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SMITE: Now on PC, Xbone, PS4... and Mac!

TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
edited July 2016 in Games and Technology
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Smite is a new free-to-play game from HiRez Studios, the developers of Global Agenda and Tribes Ascend. It's a strategy game in the vein of Dota 2 or League of Legends, where you control one character and work with your team to slowly push your way into your opponents' base. The key difference in Smite is that the game takes place in the third person, and your character is controlled directly via WASD instead of the traditional click-to-move. Smite is also a bit more difficult, with most abilities being skill-shots that requiring aiming (include your basic attacks), more crowd control, and ultimate skills arriving a level earlier. The result is something with a more aggressive feel that feels pretty satisfying. Smite also really pushes for alternate modes, with a fast-paced deathmatch mode that has been well-received by players.

The plot of the game...doesn't exist. The big draw is that all of the characters are deities from various pantheons, and they're all pissed off for some reason. The closest thing to a plot is a Chinese promo video that talks of gods being in two camps regarding humans: one that wants to use their power to foster humanity and one that feels their divine power should be theirs to use as they see fit. It's...highly irrelevant, and the "lore" is flexible despite HiRez claiming to spend a lot of time researching this stuff. Just don't think about it too much, and just enjoy belly-flopping fools as Bacchus.

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Smite has three main game modes.

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Conquest is the major competitive focus for Smite, and all game balance tends to start here. It's a fairly traditional three-lane map with each side having two towers and one phoenix per lane. Towers are self-explanatory, but phoenixes are a special tower at the end of each lane that also act as the mechanism for spawning powerful fire minions. Destroy your opponent's phoenix, and fire minions will spawn until the phoenix respawns. Conquest also features a jungle with various creep camps that have special buffs: the blue buff (+Mana Regen, -Cooldown), the orange buff (+Attack Speed, +Movement Speed), the red buff (+Physical/Magic Power, +Physical/Magic Power %), the Gold Fury (+Team Gold), and Fire Giant (+HP Regen, +Damage vs. Towers, +Physical/Magic Power). Conquest games tend to last 20-40 minutes.

Meta: There is a long lane that is the "duo" lane (carry + support), a mid lane (a mage), a short "solo" lane (a high-sustain character) and a jungler (bursty character that can clear camps quickly). The goal in your lane is to get gold and experience while not "losing" your lane (letting your lane's first tower fall; feeding). After a certain point, you'll start roaming as a group trying to get favorable engagements so you can either wipe their team or kill enough of them so you can go for objectives without any opposition (towers, phoenixes, fire giant)

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Arena is the shorter, deathmatch-focused mode for players that don't want to mess with fiddly laning phases. Players start at level 3, have increased gold gain, and have automatic XP gain. Respawns are also quicker (barring a large gap in team scores). The goal is bring the enemy's tickets to zero, which is done by killing them, their minions, or letting your minions get inside the portal attached to your opponent's base. The map is significantly smaller than Conquest, and buff camps spawn on both sides (Orange/Red/Blue only). Every time a team scores ten kills, a siege minion will spawn that can take a lot of damage and will cause a team to lose extra tickets if it gets through their portal. Arena games tend to last 10-20 minutes.

Meta: Teams usually start the match off by clearing the buff camps on their left side. One team member will leave the buff camps early to deal with minions. Cooldown reduction tends to be higher favored due to the constant team fights, so maxing it out is recommended (-40% is cap).

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Assault is basically the game's ARAM, where your god is chosen at random out of the gods you own. There is just one lane with two towers, a phoenix, and titan for each side, and there is no jungle nor buff camps. Once you leave your base's platform, you cannot return there to heal or shop for items. This means that that the only way to heal up is with items, skills, or relying on your team. You also don't get to shop until you die, so make your purchases wisely. The goal of the game is to kill the enemy titan, just as in Conquest. You start at level five in this mode, meaning everyone has their ultimates right off the bat.

