Well. . . SMITE will be here after server downtime! There were so many changes that it took hours to do the Patch Notes livestream. Now, I am admittedly curious why the SPL matches have begun before the actual changes went live. Maybe it’s because they just really want to get on the road? Maybe they’re worried the changes will require a bit more fine tuning, and they don’t want to have potentially broken, unfair matches and things of that nature. That’s the way I look at it, anyway. And with such a momentous amount of updates, there’s always the danger of things. . . Breaking. I provided a list recently of a few things that really caught my eye. But how about the things that could be most important, not to me, per se’, but to new players, all the way up to veterans? Let’s take another look and see what could really change how things go in Smite Season 4. There were three rounds of hotfixes to the 4.1 update, and they’re looking at the game closely to see what they’ll have to adjust for 4.2, when it’s time.
- Conquest Time: Though minions still spawn at 0:00 seconds, Jungle Camps still spawn at :30 seconds, but the game starts at -1:00 instead of -1:30 seconds. This is an interesting change to me. There’s now a lot less time to plan, get in position and start the match. Thirty seconds might not seem like a lot. . . But wait til you’re in Conquest. That thirty seconds will be a blessing you’ll sorely miss.
- Healing/Healing Supports: Healing across the board seems to have been lowered, in favor of changing/buffing said healers elsewhere, such as Magical Scaling [Aphrodite], Jade Rabbit’s Movement Speed buff [Chang’e], Cavalry Charge Damage [Guan Yu], and the list goes on. I. . . used to play a lot of Healing Supports, because I enjoy it, but as Season 2 went on, I went more towards the Guardian path. Perhaps Hirez feel that the power of Healing characters going into the mid-role or even solo/jungle/support was just too powerful. If you put a strong tank in the support role, and a caster that can heal and do damage in the mid or solo lane, you can really make for a frustrating time all around. Especially if you also have someone like Guan Yu roaming around, healing everyone in sight while also pounding the enemy into the ground like a tent spike. Sure, it might feel like a very drastic change, but they’re keeping their eye on it, and if it’s too awful, rest assured, they’ll correct it. So yes, healers lost some healing, but they aren’t just nerfed forever and got nothing back. Because they did receive pretty great buffs too. Let’s see how 4.1 goes, before we cry, yeah?
- Blackthorn Hammer: Hot. Damn. This is a ridiculous warrior/assassin melee weapon. It’s passive reads: If you are reduced to below 30% HP, all of your Cooldowns are reduced by 3s, and all of your Abilities cost 0 Mana to cast for the next 5s. This effect can only be activated once every 60s. Reduced Cooldown, and ZERO mana? So. . . You become Terra? That’s what you do? It’s going to make people getting away significantly easier, and a lot more vexing. It brings physical power, health and mana, so I can also see it on some Guardians too. I forsee a nerf to Blackthorn Hammer in the future. This is one of the biggest stand-out weapons to me.
- Erlang Shen: There were tons of changes, but I think the worst one was to Erlang Shen. Sure, our favorite Monkey now has 95% physical scaling, but Erlang Shen had one adjustment. But it’s a major one. Pin no longer has cripple. Am I happy about it? YES. Because I hate dealing with cripple just in general. But I don’t think it was a game breaking ability. Maybe make the cripple harder to hit [has to be in the center?], or something? I am torn on how I feel, but from a competitive standpoint, I feel like it’s really going to make Erlang Shen go from being in every match, to being in zero matches. I’ll miss that doggo. . .
- Hastened Fatalis: Okay, I lied. There’s something else in the items worth note. Hastened Fatalis no longer has a specific penetration. It’s a neutral penetration. The way it worked before [and now], there are Physical Pen and Magical Pen items, and you can’t cross the streams. Physical characters don’t benefit from Magical Pen, and vice versa. But Hastened Fatalis appears to be just “Penetration” now. I’m a bit confused on Fatalis now. From what I understand, it received “ten penetration”. But the way I understand it, is that Hastened Fatalis is now good on both kinds of protections, so it’s a lot more viable an item than ever before. They wanted to make it feel worth it, and buddy do I ever think it does that. It lost some attack speed, but it gained more penetration, and became a more viable build item.
- Honorable Mention: Skins: A rival news branch really wrote an entire news piece bitching about Doggo Skadi. Why? Why would you do that? Instead how about. . . don’t buy it, if you don’t want it? Seriously guys, the Hirez team put a lot of work and love into that skin, and they’re immensely proud of it. I know so many [SO MANY] people who want it. The Hirez team knows what their audience wants. I have a feeling those other news brands don’t get that. Which is fine, it’s fine. A meme isn’t gauged by time though. As long as people enjoy a good chuckle from it, it’s relevant. Let’s not be cads, yeah? Nothing but love to their skin team/voice team, I think it’s marvelous. I love skins that make people salty.
What about you guys? What do you think of the SMITE Season 4 changes? Anything you’re particularly excited or upset about? Please feel free to leave it in the comments below, and join Bottom Tier as they play SMITE Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights, 8pm EST!
