SMITE 5.9 update: Hi-Rez pushes mages to the forefront

The 5.9 update for SMITE has a lot of item and god balance. It seems like Hi-Rez is trying to make mages the best in the game.

This SMITE update has plenty of balance and some extreme changes. With so many buffs to certain gods and items, it seems as though Hi-Rez wants everyone to play mid lane. They take some buffs to the max and nerf things that are in a good place.

The first big nerfs were to Sovereignty and Heartward Amulet. Sovereignty lost five physical protections to 45 and Heartward lost five on its aura. These are terrible changes because they are trying to promote more aggressive support items.

I am a decent support player and love protecting the team. However, this job becomes much harder and many will go even further away from what they should build. Many people decide they just don’t want to support when they are in the role and build damage anyway.

The items that they pushed on players with a buff are; Hide of the Urchin, Talisman of Energy (again), Stone of Binding, and Shogun’s Kasari. These are decent buffs, but they can be selfish as a support shouldn’t be.

The Talisman and Shogun’s buffs are not what I take issue with. The radius, duration, and stacks are increased on Talisman’s passive. The only issue is that they are buffing this item and seemingly pushing this item. Shogun’s got magical protections to 60.

Smite

Binding and Urchin are the ones I have a lot of problems with. Stone of Binding is an item with both defense and offense and was given an extra five passive penetration. This item is aggressive and was most likely meant to help in the solo lane, but supports will most likely build it.

Urchin is also a risky item for supports. Its buff gave it three protections per stack and generating a shield faster than before. It used to require ten stacks but now requires only seven from kills and assists. This again may have been for aggressive solo lanes, but many supports will mistakenly build it.

Soul Eater was also buffed once more. It was given an extra five percent lifesteal off of abilities. This is helpful for the ability based hunters and some assassins and is a fine buff. I enjoy this buff and have no issue with it.

Both Titan’s Bane and Obsidian Shard were nerfed. They were taken down to 15% penetration and the maximum protection threshold was increased to 200 protections. This hurts all damage dealers and may make other penetration items better.

The biggest and most questionable buff was to Shoes of Focus and Shoes of the Magi. Both received a damage buff to 55 power. This may make most mages extremely viable, if not making it the best class.

During season five, mages have been the focus of nerfs. Mages have been over-performing all season long, and they are now in a good spot just to get a buff. All mages build boots and giving all mages a buff is crazy. Hi-Rez had spent plenty of time trying to bring them to balance with items, but now they have created a bigger problem.

Hi-Rez

Items were not the only long list of changes this patch. Many gods were buffed with a few needed nerfs. Many mages and mid hunters were buffed making things very difficult to balance.

The only two nerfs to gods were to Cu Chulainn and Hachiman. Cu Chulainn only lost five base power in his berserker passive, which was much needed. Hachi lost ten damage on all ranks of his Heavenly Banner and five percent slow on Mounted Archery. The nerfs in this patch were necessary and well done.

Ah Puch was one god to get a buff. His Corpse Explosion gained 30 power at all ranks, however, it came at the cost of losing five power per corpse. It would technically be an even trade if you had all six corpses exploded, however, just using the combination of the one and three paired with Corpse Explosion, you will have a net benefit.

In other game modes, Ah Puch is relatively good, but not in conquest. This buff will be quite annoying, but he will still not be good because of how terrible he is in the early game. This will do practically nothing to him and will need more to bring him into meta.

Both Neith and Skadi received a seemingly small buff. Neith’s base attack speed was increased to one and Skadi’s was increased to .95. However small these buffs seem, they could mean so much more. Both of these gods are ability based, but they are still hunters. All of the scaling and the items you build are buffed just with this adjustment.

Nox players (I’m looking at you, Dardez) now have some quality increase. She was given a targeter to show the explosion radius of her Night Terrors ultimate. This was really only a quality of life increase and not a buff.

Thankfully, Erlang Shen got a little love this patch, too. Spot Weakness was made a 60 mana cost at all ranks and his pin was given a more correct targeter. His biggest buff was that his ultimate, 9 Turns Blessing, went from scaling up to 1.2 seconds on his taunt to 1.2 seconds at all ranks.

Erlang was hit hard with the loss of Death’s Toll. He is now getting some buffs so he can be played again at higher levels. With both of his amazing skins, this is good for everyone.

Xbalanque gets yet another buff/ fix. He will no longer consume mana or cooldown on Poison Darts if he is interrupted before any of the darts fire. This is a quality of life and could quite easily make a huge difference at higher levels.

Hi-Rez

Unfortunately, he may also receive a nerf before the patch goes live. Pon revealed that they would be watching how he does and may increase the amount of damage it requires per stack of his passive. This would be much needed because of how quickly he gets his passive stacks now.

Zeus got a small buff. The required mana cost for Detonate is now at 60 at all ranks and Lightning Storm was given an extra 20 damage at all ranks. Both of these buffs seem insignificant, but they will lead to many annoyances and can turn huge team-fights.

Chernobog was slightly under-performing after his release, so they buffed him to the extreme. Crystallized Curses will cost ten less mana and do 20 more damage at all ranks. Vicious Barrage will also cost ten less mana at all ranks. They were able to improve the quality of life and fix bugs on the dash and dashing into walls.

Living Nightmare also got a huge buff. The post-fire of the ability was removed and some of the bugs upon landing as well. The air-to-ground time was also decreased. The time to the ground right below will now only take one second and a cross-map ultimate will now only take 2.6 seconds.

I loved his kit and thought that Chernobog could be great, but Hi-Rez overdid it. These buffs will result in a nerf, which will most likely be in the wrong place. The only thing I would really take out is the extra damage of the Crystallized Cursed, and the mana cost reverted on the Vicious Barrage.

Zhong Kui, after being played at Masters, received some major buffs. His passive of Demon Bag has an increased capacity of 40 stacks. He now gains stacks just by witnessing death and each stack now only provides one protection instead of two.

Hi-Rez

He will now also only lose 50% of the stacks upon death and will be much more manageable. His ability Book of Demons will also have a stun increase of .2 seconds at all ranks.These buffs are huge for Zhong because he will stack more easily and will not have to waste two abilities just to gain stacks.

The 5.9 update will continue with the new Divine Uprising with skins. This patch has also introduced Divine Dominance.

Divine Dominance was introduced in this patch to allow for even more community involvement. This is supposed to be a way for people to send in amazing plays on the new gods throughout the Divine Uprising event and be featured for them.

Dragon Queen Scylla is an amazing skin and will give many an excuse to play her again. The only problems I have thought of is how close it starts to seem like a Game of Thrones skin. However, this is not the first skin to be of the sort and won’t be the last.

The Morrigan Soothsayer skin has some of the best effects I have seen. She already has some amazing skins and is getting a new one. It is great and only makes me feel worse for some of the gods that are much older that have so few skins.

The Dragons Light Sobek skin may get me back in the solo lane. It gave him a bit of a better stance and looked great. The character model was a bit taller and more upright than his base and may cause issues in competitive play and be banned.

The last skin was my least favorite this patch in Electric Dream Nox. This will be the last of the “DJ” skins for a while. I am happy about there not being another DJ skin for a while because we have gotten three in the last few patches, including this one.

This update was overall long and complex. I don’t like the feeling that all mages are getting buffs and may become some of the most important gods in the game. I do however like the fact that they are paying so much attention to balance, even if they do overdo it.

• Published on 05/20/2018 at 8:14 AM EDT
• Last updated on 05/20/2018 at 8:14 AM EDT