to be though. Same goes for Ah Puch. In the meantime, here's Medusa's totally-legit super-kawaii god card.

Also, it looks like Hi-Rez is trying to set up an achievement system. Probably related more to the upcoming Xbox One beta, but we'll wait and see.

I'm surprised that it took this long that Freya got a Valkyrie skin, considering her title is 'Queen of the Valkyries'.

Anyway, this is something I made out of my love of this genre. Enjoy.

Medusa, the Gorgon heading to the next PTS.

Kit is looking really cool. That passive of hers is definitely going to make her slippery, and her main abilities have this weird mix of snakes, acid, and arrows that ties up really well. And then there's her ult, which is basically Cass ult with the added bonus of turning enemies to stone if it kills. That is just awesome.

And then there's her look, which is utterly fantastic. The slithering in motion is a little awkward, but it's still great. I especially love her mask, which is a genuinely unique take on her curse that I've never seen before. And pics have gone around of her unmasked for her ult, and they did not try to pretty her up.

Another notable thing the patch will add is a new Clan system. Personally I'm not interested in that kind of stuff, but it actually looks pretty cool. It's more than just a name; it's an actual brand that you have to build up through player achievements and quests. Really looking forward to how that turns out.

Double posting, but new datamining.

Good news: Next goddess after Ah Puch is The Morrigan, which means the Celts are in town. Bad news: She seems tied to a chest, and is possibly chest-exclusive.

Good news: This smells like a pretty obvious April Fool's joke. Bad news: Given recent statements, the joke might extend past the chest to the entire pantheon.

No matter what happens, it's certainly succeeded in getting everyone's panties in a twist.

Apologies for falling off. Haven't been able to play the game lately due to life overloading me. Still haven't been able to try Medusa yet, but I'll at least bring everything up to speed.

Ah Puch, the Horrific God of Decay has headed into the PTS, and will be made public next week. Design looks fantastic, clearly going for a Mayan witch doctor vibe. The mask is especially impressive with how much it looks like a skull, given how they can't exactly get skulls through with China. His kit's a bit more basic; as has been noted, he's effectively Gravekeeper from HoN. Still looks very cool, especially the wave of ghouls for his ult, and nobody cares about HoN anyway.

Recent datamining has also developed more on the next upcoming god: Ratatoskr, the Norse messenger squirrel. Somehow this guy made it passed April 1st (still so salty over Morrigan ), but he does look interesting, since he seems to be Smite's first attempt at having unique items ala Viktor or Rengar. It also looks like Anubis is getting a model update.

Finally, I normally don't comment much on skins but this abomination◊ has actually made me physical froth. My poor pancreas.

Beware the squirrel. The Ratatoskr god reveal page is up!

edited 16th May '15 5:16:38 AM by SonicWind

Apologies for dropping off again. Still haven't been able to try out Ah Puch or Ratatoskr yet. Hopefully I can get to the latter before the next patch hits.

Yes, the "Pins and Dolls" patch is scheduled to hit in two weeks, and the biggest change is a complete rework of Nox. She still is a bit of an anti-mage while being more aggressive, her kit has more synergy to it, there's a greater darkness theme to her abilities, and the best part: she can now "step" into allies ala Lifestealer. She's going to be a blast.

Some other interesting god changes: Ah Muzen Cab's passive can now be lengthened with attacks and will disarm if it lasts long enough, Ne Zha has a new passive that lets him consume stacks for health like Guan Yu, and Hou Yi's Divebomb now works more like Sun Wukong's ult instead of just having him awkwardly flutter around. Overall seem pretty good to me. Also, the new Arena map is supposed to come in, which looks as nice as it did a month ago.

The most concerning thing, however, are the item changes. There's been a clear "hunter meta" lately, so the goal is clearly to make the main items weaker and take longer to progress. But will their changes actually work? Or have they hurt assassins and warriors too much in the process? Time will only tell.

edited 6th Jun '15 12:54:18 PM by Watchtower

'd. Granted, it's a VERY hilarious reveal video, first of its kind too.

edited 7th Jun '15 1:12:52 AM by ChrisX

...I found out my boss plays this

Heh, pretty cool.

We've got the C-C-C-Combo Breaker Patch Notes and the God Reveal for Ravana, the Demon King. Apologies if the links don't work; computer I'm using has site restrictions, so I can't verify it myself right now.

A lot of what's going on right now is designed to shake up the meta game out of this little rut we're in. Magic pen boots returned, mid camps back to S1 timers, warding reductions and rewards, halved lifestealing off the Gold Fury and Fire Giant, and the biggest change: HOG getting reworked and toned down. Personally, what I would've done is remove the ability to execute GF and FG under a threshold, because it's bullshit and the biggest reason why it's so mandatory of an active. And they kinda do that, but they also reduce the number of targets it can affect. It's gonna be real interesting to see how everything gets affected in action.

Oddly, however, the most disappointing thing about the Ravana patch is Ravana himself. The design and the voice are both fantastic and appropriate, but the kit is just so bland. It's a very generic "martial artist" kit with no real identity behind it. It could very well prove itself to be Boring, but Practical, and with the accusations of Power Creep it's commendable that Hi-Rez can still produce such a simple kit, but it could still use some pizzazz to liven it up.