Meta: Sustain is very important in Assault, which makes healing and mana regen pretty important, especially for mana-hungry gods. Buying Salvation over Mediation is advised unless you are a seriously mana hungry character (Bacchus), as Salv gives more HP/Mana overall. Maxing out your cooldown reduction is recommended as teamfights happen often.

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Joust is something like a scaled-down Conquest for 1v1 or 3v3 matches. There is just one lane with one tower and a phoenix for each side, and the goal is to take down the enemy titan. There is a smaller jungle on both sides of this lane, with three buff camps on each side (orange/red/blue).

Meta: I'm not familiar with the meta here.

There is also Match of the Day, which is a special mode that varies from day-to-day as you might expect. This can be as simple as "Everyone plays Arena as Ares." to "Everyone has max cash on Conquest."

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Smite has five classes. It's worth noting that classes do not necessarily have a strict role, and it's not uncommon for some gods to have multiple viable roles in spite of their class. In other words, classes are more of a guideline to help out new players.

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Assassins are physical melee gods that excel in burst damage and disruption. They typically have skills that aid them in securing the kill, like Loki's ult that teleports him to an enemy and stuns them. Assassins suffer from lower defenses and in many cases suffer if their main skills are on cooldown. Assassins commonly jungle.

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Guardians are magical melee gods that are known for high defenses and solid crowd control. Their strength is initiating on the enemy by being able to shrug off blows and use CC to make it much safer for the rest of their team to engage. Their main weakness is low damage and poor scaling, but they can put out some decent damage if you sacrifice defense to build for it. Guardians typically play support.

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Hunters are physical ranged gods that boast excellent late-game potential. Scaling is extremely good and, if allowed to farm enough exp and gold, they will be able to easily take out anyone that opposes them. The downside to hunters is that they are frail and require items to really take off, meaning their early game can be weak. As a result, Hunters are usually carries.

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Mages are magical ranged gods that are all about heavy burst damage. Unlike assassins that tend to focus on single targets, a well-played mage can potentially deal loads of damage to an entire team. Another difference is that most mages have poor basic attack scaling, meaning they are much weaker when their skills are on cooldown and typically cannot rely on solid basic attack damage like an assassin. Some mages also have healing skills that give them solid sustain. Mages frequently play mid or solo.

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Warriors are physical melee gods that strike a balance between guardian and assassin. They're a bit tanky with good sustain, but possess solid damage potential. They can serve as a tank or damage dealer based on how you build, making them one of the more flexible classes in the game. But this flexibility also means they never really reach the heights of the other classes, meaning it's possible to fall off in the late game if you aren't staying ahead of your opponents. Warriors are normally are solo, junglers, or support.

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How is Free-to-Play handled?
Very basic. Buy recolors and such with favor (earned by playing), by special skins, voice packs, and so forth with gems (earned via cash). You can also buy gods with gems/favor, but just about everyone who plays this game long-term springs for the God Pack, which gives you EVERY GOD for $29.99. This includes any gods they release in the future, and is absolutely worth it. Just play with the free gods and see if you like the game before grabbing individual gods. If you REALLY want to play a god for whatever reason, you can spend a small amount of favor to rent them for a single match.

What do I build!?
Items in Smite upgrade into their third and final tier, meaning there are no recipes like in other games. You should typically finish an item before starting another, but some players will use spare cash they have at the start of the match to build tier 1 or 2 boots and not finish them until they have one or two core items built. This takes a bit of experience to understand, and thus I recommend you just finish upgrading an item before starting another.

You typically cannot go wrong with starting items. Hunters like the Toll, Junglers like Bumba's, and so on. These give a stronger start and can be sold later down the road when they've outlived their potency. From there it's a matter of having a good mix of stats. Don't get too heavy on any one stat like Attack Speed or Crit or whatever, as the missing stats can hurt your overall DPS in the long run. A lot of this is character-specific, and the only way to go is to experiment and play.

Actives are a way to cover weaknesses, and buying them early on can be a mistake unless you are a jungler or support (in which case buy Hand of the Gods rank 1 for jungle clearing). CC hurting you? Buy beads. Need an escape? Consider Sprint or Combat Blink. Doing strongly and want to support the team? Try Heavenly Agility or Girdle of Might.

