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SMITE Update 11.65 January 26 Ushers in Season 8

  by   Alex Co  
January 26, 2021 8:41 am in News

Hi-Rez Studios has deployed the SMITE update 11.65 January 26 patch that brings the Season 8 content and gameplay changes into the fold! There are a ton of new skins, a new Battle Pass, new event, and loads more!

Head on below for the file sizes for each platfrm, as well as the full SMITE Season 8 patch notes!

SMITE Update 11.65 January 26 Patch Notes (Season 8):

File sizes (estimated):

PC: ~13 GB
Xbox: ~28 GB
PS4: ~38 GB
Switch: ~10 GB

NEW DLC
Get all the Season 8 Gods and incredible content for each, all-year long, with the SMITE Season Pass 2021. Plus: You’ll immediately unlock the Limited Grand Magus Anubis skin, Grand Magus Loading Screen, and 1000 Gems!
  • Season Pass 2021 – $39.99 USD, Includes the following items:
    • 1000 Gems
    • Grand Magus Anubis Skin – Limited
    • Grand Magus Loading Screen – Limited
    • Tyrant Title
    • Provides the following for each new god in 2021 as they are released:
      • Unlocks gods for gameplay if you do not already own the Ultimate God Pack
      • Base recolor
      • New Limited recolor
      • Voice pack
      • Wave and Clap Emotes
UPDATE RELEASE SCHEDULE
January 26
  • Most Wanted Battle Pass
  • Season Pass 2021
  • Dawn of Babylon Event
  • Valentine Chest
  • Season 7 & 8 Ranked Rewards
  • Season 7 Commendation Reward
BUG FIXES
UI
  • Gifting
    • Fixed an issue where the menu would sometimes close when attempting to search for “Other Players” to send a gift to
  • Fixed an issue where buying a skin in lobby would appear to make that the selected skin – but loading into the match would equip the previous selected skin before the purchase
General Gameplay
  • Implemented a Hotfix (Live Already) – that attempts to fix the issues where certain gods would appear to be stuck in certain animation states – for example: Serqet would appear to be repeatedly leaping. These gods were not actually firing these abilities repeatedly, it just looked like they were. This issue should be fixed already or greatly reduced in its chance of occurring.
  • Fixed an issue where almost any god/skin had a chance for its voice pack to become silent for a single match
  • Fixed an issue where it appeared to players who purchased a skin in the god lobby as though the skin was selected, until the loading screen where it would be reverted to their previously selected skin.
  • Clash Map
    • Removed an unintended fog volume that was visible in the jungle areas of this mode
Gods
  • Danzaburou
    • Fixed an issue where his Ability 02 – Alluring Spirits – could be canceled mid-fire without being put on cooldown
    • Fixed an issue where level-up effects would play on Danzaburou when he is in leaf form – these will no longer play on him at that time
    • Fixed an issue where the buff icons from his passive would sometimes not appear as intended
    • Fixed an issue where his ult could be interrupted while CC immune and already firing
  • Hel
    • Fixed an issue where Hel had unintended reduced healing while in her dark stance
    • Fixed an issue where Decay hit FX were playing in incorrect ways on enemy gods/minions hit by the effect
  • Set
    • Fixed an issue where Set’s sand clones would sometimes deal no damage when passing through enemies.
  • Ymir
    • Fixed an issue where it was possible to stack 2 copies of Frostbite in some scenarios.
  • Awilix
    • Fixed an issue where if Awilix was interrupted during the casting time on Suku’s Leap – she would be removed from Suku.If she did not leap, she should get another chance to leap. If she is interrupted while leaping – this ability will go on cooldown.
  • Aphrodite
    • Fixed an issue where Love Birds would sometimes not hit enemies clearly in the hit area
  • Hera
    • Fixed a typo in her achievement text
  • The Morrigan
    • Fixed an issue where her victory/defeat animations could get out of sync
Skins
  • Poseidon
    • Fixed an issue where Tidal Surge’s collision was different on the Dreadbead skin.
  • Nu Wa
    • Fixed an issue where the Caustic Skies Skin would T-pose in the game client and lobby
  • Vulcan
    • Fixed an issue where the Space Cadet Skin could become stuck in a specific animations
  • Nemesis
    • Fixed visual issues on the targeters for the Primal Vengeance and World Tour skins
  • Zeus
    • Fixed an issue where the Eternal Tormenter skin would sometimes not display the orange runic circle visual element of the skin
  • Xing Tian
    • Fixed an issue on the Gecko Gladiator skin where the Gecko heads could get into unintended positions
  • Ares
    • Fixed an issue where the Oni skin was using the ability 1 chains sound on death – it will now play a different chains sound on death
  • T5 Skins
    • Fixed an issue where these skins would have silent VGS when using “god” VGS instead of “skin” VGS
  • Chibi Skins
    • Fixed an issue where these skins would not display Nike’s Laurel effects properly
QUALITY OF LIFE
New Tutorial System – Role Guides
As part of this year’s commitment to Conquest, we are expanding the Conquest tutorial in big ways. This system is a new type of dynamic tutorial and works along with actual SMITE gameplay instead of forcing you through a step by step process. We will work throughout the year to continually update the starts and routes this system shows players.
  • Detects your role from lobby to provide a unique guided experience for each role
  • Shows you waypoints throughout the match
    • Guides you through your starting jungle camp and to your lane
    • Draws attention to respawning camps
    • Highlights jungle bosses and towers as the game progresses
  • Can be manually toggled on or off at any time
  • Works within Co-Op or PvP matches
  • Never stops or slows down the gameplay
    • Adjusts automatically if you miss spawns, get invaded, or otherwise
  • This will default to ON for players under level 15, and OFF for those 16+
    • Turn this on by pressing escape to bring up the escape menu and selecting the GUIDES option to bring up setting toggles for Role Guides. This can be done at any time.
    • Or click the GUIDES button in match lobby
UI
  • New Escape Menu Option: Guides
    • New Escape Menu option called GUIDES which allows players to toggle the following settings at any time.
      • Auto Purchase Items
      • Auto Skill Level Up
      • Auto Filter by Class
      • Show Role Guides
      • Show Help Tips
      • Show Recommended Items for My Role
  • Help Tips Changes
In addition to the new Conquest Role Guides, we want to make our current new player features better, and draw more attention to the optional ones. Help Tips are on by default for new players, but they were outdated and far too large. They’ll be more sleek now with more relevant information. A group of other UI changes have been made to make our current new player features more discoverable.
  • Help tips pop up boxes have had their size adjusted to be less intrusive.
  • Help tips have been updated to display updated buff, camp, and objective  information.
  • Large art was removed from the help tips in order to make the tips less intrusive during gameplay.
  • Game Modes Page
    • Players will now be able to access tutorial videos for each game mode via a new button within the list of game modes.
  • Match Lobby
    • Role Trading
      • Added a new button that works like Ranked God Trading, but instead allowed players to trade role assignments
      • Players will only be able to trade with one player at a time.
      • The player receiving a trade request must accept the role trade request.
      • There is a 10 second cooldown before the player can receive another role trade request if they decline a role trade request.
    • God selection screen now displays the recommended role for each god
    • Added a new button to the match lobby: Guides – displays the following match settings:
      • Auto Skill Level up toggle
      • Auto Purchase Items
      • Auto Filter by Class
      • Show Role Guides (Conquest Only)
      • Show Help Tips (all modes)
    • Recommended Item Updates
      • Builds will be recommended by Role in Conquest, with separate recommendations for Arena and other non-Conquest modes.
      • If a build is available, players will automatically be shown a build for the role they selected in the match lobby, but will have an option to select a different role in-game.
      • Recommended items will once again show items that are popular among high-elo players, instead of being based on team composition.
      • Players will be able to freely disable / re-enable auto-purchase in the match, even after purchasing an item outside the recommended list.
Ranked
  • All of these changes apply to all Ranked Modes – and only Ranked Modes
  • All Players Ranked MMR will be Hard Reset 8.1
  • MMR system
    • Removal of Variance System
      • Players will experience a more consistent MMR gain and loss from the first game they play to their 100th. MMR gain and loss can still change based on how even both teams appear to the Matchmaker.
    • Maximum MMR Adjustment
      • Players can no longer gain or lose more than 100 MMR in a single match.
  • Split System
    • TP/MMR resets will only apply to players above diamond who become inactive for 2 weeks
    • Ranked Quests and Rewards will continue to reset every 2 updates
    • Ranked Rewards usually given out at the of the year will be available to be unlocked immediately in 8.1
GAME MODES
All Modes – New Healing Rules
Healing in SMITE can be a polarizing topic. It is simultaneously true that healers in SMITE statistically perform very well across all levels of play but in individual matches healers can feel helpless fighting against Anti-heal. There are also players who feel their most recent fight can become completely negated by the enemy stepping back for a short time and healing back to full. All these moments can create negative experiences for all players so we want to approach this and make it a better experience for everyone involved.
To accomplish this we are introducing a new global aura in all maps that reduces healing done by abilities and lifesteal. This aura will apply to all players who have not dealt damage or Crowd Control (or been dealt damage or Crowd Control) to an enemy god. From here on out we will refer to this type of “combat” as Brawling. The overall strength of healing “out of combat” is being brought down. Conflicts that occur will now have more meaningful outcomes.
We do think at the same time that healing while directly fighting feels more fair to fight against but has the very high variability of being shut out. We are toning down the effect and duration of all Anti-heal items. Their long length and intensity was meant to help curb “out of combat” healing directly after a fight which the aura now does.
In short with these changes we hope healing in SMITE will feel better to use as a direct combat strength while we can bring down the frustration cases on both sides that can occur when healing feels too strong. This change affects quite a lot so we are eager for everyone to get their hands on it and provide feedback on our goals and how well we have met them.
  • Global Anti-Healing Aura
    • While not “Brawling” your Ability and Lifesteal healing taken is reduced by 30%.
      • A god is considered Brawling if they have damaged or applied Crowd Control to an enemy god (or they have been damaged or Crowd Controlled by an enemy god) in the last 4s.
  • Anti-heal Item Changes
    • Divine Ruin
      • Decreased Anti-heal from 40% to 35%.
      • Decreased duration from 8s to 6s.
    • Brawler’s Beat Stick
      • Decreased Anti-heal from 40% to 35%.
      • Decreased duration from 8s to 6s.
    • Toxic Blade
      • Decreased Anti-heal per stack from 20% to 17.5%.
      • Decreased duration from 8s to 6s.
    • Pestilence
      • Decreased Aura Anti-heal from 25% to 20%.
    • Contagion
      • Decreased Aura Anti-heal from 25% to 20%.
    • Cursed Ankh
      • Decreased Anti-heal from 50% to 45%.
      • Decreased duration from 10s to 6s.
    • Cursed Ankh Upgrade
      • Decreased Anti-heal from 50% to 45%.
      • Decreased duration from 10s to 8s.
    • Shadowsteel Shuriken
      • Decreased Anti-heal from 40% to 35%.
      • Decreased duration from 8s to 6s.
        • This item has received additional balance changes, outlined in the item section.
    • Rod Of Healing
      • Increased Healing increase from 5% to 10%.
      • No longer increases by 5% when taking or dealing damage.
    • Rod Of Asclepius
      • Increased Healing increase from 10% to 20%.
      • No longer increases by 15% when taking or dealing damage.
    • Caduceus Shield
      • Increased Healing increase from 10% to 20%.
      • No longer increases by 15% when taking or dealing damage.
Jungle Camp Vision Changes
  • Gods that visit a Jungle Camp on their side of the map will now receive vision of the in-world and minimap respawn timers for that camp. This is granted even if the camp was invaded and cleared by the enemy.
Conquest
  • Living Conquest Map
    • In addition to the completely new 8.1 Conquest Map, there will be 3 more distinct updates to the map throughout the Season.
    • Each Update will have a specific theme that follows the SMITE storyline and god release plan.
    • Each Update will have art and design updates to the map to compliment the theme.
    • Conquest is our most competitive game mode and we want to increase its ability to receive art and design updates to levels never seen before!
    • There will still be continual balance changes to the map every update, especially as we gather data and feedback at the start of the season.
  • An Entirely New Conquest Map
    • New layout
      • Wider map from lane to lane
      • Longer map from base to base
      • Completely reworked Jungle with more variance in its paths and geometry. Some paths are especially narrow, and others are much wider.
      • New Camps and different camp locations.
    • New art set
      • Chaos side takes the form of Tiamat’s Babylonian fortress
      • Order side is a totally rebuilt Mount Olympus
      • Order and Chaos towers have completely new models
      • Chaos Titan is a completely new character
      • Chaos Minions are completely new characters
      • New Jungle Monsters – Scorpions
      • Many of our favorite jungle monsters, as well as the Order Titan and Minions will be keeping their current Season 7 art on the new map.
    • Balance
  • New Objectives / Features
    • New NPC – Greater Scorpion (Jungle)
      • Mid-game objectives located in the Jungle
      • Two Greater Scorpions will spawn on each side of the map, in both the Gold Fury and Fire Giant pits
      • While alive, these monsters prevent the spawn of both major neutral bosses
      • After a Greater Scorpion is slain, its spawn location will move deeper into the enemy jungle, depending on which team secured the kill
      • Slaying a Greater Scorpion will enhance your buff camps on the side of the map where it was killed. These camps drop Enhanced Buffs that provide additional bonuses on top of their base effects
        • Enhanced Damage Buff
          • Additionally provides 7% Physical and Magical lifesteal
        • Enhanced Speed Buff
          • Increases CCR bonus from 10% to 20% (+10%)
        • Enhanced Mana Buff
          • Increases CDR bonus from 10% to 20% (+10%)
          • Additionally provides 10% increased Maximum Mana
        • Enhanced Void Buff
          • Increases Attack Speed bonus from 10% to 25% (+15%)
    • New NPC – Lesser Scorpion (Lane)
      • Early-game objective for Duo and Solo lanes that spawn on the outer edges of the map
        • 2 will spawn in Duo lane
        • 1 will spawn in Solo lane
      • These monsters will be “downed” when their HP bar is depleted, and will require 3 more hits to secure the kill and Gold/XP rewards
      • While in their downed state, they emit a healing aura that heals 20 HP per second for a maximum of 10 seconds
    • Base Gates
      • SMITE’s first dynamic geometry is being added to the S8 Conquest Map! These doors will act like a jungle wall when closed, and a jungle path when opened
      • Each base has two doors nestled in the walls between the phoenixes and are useful shortcuts into the Jungle
      • These doors will open when a god sets foot on a specific area inside the base
      • Doors cannot be opened from the outside, but gods, including enemies, can leap or blink over walls to open them
      • Players attempting to open enemy doors from the inside will be afflicted with Invader’s Curse and will need to stand on the trigger for longer to open the door
    • Fountain
      • While all of their phoenixes are alive, Gods will now receive Reinvigoration when exiting their fountain
        • Increases out-of-combat Movement Speed by 40%
        • Lasts 5 seconds
      • This will still be enhanced by Pyromancer kills
    • Jungle
      • All Buff camps now spawn at 00:20
      • All Mid Harpy camps now spawn at 00:35
      • Increased Mid Harpy respawn time from 90 to 120 seconds
      • Jungle Shrine has been removed
      • Invader’s Curse now encompasses all buff camps until 01:00
      • Void Camp
        • Reworked Void Sludge
        • Now stacks up to 3 times
        • Applies 5% protection reduction per stack
        • Reduced ability cooldown from 30 to 7 seconds
        • Debuff lifetime reduced from 20 to 10 seconds
        • No longer lowers your targeting priority from other minions
STARTER ITEMS
The first item you buy in SMITE has a large impact on how you plan to tackle that given game. Blessings, while providing a great roadmap for HOW to play the Early Game, often removed much of this flexibility you might expect in a MOBA. We want to bring back each player’s ability to alter not only their early game, but make this decision more meaningful to the mid and late game.
With that said, Starter Items are returning! These are cheap items that provide full Passives tuned to Level 1. Each role has roughly three that will serve as a solid choice for more traditional starts, but at no point are any of these Starter Items class restricted. Want to take a bruiser starter to the mid lane? Go ahead and try it out! Similar to Blessings only one Starter Item can be purchased each game and leaving the fountain will lock you into that Starter so choose carefully.
These Starters have even more to offer as the game advances. Each Starter will have 2 upgrades that become purchasable at later levels. In general most Starters will have one upgrade that simply boosts it stats and passive strength to be desirable at level 20. However the other upgrade often twists the item on its head, giving players new build opportunities and strategies. Since players can only have one Starter and these upgrades require late game levels, their strength is generally higher than your average Tier 3 choice.
For example : Bluestone Pendant is back, providing passive regeneration in addition to offensive bonus damage when hitting abilities. At level 20 this can be upgraded to Bluestone Brooch, amping up all of its stats and allowing the bonus damage to deal damage based on the enemies current health. Alternatively you can purchase Corrupted Bluestone. For every enemy you have hit recently with Corrupted Bluestone you gain 15% Attack Speed up to 75% total, turning your previous Ability focused starter into an up front Basic Attack brawlers dream. Which gods rely on early ability damage but want to transition into a Basic Attack focused build late game? Which gods might struggle to use Bluestone Pendant well but really want Corrupted Bluestone late? Starters offer these choices that impact your entire gameplan.
  • Blessings have been removed from all games modes, being replaced with starter items.
  • Starters can be purchased at level 1.
  • Each starter has 2 separate upgrades. These can be purchased for an additional 1500 gold at level 20. (Support oriented Starter Items can be upgraded at level 17).
  • Once you have left the fountain with a starter item it is the only starter item you can get that game.
  • Starter items do not have any class lock restrictions. The only restrictions are based on the Power type they provide. (Mages cannot build an item that only has Physical Power on it.)
  • The jungle focused starter items are unavailable in non-conquest modes.
Short list of all new Starter Items
We are adding a grand total of 16 Starter Items with 2 upgrades a piece! This means there will now be 48 new items to learn and play with. Given the large breadth of items we are providing two lists. A quick glance at each starter and short text describing what it does and a long form list with gold costs, stats, and specific values.
Carry Starters

