Olorun is the ruler of the heavens, a supreme god, a powerful and mysterious force. Olorun is not the god of one specific thing like the rest. Instead he is an all-encompassing symbol of divinity and creation itself.
OUR VISION
Olorun branches out SMITE into yet another new culture: West Africa. Africa is an extremely diverse continent with an abundance of different environments, people, and mythologies. We chose to focus on Yoruba culture for our new pantheon. Yoruba mythology originates in West Africa, primarily from the country of Nigeria, but is also followed in neighboring countries.
Yoruba deities are known as Orishas, they are the intermediates between humans and the supernatural. Each Orisha has a specific domain that they oversee, except for Olorun. Olorun is the creator of all things, even the other Orishas. He has three manifestations: Olorun, Ruler of the Heavens; Olodumare, The Creator; and Olofi, the Conduit Between Heaven and Earth.
Olorun is especially unique in that he is seen as a distant god. He does not directly participate in any human rituals, nor does he have any shrines or sacrifices dedicated to him. We focused on these aspects to inspire his visuals, abilities, and personality.
Theme – Cosmic Celestial Light
Visuals – Divinely powerful African man. African clothing with fantasy and magic
Personality – Stoic, Fair, Just
Perspective – Awe-inspiring, mysterious, powerful
Olorun is the winner of the Battle for Olympus. His distant nature puts him in the perfect spot to be a leader. He has no history, no bias, no squabbles with the other gods of SMITE. He is truly neutral, fair, and a bringer of justice. His personality alone does not convince the other gods to follow him, but his powers will. Olorun's divine cosmic magic is awe-inspiring to the other gods, and his ability to stifle conflicts are quickly demonstrated.
The visual direction for this god was no easy task. The process started much earlier than most gods do. Many early iterations were gone through trying to find the key aspects of traditional West African clothing to incorporate into the god visual concept. Robes were commonly worn, especially among leaders, so this was the primary focus for our new Mage. We wanted to skew his visuals slightly more toward fantasy rather than history to make sure he felt unique to SMITE and fit in well among the current god roster.
Earlier art iterations explored many variations. The idea of "divinity" or "cosmic power" are not easy to depict, so many things were tried. We ended up with a wonderful concept that featured a heroic robed man adorned with magical floating golden elements. Olorun had been found.
This god needed to be the pinnacle of divinity. From a quick glance we wanted people to understand his tone and personality. His sense of justice, his control over his emotions, and his divine power can all be felt simply by looking at him. The new King of the Gods is truly a sight to behold.
As impressive as his visuals are, his abilities are somehow even more impressive. Olorun was designed as a Mage Carry, which the design team felt complimented his core themes best. It gave his distant and divine power a more tangible feel to show his strength as well as his knowledge at the same time. It also happened to be a playstyle that has gone a long time without a new god.
His kit became focused around that theme: divine magic focused into tangible effects. The design team wanted to make sure he felt like a Hunter, although he would be dealing magical damage. The design team focused on new ways to make a Mage feel like a Hunter, specifically through new types of "stim" or self buffing effects. Those aspects of his kit were complimented by abilities that help empower his team. This design direction had 2 goals: to make him feel different from other hunters and Mage Carries, and to reinforce his nature of pacifism and justice.
Although we feel great about his abilities, they still pale in comparison to Olorun's Ultimate ability. This god finally brings a mechanic into the game that has been prototyped and scrapped over and over again for years: The ability to slow time. Olorun's Ultimate will create a Sanctified area that slows all enemies in the area.
And this time, when we say slow, we don't just mean the movement speed debuff, we mean time itself. Enemies in the area will animate slower, move slower, be knocked through the air slower, CC, buff, and debuff durations will last longer, heals and damage over time will tick slower, deployables will deploy slower, projectiles will move slower, Towers will shoot slower, jungle bosses will attack slower, and even more interactions will be affected. This field will also speed up Olorun himself, and will interact with each of his abilities while he is in the field. The field has no effect on allies, Only enemies and self.
As a Mage Carry he is intended to play best from duo lane with a possible flex into mid lane. He was designed with heavy counter-play in mind. Enemies who learn Olorun's visual cues and learn the unique interactions with his kit will find more success when facing this new foe.
Olorun's unique gameplay features are:
New Pantheon: Yoruba
The first Mage in SMITE whose basic attacks can Critically Hit
A charge up ability that increases in range as it charges
A new type of stim that charges up an ability that can be refired with the same key, and can be charged over multiple uses of the effect
A Mage Carry that can heal allies
A true "time dilation" field, with extremely interesting interactions across the entire game
See list above for examples
Intuitive changes to each of his abilities that occur when he is inside his ultimate area
Olorun is our first big surprise god after a string of highly requested ones. We strongly believe that both types of character are important to SMITE. Olorun brings a new culture to SMITE, and also new game mechanics. Both of these aspects being so impressive that he becomes SMITE's new King of Olympus, and ruler of the gods.
Tune in to the Mixer E3 Show on mixer.com/mixer this Wednesday at 2:45pm ET for your first glimpse at Olorun. Then see the full reveal immediately after, at 3pm ET on the Ruler of the Heavens Update Show on mixer.com/SMITEGame!
A new king has been crowned, are you ready to rule the battleground?
What Hi-Rez got right about his design is the white of his clothes. Each Orisha has a specific color pattern to their clothes, and Olorun's is white. Also, that's why Yorubean-Tradition-Following mediums use white, as a sign of respect to Olorun while they're working with the spiritual world.
Here's a drawing of Olorun which closest resembles how I see him :
One thing that dissapointed me is that they decided to remove the headgear. In Yorubean culture, every orisha wears a headgear, not because it's stilish or something, but mostly cuz they don't seek an unique identity, they're protectors/guardians of certain elements, so when you think about them, the first that should come to mind is where they reside, not their faces.
Also the facial beard they put on him is the worst thing I've ever seen ngl
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Thanks to Janitsu for the signature!
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