Oh and turn off auto-buy. It's outdated and will not help you.

What is Mastery?
Mastery shows how much you have played a specific god. At Mastery Level 1 you can purchase a special gold skin for gems or favor and you can pick that god in ranked play. At Mastery Level 10 you unlock a special gold/black skin. Your account also shows the total number of gods you have mastered. There's no runes or talents or anything in Smite.

What does account level mean then?
Basically keeps you from doing ranked play until you've gotten more experience with the game, gives you a decent chunk of free favor, and also is used for Refer-a-Friend stuff. They're actually planning on removing account levels at some point.

So...what's up the with the goddesses?
It's kind of a running gag at this point that Smite has awful female character design. At one point there were two characters that didn't wear high-heels (and that's because one was half spider). It can get even worse with Chinese goddesses, as Tencent (HiRez's Chinese handler of all things Smite) approved of shit like the scantily-clad Nu Wa. It's kind of a ritual at this point for us to collectively shake our heads and sigh when they reveal a goddess. Oh, and if you link the Game Theorist video, I will personally murder you.

What pantheons are there?
Currently Greek, Roman, Chinese, Norse, Mayan (ignore the Aztec flag), Hindu, and Egyptian.

The Jesus joke has been made a thousand times, so don't waste your time. There will probably never release a Christian (or Abrahamic) character.

Hey, Arachne isn't a god!
Her backstory is that she's here to get revenge for being made into a gnarly spider lady, so I dunno. Scylla is also in the game, but she is technically a daughter of the gods in some accounts.

What is VGS?
VGS is a way to quickly communicate with your team via a few key strokes. The whole shebang is here and is pretty vital if you plan on pubbing a lot. For 200 gems you can change the default VGS dude to a character's voice pack (you have to be playing that god for it to work).

How about some good starter gods to learn?
Ymir, Ao Kuang, Neith, Guan Yu, and Ra. I'd avoid assassins until you become more familiar with the game.

What's the best mode to learn in?
Probably Assault as it gives you a taste of different gods and the pubs will be slightly less shitty as the game mode is intended to be the most casual. From there you can graduate to Siege mode, which is a quicker version of Conquest meant to be more casual. Get the hang of that and Conquest isn't too tricky to learn from there.

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Tutorial video (part one of a series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz4iin2LlZE&list=PLqMnSYeIWk0YwK_4BKYDtQJXaibn5F2Du

Latest God Reveal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTC-IL12igw

HiRez has a 24/7 Twitch channel, with patch previews typically airing around 4pm Eastern on Fridays and weekends airing tournaments (if any are going on).

HALL OF PENTAKILLS
All the cool kids are doing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOYW3iQRZmg

TheySlashThem on
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Posts

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    Hello Smite thread.

    I am still very glad I bought the god pack for this during beta. I tend to spend most of my MOBA time in Dota 2, but when I do get the hair up my butt to play Smite, I have all the gods.

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited March 2014
    PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

    We'll probably be at 600 gems, which can get you some neat stuff. Get to level ten if you haven't already; it shouldn't take long!

    Sterica on
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  • TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
    oh my god you used my shitty video

    (the joke is that all of my videos are shitty)

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    When is the official smite launch? I guess I should get to level 10 (I think I'm level 9).

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • Fig-DFig-D Tustin, CA, USRegistered User regular
    Tomorrow (tonight?) is the official Smite launch. Time to grind that out so you can get your free gems GnomeTank.

    SteamID - Fig-D :: PSN - Fig-D
  • TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
    yeah, it happens at 8am hi-rez time tomorrow morning

  • SaraLunaSaraLuna Registered User regular
    it should be mentioned that you still can get a free Ra skin on this facebook page and a free Artemis skin through twitter.

    The Artemis skin will also permanently unlock her on your account.