DEATH’S TOLL (STANDARD CARRY STARTER ITEM)
Death’s Toll provides a sustain oriented and defensive start, allowing for effective early trades. Death’s Embrace continues this while Death’s Temper focuses on going on the offense.
  • Restore Health and Mana for landing Basic Attacks.
  • Can be upgraded to Death’s Embrace or Death’s Temper at level 20.
    • Death’s Embrace
      • Restore even more Health and Mana for landing Basic Attacks.
    • Death’s Temper
      • Slay enemies to gain additional Basic Attack Damage.

GILDED ARROW (FARMING CARRY STARTER ITEM)
Gilded Arrow allows skilled last hitters to really show their stuff. What it lacks in sustain it makes up for in long term farm and immediate offense. Diamond Arrow removes the need for a target, providing near constant income while Ornate Arrow encourages you to hoard your treasure for a large offensive boost.
  • Mark a minion for a bounty every 10s. Last hit to claim the bounty.
  • Can be upgraded to Diamond Arrow or Ornate Arrow at level 20.
    • Diamond Arrow
      • Defeating anything provides the Gilded Arrow bounty.
    • Ornate Arrow
      • Gain bonus stats for all your unspent gold.

LEATHER COWL (UTILITY CARRY STARTER ITEM)
Leather Cowl provides early rotation capabilities, providing speed to get to fights and attack speed to help you win fights. Hunter’s Cowl turns this attack speed into a team wide boon while Leader’s Cowl encourages your team to group up around you.
  • While alone, gain Movement Speed. While near an ally, gain Attack Speed.
  • Can be upgraded to Hunter’s Cowl or Leader’s Cowl at level 20.
    • Hunter’s Cowl
      • While alone, gain more Movement Speed. While near an ally, provide an Attack Speed aura.
    • Leader’s Cowl
      • Provide bonus power while your team outnumbers your enemies.
Solo Starters

WARRIOR’S AXE (STANDARD SOLO STARTER ITEM)
Warrior’s Axe may look familiar. Warrior’s Blessing encourages brawling and trading and Warrior’s Axe looks to capture that. At level 20 upgrade it to steal heavy amounts of health away or become the Hero for your team and defend them while they are CC’d.
  • Steal flat health away from your opponents after damaging them.
  • Can be upgraded to Sundering Axe or Hero’s Axe at level 20.
    • Sundering Axe
      • Steal a portion of their current health from your opponents after damaging them.
    • Hero’s Axe
      • Protect Crowd Controlled allies with a shield.

BLUESTONE PENDANT (AGGRESSIVE SOLO STARTER ITEM)
The familiar Bluestone returns! This item excels at gods who can poke and need some additional help clearing. Bluestone Brooch turns the damage over time up to 11. Corrupted Bluestone throws away the poke playstyle, encouraging you to mix it up with a large conditional attack speed stim.
  • Apply damage over time to enemies hit by your abilities.
  • Can be upgraded to Bluestone Brooch or Corrupted Bluestone at level 20.
    • Bluestone Brooch
      • Apply a % Health damage over time to enemies hit by your abilities.
    • Corrupted Bluestone
      • For every enemy hit by your damage over time, gain Attack Speed.

WARDING SIGIL (MAGICAL PROTECTION SOLO STARTER ITEM)
Really want to survive against a Magical Bruiser? Warding Sigil provides high defense when you are actively fighting your opponent. Sigil of the Old Guard turns you into a wall for your team while Infused Sigil turns you into a bomb for your team. Either way you will want to dive into a fight head first.
  • Gain flat damage reduction when hit by abilities.
  • Can be upgraded to Sigil of the Old Guard or Infused Sigil at level 20.
    • Sigil of the Old Guard
      • Gain % damage reduction when hit by abilities.
    • Infused Sigil
      • Accumulate stacks when hit by abilities. Explode for damage when enough stacks are accumulated.
Mid Starters

VAMPIRIC SHROUD (STANDARD MID STARTER ITEM)
Vampiric Shroud is another familiar face. Need sustain for the early game? Vampiric Shroud has you covered, literally. Blood-soaked Shroud provides potentially infinite lifesteal while Sacrificial Shroud allows you to heavily burst if you are willing a large amount of health with each cast.
  • Restore health and mana when your abilities deal damage.
  • Can be upgraded to Blood-soaked Shroud and Sacrificial Shroud at level 20.
    • Blood-soaked Shroud
      • Restore more health and mana, and gain stacks of bonus Lifesteal when your abilities deal damage.
    • Sacrificial Shroud
      • Your abilities do more damage but cost health in addition to their Mana.

SANDS OF TIME (COOLDOWN MID STARTER ITEM)
Sands of Time returns, allowing you to cast often and providing the mana to do so. Pendulum of Ages rewards you for staying high on Mana with a large amount of Power while The Alternate Timeline distorts space-time, providing you with an extra chance to live.
  • Gain additional MP5 as you get low on Mana.
  • Can be upgraded to Pendulum of Ages or The Alternate Timeline at level 20.
    • Pendulum of Ages
      • Gain more MP5 as you get low on Mana. Gain additional Power as you stay high on Mana.
    • The Alternate Timeline
      • When you would die, jump to an Alternate Timeline where you instead lived.

CONDUIT GEM (AGGRESSIVE MID STARTER ITEM)
Conduit Gem is for the mages who want to fight early. The bonus damage allows for deadly bursts or simply to help clear your wave. Archmage’s Gem scaling this effect to a % of your Magical Power while Gem of Focus provides useful stats for those who opt into constantly casting.
  • Accumulate stacks that are consumed when your abilities hit, dealing bonus damage.
  • Can be upgraded to Archmage’s Gem or Gem of Focus at level 20.
    • Archmage’s Gem
      • Accumulate stacks that are consumed when your abilities hit, dealing more bonus damage.
    • Gem of Focus
      • Each time you cast an ability, gain up to 3 stacks of focus. Fail to continuously cast and lose all your focus.
Jungle Starters

BUMBA’S DAGGER (STANDARD JUNGLE STARTER ITEM)
The ol’ reliable of Junglers. Bumba’s Dagger will be familiar to all but the upgrades give Junglers something new to look forward to. Bumba’s Spear turns you into a monster, burning through any objectives (including structures!). Bumba’s Hammer encourages in-hand and ability weaving with a hefty in-hand stim and some ability cooldown reduction.
  • Deal bonus damage to Jungle Monsters. Restore health and mana when Jungle Monsters are defeated.
  • Can be upgraded to Bumba’s Spear or Bumba’s Hammer at level 20.
    • Bumba’s Spear
      • Deal massive damage to Jungle Monsters, Bosses, and Structures. Restore more health and mana when any of these are defeated.
    • Bumba’s Hammer
      • When you cast an ability, your next Basic Attack does bonus true damage. When you hit with this Basic Attack your ability cooldowns are reduced by 1s.

EYE OF THE JUNGLE (ATTACK SPEED JUNGLE STARTER ITEM)
Eye of the Jungle allows you to maintain control of the jungle, giving you sight anywhere you slay a jungle monster. Seer of the Jungle takes this a step further, giving you the unique ability to sweep for wards at any time. If fighting is more your taste, Protector of the Jungle makes you a major threat while fighting on your home turf, the Jungle!
  • When you slay a large Jungle Monster, you place a 30s ward where it dies.
  • Can be upgraded to Seer of the Jungle or Protector of the Jungle at level 20.
    • Seer of the Jungle
      • When you slay a large Jungle Monster you gain the ability to see wards temporarily.
    • Protector of the Jungle
      • Gain bonus Power and Protections while in the Jungle.

MANIKIN SCEPTER (AGGRESSIVE JUNGLE STARTER ITEM)
If you have been around for a while few things strike fear into your heart more than Manikin Scepter. Previously only on a single PTS Manikin Scepter returns; just with more reasonable values and effects. Use the burn to melt through jungle monsters and provide and extra kick to your ganks. Manikin Mace turns up all of these effects while Manikin Hidden Blade allows the assassin to truly lurk from the shadows and wait for their time to strike for devastating effect.
  • Damaging an enemy applies a damage over time and slows their attack speed. This damage is extra effective against Jungle Monsters.
  • Can be upgraded to Manikin Mace or Manikin Hidden Blade at level 20.
    • Manikin Mace
      • Damage an enemy applies a stronger damage over time and slows their attack speed more. This damage is incredibly effective against Jungle Monsters and Bosses.
    • Manikin Hidden Blade
      • Hitting a target when you have not recently been hit by or have dealt damage provides a large burst of damage on the target.
Support Starters

SENTINEL’S GIFT (STANDARD SUPPORT STARTER ITEM)
Sentinel’s Gift provides everything a support would need. Health and Mana to trade effectively and gold to keep up with your team. Sentinel’s Boon keeps this up and can bring a burst of healing when it counts, sieging the enemy base. Sentinel’s Embrace gives you flexibility with your aura. Skilled Supports can position themselves to provide protection to everyone or just the individual who needs it most.
  • Getting an assist restores health and mana and provides bonus gold.
  • Can be upgraded to Sentinel’s Boon or Sentinel’s Embrace at level 17.
    • Sentinel’s Boon
      • Getting an assist restores % health and mana and provides more gold.
    • Sentinel’s Embrace
      • Provides a large amount of Protections split evenly among all nearby allies.

BENEVOLENCE (TACTICAL SUPPORT STARTER ITEM)
For supports who want to roam to provide assistance across the map, Benevolence not only rewards you even when not in lane but directly can empower you allies. Compassion will make your whole team want to be near you as you take damage for them. Animosity however is for those with a more offensive game plan in mind. Turn your health into an offensive force and tear down your opponents structures.
  • Gain passive gold and XP. A portion of your XP and gold gained from defeating enemies is lost to you. If an ally is nearby you provide it to them instead.
  • Can be upgraded to Compassion or Animosity at level 17.
    • Compassion
      • A portion of damage taken by allies is redirected to you.
    • Animosity
      • Your Basic Attacks deal extra damage based on your health. Structures take significantly more from this effect.

WAR FLAG (AGGRESSIVE SUPPORT STARTER ITEM)
War Flag is an old arena favorite but has strong uses for aggressive support. Empower your ally and fight together with a strong stim in between each minion wave. With a War Banner your team will be moving and attacking fast; while Spartan Flag will allow them to hit hard while standing near its placement.
  • Getting an assist restores health and mana to all nearby allies and provides a boost to their Movement Speed and Attack Speed.
  • Can be upgraded to War Banner or Spartan Flag at level 17.
    • War Banner
      • Get an assist restores % health and mana to all nearby allies and boost their Movement Speed and Attack Speed more.
    • Spartan Flag
      • Damaging an enemy drops a Spartan Flag, providing Power to allies who stand near it.
Neutral Starters

TAINTED STEEL
Last but not least, Tainted Steel. If Healing is something you want to reduce from the start this is the starter for you. Tainted Breastplate is a new and late game Anti-heal item while Tainted Amulet turns a healers strength around and allows you to benefit from it.
  • Enemies hit by your damaging abilities have their healing reduced.
  • Can be upgraded to Tainted Breastplate or Tainted Amulet at level 20.
    • Tainted Breastplate
      • Enemies hit by your damaging abilities have their healing reduced more.
    • Tainted Amulet
      • Enemies hit by your damaging abilities have their healing reduced. Healing reduced this way is transferred to you.
Full Starter Item Text
Aaaannd here is the full text. Good luck!

DEATH’S TOLL
  • 700g
  • +10 Physical Power
  • +20 Magical Power
  • +75 Health
  • PASSIVE – Hitting an enemy with a Basic Attack restores 2 Health (+1% of your Maximum Health) and 1 Mana (+1.5% of your Maximum Mana). Basic Attacks that deal AoE damage restore half as much for each enemy hit after the first. Can be upgraded at level 20.

DEATH’S EMBRACE
  • Can be upgraded from Death’s Toll at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +80 Physical Power
    • +140 Magical Power
    • +200 Health
    • Passive – Hitting an enemy with a Basic Attack restores 3% of your Health and Mana. Basic Attacks that deal AoE damage restore half as much for each enemy hit after the first. Can be upgraded at level 20.

DEATH’S TEMPER
  • Can be upgraded from Death’s Toll at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +50 Physical Power
    • +75 Magical Power
    • +30% Attack Speed
    • +100 Health
    • Passive – When an enemy dies near you gain 1 stack of Temper that provides 3.5% increased Basic Attack Power for 10s, maximum of 10 stacks. When an enemy god dies near you gain 5 stacks.

