Since the last major SMITE patch, only a few weeks have passed – but that doesn’t stop the guys and girls at Hi-Rez from pushing out another new god. “Ao Kuang” is being integrated back into the game with a new model and new abilities. We have summarized what other innovations and improvements the patch “A MIGHTY SWORD!” brings here for you.
Ao Kuang – the assassin-like mage
The Dragon King returns to the game after being replaced by “Kukulkan” a few months ago. He still has some scores to settle, as historically he is more on the losing side, since “Ne Zha” has killed his two sons and defeated him – but “Sun Wukong” will also have to watch out, as he stole a magical pillar from the Dragon King’s palace.
Although Ao Kuang is a mage, he will play as a melee character and feel like an assassin – he has “Stealth” and his other abilities enhance the Dragon King’s basic attacks. This is particularly important because all items that can be activated on a hit of the “normal” attack are also activated by his abilities! As an ultimate, this god has a melee execution, which instantly kills enemies if they are below a certain HP threshold, the special thing about this is: AFTER the execution, Ao Kuang flies into the air and can land somewhere at a safe distance – or dive straight onto new enemies.
Balance Changes: A handful of nerfs
There aren’t really dramatic changes in this patch, but a few small nerfs have indeed been made: Nu Wa’s ultimate now scales only with 30% of her magical power (previously 40%) and the damage of her “Shining Metal” has been slightly reduced.
Mercury and Freya are being slightly nerfed, enemies now recover faster from “Banish” and “Special Delivery” – to be precise, they land on the ground faster and therefore take fewer hits they cannot avoid.
Serqet is also feeling the nerf bat, her “Deathbane” poison now scales only with 45% of physical power (previously 50%) and reduces enemy protection by only 15% (previously 20%).
Only Chronos will be slightly strengthened, as he is particularly too weak at the beginning of a match. The mana costs of “Accelerate” have been reduced by about 10% and the second segment of his “Wheel of Time” has been improved, now providing a 100% mana refund (previously only 75%).
More Skins and Voicepacks
After a long wait, it is finally time: Scylla is getting the much-awaited “Little Red Riding Hood” skin, fans have been begging for it for months, because who else could embody both the sweet girl and the big bad wolf at the same time? Of course, the skin comes with its own voice pack.
For Sylvanus, the old man on his tree, the “Prestige” skins are now available, including the gold, legendary, and diamond versions.
All fans of the “old” Nu Wa voice can also breathe a sigh of relief, as her voice pack has been completely renewed – all phrases have been recorded with the old voice actress (a renewal with something old – there are such things!). All players who had already purchased it will get their gems refunded and can repurchase it if they wish.
Aside from that, there are of course a whole lot of small detail changes, such as the graphics of Aphrodite’s God card being revamped to better match her true appearance in-game. A list of all changes can be viewed at the source reference at the end of the post.
The patch is expected to be tested until Tuesday and should then hit the live servers.