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    edited March 2014
    I never logged in last night, so I probably lost my chance at free gems...unless I was already 10, which is possible. I played quite a bit of smite late last year, so I may have made 10 during that time. I'll log in tonight before I get started on D3 and check.

    GnomeTank on
    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • Albino BunnyAlbino Bunny Jackie Registered User regular
    I'm gonna blow my gems on skins for auto attack based characters.

    So I can look fabulous with my lack of ability to hit anyone ever.

  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Wish that cinematic was a bit longer.

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  • TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
    yeah, it feels like it ends before the characters ever actually do anything

  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    I suppose that's why it's a teaser!

    I'm guessing the full thing will be shown off at the launch tournament on Friday.

  • SaraLunaSaraLuna Registered User regular
    Alienware Ra skins are available
    (they usually last about a day)

  • VaregaVarega Registered User regular
    This smite tournament is actually super fun to watch.

    League of Legends:Varega
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Yeah, even when the game is one-sided, you can still see some really cool stuff.

    A few weeks ago, COG was winning (as usual), but it was crazy seeing their Neith dodge attacks and win a 1v2 or 1v3.

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  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    That C9/Snipe set was pretty great, even though each game was almost kind of one sided, it still went to 3.

  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited March 2014
    Holy shit... Snipe just took game 1 over Cog. That's a pretty big upset in itself, best of 3 not withstanding. Great game.

    TSM/Dig game 1 is a super close game even at 23 minutes, they're essentially completely even.

    Edit: Gamehunter (aka Godhunter) of TSM just got a fucking Penta kill with Vamana in a tournament. And this game 1 against Dig is still going.

    2nd Update: Gamehunter finished off the titan at about 40 minutes after TSM got all of Dig's phoenixes down. Game 1 to TSM. Fucking astounding game.

    Dranyth on
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    It is not uncommon for Cog to lose a game. The thing is that they adapt and come back hard as if they're the fucking Borg of Smite or something.

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  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    Yeah, except for today, where they played significantly worse in the second game against TSM.

    Now, Dig did show that they could beat Cog, as of the last tournament, so that set is going to be pretty interesting tomorrow.

  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited March 2014
    Well, I missed game 1 between Dig/Cog, apparent Cog had a good early game then Dig came back in mid to win it.

    Game 2, Cog basically just stomped Dig from beginning to end.

    Game 3, Dig more or less stomped Cog from beginning to end. Dig returns to face TSM in the grand finals in about an hour and a half.

    In the meantime, a show match between Youtubers/Hirez and The Creatures is about to take place... I know Totalbiscuit is in it, no idea who else will be.

    Dranyth on
  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    Well, that was pretty anti-climactic. Dig had a decent early lead in game 1 and TSM came back in the later part of the mid game and won. Then TSM basically just stomped Dig in game 2 to take the tournament.

    So, TSM didn't drop a single match the whole tournament. Meh.

  • VaregaVarega Registered User regular
    Dranyth wrote: »
    Well, that was pretty anti-climactic. Dig had a decent early lead in game 1 and TSM came back in the later part of the mid game and won. Then TSM basically just stomped Dig in game 2 to take the tournament.

    So, TSM didn't drop a single match the whole tournament. Meh.

    Obligatory TSM TSM TSM!

    League of Legends:Varega
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Bastet remodel might be this week.

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  • TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
    hopefully we get a god reveal video like we did with the other redesigns

  • heenatoheenato Alice Leywind Registered User regular
    I played this a bit tonight! I'm awful at it, and usually don't enjoy games of this variety, but with a friend, it wasn't too bad.

    I am really quite bad though.

    M A G I K A Z A M
  • Albino BunnyAlbino Bunny Jackie Registered User regular
    heenato wrote: »
    I played this a bit tonight! I'm awful at it, and usually don't enjoy games of this variety, but with a friend, it wasn't too bad.

    I am really quite bad though.

    Always play Arena.

    It's much less stressful and a better place to learn what all the characters and items do.

  • GnomeTankGnomeTank What the what? Portland, OregonRegistered User regular
    I see that Posidean is still really strong. I crushed mid lane with him last night, despite not playing in quite a while.

    I also really like Chronos so far. How is Chronos in the current meta? Is he considered pretty strong?

    Sagroth wrote: »
    Oh c'mon FyreWulff, no one's gonna pay to visit Uranus.
    Steam: Brainling, XBL / PSN: GnomeTank, NintendoID: Brainling, FF14: Zillius Rosh SFV: Brainling
  • GriswoldGriswold that's rough, buddyRegistered User regular
    edited April 2014
    GnomeTank wrote: »
    I see that Posidean is still really strong. I crushed mid lane with him last night, despite not playing in quite a while.

    I also really like Chronos so far. How is Chronos in the current meta? Is he considered pretty strong?

    Fairly weak (though still viable, just like everybody).

    He has a strong late game, but one of the worst early games, which can make it difficult to get to said lategame without falling behind. He's also got a relatively high skillcap.

    EDIT: there are nerfs to the entire Warrior class inbound soon, which may make Chronos more viable. Solo lane is his best post, and it's just dominated by bruisery types at the moment.

    Griswold on
    FFXIV: Brick Shizzhouse - Zalera (Crystal)
    Path of Exile: snowcrash7
    MTG Arena: Snow_Crash#34179
    Battle.net: Snowcrash#1873
  • sPider817sPider817 Registered User, ClubPA regular
    If anyone needs another scrub on their friend list, feel free to add s314der in game.

    Battlenet: s314der#1279 XBL: s314der YouTube
    Twitch Wed-Sun, 2-5pm CST
  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    Yeah, we try to get this thread going every so often, but it never really takes off. Most of the Smite chat takes place over in the general MOBA thread in S&E. http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/190434/moba-horrible-games-for-horrible-people

  • sPider817sPider817 Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Dranyth wrote: »
    Yeah, we try to get this thread going every so often, but it never really takes off. Most of the Smite chat takes place over in the general MOBA thread in S&E. http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/190434/moba-horrible-games-for-horrible-people

    But I don't like other MOBAs. I like Smite. Hence, why I searched out the Smite thread.

    Battlenet: s314der#1279 XBL: s314der YouTube
    Twitch Wed-Sun, 2-5pm CST
  • StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Then I have good news for you: that thread is almost dominated by Smite talk on a regular basis!

    But I mean, you post here if you want, but we never seem to get anyone interested.

    YL9WnCY.png
  • Albino BunnyAlbino Bunny Jackie Registered User regular
    The SE++ thread is pretty much the Smite thread. Occassionally some guys talk about League or DOTA but really it's 99% Smite and where all the dudes who play Smite on the forum chat about it.

  • TheySlashThemTheySlashThem Registered User regular
    Still, it'd be nice to see this thread more active.

    Anyway, I'll add you. Shoot us some steam friend requests, it's how we gather troops.

  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    I'm certainly not opposed to seeing this thread become more active.

    I haven't really tried any of the PTS builds, then again I'm not even back to playing Smite regularly again yet. I mostly just watch the streams and such, so I'm caught up on changes, my practical skill just suffers when I don't play for a while. It's definitely an odd situation.

    I do want Pixel Buster Freya, however. Unfortunately I'm out of gems, so I might have to buy some...

  • sPider817sPider817 Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Dranyth wrote: »
    I'm certainly not opposed to seeing this thread become more active.

    I haven't really tried any of the PTS builds, then again I'm not even back to playing Smite regularly again yet. I mostly just watch the streams and such, so I'm caught up on changes, my practical skill just suffers when I don't play for a while. It's definitely an odd situation.

    I do want Pixel Buster Freya, however. Unfortunately I'm out of gems, so I might have to buy some...

    Freya's next on my list to learn just because of that damned skin. Currently 6 worshippers away from Hel mastery. Probably going to just suck it up and solo-queue for Arena. Even if I take 2 losses, that's still one more mastery finished.

    Battlenet: s314der#1279 XBL: s314der YouTube
    Twitch Wed-Sun, 2-5pm CST
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