GILDED ARROW
  • 700g
  • +15 Basic Attack Damage
  • +50 Health
  • +7 MP5
  • PASSIVE – Every 10s a nearby enemy minion is marked , prioritizing the highest health minion. If you secure the killing blow on that minion you gain 10 bonus gold and 20% attack speed for 8s, and restore 20 Mana.

DIAMOND ARROW
  • Can be upgraded from Gilded Arrow at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +80 Basic Attack Damage
    • +100 Health
    • PASSIVE – When you kill an enemy you gain 10 gold and 20% attack speed for 8s, stacking up to 3 times. If you kill an enemy god you gain 3 stacks and 30 gold immediately.

ORNATE ARROW
  • Can be upgraded from Gilded Arrow at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +60 Basic Attack Damage
    • +150 Health
    • PASSIVE – All sources of gold gain are increased by 20%. For every 100 gold in you have gain 1% Attack Speed and 0.8% Critical Strike Chance, up to a maximum of 25 stacks.

LEATHER COWL
  • 700g
  • +15 Physical Power
  • +10% Physical Lifesteal
  • +5% Attack Speed
  • Passive – While you are near an allied god you gain 10% Attack Speed. While you are alone you gain 5% Movement Speed.

HUNTER’S COWL
  • Can be upgraded from Leather Cowl at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +60 Physical Power
    • +15% Physical Lifesteal
    • +20% Attack Speed
    • Passive – While you are near an allied god you gain a 25% Attack Speed aura. If you are alone you gain 10% Movement Speed.

LEADER’S COWL
  • Can be upgraded from Leather Cowl at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +40 Physical Power
    • +300 Health
    • +15% Physical Lifesteal
    • Passive – For each nearby friendly god (55 units) you gain a stack of Outnumber. For each nearby enemy god you lose a stack of Outnumber. Each stack of Outnumber provides 3% increased Power to nearby allied gods.

WARRIOR’S AXE
  • 600g
  • +50 Health
  • +15 Physical Protection
  • +10 Magical Protection
  • +2 Damage Reduction
  • PASSIVE – Damaging an enemy god steals 25 health away from your target and restores it to you. This effect can only occur once every 10s.

SUNDERING AXE
  • Can be upgraded from Warrior’s Axe at level 20.
    • 2100g
    • +250 Health
    • +30 Physical Protections
    • +30 Magical Protections.
    • +5 Flat Damage Reduction
    • Passive – Damaging an enemy god steals 10% of their Current Health away from your Target and restores it to you. This effect can only occur once every 7 seconds.

HERO’S AXE
  • Can be upgraded from Warrior’s Axe at level 20.
    • 2100g
    • +300 Health
    • +35 Physical Protection
    • +35 Magical Protection
    • +30% Crowd Control Reduction
    • Passive – When an ally god around you within 55 units is hit by a hard crowd control effect, give them a shield equal to 10% of your Maximum Health. This effect can only occur once every 8s.

BLUESTONE PENDANT
  • 800g
  • +10 Physical Power
  • +20 HP5
  • +10 MP5
  • PASSIVE – Enemies hit by your damaging Abilities take an additional 25 Physical Damage over 2s. (Max 2 Stacks).

BLUESTONE BROOCH
  • Can be upgraded from Bluestone Pendant at level 20.
    • 2300g
    • +45 Physical Power
    • +30 HP5
    • +30 MP5
    • Passive – Enemies hit by your damaging Abilities take an additional 25 +7.5% of their Current Health over 2s. (Max 2 Stacks).

CORRUPTED BLUESTONE
  • Can be upgraded from Bluestone Pendant at level 20.
    • 2300g
    • +60 Physical Power
    • +20 HP5
    • +20 MP5
    • Passive – Enemies hit by your damaging Abilities take an additional 75 damage over 5s and reduced enemy attack speed by 10%. (Max 2 Stacks). For every enemy afflicted you gain 15% Attacks Speed up to a Maximum of 5 enemies.

WARDING SIGIL
  • 700g
  • +100 Health
  • +15 Magical Protection
  • Passive – Whenever you are hit by an ability you gain a stack of Dampening, decreasing damage taken by 5 for 5s. This occurs only once per ability cast. This can stack twice.

SIGIL OF THE OLD GUARD
  • Can be upgraded from Warding Sigil at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +200 Health
    • +75 Magical Protection
    • Passive – Whenever you are hit by an ability you gain a stack of Rebuke, decreasing damage taken by 4% for 5s. This occurs only once per ability cast. This can stack three times.

INFUSED SIGIL
  • Can be upgraded from Warding Sigil at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +350 Health
    • +25 Magical Protection
    • +25 Physical Protection
    • Passive – Whenever you are hit by an ability, your Infused Sigil gains a stack. This occurs only once per ability cast. At 5 stacks it explodes after 0.5s, dealing 400 Magical Damage to enemies within 30 units of you.

VAMPIRIC SHROUD
  • 850g
  • +15 Magical power
  • +75 Health
  • +15 Physical Protection
  • +5% Magical Lifesteal
  • PASSIVE – Damaging any enemies with an ability gives you bonus 6 health and 6 mana. Can only trigger once per target per ability.

BLOOD-SOAKED SHROUD
  • Can be upgraded from Vampiric Shroud at level 20.
    • 2350g
    • +75 Magical Power
    • +200 Health
    • +40 Physical Protections
    • +15% Magical Lifesteal
    • PASSIVE – Damaging any enemy with an ability restores 12 Health, 6 Mana and provide a stack 1% Magical Lifesteal for 6s. This can stack infinitely. Can only trigger once per target per ability.

SACRIFICIAL SHROUD
  • Can be upgraded from Vampiric Shroud at level 20.
    • 2350g
    • +100 Magical Power
    • +100 Health
    • +20 Physical Protection
    • +15% Magical Lifesteal
    • PASSIVE – Your abilities deal 15% more damage, but cost 5% of your Maximum Health.

SANDS OF TIME
  • 800g
  • +30 Magical Power
  • +5 MP5
  • +10% Cooldown Reduction
  • PASSIVE – This item grants 2 MP5 per 10% of your missing Mana.

PENDULUM OF AGES
  • Can be upgraded from Sands of Time at level 20.
    • 2300g
    • +90 Magical Power
    • +20 MP5
    • +10% Cooldown Reduction
    • Passive – This item grants 4 MP5 per 10% Missing Mana. This item grants 7 Magical Power per 10% Available Mana.

THE ALTERNATE TIMELINE
  • Can be upgraded from Sands of Time at level 20.
    • 2300g
    • +45 Magical Power
    • +45 Protections
    • +15 MP5
    • +10% Cooldown Reduction
    • Passive – When you would die you instead find an alternate timeline you are alive, becoming CC Immune, Damage Immune, and unable to act. After 1.75s you are restored to 25% Health and Mana and can act again. This can only occur once every 10 minutes.

CONDUIT GEM
  • 700g
  • +30 Magical Power
  • +15 MP5
  • Passive – Every second you gain a stack of Arcane Energy, causing your next damaging ability to deal an additional 2 True Damage and remove all stacks. This effect stacks up to 20 times.

ARCHMAGE’S GEM
  • Can be upgraded from Conduit Gem at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +100 Magical power
    • +25 MP5
    • Passive – Every 1s you gain a stack of Demise, causing your next damaging ability to deal an additional 2.5% of your Magical Power in damage and remove all stacks. This effect stacks up to 20 times.

GEM OF FOCUS
  • Can be upgraded from Conduit Gem at level 20.
    • 2200g
    • +90 Magical Power
    • +150 Health
    • +15 MP5
    • Passive – Every time you cast an ability that costs mana you gain a stack of Focus for 10s, providing 3% Movement Speed, 3% Damage Increase, and 2% Damage Taken Reduction, stacking up to 3 times.

BUMBA’S DAGGER
  • 600g
  • +50 Health
  • +50 Mana
  • PASSIVE – Your Basic Attacks deal +15 True Damage and your Abilities deal +30% Damage versus Jungle Monsters. When a Jungle Monster is killed you are restored for 10% of the Monster’s Health and 25 Mana. Can be upgraded at level 20.

BUMBA’S SPEAR
  • Can be upgraded from Bumba’s Dagger at level 20.
    • 2100g
    • +60 Physical Power
    • +90 Magical Power
    • +200 Health
    • +200 Mana
    • Passive – Your Basic Attacks deal +50 True Damage and your Abilities +50% damage against Jungle Monsters, Structures, and Jungle Bosses. When any of these die you are healed for 10% of their Health, restore 10% of your Mana, and are given 10 gold.

BUMBA’S HAMMER
  • Can be upgraded from Bumba’s Dagger at level 20.
    • 2100g
    • +300 Health
    • +200 Mana
    • +10% Cooldown Reduction
    • +10% Penetration
    • Passive – After casting an ability your next Basic Attack deals an additional 80 True Damage. After hitting a Basic Attack empowered by Bumba’s Hammer, your active cooldowns are reduced by 1s and you are healed for 5% of your Maximum Health.

EYE OF THE JUNGLE
  • 650g
  • +10 Physical Power
  • +20 Magical Power
  • +15 HP5
  • +20% Attack Speed
  • Passive – You deal 30% increased damage to Jungle Monsters. Upon defeating a Large Jungle Monster, place a ward that lasts for 30 seconds.

SEER OF THE JUNGLE
  • Can be upgraded from Eye of the Jungle at level 20.
    • 2150g
    • +60 Physical Power
    • +90 Magical Power
    • +25 Physical Protection
    • +20% Attack Speed
    • Passive – You deal 30% increased damage to Jungle Monsters and Jungle Bosses. Upon defeating a Large Jungle Monster or Jungle Boss, you gain the ability to see Wards for 10s.

PROTECTOR OF THE JUNGLE
  • Can be upgraded from Eye of the Jungle at level 20.
    • 2150g
    • +65 Physical Power
    • +100 Magical Power
    • +35 Physical Protection
    • +35% Attack Speed
    • Passive – While in the jungle you gain 15% Power and 15% Protections.

MANIKIN SCEPTER
  • 750g
  • +10 Basic Attack Damage
  • +15 Physical Protection
  • +3 Damage Reduction
  • Enemies hit by your Basic Attacks are burned, taking 20 Physical Damage over 2s and have their Attack Speed reduced by 7%. Jungle Monsters take 2.5x the amount of damage. This effect can stack up to 4 times. Can be upgraded at level 20.

MANIKIN MACE
  • Can be upgraded from Manikin Scepter at level 20
    • 2250g
    • +50 Basic Attack Damage
    • +100 Health
    • +30 Physical Protection
    • +8 Damage Reduction
    • Passive – Enemies hit by your Basic Attacks are burned, taking 60 physical damage over 2s and have their Attack Speed slowed by 10%. Jungle Monsters and Bosses take quadruple damage. This effect can stack up to 4 times.

MANIKIN HIDDEN BLADE
  • Can be upgraded from Manikin Scepter at level 20
    • 2250g
    • +75 Basic Attack Damage
    • +30 Physical Protection
    • +5 Damage Reduction
    • Passive – If you have not taken or dealt damage in the last 5s and hit an enemy god, Jungle Monster, or Jungle Boss, they immediately take 15% of their Current Health as Physical Damage and are slowed by 20% for 5s.

SENTINEL’S GIFT
  • 500g
  • +75 Health
  • +7 Physical Protection
  • +7 Magical Protection
  • +7 MP5
  • PASSIVE – Being within assist range of a minion or jungle camp monster death without dealing the killing blow awards 7 bonus gold, and also restores +12 Health and +8 Mana. If you are not near an allied god for 20 seconds or more, this passive is disabled.

SENTINEL’S BOON
  • Can be upgraded from Sentinel’s Gift at level 17.
    • +300 Health
    • +45 Physical Protection
    • +45 Magical Protection
    • +20 MP5
    • PASSIVE – Assisting an enemy target dying provides 15 Bonus Gold and restores 3% of your Health and Mana.

SENTINEL’S EMBRACE
  • Can be upgraded from Sentinel’s Gift at level 17.
    • +200 Health
    • +20 Physical Protection
    • +20 Magical Protection
    • +20 MP5
    • PASSIVE – Evenly split 120 Physical and Magical Protection among all nearby allied gods and yourself. If you are alone you only gain 60 Physical and Magical Protections.

BENEVOLENCE
  • 750g
  • +75 Health
  • +7 HP5
  • +10 MP5
  • Passive – Gain 2GP5 and 1 XPP5 (+0.5 per level). Any time you would gain experience or gold from an enemy dying you only take 90% and share 10% with nearby allies.

COMPASSION
  • Can be upgraded from Benevolence at level 17.
    • 2250g
    • +300 Health
    • +30 HP5
    • +15 MP5
    • PASSIVE – Damage taken by nearby allies is reduced by 15%, up to a maximum of 100 damage. The reduced damage is redirected to you as Magical Damage. If this redirected damage would kill you, it does not get redirected.

ANIMOSITY
  • Can be upgraded from Benevolence at level 17.
    • 2250g
    • +400 Health
    • +20 HP5
    • +20 MP5
    • PASSIVE –  Your Basic Attack deals bonus damage equal to 4% of your Maximum Health as Magical Damage. This effect is doubled against structures.

WAR FLAG
  • 700g
  • +10 Physical Power
  • +20 Magical Power
  • +100 Health
  • +10 MP5
  • PASSIVE – Being in range of minion or jungle camp death without dealing the killing the blow restores 6 Health and 6 Mana to all allies within 55 units and also provides allies with a stacking self buff of 1% Movement Speed and 2% Attack Speed. Lasts 8s and stacks up to 10 times.

WAR BANNER
  • Can be upgraded from War Flag at level 17.
    • 2200g
    • +30 Physical Power
    • +60 Magical Power
    • +300 Health
    • +15 MP5
    • PASSIVE – Each time you assist a kill on a minion or jungle monster you restore 1% health and mana to all allies within 55 units and also provide allies with a stacking self buff of 2% Movement Speed and 4% Attack Speed. Lasts 10s and stacks up to 10 times.

SPARTAN FLAG
  • Can be upgraded from War Flag at level 17.
    • 2200g
    • +40 Physical Power
    • +65 Magical Power
    • +300 Health
    • +15 MP5
    • PASSIVE – When you damage an enemy god you call down a Spartan Flag at your location, providing 10% increased Power to allies standing in the radius. Lasts for 10s, can only occur once every 10s.

TAINTED STEEL
  • 750g
  • +10 Physical Power
  • +15 Magical Power
  • +15 Magical Protection
  • +15 Physical Protection
  • Passive: Enemy Gods that you hit have their healing taken reduced by 20% for 6s.

TAINTED BREASTPLATE
  • Can be upgraded from Tainted Steel at level 20.
    • 2250g
    • +40 Physical Power
    • +60 Magical Power
    • +30 Magical Protection
    • +70 Physical Protection
    • Passive: Enemy Gods that you hit have their healing taken reduced by 50% for 6s.