Guess it is time to earn some boss points by playing a game and carrying ihm or something? What are the basics I should know of this game? I am only familiar with League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm.

Ooh, first time I get to be on this side of the conversation. Fun times.

So the very first thing you're going to notice is the control scheme. This game is third-person over-the-shoulder, which means you have full control over your movement: WASD to move around, mouse to aim, left-click to fire. This means that typing messages can be very risky, because you have no control of your god while your typing. Luckily, there's the VGS system to make quick calls, It's very detailed, so learn it well.

The different controls also means that visibility is vital. You must keep your eyes on the minimap because there's no way to take the camera off your god. It is totally possible for someone to hide behind a wall and sneak up behind you without you knowing, which can make Loki a pain in the ass because he's Shaco. In addition, you move slower when walking sideways, backwards, or when attacking.

Leveling abilities is basically the same, except you get your ult at 5 and your max is 20. They're mapped to the 1234 keys, and left-clicking after pressing one will use it. Right-click to cancel using an ability. You can change how the abilties are bound, but I've never done it.

Press the spacebar to jump. This has no practical purpose whatsoever, but damn it's fun.

There are 5 roles: Assassin, Mage, Hunter, Warrior, and Guardian. The first three are what you'd expect, Warriors are meant to be Jack of All Stats, and Guardians are tanks. Note that there are very few healers in this game, so the default support will be a tank that helps the ADC before beginning to roam, soaking damage all the way. Also to note: Warriors, Hunters, and Assassins can only do physical damage, while Mages and Guardians can only do magical. This is reflected in the item builds.

Don't worry too much about last-hitting minions; you'll still get some gold for the kill, though not as much. However, you won't get anything if the tower hits them.

What about the auto attack system. I played the tutorial and notice it was vastly different. Isnt ranged kinda OP on melee with this?

Shit, I accidentally posted early.

The thing with ranged A As is that you need to aim. Sounds simple, but there are videos of players juking the shit out of Hunters who couldn't keep up. Doesn't help that very few gods don't have some sort of movement ability.

Speaking of aiming, there's an option somewhere to unlock the camera. Can't remember where at the moment, but you'll probably need it, with the number of gods that have ults which put them up above the map.

To add in what I was going to add in: The alternate game modes are on the trope page, but Conquest is going to be the standard map. The Phoenixes are a combination of the third turrets and inhibitors from Summoner's Rift. The Titan is the Nexus, except it can and will kill your ass if you're not ready. Gold Fury and Fire Giant are old-school Dragon and Baron Nashor. There are 4 buffs: damage, magic regen, movement speed, and attack speed. Killing it drops it on the ground for anyone on your team to pick up, and you can only have one at any given time.

If you do decide to play on with the game, buy the God Pack. $30 for everyone ever. Best deal outside of Dota giving you everyone for free.

edited 25th Jun '15 12:46:04 PM by Watchtower

Well an auto aim that has to aim is not much of an auto aim, is it :P

Lol, true that. The devs usually call them "inhands" instead. Curse you, Lo L handovers. (doesn't help that Smite's had a huge influx of Lo L migrants since January)

According to Smite Datamining, Herc's old model will return as a skin called "Retrocules"

So I still haven't been able to jump back in yet, though now it's less of my own laziness and more that I don't have access to the gaming laptop I used to use, and I'm not sure what I have on hand will be able to handle it. Will still be keeping up to date with the patches.

The Trickster's Illusion patch will drop next Tuesday. The main highlight is that Loki is getting a full remodel, and I just have to say thank the Gods. The old model was interesting in having Loki as a shriveled old man, but the snake motif was too forced and the overall design was poor quality. I'm loving the new little details, like the overall choice in blue, the poison markings around his eyes, and the way he holds his arms behind him when standing still. His VP is also good, sounding younger and more unhinged.

Speaking of V Ps, Loki's Infiltrator skin is also getting a new VP, which was so badly received Hi-Rez has already announced that they're going to recast. Hopefully it can maintain that badass tone that people got when they first got the skin. I know I don't care anymore, since Loki now doesn't look like shit.

Datamining has grabbed the icons for Khepri, and it's become clear why they wanted him: they wanted their own version of Anub'Arak. We also know the next god on the list: Xing Tian, the headless Chinese god with eyes for nipples and a mouth on his stomach. There's also some stuff about an upcoming Chinese-themed Joust revamp, which is hopefully actually fun to play and not just for tryhards.

edited 16th Jul '15 6:06:13 AM by Watchtower

I like using Anub'arak, myself, so it looks like Khepri could be my next God I'd use. I love some beetle-ish stuffs. Though looking at his skill shot, aside of the beetle stuffs, what else does he have that is similar to Anub'arak? His ult reminds me of Zilean's ult instead. You know the one. (Someone should make an offshoot of that video, featuring Khepri, Athena and maybe Ao Kuang instead)

In other news, Retro Hercules will have a lot of new voicelines. And... the one who voices him? Kevin Sorbo.

edited 24th Jul '15 9:05:31 PM by ChrisX