Smite gets big changes for season two

Smite

Big changes are coming to the second season of Smite, including new skins, new voice packs, new god rotation, and a cornucopia of gameplay changes. That's right, like this, only the basket is filled with murderous gods. Season two will also see the debut of a brand new Conquest map featuring improved visuals, balance changes including the replacement of the duo lane blue buff with an attack speed power buff, and new cinematic intros for jungle camps.

Artemis, Janus, and Mercury are all getting new skins—Primal Huntress, Jandroid, and Prizefighter, respectively—while Jungle Beast Xbalanque is being given a visual upgrade, and Rage Bakasura will be a League Reward. The new Artemis, Janus, and Mercury skins will also get new voice packs, as will Rage Bakasura. A number of items have also been added, whilst many existing items have changed, and the gods themselves have undergone various balance tweaks and fixes. And naturally, quite a bit is happening in the realm of "general gameplay" as well.

"There are several changes happening in the Jungle that are designed to increase aggression and the viability of invading, while also better balancing the buff options available to your team. Although there is now more room for activities, the Jungle is a bit more unsafe," Hi-Rez wrote. "The removal of the mana buffs on the Gold Fury side of Conquest focuses more on choice through itemization and team combinations rather than through buffs."

"The addition of the new Attack Speed and In Hand Power Buff empowers gods who prefer Basic Attacking, for those who would rather shoot their enemies down. The harpy camps in the middle of the Conquest map now show up late to the party, and don’t even bring a dessert. They now spawn at the three minute mark instead of at the beginning. The Jungle starts in the beginning of the match are now identical, but it also means your enemies know exactly where you are at the beginning and can punish you for it."

There's a lot more going on than just this, way too much to cover here (seriously, we'd be here all day), so if you're big enough into Smite that this sort of thing matters to you, you're definitely going to want to check out the full Season Two update yourself. Do so at hirezstudios.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.