TAINTED AMULET
  • Can be upgraded from Tainted Steel at level 20.
    • 2250g
    • +30 Physical Power
    • +50 Magical Power
    • +80 Magical Protection
    • +30 Physical Protection
    • Passive : Enemy Gods that you hit have their healing taken reduced by 20% for 6s. You are healed for 100% of the healing reduced.
ITEM BALANCE

ELIXIR OF POWER
Elixir of Power and Defense are late game options for players looking for that final push to close out a game. While Power was strong, it didn’t fully support all build types. Defense struggled to feel worth the 3000 gold cost. Some bonus penetration, damage mitigation, and CCR will help these items stand out in more situations.

 

  • Now provides 10% Penetration.

ELIXIR OF DEFENSE
  • Now provides 5% Damage Mitigation.
  • Now provides 20% Crowd Control Reduction.

SHIELD OF THORNS
Shield of Thorns has polarized many players. Especially at the top end of play this item’s flexibility feels difficult to play around. We are decreasing how much damage this can reflect, lowering its impact when used to its maximum effect.

 

  • Decreased damage reflected from 40% to 30%.
  • Decrease cap of damage taken from 150 * Level to 120 * Level.

SHIELD OF THORNS UPGRADE
  • Decreased damage reflected from 40% to 30%.
  • Decrease cap of damage taken from 150 * Level to 120 * Level.
Tank Item Adjustments
Witchblade, Winged Blade, and Relic Dagger are being adjusted to form a stronger tank tree overall. Witchblade struggled as a hybrid item with stats difficult to leverage. It will now better focus around mitigating Physical Damage while Winged Blade gains Magical Protection to help tanks find opportunities to build it. Relic Dagger is the pure health option to round out the trio.

 

WITCHBLADE
  • Now builds off Adventurer’s Blade.
    • No longer provides Attack Speed.
  • Now provides 30 Physical Protections.
  • Increased Attack Speed Reduction Aura from 20% to 25%.

WINGED BLADE
  • Decreased Health from 300 to 250.
  • Now provides 30 Magical Protections.

RELIC DAGGER
  • Increased Health from 300 to 350.
  • Now provides 10% Crowd Control Reduction.

EMPERORS ARMOR
Emperor’s Armor brings unique utility but struggled to feel worthwhile in the many other fights that occur that are not around a structure. A boost to Physical Protection helps alleviate that feeling.

 

  • Increased Physical Protection from 50 to 60.

TALISMAN OF ENERGY
Talisman of Energy could not generate enough stacks to feel worthwhile, especially in Teamfights on Conquest. This item will now generate all of its stacks upon an enemy god being defeated, vastly improving the chances to empower your team.

 

  • Now provides maximum stacks on a god death or assist.
Assassin Item Adjustments

JOTUNN’S WRATH
Jotunn’s Wrath has been a staple but underwhelming item for Assassins. Some extra power makes sure it competes with more offensive items like Brawler’s Beatstick and The Crusher.

 

  • Increased Physical Power from 40 to 50.

STONE CUTTING SWORD
Stone Cutting Sword is a powerful tool that requires many supporting items to get its full value. The high cost combined with multiple In-hand Assassin item nerfs has seen this item struggle to be built. A lower cost frees up some gold to help support this item as a whole

 

  • Decreased cost from 2500 to 2350.

BERSERKER’S SHIELD
Berserker’s Shield and Ancile existed as bruiser items that struggled to be tanky enough for Warriors and offensive enough for Assassins. These items are being shifted more towards Assassins. Both items are losing Protections in favor of additional Physical Power. The goal is that Assassin’s have options to protect against specific targets without becoming full on Bruisers themselves.

 

  • Decreased Physical Protection from 30 to 20.
  • Increased Physical Power from 40 to 50.
  • Increased Physical Power from Berserk Passive from 20 to 30.

WARDED SHIELD
  • Decreased cost from 1400 to 1150.
    • The cost of items that are built from Warded Shield have remained unchanged.
  • Decreased Magical Protection from 35 to 25.

ANCILE
  • Decreased Magical Protection from 50 to 30.
  • Increased Physical Power from 40 to 60.

SERRATED EDGE
Serrated Edge’s passive definitely asks for gods to play very differently with their abilities to maximize its use cases. The passive providing Basic Attack Power limited the pool of gods who could opt into this play style even further. Changing this to Physical Power should open this pool up.

 

  • Now provides 10 Physical Power per stack.
  • No longer provides 10 Basic Attack Power per stack.
Magical Item Adjustments

CELESTIAL LEGION HELM
Celestial Legion Helm gives mages who are concerned about Physical Damage a strong counter choice; but the lack of Power made that tradeoff difficult to justify. Some extra Power will help this tradeoff feel more in line with other choices.

 

  • Increased Magical Power from 60 to 70.

SPEAR OF DESOLATION
Spear of Desolation and Spear of Magus have similar stats but different passives, with Magus feeling like a generally stronger and more flexible passive. For gods with lower cooldown Ultimates (or for extended fights) it will now reduce ultimate cooldown a more significant amount

 

  • Now decreases ultimate cooldowns by 8s on getting a kill or assist on an enemy god in addition to reducing non-ultimate cooldowns by 2s.

OBSIDIAN SHARD
Magical Penetration has largely settled into a fine spot, but we see Obsidian Shard struggle to compete with other % Penetration options. This extra power should help it match Charon’s Coin as one of the two 20% options.

 

  • Increased Magical Power from 70 to 80.

POLYNOMICON
Polynomicon is a fun item for many players but struggles to really rack up a win. A small boost to power will round out its strength and allow it to see more success.

 

  • Increased Magical Power from 85 to 95.

CHARON’S COIN
  • Added new art to indicate which stacks are gained on the buff bar. Green “Heads” for Hp5. Yellow “Tails”/boat for Movement Speed.

SOUL REAVER
Many players during our initial Magical Penetration changes felt Soul Reaver fought with our stated goals. It provided not only a powerful stat against tanks but a tank shredding passive, doubling down as a potent one off item. We are removing the Magical Penetration and moving it to something focused more on general offense; but are adjusting its passive and cost to highlight its identity are a % health shred option

 

  • No longer provides 10% Magical Penetration.
  • Decreased cost from 2850 to 2650.
  • Increased % health damage at maximum strength from 7% to 9%.

ROD OF TAHUTI
And Rod of Tahuti is the item that is more aligned with our Magical Penetration goals. Rod of Tahuti’s cost and lack of utility passive has made it struggle to find a solid place in the Meta. The extra Penetration will make this a much more attractive option for mages across all styles of play. We will keep a close eye on this item as simply adding 10% Penetration is a large buff, but one we felt was appropriate for a very late game Mage item that has struggled compared to utility items.

 

  • Now provides 10% Magical Penetration.

CURSED ORB
  • Decreased Movement Speed from 3% to 2%.
  • Decreased Stack count from 5 to 4.
  • Increased Magical Power per stack from 3 to 4.
    • 15 to 16 total.
    • Extra stack of movement speed lost

DOOM ORB
Doom Orb and Cursed Orb bring very early speed to Mages. Not only has this become a more dominant strategy in recent months but we expect Movement Speed to be extra strong on a larger Season 8 Conquest.

 

  • Decreased Movement Speed from 6% to 4%.
Warrior Item Adjustments

SHIFTER’S SHIELD
Similar to Berserker’s Shield and Ancile, Shifters fell into a world of not being tanky enough for bruisers but not offensive enough for Assassins. We are however shifting this toward a Bruiser playstyle, bringing up its protections in all situations.

 

  • Increased Physical Protection from 15 to 25.
  • Increased Protections gained while under 75% Health from 35 to 40.
  • Decreased cost from 2400 to 2350.

FROSTBOUND HAMMER
The Hammer Tree is also seeing a slew of adjustments with the goal of bringing The Sledge more into line and boosting unused Hammers into more relevance. Frostbound Hammer will provide some extra offense and utility in the form of its Attack Speed reduction. Pairing this with the newly adjusted Witchblade could prove a powerful combo against Basic Attack gods.

 

  • Increased Physical Power from 25 to 35.
  • Increased Attack Speed Reduction from 15% to 25%.

RUNEFORGED HAMMER
Runeforged Hammer is being shifted around, making it more attractive for gods who rely on higher base damages and less on scaling.

 

  • Increased Health from 200 to 250.
  • Decreased Power from 50 to 40.
  • Increased Passive damage increase from 15% to 20%.

THE SLEDGE
The Sledge has dominated the Warrior item pool, and previously we felt it needed to remain that way to ensure Warriors felt impactful. With the new Season and improved Bruiser choices we feel we can safely take this item down a notch.

 

  • Decreased Health from 300 to 250.
  • Decreased Protections per stack from 10 to 8.

SHIELD OF REGROWTH
Similar to Doom Orb, Movement Speed on Season 8 is more valuable than ever. While this nerf looks more significant the boost was already suffering from Diminishing Returns, putting it closer to the nerf Doom Orb experienced.

 

  • Decreased Movement Speed on Passive from 40% to 30%.
Hunter Item Adjustments

DOMINANCE (NEW ITEM)
To kick off the Hunter section we have a new Physical Penetration option! Dominance is a new item to the Charged Morningstar tree, providing a decent chunk of Power, Mana, and extra Penetration for your Basic Attacks. More specifically this item provides many stats a Hunter may want but not all of them in one go. We hope this item can flex into a variety of Hunter builds without enforcing a specific build that shines above other build choices.

 

  • Builds from Charged Morningstar
  • 2500g
    • +55 Physical Power
    • +200 Mana
    • +20 MP5
    • +10% Physical Penetration
      • PASSIVE – Your Basic Attacks benefit from an additional 10% Physical Penetration.

ATALANTA’S BOW
Speaking of items that provide many stats, as a 20% Penetration option with Power, Attack Speed, and strong utility, Atalanta’s Bow dictated much of the Season 7 Hunter builds. We are removing 10% Penetration and reducing its cost to allow it to still be a strong option, but one that flexes into your build rather than determining it.

 

  • Decreased Physical Penetration from 20% to 10%.
  • Decreased cost from 2450 to 2200.

THE EXECUTIONER
The Executioner also saw heavy adjustments in the Season 7 Penetration adjustments that resulted in it disappearing from most builds. We are increasing its stack count allowing it to provide similar levels of Penetration that it used to but requiring a longer engagement before it fully comes online.

 

  • Increased Maximum Stack count from 3 to 4.
    • 21% to 28% Penetration total

8 POINTED SHURIKEN
Critical Strike in SMITE has many fans and enemies, but we think something most players would agree with is that low Critical Strike chances randomly triggering 3 times in a row feels distinctly unfair. Going forward only Tier 3 items will provide Critical Strike chance. These items have enough Critical Strike Chance that they begin to feel fair as the players have more heavily invested into this build path with a sufficiently high chance, rather than a 5% chance from Hidden Dagger.
  • No longer provides Critical Strike Chance.
  • Increased Power from 15 to 25.
  • Decreased Cost from 1500 to 1400.
    • All upgrades still retain their same full item cost.

HIDDEN DAGGER
  • No longer provides Critical Strike Chance.
  • Increased Physical Power from 10 to 15.

SHORT SWORD
  • No longer provides Critical Strike Chance.
  • Increased Physical Power from 20 to 25.
  • Decreased Cost from 1500 to 1350.
    • All upgrades still retain their same full item cost.

RAGE
  • Increased Physical Power from 20 to 30.
  • Increased Cost from 2400 to 2500.

DEATHBRINGER
With the changes to Critical Strike in low amounts and the core of Hunter Penetration being adjusted, we want to ensure Critical Strike items provide enough late game power. Deathbringer while fun has struggled to be effective. Some extra power will help bolster Critical Strike builds.

 

  • Increased Physical Power from 40 to 50.

SHADOWSTEEL SHURIKEN
All the Shurikens are also seeing a boost. Their utility often came at a heavy premium that made Critical Strike builds feel underwhelming. Some extra stats behind each item (or lowering the cost to help its overall power curve) will help them stand out.

 

  • Increased Physical Power from 30 to 40.
  • Increased Attack Speed from 10% to 15%.
    • This item received additional changes outlined in the anti-healing section.

WIND DEMON
  • Increased Critical Strike Chance from 15% to 20%

POISONED STAR
  • Decreased cost from 2500 to 2300.
  • Decreased poison slow from 15% to 10%.
GOD BALANCE
JANUS
Janus has a long history in SMITE. When strong he often feels very frustrating to fight against, with moments of high variability in his damage output combined with strong high level utility. Over time his utility and damage have been nerfed in response to the point where he struggles to see success at any level of play.
Our goal of this minor rework is to help improve this variability around his kit when it comes to damage. We want players to have a more consistent experience when playing as and against Janus. Unstable Vortex will lose its center dead area but still reward players for lining up a double hit. Through Space and Time will still bring teamwide mobility and a strong chunk of damage to anyone unfortunate enough to be hit, but it can no longer literally one shot a full health target.

 

PORTAL
  • Players falling from a Janus portal can now be damaged before they hit the ground. (Previously they were untargetable until after they hit the ground completely, which was inconsistent with other banish effects.)
  • Going through Janus’ portals now has a unique sound to different it from the Blink Relic

UNSTABLE VORTEX
  • Unstable Vortex now damages enemies who are in between the two Vortex projectiles.
    • A chain of energy connects the two orbs, showing this damage area.
    • Enemies can still be “double-hit” if they are hit where the orbs meet.

THROUGH SPACE AND TIME
  • This ability can now only ever deal up to 75% of a target’s max health.
  • This ability’s audio has been adjusted to be more audible as it travels.
BAKASURA
Bakasura, Ra, and Poseidon are seeing nerfs to their Movement Speed. In Season 8 Movement Speed is stronger than ever due to a larger Conquest map. We looked at all gods and their Movement Speed and wanted to only nerf already high performing gods rather than blanket nerfing a wide array of gods without everyone having a chance to develop their own metas. These gods likely could use nerfs to begin with and are gods we would have expected to excel even more in a Season 8 world.

 

INSATIABLE HUNGER
  • Decreased Movement Speed from 7% to 5% per stack.
RA

SPEED OF LIGHT
  • Decreased Movement Speed from 6% to 5% per stack.
POSEIDON

CHANGING TIDES
  • Decreased Movement Speed from 15% to 10% at Max Tide.
AGNI
Similar to some other items we have discussed, Combustion has a much different strength when Agni can hit minions versus fighting gods directly. Generating additional stacks when hitting gods helps Agni players who can land Basic Attacks during a hectic fight.

 

COMBUSTION
  • Basic Attacking a god now provides 2 stacks.
CHERNOBOG
Vicious Barrage scales on both Attack Speed and Duration, effectively making it a very weak level 1 stim but allowing it to even out with other stims by level 20. Decreasing its Mana cost and increasing its base Attack Speed help to even out its power through its ranks while allowing Chernobog players more flexibility when choosing to use this ability.

 

VICIOUS BARRAGE
  • Increased Attack Speed from 20/30/40/50/60% to 40/45/50/55/60%.
  • Decreased Mana cost from 70/90 to 60/80.
CHIRON
Chiron’s Passive provides strong regen but often lacks the impact of other Passives. Herbal Medicine will now provide Power to allies being healed, giving it that extra kick for Chiron and his allies

 

HERBAL MEDICINE
  • Provides Power to allies being healed.
    • 5 (+1 per level) Physical Power
    • 10 (+2 per Level) Magical Power.
CHRONOS
Chronos and Sol are often talked about with other Magical ADCs who had a very strong showing at the start of Season 7. Since then many of the core items that really boosted the role have been nerfed and adjusted, leaving Chronos and Sol underperforming. They are both gaining some general Attack Speed and Scaling on their damaging abilities to help them compete with other Magical ADCs.

