The guys and girls at Hi-Rez had suspended their regular patches for a while, as last week the first official SMITE World Championship took place, featuring a prize pool of a whopping 2.6 million dollars!
The American team “Cognitive Prime” managed to prevail in the last of 5 decisive matches, securing the majority of the prize money (1.3 million!) for themselves. But even for the runner-up, the trip was worth it, as the European team “Titan” returned not as winners but with 500,000 dollars.
Anyone who wants to watch the exciting and decisive battle for the championship can do so in the following video:
Patch introduces new God: Hou Yi
Quietly and secretly, after the World Championship, a new patch was released and deployed to the live servers. In addition to the new hunter “Hou Yi”, fans of Hel and Cupid can look forward to new skins, and followers of the assassin “Awilix” can breathe a sigh of relief as she receives her long-needed buff.
Hou Yi, Defender of the Earth!
The hunter from the Chinese pantheon is, according to legend, responsible for the fact that we now have only one sun in the sky and not ten – the other nine he shot down from the sky. Since then, the last sun bows to his will and only shines to an extent that makes life on Earth bearable. In Smite, Hou Yi is a hunter and his ability kit makes him particularly shine against assassins like “Loki”.
His passive ability “Suntouched” grants him immunity against critical hits for three seconds after he has suffered such a hit – and that without cooldown. A new, interesting mechanic brings his ability “Ricochet”: Hou Yi fires a charged arrow that bounces off walls and thus becomes even stronger. This allows him to shoot “around corners” or even land multiple hits “over the wall”. His “Hunter’s Mark” allows him to mark enemy gods and still see them on the minimap even when they are in stealth. By the way, the mark also deals additional damage. The ultimate “Sunbreaker” rains down 9 suns, dealing damage to enemies in a large target area. The combination possibilities of these abilities make him a true counter god to stealers!
Skins and Emotes: The highlight is Solstice Hel
In addition to countless emotes that have found their way back into the game (including a dance for Serquet), there are also a few new premium skins. For Europeans, “Baby Fuwa Cupid” might seem a bit strange, but “Solstice Hel” should be well received. The two-faced goddess this time takes the form of a forest nymph, once for summer and once for deep winter – of course with a correspondingly funny voice pack in which the two personalities wonderfully insult or complement each other.
Awilix – More Control
This time there was only one balancing change; otherwise, the focus was solely on fixing bugs. The ability “Summon Suku” from Awilix now moves 50% faster and also knocks up enemies hit from the side. This allows the assassin much more control and especially more opportunities to prepare in order to then draw in the knocked-up enemies with “Gravity Surge”.
In the near future: New Conquest Map
A small glimpse into the future was granted in a new trailer. The somewhat outdated graphics of the “Conquest” map will be polished up and given a new appearance. This trailer shows the battlefield in all its glory:
When exactly the graphic update for the most popular Smite mode will happen is still unknown, but it will likely occur at the latest with the release of the Xbox version of the game – the beta is also around the corner. A developer video was also released a few days ago:
