Patch 4.21 - Bran's Thoughts

Official patch notes are here: https://www.smitegame.com/news/new-in-smite-shadows-over-hercopolis-4-21-patch-notes


Discordia - Goddess of Strife: I like the animation for her movement. What about her kit?

Passive: Contest of Gods. Discordia is constantly comparing herself and her teammates to see who is the best. Whichever god on her team has the top damage dealt to enemy players will receive a Power buff that scales off Discordia’s level. Meh, this is boring. Unruly Magic: Discordia sends an orb of unruly magic to a location that damages any enemies it hits along the way. At that location it will break down into 6 minor projectiles that fire out in all directions, damaging any enemies hit and bouncing off of walls. Okay, this is a bit more unique. Strife: Discordia creates an area of Strife that damages all enemies hit. If 2 or more enemy gods are hit at the same time they will be afflicted by Madness for 1s, forcing them to attack each other for additional damage. The same is true for minions. If only a single target of one type is hit then it becomes Rooted for a short duration instead. Madness (if 2+ hit) or root (only 1 hit). This is a nice, versatile form of CC. Erratic Behavior: Discordia leaps a short distance and then creates an area of confusion where she lands. While inside the area she becomes stealthed, gains bonus movement speed, and Unruly Magic’s and Strife’s cooldowns are reduced by an additional amount of time every .5s she remains in the area. Attacking from the area will briefly reveal her. Escape + partial stealth & movespeed inside the area (like an immobile Nu Wa Mysterious Fog) + some CD effect on her other abilities. This is also pretty unique. I like the concept. Golden Apple of Discord: Discordia throws her Golden Apple of Discord that damages and passes through minions and bounces off of walls. If the Apple hits an enemy god it will damage them and force them to hold the Apple. Gods holding the apple will become intolerable, causing them to be Crippled, Intoxicated while they constantly boast. At the end of the duration, the Apple will detonate, dealing damage and spreading the effects to nearby gods. Didn't actually see this in action (did they show these?). Need details on the numbers, but seems cool. Overall, she looks like she'll be fun.

New Adventure: Shadows over Hercopolis: http://archive.smitegame.com/adventures/shadows-over-hercopolis/ Sounds fun with a variety of gameplay, but didn't see the vid. That boat picture makes me think of old-school Everquest boat travel, lol!


Skins:

• Cursed King Cernunnos: Didn't see this one. Seems okay...I like his coat =P
  
  
  Cursed King Cernunnos

  
  
  
• Agent of Darkness Loki: Didn't see this one either (note, I thought the patch notes would start at 1pm PDT like usual...it was an hour early!!!). So he's like...Assassin's Creed? He has plenty of great skins already that this doesn't seem all that exciting.
  
  
  Agent of Darkness Loki

  
  
  
• Primal Shaman Ganesha: I like the theme, and the effects are cool, if on the somewhat subtle side.
  
  
  Primal Shaman Ganesha

  
  
  
• Exterminator Kali: I like the colors on her effects. Her effects just aren't all that flashy, though.
  
  
  Exterminator Kali

  
  
  
• Vanquisher Nemesis: Like Kali, I like the color scheme (light/golden). Cool, but not all that excited for it.
  
  
  Vanquisher Nemesis

  
  
  
• Me Cherie Arachne: Oh, that rotating head. Oh yeah. Creepy and wonderful. This is my favorite of the new set of skins.
  
  
  Me Cherie Arachne

  
  
  
• Wasteland Cu Chulainn: Cool, but not exciting to me.
  
  
  Wasteland Cu Chulainn

  

Item changes:

• Blackthorn Hammer (buffs): price decreased from 2,300 to 2,200 gold. Passive HP threshold for activation increased from 30 to 40% (3 seconds off all abilities on CD, 0 mana cost for 5 seconds). This is a very tanky item and I can see it working for some select Solo Warriors like Cu Chulainn...but is this enough to make it more viable?
  
  
• Stone of Fal (buff): price decreased from 2,700 to 2,500 gold. Seems reasonable.
  
  
• Relic Dagger (buff): health increased from 250 to 300. Minor adjustment, won't change its use, but I DO like it in teamfight modes on Ares and Odin for their ults.

God changes:

• Agni (buffs): Attack speed increased per level from 0.95 to 1.2. That's big attack speed increase...not that he's a basic attacker, but it'll help his objective push. Rain of Fire power scaling increase from 60 to 70%, and decreased CD from 20 seconds to 18 seconds...that's pretty significant, actually. He's always been a pretty balanced god in my opinion...maybe this pushes him to the lower end of S-Tier?
  
  
• Da Ji (buffs): Multiple changes here...base health increased from 425 to 440 (minor), base health per level increased from 74 to 76 (minor). Basic attack chain switched from 1 / 0.75 / 1 / 0.75 to 1 / 1 / 1 (more consistent damage if she can stick). Horrible Burns gives Da Ji haste (Fatalis effect) while active (3 seconds once applied). Paolao travel time decreased from 0.5 to 0.3 seconds. This is a fairly significant buff overall...that Haste effect will definitely help her stick to enemies, and in combination with how One Thousand Cuts already works, will make it really difficult to get away from her. Ummm...this feels like a very strong adjustment overall. Seems a bit much.
  
  
• Hou Yi (nerf): Ricochet bonus damage only applies to gods now...this is a good buff, and makes his clear more reasonably in-line with other gods.
  
  
• Eset (buff): Circle of Protection base damage increased early, with it ending at the same damage at rank 5. Nice but minor early adjustment...okay.
  
  
• Janus (buffs / shift): Unstable Vortex base damage increased significantly across the board (from 90 / 150 / 210 / 270 / 330 to 100 / 165 / 230 / 295 / 360), scaling increased from 70 to 80%, decreased double-hit bonus from 30% to 20%. Makes it nicer to hit a single vortex, but the overall buff doesn't really nerf the double-hit all that much. Through Space and Time (aka Hadouken!) base damage increased by 100 across the board (and scaling from 50% to 75%), but scaling farther than 800 units is capped at 100% (down from 200%). The Vortex buff seems a bit high, but I like the change to the ult...no more of that hit-out-of-nowhere ult that completely demolishes you.
  
  
• Ullr (buffs): Bladed Arrow increased scaling from 70 to 80% (okay). Thrown Axe decreased casting time from 0.4 to 0.2 seconds, increased scaling from 60 to 70% (this is great, it always felt really weird to me). Expose Weakness decreased mana cost to 50 at all ranks, Glory Bound decreased mana cost to 60 at all ranks (wow). Wield Axes / Wield Bow decreased casting time from 0.3 to 0.2 seconds. These are all very nice quality of life adjustments...the scaling is helpful, but the casting time and mana costs really will allow him to cycle through his abilities a lot more, especially early-game. I guess he sort of needed these. Does this mean I'll finally be okay playing him? Nope. But it DOES mean others will be able to destroy me more easily than before. Yay.

All in all, a pretty good patch.

I need that Nemesis skin so bad. I haven’t seen the effects or the skin in game but the card art looks sick. I hate that it’s in a chest but I’ll try my luck at grabbing it. The Da Ji buff looks like it’ll make her feel better to play so I might play her more now.

The Agni attack speed is great for building his passive btw.

And that new god looks siq, cant wait to play her!

The Ullr buff/dumbdown is so stupid...

Same with Janus now you can just throw out the wobblyhands in teamfights without even trying to aim (tbf that is pretty much 90% of all janus players now as well).

Aw **** I forgot about his passive.

Now, if only they would buff Nu Wa's...

One question about Discordia, though. Is the [VEG] from getting ulted heard by your entire team? If it is, there might be a Demonic Pact Anubis type of problem.

The VEG is heard by your entire team, but I don't know why it would be a Demonic Pact problem.

Demonic Pact Anubis adds a global effect every time you ult above level 15. People can look for the global effect to see when you've used your ultimate, helping them keep track of when it's down. (Granted, you can also emote every once in awhile to throw them off, but you can tell the difference if you're paying attention.)

Likewise, if Discordia's ult makes the target [VEG] to their entire team, they immediately know your ult is down now. (Except this is even worse than DP Anubis, since the only way to throw them off would be if that one guy used VEG frequently regardless.)

My question is when the living hell are we getting a other assassin is been ages since the last one and my Become a Master Assassin Guide is catching dust and it needs a new god.