 

GENERAL
  • Increased Attack Speed per level from 0.8% to 1.5%.

STOP TIME
  • Increased Scaling from 40% to 45%. (80% to 90%)
DANZABUROU
The Legendary Tanuki has exploded into our hearts! This fun filled Hunter has been fun to watch, proving himself to be a formidable foe in his debut. Dubious Savings’ Bonus Power and the base damage of Fool’s Gold in particular make him a difficult opponent to survive against early on. We are reducing both to give enemies a fighting chance against this tricky Tanuki.

 

DUBIOUS SAVINGS
  • Decreased Bonus Power from each pouch from 10 to 6

FOOL’S GOLD
  • Decreased base damage from 70/125/180/235/290 to 70/120/170/220/270
  • Decreased damage from subsequent hits of money bags and explosions from 20% to 15%
FENRIR
Fenrir is often chained down as an aggressive support or a bruiser Jungler. We wanted to give him extra scaling and better access to his strong utility to help him excel when building higher raw power. The biggest change here is Seething Howl providing 2 Unbound Runes. This allows Fenrir in the jungle to more reliably use his runes to clear while still getting access to his Stun when it comes time to gank.

 

UNCHAINED
  • Increased Physical Power Scaling from 80% to 95%.

SEETHING HOWL
  • Immediately generates 2 Unbound Runes upon cast.

BRUTALIZE
  • Increased AoE damage from 50% of Brutalize Damage to 60% of Brutalize Damage.
HACHIMAN
Hachiman’s Eagle Eye definitely scared us during his development. Access to extra long Range Basic Attacks was a concern but clearly this feels fair to fight against. Similar to his last change, Eagle Eye is getting some more love. Lower cooldown will highlight this unique part of Hachiman more often.
Additionally, Hachiman and Rama are seeing an adjustment to their Ultimate. Both gods could dash while exiting their ultimate, causing their animations to break and visually making them seem hitable when they land but allowing them to act earlier than intended. Hachiman and Rama will now resolve the landing from their ultimates before being allowed to act or dash.

 

EAGLE EYE
  • Decreased cooldown from 14s to 12s.

MOUNTED ARCHERY
  • Fixed an issue where Hachiman can fire other abilities while exiting the ultimate earlier than intended.
HERCULES
Hercules’ early game saw a heavy hit with our last round of adjustments. We want to bring up his overall game to offset this heavy hit and Earthbreaker was a solid place to bring that power back. Extra Base damage in addition to scaling will help him scale over the course of the game, bringing more Bruiser strength to late game fights.

 

EARTHBREAKER
  • Increased damage from 80/125/170/215/260 (+50% of your Physical Power) to 90/140/190/240/290 (+60% of your Physical Power.)
IZANAMI
Izanami’s Basic Attacks are weird, and that is a good thing! Her unique attacks allow her to stand out among other hunters, but these attacks did have one strange feeling. As her Attack Speed rose it became difficult to really track how many sickles were out and where in their path they were. In this adjustment we are allowing these projectiles to speed up as her Attack Speed increases, making her Attack pacing feel more consistent across the whole game. This is likely quite the buff, but one that we think will improve her overall feel quite a bit. If we need further adjustments we can address that one we have her attacks feeling fluid.

 

DEATH DRAWS NIGH
  • Izanami’s Sickle projectile speed increases as she gains attack speed. This should result more closely with her sickle returning before a second one fires.
MERLIN
Merlin’s different stances bring unique strengths to the table. Frost slows and provides quick damage (if not a hair too quick), Arcane is large AoE and control, while Fire brings high damage if Merlin can stay close. Fire however didn’t quite hit that stated goal. Radiate in particular ticked slowly, making its impact feel delayed and was often not worth the risk of channeling it on a god. It will now tick more rapidly (and deal more damage over its entire life) rewarding Merlin who can find an opportunity to stay close to his enemies.

 

FROSTBOLT
  • Decreased scaling from 60% to 55%.

RADIATE
  • Decrease time between ticks from 0.5s to 0.25.
  • Change from 10/20/30/40/50 (+30% of your Magical Power) to 6/12/18/24/30 (+18% of your Magical Power) per tick.
    • Total : 40/180/120/160/200 (+120%) to 48/96/144/192/240 (+144%)
NE ZHA
Ne Zha, similar to Fenrir, has often found himself more of a support and it is easy to see why. Flaming Spear encourages high health, his ultimate put him in high danger requiring tankier items, and his overall scaling heavily relied on Critical Strikes limiting his build choice. We want to make Adjustments to better give Ne Zha an opportunity to build Power. Flaming Spear will now scale with power, not health. Armillary Sash can no longer crit but gains heavy scaling. Finally, Wind Fire Wheels will provide flat protections upon landing. These lower protections can mean the difference between life and death for an Assassin but would be mostly a small bonus for a Tank.
At the same time we also are increasing the beads window for Wind Fire Wheels to 0.4s. Even professional level players felt the window to react, especially from point blank, was nearly impossible. Overall these changes should allow Ne Zha to perform as an Assassin more consistently rather than relying on point blank ultimates to contribute.

 

FLAMING SPEAR
  • Heal changed from 0.75% of your Maximum Health per stack to 2/4/6/8/10 + (10% of your Physical Power) per stacks.

ARMILLARY SASH
  • This ability can no longer crit.
  • Increased damage from 70/100/130/160/190 70/120/170/220/270.
  • Increased scaling from 100% to 150%.

WIND FIRE WHEELS
  • Increased the beads window for Wind Fire Wheels. (0.4s)
  • Upon landing you gain 20/25/30/35/40 Protections for 5s.
RAIJIN
Raijin enters and leaves the meta but has currently struggled to see much success. We want to improve the strength of his core kit rather than adjusting his ultimate, as that seems to be currently what pushed him in and out at the highest levels of play. Percussive Storm and Raiju will have a lower cooldown, giving Raijin better access to answers when clearing wave and contesting objectives. Thunder Crash is also getting some scaling, rewarding Raijin players who find a chance to use this ability offensively.

 

PERCUSSIVE STORM
  • Decreased cooldown from 10s to 9s.

RAIJU
  • Decreased cooldown from 16/15/14/13/12s to 14/13/12/11/10s.

THUNDER CRASH
  • Increased scaling on lightning and thunder damage from 20% to 30%. (40 -> 60% total)
RAMA

ASTRAL BARRAGE
  • Fixed an issue where Rama can fire other abilities while exiting the ultimate earlier than intended.
SOL

UNSTABLE MANIFESTATION
  • Increased Attack Speed from 1% to 1.2% (25% to 30%)

STELLAR BURST
  • Increased damage from 35% to 40%. (70% to 80%).
SEASON 8 ROADMAP
8.1 is only the start of another fantastic season of SMITE! What else can you look forward to this year? Well this section will answer that question by spoiling some big things early and hinting at a few others! This list will not cover all of our planned updates, and some things on this list might change.
Upcoming Gods
Our God schedule is keeping steady from past years. See our teaser trailer for your hints about who might be coming this year! There are currently planned to be 6 new gods this year, with at least one of each class. The Babylonian was our big “player requested” addition this year. The rest of the year will be a mixture of surprises and other interesting community requests. Anything players feel like is lacking in Season 8 will very likely be a part of Season 9! Player feedback comes in much faster than we can release gods, so don’t worry, we are listening, just give us some time!
  • Tiamat – 8.2 Launch
  • Gilgamesh – 8.4 Launch
  • 8.6 God
  • 8.8 God
  • 8.10 God
  • 8.12 God
Upcoming God Reworks (In order of release date)
The biggest of balance changes – the rework. When the tuning of numbers alone is not enough to improve certain gods, we apply the concept called “reworking” them. This leads to major changes in ability functionality, or possibly completely new abilities. Here is what we have planned for Season 8.
  • Persephone
    • This goddess is going to receive changes to the functionality of multiple abilities across her entire kit, with the main focus being decreasing frustration of her enemies and taking down her pro-play performance while increasing her casual performance.
  • Bastet
    • We missed the mark on our previous Bastet update. Currently Bastet has strong win % stats in conquest, but players feel underwhelmed by her. We are giving her another new passive and a new Ultimate that should feel much more like a true Ultimate ability.
  • At Least 2 Other Gods
    • In Season 8, more gods will be receiving reworks that change at least 1 ability entirely, or make heavy adjustments kit-wide. We aren’t ready to name them yet but keep an eye out. Our designers have already begun the process on these gods, and we look forward to playtesting them!
Upcoming Item Reworks (In order of release date)
Usually we see more new items in the X.1 Update in each Season. This year the item content is dominated by new and reworked starter items. It’s a lot of items, but it did lead to less changes to traditional Tier 3 items. Because of that, we are going to see more item reworks in a few updates after 8.1.
  • Mail of Renewal
  • Stone of Fal
    • These two are our current top priority, as both items are relatively unpopular. We are planning to make them into more interesting options for tanky gods.
  • Item Particle FX
    • Some Items create pretty bold particles on hit, which we think is cluttering the game and obscuring vision, we are going to do a pass on these particles to make sure only essential information is conveyed this way, and tone down a lot of item FX. We have done this before and it felt like a big improvement, so it’s time we did it again.
  • Other Items
    • It’s likely that other items will be reworked in Mid Season 8 or beyond, but we aren’t planning to share any more details at this time.
Upcoming God Remodels (In order of release date)
Everyone gets excited for a classic god being remodeled. Ares and Isis both look amazing after their Season 7 updates, and we plan to keep the process rolling through Season 8. Remodels are a time consuming process so we have to pace ourselves, but we plan to keep implementing them in the same ways as we did for Ares and Isis.
  • Sobek Remodel
    • A lot of gods get brought up for remodel, so we have to look closely at the feedback and data to decide who goes next. In our opinion we saw Sobek as the clear front-runner. Sobek’s remodel has already been concepted and started in 3D Modeling, and will be launching early in Season 8!
  • At Least 1 Other God
    • We have one more god pretty locked down for remodel, and hopefully will be able to find time for more
Upcoming Skins for Gods who aren’t often skinned
We want to make sure that all gods get quality skins within a reasonable amount of time. We have been actively tracking the gods who have gone the longest without a new skin to make sure we prioritize them in our planning. We can’t skin every god every year, but we can get close! Here are a few gods who have gone a while without a skin, and our plans for them in Season 8.
  • Artwork already started (definitely happening)
    • Cerberus
    • Baron Samedi
    • Kuzenbo
    • Serqet
    • Erlang Shen
    • Kali
    • Vamana
    • Zhong Kui
    • Thoth
  • Planned, but not started (likely happening)
    • Chronos
    • Sylvanus
Upcoming Events and Modes
And now we can zoom out a little, looking beyond each individual god or item. Game Modes and maps are a huge part of SMITE. We want to constantly be creating new twists on our current games so that they feel fresh and exciting. This year will have a heavy focus on Conquest but we want to reassure the community that we have specific plans for non-Conquest modes as well.
  • Maps and Game Modes
    • Conquest
      • As mentioned above – S8 Conquest is planned to have 3 more updates throughout Season 8
    • At Least 1 other Map
      • We also have plans for art and design updates to other maps in SMITE that we expect to release within Season 8!
  • 2 Crossover Events
    • We cannot reveal any details about them, but this pace of “2 a year” is feeling really good for the dev team and players alike. We are going to try to continue this throughout Season 8 with a focus on making sure we find good fits for combat styles between each IP character and SMITE god. Crossover events should be somewhat rare and the skins need to be super high quality. We think Avatar and TMNT nailed this concept and we plan to keep the bar as high as those two crossovers did.
Upcoming Quality of Life, Systems, and UI
Gods, Items, Skins, and Modes have been covered, but there is so much more to SMITE. We have been keeping a constant focus on continually updating the SMITE client through UI and systems changes.
  • Clans will return in 2 Phases
    • Phase 1 – Initial rework launch limited to only essential functions – Early S8
    • Phase 2 – New systems, and new rewards  – Late S8 / Early S9
    • Clans in SMITE had some pretty serious technical issues on the backend that could lead to game crashes and server crashes. In order to fix these we have had to scrap a lot of the code systems and start from scratch. We plan to release the core functions early in S8 focusing on facilitating social gameplay. This release will likely have more features cut rather than added when comparing to the previous Clan system.
    • However, we do plan to bring in UI updates, new features, and new reward systems later in the year. We will take our time with phase 2 to avoid any future issues with the Clan system.
  • UI Updates (not in order of release date, just current top priorities)
    • Esports and Livestreams Updates – and Viewer Store Updates – in 8.2
    • Purchasing Experience – More intuitive and clear UI elements when buying things
    • In-Match Experience – Item Shop, HUD, and Gameplay Clarity for all platforms
    • Ranked UI – Improving Clarity on MMR, Rank, and Matchmaking
    • Many more miscellaneous Quality of Life features are planned and we hope to continually ship these with and around the bigger updates.
POST PTS BALANCE CHANGES AND BUG FIXES
Balance
Thanks to everyone who participated in our Season 8 PTS. We had some of the largest turnout for a PTS we have ever had and it was amazing to see everyone play on the new Season 8 map and try out all the new items and balance. Our goal with this set of balance adjustment is to look at outliers that have a high risk of dictating the meta and give them softer adjustments before they see Live play in the coming weeks. We don’t want to overreact before players have had a chance to develop their Season 8 strategies over a longer period of time.
Items like Sentinel’s Embrace and Animosity are probably the standout for strong items that are not receiving an adjustment. These items while strong should feel that way as they are largely limited to Supports. This gives them a strong role and exciting role to play late into the game. To pick these up on non-support roles players must forgo a starter at the beginning of the game or go one that may not help them (and in the case of Animosity, lower their XP gain). We will keep a close eye on this. If this drawback is not as strong as we believe it is it is possible items like these could begin to dictate the meta in unhealthy ways and we will make adjustments to address this.

DEATH’S TOLL
Death’s Toll was a standout during the PTS cycle. The safety it provided was simply too high. A cost increase paired with a nerf to its safety should bring it more in line with the more aggressive or farm oriented choices.
  • Increased cost from 700g to 750g
  • Decreased Health Restore from 1% Maximum Health to 0.75% Maximum Health

DEATH’S EMBRACE
Death’s Embrace doubled down on Death’s Toll’s viability as a starter. Not only did this item provide hefty sustain but the power provided made it a successful offensive choice as well. By nerfing the power on this item the tradeoff is more clear between offensive capability and sustain. We will also continue to keep an eye on gods using this item to solo team based objectives and make adjustments if this strategy becomes too effective.
  • Decreased Physical Power from 80 to 65
  • Decreased Magical Power from 140 to 110

MANIKIN SCEPTER
Manikin Scepter was able to succeed in many roles. Hunter’s and Solo Laners in particular found the burn combined with the ability to control objectives around them quite potent. It is an interesting strategy but it was slowly becoming a dominant one. We are decreasing the burn damage but increasing the damage done to Jungle Monsters. This should take the edge off its potency in lane while preserving its strength for Junglers.
  • Decreased damage over time from 20 Physical Damage to 16 Physical Damage over 2 seconds
  • Increased Jungle Bonus Damage from 2.5x to 3x

EYE OF THE JUNGLE
The large amount of Attack Speed put this starter above most other Jungle choices for many gods, even if they didn’t value Attack Speed too highly. We are decreasing this Attack Speed to ensure a healthy choice of Jungle Starters at the start of the Season.
  • Decreased base attack speed from 20% to 15%

PROTECTOR OF THE JUNGLE
Protector of the Jungle’s stat efficiency was through the roof and further pushed Eye of the Jungle as the go to starter. In line with our goal of softer adjustments to bring things into a more even playing field, we are decreasing the passives effectiveness by 3%. This item is likely still quite good, but more comparable to other options.
  • Decreased the passive bonus from 15% to 12%

BUMBA’S DAGGER
Bumba’s Dagger is the safe choice for Jungler’s, but even with options like starting with T2 boots we saw this item struggle to be effective. The early clear in particular fell behind other starters. We are increasing the bonus damage (combined with a fix that should prevent some cases where it was being mitigated) to help bolster its early game strength.
  • Increased bonus Basic Attack damage from 15 to 20 True Damage

THE ALTERNATE TIMELINE
The Alternate Timeline has a lot of hype surrounding it. A potent effective with a massive cooldown definitely gets people talking! This is a minor adjustment to better focus it’s stats while we continue to keep our eye on this effect.
  • No longer provides +15 MP5

ORNATE ARROW
  • Text now specifies it provides Physical Critical Strike chance.
NE ZHA
The Lotus Prince definitely feels more successful as an Assassin, with higher scaling on his Sash combined with a Power Scaling heal. However, the strength of this heal scaling was simply too high. We are cutting the scaling in half, keeping it as a strong self heal for Ne Zha players that can generate passive stacks. Just not one that undoes a full round of abilities in an instant.

FLAMING SPEAR
  • Decreased Physical Power Scaling on the heal from 10% per stack to 5% per stack.
DANZABUROU
  • Fixed an issue where the looping sound FX on Danzaburou’s ultimate rocket would not play for the entire duration as it traveled
  • Increased the volume of the sound FX on Danzaburou’s ultimate rocket
JANUS

PORTAL
  • Changes that were planned for this ability for 8.1 are being reverted and will not go live in 8.1. This is due to the issues it had when Janus used the ability on himself.
  • We do plan on still going forward with this change in future updates, but with specific programming to only change the functionality of the falling state at the end of the ability.
JORMUNGANDR
  • Jormungandr’s basic attacks will not trigger any item effects, including all starter items and their upgrades. Previously he was allowed to trigger blessings only because the effects were limited, but the 8.1 starters create clear break cases.
Item Bug Fixes
  • General
    • Updated text on many starter items for clarity and consistency
  • Bumbas Hammer
    • Fixed an issue where toggle or multi-fire abilities could trigger this item. This item should behave similarly to Hydra’s Lament and Polynomicon when it comes to what abilities can proc this effect.
      • NOTE: There are two issues we are aware of that will be fixed in 8.2. Some abilities such as Nemesis Shield and Hera’s Shield will trigger this item after the shield fades. This does not match Hydra’s Lament or Polynomicon which procs immediately. Additionally, Zhong Kui’s ultimate and Ah Puch’s Undead Surge will not proc this item. We are working on a fix to allow this item to proc in this situation.
  • Starter Items
    • Fixed an issue where players could buy additional starter items.
  • Manikin Mace
    • Fixed an issue where Jungle Bosses could immune a portion of this items damage.
  • Manikin Scepter
    • Fixed an issue where this item did higher damage to Jungle Monsters than listed.
  • Diamond Arrow
    • Fixed an issue where this item wasn’t stacking
  • Hunter’s Cowl
    • Fixed an issue where this items aura could stack multiple times.
  • Leather Cowl
    • Fixed an issue where this items aura could stack multiple times.
  • Death’s Toll
    • Fixed an issue where Basic Attacks that should not trigger item effects were triggering this item. This was most notable on Jormungandr.
  • Aura Starter Items
    • Fixed an issue where the auras could remain when these types of items were sold.
Map Bug Fixes
    • Fixed an issues where minions were not providing any gold when damaged by towers
    • Fixed multiple issues with towers visual FX
    • Missing Invade Debuff on enemy doors and enemy jungles
      • Jungle invader curse
        • Persistent area active until 1m on game clock in the enemies entire jungle
        • Debuff lasts 5s
      • Doors Invader curse
        • Persistent area active whole game, but only on door open pads
        • Debuff lasts 5s
    • Fixed  Base Door Audio
      • Allied doors open instantly
      • Enemy doors take 3s to open, and now audio cues will play to show that this is ticking up
    • Fixed an issue with fire giant where some unintended collision would remain while fighting it
    • Fixed an issue where sometimes fire minions would not have the proper visual FX or minimap icons
    • Fixed a large amount of collision issues
      • Fixed issues where god could clip into environment,
      • Fixed issues where areas had invisible walls
      • Fixed issues where some areas the fog didn’t match jungle edges
      • Fixed issues with wall-interacting abilities (Janus)

 

  • Pets that can travel far from their god (Chang’e and Baba Yaga) can now open doors
  • Other god pets with more combat focused and max distances will not be able to open doors, and will continue to try to go through the doors if its the shortest path, even if doors are closed
UI Bug Fixes
  • Fixed a variety of issues with Role Trading
  • Added Jungle Guides Art to the map
  • Fixed an issue where new Guides could not be toggled from the in game “guides” menu
  • Added a cooldown to the audio on help tip popups
  • Fixed an issue where towers were using temp icon art >:0
  • Updated Mini Map Icons for:
    • Lesser Scorpions
    • Greater Scorpions
    • Role Guide Waypoint
Conquest Environment Art
  • Lots of additional Environment Art decoration and props have been added throughout the map
  • Totem of Ku and tower radius should no longer be visible on the back sides of walls
  • Adjusted the floor brightness and height of FG and Pyromancer areas
  • Decreased the density of jungle fog as well as adjusted the distance effect
  • Made artistic changes to better highlight the Titan leash radius of the Chaos base
Additional Clarity and Messaging
  • Item Attack Speed Slows & Item Slows
    • Item Attack Speed Slows and Item Slows are strongest wins, meaning the strongest possible effect from 1 item will take priority over other item effects. This means they cannot stack. This already exists with Frostbound Hammer and Witchblade for example, but will now also extend to the new starters where applicable.
  • The Alternate Timeline
    • We are aware of selling/rebuying as an exploit case to reset its cooldown. This is technically consistent with an item like Magi’s Blessing; but given its extreme cooldown and effect it likely needs different rules. We do plan on a fix for this issue going into 8.2.
  • Known issues / upcoming fixes
    • We have a long list of smaller issues also fixed for 8.1 that were left out here, as well as many smaller ones planned for fixes ASAP like 8.2. So if you don’t see something on this list, please try to report it after 8.1 goes live.
    • Custom Builds/Auto Build will not upgrade new starters for you automatically
    • Season 8 Map
      • Adding the Spectator version of the map with reduced trees and lowered heights of certain objects
      • Doing a pass on height of trees and collision on higher objects for in-game version of the map, for gods with aerial/global abilities
      • Adjustments to rules and visual elements of new objectives
      • Additional balance on starter items
      • Scorpions are scaling health properly
  • Viewer Pass
    • We are actively working to get VP back up before 8.1 and through 8.1, hopefully this will be active again next week.
    • It will be using the new Twitch drop system and be a little unique to this strange intermediate time, before things get set up more permanently in 8.2
    • The Viewer point 75k reset will not happen until 8.2
    • All of 8.1 will have faster 75k skin rotations (weekly)
    • At 8.2 launch
      • Agni Skin Bundle will leave the store – new bundle will be introduced that  you’ll need to buy for the S8 point boosts
      • Valkyries Bride Thor will leave the store, and be replaced with a new skin
      • The Dunk Father Odin will leave the store and be replaced by a new 200k skin,
      • We will return to the normal pace on 75k skin rotations (but new skins will be featured)
      • Other new shop changes to be shown on 8.2 update notes
    • Throughout Season 8
      • Artemis and Raijin will remain and eventually be replaced by new 200k skins
For the list and preview of the new god skins, head on over here.
Tags: Hi-Rez Studios Smite
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

Home > News

Konami Not Shutting Down Its Gaming Division

  by   Tim Villasor  
January 25, 2021 4:23 pm in News

Konami has denied and said that they are not shutting their gaming division down, after a report by IGN shared that the company is doing some internal restructuring but quelled reports and speculation by media that they are leaving the game making business.

Announced at the company’s official website, the organizational restructuring was announced to investors — wherein they are shutting down three production divisions.

The story began in an announcement to investors of, among other things, organizational restructuring. A post on the Konami Digital Entertainment website explained that it will dissolve Production Divisions 1, 2, and 3, “to respond to the rapid market that surrounds us.” With Production Divisions previously representing the company’s home of game development, some took this to mean that gaming production at the company was being shuttered as a whole.

However, in a statement to IGN, a Konami representative wrote: “The announcement made refers to an internal restructure, with Production Divisions being consolidated. We have not ‘shut down’ our video gaming division.”

Konami hasn’t been quite active in recent years and has concentrated mostly on panchiko slot machines rather that full-fledged games. The company has released Anniversary Collections for their Castlevania and Contra franchises, and is making the next installment of their eFootball PES series in PES3 2022 for next-gen consoles. However their relationship with Hideo Kojima deteriorated and led to the developer splitting from the company following the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and the cancellation of the Silent Hill reboot game “Silent Hills”. Konami still owns the rights to the Metal Gear series and released a multiplayer spin-off game in Metal Gear Survive, but no other mainline Metal Gear game has been made since then. It’s understandable why some fans and media have speculated that the company was exiting game development, but they have quickly denied that and confirm they remain in the business.

Our last Konami related report was Dead by Daylight holding a crossover with the Silent Hill series, which you can read here.

Tags: Konami

Tim Villasor

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Top 5 PS4 Features We Want to See Return on the PS5

  by   Alex Co  
2:34 pm in News

While the PS5 is a whole lot faster, stronger, and more advanced in almost every way compared to its predecessor the PS4, there are quite a few PS4 features that are missing from the PS5! With that in mind, we’ve decided to list the top five PS4 features we want to see implemented on the PS5 at some point.

Now, given the PS5 is still in its infancy, we’re expecting (or hoping) that some of these ommitted features will be available at some point. Note that this list only contains console-only features and doesn’t include the controllers, games and so on.

5) PS4 Zoom Feature

Did you know the PS4 had a zoom feature? Well, it did! And it was dead useful for games that didn’t have a Photo Mode. Unfortunately, this is one of the features that got axed by Sony on the PS5. Still, this seems like a simple feature to implement via a firmware update, so here’s to hoping this will be part of the PS5 soon!

Note that this feature also helps people with reading problems as well, which is an accessibility feature that Sony took out for no good reason.

4) Proper Trophies Layout

If you checked a game’s Trophies on the PS4, you’ll see something similar to the image above: it shows the game name, Trophy name, what kind of Trophy it is and more. It manages to do that and ain a neat way too.

On the PS5? Nope. Each game’s Trophy icon is big, obstructive and seems like a step backward compared to its last-gen sibling.

3) Folders

While this might not be a problem currently (see below on why), the PS5 not featuring folders will be annoying to gamers who want to sort out their games per genre, or just want their dashboards looking neat. This seems like a no-brainer addition in the future via a firmware update, though we have to wonder: why take it out in the first place?

2) Themes

Remember how awesome it was to customize your PS4’s dashboard with static or dynamic themes? It got so popular that games even included custom themes as part of their pre-order bonus packages and whatnot. Unfortunately though, on the PS5, hovering over a game completely covers the screen with that particular game’s info, which makes themes kind of useless.

This is a confusing removal as Sony earned extra money from selling themes to gamers on the PlayStation Store, and used it to commemorate special PlayStation events even.

Third-party HDD support

Here’s why the PS5 not featuring folders isn’t that big of a deal for now: the PS5 HDD won’t hold enough games for you to need ’em (sort of)! While we have no doubt that third-party HDDs will be available to expand the memory of the console soon, the fact that it’s not available out of the gate is downright inane! I mean, the PS5 has an all-digital version for crying out loud!

For now, PS5 gamers are stuck with having to delete their PS5 games and redownloaded them if they run out of disk space. One would have guessed that Sony learned from the PS Vita’s mistakes and not offer proprietary storage solutions, or at the very least, be mindful that games these days are BIG, and the 600GB+ storage space the PS5 has out of the box can’t possibly last an entire year’s worth of releases.

Do you agree with our list? What PS4 feature do you want to see on the PS5? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.

Tags: Featured PlayStation PS4 PS5
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Apex Legends Season 8 Will Introduce Gold Magazines That Can Automatically Reload Holstered Weapons

  by   Alex Co  
11:54 am in News

In case you didn’t know, Respawn Entertainment is set to drop a new legend into the game when Season 8 “Mayhem” starts next week on February 2! While the big content in the new season is the new legend named Fuse, it seems that the upcoming season will also introduce players to the Gold Magazine attachment and it sounds insanely powerful!

EA is set to launch the gameplay trailer for Apex Legends Season 8 tomorrow, January 26, at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET! In the video description of the upcoming trailer, tucked away is the mention of this Gold Magazine!

Fuse arrives in Season 8, and he’s packing plenty of attitude — and things that go boom. Pick apart the opposition with the Salvo’s most popular weapon, the lever-action 30-30 Repeater. Explore an obliterated Kings Canyon reshaped by Fuse’s arrival. Look out for Gold Magazines, capable of automatically reloading holstered weapons. Plus grab the latest Battle Pass and blast through the competition in Ranked. Ready to master the mayhem?

Granted, this is a gold item pick up, but still! This sounds insanely powerful and I can already see some players abusing the heck out of it. Let’s hope Respawn properly tested this or we’ll be needing a new update very, very soon the moment Season 8 launches.

Once the gameplay video is live tomorrow, we’ll be sure to let our readers know about it ASAP.

Thanks, DANNYonPC!

Tags: Apex legends Respawn Entertainment
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Sony Launches “PlayStation 5 Launch Collection Merchandise Bundle;” Includes Water Bottle, Hat & More

  by   Alex Co  
11:09 am in News

If you’re one of the many people that still can’t nab a PS5, Sony has launched something today that might make the wait a wee bit easier (or harder). Called the “PlayStation 5 Launch Collection Merchandise Bundle,” this package includes a water bottle, phone case and more that showcases just how much you love the PS5 and PlayStation brand!

Priced at $34.99 $49.99 on Amazon, the full contents and screenshots of the items can be seen below.

PlayStation 5 Launch Collection Merchandise Bundle Contents:

  • Merchandise approved by PlayStation for high quality Standards and Child Safety
  • Dad hat polyester-wool blend with embossed adjustable clasp
  • 17 oz. Stainless steel water bottle double wall insulation, keeps drinks hot/cold for hours, wide-mouth and leak-proof, bpa Free
  • Knit socks – high quality polyester-spandex blend, One size fits most
  • Tech Decals — Premium 3M Material, Scratch and water Resistant, Leaves No Residue

Of course, this doesn’t fix the biggest issue which is a shortage of PS5 units. That said, if you’re a diehard PlayStation fan and just want to represent the brand in your everyday wear or lifestyle, then this is just the package for you

Update: Updated the price to the correct one which is $49.99. It’s currently discounted on Amazon.>

Tags: PlayStation PS5
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Dying Light 2 Collector’s Edition Contents Leaked by Retailer

  by   Alex Co  
9:22 am in News

While Techland has promised “fresh updates” regarding Dying Light 2 this year, it seems our first major piece of info to chomp on didn’t come from the studio, but rather, a retailer! The existance of a Dying Light 2 Collector’s Edition has been leaked and here’s what’s in it.

According to Reddit user LuRo332, the image below showcasing the contents of the Dying Light 2 Collector’s Edition has been outed by Xzone Czech. It’s currently priced at a hety 210 € (or roughly around $250-$255). and comes with a steelbook, a snazzy figure, a UV flashlight and more.

  • Collector’s Box
  • Dying Light 2 game disc
  • UV Stickers
  • UV Flashlight
  • Limited Figurine
  • Secret Locations Map
  • Art Book
  • Steelbook case

Don’t forget, this has in no way been verified by Techland, so take it with a grain of salt. That said, given how these things work when it comes to retailer leaks, chances are very high that this is the real deal and that Xzone Czech has accidentally posted it ahead of its official reveal.

Originally set to ship in Spring 2020 before last year’s release date push back announcement, Dying Light 2 currently has no set release date.

Tags: Dying Light Dying Light 2 Techland
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Hunt Showdown Update 1.17 January 25 Initiated for DLCs

  by   Alex Co  
7:11 am in News

Crytek has taken the live servers of Hunt Showdown offline today and that’s to roll out new DLC for the shooter! The Hunt Showdown update 1.17 January 25 patch has been released and it’s for cosmetic bundles. Unfortunately though, it doesn’t seem like there are any gameplay-related fixes or changes.

Hunt Showdown Update 1.17 January 25 Patch Notes:

Here’s what Crytek had to say regarfing today’s update:

Console Hunters, The Live servers will be taken offline at 10:00 AM CET in order to deploy The Ronin DLC and The Trick Shooter DLC! We will update y’all once they are back up
Console Hunters, The Live servers are now back online, including our new DLCs: The Trick Shooter, and The Ronin. Make sure to pick up this Unlikely Pair Bundle now

Here are the PlayStation Store and Microsoft Xbox Store links for the bundles:

An Unlikely Pair Bundle will include 2 DLCs :
– Ronin (one Hunter, two weapons)
– Trick Shooter (one Hunter, two weapons)

Yep. that seems to be it for this title update. If you notice any gameplay-related changes or technical fixes, let us know what you find down in the comments below. The Last major content drop for the game was deployed in December of last year, and it was the 1.4.8 patch. Head on here to see what’s in it.

Tags: Crytek Hunt: Showdown
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Fortnite Changes Social Media Icon and Photo, Teases Something for “Drift” & “Fox Clan” (Update)

  by   Alex Co  
January 24, 2021 10:40 am in News

Epic Games is about to launch something big for Fortnite, as the official Fortnite Twitter account that has over 12 million followers has today changed its profile icon and banner picture, and even tweeted an obscure message hinting at a possible event of some sort.

Here’s a look at the changes made for Twitter so far:

Here’s a better look at the cover photo:

https://twitter.com/FortniteGame/status/1353356947534319617

https://twitter.com/FortniteGame/status/1353365320484999168

Reliable Fortnite dataminer HYPEX has said that the “Drift” crew skin is teased on the left:

It looks like the announcements for the day aren’t done, so we’ll continually be updating the post as more developments unfold. Chances are, this leads to something big which we’re hoping applies to not only Fortnite Battle Royale but for Fortnite’s Save the World mode too.

Chances are, the Fortnite Instagram and Facebook pages will be updated within the day, and we’ll keep an eye out for those too.

Update: Epic has reverted the changes made. Not sure if this is part of their marketing gimmick or that’s it for the tease. Could it be just for the Drift skin? If so, that’s a whole lotta hype for something minimal. Here’s to hoping there’s more to it.

Tags: Epic Games Fortnite
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Destiny 2 Prismatic Recaster Changes, Gilded Titles Announced

  by   Alex Co  
January 23, 2021 3:58 pm in News

It’s a case of something old is new again in Destiny 2 as Bungie has announced quite a few “new” stuff that’s coming to the game and then some. Chief among them are Destiny 2 Prismatic Recaster changes, Titles, and more.

In the latest weekly blog post by Bungie, the studio announced that Umbral Engrams are back as well as the Prismatic Recaster though with some changes.

Back in 2020, Season of Arrivals introduced a new feature called Umbral Engrams which allowed Guardians to Focus rewards to the type of weapons and armor rolls they most desired. The system was well-received by the community so we decided to do a little tuning and bring them back for Season 13 as well as future seasons in Year 4.
While the new Seasonal activity will always provide the fastest path to earning new rewards. We want to ensure that regardless of how you spend your time in Destiny, Umbral Engrams allow you to chase new rewards.
Similar to Season of Arrivals, Umbral Engrams will drop from completing a variety of content. We have pared back the number of activities they will drop from so you can focus on the following activities if you are looking to farm some Umbral Engrams:
  • Patrols
  • Strikes
  • Crucible
  • Gambit
  • The Ordeal
  • Public Events
  • Blind Well
  • Nightmare Hunts
  • Exo Challenges
  • Empire Hunts
  • New Seasonal Activity
Note: Umbral Engrams also have a chance to drop from defeating enemies anywhere in the game, so even if you’re not grinding this list of activities and playlists, you’ll still be earning some Umbral Engrams.
You may notice fewer umbral engrams sitting in your inventory than before.  While it was fun to watch umbral engrams rain down on players in season 11, the drop rates were higher than expected and so we are rebalancing the drop rate.
There will be a short quest to show players how to use the new Prismatic Recaster (read more about this below) to Focus Umbral Engrams. This quest is account-wide so you only have to do it once.

PRISMATIC RECASTER 

The Prismatic Recaster returns as a kiosk with the capability to change Umbral Engrams into Focused Umbral Engrams, which contain a smaller loot-table. Because Umbral Engrams are here to stay, the new Recaster will have different pages for each Season, and you will be able to Focus engrams to the Season of your choice.
Once you have used the Prismatic Recaster to Focus your Engram, you will still need to take it to the Umbral Decoder to claim your new reward!
Note: Season of the Hunt’s Wrathborn rewards will not be featured on the Prismatic Recaster in Season 13, because players can still use the Wrathborn Lure to chase specific weapons and rolls.

PRISMATIC LENS 

We have a new way to unlock different Focusing options for your Umbral Engrams through a new reward called Prismatic Lenses.
A Prismatic Lens will unlock a new Focusing option so you can:
  • Target a narrower collection of gear.
  • Target specific armor stats.
You will be able to earn Prismatic Lenses by doing various activities in the game and you can track your progress towards unlocking lenses at the Prismatic Recaster. We don’t want to spoil everything though – so we’ll let you discover how to start earning these in Season 13.
Another thing the studio announced is how Titles are changing in Destiny 2, which gives players another way to flex how awesome they are in the game to fellow guardians.

TITLES – A GILDED AGE 

We wanted to share a change coming to Seals and Titles in Season 13. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’ve been shipping a Flawless and Conqueror Title each of the last three Seasons. We liked the idea of reengaging with Titles Season over Season, but we don’t like the challenge and time commitment of doing the entire thing every Season. So, it’s time to make a change!
As always, we start with the goals:
    • Allow players to show off their engagement with the core rituals season over Season.
    • Preserve the value of earning the base Title.
    • Decrease the amount of grind required Season over Season for players that want to earn them all.
Starting with season 13, if a player has completed the Seal for one of our core ritual Titles (Unbroken, Dredgen, Flawless, Conqueror), players will have a series of additional Seasonal objectives to gild that Title.
But wait, what does gilded mean? 
  • A series of Seasonal objectives to gild a core ritual Title.
  • A new border around the Seal in the Triumphs UI.
  • A pip tracking how many times in your career that you’ve gilded a given Title.
  • A new color and symbol for the Title over your head. So that you can show off, of course.
What do I have to do to gild a Title? 
Once you finish the base Seal and claim your hard-earned Title, a list of optional Seasonal objectives will be revealed. By completing these Seasonal objectives you’ll earn your gild for the Season.
What happens when the Season is over? 
Each Season, the optional gilding objectives will reset and may even change to fit the unique experiences of any given Season. All of the base objectives of the Title will be preserved, and your Title will revert to its typical purple coloring.
Which Titles will be affected? 
The four core rituals of Trials, The Ordeal, Crucible, and Gambit.
  • Flawless
  • Conqueror
  • Unbroken
  • Dredgen
Feedback please! 
These changes are a result of the constructive feedback we get from all flavors of players in the Destiny community. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Keep that feedback coming and happy Triumph hunting.
There’s more discussed including the return of Hawkmoon and more right here.
Tags: Bungie Destiny Destiny 2
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Tony Hawk Studio Vicarious Visions Absored Into Blizzard to Work on Diablo 2 Remake

  by   Alex Co  
12:35 pm in News

It looks like Blizzard Entertainment is getting a whole lot beefier, as a recent report has surfaced stating that Vicarious Visions (Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2) has been absored by the company, and what’s more, it’s working on a Diablo 2 Remake!

This recent report comes from Bloomberg, which states that until last year, the Diablo 2 Remake was set to be developed by Blizzard’s Team 1, which is part of Blizzard’s Irvine, California campus. Team 1’s latest remake was Warcraft 3: Reforged, which was met with controversy more than anything else when it was released.

To cut the story short: Blizzard wanted to avoid the same mistake and tasked the team behind Diablo 4 in charge, with Vicarious Visions working on it too. The report states that the Diablo 2 Remake was also known as “Diablo II: Resurrected.”

When asked for a comment, Blizzard refrained from commenting on Vicarious Visions’ current projects, though confirmed that the studio ‘”has been working with Blizzard for some time.”

You can read the full report right here.

Do you want to revisit Diablo 2 again with better graphics and (maybe) updated gameplay mechanics? Or do you prefer Blizzard focus more on getting Diablo 4 out of the door? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.

Tags: Blizzard Entertainment diablo diablo II diablo iv vicarious visions
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Ghost of Tsushima Update 1.19 January 23 Slashes Out (Update)

  by   Alex Co  
8:48 am in News

Sucker Punch Productions has released the first-ever patch for Ghost of Tsushima for 2021! The Ghost of Tsushima update 1.19 January 23 has been pushed out and it’s for bug fixes!

Clocking in at just 312MB, here’s what’s new in this Ghost of Tsushima patch.

Ghost of Tsushima Update 1.19 January 23 Patch Notes:

Update: We’ve updated the post with Sucker Punch’s announcement regarding the update.

Sucker Punch Productions has issued a tweet regarding today’s update, and states it’s for resolving crashing issues with Survival missions (as reported below) and various bug fixes.

Patch 1.19 for #GhostOfTsushima is now live. This patch resolves an issue causing recent crashes in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends Survival missions, as well as various bug fixes.

Sucker Punch Productions has currently not issued any specific patch notes for today’s title update, the community has shared what’s new and it seems to fix the Survival bug that has plagued the multiplayer portion of the game! Not familiar with it is? Here’s a summary:

Legends Survival Bug ~
byu/moebeezy inghostoftsushima

Whenever I play a survival map whether it be quick play or choose a map. At some point in the game it freezes and objectives are either flashing yellow or enemies are standing still and I kill them however they keep “resurrecting” and no new waves come, and it’s not like it’s just me but the all members in the match are active and moving around and I have had to leave during second to last or even last rounds due to this bug! It sucks cause then all my rewards get wasted and it seems like a complete waste of 30 mins of gameplay. If anyone knows how to fix this please help!

If we find any other fixes, or if Sucker Punch releases official patch notes, we’ll update the post. Same as always, if you spot any gameplay-related changes or bug fixes, let us know what you find down in the comments.

Update: We’ve updated the post with Sucker Punch’s tweet regarding today’s patch.

Tags: Ghost of Tsushima sucker punch productions
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Microsoft Admits XBL Gold Pricing Screw Up, Reverts Back & Will Remove F2P Paywall in Comjng Months

  by   Alex Co  
12:46 am in News

Well, that was a fast one! Earlier today/yesterday, Microsoft announced an increase in Xbox Live Gold subscriptions. In just hours however, the company has reverted it and has even taken out the paywall for free-to-play games — something the PlayStation platform has done for years.

Here’s the new announcement made by Microsoft in full:

We messed up today and you were right to let us know. Connecting and playing with friends is a vital part of gaming and we failed to meet the expectations of players who count on it every day. As a result, we have decided not to change Xbox Live Gold pricing.

We’re turning this moment into an opportunity to bring Xbox Live more in line with how we see the player at the center of their experience. For free-to-play games, you will no longer need an Xbox Live Gold membership to play those games on Xbox. We are working hard to deliver this change as soon as possible in the coming months.

If you are an Xbox Live Gold member already, you stay at your current price for renewal. New and existing members can continue to enjoy Xbox Live Gold for the same prices they pay today. In the US, $9.99 for 1-month, $24.99 for 3-months, $39.99 for 6-months and $59.99 for retail 12-months.

Thank you.

This is one of those times when gamers’ voices all rallied as one, and it worked out for the better! Once free-to-play games no longer require XBL Gold, we’ll make sure to let our readers know.

Tags: Xbox Xbox Live Gold
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Resident Evil Village Collector’s Edition and Deluxe Edition Packages Revealed

  by   Tim Villasor  
January 22, 2021 7:49 pm in News

Resident Evil fans who were looking forward to the RE Showcase event Capcom held got bombshell announcements for Resident Evil Village, as the game got a new trailer, gameplay footage, and was confirmed for a May 7, 2021 release for all platforms — including the PS4 and Xbox One.

Thanks to DualShockers, we now have details and a look at the upcoming Collector’s Edition and Deluxe Edition releases of RE: Village, which feature some very compelling items for big time RE fans.

Those that pre-order the game outright will receive a Mr. Raccoon weapon charm and a starter survival resource pack that will help players early on in the game. The Digital Deluxe Edition “Trauma Pack” includes a Mr. Everywhere charm, Save Device, Save Room Music, the Save Device, the Max Difficulty level, an Albert01 silencer gun, Found Footage RE7 filter, and finally a digital artbook called “The Tragedy of Ethan Winters”.

resident evil village collector's edition

Much like Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake before it, the Collector’s Edition of RE Village contains some items that the diehard RE collector will definitely want — including a poster of the map to the titular village the game takes place in, the aforementioned Trauma Pack product code, a steelbook cover, a sample artbook, and the key item itself being a statue of longtime RE protagonist Chris Redfield. All of these come packed inside a chest that represents the storage boxes used throughout the series history, so it’s definitely the ultimate package for the ultimate RE fan.

If you want more info on the RE Showcase, check out the replay of the digital event here.

Resident Evil Village will be released for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 7.

Tags: Capcom Resident Evil resident evil village

Tim Villasor

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Genshin Impact Update 1.3 Release Set for February 3, Here’s What’s Coming

  by   Tim Villasor  
7:00 pm in News

Prepare to celebrate the new year in the fantasy world of Teyvat, as Genshin Impact prepares for its 1.3 update coming this February 3, which adds the Lantern Rite festival as well the new playable character Xiao.

Check out the trailer to this new incoming update below:

Here’s the overview of the update courtesy of the miHoYo itself:

In the upcoming seasonal event included with version 1.3, Travelers will find themselves welcoming Teyvat’s New Year in Liyue’s biggest annual festival, Lantern Rite. Travelers will be able to immerse themselves in this age-old tradition by assisting Liyue’s locals with various preparations for the festivities and, of course, by attending the grand ceremony on the night of the first full moon of the year. During this ceremony, countless lanterns will light up the night sky, carrying the wishes of every household into the heavens. Meanwhile, the bustling streets of Liyue will be lined with food stalls and festive activities exclusive to Lantern Rite, including an all-new tower defense strategy game — Theater Mechanicus.

The Lantern Rite will also mark the arrival of Xiao, the Vigilant Yaksha, as a new 5-star playable character. Wielding a polearm and the power of Anemo, Xiao is a fierce adeptus warrior whose elemental burst grants him increased damage at the cost of continuously draining his health. During the Lantern Rite, Travelers will have the chance to accompany Xiao for a day in the life of a guardian of Liyue, offering a rare glimpse into his life of solitude over the past millennia.

Generous resources and rewards will be available from the events in Version 1.3 to fully prepare Travelers for a new year of adventure in Teyvat. During the Lantern Rite period, Travelers can claim 10 free Intertwined Fates via a daily login event and obtain over 1,600 Primogems and plenty of resources, including the Crown of Insight, by completing other festive events. Furthermore, Travelers will also have a chance to choose one free 4-star character from Liyue to add to their party.

New customization features and further optimizations will also be introduced with the upcoming version. The Archive will be expanded to include information on discovered creatures and defeated enemies, and Travelers will also be able to showcase up to eight of their characters via their Profile screen. Finally, a new gadget called the Parametric Transformer will provide a means of transmuting excess resources, turning them into something useful.

In other Genshin Impact news, it’s been confirmed that mobile gamers will get a pre-installation feature soon.

Genshin Impact is free-to-play and is available for PS4, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android, and PC.

Source: PlayStation Blog

Tags: genshin impact miHoYo

Tim Villasor

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Cyberpunk 2077 Update 1.10 January 22 Deployed for Patch 1.1 Fixes

  by   Alex Co  
6:23 pm in News

CD Projekt RED has released the Cyberpunk 2077 update 1.10 January 22 patch, or what the studio calls Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.1! This is a rather meaty patch on consoles and introduces fixes for stability, open-world issues, UI fixes and loads more!

Head on below for the file sizes and official patch notes.

Cyberpunk 2077 Update 1.10 January 22 Patch Notes:

File Size:

  • Steam – ~ 6-9 GB
  • GOG – 1.1 GB
  • Xbox – 16.54 GB
  • PS4 – 16.84 GB

Stability

Various stability improvements including:

  • Memory usage improvements in various systems within the game: characters, interactions, navigation, in-game videos (news, tv, etc.), foliage, laser effects, minimap, devices, AI, street traffic, environmental damage system, GPU-related, and more.
  • Various crash fixes (related to, among others, loading saves, game opening/closing and Point of No Return).

Quests/Open World

  • Fixed an issue where calls from Delamain would end immediately and seem like they cannot be picked up in Epistrophy.
  • Fixed an issue where players would not receive calls from Delamain when approaching relevant vehicles in Epistrophy.
  • Fixed an issue where the objective could get stuck on “Answer the call from Mr. Hands” in M’ap Tann Pèlen.
  • Fixed an issue where Judy could teleport underground in Pyramid Song.
  • Fixed an issue where it would be impossible to talk to Zen Master in Poem of The Atoms.
  • Fixed an issue where Takemura wouldn’t call in Down on the Street.
  • Fixed an issue where Jackie could disappear in The Pickup.
  • Fixed an issue where it could be impossible to get out of the car in The Beast in Me: The Big Race.
  • Fixed an issue where players could stop receiving calls and messages after moving too far away from A Day In The Life area.
  • Fixed an issue where opening the package wouldn’t update Space Oddity.
  • Retro-fixed the saves affected by a rare issue where speaking to Judy in Automatic Love would be impossible due to an invisible wall. The underlying issue is under investigation.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from collecting the reward in Gig: Freedom of the Press. The quest will auto-complete for those who could not collect the reward previously, and the reward will be provided automatically.
  • Fixed an issue where Delamain would remain silent throughout Epistrophy if the player initially refused to help him.

UI

  • Fixed an issue where prompt for exiting braindance could be missing.
  • Removed an invalid item from loot.

Visual

  • Fixed an issue where a grenade’s trajectory could be displayed in photo mode.
  • Fixed particles’ hue appearing pink when viewed close up.
  • Fixed cars spawning incorrectly in Reported Crime: Welcome to Night City.

Achievements

  • Fixed an issue where completing one of theassaults in progress in Santo Domingo would sometimes not contribute towards progression for The Jungle achievement, preventing its completion.

Miscellaneous 

  • Addressed the issue responsible for saves getting oversized (related to the modifier indicating if the item is crafted), and trimmed the excess size from already existing saves (note: this won’t fix PC save files corrupted before 1.06 update).
  • Fixed an issue where input could stop registering upon opening the weapon wheel and performing an action.
  • Fixed an issue where the “Continue” button in the Main Menu could load an end game save.

PlayStation-specific

  • Performance optimization of crowds on PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 5.
  • Various crash fixes on PlayStation 4.

Xbox-specific

  • Improved memory usage for character creation, mirrors, scanning, camera remote control, menus (inventory, map) on Xbox One, Xbox One X and Xbox One S.

PC-specific

  • It will now be possible to obtain achievements while in Steam offline mode. Note: Offline mode needs to be enabled before starting the game. This change does not work retroactively.
  • Addressed the game startup crashes related to loading cache on NVIDIA graphics cards.

Stadia-specific

  • Concert audio should no longer be inaudible in Never Fade Away.
  • Fixed corrupted textures on several melee weapons.
  • Tweaked default deadzone settings to be more responsive. Note: the change will not affect settings unless they’re set to default.

CD Projekt RED states that they will continue the improvements in patch 1.2 and other upcoming updates. Once we know more details about that, we’ll let our readers know.

Source: Cyberpunk

Tags: cd projekt red Cyberpunk 2077
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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EA UFC 4 Update 7.01 January 22 Kicks Out

  by   Alex Co  
2:13 pm in News

While EA Vancouver just released a hefty update to EA UFC 4 yesterday that brought in new content and changes, it looks like something got lost in the shuffle as the EA UFC 4 update 7.01 January 22 patch has been released today!

Clocking in at 2GB on Xbox One and 1.4 GB on PS4, don’t expect any major new content, as EA Vancouver has remained mum about the patch so far.

EA UFC 4 Update 7.01 January 22 Patch Notes:

It seems there’s no official patch notes available yet, but here’s what’s been voiced out by the community regarding this update:

Reddit user xFINISHxHIMx states that some stuff were left out in yesterday’s patch even if they were listed in the patch notes, and these are the sliders for Quick Match Online.

Here’s what the dev team had to say about the sliders:

  • Added additional settings to Online Invite match settings, including gameplay sliders

Gameplay received some significant improvements and changes in this patch. The team has continued to review community feedback and for this patch we’ve focused on making more impactful changes to both stamina and submissions. Additionally, there are many other improvements to gameplay including gameplay sliders for online invite matches, a new kick type – calf kicks, attribute balancing, and tons of fighter moveset updates.

Same as always, if we spot any other changes made, or if the dev team releases more info, we’ll update the post/

Tags: EA Vancouver UFC UFC 4
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Xbox Games With Gold February 2021 Announced

  by   Alex Co  
2:01 pm in News

Xbox gamers, here are the free games coming to you next month! Microsoft has announced the Xbox Games With Gold February 2021 list of free games and they’re a good bunch!

Head on below for the titles and when they’ll become available.

Xbox Games With Gold February 2021:

  • Gears 5 ($39.99 ERP): Available February 1 to 28

Experience the celebrated campaign and multiplayer, now fully optimized for Xbox Series X|S. With all-out war descending, Kait Diaz breaks away to uncover her connection to the enemy and discovers the true danger to Sera… herself.

It’s the game that defined the genre. In this remastered version, join the special forces team, S.T.A.R.S., and investigate a mysterious mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City. Stay alert because supplies are scarce, and the living dead are all around.

Discover secrets, dangers, and an array of unique characters in the world of Salt. In this metroidvania-style platformer, a heroine arises out of the aether of fear to help a world on the brink of collapse. Featuring stunning handcrafted pixel art and original soundtrack compositions that bring a visual and auditory wonderland to life.

It’s time to put on your fedora and help Indy recover one of the most powerful artifacts known to man. In epic, globe-spanning fashion, take on Nazis and the Asian underworld to track down the mysterious Heart of the Dragon before it falls into hostile hands.

After 10 years removed from the original title, return to the troubled planet torn apart from the ongoing battle for thermal energy. Play four player co-op and customize your character with an arsenal of weapons and vehicles to pilot.

In other Xbox news, Microsoft has also announced today that there will be an Xbox Live Gold price hike! Read up on that right here.

Source: Xbox Wire

Tags: Deals Xbox Xbox Games With Gold
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris Rewards This Week January 22, 2021 (Update)

  by   Alex Co  
12:06 pm in News

Destiny 2’s weekly PvP event is back! MP1st is here to bring the Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris rewards this week January 22, 2021! Same as before, we have the map and of course, the win rewards available in one handy list below.

Destiny 2 Trials of Osiris Rewards This Week January 22, 2021:

Full list of rewards can be seen below.

Don’t forget that we’ll be updating the rewards list as they are known, so make sure to check back on this post from time to time. Once it’s finalized, we’ll post an “update” in the headline and let our readers know it’s final.

Trials of Osiris Map

Fragment

Rewards

Rotation not known yet, please let us know!

  • 3 Wins (Powerful): The Scholar! (Legemdary Scout Rifle)
  • 5 Wins (Powerful): Headpiece!
  • 7 Wins (Pinnacle): Gloves!
  • Flawless (Pinnacle): Exile’s Curse (Adept)! + Adept Stability (+10 Stability)

Bounties

Name Description Cost Requirement Reward
End Game Complete matches and rounds. Wins in the Trials of Osiris grant the most efficient progress. Awards the 3 Win Challenge reward from this week. 1000 Glimmer 100 Progress XP & Glimmer & 35 Valor Rank Points & 5 Trials Token & 1 Trials Engram
Deepvoid Alignment As a fireteam, defeat opponents using Void damage in the Trials of Osiris. 1000 Glimmer 100 [Void] Void XP & Glimmer & 35 Valor Rank Points & 5 Trials Token

Passages

Name Perk Cost
Passage of Mercy Forgives one loss per run. 25000 Glimmer & 15 Legendary Shards
Passage of Ferocity With zero losses, your third win grants a bonus win. 25000 Glimmer & 15 Legendary Shards
Passage of Wealth Increased tokens from reaching 3, 5, and 7 wins on a ticket. 35000 Glimmer & 25 Legendary Shards
Passage of Wisdom Grants bonus XP from Trials wins, scaling with the number of wins on a ticket. 35000 Glimmer & 25 Legendary Shards
Passage of Confidence Grants bonus rewards from Flawless Chest. 50000 Glimmer & 50 Legendary Shards

Thanks, Reddit!

Tags: Bungie Destiny Destiny 2
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Destiny 2 Xur Location Today January 22, 2021

  by   Alex Co  
12:04 pm in News

It’s Friday, and guardians around the world know it’s that time of the week again! Xur is back in Destiny 2 and we have the goods! MP1st is here to bring you the Destiny 2 Xur location today January 22, 2021, as well as his items for sale!

Destiny 2 Xur Location Today January 22, 2021:

Xûr, Agent of the Nine

Description:

A peddler of strange curios, Xûr’s motives are not his own. He bows to his distant masters, the Nine.

Location:

EDZ, Winding Cove

Exotic Gear:

Name Type MOB RES REC DIS INT STR Total Cost
Skyburner’s Oath Energy Scout Rifle 29 Legendary Shards
Lucky Raspberry Hunter Chest Armor 15 7 9 15 6 9 61 23 Legendary Shards
Actium War Rig Titan Chest Armor 29 3 3 15 6 10 66 23 Legendary Shards
Karnstein Armlets Warlock Gauntlets 8 20 7 15 2 13 65 23 Legendary Shards

Exotic Ciphers:

Name Type Cost
A Question Quest Step

What’s a Xûr?

Xûr, Agent of the Nine, is a strange vendor who randomly appears in a Public Sector on one of the Worlds. Xûr sells Exotic equipment and only takes Legendary Shards in exchange for them.

TL;DR: He’s the Santa Claus of Destiny and every weekend is Christmas. Sometimes he brings you what you want, sometimes he brings you coal. Mostly it’s coal.

When does Xûr visit?

Xûr visits every Friday at 17:00 UTC and departs at Weekly Reset (Tuesday 17:00 UTC). If you would like to see all the live conversions of Time Zones, please follow this link here.

Make sure to check back on this week’s Trials of Osiris rewards list which we’ll have up soon!

Tags: Bungie Destiny Destiny 2
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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Xbox Live Gold Price Increase Announced for 1-Month & 3-Month Subscriptions

  by   Alex Co  
11:42 am in News

Microsoft has today announced that the price of Xbox Live Gold has increased for short-term subscriptions. This applies to one-month and three-month subscriptions. Head on below for the full announcement by Microsoft today.

First the important stuff for existing members: if you’re a current six-month or 12-month Xbox Live Gold member, the price increase won’t affect you, as you can renew your membership at the current rate.

Xbox Live Gold Price Increase Overview:

  • If you’re an existing online 12-month or 6-month Xbox Live Gold member, there’s no price change. If you choose to renew your membership, it will renew at the current price.
  • The price of a 1-month Gold membership is increasing $1 USD and the price of a 3-month membership is increasing $5 USD or the equivalent amount in your local market.
  • If you’d like to upgrade your Gold membership to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate your remaining Gold time will also convert directly to Ultimate (up to 36 months). For example, if you have 11 months of Xbox Live Gold now, and you upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, those 11 months convert to 11 months of Ultimate at no additional cost.

New Prices:

  • 1-month for $10.99
  • 3-months for $29.99
  • 6-months for $59.99

According to Microsoft, members have already been notified in some regions, and if you’re in a region where prices are being adjusted, you’ll get an email and a message center notification over the next month letting you know what the new pricing is.

While a price increase is not welcome news to gamers, Microsoft did point out that the price of Xbox Live Gold has not changed in over 10 years, and let’s face it, it’s not that big of a price increase if you think about it, no?

Source: Xbox Wire

Tags: Xbox Xbox Live Gold
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Alex Co

Father, gamer, games media vet, writer of words, killer of noobs.

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