Patching Into Smite 2’s Open Beta 6
In-Game Model of Merlin, Smite 2’s Newest God
Welcome to “Patching In’, the article series dedicated to overseeing patch notes for various game titles- showcasing new features, balance, and general updates to some of our favourite games.
Smite 2 is a free-to-play MOBA where you take the form of Gods from various historical pantheons in teams of 5, battling your way to the oppositions titan over 3 lanes.
Titan Talk, Smite’s recap show recently showcased many of the things coming into Open Beta 6 (OB6). Here are the highlights to look forward to for OB6 and beyond!
Merlin Port:
Merlin from the Arthurian Pantheon, is set to arrive in Smite 2 with minor improvements to his kit in the transition from Smite 1. The dev team mentioned that the ‘+1s’ in the kit are less heavy handed than typical, as his kit is already very cohesive and filled with lots of abilities.
The major new feature of Merlin in Smite 2 is in his 3rd ability, Flicker. Now, alongside the effect of a small teleport, flicker now has different effects based on which magic stance Merlin is channeling, including:
- Healing while in arcane (purple) stance
- Debuff applying basics in fire (orange) stance
- Ability cooldown reduction in ice (blue) stance
Merlin also launches with his accension pass, with notable rewards including his trackers Stance Slayer and Magic Trick Shots, Ponder The Elements emote and Master Wizard title
Aspects are optional changes to gods that often fundamentally change how they play and where they are viable. Both Merlin and Yemoja set to receive aspects in OB6, with both having very interesting changes that will take some time to see value with.
Merlin’s aspect, Aspect of Pandemonium: “Elemental Mastery has a reduced cooldown and each time it is used, a random stance is selected with 2 random primary abilities, Flicker will always persist. Using elemental mastery provides an Intelligence buff for a short duration.”
Essentially, this aspect is a randomiser; with Merlin receiving 2 of 6 of his first two abilities. While the clear tradeoff for this is a lack of consistency, the added Intelligence/damage buff is nice. While balance is yet to be seen, as the devs mentioned, this is purely designed to be silly fun.
As well as Merlin, Yemoja also receives a new aspect.
Aspect of Downpour: Mending Waters no longer affects allies but stops and bounces on enemy gods, dealing damage, shield damage and providing Yemoja stacking intelligence per hit. Additionally, Moonstrike no longer stuns gods, but has increased intelligence scaling.
This is a more damage oriented Yemoja aspect, potentially taking her out of the support role that she has been dominating in; moving her towards the mid role. While you do miss out on healing and some strong crowd control, the trade off of extra damage will ensure she can secure kills easier, making her a serious threat if not dealt with. This aspect will launch in the second week of OB6.
Skins:
There are also multiple skins, both classic and new launching in OB6. Classic skins include Basecanon Neith and Heaven’s Rave Zeus, music/EDM inspired skins from Smite 1. As for new skins, the High Honor Hua Mulan and Dawn Spirit Yemoja cross gen skins release, accompanied by a completely new Stumble Blade Susano.
This new skin also comes with a new component: skin-specific re colours, called ‘prism skins’. These skins recolour both the skin and VFX; and are exclusive to buying with diamonds; Smite’s paid currency. Given recent layoffs at the company, additional monetisation options are to be expected, with these additional skin recolours giving players a chance to support the game: ensuring it’s continued future growth.
Items:
There are some additional items coming to the battleground of the gods in OB6 including a new starter.
Vampiric Shroud is the new starter item, which has the passive ability: “Damaging an enemy with an ability heals 3 Health and 4 Mana, once per target, per ability. Heal an additional 3 Health and 4 Mana if this was a god.”
Rune Forged Hammer is a Strength scaling item with the passive effect to mark an enemy god after applying a hard crowd control ability to them. Once you hit a basic attack on that god, deal 50 +50% of your Item Protections as Magical Damage, once every 40 seconds.
Ancile is a magical protection building item with the passive effect of reucingbasic attack damage and decreasing this item’s cooldown when hit. It also has the active effect to, when activated, silence an enemy for 1.5 seconds after hitting them with a damaging ability.
Finally, It is now possible to sort the store based on multiple characteristics (for example items that have both intelligence and cooldown rate), making it far easier to locate the exact item you are looking for, without wading through irrelevant items.
Q&A:
Conquest Art Updates:
The main game mode in Smite 2: Conquest, is getting some visual updates to the jungle camps. The blue, red and purple jungle camps now have detailed models; showcasing which colour buff spawns there and, in general, assisting in map readability.
Movement:
As a former Smite 1 player, movement and interacting near players is one of the few remaining aspects that is worse in Smite 2. Players have really started to take notice of the laggy, jittering movement recently, but it’s actually been on the list for the dev team for a long time. Fixes are already being worked on which will help with strategies like body-blocking damage but will take some time to be implemented.
Combat Blink:
In Smite 1, you were unable to use the blink relic while in battle (meaning you had taken or dealt damage in the last 3 seconds). In Smite 2, Blink was changed to be used at any time, making it much stronger and more versatile.
Blink is high on the pick rate for relics, and is potentially too overpowered, with internal conversations happening to discuss going back to Smite 1 Blink or just balance the current version.
UPDATE: Blink has been temporarily disabled in live servers to see how its inclusion affects the game.
UI Editor:
The first wave of the HUD editor has received positive feedback but is missing many features the community wants. One feature that is actively being worked on is a ‘snap to grid’ feature, but currently no estimated release date.
Preventing Surrenders:
Right now, game balance is too heavily balanced in the early game, meaning it is possible to accrue a lead that is insurmountable in the late game. While players should be able to gain an advantage through good early game play, this is leading to early surrenders, and many matches not reaching the mid-late game. The team is looking at resolutions but acknowledge that players do not like heavy-handed comeback mechanics in Smite 2.
Direct purchase for music packs:
While there is no ETA, the devs would like to enable the purchase of music packs individually, rather than just in the randomised chest rolls. Currently, the store page does not have the UI to support this.
Mordred Aspect:
Mordred’s aspect which received a strong change in OB5 was recently nerfed which has seemed to balance aspect and non-aspect use rates to around 60/40. This aspect is seen by the devs as in a much better spot than previous.
Morgan Le Fay:
With the release of Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, another Arthurian Pantheon god, was mentioned. Specifically, it was asked how difficult she would be to port from Smite 1 to Smite 2. According to the devs, unlike many gods, the difficulties are less in her kit, and more about making her dragon and magic effects feel clean, smooth and impactful.
Divine Legacy Skins:
Divine Legacy is a promotion in Smite 1 that rewards long time players of Smite 1 with skins and other collectables just for playing the game. At the moment, these skins are exclusive to this system, however the devs are looking to implement these for all smite 2 players in the future, once it feels like Smite 1 players have been given good value.
This another example of the overall shift away from limited, ‘FOMO’ monetisation methods that HI-REZ is taking, building upon their work from the ‘Wandering Market’, Smite 2’s battle pass that doesn’t leave the store.
Auto Build:
The final notable stream question was around the auto builder, and how it can be improved for players of all skill levels. The devs mentioned difficulties with this system, as new, middle of the road, and advanced players all require different things from an auto build feature. For new players, they want items that “won’t lose them the game”, while advanced players want complex ‘if, then’ statements (for example if playing against a healer, build this). While auto build won’t receive any significant changes, the launch of god builder, which allows players to save builds and share them along with notes, to player around the world, seems to be the solution the devs are working toward.